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Description
In II, Francis V marries a princess of the House of Savoy-Aosta in 1842, as his father did, and stays in good relationship with the Savoyard monarchs in virtue of promises of expansion inside Papal territory (particularly, the city of Ferrara, home of the Este dynasty).
The League of Princes is formed in 1848, later evolving into the North Italian Federation during the First War of Independence against Austria. Despite it being an unsuccessful war, Modena and other Central Italian monarchies, such as the Bourbon-Parma and the Habsburg-Tuscany, completely shift allegiance towards an unified Italy, fearful of losing their titles to the Savoyards, and due to a truthful liberal spirit.
After the Italian Unification War of 1859 and with the support of Prussia, the Duchy gained an overwhelming amount of praise for its loyal armed forces and its work in law codification, making it one of the best in Italy for its law schools. After Francis V's death, the title of Duchess of Austria Este passed onto his only daughter, Anne Beatrice of Austria-Este, which continued to exercise her role as ruling Duchess.

(The lore is not very well fleshed out, it will take a little more updates to fix it. But that's the general idea, and you're in for the aesthetics anyway, ain'tcha?)

Description
In II, Francis V marries a princess of the House of Savoy-Aosta in 1842, as his father did, and stays in good relationship with the Savoyard monarchs in virtue of promises of expansion inside Papal territory (particularly, the city of Ferrara, home of the Este dynasty).
The League of Princes is formed in 1848, later evolving into the North Italian Federation during the First War of Independence against Austria. Despite it being an unsuccessful war, Modena and other Central Italian monarchies, such as the Bourbon-Parma and the Habsburg-Tuscany, completely shift allegiance towards an unified Italy, fearful of losing their titles to the Savoyards, and due to a truthful liberal spirit.
After the Italian Unification War of 1859 and with the support of Prussia, the Duchy gained an overwhelming amount of praise for its loyal armed forces and its work in law codification, making it one of the best in Italy for its law schools. After Francis V's death, the title of Duchess of Austria Este passed onto his only daughter, Anne Beatrice of Austria-Este, which continued to exercise her role as ruling Duchess.

(The lore is not very well fleshed out, it will take a little more updates to fix it. But that's the general idea, and you're in for the aesthetics anyway, ain'tcha?)