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I've long had a soft spot for Pomerania. The region had a rough time in the middle ages; the newly feudal Duchy of Pomerania suffered invasions by (in rough order, starting in ~1100) the Obotrites, the Poles, German Crusaders, Henry the Lion's Saxons, the Danes, Brandenburg, and the Poles again, with very little time for respite between invasions, and sometimes with multiple outside powers active in Pomerania at the same time. Afterwards, from the mid-1200s, the duchy, frequently split in two during the invasion period, began to subdivide further and further, hemorrhaging power as the Bishops of Cammin asserted themselves and several important cities took part in the Hanseatic league. It would be divided with brief intervals of unity up until the 30 Years War, when the last Pomeranian duke's death resulted in division between Brandenburg-Prussia and Sweden. To this day it remains divided (now between Germany and Poland).

Wanking the house of Gryf (AKA Gryfita, House of Griffin, House of Pomerania, etc.), who ruled Pomerania throughout this period, isn't so hard. Just have Eric of Pomerania, who succeeded Margaret of Denmark as leader of the Kalmar Union, manage to hold on, leaving the family at the helm of a united Scandinavia. But wanking Pomerania itself is harder. It's not that the duchy doesn't have potential; the region was a hub of Baltic trade. But repeated invasions and repeated divisions make things difficult.

However, I did have a couple ideas. One involves the Gryf dukes taking better advantage of the division of Poland after 1138 and expanding eastward, into Pomeralia/West Prussia. From there the Gryfs could perhaps become a crusader dynasty, expanding further east into the lands eventually held OTL by the Teutonic Order. Continued division is probably inevitable in the short term, but eventual reunification could mean a powerful state. Alternatively the duchy could expand less, instead focusing on trade and growing into a wealthy regional power, if it can manage to remain unified. One could even maybe find a way to scrap the duchy itself in favor of some sort of alt-Hansa based in Pomerania that ultimately evolves into a merchant oligarchy that dominates the Baltic. That concept has the advantage of removing the sort of territorial division on succession that so bedeviled the Duchy.

Are any of the above concepts feasible? Are none of them? With a POD of the Gryf family's coming to power in ~1100, have Pomerania, in one way or another, grow into a stronger presence than OTL. Bonus points for retaining Pomerania's Slavic culture, which was gradually buried OTL by waves of German settlement.
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