I have been coming up with a new idea for some time now and I would like some advice on it. I've been working on creating a new fantasy universe or world that goes together with the main series. Equestria is just one nation among many is a big world so naturally there are other places in the world that are not featured and left to the imagination. This world I am creating is essentially going to be the setting for the stories I am hopefully going to write. To give a very brief description, it goes out like this:

The stories are going to be set on the distant continent of "Hippora", it is kinda like the MLP equivalent of Europe, but has a more Eastern European vibe to it. Imagine the Baltic Region being the size of a continent. On this continent there are of course nations, kingdoms, etc. One of those nations is the "Principality of Arinthia" and it is the sister kingdom/military buffer state of Equestria. The Principality is lead by an alicorn prince, who I envision to be the cousin of Celestia and Luna.

I am currently working on the Bibles for this world within the world of MLP, that will go into detail about the world and characters. But what I wanted to ask is having the Principality lead by Celestia's and Luna's cousin is a good idea. The alternative is having the Principality ruled by a form of constitutional monarchy with several royal families. As far as I know, the royal family tree of Celestia and Luna is virtually unknown with the exception of Prince Blue Blood. Does having an alicorn rule over the Principality add one too many alicorns into the universe and can possibly be lore breaking in someway?

Does having an alicorn rule over the Principality add one too many alicorns into the universe and can possibly be lore breaking in someway?

Do you have an important plot reason why he should be an alicorn? If not, don't. Alicornhood is the easy way out of tight corners, a cheap way. Actually, if you're hesitating, then the decision has been already made: if it can be done without an alicorn, it should be done without an alicorn.
What times of Eastern Europe are you aiming at? Something like the elected kings of Poland, with rowdy, proud nobility being the actual ruling power (and their hubris being their downfall), or at times of the great empires - Prussia, Austria and Russia throttling smaller nations with bureaucracy, their authoritarian rulers tightly controlling their heavily militarized empires, or maybe are you aiming at the Eastern Bloc (grey, poor and oppressive)? What would the role of that country be? Something like the Western Germany, buffer zone between Equestria and the "People's Democratic World"? With such data I could advise what form your government could take, but no matter which you pick, alicorns are almost never the answer.

There are plenty of stories that have epic world building. There are the Rainbow flies East stories, some epic adventure stories, and even some frontier-esque stories.

I say go for it.

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Well kinda, yes. At least I think I do have an important plot reason. But my story is always open to revision if something goes wrong. He is eventually supposed to be the antagonist of the story. Given how the story is supposed to unfold; a peace conference between the Principality and Ottomans goes wrong, as the ruling prince tries to have the sultan and his family killed to bring a swift end to the war they were having. Its kinda hard to explain, but Luna and Celestia were there to assist the peace process and attempted to stop the prince. Of course the prince does not take that very well and has the royal sisters arrested under charges of treason, ironically. The Mane 6 are also involved also since they have to try and protect the sultan's eldest son with the help of some OCs as they are hunted by soldiers from the military. I hesitate to get into too much detail as this is still a work in progress and everything is always subject to change. It probably sounds awful to an objective reader at its current state.
This is a pretty big world and there are alot of stories I can formulate from this. This is just one of many other possible stories I can write.

Having an alicorn prince who has been driven to the brink of madness and insanity bec. he was lead a nation through more then 1,000 years of war and destruction. He has had lived a harsh and violent life, making alot of tough and ruthless decisions along the way. Imagine how many traumatizing experiences he must have experienced in his time as the prince. I sort of want that kind of background to reflect off a character and alicorns fit that role well. He has a twisted sense of morality from centuries of experience in a grim, dark, and violent environment.
If done right he can be a come out to be a good villain, I think. Anything less than an alicorn might be too underwhelming for role I have in mind.
The alternative to this would be a powerful unicorn who might just end up to be too similar to Sombra and that is probably even worse than an alicorn.

The timeline I am aiming for is late 15th and early to mid 16th century. So pretty much a melding of the Medieval and Renaissance Eras. That means cannons, matchlock muskets, mass formations of pikemen for the classic tercio or pike and shot style of warfare. Each faction has their own fighting styles and tactics, but use the "pike and shot" in varying degrees utility. The Princiaplity is the only nation that has fully embarrassed this style of fighting and incorporate it into its military. Factions like the Vilgram still retain their traditional medieval style of fighting, although have been known to employ pike and shot troops as auxiliaries.

So no Eastern block or anything from the 20 or 21st century. If anything, the main antagonists are likely to be the Principality itself. The overarching theme is that the Principality has been engaging in "defensive imperialism" throughout its history. To say the least, the Principality is nothing like Equestria even though they are sister kingdoms. The policies and values in Equestria won't work nearly as well as in Hippor, given the change in environment.

Baltic region as in a dark, Gothic, grim, depressing landscape with horrible weather. A land that is a stark contrast to Equestria. This world is more akin to other fantasy worlds like LOTR, Game of Thrones, Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls etc, but more historical and familiar in some regard to its real world equivalents.

Well, if you want to oppose two alicorns efficiently, I'd say an alicorn would be justified as the antagonist.
Just don't make him black and red!

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Of course I won't make him black and red. I would never dream of it. LOL
I actually haven't even really designed him. Thanks for your comments and advice.

Oh and he tries to get Luna to marry him. It is relatively still the middle ages, so incest was acceptable back in those days. Of course it does not happen for the sake of the fandom, but it provides opportunities for character conflict and development of his character. It can always be taken out if it does not work out.
Also it gives some context bec. the prince tries to seduce and manipulate Luna to join him using similar dark powers as Sombra. It eventually leads to Luna transforming back into Nightmare Moon to defeat him at the climax of the story. I wasn't so sure before, but since it has been confirmed that Nightmare Moon is coming back in season 5 that kinda backs up my concept. It isn't a permanent transformation in case you are concerned about it. It is like Luna's equivalent of the "Avatar state".