It was highly likely the Lawless Lands being in a messy state was because of that possibility. A treaty of alliance between the 13 Lords but on the surface, they flooded each other's land pillaging, killing, raiding, doing everything possible to make it seem that peace would be impossible between the 13 Lords, and the reason for them doing so? They wasted countless lives of innocent citizens with terror just to create an image of an unstable land to throw off the surveillance being put on them by the other nations
So what if spies were embedded in their power structure? They had spent their entire youth, maybe even their entire life at the Lawless Lands. Ultimately, humans were slaves to their emotions, and as time passed by, emotions would change. When people obtain positions of power, they would be more susceptible to their selfish desires, abandoning what they had in the Federation just to fulfill their selfish desires here. All in all, people's intent would change over time.
