I have had a chance to reflect further on the situation, and I've come to the conclusion that despite feeling otherwise most of the time, I may not currently be emotionally fit to cope with some of the realities of this game. I hope I can be forgiven for having signed up in the first place; it's not always obvious what one will and will not be able to deal with gracefully.

My apologies, and I wish Zayk well in his... interesting... new task.

In the event he is unwilling or a replacement cannot be found, there are six-person Diplo rules that wouldn't necessarily require a game re-start. In particular, there is a version where Italy is not used, and its units sit on the board with under perma-orders to hold. Maybe that could be suitable here, perhaps leaving Italy's units where I've left them.