Hello and welcome to another development diary for Imperator:Rome! 
Today I will be talking about Monarchies and associated things such as Heirs, Legitimacy, Succession Crises and other fun things.
In a monarchy authority lies with the ruler, or Monarch. The monarch has as close to absolute authority as any ruler can get in Imperator:Rome. Unlike in a Republic the ruler sits for life, and in a Monarchy you are able to change laws, interact with foreign countries and use whatever character interactions you wish without approval of a senate.
For the monarchies that exist in Imperator:Rome at the start of the game this was highly relevant as they were almost all established in this generation. None of them have a firm number of supporters, and many of them (like Egypt or the Seleucid Empire) have a population that consider them to be foreigners.
Legitimacy directly impacts the loyalty of all characters in the country as well as the happiness of all Freemen.
At 0 Legitimacy all characters in a Monarchy are capped at 50 loyalty (out of the normal 100), and at negative Legitimacy they will suffer a ticking loyalty reduction. Legitimacy also directly impacts the cost of enacting laws.
Legitimacy is gained from acting as a good monarch, most importantly:
To help increase Legitimacy you can also at any time use a government action to Strengthen Legitimacy by 10 for a cost of 25 Civic Power and 5 Tyranny. There are also various indirect ways, like Holding Games, that increase popularity and therefore indirectly Legitimacy.
Succession Laws
In a monarchy a new ruler is not elected but will instead inherit power upon the death of the old monarch. The method for this inheritance depends on which of these succession law the country follow. The family of the current ruler is always preferred over non-family members.
In the government view the 4 most likely characters in the country to inherit will be displayed at all times (including the current heir) together with their loyalty and the strength of their claim (according to the succession law).
Every character in a Monarchy also has a Preferred Heir out of these four. Most of the time this will be the current heir, but depending on things like friendships, skills or lack of loyalty, they can prefer one of the other heirs.
Any possible successor apart from the current heir will have a ticking negative modifier to their loyalty and will normally do what they can to assemble money and supporters for the day the current monarch dies.
Apart from increasing loyalty and attacking the causes for someone preferring another heir you can ask them to support your preferred heir. As long as their loyalty is at least 50 this drastically increases their support for your current heir for a cost of 25 Oratory Power.
Upon succession the current heir will become the new Monarch with a starting Legitimacy of 60 plus 20 times the religious Unity in the country. It is further reduced by 2 points for each employed character that supported another heir.
As you can see the expected future Legitimacy of an heir as king will always be shown in the Government View.
At the time of succession, if any of the possible successors that did not gain the throne are at less than 33% loyalty, they will make their displeasure known by assembling an army of as many loyal troops as they can afford.
As this is a loyal army, and they are disloyal, you will be unable to give orders to this army and unable to detach the pretenders from it. The presence of these armies is likely to drive the country towards a civil war, either immediately or in the long run.
To the end of disarming this threat you have special character interactions no pretenders:
Today we will talk about one of the greatest kingdoms of Imperator:Rome in terms of size and population.
Before Alexander began his campaign Persia was the center of the Achaemenid Empire, which stretched from Greece to India. The larger region had by then been the center of more than one high culture and its influence on surrounding regions is hard to overstate. With its fall to Greek conquerors however the entire region has seen the beginnings of Hellenization. Perhaps more than anywhere else Alexander the great founded Greek settlements, appointed a mix of Greek and local officials and encouraged intermarriage.
After the death of the great conqueror Persia and Mesopotamia has changed hands between different successors multiple times, with its current master, Seleucus, taking over Babylon from Antigonus with just a few trusted men not long ago.
With a background that would not make him a likely candidate for such greatness Seleucus has spent the last years cleaning out the Satraps left in charge of greater Persia by Antigonus, before running right into another rising dynasty in India, Chandragupta Maurya.
As the game starts Chandragupta, who had previously overrun most of northern India, ending the Nanda empire, has taken control over the Indian satrapies that was once part of Alexander’s Empire.
The Mauryas now threaten to invade Persia, potentially distracting the Seleucids from the greater conflict with Antigonus in the west.
Starting Countries:
The Zagros mountains that separate Mesopotamia from this region is also a great barrier and with a few exceptions it has been left to fend for itself as the macedonian grandees struggle for control over the Argead Empire.
In the period preceding the start of our game Seleucus and his son Antiochus has subdued the governors, satraps and cities of this region, bringing them under closer control and installing their own loyal men, but Media and Persis will remain a region that central power will have to keep a close eye on to keep in line.
Today I will be talking about Monarchies and associated things such as Heirs, Legitimacy, Succession Crises and other fun things.
In a monarchy authority lies with the ruler, or Monarch. The monarch has as close to absolute authority as any ruler can get in Imperator:Rome. Unlike in a Republic the ruler sits for life, and in a Monarchy you are able to change laws, interact with foreign countries and use whatever character interactions you wish without approval of a senate.
Legitimacy
While a Monarch has the authority to act without asking for approval their subject characters will still react to their actions if they do not approve of them. Legitimacy is a value between -100 and +100 and models the perceived right for the Monarch to rule their country.For the monarchies that exist in Imperator:Rome at the start of the game this was highly relevant as they were almost all established in this generation. None of them have a firm number of supporters, and many of them (like Egypt or the Seleucid Empire) have a population that consider them to be foreigners.
Legitimacy directly impacts the loyalty of all characters in the country as well as the happiness of all Freemen.
At 0 Legitimacy all characters in a Monarchy are capped at 50 loyalty (out of the normal 100), and at negative Legitimacy they will suffer a ticking loyalty reduction. Legitimacy also directly impacts the cost of enacting laws.
Legitimacy is gained from acting as a good monarch, most importantly:
- Ruler Popularity
- High Stability
- The Skill of your currently employed Court Philosopher
- Low Ruler Popularity
- War Exhaustion
- Ruler Corruption
- The number of employed characters that prefer another successor than the current heir to succeed (we will talk more about this below).
To help increase Legitimacy you can also at any time use a government action to Strengthen Legitimacy by 10 for a cost of 25 Civic Power and 5 Tyranny. There are also various indirect ways, like Holding Games, that increase popularity and therefore indirectly Legitimacy.
Succession Laws
In a monarchy a new ruler is not elected but will instead inherit power upon the death of the old monarch. The method for this inheritance depends on which of these succession law the country follow. The family of the current ruler is always preferred over non-family members.
- Agnatic: Inheritance is in age order, with preference to male children of ruler.
- Agnatic-Cognatic: Inheritance in age order, children of ruler are preferred without preference in regards to gender.
- Agnatic Seniority: The male siblings of the Monarch will inherit before any children.
- Egyptian Succession: Children of ruler are preferred in order of age regardless of gender. Members of the royal family will marry their own family members (including sibling to sibling).
Successors:
Successions are not always as easy as the described laws would imply. There are many examples of conflicts over who would inherit, sometimes tearing even great and otherwise stable kingdoms apart.In the government view the 4 most likely characters in the country to inherit will be displayed at all times (including the current heir) together with their loyalty and the strength of their claim (according to the succession law).
Every character in a Monarchy also has a Preferred Heir out of these four. Most of the time this will be the current heir, but depending on things like friendships, skills or lack of loyalty, they can prefer one of the other heirs.
Any possible successor apart from the current heir will have a ticking negative modifier to their loyalty and will normally do what they can to assemble money and supporters for the day the current monarch dies.
Apart from increasing loyalty and attacking the causes for someone preferring another heir you can ask them to support your preferred heir. As long as their loyalty is at least 50 this drastically increases their support for your current heir for a cost of 25 Oratory Power.
Upon succession the current heir will become the new Monarch with a starting Legitimacy of 60 plus 20 times the religious Unity in the country. It is further reduced by 2 points for each employed character that supported another heir.
As you can see the expected future Legitimacy of an heir as king will always be shown in the Government View.
Succession Crisis
At the time of succession, if any of the possible successors that did not gain the throne are at less than 33% loyalty, they will make their displeasure known by assembling an army of as many loyal troops as they can afford.
As this is a loyal army, and they are disloyal, you will be unable to give orders to this army and unable to detach the pretenders from it. The presence of these armies is likely to drive the country towards a civil war, either immediately or in the long run.
To the end of disarming this threat you have special character interactions no pretenders:
- Encourage Deserters: Allows you to reduce the pretender army size.
- Make Mercenary: For a very large sum of gold you can send a pretender off to be a Mercenary, along with their loyal troops. This will eliminate the threat to you internal stability, for now.
Persia
Today we will talk about one of the greatest kingdoms of Imperator:Rome in terms of size and population.
Before Alexander began his campaign Persia was the center of the Achaemenid Empire, which stretched from Greece to India. The larger region had by then been the center of more than one high culture and its influence on surrounding regions is hard to overstate. With its fall to Greek conquerors however the entire region has seen the beginnings of Hellenization. Perhaps more than anywhere else Alexander the great founded Greek settlements, appointed a mix of Greek and local officials and encouraged intermarriage.
After the death of the great conqueror Persia and Mesopotamia has changed hands between different successors multiple times, with its current master, Seleucus, taking over Babylon from Antigonus with just a few trusted men not long ago.
With a background that would not make him a likely candidate for such greatness Seleucus has spent the last years cleaning out the Satraps left in charge of greater Persia by Antigonus, before running right into another rising dynasty in India, Chandragupta Maurya.
As the game starts Chandragupta, who had previously overrun most of northern India, ending the Nanda empire, has taken control over the Indian satrapies that was once part of Alexander’s Empire.
The Mauryas now threaten to invade Persia, potentially distracting the Seleucids from the greater conflict with Antigonus in the west.
Mesopotamia & Assyria
The Euphrates and Tigris have been the core of many civilizations and empires, most recently the Persian, Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian ones, and in many ways this region remains the economic and political core of the Seleucid Empire. Babylon is where Alexander died, and it is not far from Babylon that Seleucus have begun to build his great new capital Seleucia Magna.
Starting Countries:
- Seleucid Empire: Great Macedonian Kingdom with the recently crowned Seleucus as king. While Seleucus and his son Antiochus has campaigned extensively among the Persian satrapies, replacing any disloyal governors with trusted men, the kingdom is a cosmopolitan mix of cultures and religions. Macedonian cities founded by Alexander remain interspersed with Chaldean, Persian and Bactrian subjects, most of whom know very little of politics in Seleucia Magna. The first decision that the Seleucid Empire will have to make is how to deal with the brewing conflict in the east. Historically Seleucus would sign away most of the eastern satrapies on the Mauryan border in exchange for a lasting peace and a high number of Indian War Elephants. Animals that played a decisive part when eventually defeating Antigonus troops in Phrygia. At the start of the game the Seleucid Empire will be faced with a similar choice, they can choose to sign away a large portion of land, for a long truce, or resume war with the huge Mauryan Empire in India.
- Adiabene: Small Assyrian kingdom in Upper Mesopotamia/Assyria. As a former Persian vassal Adiabene has seen many overlords come and go in the last decades. With Seleucus occupied with the grand politics of the successors as well as the hostilities at the Mauryan border Adiabene has mostly been left to their own devices. At start Adiabene is a tributary of the Selucid Empire
Media & Persis
The Iranian plateau, and the regions of Media and Persis was the core of the old Persian empire. A large number of famous Achaemenid cities such as Ecbatana and Persepolis remain centers of commerce and power here and a large number of Persian soldiers, artisans and nobles remain the dominant group in a region that they have populated for hundreds of years.
The Zagros mountains that separate Mesopotamia from this region is also a great barrier and with a few exceptions it has been left to fend for itself as the macedonian grandees struggle for control over the Argead Empire.
In the period preceding the start of our game Seleucus and his son Antiochus has subdued the governors, satraps and cities of this region, bringing them under closer control and installing their own loyal men, but Media and Persis will remain a region that central power will have to keep a close eye on to keep in line.
Starting Country:
- Media Atropatene: Middle size Iranian kingdom in northern Media that predates the greek successor kingdoms by a fair bit and while he was considered one of the vassals of Alexander the Great his kingdom has since broken off as an independent entity. Media Atropatene is relatively rich for its size and its ruler, Atropates, is an influential man in the region as well as one of few remaining Iranian rulers at the start of the game.
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