Elective Succession and Crown Authority

[jayteeme]

I think that crown authority should automatically decrease when the crown passes to a different house during succession. A family losing control of the crown is indicative of the royalty losing power to the other nobles.

 

[tuareg109]

Not necessarily. It could even be that the newly-elected ruler is so strong that nobody dares vote against him.
It that case, should crown authority go UP?

No, I think that succession should have no effect on crown authority. I think the lowering of crown authority with a weak king is accurately represented by the faction system. Is you king weak? Does everybody hate him? Well either he'll have to win a war against everyone, or he'll have to allow them more freedom.

 

[A_Dane]

Well, I don't think this would have too much of an effect really - Currently it's quite easy for both the player, and the AI to keep an elective title as long as the realm is somewhat unified culturally.

Could be an interesting addition though.. But Tuareg pointed out, it would be weird for crown authority drops if a super-duke replaces a completely weakened dynasty..

 

[jayteeme]

I actually think that the Crown Authority-Succession relationship is backwards.

If you have elective succession then you don't really have absolute control over your vassals. It should probably be that you need to change your succession laws first before you move up higher in crown authority.

 

[tuareg109]

I actually think that the Crown Authority-Succession relationship is backwards.

If you have elective succession then you don't really have absolute control over your vassals. It should probably be that you need to change your succession laws first before you move up higher in crown authority.

Actually I think elective can be the most powerful type of succession, ideal for Absolute authority. You can be powerful enough that the person you choose to succeed you will succeed, and voting is simply nominal, as everybody would vote for your successor because you're so powerful. I'm not sure how this would be modeled in the game, but the early Roman Empire offers a great example.
In Primogeniture you have little control over what your first son will be like.
In Seniority it's even worse.
In Gavelkind you lose half your power and gain a rival with claims on your titles and often near-equal power to yours. The worst.
In Turkish you get lots of claimants; this is maybe the "least bad". When your ruler gets old, just give most of your titles to your preferred son (weakness: can't give to nephews, cousins, etc.).

The Roman Empire was nominally elective its first hundred years or so, though nobody in the Senate dared go against the Emperor's "vote" (decision) on who his successor would be. The Senate wasn't part of any feudal system, I know, but while the Republican Consulship was elective, many families had many members who were consuls (often 20 or 30 years apart, though). This continued after Julius Caesar became permanent Dictator, and after Augustus became "Princeps" or "primus inter pares" [Emperor].
So an important part of the government the executed the Emperor's decisions and was a legitimate vehicle for his power was elected.
The Senate also supported one general or another in the Empire's numerous civil wars, and their acceptance can be seen as a legitimizing agent to a newcomer's turbulent reign.

 

[Slym]

One thing that bothers me is that vassals that are of your dynasty don't like it if you have elective succession. They should like it, there's no way I would ever let a vassal who wasn't of my dynasty inherit, but if they're family I don't have to worry about vassals hijacking the election, because I keep playing even if they do.