A fun little topic. Basically, what is your favorite minor dynasty? It could be a baron, a count, a duke, or even a courtier' dynasty that eventually became strong. State your reasons if you so choose to, but you don't have too. I'll start, of course.
Favorite minor dynasty has to be the Spartenos. Love their name, their starting position, and being from Southern Italy and Greek, makes them all the more better. Not to mention they're very hard to survive as.
Hah, funny you should mention them... I just now noticed they existed the other day, and I noted them as a possible future game. Despot of Sicily, anyone? Could be fun. And the reason I noticed them is because I was curious to who that independent county was nearly a century after the game started in Sicily... somehow, they've beaten the odds so far.
Personally, I'm fond of House de Haro in Viscaya. They're Basque and its de jure Navarra, but start as vassals of Castille. But I became their fan during my very first game where, after the fall of Viscaya to Muslim hands, they fled all the way north to Jamtland... where I, as the Norse Jarl of Jamtland, gladly accepted them into my home. They converted to Norse and eventually to Swedish, and I kept them alive for over a century as un-landed members of my court, and always as my marshalls as they had an uncanny knack for military geniuses in the family. Whenever I claimed the throne of Norway (along with the few Swedish duchies I already had), they were one of the first I made into Jarls. One day I'm totally going to actually start a game with them with the intent of conquering Navarra and forging a nice little kingdom with chunks of northern Iberia and southern Aquitaine.
And then there's House Gren, the first house I ever played (via console commands, because they're Norse). You're Norse, and you start as the Chief of the lowly Aland Islands... a single castle on the frontier. An absolute blast of an experience, from fighting off (and sometimes befriending) the Finnish Pagans in the east to helping keep Sweden pagan in the west, and ultimately going on to try and push Christianity back to the Levant where it belongs. The Norse Reconquista of Scandinavia is a nice undertaking, and probably the only viable option to ultimately keep the faith alive. And its all the more fun when the people doing it are the descendants of a warrior named Olaf who was the right hand of the leader who kept Sweden Pagan. Olaf Gren is an amazing man, and it always brought me some joy to know that the King of Norway owes all of it to a man who lead a bunch of guys from a lonely island to raise their swords and axes in defense against Christianity.
And, to make the religious rounds, I'll note House Baduspanid of Mazandaran in Persia. They were my first (and currently only) Muslim dynasty game, and I love em'. You start off as Persian Shia vassals of the Seljuks, deep in the mountains of Persia with your neighbors being primarily stronger, Turkish and Kurdish Sunnis. A fun dynasty to not only try and establish a powerbase in the empire with, but to eventually try and reclaim the old Persian Empire with. A great challenge... just a shame that once you've crowned yourself Shahanshah of Persia there's little that can ever stand in your way. I think I'm just shy of 1400 with them, but I grew tired of constantly micromanaging a mostly landlocked Empire when I've got no one that poses a true threat. Heck, the only "setback" I've had was when Timurid showed up and claimed Khiva before I could even get my silly amount of troops organized. Now I let him keep it in hopes he claims Khwarizm and gives me something to aim for whenever I import it to EUIII... Instead, he keeps coming for Persia with, like, 12k guys... and gets crushed over and over and over.
