Will not lie I as very disspointed with LoR, I wanted deep political intrigue for the Imperial throne, magic Rome button.
Most legitimate Byzantine family
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Will not lie I as very disspointed with LoR, I wanted deep political intrigue for the Imperial throne, magic Rome button.
Sounds interesting.
I don't know much about the later Roman Empire but it is quite fascinating. I agree with whoever suggested palace coups (an event type I assume) for incompetent rulers or those who have lost major wars.
You're not going to find anybody descended from the House of Constantine -- Julian was the last one, sorry. There was some very thorough killing going on there.
The closest thing to what you want is a family that's held the imperial throne before. Of the starting families, that gives you: Skleros, Phokas, Komnenos, and Argyros. It just so happens that they all have unique CoA in Dynasty Shields II.
The closest thing to what you want is a family that's held the imperial throne before. Of the starting families, that gives you: Skleros, Phokas, Komnenos, and Argyros. It just so happens that they all have unique CoA in Dynasty Shields II.
Constantius II kills most of his fathers or I should say grandfather house.
Use Ruler Designer to make Lekapenos family again and repeat Romanos way - from lowly count to Emperor of Byz 
Just be sure to marry a daughter from all the big Noble families. It's what I do in Europe. If I play in the West, I make sure to get a Karling wife and a Capet wife sooner than later. After that I figure I have all the legitimacy in the world.
Just had a thought about the way this system works, and specifically claims on the Empire.
Someone (either here or in another thread) suggested adding claims to a few of the more powerful Byzantine generals in the 1066 scenarios, so as to help destabilize the situation -- particularly if the Seljuks take Armenia.
What about automatically giving a weak claim to all characters who become Marshal of the Empire? That way they wouldn't be able to attempt usurpation at just any old time, but rather against an incapable or otherwise very weak ruler, or a minor who's succeeded on the death of the previous Emperor.
As marshals would normally be either unlanded courtiers or small vassals, this would rarely be a major problem for a good Emperor, but a weak Emperor prone to plots and factions could find himself fighting civil wars against groups who wish to install a Marshal with better traits / popularity and a claim.
I don't think weak claims are inheritable (or maybe are just for one generation?) so this shouldn't be particularly unbalanced. It would certainly make playing within the Byzantine Empire more of a challenge, and I think more fun.
What y'all think?
Someone (either here or in another thread) suggested adding claims to a few of the more powerful Byzantine generals in the 1066 scenarios, so as to help destabilize the situation -- particularly if the Seljuks take Armenia.
What about automatically giving a weak claim to all characters who become Marshal of the Empire? That way they wouldn't be able to attempt usurpation at just any old time, but rather against an incapable or otherwise very weak ruler, or a minor who's succeeded on the death of the previous Emperor.
As marshals would normally be either unlanded courtiers or small vassals, this would rarely be a major problem for a good Emperor, but a weak Emperor prone to plots and factions could find himself fighting civil wars against groups who wish to install a Marshal with better traits / popularity and a claim.
I don't think weak claims are inheritable (or maybe are just for one generation?) so this shouldn't be particularly unbalanced. It would certainly make playing within the Byzantine Empire more of a challenge, and I think more fun.
What y'all think?
@SoH: That's an interesting suggestion, and could easily be done with events (I think). Weak claims are inheritable for one generation, I think, so it shouldn't cause issues.
I feel like giving it to any random old Marshal is a tad random, though. It might work, on the other hand, but I feel like since the Douxes in-game also represent powerful generals too, so they (and players who are douxes) should also ideally have a way to contest the throne too. The problem with the Douxes though is how to limit it so not every Doux suddenly starts trying to claim the throne when he feels like it.
Oh, well, and it shouldn't be given to members of the Varangian Guard, either, or people like that. Or god forbid a high-martial Bishop.
Perhaps it can be given only to marshals who are landed? I dunno.
I feel like giving it to any random old Marshal is a tad random, though. It might work, on the other hand, but I feel like since the Douxes in-game also represent powerful generals too, so they (and players who are douxes) should also ideally have a way to contest the throne too. The problem with the Douxes though is how to limit it so not every Doux suddenly starts trying to claim the throne when he feels like it.
Oh, well, and it shouldn't be given to members of the Varangian Guard, either, or people like that. Or god forbid a high-martial Bishop.
Perhaps it can be given only to marshals who are landed? I dunno.
Both weak and strong claims can be uninheritable unless pressed. The chancellor forge claim mission gives you an uninheritable strong claim.
Quite a number of usurptions were against active males, so limiting to females/children/incapable is being a tad ungenerous.
Quite a number of usurptions were against active males, so limiting to females/children/incapable is being a tad ungenerous.
If you try the Project Balance mod, Alexios Komneros has a strong claim on the throne in 1066, that usually gets faction support early.
I must admit the idea of a claim for the marshal would be a fine addition. I ended up starting my game as Spartenos in the end, and after becoming despot of Sicily with a huge martial rating I thought I should have been able to at least start a faction calling for my right to the throne.
Greece had been conquered by the Seljuks and the Byzantine Empress was ruling a weak, black sea focused empire, so upon reconquering Thrace I was slightly disappointed to see that I couldn't move my capital there and spark a civil war between loyalists and rebels over who has the right to rule.
We really need more abilities to gain claims on the Byzantine Empire, as at the moment it is far too hereditary and nowhere near unstable enough.
Greece had been conquered by the Seljuks and the Byzantine Empress was ruling a weak, black sea focused empire, so upon reconquering Thrace I was slightly disappointed to see that I couldn't move my capital there and spark a civil war between loyalists and rebels over who has the right to rule.
We really need more abilities to gain claims on the Byzantine Empire, as at the moment it is far too hereditary and nowhere near unstable enough.
In short: none. There will always be some kind of usurpation at the beginning if you trace it. There will always have been other claimants, living deposed emperors and the like. This said, of all of them, the Doukas in the 1066 start do have the benefit of sharing the family name with the previous, "real" house Doukas, who enjoyed some legitimacy. Afterwards, in later starts, the Komnenoi will be respected as restorers and powerful rulers.
Check the history of the Empire of Byzantium title. The game calls all the ancient Roman emperors up to Theodesios I “House Augustus,” and the emperors from Arkadios up to the start of the seventh century "House Ton Romaion." This doesn’t make literal sense as royal houses (for one thing, Arkadios was Theodesios’ son); these are more titles than family names and reflect the approximate transition from Roman to Greek as the language of government. Since it’s a very partial list of the Roman Emperors, there basically to tell the game what numbering to use for an emperor named Tiberios or Konstantinos, there are more “Ton Romaion” emperors on the list than there are “Augustus” emperors, and therefore “Ton Romaion” is the most prestigious psuedo-dynasty of Byzantine emperors, with 1,330 points of family prestige. There are no living characters assigned to either house in the database, but you could create one using the Ruler Designer.
House Phokas is the house that boasts the earliest emperor and at least one living member; Doux Nikophoros of Charsianon is a distant relative of Emperor Nikophoros II. The Dukes of Provence are also distantly related to Leon VI. Maybe pick a favorite character from The Alexiad; Anna Komnene describes many of the plotters partially, but vividly.
House Phokas is the house that boasts the earliest emperor and at least one living member; Doux Nikophoros of Charsianon is a distant relative of Emperor Nikophoros II. The Dukes of Provence are also distantly related to Leon VI. Maybe pick a favorite character from The Alexiad; Anna Komnene describes many of the plotters partially, but vividly.
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This is how I do it. The book has so many good characters with thorough details of their deeds and personality.
Please list some good examples for those of us with poor knowledge of the subject.
Hmmh. There are many characters but I don't remember if they all hold land and if they do, where they are. At least the following have land in 1066-1081:
Georgios Palaiologos - the son of the starting ruler of Epeiros. Georgios was a very loyal ally of Alexios and instrumental in his rise to power. He also provided tactical insight to Anna when she was writing the book, describing Alexios' battles in great detail.
Nikephoros Bryennios - Usurped the Imperial throne in 1077. Considered the best tactician of his generation. Defeated by Alexios shortly before his rise to power and blinded. Continued in Imperial service despite his blindness. His son, also named Nikephoros, married Anna Komnene.
Robert and Bohemond d'Hauteville - Not Byzantines but featured very prominently in the book. Bohemond in particular is virtually the second protagonist of the book, described as a passionate master of intrigue with an undying love for waging war against Alexios. One of the few 'latins' for which Anna holds great respect despite his endless disturbance of peace.
Romanos IV - While he isn't featured in the book, his sons Leo and Nikephoros are. They served Alexios extensively, though Leo died in 1087 and Nikephoros several times attempted to assassinate Alexios for which he was blinded and exiled.
Theodore Gabras (Trebizond) - A very skilled commander who defended Trebizond against Seljuk hordes. Revolted against Alexios but was reinstated because of his skill.
That's some at least. There are also all the people who usurped the throne in post-Manzikert chaos. That is, Nikephoros Botaneiates, Konstantinos Doukas and Alexios himself.
^Virtually the majority of the douxes in-game, I assume, featured prominently in the Alexiad.