Question regarding possible war getting cancelled, also curious blind / castrate. (2.4.5)

[PwnedByBadger]

First off I'm playing on 2.4.5 because I'm a scrub and find the update to annoying now. So I've finally decided to try a serious byzantine ironman after destroying them a dozen times in norse playthroughs. I've taken most of north africa and almost to the caspian, feeling pretty good about it. So far I've put the Abbasid and the Umayyads in their place a couple times each, it's been a good day. My issue is my bro Leon is now 61 and we just took Alexandra in a holy war while the Abbasids are in a middle of a decadence revolt. Their army size is about equal so I'm very tempted to break my truce and declare again to wipe the army of Mr. Abbasid and force the revolt to win for obvious reasons. If I declare and the revolt wins, will my war be invalidated? Same question about Leon dying because coffee isn't kicking in and I don't remember. I wouldn't be TOO upset if it was and the empire "fractured" but I also would kind of like Jerusalem, it's fancy and I want it.

Second question, what exactly is the point of blind / castrate? For a while I was blinding people who revolted and who had heirs while castrating the ones that didn't however I don't really see the point outside of RP reasons when I could just ransom. It just seems that they'll join another revolt faction later on but either be more upset because they keep running into chairs or don't like the fact I have a VERY unique necklace at this point. Don't get me wrong, I love mutilation as much as the next guy and have a collection of various bits of my enemies on the palace's mantle but gold to fund the expansion is also kind of nice.

Please forgive any atrocious spelling or grammar, English is my first language but it still scares and confuses me to this day.

 

[StarSword]

First off I'm playing on 2.4.5 because I'm a scrub and find the update to annoying now. So I've finally decided to try a serious byzantine ironman after destroying them a dozen times in norse playthroughs. I've taken most of north africa and almost to the caspian, feeling pretty good about it. So far I've put the Abbasid and the Umayyads in their place a couple times each, it's been a good day. My issue is my bro Leon is now 61 and we just took Alexandra in a holy war while the Abbasids are in a middle of a decadence revolt. Their army size is about equal so I'm very tempted to break my truce and declare again to wipe the army of Mr. Abbasid and force the revolt to win for obvious reasons. If I declare and the revolt wins, will my war be invalidated? Same question about Leon dying because coffee isn't kicking in and I don't remember. I wouldn't be TOO upset if it was and the empire "fractured" but I also would kind of like Jerusalem, it's fancy and I want it.

http://www.ckiiwiki.com/Casus_Belli#Decadence_Invasion

If victorious, the decadence revolt takes the top-level title of the defender and any occupied holdings and counties. I expect that since you declared war on the Abbasid emperor, the war will continue against him even if he loses the empire, unless your war target becomes independent as a result of title loss. If that happens, the war might end inconclusively due to "liege change for defender", but given you're probably using a holy war it might continue against the new ruler instead.

Second question, what exactly is the point of blind / castrate? For a while I was blinding people who revolted and who had heirs while castrating the ones that didn't however I don't really see the point outside of RP reasons when I could just ransom. It just seems that they'll join another revolt faction later on but either be more upset because they keep running into chairs or don't like the fact I have a VERY unique necklace at this point. Don't get me wrong, I love mutilation as much as the next guy and have a collection of various bits of my enemies on the palace's mantle but gold to fund the expansion is also kind of nice.

Here's the non-RP reason for it. With Greek culture, blindness or castration disqualifies the victim from succession (the reason for the latter should obvious: they can't produce an heir without their junk). It can be a useful tactical move if you capture somebody's heir.