I'd like to submit a theme that - I reckon - hasn't been debated yet, though I find it would add some depth to CKII's mechanics : regencies.
In CK - as in history - it was really common to have kings who would inherit their reign at a very young age (some even in their very first age of life). In those cases, the reign would be de facto led by a regent - most likely, the queen mother, a direct uncle/cousin of the ruler, or the most influent courtier (in in-game dynamics, we could roughly translate it with character's prestige, but that may be argued).
It would be great to include such dynamics in the game, making clear, whenever a realm is led by a baby king (>16 y.o.), who is really in charge of the realm (and let his/her statistic count as the ruler’s for the regency period) : this might have heavy consequences, especially on vassals' loyalty, considering that the rise to power of a “child” as king is, in itself, a real threat for any vassal who considers declaring independency.
For example, a kingdom ruled by a sober and pious but weak-willed ex-steward as regent will probably have some trouble in maintaining order and loyalty ; if the regent is an unpopular bastard uncle, realm duress is assured during the regency period. On the contrary, if the regent is a wise yet strong-willed and cunning clergymen or a beloved Queen Mother, the transition period would be more smooth and even prosperous.
This will also have three consequences :
A similar dynamic could be reproduced also for acting kings, who are in charge of the kingdom when when the king is unavailable (ex. leading an army at war, or "severely wounded")
In CK - as in history - it was really common to have kings who would inherit their reign at a very young age (some even in their very first age of life). In those cases, the reign would be de facto led by a regent - most likely, the queen mother, a direct uncle/cousin of the ruler, or the most influent courtier (in in-game dynamics, we could roughly translate it with character's prestige, but that may be argued).
It would be great to include such dynamics in the game, making clear, whenever a realm is led by a baby king (>16 y.o.), who is really in charge of the realm (and let his/her statistic count as the ruler’s for the regency period) : this might have heavy consequences, especially on vassals' loyalty, considering that the rise to power of a “child” as king is, in itself, a real threat for any vassal who considers declaring independency.
For example, a kingdom ruled by a sober and pious but weak-willed ex-steward as regent will probably have some trouble in maintaining order and loyalty ; if the regent is an unpopular bastard uncle, realm duress is assured during the regency period. On the contrary, if the regent is a wise yet strong-willed and cunning clergymen or a beloved Queen Mother, the transition period would be more smooth and even prosperous.
This will also have three consequences :
- Intrigues should be possible even at regent’s level – if the regent of the kingdom X despises my king, I might have a good reason to kill him, hoping for a more friendly regent to be appointed. Or, if I want to try to shatter my neighbor’s realm, I might just slay his mommy regent, knowing that in his court there is no other character that could assure realm stability.
- Regent, especially if they’re members of the dynasty and if they’re next in the line of succession, should have a way of usurping the legitimate king’s power or arrange succession lines in their favor ; in this case, they should also be more likely to try to scheme a plot for killing the rightful king, if they could benefit from his death.
- If the player’s dynasty is under a regency period, the player could lose the control over certain functionalities, that will be taken over by AI. When the king becomes more aged (13-14), he could maybe have all his prerogatives back, but with the possibility, at any time, of an event of the kind “Your regent strongly disagrees with your opinion”, in wich the player could chose to overrule him (the king gains the trait “stubborn”, strong possibility to have an enemy in the regent, possibility to have realm duress and even minor possibility to get killed), try to insist politely (could turn well or bad, minor possibilities to have either a friend or an enemy in the regent) or to accept the regent’s will (the king gains the trait “weak-willed” and loses prestige).
A similar dynamic could be reproduced also for acting kings, who are in charge of the kingdom when when the king is unavailable (ex. leading an army at war, or "severely wounded")
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