I have heard that there are some bugs in this game along this level. I’m not sophisticated enough to pick up on them, but I’m glad you did. If its legit, I’ve got no problem identifying it and forcing the game to do it right.
That’s such a silly succession rule for kingdoms (and probably bugged) so I think you should go ahead and reload from an appropriate save.
Also, Jaime III ‘the Gentle’? LOL!
The explanation is that the heir to the Welsh crown was a Jimena female. I did not want her to get married and have the crown leave the clan. So I did a “safety” betrothal when she was a few years old to another Jimena who was not closely related to her.
Then her brother was born unexpectedly and I had planned to look for a better match, but I died.
You mentioned earlier about the surprise of finding a “random” Jimena courtier who was heir to the Kingdom of Burgundy. That was no accident. Your grandfather arranged the marriage and I pressed the claim to put the Queen on that throne. And I helped her put down many attempted usurptations. But they were rather petty wars and I didn’t mention them much. But a lot of Spanish soldiers spent some cold winters in the Alps and Alemania to support a foreign queen. 
I’m in favor of the minor cheating to get those kingdoms into our Empire. The game is quirky at times and I don’t have regrets using reloading saves or using the console to fix things. I wish there was a vassalization console command, but I don’t think there is.
My plan when putting Jimena’s in line for those thrones was that they’d willingly accept vassalization. I’ve done it before–you simply need a very diplomatic emperor and a bunch of relation bonuses to do it.
Mmm… maybe. To get that to work, you often need to be not just an Emperor, but the de Jure emperor of that kingdom. I’ve got a king of my dynasty whose relationship with me is 100, and he won’t accept vassalization. I fought two wars to put the guy on the throne, but he won’t do accept. It’s still a pretty good deal, having a King of my dynasty who’ll frequently support me in wars, but not as good as having him as my vassal.
Thanks. That makes sense.
Well, frankly, you and granddad Appleciders should have mentioned it (I looked up your posts and didn’t find a comment about this heir of Bourgogne). It would be a shame that two générations work on a goal and the third (me) let it go because I didn’t know about it. There are so many Jiménez that I probably wouldn’t have noticed this heirloom if I hadn’t been checking for inheritances each time I was granting a title (in order to avoid granting a second title to an heir), and if I hadn’t picked this particular Jimenez as a potential candidate for a title.
So, you didn’t intend to grant him any title.
All things considered, I won’t “cheat”. First because I went over the deception of seeing this event I had ben waiting for not happening, second because I would feel that my reign would be “tainted”, third because meanwhile I tested several scenarios at high speed, and it feels really like cheating when you’ve checked the alternatives and know what to expect. And finally because we still have a card up our sleeve with the sister who is at the moment heir to the crown.
As for the results of my tests : the king won’t accept vassalization. “I’m a king” is a -5 modifier for vassalization attempts (and -5 modifiers in fact mean “impossible”, you can’t cancel them, regardless how many positive modifiers you have). Also, although I could pick him as heir, when I tried I got almost no vote for him. I think the fact he’s now a foreigner plays a part. I simply ran the game at high speed, not doing anything, so maybe I could convince some nobles to vote for him but it’s too risky. I’m older than 60 and could die at any moment, leaving, say, Castille to the King of Wales, Portugal and Aragon to my current chosen successor and having as actual successor for Hispania the 60+ yo duke of Aragon, particularly unremarkable but who still gets a large number of votes in his cell for no obvious reason I can discern (actually at the moment he’s tied with Tello II whose election relies on my tie-breaking vote). And he has 0 in diplomacy while Tello II currently has 25 (down from 32). I’ve no clue how the electors choose their candidates.
Curiosity made me reload as both the duke of Aragon and Tello II. The duke of Aragon has very good relations with his electors, but Tello II’s are even better in all cases. So, it will stay a mystery. I wonder if you can strain relationship between vassals. Maybe by giving each one a baronny in the other’s territory? And could someone explain again how to properly use the “sow dissent” action? I’m still unclear about it.
All Pleonast, or else someone ahead of me. I don’t tend to think about those sorts of things-- I play the game much more as a conqueror than a breeder-- and I didn’t swing any of those sorts of deals.
1315
There was another vassal I had an issue with. The prince archbishop of Cordoba, Artal I of Algarve. The problem was that his primary title being in Algarve, Portuguese law applied to him. Which means he was invested by the Pope. And he would never pay taxes to me, nor send soldiers. So, I began to plot his revocation. Sometimes, plots don’t get much support, but this one was really popular with the nobility. He bowed down, becoming simple duke of Algarve while i was getting my hands on the county of Cordoba. This being a very wealthy province (six holdings) I would have wanted to keep it to myself, but as a bishopric, it was the wrong demesne type. So, “I promoted” the baron Sancho of Alcolea (also a correct general), making of Cordoba a regular county again.
Barely a month later, Artal attempted to murder a baron. Since he didn’t like me much anymore following the loss of his bishopric, and was an elector, I thought it was a good opportunity to have him arrested. I failed, however, and he revolted. I levied about 20 000 men from my vassals, took the lead and moved my army towards Algarve.
The old and senile king of Wales Mael the cruel (or his regent) declared war on the king of Scotland for the county of Dublin. Now, Scotland being about as powerful as Wales, victory wasn’t guaranteed. And I looked favorably upon enlarging Hispanian future heirloom. On the other hand, I was already involved in two wars, and I was afraid that a third one could cause some potential enemy to attack me. Still, I offered my help, and began to gather an “expeditionary corps” made up of the levy of the duke of Ulster and part of my own men.
And on March 25, the king of Wales finally died, succeeded by my half brother Mendo, who had just became an adult (and unfortunately in this case, had been taught the ins and outs of diplomacy by Tello II, making him a popular king). To my utter surprise, he didn’t stay a vassal of the Empire of Hispania. There was apparently no way the meager barony he was holding in Hispania would prevent him from preferring independence.
Now, I had to figure out how to get Wales eventually back into the fold. A mere claim war on behalf of her sister Aragonta would only result in her becoming a still independent queen of Wales (and being a woman, I couldn’t grant her directly any Hispanian title). So, I married her to a reasonably competent relative, Juan Gomez Jimenez. Their male children could make viable pretenders. Mendo also took a wife almost immediately. Before the end of the year, both women were pregnant.
In order to avoid a similar issue with the crown of Bourgogne, I made Gomez of Urgell, heir to this throne, king of Aragon. This will certainly be an issue for my successor(s), since he will be a powerful vassal, will certainly try to take over Aragonese counties and, with a kingdom spamming from the Alps to Poland to Jerusalem and bordering as a result about every single major power in the known world, he will certainly get himself into a lot of troubles. Also, there’s the risk of a premature death. He’s only in his 30s but stressed. And if he were to die, while his eldest son would become heir of Bourgogne, the crown of Aragon, elective since the rule of Sancho I three centuries ago, would go to…the duke of Aragon again, who somehow becomes a favourite in all elections. I envisioned making Gomez my heir, but it is unlikely I could manage a general agreement of the electors of Hispania, Portugal and Castille on his name and besides, being a very ordinary man, he would make a poor king.
I tried to become an elector for the crown of Aragon to help picking the “right” candidate. The most convenient way to do that was to have the duke of Barcelona (actually ruling the county of Faro in the South, while I’m the count of Barcelona, and currently a resident of my jails) killed. But I couldn’t find much support within his court. I had his spymaster and most fervent supporter murdered, but it didn’t help. I tried to introduce by marriage people faithful to me in his court, but they discovered they liked the duke as soon as they joined it. So, in September, I put an end to my futile plot.
On June 5, the king of France prevailed in his war against Denmark (the kingdom of France version 3.0., including Denmark and bits of Norway and Sweden)
On the Scottish front, my army had arrived, and while Mendo of Wales was besieging Dublin, I beat a Scottish army at the battle of Forres in August. The king of Scotland died, leaving his throne to a child. After only some months, the war was fought between the heirs of the ones who had started it. I sent my army to besiege Scone, the capital of Scotland.
In October, I took the castle of the duke of Algarve. I stripped him of his ducal title. However, the dukedom of Algarve being made of only two counties, Silves and Faro, I could only grant it to the count of Faro and duke of Barcelona (the one I had tried to murder until the previous month) or to someone without any holding in this duchy, which would probably cause troubles at some point. So, I kept the ducal title for myself, thinking that my heir could grant it to someone when he’ll have to face the difficulties of the first years of a reign. I kept the former prince archbishop of Cordoba, former duke of Algarve, and now count of Silves locked up. Somehow, he really didn’t like me at this point.
In November I inherited the barony of Manresa, in my county of Barcelona, from a childless vassal. I granted it to Julian, a lowborn who was particularly competent with money. The same month, I asked for a vote to raise city taxes to a harsh level, a proposal which was adopted in December. If I live for 5 more years, I intend to decrease the mostly useless city levies.
During this year, the queen of Bourgogne had lost, not surprisingly, her war against the Kaiser for Würzburg. On the other hand, she had won the war against the archbishop of Dauphine. She had also lost three of her five provinces in the Holy land to the Hazaraspids. How, I don’t know, since there hadn’t been any war. To revolts, maybe?
Normally I’d say that there was a revolt and the Hazaraspids snapped them up, but it’s also conceivable that those nobles converted to Islam and the Hazaraspids vassalized them directly.
In the second case, you mean also after a successful revolt?
I was thinking of a peasant revolt. I’m not sure what happens when they succeed since it never happened in one of my game, but I would assume the province becomes independent with a new ruler of the same religion/culture as the population. Is that correct?
1316
Queen Nuñada of Galicia, my quiet and content vassal, dies. She is succeeded by her son, the sickly Piñolo I who is significantly less fond of me. King, twice duke and three times count. Someone else I will have to keep an eye on. Fernan IV, duke of Aragon, finally dies in my dungeons, aged 66. His duchies are shared between Pedro I (Murcia) and Fernan V (Aragon). Fernan V hates me for much of the same reasons his father did (he wants a bunch of counties), but, hopefully will be less popular amongst electors. In fact, the first vote is cast in favor of the son of the current king of Aragon (second in line for the kingdom of Bourgogne), by his father. However, he’s still not the heir apparent.
The queen of Wales and my half sister Aragonta both give birth to daughters. No possible claimant yet, and my half sister is rather chaste.
In March, I leave a token force to besiege Scone, while most of my army is shipped in time to participate in the battle of Elgin between the kings of Wales and Scotland. Following this victory and a second minor battle in Atholl, the Scottish army is annihilated. I resume the full scale siege of Scone. In may, I take the first fortress of this province.
In April, the Byzantine Emperor Basileios the Ill-ruler (I assume called this way for having lost most of his empire to the Mongols) joins the Holy Roman Emperor in his defensive war against the Fatimid sultan Usama I. I notice that a lot of significant rulers (the queen of Sweden, the doges of Genoa and Pisa, the king of Hungary and many others) had joined the fight, this being a Shia holy war.
In May I notice that a 7 yo count, called Osorio, has somehow managed to inherit three counties : Castelo Branco and Bragança in Portugal and Algeciras (Gibraltar). Too many for my taste. I plot the revocation of Algeciras. His regent refuses my ultimatum, so war it is. I enlist the levies of the nearby vassals.
In August, Thiebaut, heir presumptive of the king of France and my son-in-law, dies, putting an end to my alliance with France. While my daughter Petronila comes back to Burgos, I contemplate how useless this dynastic marriage has been. While writing this chronicle, I realize I could betroth my son to princess Pernette, heiress to the kingdom of France or my daughter to Waldemar, heir to the Holy Roman Empire, but I’m 63 already and this alliance would last only until my death, since Tello is only a first cousin once removed. Is it worth it? On the other hand, I might live another 5,10,15 years, who knows? Then such an alliance could come in handy (or bring me into another sovereign’s problems). I’ll have to think about that.
I win a first battle against the count Osorio in Aljaraque in August, a second in Almeida in September, a third in Coimbra in October. After that, all of the count’s armies have been eliminated, and I’m besieging all his holdings. In Scotland, Dunkeld falls.
On December 21, Usama I surrenders to the Kaiser, who keeps his holdings in the Sinai. I finally have finished building economic improvements in the barony of Mistretta, and begins doing the same in the city of Misilmeri (both being new holdings I created in Palermo at the beginning of my reign) . I also completed stables in Burgos and begins the improvement of the castle town. These Advanced buildings are taking forever to be completed.
Since this year was relatively uneventful, I can resume the attribution of proper mentors to noble girls of the Empire, something I didn’t have the time to take care of since the war for Tripolitania.
1317
All things considered, I betroth my 11 yo daughter Aldonza to prince Waldemar, heir to the Holy Roman Empire. My old days are covered.
I forgot to mention previously that according to a long tradition, while I waged war against Scotland, one of my vassal dukes (this time the duke of Toledo) started a revocation war against one of his vassals (this time the countess of Molina). This war had been going on for almost two years, and would went on during all the year 1317 too.
On January 8, I take Bragança. Count Osorio has to surrender Algeciras.
On January 24, Perth, last holding in Scone, is taken, and I turn my attention to the county of Dunbar. But the young king of Scotland surrenders on February 2, giving the county of Dublin to Mendo I of Wales. I ship my levies home. The Empire is finally at peace.
Not for long. Since my truce with Pisa ended almost 3 years ago, I had my eyes on Malta, key to the kingdom of Sicily (in fact, becoming king of Sicily had been my main objective all along my reign). Ironically enough, the doge of Pisa sends me a message in March, proposing that I start an embargo war against Venice. My response is a declaration of war.
Contrarily to my state of mind when I waged war on Pisa for the first time at the beginning of my reign, when I wasn’t yet accustomed to command the large armies of the Hispanian Empire, I’m very confident. Our force is overwhelming. I call all the levies except those of the two dukes whose army I had used during the war against Scotland.
The first battle (and victory, of course) takes place in Pisa in July, but it’s a small sideshow by a small army that happened to be transported nearby when the Pisans were noticed. Similarly, the army of the duke of Sicily begins early on to besiege Syracuse, a Pisa-owned city in Hispanian Sicily.
A very large Pisan army is crushing a revolt in Malta, and that’s where I send most of my forces, for an epic battle that won’t take place since Pisans reembark and disperse their army in several places. I leave 14 000 men to besiege Malta, and send fleets and armies in pursuit of the Pisans. The (less epic than planned) main battle will take place in Catanzaro, where the largest Pisan army has landed. As I always do, I of course personally lead the center. On August 17, Pisans are dispersed in a resounding victory, while some days ago Syracuse had been taken by force by the duke of Sicily, and some days after another Pisan army will be defeated in Corsica. It’s time to begin sieges, which are facilitated by the fact that the main holdings of Pisa’s counties are poorly defended cities.
Toward the end of August, the new baron of Manresa dies childless too. It seems this barony doesn’t bring luck. I will search for a new baron later. On August 31, the Fatimid Caliph declares war on the Shah. That is great news. While the two main Muslim rulers will be at each other throats, I will be able to finally attack the Fatimids. Still, I have a war to win right now.
With overwhelming force, I take Napoli and Sliema (Malta) in September. As I prepare to land my main army against the remaining Pisan forces, the doge surrenders. For some reason, doges are always more reasonable than noblemen who tend to fight to the bitter end. Or this doge is, at least. It’s not like I fought many other, Rolando I having been doge of Pisa since the beginning of my reign.
Malta is transfered to the duke of Sicily (I really must keep an eye on him) and I solemnly proclaim myself KING OF SICILY, a title without a holder for about 150 years, and an achievement long waited for, after a war that lasted only 6 months. I immediately elect Tello II as my successor, obviously.
After having disbanded my armies, I wouldn’t do anything else during the rest of the year. I had been searching mentors for Hispanian noble girls during the last year or so, and I wanted to finish that before starting my holy war against the Fatimids. I intended to do that on a regular basis, and also take care of marriages, and inviting talented people to the court, but in fact in 18 years or so, I only had time to do it once for boys and this one time for girls. I expect to finally take care of invitations and marriages during the presumably long war against the Fatimids that I’m planning for. There are a lot of nobles and courtiers who shouldn’t stay celibate. While searching for mentors, I notice there still are two Danish barons in the Empire. Again, where did those Danes came from? I also notice that my half-sister is pregnant again. Maybe a boy, this time?
Queen Osterhild of Bourgogne is now nicknamed “the old”. Well, no surprise here. I’ve been expecting her imminent death since the beginning of my reign. She’s now 67.
In October, the emperor of Byzance votes for himself as my successor as king of Sicily. I wasn’t expecting that. Within the borders of the de jure kingdom of Sicily, there are four byzantine counties (none directly owned by the Basileus), three of them forming the duchy of Lukania. All other potential duchies are shared or haven’t been created by me. So, I was expecting only three electors : my vassal the duke of Sicily, the Byzantine duke of Lukania and myself. The emperor of Byzance having a vote is really annoying. The duke of Lukania could very well vote for him and have him elected. I understand that I must fix this situation, either by conquering another Sicilian duchy, or by creating the duchy of Calabria and granting it to someone reliable, or, preferably, both. Yet another task to accomplish.
In November, I turn 65.
In December, the king of Hungary declares a holy war against the doge of Venice. Nothing important…wait…a holy war??? It turns out that the doge is a Lollard. I wish I had noticed that. There’s this Venetian county which happens to be part of de jure Sicily.
1318
Despite having more important matters to attend to, according to all my advisers, I stubbornly keep on taking care of mentoring female nobles. Until June, in fact.
On February 4, my half sister gives birth to a boy 
Finally, my next objective won’t be the Fatimid empire (more precisely the emirate of Tangiers) but rather Wales.
On February 11, Osterhild of Bourgogne dies peacefully, and Gomez of Aragon inherit her crown. It seems that I’m going to see all plans come to fruition. The new king of Aragon and Burgundy (changed from Bourgogne, apparently) moves his capital to Bern. And immediately begins to revoke vassals. Obviously, dealing with this over powerful vassal is going to be difficult. But meanwhile, let’s admire the new extent of the Empire of Hispania (my pointer is on two barely visible counties in the holy land).
In March, the “Ill ruler” Basileus passes away, leaving the throne of Byzance (which hasn’t been owning Byzance in a while, the capital is in southern Armenia now) to a child, Konstantinos XII.
In May, the Kaiser dies in turn, only aged 52. My (future) son in law Waldemar I takes the throne as expected. It begins to look like an epidemic, all rulers I dealt with during all of my reign dying. I joke to myself that I probably won’t pass the year. I forgot to mention that Pope Clement III had died in 1317, after a short and uneventful reign, succeeded by Leo X.
At the end of June, I finish with the mentoring, and begins to go through the numerous massages that had accumulated. The first thing I do is raising the levies of the duke of Sicily, since a peasant revolt has erupted in Leptis Magna I’ll use his army to quash it down.
The next thing is the throne of Wales. My plan is simple. First, plotting the assassination of Mendo (what a shame to have to murder my promising half brother. I’d rather had him rule as my vassal). Once this will be done, and her daughter will have inherited, I will make the baby Gomez, second in line of succession, count of Porto and king of Portugal. I will then have his baby cousin murdered and he will bring the crown of Wales into the fold of the empire. If it turns out that I can’t find enough accomplice at the court of Wales, I guess I will have to resort to a claim war.
It turns out that there are numerous people in Wales who would like to see Mendo disappear. I begin to receive their agreement to take part in my plot.
Final comments :
Those 19 years of reign were way longer than the 50 years of my first reign. I had never played a game ruling a large empire, and it’s a lot of work. Less tedious than I expected it to be apart from the “raising the armies and moving them where they are needed” part. There are always things to do. The Hispanian army is impressive. Kicking the ass of the Fatimids shouldn’t be a problem, now. I guess the problem will be keeping the Empire together and with Burgundy part of it, maybe having to fight back France or the HRE. Having the same ruler elected in all kingdoms might be a problem too, assuming that my successors want to keep the elective system and/or the sub-kingdoms in existence.
By the way, if you look closely at my death Windows, you will notice the message "King Gomez I of Aragon has founded the independence faction. He didn’t wait for a minute. Fortunately, Tello has good stats, and an incredible diplomacy, and with better advisers and I guess a better spouse, his “State” stats should be impressive. I suspect he might need then.
I also figured out why my father had left me with so many unused technology points. In fact, he didn’t, those were mine, presumably accumulated by my character before I began playing him.
Some things I wanted to remind my successor of : there’s a peasant revolt in Leptis Magna (in case he would be busy and wouldn’t notice it). And crown laws are different in Portugal (high crown authority and Pope investiture). For some reason, I couldn’t change them in that realm. I guess the issue of the inheritance of Wales is worth remembering, if he didn’t read my posts. And also, if he needs money, there’s still this countess (it used to be a count, but she inherited from him) who is absurdly wealthy. One of these “will do later” things I never took care of.
Score panel with all the rulers we had so far appearing.
Demesne is 16/9? What was your stewardship score?
I had 8 (and 5 at the beginning of my reign). But this 16/9 refers to my successor, in fact. At the moment of my death, I was at 12/10 (my wife had 16 in stewardship), because being busy with this mentoring thing, I hadn’t yet attributed two spare titles (generally speaking, except at the beginning, I tried not to have more titles than I could handle.).
Since my heir had three counties and a barony of his own, it adds up to 16. He has 10 in stewardship and his wife 7.
The complete formula for him is : base : 1 emperor rank x4 ruler stewardship bonus +1 Legalism +4 = 9
IIRC the way it works you need a “ruler stewardship” (your stewardship and half of your spouse stewardship) of :
7 for 1 bonus title
14 for 2
20 for 3
27 for 4 (for instance, you have 17 in Stewardship and you pick a spouse with 20)
34 for 5 (remotely possible. After all, my successor has 25 in diplomacy. The same score in stewardship and a wife with 18 would get him this +5 bonus)
40 for 6 (just for the record, at this point)
I did:
That’s the lands that the next ruler inherited plus the ones that he had already.
Also, my heir has three king and 4 duke titles, and could create 1 more kingdom and 4 more dukedoms if he wanted to. He could hand out duchies like candy if he felt like that. Whether this is a good idea or not…Up to him, I guess.
(FTR he has 14 counties and 2 baronies)
Thanks for the very detailed story, clairobsuro!
Is France still a collection of kingdoms and not an empire? They must qualify, unless they’re short on cash or piety. They are easily the greatest threat to our Empire.
It’s amusing how, now that we’re easily strong enough to take out the Fatimids, European politics keeps us from doing so.
Ok, I should have been more attentive, I guess (and you wrote much less than me)