dHRR 0.8 Faction Previews Sicily and the Iberians (Aragon, Castile, Portugal)
Sicily
Tancred d’Hauteville certainly not was the most important of the Norman lords in France, but he was very successful in one thing, guess what…..
To find all those children, grand-children and great-grand-children a new home the Normans came to Italy, quickly subdued the local lords, expelled the Arabs and founded themselves a kingdom of their own….
….Well, that would be the short version. The longer version would include that in 1080 neither was all of southern Italy conquered by the Normans…
….nor had all the Arabs been expelled….
…and certainly no one was a king.
And even though there had been more urgent things to do in Italy, adventurous Normans already crossed the next sea to find themselves a new fight….
But those Normans not only were bloodthirsty berserkers, they also adopted what they thought useful from their Byzantine and Arabian forerunners and out of that formed one of the best administrated states in Medieval Europe. This state was a strange mixture of western feudalism and Byzantine and Arabic centralism. In fact the feudal lords were really suppressed in Sicily, what resulted in several uprisings and mass executions of nobles, right into Staufian times. So some special rules will apply when playing this faction:
When playing with Sicily you can appoint Emirs as governors for your towns. Emirs cannot be members of your family tree, but need to be generals recruited in southern Italy. So, whenever you need an Emir, recruit a general in one of those cities and he will acquire the title of an Emir. An Emir has a bonus in Tax and Law, but a penalty in Troop Moral.
The most able of those Emirs can be promoted to Kaid. This promotion is triggered by a simple "liked-by-the-king" system:
- When the king is chivalresque (i.e. has chivalry) an Emir with chivalry has a certain chance to be promoted to Kaid. The higher the Loyalty of the Emir, the higher the chance for promotion.
- When the king is dreaded (i.e. has dread) an Emir with dread has a certain chance to be promoted to Kaid. The higher the Loyalty of the Emir, the higher the chance for promotion.
- When the king is opportunistic (i.e. has neither dread nor chivalry) an Emir with no dread or chivalry has a certain chance to be promoted to Kaid. The higher the Loyalty of the Emir, the higher the chance for promotion.
The minimum age is 40.
Being Kaid makes them eligible to one of the two highest offices in the state:
Ammiratus Ammiratorum, the “emir of emirs”, who is the principal counsellor of the king, and Megas Logothetes, the Sicilian equivalent to a chancellor (yes, this wild mixture of Greek, Latin and Arabian titles is intended).
Both officers are Familiaris Regis, member of the royal household. The Familiares were the 'inner circle' of the government of Sicily. This was a very exclusive club to which noblemen and archbishops only had access occasionally. In dHRR besides these two only the faction heir will always be a member of the Familia. Besides that, any family member who is holding a title (either worldly or clerical) can acquire the status of a Familiaris. The lower the Authority of the faction leader the lower is the required Loyalty of the nobles to become Familiares. In return, all holders of titles that are not Familiares Regis can get a penalty in Loyalty.
Iberia
Welcome to Spain, where the Moors have disappeared from the south, the King of Aragon is not holding a single town in Aragon, the King of Castile and Leon has to do with everything north of the Duero, and no one is King of Portugal.
In Spain there are only two feudal titles that can be acquired by everyone: that of a Count of Coimbra on the Atlantic coast, and that of a Count of Barcelona on the other end of the Peninsula. All other lands in the north are kingdoms. There are six of them: Aragon, Pamplona, Castile, Leon, Galicia and Portugal. These titles are usually held by the faction leader, what is fine for him because it can give him a boost of Authority, but is not so good for the faction, because only one character might be able to get the local feudal in all towns.
A royal title in Spain is either held as faction leader-title or as “secondary royal title”. The faction leader-title is what it says: the title that is always held by the faction leader. For example, the faction leader of Castile always holds the title of a King of Castile. Besides this he can acquire any other royal title in Spain if his faction holds all towns belonging to that title (exception: Castile only needs to hold Leon to get that royal title); this is called the “secondary royal title”. Once acquired, a secondary royal title can be inherited in direct (father to son) lineage. This heir must not be identical with the faction heir. In case Alfonso had sons when he died but the faction heir would be his brother, this brother would only acquire the title of a King of Castile, the other two titles would be inherited by Alfonso’s sons. If he died without sons all three titles would pass to the next faction leader, provided Castile still holds Leon and Oviedo (Galicia).
That way it might happen that you have a character who is faction leader as king of Leon, Castile and Galicia; next generation the faction leader will be King of Leon and Castile only, while someone else is king of Galicia; and in another occasion someone will hold the crowns of Leon and Galicia while the faction leader is King of Castile only. Things like that were rather common in Medieval Spain.
This only applies to the three Iberian factions (and to Portugal only after becoming a kingdom). All other Christian faction will have normal counts’ and dukes’ titles available in northern Spain instead. In detail it looks like that:
Blue, County of Barcelona:
- All Christians: Count of Barcelona (Comes Barchinonensis)
Provinces: Barcelona (Katalan)
Orange, Kingdom of Aragon:
- Faction Aragon: King of Aragon (Rex Aragonensium), faction leader
- Faction Castile & Portugal: secondary royal title
- Other Christians: Comes de Aragone
Provinces: Huseca (Aragon), Zaragoza (Aragon)
Red, Kingdom of Navarra:
- Faction Aragon: Rex Pampilunensium, secondary royal title
- Faction Castile & Portugal: secondary royal title
- Other Christians: Dux Naverrorum
Provinces: Pamplona (Navarra)
Yellow, Kingdom of Castile:
- Faction Castile: Rex (totius) Castelle, faction leader
- Faction Aragon & Portugal: secondary royal title
- Other Christians: Comes in Castella
Provinces: Burgos (Castille), Toledo (Castille)
Purple, Kingdom of Leon:
- Faction Castile: Rex Leonum, secondary royal title
- Faction Aragon & Portugal: secondary royal title
- Other Christians: Dux Leonum
Provinces: Leon, Salamanca
Grey, Kingdom of Galicia:
- Faction Castile: Rex Gallecie, secondary royal title
- Faction Aragon & Portugal: secondary royal title
- Other Christians: Comes Gallecie
Provinces: Oviedo (Asturias) + the Count or King of Galicia also gets his bonus in Porto, but the title can only be acquired in Oviedo
White, County/Kingdom of Portugal:
- Faction Portugal: Comes/Rex Portugalensis, faction leader
- Faction Aragon & Castile: secondary royal title
- Other Christians: Comes Portugalensis
+ Coimbra (all Christians): Comes Eminio
Provinces: Porto (Portugal), Coimbra (Portugal), Lisbon (Portugal)
Another title that can be acquired by a Spanish faction leader is Imperator (totius) Hispaniae. To acquire this title a faction leader of a Spanish faction must hold three or more Iberian royal titles, and all lands belonging to the respective titles, of which one must be that of a King of Leon. That way the King of Castile might be the first one to acquire it after the conquest of Salamanca and Toledo. The Imperator Hispaniae also is the only one to get a local bonus in the green territories too. Otherwise this would be no-man’s land.
Each of these kingdoms has its own court. That way the faction leader of each Spanish faction is able to appoint officers for all his courts. There more royal titles he holds the more officers he can appoint. Our Alfonso, for example, would be able to appoint three constables, one for each kingdom he has.
The two highest ranking offices are that of an Alfaréz Mayor and of a Maior Domus. Each faction can only have one of that:
These are also the only two offices that are held by lifelong appointment.
Below that we have the offices of an Arm-Bearer (Armiger), Constable (Stabularius), a Butler (Botellarius) and Cup-Bearer (Pincerna). Of these offices there is one for each royal title, but this royal title must be held by the faction leader. The promotion happens by winning a battle (the military offices) or finishing a building (the administrative offices). When a character who already is holding an office acquires a new one he loses the old offices, giving him a bonus in Popularity. Requirement to become Alfaréz Mayor or Mairo Domus is to have held one of the lower ranking offices before.
Faction Portugal can only acquire secondary royal titles and appoint officers after becoming independent.
Portugal becomes a Kingdom
At the beginning of the game, Portugal is a county subjected to the King of Galicia. Portugal can become independent as soon as one of these three events became true:
(1) Portugal and Castile are at war with each other
(2) Castile is destroyed by a third party
(3) Castile is no longer holding Oviedo, but Portugal is still holding Porto.