Kind of destroyed my family tree....

[mattycraig1]

So I was playing as Genoa; I crusaded to Jerusalem With my faction heir at a young age and took it. He had three children and all was peachy, the line looked strong. Meanwhile back home I married a princess to a byzantine general, securing a lasting alliance against Venice. Back in Jerusalem The Egyptians allied with the Turks and effectivlly slaughtered half my family tree. My king then died of old age and the Byzantine general became king! despite the fact that there were other genoa generals with a better claim to the throne...now my Royal line is gone, so does this mean my royal line will now follow from my Byzantine general? To make matters worse, the crusades have left me with about 4-5 male family members, any idead how to bolster that number?

[DennisRoos]

Every person descended from your first king should have an "of ... blood" trait. Of Genoese in your case. When the current faction leader doesn't have biological sons, another family member (lets call him Bob) should become 'heir presumptive' I think. This means that in the event that your Genoese blooded king does not produces a heir, Bob will become regent and basically start his own line. If you have a family member that is of Genoese blood, but not descended from the king, it is possible he will become faction leader later because Bob did not produce a heir either. I don't know how these heir presumptives are chosen, so maybe it's just luck to get a true Genoese back on the throne.

EDIT: I noticed you married your princess to the current faction leader. If your princess was of Genoese Blood (descended from your original king), any children she and the Byzantine will get, will also be of Genoese blood. It makes sense as they will still be descended from that great Genoese doge, but in the female line.

To increase the size of your 'pure' Genoese family, try adopting few to no family members, as these will not be Genoese. If you have few family members, more royal children should be born.

As for a new royal line, the child of the heir presumptive (Bob) will be a true king with a new royal line, only this line will not have the 'of Genoese blood' trait. However, if this Byzantine fellow was part of the Byzantine royal family, he might have the 'of Byzantine blood' trait. This will also pass on to all his descendants.