Do you hate your faction heir? Want a new one? Or do you have pesky usurpers in control of the crown? Want to reestablish the rightful king? Well, now you can! -Sort of- if you mod it in, anyways.

I am currently writing an AAR titled the Knights of Rhodes in SS6.4, which is heavily focused on individual characters and the family tree. In chapter 6 or 7, a usurper takes the throne while the original king's children are not of age, and does not give it up when they do come of age. I wanted to get rid of this guy, but the only way to do this was to have him be killed on the battlefield, abandoned and betrayed by friendly forces.

I have been thinking about real life power struggles and usurpers, and I got the following ideas:

-The king (player) is able to select a steward and an heir to the throne. If the king dies, the steward takes control until the children come of age, at which point he must give it up. If, however, his loyalty is low and his authority is high, this will cause civil unrest in the city where he is, possibly causing it to rebel if he is not killed. If the rightful heir is killed first, the steward becomes king and all cities and capital suffer unrest for a few turns. This would represent the conflict between a usurper and the rightful royal family.

-If the king has a brother whose loyalty is low and a very high authority compared to the rightful heir, he will attempt to usurp the throne in the same way as a steward.

-The king can nominate an heir other than his firstborn, but unless he has a high authority and his nominated heir is decent, there will be unrest, especially from the firstborn. When the king dies, if the firstborn has low loyalty, he will attempt to usurp the throne.

-If a king has a high reputation and his heir is worthless, there will be discontent in the capital. In this case if he dies and there is an outstanding family member somewhere close to the royal family, that family member can attempt to usurp.

-The player can choose to assassinate family members, but the king and heir loose authority, chivalry, and piety quickly if they do this.

I feel like these additions would add value to authority and loyalties, which are currently not very important. It would also provide a better and more accurate representation of royal politics and provide many avenues for AAR storytelling and immersion in general. The player would be granted some control over the process, but not entirely.