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Deus Vult! - Royal Family Rules

The Heir-Apparent

Royal Families in Deus Vult! are handled slightly differently than standard LOTE games. First and foremost, players are traditionally allowed to choose the successors to the King by designating an 'Heir' leader. However, this leader slot cannot be activated until the potential heir reaches age 15. There are also no hard and fast rules to deciding what happens when a King passes over one Heir for another. In Deus Vult! a new term is being added: The Heir-Apparent. The Heir-Apparent is automatically determined in the following order:

The King's Oldest Son
The King's Oldest Brother
The King's Oldest Uncle

Higher on the list replaces lower, so once a King has a Male Child, he becomes the Heir-Apparent in the place of the brother or uncle. As long as their is An Heir-Apparent in place, the nation does not suffer the hefty penalty to Dynastic Failure, though an underage Heir still carries a minor penalty. Heir-Apparents who are at least 15 years of age may be appointed as H leaders. H leaders who lose the Heir-Apparent status (Either automatically or through the King's Appointment) revert to the Royal Family section.

Prince vs. Heir Leaders

Normally some nation types are allowed an Heir [H] Leader. In Dues Vult! these nation types are instead granted an extra Prince [P] Leader slot. The line of succession is instead traced by the Heir-Apparent moniker. If the Heir-Apparent is appointed to a Prince slot, only then do they become an [H] type leader. This is to avoid cases where a Nation appoints the King's three brothers to Leader Slots (Two Princes and an Heir) and later has a Royal son. His brother appointed to the H slot is no longer eligible for that slot, and would be forced back into the Royal Family. Now, the ex-Heir-Apparent would merely revert to a P leader.

Underage Heirs

When an Heir-Apparent successfully becomes King while still below the age of fifteen, instead of becoming a 'K' leader and given a slot, a Regent leader will be appointed from amongst the court. Each Leader and Family Member eligible for the Regent position will make a modified Charisma Check. The one with the Highest Success Effect becomes Regent. If no leader successfully makes the Charisma check, a new Regent is randomly generated.

When the King reaches 15 years of age, the Regent immediately performs a Loyalty Check. If the Regent Passes the Check, he steps down and the young King is appointed to the 'K' slot. The Regent then returns to his role before becoming Regent, or returns to the Royal Family. If the Regent fails the Loyalty Check, however, they attempt to remain in power. Every turn thereafter, an opposed Charisma check between the Regent and the King is performed. Until the King can defeat the Regent in the check, the Regent remains on the throne while the 'true' King finds himself isolated from the court. Once this happens, players may opt to appoint one of the Regent's sons as Heir-Apparent. They may simply wish to wait out the struggle. They may wish to assassinate the disloyal regent and speed things along.

Death Without an Heir

In the rare case that there is no Heir-Apparent when a King dies, the court immediately undergoes Charisma Checks per the above chart. The Leader or Royal with the highest successful Charisma check becomes the official Heir-Apparent. While this will save the nation from the drastic penalty of No Heir in the Dynastic Failure Check, it can still receive the penalty for an Heir not related by blood or of the wrong sex. If there is simply no Heir-Apparent, and the nation passes the Dynastic Failure Check, a new randomly generated Dynasty comes into power. A married King with one unmarried Male son fifteen years the junior. If the nation does not pass the Dynastic Failure Check, then the chips will fall where they may.

Appointing a New Heir-Apparent

A player may wish to circumvent the automatic appointment of the Heir-Apparent and choose their own successor. In this case, the King may undertake a Leader Action to do so:

Appoint Heir-Apparent
Type: Leader Action
Stat: Charisma
Code: AHA
Cost: 5 APs
Requirement: Must be undertaken in the capital.

The leader attempts to negotiate a different successor to his Empire than tradition dictates. If successful, the target becomes the new Heir-Apparent to the Kingdom. Keep in mind that an Heir-Apparent outside of the bloodline, of the female sex, or of a different religion carries penalties to the Dynastic Failure Check. If the King is taking away the Heir-Apparent title from an existing leader, that leader's loyalty decreases by one, even if the check fails. If the check does fail, the King is not able to sway the court to accept his successor, and must abandon the effort, or try again on following turns.

Female Leaders

Females may not normally be appointed to leader positions by the player. Deus Vult! is an age where chauvinism is strong. Only when a female manages to become Heir-Apparent, Regent, or Ruler of a Nation will they be appointed to a Leadership position. Keep in mind that to become these, they must pass the above mentioned Charisma checks with the hefty penalty. So the occurrence will likely be rare. A second exception is that of Legendary Beauties. These women have enough Charisma and Guile to forge their own way. Instead of arranging a Legendary Marriage with the woman, they may be appointed as a Leader.

Whenever a male leader dies, all of his unmarried daughters must immediately perform a Charisma check. If they fail the check, then they are removed from the stat sheet. The girl fades into obscurity. Women who pass the Charisma check are allowed to remain on the sheet, and are eligible for royal marriages as normal. The same check must be made by women whose husbands perish. If they can pass the Charisma/Guile check, then they retain political clout and return to their original nation, eligible for another marriage.

Having Children

Every turn between the ages of 20 and 40, a free Have Children Action is performed by the King. If at any point, the King is in the capital during the turn, and the King is married, the Have Children action is undertaken with the Royal Spouse. The union of the action is considered a legitimate Heir. If, on the other hand, the King is not married, or the King does not spend any APs within the capital, the Have Children action is undertaken without a Royal Spouse, and any children produced are illegitimate and not eligible for the Heir-Apparent title unless the King undertakes the AHA action directly. These children may be appointed to leader slots and married off as normal.

The only Leader Types allowed to run the Have Children action are the King/Queen, Heir, and Prince leaders. Direct HC actions may only be performed in the capital city. HC actions may only be performed in tandem with RULE and Administer actions.

Royal Educations

Royal Children may be educated in two fashions - through a royal education action run by another national leader, and through the national religious institution with the EDU Religious Operation. The LeaderAction can target Combat, Diplomacy, Charisma or Administration, and is taken in tandem with any action of the appropriate skill check. While the leader action is being run, the royal child accompanies the leader performiung the action, and is subject to the same leader fate, loyalty and vapture results as the leader. In addition, a poor roll can actually decrease the royal child's statistics. Education through the church can be granted to royal sons or legendary beauties only, regular daughters may not benefit. Target Statistics are Diplomacy, Charisma, Administration and Loyalty. Like the leader action, a critical failure may result in a statistic decrease. Children who have been educated by a leader will have their family notes section dignated with a [ROY] suffix, while those educated through the church will be marked with [EDU]. Once the royal child turns 20 years of age, they may not benfit from any further education. Each royal child may only benefit from one leader education and one religious education.

Oligarchies and Democracies

These two Government types do not traditionally have Heir leaders. As such, they will not have access to the Heir-Apparent rules. Instead, when a King dies, each eligible leader undertakes a Charisma check. The person with the highest success rate becomes the new K Leader. Note: As long as there is a successful Charisma Check made, these Nation Types do not suffer the traditional penalties for not having an Heir Leader ascending the throne. However, if no leader succeeds in the Charisma Check to become the next Ruler, the leader with the smallest margin of failure becomes the new Ruler, and the nation does suffer a penalty to the Dynastic Failure Check. These Government types may marry their Kings and Princes and Royals as normal to gain a benefit to Diplomacy or a Special Marriage Effect. However, when a Leader dies, all Royal Offspring of that leader who are unmarried are deleted from the stat sheet. Leaders who are married remain on the sheet until the marriage ends.

New Dynasties

While more common for Oligarchy and Democracies, it is also possible for new King leaders to appear out of the background to assume the role of leadership in a nation. Whenever a new K/Q leader does so, they will automatically come with a spouse, as well as a son 15 years the junior of the King. Depending on the age of the new King, more children may be available as well.

Dynastic Failure

One of the most dreaded aspects of the game, Dynastic Failure inevitably hits every nation sooner or later. That being said, there are direct modifiers to the chances that it hits one nation over another. Here is the list of relevant modifiers to Deus Vult!

More Likely
Imperial Government
Feudal Society
Free Society
Muslim Religion
The Infrastructure of the Nation is less than Imperial Size
The Heir-Apparent is Female.
The Heir-Apparent is not of the previous Royal bloodline.
The Heir-Apparent is not of age.
There is no Heir-Apparent
*Strongman Army (A leader holds more than double the amount of troops than the Heir-Apparent)

Less Likely
Higher BL
Caste Society

*Deus Vult! is not using the traditional Strongman's Overthrow rules. Normally, any leader given more than double the troops of the King has a chance of rebelling and trying to seize the crown by force. This process is waived in this campaign. However, should the condition exist at the time of a dynastic transition (The King dies) then it increases the chance of Dynastic Turmoil. Also note that any garrison in the capital/homeland counts as being part of the new King's forces for this purpose.