For Those Who Would Be King

While kings, particularly those of France and England, were "the anointed of God," there were always ambitious nobles who thought they could do a better job. For those of you who would be king and are keen on starting your own dynasty, there are two ways to do it. In both cases, the player who is selected to be king or crown prince can choose to take over the existing king character or replace the king and his family as the ruling family of the land.

This covers the two quite different quarrels players may have with the king; they want a new player for the king character or they want a new player AND character in the kings position.

First, there is the Coup d'etat method. Dangerous, but quick. To do this you must first enter a parliamentary proposition in a Winter season to have the king removed. Of course, this means the Crown Prince, the king's son and heir, is gone too, although the player in that position will assume the character of the new Crown Prince character (i.e. the new kings heir). So there must immediately be a parliamentary vote for a new king, with the king's fiefs not being voted, as they are out of play until parliament votes in a new king. If you win the vote, you are king. If you lose either the removal vote, or the election vote, you are likely to be in big trouble.

The second method is a variation on the first, the civil war method. You still may have to enter the proposition to remove the king, but first you attack and take enough of the kings fiefs to guarantee that you will have the votes to remove the king, and have enough fiefs to assure that you will get the proposition passed. You then have the vote to select a new king, and in this case you are assured of getting the job because you have conquered enough fiefs to assure election.

In either case, gettinh elected king via parliamentary vote is another matter, as each player participating will vote their population. If you have been diplomatic as well as powerful enough, other players will get behind you to elect you.

It's also possible to get the king to abdicate, as a civil war or coup d'etat are not pleasant events. If the king does abdicate, then a new election (one player, one vote) is held.

Whichever method is used to remove a king, this is the procedure followed to shuffle around the new cast of characters;

1. Once removal has been voted on. A new king will be elected via parliamentary vote.

2. The old king and his family will be moved to another small position without any holdings or money. They retain the same characters and the same names, but that's it.

3. The newly elected king and family will be moved into the kings place. The king being ID 47 if English or ID 200 if French, these numbers are embedded in the software and cannot be changed. Money and NPCs will be left behind with the old position.

4. One family member of the new king will be left to run the old position, (and assumed by a new player, or the new king can approve a character swap with his old position and another player before a new player gets assigned to it.

So lets say 47 (Edward) is removed. The Game Sysop run an election and 66 (Robert) wins. (47) Ed would be moved to, say, position 103 which is inactive at this time. Robert (66) would take over all the lands, titles and offices of the king by being moved to 47. So now we would have 47 (Robert) the new king and 103 (ED) the disposed king. Some family member would be moved into the 66 position and the next lucky person to join the game would get that position.