We spoke about designing a coherent political system, here are some ideas of mine:
Every character eligible to become emperor gets two variables, Popularity and Legitimacy. For reasons of performance, we may also want to limit the eligibility criteria to characters whose personalities would suit a power grab (ambitious, greedy, paranoid etc). Conversely, several military officers who made a bid for the throne were initially reluctant to do so. I'll think this through a bit more, but here are the basic, necessary criteria gleaned from historical reality.
Eligibility
The characters eligible to be emperor are as follows:
Eligible members of the imperial family (family of the current emperor)
Not the father or the mother of the current emperor (reserved for regencies)
Brothers of any age, married or unmarried but must be located inside the emperor
Adult sisters located inside the empire, but must either be unmarried or married to a Roman (no foreign husbands)
Children of any age located in the empire, but females must be unmarried or married to a Roman (no foreign husbands)
Eligible non-family members of the current emperor
The senior military commanders (domestikoi and strategoi, plus katepanos and doukes)
The senior bureaucratic officials
Holders of high court titles
Personal friends and acquaintances of members of the imperial family who hold rank (any rank, including krites)
Must not be a eunuch, or maimed in any way
Popularity
Popularity measures the level of support the character has from the people. It is gained in these ways:
Being good at what one does, for example having a high Martial stat and being a commander.
Keeping taxes low
Building churches
Spending on city infrastructure
Extending monastic privilege
High piety
High prestige
Awarding titles
Popularity can also be lost:
Raising taxes
Being impious or tyrannical
Being arbitrary or unjust
Permitting raiders to go unpunished
Legitimacy
Legitimacy indicates their perceived Legitimacy to the throne. It is gained in several ways:
From being related to the imperial family, or having descent from a previous imperial family.
From being purple-born
From possessing an imperial title (higher titles give high Legitimacy)
By being successful in wars
By being dynastically established (previous emperor was character's father)
Legitimacy can also be lost:
Known to have murdered people (even more if they are members of the imperial family or kin)
Losing wars
Hiring too many mercenaries (a true Roman would use Romans!)
An emperor must keep their Popularity and Legitimacy high, or at least higher than non-family members who are also eligible. An emperor with low Popularity risks a Popular Revolt, which will name a more Popular character as a usurper and if they are successful, will depose and blind the current emperor. An emperor with low Legitimacy may trigger a Military Coup, where a military commander will declare themselves emperor and start a civil war in the provinces. Again, a loss to this rebellion will depose and blind the current emperor.
Political Institutions
This section lists the people and groups who had a role to play in an emperor's fate. Their specific, in-game effects will be written up in full later.
Patriarch of Constantinople
The Senate
The Army
The population of Constantinople, including the Circus factions
This is the basic idea and I just wanted your feedback before I flesh it out more. It is a more-or-less historically accurate abstraction of tenth and eleventh century Byzantine politics.
We spoke about designing a coherent political system, here are some ideas of mine:
Every character eligible to become emperor gets two variables, Popularity and Legitimacy. For reasons of performance, we may also want to limit the eligibility criteria to characters whose personalities would suit a power grab (ambitious, greedy, paranoid etc). Conversely, several military officers who made a bid for the throne were initially reluctant to do so. I'll think this through a bit more, but here are the basic, necessary criteria gleaned from historical reality.
Eligibility
The characters eligible to be emperor are as follows:
Eligible members of the imperial family (family of the current emperor)
Eligible non-family members of the current emperor
Popularity
Popularity measures the level of support the character has from the people. It is gained in these ways:
Popularity can also be lost:
Legitimacy
Legitimacy indicates their perceived Legitimacy to the throne. It is gained in several ways:
Legitimacy can also be lost:
How it Works
An emperor must keep their Popularity and Legitimacy high, or at least higher than non-family members who are also eligible. An emperor with low Popularity risks a Popular Revolt, which will name a more Popular character as a usurper and if they are successful, will depose and blind the current emperor. An emperor with low Legitimacy may trigger a Military Coup, where a military commander will declare themselves emperor and start a civil war in the provinces. Again, a loss to this rebellion will depose and blind the current emperor.
Political Institutions
This section lists the people and groups who had a role to play in an emperor's fate. Their specific, in-game effects will be written up in full later.
This is the basic idea and I just wanted your feedback before I flesh it out more. It is a more-or-less historically accurate abstraction of tenth and eleventh century Byzantine politics.