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Greetings!

Today I’d like to present a feature that is specifically tailored towards the ones among you who truly enjoy breeding potent dynasties - Legendary Bloodlines!

Legendary Bloodlines are modifiers that are passed down the generations from one specific character, the Founder - they work much like a dynasty, but with several more rules and caveats. They symbolize the widespread renown a certain character might have, and the staying power stories surrounding their feats are. Having a Legendary Bloodline in your character will convey a bonus based on who founded it, and there are many different Bloodlines to be found (and Founded). Bloodlines are accessed from the Character View:
DDBloodlines_BloodlineView.png

Unlike traits such as Genius or Strong, Bloodlines are not genetical - Bloodlines gain their power from perception and belief; if you were a superstitious medieval warrior, would you rather fight the big burly fighter who you knew were related to Charles the Hammer, or the one you knew were not?

That very same superstition, combined with the prejudices that were common in those times, causes Bloodlines to be either Agnatic or Enatic - to breed Bloodlines into your dynasty will require you to get clever, and plan ahead if you want more than one line to run within your direct line of heirs. If a Bloodline is agnatic, for example, a man will still pass it to his daughters - but they will not pass it on to their children, that will be exclusively reserved for his sons.
DDBloodlines_Patrilineal.png


Certain bloodlines, or certain effects of certain bloodlines, will only be active for characters who fulfill certain triggers - for example, Christian knights will only seek to serve a descendant of Charles the Hammer if he happens to be Christian.

It's also worth noting that Bloodlines do not give direct stat boosts like how artifacts do.

To facilitate the merging of several different Bloodlines into one direct line of characters, we’ve made it so that Matrilineal marriages transfer bloodlines that the parents wouldn’t normally be able to transfer - symbolizing that it’s less explicitly about gender, and more about who’s the dominant part in a marriage.
DDBloodlines_MatriTransfer.png


To see who’s a part of any given bloodline, you can view a list of the current holders by clicking a button next to the Founder in the Bloodlines View:
DDBloodlines_List.png


Though the easiest way by far is to enter the Bloodlines Ledger Page to see which bloodlines exist, how many members there are and, by clicking the entries, view who holds them.
DDBloodlines_Ledger.png


Bloodlines stem from many different sources, but the ones I’ll touch upon today are the Historical Bloodlines. As you might have already figured out, certain famous historical characters start with bloodlines, or found them at a certain point in their life. For example, if William succeeds in his invasion of England he’ll found a bloodline. As bloodlines come and go, you’ll have a different setup depending on what bookmark you choose to start in. Here’s a few examples of bloodlines you can expect to want to breed into your own line:
DDBloodlines_Examples.png


Note that there will be ways to get bloodlines apart from breeding them into your dynasty, but that will be the subject of a future DevDiary.
 
You are right in that Brian is not king tier (neither is Aed but Maelseachlainn mac Mael Rúanaid is). What I was referring to was the fact that you can see that Brian will have a bloodline.

Ohh!! I missed it! Thanks. Read the DD too excitedly it seems! This is even better. I was expecting only one Irish one, but to have two is great. Conn Cétchathach could be the best #3, but honestly I'm delighted with what we got.

Though I'd still like the history files updated haha
 
THIS, there should be negative bloodlines also, though it's kinda hard to judge 'historical negative bloodlines' :D

Looking forward the Glitterhoof bloodline of the "best breed of chancelors", -15 opinion penalty, +50 opinion for lunatics.
 
Yes, very excited about this.
 
I am excited how his will lead many trying interesting historical characters instead of just creating a custom character. I wonder if Bloodlines will be at the side like republics?
 
Then open the game and check how that word is spelled there in most (if not all) places.
Both spelling are already used in the localisation. Sometimes the key will even be SOMETHINGSOMETHING_DEFENCE and the text will be somethingosmething_defense. Don't know if the contrary is true, but that wouldn't really surprise me
 
Then open the game and check how that word is spelled there. IIRC we have "defenSive" pacts, not "defencive". I just want to keep it consistent, that's it.

CK2 uses "defence" for the Defence retinue for instance... so there's that
 
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Both spelling are already used in the localisation. Sometimes the key will even be SOMETHINGSOMETHING_DEFENCE and the text will be somethingosmething_defense. Don't know if the contrary is true, but that wouldn't really surprise me
I would imagine that in the code itself it's a mess but I'm talking about the localizations.
 
With historical bloodlines it looks that most of the regions will get their own unique flavors, thats absolutely great!
Now, if cultures gets love like this in the future I will quit my job, get divorce and die in ecstatic spasms playing CK.
 
Do multiple bloodline stack when it comes to bonus to a single attribute? Can someone descended from Karl the hammer, Attila, Niall Noigiallaich, and William Wallace have a +26 to personal combat? Because a slight combat bonus for a renowned ancestor I could understand (but from what we've seen on the stream +8 isn't that bad, I think I saw charitable was just a -2). A huge bonus because you're descended from ten famous rulers seems a little bit more silly?
 
Not a fan of stats/personal combat being influenced by bloodlines (regardless of how small the effect is or if it is a placebo or not), to be honest (particularly not many generations down the line; I can understand people fearing Temujin's son and grandson in personal combat, but perhaps not his great-great-great-great-grandson, at least not to the same extent, unless the grandson has proven that he is worthy of being feared in personal combat), but I suppose it will be simple enough to mod out.
But you are fine with a fancy sword making someone a better commnander?

El Cid will have a bloodline.
Will it be de Vivar bloodline or the El Cid bloodline?

I notice the blood of Basileos has a +5 for both Orthodox and Greek, would this stack for a character with both or is it one or the other?
Yeah that is to high assuming they stack, perhaps +2.5 each on those?

Do multiple bloodline stack when it comes to bonus to a single attribute? Can someone descended from Karl the hammer, Attila, Niall Noigiallaich, and William Wallace have a +26 to personal combat? Because a slight combat bonus for a renowned ancestor I could understand (but from what we've seen on the stream +8 isn't that bad, I think I saw charitable was just a -2). A huge bonus because you're descended from ten famous rulers seems a little bit more silly?
I don't know why but I get the feeling you could only have one active at the time. essentially the one you are making a big deal out of.
 
Defencive is a misspelling (in both British and US as far as I know, but American people may correct me)... that's why it is not used.
CK2 uses "defence" for the Defence retinue for instance
Yea, that was a terrible example and I edited my comment instantly and removed it (apparently it wasn't fast enough). But my point still stands: the majority of the in-game text is written in American English and I'd like it to stay that way. I honestly don't min't if we're using British or American English as long as we're only using one of them.