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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.
 
This made me have a thought...

How would this work for Buhdist Indians, considering that the religion wholly believes in reincarnation?

Could a character act like another character and claim to be part of the same bloodline, even though you have absolutely 0 connection to the line?
 
Actually the bloodlines are found on superstition, shouldnt there be a blood of Jesus since the Merovingians claimed descendants from Jesus (through a daughter of Jesus from Mary of Madalene)
Also I hoped there to be a spawn of Satan or demon bloodline, if the child was borned from a successful ritual and is a true demon child.
For Enatic bloodlines, it should be famous witches or demoness, e.g Elizabeth Woodville's mother Jacquetta of Luxembourgh claimed descendant from Melusine a female spirit of fresh water. This bloodline then grants them things like fertility boost, health boost, more likely to have girls, higher chance of getting fair trait and magic powers.
Instead of people like Eleanor who didnt really do anything amazing except for being borned as the eldest daughter without brother to the biggest landlord in France.
 
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It practically begs for an achievement focused on having a character with an unusually large number of bloodlines.
Gotta Catch 'Em All

Actually the bloodlines are found on superstition, shouldnt there be a blood of Jesus since the Merovingians claimed descendants from Jesus (through a daughter of Jesus from Mary of Madalene)
You know Dan Brown isn't a historical source right? If the Merovingians claimed descent from Jesus in late Antiquity they would have been crucified as heretics. The descent from Jesus bit was invented in the twentieth century.
 
This made me have a thought...

How would this work for Buhdist Indians, considering that the religion wholly believes in reincarnation?

Could a character act like another character and claim to be part of the same bloodline, even though you have absolutely 0 connection to the line?

Neat idea but most likely it'll just be another oversight. Would be hilarious if I'm the reincarnation of Chinggis Khan fighting someone with the bloodline of Chinggis Khan. Should be an event for that.
 
You know Dan Brown isn't a historical source right? If the Merovingians claimed descent from Jesus in late Antiquity they would have been crucified as heretics. The descent from Jesus bit was invented in the twentieth century.
A Sikh friend told me once, quite seriously, that I should read The Da Vinci Code to learn about what Christianity really is. :D

Good point someone made about reincarnation beliefs. For some cultures, a heroic leader could be seen as a reincarnation of a great hero or even an avatar of a legendary deity.
 
Interesting, now CK2 players won't feel as encouraged to go full incest mode to keep that Genius trait, when they can get bonuses by playing wide!
Now all is balanced.
 
Can you fix Personal Combat Skill not affecting the outcomes of duels at all? I mean, it would make sense to do so before handing it out as a reward in this new bloodlines system.
 
Can you fix Personal Combat Skill not affecting the outcomes of duels at all? I mean, it would make sense to do so before handing it out as a reward in this new bloodlines system.
They almost exclusively affect the outcomes of duels though.

If your RNG happens to be terrible though, yeah, you can lose multiple duels in a row where you should be winning.
 
I dont really think that the martial stat constitutes only of the sense of tactics. If so, how would you explain high martial giving you more levies? People follow great leaders who promise them great victories. A fellow with a fancy legendary sword makes a better leader than his identical twin brother without. Also, note that high martial doesnt provide your armies with higher morale or bonus damage. Even if you personally lead an army, 16 points in martial is as good as 56. Martial =/= strategy.
Martial is tactical, strategic, and military logistics skill. Also strategy and tactics is not the same thing which you seem to indicate in your post, strategy is the overall planning of a campaign tactics is the conduct in a single battle. Consider Hannibal, brilliant tactician but wasn't very good at strategy.
And military skill gives more levies because you are better at the logistics of recruiting them. Which is again something waving a "magic sword" doesn't help you with, your levies aren't volunteers doesn't matter how inspiring you are.
And yeah martial does affect combat because higher martial means you have a better chance at choosing a better tactic. Which can increase your troop combat ability with up to +420% (couched lance charge) way higher than any other combat modifier in the game.
https://ck2.paradoxwikis.com/Combat_tactics
 
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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.

French portraits confirmed?
 
French portraits confirmed?
French portraits were confirmed on stream, as well as a whole bunch of Slavic ones, and a whole bunch of new "extras" for injuries and scars.
 
French, South Slavic, West Slavic and Croatian portraits are confirmed for a week or so.
Source? I must have missed the announcement.