Thank you
@Bullfilter,
@Chac1 and
@JSB217118 for commiserating with me on my computer, but I almost had a thirty-year period where I was a step away from the game ending without dynastic heir.
I am going to explain some of my playstyle and house rules. I am much more role-playing vs. optimal game-play. On marriage, I visit the three sisters (Charity, Kindness, Harmony) dating site (ckHarmony) and accept their top recommendation. This can lead to storytelling more than an optimal choice. I do not choose for genetics or alliances. I had a bad experience when I over chased a genius and in another game I produced a genius daughter with two doofus parents. Father only had four eights and an one for stats while the babe had more points than the mother (though mother did have a ten) at birth even losing one for being a bastard. On alliances, I do not want to depend on them but rather treat them as a bonus. I do matrilineal marriages for female leaders, heirs and spares until they are forty-six (beyond child-bearing, probably).
On succession, I am willing to upgrade to primogeniture and agnatic-cognatic. In two recent 'goof' games, I have made what I think are justifiable choices when confronted with non-dynastic heir. In
1220 Duchy of Meath (
FitzGerald), I switched to tanistry. Tanistry is limited to Celtic (Breton, Irish, Scottish, Welsh) culture group. My character was the son of the Duke of Meath and the Duchess of Cornwall. They lived in Cornwall even after his dad inherited Meath. #1 son joined a Spanish Holy Order to take himself out inheritance. Mother married #2 matrilineally to a Welsh countess. Welsh (first Celt) #2 inherits Meath and eventually changes duchy to tanistry election. I did have a bad moment when #2 peacefully usurped the Kingdom of Ireland (Iwerddon) from King
@Bullfilter (Rurikid held title but all his land was in Russia) as game announced Welsh (wrong dynasty) son as heir though reporting Ireland as tanistry succession. The game quickly recognized tanistry election and voting commenced for a Fitzgerald king-in-waiting. (#2 was probably not a real FitzGerald as his birth day of month did not match that of his siblings.) My last character (Queen Mawd of Éire) embraced the tanistry spirit as not only was she a FitzGerald but she twice married a FitzGerald (both done by AI). The Meath game had an Avon moment. A Serb, with birth name of Vuk, was elected Pope and took dynastic name Progonovic (different coat of arms). (Can you imagine our Despot Vukasin being in a papal election?) In
1204 County of Gallura (
de Lacon Gunale), I twice upgraded after crusades, Countess of Gallura to Duchess of Faiyum to Queen of Khazaria. The first was to get better rank, but on the second I did not have a proper heir. As her two brothers had died childless (one did have a daughter born after his death), the current Duchess' children were born patrilineal. (The Queen of Kharazia was actually the great-granddaughter of the original Couness of Gallura).
The Avon game (
1187 County of Avlonas Progonovic) begins with
Count Progon, his wife and their sons,
Gjin and Dimitrije, (the three males are semi-historical).
Count Progon and his wife would add three more sons. In 1208,
Gjin married
Agalina Mastropiero, an Italian maiden fourteen years his junior. Gjin and Agalina welcomed the heir, Muzaka, in July 1212. It would be over a decade before there would be more children. Over a three-year period, the girls, Teuta and Lule, and the spare, Pëllumb, would join the heir in the Gjin/Agalina household. It would be another decade on Muzaka's 26th birthday, that Gjin and Agalina would complete their family with an "oops" baby, Alek. With an heir and a spare, the girls would patrilineal marry kings, Teuta to England and Lule to Bulgaria. Then the deaths would start 27yo Muzaka in September 1239, 23yo Teuta in March 1247, and 22yo Pëllumb in September 1248. Gjin would also lose brothers 42yo Zamyr March 1242, 52yo Aleksander April 1246 and 65yo Dimitrije January 1247. 57yo Agalina would take her final sleep in November 1249 and two months later 71yo Doux Gjin would join her in eternal rest. Gjin with five children and four younger brothers would only be survived by two children, 24yo Queen Lule of Bulgaria and 11yo Doux Alek of Dyrrachion, and a 51yo brother, Mayor Visar of Skoutarion. Alek's uncle, mentor and father-figure, 54yo Visar would die suspiciously in August 1252. Visar would be last of Count Progon's front page figures (spouse, grandparents, parents, siblings and children).
While Alek's heir, his sister Lule, would be of dynasty, her sons would not be. In July 1254, Doux Alek would visit ckHarmony in search of a bride. The sisters would recommend 4yo Georgia Laskaris, daughter of the Basileus (her grandfather was an army buddy of Gjin and the Basileus when Gjin died). In June 1266, Countess Aigidia of Kaneia would escort Georgia to be Doux Alek's bride. The marriage would remain childless until November 1279 when daughter Shpresa would arrive. A male heir, Konstandin, would arrive in April 1284. 61yo Lule would leave us in December 1286. In July1288, a bedridden and infirm 49yo Doux Alek would close the book on Doux Gjin's front page family.
This little intermission has turned out to be as long as some episodes.
