Dude.
This is crazy silly. All you have to do to play as anyone funky is open the save and right at the very top (where all the counties start to be listed) add the line:
PDOX = { gender = male type = kingdom dna = "12345678901234" title = { PDOX C333 } }
where PDOX is whatever your highest title is (the tag listed on all your courtiers, etc.) The DNA and title list doesn't need to be accurate - it just looks better if it is.
Most of the other edits (name, dna, etc) are much easier in the save, too. They really didn't make it as hard on us as you're making out.
This is crazy silly. All you have to do to play as anyone funky is open the save and right at the very top (where all the counties start to be listed) add the line:
PDOX = { gender = male type = kingdom dna = "12345678901234" title = { PDOX C333 } }
where PDOX is whatever your highest title is (the tag listed on all your courtiers, etc.) The DNA and title list doesn't need to be accurate - it just looks better if it is.
Most of the other edits (name, dna, etc) are much easier in the save, too. They really didn't make it as hard on us as you're making out.