Minor CK mechanism I hope is fixed

[enf91]

In CK, let's say I'm a duke. I give my son a county. And that's it. He then has to depend on randomly generated nobles for his court. In addition to being a little silly ("Son, it's time for you to rule your own county. And when I say 'you to rule', I mean 'you'. No advisors or anything. So... good luck!"), it adds to the number of nobles that the game has to manage, creating new nobles when there are a bunch who would do just as well without all the additional memory.
So I was thinking, maybe you could give courtiers to your vassals. After all, I've got about 50 and they all hate my guts. So I'll dump them on my son and hope he can do better -- oh, wait, the game won't let me. Is this feasible?

 

[hjarg]

Hmmm... your heir should have his own retinue by the time he is grown up enough to get to power. And even better, if you give a county to your underage son, there should be some intrigue events and power-hungry nobles etc directly affecting you. Otherwise, your son is just like any other vassal with increased loyalty gain.

But yes, declaring some courtiers as a retinue for your son should be an option too. Or send some away to accompany your daughter after you married her to count of Middle of Nowhere Where It Is Cold.

 

[unmerged(157596)]

I hope you at least can get the option to veto who your heirs decides to marry.
Usually I make sure to marry them of they day they turn 16 before I give them a county of their own, but sometimes wifes die, and since the AI likes to pick brides from neighbouring courts my ruler tends to end up with inbred grandchildren.
Which is a tad annoying when you try to breed prodigies.

 

[hjarg]

Or rather, most of the marriages were pre-arranged anyway. So the poor heir should just be happy with miss Dead Ugly, Very Fertile and With Good stats you had agreed him to marry a few years ago. Hmmm, event making it possible for heir to refuse, but pre-arranged marriages should be in.

 

[Wulfram]

New rulers could use their vassal barons to fill posts?

edit: And just having unemployed people from overpopulated courts moving to nearby empty ones would be good too

 

[RedRooster81]

Good ideas, all. Size of court was related to prestige, and vice versa. I especially like the idea of retinues within courts. That is how court politics tended to work, which was apparent in EU Rome, in monarchies where you could see which possible heir each courtier supported (filling the council of state with a majority of supporters of the #3 to the throne could lead to a coup on succession). It could also lead up to the king's closest supporters coming to odds with supporters of the queen, queen-mother, crown prince, or chief minister. (I know more examples from the seventeenth and eighteenth century Bourbon royal courts, but no doubt it was common before.)

That said, it is historically accurate to send princesses married to foreign princes with ladies-in-waiting and sometimes male guardians... Heirs coming from abroad often brought their old ministers or hangers-on with them. (Carlos V arriving in 1517 to inherit Castilla and Aragon introduced a Flemish faction to the court, that in part led to the rebellion known as La Germania.) I am relating later examples backwards, but I think that it applies earlier. The major figures at court should have their own retinues, should be lobbying to get their followers positions at court, fiefs, etc.