Political System

[gluff95]

We spoke about designing a coherent political system, here are some ideas of mine:

Every character eligible to become emperor gets two variables, Popularity and Legitimacy. For reasons of performance, we may also want to limit the eligibility criteria to characters whose personalities would suit a power grab (ambitious, greedy, paranoid etc). Conversely, several military officers who made a bid for the throne were initially reluctant to do so. I'll think this through a bit more, but here are the basic, necessary criteria gleaned from historical reality.

Eligibility

The characters eligible to be emperor are as follows:

Eligible members of the imperial family (family of the current emperor)

• Not the father or the mother of the current emperor (reserved for regencies)
• Brothers of any age, married or unmarried but must be located inside the emperor
• Adult sisters located inside the empire, but must either be unmarried or married to a Roman (no foreign husbands)
• Children of any age located in the empire, but females must be unmarried or married to a Roman (no foreign husbands)

Eligible non-family members of the current emperor

• The senior military commanders (domestikoi and strategoi, plus katepanos and doukes)
• The senior bureaucratic officials
• Holders of high court titles
• Personal friends and acquaintances of members of the imperial family who hold rank (any rank, including krites)
• Must not be a eunuch, or maimed in any way

Popularity

Popularity measures the level of support the character has from the people. It is gained in these ways:

• Being good at what one does, for example having a high Martial stat and being a commander.
• Keeping taxes low
• Building churches
• Spending on city infrastructure
• Extending monastic privilege
• High piety
• High prestige
• Awarding titles

Popularity can also be lost:

• Raising taxes
• Being impious or tyrannical
• Being arbitrary or unjust
• Permitting raiders to go unpunished

Legitimacy

Legitimacy indicates their perceived Legitimacy to the throne. It is gained in several ways:

• From being related to the imperial family, or having descent from a previous imperial family.
• From being purple-born
• From possessing an imperial title (higher titles give high Legitimacy)
• By being successful in wars
• By being dynastically established (previous emperor was character's father)

Legitimacy can also be lost:

• Known to have murdered people (even more if they are members of the imperial family or kin)
• Losing wars
• Hiring too many mercenaries (a true Roman would use Romans!)
• Marrying non-Romans (or worse, non-Chalcedonian Christians)

How it Works

An emperor must keep their Popularity and Legitimacy high, or at least higher than non-family members who are also eligible. An emperor with low Popularity risks a Popular Revolt, which will name a more Popular character as a usurper and if they are successful, will depose and blind the current emperor. An emperor with low Legitimacy may trigger a Military Coup, where a military commander will declare themselves emperor and start a civil war in the provinces. Again, a loss to this rebellion will depose and blind the current emperor.

Political Institutions

This section lists the people and groups who had a role to play in an emperor's fate. Their specific, in-game effects will be written up in full later.

• Patriarch of Constantinople
• The Senate
• The Army
• The population of Constantinople, including the Circus factions

This is the basic idea and I just wanted your feedback before I flesh it out more. It is a more-or-less historically accurate abstraction of tenth and eleventh century Byzantine politics.