Getting Loyal Companions to Marry for Political Advantage

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Daedelus_McGee

Sergeant at Arms
It would be nice if you could build companions up in your organization and then arrange for them to get married to key families. Historically, powerful families protect themselves by marrying into up and coming power players.

I am wildly open as to how to implement this in the mod, but I see it as a key advantage of large numbers of companions.  Also, companions should be sources of new companions, especially their married kin. For the immediate future, figuring out how to get those folks to operate in your interest consistently should be the effort. Later we can figure out the vile mechanics of calculated betrayal.

Some of this depends on more complexity in characters, which the limitations of the character building system mitigates against.  For instance: "You have one development point, you can spend it on your strength, intelligence, or ephemeral values that occasionally matter in obscure quests."  It would probably be confusing for your character to have a "Character" trait that defined his moral standing, but in a lot of ways that is needed. 
 
This could be fun. Although it might mean a lot of code for a relatively small reward. You could arrange marriages as a way of improving your relationship with your vassal Lords, find them a wife and they like you more, unless she is an uggo! :razz:

I don't know if the gaining of more companioons through married kin would work as most family characters are Lords in their own right with armies and fiefs, it could be a way of drawing in new vassals to your kingdom as the whole extended family joins your side, this may have to have a Dowry system where you can offer the family a set of fiefs in your kingdom for them to come and rule over.

I guess the simplest approach would be some kind of iniated quest system, when you raise up a companion to a vassal, or even if you have an unmarried vassal, you could approach them and say "I think it is time for you to marry!" then either they or you suggest an unmarried maiden for you to woo on their behalf (as well as the family) At which point you go to the family in question and jump through quest hoops to gain their support for the marriage, (much like the relational quests that exist already for lords, ladies and maidens) as well as meeting a dowry requirement of lands, titles and gifts for the family you are trying to bring in to your kingdom.
 
Yeah, this may be a case of much code for little gain. But I've constantly came to the fact that marrige and having kin in this game isn't so important like in games where you play behind the throne. SoD's main purpose is to sit you directly in the throne.

If I can make the player fill like that I think I've succeeded.

The only game I ever played to make me feel close to that was Fable 3; and that was only for a brief moment. I plan to capitalize on that aspect of gameplay in the future... hard decision making.
 
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