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Succession is the inheritance of a title. It is triggered when the current holder of a title dies or abdicates. The order of succession depends on the title's succession laws. They also dictate how titles are shared between heirs, if the late ruler had multiple titles.

Heir

An heir is any character who stands to inherit a title. If this includes the ruler’s primary title, they are considered to be their primary heir. Additionally, the player heir indicates with whom the player will continue upon death; unless they are of a different dynasty, this is the primary heir as well.

Eligible children

The gender law determines which children are eligible. Bastards cannot inherit unless legitimized, their children will only inherit if born after the legitimization. The following traits disinherit as well: bastard founder, devoted, disinherited, eunuch, order member. Note that disinheriting a character does not disqualify their progeny. All children, eligible or not, are given an implicit claim on their parents’ titles; though there appears to be a bug that makes it so daughters never show implicit claims.

• Male only (agnatic): Only sons inherit.
• Female only (enatic): Only daughters inherit.

• Male preference (agnatic-cognatic): Daughters do not inherit if any eligible sons exist. Daughters with at least one son take precedence over daughters without.
• Female preference (enatic-cognatic): Sons do not inherit if any eligible daughters exist. Sons with at least one daughter take precedence over sons without.

• Equal (cognatic): Both sons and daughters inherit.

Realm succession

The realm succession law determines who will inherit each title without its own succession law.

Single heir

Every title is passed on to a single relative, keeping the realm fully intact.

Primogeniture

All titles are inherited by the oldest eligible child. Note that a dead or dishinerited child’s progeny takes precedence over younger siblings. If the gender law is set to male preference, male children of daughters are given precedence over their parent; vice versa for female preference.

If no living descendants remain, the title is passed on to the father in a patrilineal marriage, or mother in a matrilineal marriage. If this parent is dead, an heir will be sought in their progeny according to the same principles.

Ultimogeniture

All titles are inherited by the youngest eligible child. Note that a dead or dishinerited child’s progeny takes precedence over older siblings. If the gender law is set to male preference, male children of daughters are given precedence over their parent; vice versa for female preference.

If no living descendants remain, the title is passed on to the father in a patrilineal marriage, or mother in a matrilineal marriage. If this parent is dead, an heir will be sought in their progeny according to the same principles.

House seniority

All titles are inherited by the oldest eligible house member.

Multiple heirs

Titles are distributed among all eligible children, splitting the realm. If no eligible children exist, all titles are passed on to the closest eligible relative.

Confederate partition

1. New titles, that are the same tier as the primary, will be created if enough of their de jure land is held.
2. The oldest child is given the primary title along with the capital and any higher de jure title it belongs to.
3. All titles, that are the same tier as the primary, are distributed in the order they're displayed, with priority given to the oldest child with the fewest titles. Children, except the primary heir, are also given any lower de jure title. When a child inherits a title equal in tier as the primary, they gain independence.
4. If applicable, all remaining titles one tier below are distributed likewise. Note that, except the primary heir, all children who received a title before are excluded from further distribution. When a child inherits a title that is lower in tier than the primary, they become a vassal of the primary heir.
5. The previous step repeats itself till all titles are handed out.

(Regular) partition

1. The oldest child is given the primary title along with the capital and any higher de jure title it belongs to.
2. All titles, that are the same tier as the primary, are distributed in the order they're displayed, with priority given to the oldest child with the fewest titles. Children, except the primary heir, are also given any lower de jure title. When a child inherits a title equal in tier as the primary, they gain independence.
3. If applicable, all remaining titles one tier below are distributed likewise. Note that, except the primary heir, all children who received a title before are excluded from further distribution. When a child inherits a title lower in tier than the primary, they become a vassal of the primary heir.
4. The previous step repeats itself till all titles are handed out.

High partition

1. The oldest child is given the primary title along with the capital and any higher de jure title it belongs to.
2. All titles, that are the same tier as the primary, are distributed in the order they're displayed. The primary heir is prioritized until they control at least as many titles, of that tier, as all other children combined, otherwise priority is given to the oldest child with the fewest titles. Children, except the primary heir, are also given any lower de jure title. When a child inherits a title equal in tier as the primary, they gain independence.
3. If applicable, all remaining titles one tier below are distributed likewise. Note that, except the primary heir, all children who received a title before are excluded from further distribution. When a child inherits a title lower in tier than the primary, they become a vassal of the primary heir.
4. The previous step repeats itself till all titles are handed out.

Examples

Title specific succession

A title succession law can be assigned to individual titles, separating them from the realm succession law. Besides the gender laws, these are all a form of elective succession. Options are restricted to certain ranks, cultures and faiths.

Any title specific law will exclude the title from realm succession, meaning it can’t be partitioned, even if its individual succession law is identical to realm succession; presumably this is a bug. Furthermore, title specific laws are known to mess up realm partition.

Claim inheritance

All children, eligible or not, are given a pressed claim on titles they did not inherit nor vassalize. Pressed claims will be inherited once more as unpressed by the next generation. Declaring war for an unpressed claim will convert it to pressed; though note one loses the claim if forced to surrender.

Notes

• If an unlanded character inherits a title but no holdings, they will automatically usurp a county in their realm; preference is usually given to its de jure capital.
• If primary title has a title specific law, the primary heir does not inherit the capital, and any higher de jure title, if they wouldn’t also be the primary heir under realm succession.
• With partition succession, children can be given titles beforehand, even if other siblings stand to inherit them. Note that the primary heir is excepted, they can only be given titles they already stand to inherit; though you can give away their expected titles.
• Baronies are always inherited by their de jure count.
• The primary heir receives all wealth/gold and men-at-arms upon death.
• Children who stand to inherit titles cannot be asked to take the vows.
• The display order of titles in the character screen is decided as follows:
  1. The primary title always comes first.
  2. Higher tier titles come before lower tier titles.
  3. Titles of the same tier are ordered according to how long each title has been in possession, the oldest one coming first.

Tips

• With partition, one can grant children titles in advance for a major opinion boost: remember that a quarter of vassals’ positive opinion, or half of vassals’ negative opinion, is passed on to the primary heir (opinion of predecessor). As the house head, one can also modify their feudal contract with a weak hook.
• With partition, try and keep your domain within the capital duchy: every county within will be given to the primary heir as long as all siblings are given a duchy+ title. Conversely, try and secure duchy+ titles for your heirs so they won’t receive part of the counties within your capital duchy. The same applies to kingdoms and empires.
• Relatives within the 3rd degree (extended family) can be asked for an alliance, which allows the former realm to be reunified as a federation.
• Be careful with marrying off children to powerful rulers: all grandchildren will eventually inherit a claim on your titles.

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