Titles
A title is essentially a certificate of land ownership, decreeing which characters own a certain place or a certain orginization (e.g. churches, mercenaries, and holy orders). Each title has a rank, a unique coat of arms, and a color on map. Certain titles can change name based on the culture of the character holding it and all titles can be renamed by their holder. A character's titles along with those held by its vassals form a character's Realm.
A character's highest title is the Primary Title and determines the realm's color and coat of arms. If a character owns multiple titles of the same highest rank, they can freely choose which one is the Primary title.
Title rank[edit | edit source]
Each title has a Rank, which determines its place in the feudal pecking order. Rank primarily governs who holders of that title can vassalize or become vassals of. A ruler can only have vassals of lower rank and can only be a vassal of someone of higher rank. Title Rank also determines what bonuses it grants to players who hold that title. The lowest "playable" title is Count; Barons can never become independent (their Liege is the holder of the county title which their baronies are de jure part of) or playable.
| Rank | Effects |  Prestige per title
|
 Opinion if granted
|
 Creation / Usurpation cost
|
Destroy cost
|
Create reward
|
Title succession law removal cost
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Barony
|
|
+0.02 | +20 |
|
Cannot be destroyed | N/A | Cannot have title succession laws |
 County
|
|
+0.05 | +40 |
|
Cannot be destroyed | N/A | Cannot have title succession laws |
 Duchy
|
|
+0.2 | +60 | 250 | 400 | 300 | 375 |
 Kingdom
|
|
+0.8 | +80 | 500 | 800 | 400 | 1000 |
 Empire
|
|
+1.6 | +100 | 1000 | 1200 | 500 | 1500 |
All opinion modifiers from granting titles last 50 years and can stack.
De Jure[edit | edit source]
De Jure, meaning "by law", means that a title historically covered certain lower Rank titles. The Duchy, Kingdom and Empire map modes will show all De Jure titles. A character who owns a title can choose the De Jure Casus belli to seize a single De Jure title covered by it, provided that the character's culture has the appropriate innovation below:
- Seize De Jure County requires the Tribal-era innovation Casus Belli.
- Seize De Jure Duchy requires the Early Medieval-era innovation Chronicle Writing.
- Seize De Jure Titles requires the Late Medieval-era innovation Rightful Ownership.
If a vassal's primary title does not fall under the de jure territory of any titles their liege holds, that vassal gives 50% less Taxes and 
Levies alongside -5 Opinion of Liege. Furthermore, count rank vassals give 25% less Taxes and Levies alongside -5 Opinion of Liege if their liege does not hold the de jure duchy of their primary title, but does hold its de jure kingdom or empire.
If a ruler completely controls a Duchy and owns a Kingdom title other than the one the Duchy De Jure belongs to, or if a ruler completely controls a Kingdom and owns an Empire title other than the one the Kingdom De Jure belongs to, then the said Duchy or Kingdom will slowly become De Jure part of the character's Primary title. The process can be speed up by using the Chancellor task Integrate title.
Any ducal or kingdom title can be created by a character who controls at least 51% of its De Jure Counties as long as they hold either two titles of lower Rank or one title of equal or higher Rank; empire titles require at least 81% of their De Jure Counties. In the Region of Europe, AI characters will only create Kingdom titles if they have certain cultures.
Usurpation[edit | edit source]
If a character is holding more than 50% of the De Jure Counties of a title held by a Ruler of the same Faith or a Faith which is not considered Hostile or Evil, then the character can Usurp the title. This process gives the title to the usurper. If the holder's Faith is considered Hostile or Evil, then they must not hold any De Jure counties of the title to be able to be Usurped.
If a character is a Vassal, they cannot Usurp a title belonging to the Liege, nor can they Usurp one that has the same Rank or higher than the Liege's Primary title.
De jure drift[edit | edit source]
De jure drift or assimilation is the process by which the de jure borders of kingdoms and empires can change over time.
In general, a duchy will assimilate into a kingdom after being controlled by that kingdom for 100 years, and a kingdom will similarly assimilate into an empire in the same time frame. The duration required for assimilation is decreased by the Chancellor task "Integrate Title". Every duchy in the game is considered to be part of a specific de jure kingdom. Vassals within a de jure border have fewer reasons and abilities to revolt against their liege and declare independence.
A duchy will begin to drift into a kingdom when all of the following conditions are met:
- The entire duchy (i.e. all county titles; baronies are allowed to be outside the realm) is within the realm of the king.
- The ducal title either does not exist or is held by the king or by a vassal of the king.
- The duchy is not part of the kingdom of Jerusalem.
- The kingdom is its owner's primary title.
- The duchy either shares a land border with, or is a maximum of 2 sea tiles away from the existing de jure kingdom.
Upon reaching Jan 01 of the next year, drift is visible as dashed stripes on the kingdoms map mode. Hovering over the duchy will show a tooltip indicating the number of years until full assimilation.
Whenever the conditions for assimilation are not met — for example, if the local ruler of a duchy rebels against top-liege, or if one of the counties in the duchy is conquered by another independent realm - the counter will tick backwards instead of forwards, and at twice the speed. When the conditions are again met — for example, if the duke's rebellion is put down - the counter will resume ticking forwards.
Kingdoms assimilate into empires in a near-identical fashion: the emperor must hold or control all county titles in the de jure kingdom.
Assimilation allows titular kingdoms and empires to become non-titular and vice versa. If a de jure kingdom becomes titular, it can be created by whoever controls its de jure capital.
Claim[edit | edit source]
A claim represents a character's legal right to obtain a title which is not theirs and allows the creation of a claimant faction. If the title belongs to a vassal, the claim allows the liege to revoke the claimed title without incurring tyranny. Otherwise, a claim provide a casus belli to gain the claimed title through war. Alternatively, if the title belongs to the liege and the government is tribal, the claimant vassal can use the ‘Challenge the Ruler’ decision, which is a duel. Claims can be pressed or unpressed.
Pressed claims are inherited by the character's primary heir as unpressed
Unpressed claims are not inherited by the character's primary heir but can become pressed if they are used for a casus belli and the war ends in white peace
Implicit claims are given to all children of a character on its titles and will become pressed if the character dies and the child does not inherit the title
Claims on landed titles can be obtained the following ways:
- A vassal that owns 51% of the counties from one of their liege's titles can use Claim Liege Title interaction to get an unpressed claim on that title at the cost of 1500 prestige.
- Using the ‘Fabricate Claim on County’ councilor interaction will provide an unpressed claim on the targeted county; if the court chaplain has high
learning, there is a 20% chance of gaining a claim on the county's de jure duchy instead. - A dynasty head can use the claim title interaction on dynasty members of the same religion to gain an unpressed claim on their primary title.
- A character with the ‘Sanctioned Loopholes’ perk can use the ‘Buy Claim’ interaction to gain an unpressed claim on another character's primary title at the following cost: (Note: if your character's primary title is an Empire, you will be unable to claim another Kingdom/Empire level title, and if it is a Kingdom, you will be unable to claim another Kingdom level title)
| Title rank | Piety cost |
|---|---|
 County
|
250 |
 Duchy
|
500 |
 Kingdom
|
1000 |
 Empire
|
2000 |
There are no claims for baronies; if you want a particular barony, you have to hold the county which the barony's a part of.
Using claims[edit | edit source]
Some claims have additional conditions before they can be pressed in war:
- With Male Dominated religious doctrine, claims of women can only be pressed against other women, children or incapable rulers.
- You may only help your direct Vassals and adult Courtiers press their claims.
Revocation[edit | edit source]
Revoking Titles of vassals is a crucial part of realm management, as it allows redistribution of power.
To revoke Titles:
- Feudal or Clan Rulers require Level 2 Crown Authority (and thus the Tribal Era Innovation Planned Assemblies).
- Tribal Rulers require Level 3 Tribal Authority. This means that Tribal Rulers can only revoke titles at the earliest 10 years after a game has started, provided they have enough Prestige to implement Level 2 Tribal Authority on Day 1.
Revoking Titles incurs a base of +20 Tyranny if done without a valid reason; valid revocation reasons include:
- having a Claim on the Title being revoked;
- Vassal has committed a Crime of a certain Severity
If the Vassal doesn't accept the revocation, they will rise in revolt, along with other disgruntled Vassals; imprisoned Vassals cannot refuse Title revocation.
Note that baronies can be revoked without tyranny.
Holding too many titles[edit | edit source]
Overextension: If a character is a Count or Duke, their realm can include a maximum of 30 County titles without penalties; for Dukes, this include the Counties controlled by their Count Vassals. Each county over the limit gives an overextension penalty that reduces the character's Gold income by -5%. Count-rank characters are unlikely to see this however, as they are further limited by their 
Domain Limit, which is usually much lower.
Too Many Held Duchies: If a character is a King or Emperor, they can hold a maximum of 2 Duchy titles without penalties. Any Duchy above the limit reduces the Opinion of all Vassals by -15.
Roman empire[edit | edit source]
The Roman Empire is an initially titular title that has special mechanics. It can be created via the Restore the Roman Empire decision and will replace the current primary title. If multiple empire titles are held they will all be merged into the Roman Empire title that will gain all their de jure territory. The character holding the Roman Empire title will always have the 
Augustus trait and the Restore Imperial Province casus belli. The initial coat-of-arms of the title depends on which of the 3 required empire titles the character taking the decision had.
A character holding the Roman Empire title who follows a Christian or Greco-Roman faith will gain +350 Prestige whenever it gains control of all counties from the duchies within one of the empire's old provinces as well as provinces it originally failed to conquer:
| Province | Duchies |
|---|---|
| Aegyptus |
|
| Africa |
|
| Britannia |
|
| Province | Duchies |
|---|---|
| Caledonia |
|
| Cyrenaica |
|
| Gallia |
|
| Province | Duchies |
|---|---|
| Germania |
|
| Hibernia |
|
| Province | Duchies |
|---|---|
| Hispania |
|
| Illyricum |
|
| Province | Duchies |
|---|---|
| Italia |
|
| Mauretania |
|
| Province | Duchies |
|---|---|
| Mesopotamia |
|
| Syria Palaestina |
|
Restoring all provinces will grant an additional +350 Prestige.
Titular titles[edit | edit source]
Titular titles can only be obtained in special circumstances and are not part of the de jure hierarchy.
| Title | Rank | Capital | Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armenian Principalities | Kingdom
|
Ani |  Prince Ashot in 867
|
| The Papacy | Kingdom
|
Rome |  Catholicism Head of Faith
|
| The Ecumenical Patriarchate | Kingdom
|
Constantinople |  Orthodoxy Head of Faith
|
| Archduchy of Austria | Kingdom
|
Vienna |  Form Archduchy of Austria decision
|
| Switzerland | Kingdom
|
Bern | Form the Swiss Confederation decision
|
| Kingdom of the Danelaw | Kingdom
|
Eoforwic | Restore the Danelaw decision
|
| Empire of Bactria | Empire
|
Balkh | Establish Bactrian Supremacy
|
| Empire of Greater Armenia | Empire
|
Ani | Revive Greater Armenia decision
|
| Empire of Outremer | Empire
|
Jerusalem | Form the Outremer Empire decision
|
| Empire of Slavia | Empire
|
Kyiv | Unite the Slavs decision
|
| Empire of the North Sea | Empire
|
Sælland | Secure the High Kingdom of the North Sea decision
|
| The Mongol Empire | Empire
|
Karakorum | Become Greatest of Khans decision
|
| The Chagatai | Empire
|
Samarqand | Mongol Empire has at least 50 Realm Size and Great Khan's Primary Heir died
|
| The Ilkhanate | Empire
|
Tabriz | Mongol Empire has at least 50 Realm Size and Great Khan's Primary Heir died
|
| The Black Horde | Empire
|
Delhi | Mongol Empire has at least 50 Realm Size and Great Khan's Primary Heir died
|
| The Golden Horde | Empire
|
Karakorum | Mongol Empire has at least 50 Realm Size and Great Khan's Primary Heir died
|
| The White Horde | Empire
|
Prague | Mongol Empire has at least 50 Realm Size and Great Khan's Primary Heir died
|
| The Aarlud Khanate | Empire
|
Roskilde | Mongol Empire has at least 50 Realm Size and Great Khan's Primary Heir died
|
| The Baruun Khanate | Empire
|
Alexandria | Mongol Empire has at least 50 Realm Size and Great Khan's Primary Heir died
|
| The Tögsköl Khanate | Empire
|
Rome | Mongol Empire has at least 50 Realm Size and Great Khan's Primary Heir died
|
Every other Head of Faith also has its own Titular title, each one of Duchy tier.
List of titles[edit | edit source]
| Characters | Characters • Attributes • Traits • Resources • Lifestyle • Dynasty • Culture • Innovations • Modifiers |
| Realm & Governance | Vassals • Council • Court • Schemes • Government • Laws • Decisions • Titles • Barony • County |
| Warfare | Warfare • Casus belli • Alliance • Army • Hired forces |
| Faith | Religion • Faith • Doctrines • Tenets |
| Meta | Modding • Patches • Downloadable content • Developer diaries • Achievements • Jargon |
