Alright, here's to an idea that is perhaps more fleshed out than previous requests...
- Add a new rank, Archduke. This can only be given by the ruler to a duke that has at least a city in their duchy (strongholds and townslands are not admissible, at least unless you want to start giving banks to strongholds). This creates an Archduchy. Optionally, give realms a few options: Archduke/Archduchy, Viceroy/Vicroyalty, Governor/Dominion. Optional: allow it to be done in strongholds, which automatically gives them banks.
- The duke has up to 5 days to accept his archduke nomination.
- Once promoted to archduke, the archduchy has a grace period of 5 days for an archduchal capital to be chosen, after which region stat penalties start accumulating until he chooses one.
- All recruitment centers in archduchies cease to be available for recruitment in the realm's capital
- Nobles are allowed to recruit from both their archduchy capital and realm capital, but only from the each's respective lists accordingly
- Region distance from capital penalties in archduchies are calculated off of their distance from their archducal capital.
- Archdukes are not an intermediate rank between dukes and rulers, but a privileged duke rank. In other words, archdukes cannot have other dukes below them, cannot create other duchies themselves.
- Alternatively, archdukes are an intermediate rank between dukes and rulers, making duchies optionally a part of archduchies, where archdukes that have multiple cities in their domains can delegate powers to subordinate duke, but without the power to make additional archdukes themselves. Probably more work to code than the former option, the tradeoff being potentially more complex (and thus engaging) feudal structures between players
- Choosing an archduchal capital costs gold. It can later be moved for gold. Perhaps 75% of the cost of moving a realm's capital.
- If an archduchy loses its capital, it suffers the same penalties as a realm without a capital does. Namely, it no longer has region from which people can recruit from its recruitment centers.
- If the lord of the archduchy's capital changes allegiance to another (arch)duchy, a h/p penalty is inflicted. Similarly, this should apply to lords of a realm's capital that switch to another realm.
- For the purposes of distance from the capital penalties, when the capital is lost, the game will assume the capital is in the same spot until a new one is selected (as I think it does with realm capitals that are lost). The region doesn't grant any other capital benefits however.
- If an archduchy has been without a capital for a month, it is dissolved.
- When an archduchy hasn't had a capital for over a week, the ruler can dissolve it.
- When an archduchy doesn't have an archduke, the ruler can dissolve it.
- Dissolution of an archduchy reverts it to a regular duchy.
- When an archduchy doesn't have an archduke, the ruler can appoint a noble that belongs to it as new archduke.
- Optional/Debatable: Under some circumstances (tied with government setting or as an option to rulers), archdukes can be an elected position
- There is an in-realm archduke message group, but not an inter-realm "to peers" type one.
- Archdukes have no more powers than regular dukes do, save for the ability to build and then move their capital. Under the intermediate rank system, this also implies taxation over dukes.
- Rulers would be able to set a different tax rate on duchies below them and archduchies below them.
- Archduchies have no diplomacy and cannot fight each other
- Optional: enable archduchal rebellions, where nobles of an archduchy can try to overthrow their archduke, recycling much of the current rebellion mechanics. During this archduchal rebellion, the realm's judge cannot ban any of the nobles belonging to that archuchy until a week after the rebellion is resolved. A defeated archduke loses all feudal titles but is not automatically banned. Unsuccessful rebels get their automatic ban, though the realm's judge can choose to absolve them.
- Archdukes get royal status after having had the title for over a month.
I think this is a fairly exhaustive layout of how it *could* work.
Main disadvantage: the work required to code and debug it, obviously. To consider the potential of superpowers crushing everyone else, I guess, but I don't think we have the demographics for that anymore, nor that it makes it really much more of a threat than a coalition of allied realms.
Advantages: More interplayer interactions, break realms' isolation, enable/structure/support the more colonial and imperial setups many realms have tried over the years and for which there is an obvious player desire. This system could actually help fix a lot of the structural problems that dynamic demographics would target. For example, say Madina decides their spot is boring and they want to move elsewhere, well they could go takeover Golden Farrow, or Shinnen, and start building up infrastructure there. But instead of ditching all of their assets to make it their capital right away, or splitting up their handful of nobles to make a new realm in paralel to eventually ditch their homeland, they could take it over, make it an archduchy, and then keep both their homeland and their new acquisition. Then, gradually, their homeland could amass funds to build up the new archduchy, with nobles going back and forth between the two as needed, until the new archduchy starts having walls, recruitment centers, taxes. Gradually, nobles could swear fealty to regions of the new archduchy, recruit from there, and less and less nobles will need to make the trip between it and the homeland. And since they aren't gaining a million new nobles and the monster code still applies, the more they expand to this new destination, the more they are likely to lose regions in their homeland, until it's just relics left. This not only makes the move possible, but also tempting, even if in a purely colonial and non-migratory manner. If Madina, or Astrum, or D'Hara, or anyone else decides "Hey, Golden Farrow looks nice, maybe I should settle it", they are no longer bound by distance if they make it an archduchy. But say D'Hara decides to build it up, pump lots of gold into it... then that's a somewhat alluring prize for other realms to try to take from them. Similarly, it also exposes the rest of their regions. After all, troops take time to march, there's no way D'Hara can defend Golden Farrow, Port Raviel, and Sallowtown simultaneously. Plus the costs of sea travel...
Furthermore, it would finally disincentivize single-duchy realms. As it is, the game actively punishes realms that choose to delegate powers by creating multiple duchies. If at least it would add some benefits, realms would be more likely to spread the power around.
