DESCRIPTION
What does this mod do?

This is a recreation of my mod, "Co-Emperors and Symbasileuses

This mod allows the Byzantine and Roman Emperors to appoint Co-Emperors among their direct vassals and family members. These Co-Emperors are Court Positions, meaning that they will give maluses and bonuses based on their aptitudes. Perhaps the most important aspect is that their children will be also born in the purple, so with this mod, no more non-purple-born grandchildren for your old emperor!

Also, you can rebuild Domitian Palace in Rome after the restoration of Roman Empire via a decision, so that you can benefit from the Purple-born features even when your capital is Rome, not Constantinople (with the Bucoleon Palace). Of course, your culture should have the "Byzantine Traditions" Tradition.

Historical backgrounds

The "born in the purple" trait shows that the character was born in the Purple Chamber of Bucoleon Palace, Constantinople, when their parents were ruling emperor and empress at the time of their birth. Historically, Porphyrogenitus or the people "born in the purple" had higher legitimacy than people who weren't, granting a decent advantage to the descendants of the current emperor in the race to the Imperial Throne. Nonetheless in this game, when you get your grandchildren, they will not get this trait because their parents are not reigning at the time of their birth. However, this is NOT historical at all.

The Byzantine Emperors were not fools. Instead of threatening their own grandchildren's legitimacy, they devised a clever bypass to this problem by making their heir apparent as "Emperors", often upon birth. The appointed junior, co-ruling emperors had full access to the "purple chamber", built with purple porphyry marble "all purple except for the colorful spots" and decorated with silk completely dyed in Tyrian purple, inside the imperial palace in Constantinople, thereby giving birth to fully legitimate "born-in-the-purple" grandchildren as the future heirs for the Empire.

The very idea of multiple co-ruling emperors dates back to Emperor Diocletian, who founded the tetrarchy where four emperors existed, two senior and two junior, each having an army and a set of provinces to defend. However as the time flowed and the empire split in half, the title of junior co-emperor was not generally recognized as the sovereign of the empire anymore. Instead, the title of co-emperor acted as a de facto crown prince, just as the position that Prince of Wales holds in the Kingdom of England. Nevertheless, since they were "technically" (or de jure, so to speak,) emperors, their legitimate children were also considered to be Porphyrogenitus/Porphyrogenita, or born in the purple. There were several prominent cases where this fact affected the imperial politics in critical ways.

Detailed mechanics

This mod allows the Byzantine Basileuses to appoint their vassals or family members as their Co-Emperor. Co-Emperor title is treated as a Court Position. You can appoint one in the Courtiers window on your right. The aptitude of Co-Emperor depends of their eligibility as Emperors: all six personal skills, Born-in-the-Purple status, blood relationship to the senior Emperors, etc.

Currently, the only interaction between Co-Emperor and other vassals happens only when the Co-Emperor title is revoked, where the vassals lose their opinion to their liege and the liege gets tyranny. And, the former Co-Emperor gets a pressed claim on the Emprie. But there will be more political interactions as the game gets updates, and possibly a Byzantine Flavor Pack.

In addition, any legitimate children that born between the appointed Co-Emperor and his/her spouse AFTER the appointment will get the trait Born in the Purple, given that they meet all the (slightly twicked) vanilla requirements. Specifically, it is that the capital of the Empire is at Constantinople, non-ruler mothers must present in Constantinople at the time of the birth, and the ruling mothers must not be at war with the owner of Constantinople (vanilla requirements for the mothers were "not at war with the father", but that created weird situations where the ruling Empress at war with her vassal duke husband failing to give birth to Purple-born kid.) Also, the culture of the Emperor should have the "Byzantine Traditions" Tradition. Granting Born-in-the-Purple is not retraced back to the children that were born before the coronation, so be quick if your heir is already a married adult.

This feature is also maintained even after you restore the Roman Empire, provided you enact an decision (provided by this mod) to restore the Domitian Palace.

Compatibility issues and trivia

Does not change any vanilla files. Will be compatible with most of the mods.

Cannot guarantee compatibility with any major overhaul mods. Use them at your own risk.

DLC Requirement

No DLC is required.

Future plans

Add graphical GFX so that the Co-Emperors use the Byzantine Emperor's headgear and clothing.
Add faction rebellion that installs the Co-Emperor as the Emperor, while placing the former Emperor as the Co-Emperor (basically an Emperor switcheroo that happened several times historically). AI vassals will have more chance to join this faction compared to other pretender factions.
Add a feature where a powerful vassal demand the position of Co-Emperor, and the vassal can revolt if the demand is refused.

For the gorgeous Roman and Byzantine Coat of Arms, I strongly recommend Cat's CoA mods:

This mod was used in my playthrough and for the creation of the title image. I used it in the title image with his consent.

REQUIREMENTS

Crusader Kings III

Full game

FORUM LINKS