succession issue

My dick.

>>53695091
>who takes power in this situation?
The PCs do. After declaring regency for the young lady.

>>53695091
First distant duke is fucked. He either will break betrothal willingly or die by assassination. Or through war. Though it will happen a little later because right now king still has a few trusted people to ship his daughter to a duke he chooses.

Biggest problem is that the Old Duke can just take the daughter and no one will be able to do anything while he is still alive.

Which leads to a more important question - does Old Duke have any grandsons that are not imbeciles or bloodthirsty maniacs? Cause if he does king should make a couple of deals with Old Duke. Mostly about choosing the best successor and making sure others won't be able to mess it up.

>>53695091
>who takes power in this situation?
Did any of them, at any point, receive a sword from the Lady of the Lake?

>>53695091

I sent you to >>>/qst/, no to /tg/

>>53695091
His brother -> brother's son -> brother's son's son -> father's brother -> father's brother's son -> father's brother's son's son etc.

>>53695245
>>>/qst/1552191

The best political player. All three have mayor issues, and there is no clear line of succession to provide a legal framework. If any of them can sway a large amount of the power players in the nations politics (religious leaders, powerful military leaders, important figures at the court, the tax man etc.) to declare him the succesor, this can end pretty quickly and cleanly.
If not, it is a matter of bigger army diplomacy, and in this case that means how many of the country's nobles are on your side - unless any of them can work their foreign connections to give them an army to beat their rivals.

Wait is it strict agnatic or agnatic by bloodline? under several forms of agnatic it actualy wont go up or sideways without copious amounts of death.

Second that betrothal won't last long(betrothals are a first dibs thing, they can be broken at any time and the distance involved makes it seem as if the chance for retribution is slim) for an heir apparent. a matrilineal betrothal to ether the oldest dukes grandson (weaker and less likey given that he could croak before even the king) or the second dukes firstborn (shouldn't take long) are in order. none of these fags get to be king but the realm can be promised to the family of one of them (going from being the pretender to a duchy to prince reagent and duke in own right is a big upgrade and shouldn't be hard to pull off). Make duke three reagent and hand the baby girl off to his care. His sickness makes him unlikely to produce his own heir and even though his policy are rather radical he is much better then cranky old fruit or religious nut. He will be easily convinced by 14 years worth of regency and almost all the powers of the crown.

Third that is some epic heir problems. This man needed to join the heir club for men.

>>53695091
Daughter becomes heir apparent until she's old enough to become queen, first duke is likely to be the one named reagent.

>>53695091
Have the 85 year old be regent for the daughter, have the other two dukes be advisors. By the time the old duke dies the other two will have more experience in administration, then have the discussion be who is the second regent.

>>53695744
>>53696086
daughter isn't up for succession

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrilineality#Agnatic_succession

>>53695091
>The situation leads to a deadlock
>The princess is clearly unfit to rule so it becomes a three-way struggle between the noble pretenders, all of which having only highly dubious claims of bloodrelations to the royal line
>Various nobles back all three sides, ensuring that no matter who wins a civil war will ensue
>To avoid civil war, a temporary regent with no relation to any of the three candidates is appointed to run the daily affairs of the country
>Meanwhile a council of nobles is formed to debate the subject of succession
>None of the three candidates are willing to compromise
>The council of nobles suspects the regent of acting too much like a king, so they dispose of him after a period of 2 years
>A new regent is appointed, with the caveat that he may only rule for 2 years until the council appoints a new regent
>Said regent, not fond of the limitations the council of nobles has imposed on him, appeals to the masses for popular support
>Small uprisings happen across the already politically divided country, with the regent seemingly unwilling to end them
>The council gives in and allows the masses to be represented in a lower house (which too will participate in the election of regents)
>Over time the three pretenders fade to the background, as more and more nobles prefer the status quo where they have a say in things over civil war where they risk losing it all
>A republic is born
>Through a twist of fate, all three pretenders end up becoming regent within the first 20 years of the republic's existence. The first one led a succesful war of agression against a neighboring kingdom but died in office, the third took over after him and concluded a favorable peace treaty. The second's reign was uneventful, but he was nevertheless re-elected 16 years later.