👶 Regents

5 candidate rungs+40 family opinion

When a leader dies and the crown falls to a child, someone rules in their name. Regency is not a job you assign — it is decided at the moment of succession by a priority ladder of candidates, and the game takes the first rung it can fill. The regent genuinely becomes your leader, plays as your leader, and is expected to hand the throne back. Transcribed from Character.makeRegent, Player.setLeader and isSuccessionSkipRegent in the game source; the ladder itself is eventStory.xml priority + subject filters.

When a regency happens

On succession (a leader dying or abdicating), if the incoming leader is a minor the regent events fire. The age gate differs by rung — a toddler under 7 gets a regent whether you like it or not, while a 6–17 leader only gets one if a suitable relative exists. From 18 the new leader simply rules.

Who is picked

Highest priority first. Each rung is an event whose subject filters must all be satisfiable by someone in your court; if nobody fits, the game drops to the next rung. The first three offer a choice — you may decline that candidate — while the last two are forced.

priority 6 Parent of the new leader you may decline

“Dowager Regent” must be healthy new leader aged 6–17
priority 5 Aunt/Uncle of the new leader you may decline

“Lawful Regent” must be aged 18 or older, royal family, healthy new leader aged 6–17
priority 5 Grandparent of the new leader you may decline

“Regent” must be healthy, royal family new leader aged 6–17
priority 4 any character in your court forced

“Too Young to Rule” must be aged 30 or older, healthy
priority 3 a family head forced

“Power Play”

“Healthy” excludes characters the game considers unfit at that moment. Note the bottom rung: if no relative qualifies, a family head takes the regency — an outsider with their own family's interests, which is why the event is called “Power Play”.

What being regent does

While regent

They are your leader in every mechanical sense — their ratings, traits and archetype drive your empire, and they take the Regent title.
They carry the Regent trait, worth +40 opinion with their own family — regency is a family-politics prize.
Their reign counts as a reign: cognomen stats accrue to them, and the STAT_YEARS_REGENT counter tracks the time.

Giving the throne back

The rightful heir is remembered separately (the Rightful Heir trait), and regents are skipped by the succession list — isSuccessionSkipRegent removes them and their descendants as a dynastic root, so a regency does not re-found your line through the regent's branch.
When the throne passes on, a regent who still holds the trait converts to Former Regent — +1 Wisdom for the rest of their life.
If the regent dies while still holding power, a dedicated event returns the rightful heir to the throne.

Regency can also arrive by event outside succession entirely — any event bonus carrying iRegentOfSubject installs a regent over the named player, which is how some story chains put a foreign character in charge.

See also Family Head Selection — the other “who gets picked” question, decided by a different rule entirely.