A Non-Player's Glossary of Crusader Kings Terms

These terms are my own casual definitions, not those officially supplied by the game. The latter are probably more accurate and detailed. But let’s not get into the weeds here, or at least avoid the deeper weeds.

A note on cultural context: Some game terms change based on the culture of the player, title holder, etc. For example, for characters from Muslim cultures, duchies are referred to as emirates. The below terms mostly use the European versions for expediency’s sake. The glossary will be continuously updated!

Cadet branch. A fork in the family dynasty tree, founded by spending prestige. Cadet branches remain part of the founding dynasty, but creating a cadet branch allows a character to become a mini-house head in their own right, which gives them extra rights and prestige.

Casus belli. Declaring war in Crusader Kings requires a legally valid reason, or casus belli. These can arise from a claim, or a religious justification, or from various cultural traditions of conquest.

Character. A person. The player controls one character directly, and when that character dies, control passes on to the dead character’s heir. If you have no valid heir according to the laws of inheritance, the game ends. Tens of thousands of other computer-controlled characters inhabit the game, holding all the other titles, filling out the various courts, fighting in wars, leading religions, and just wandering around making trouble.

Claims. The legal justification for taking over somebody else’s title. Claims are most often inherited, but you can also get them through events, or by fabricating them. Claims are either pressed (meaning they can be inherited) or unpressed (they expire with the death of the claimant).

Confederate partition succession law. Usually the earliest law governing inheritance of titles. Divides titles equally among heirs, including the automatic creation of titles you’re eligible for but which may not yet exist. This is undesirable when you have more than one top title of the same rank, because it splits your realm on death. For example, if your top titles are two duchies, and you have two heirs (one player-controlled, one not), each heir gets a duchy. This means that your player-controlled character ends up with half the realm of the previous holder.

County. The second-smallest territorial unit. Counties contain holdings, and are contained by duchies.

Crown authority. How much control you exert as monarch. Low crown authority means your realm is loosey goosey, with empowered nobles. High crown authority means more power in the hands of the monarch, all the way up to absolute monarchy. Important because it’s often a prerequisite for adopting various kinds of laws.

Culture. Roughly, the ethnic and community background of a character.

Culture head. The ruler who comes from a particular culture and also controls the most counties with that culture. Allows this character to speed up certain technological progress.

De jure. The historical territories and vassals attributed to a particular title. Often used as a casus belli if one character holds a title that should by right belong to another. Controlling a title that is not de jure yours results in opinion penalties from non-de jure vassals, plus efficiency penalties. De jure titles can technically change, but it’s an involved process.

Domain. The titles a character personally holds and controls.

Duchy. A middling territorial unit. Duchies contain counties, and are contained by kingdoms.

Empire. The largest territorial unit. Empires contain kingdoms.

Faction. An organized group of vassals uniting under a grievance against their liege. This grievance might be a claim on the liege’s title, a wish for lesser crown authority, or a desire for independence. The combined military power of a faction is measured against their liege’s, and when a certain threshold is exceeded (the base is 80% of liege’s military power, but can be modified up or down), the faction begins to accumulate discontent. When their discontent reaches 100%, the faction may issue an ultimatum to their liege. The liege can either accede to their demands, or not. If the latter, then the faction members rebel in civil war.

Holding. The smallest territorial unit. Holdings are either castles (baronies), cities, or religious buildings. Holdings are contained by counties.

Inheritance. What happens to your titles when you die, as dictated by your succession law. Character traits can also be inherited.

Liege. In terms of medieval nobility, your boss. The title holder immediately above you in the pecking order. Your immediate liege may be different from your top liege, the latter being the most exalted noble in a particular independent realm. For example, if you’re a count, your boss is typically a duke, who then reports to a king. The duke would be your liege, and the king your top liege. Unless of course the king reports to an emperor …

Lifestyle. An experience system made up of five possible disciplines—diplomacy, martial, stewardship, intrigue, and learning. Progression through it allows a character to acquire various helpful perks.

Opinion. What characters think of each other, on a scale of -100 (bad) to 100 (good). Governs most characters’ behavior and their attitude toward the player in terms of cooperation and antagonism.

Prestige. A character’s accumulated fame and reputation. Gained or lost through events, winning or losing wars, etc. Spending prestige is often required to declare wars and call allies to fight in those wars, among other situations.

Realm. The full extent of a character’s area of control, made up of the titles they personally hold (their domain) as well as the realms of their vassals.

Religion. The spiritual faith of a character.

Skills. Six categories that define a character’s general abilities and competencies. They are diplomacy, martial, stewardship, intrigue, learning, and prowess. The score range is zero to 30(ish), though anything approaching 20 is pretty good, and anything beyond 20 is very good indeed.

Succession. The process of titles being inherited on death of the holder by their heirs. Governed by the realm’s succession laws.

Title. The legal right to control a territorial unit and its vassals. Basic titles range from baron to count to duke to king to emperor, with others scattered in the mix for good measure.

Traits. A huge range of characteristics defining a character’s personality, physicality, background, history, current situation, and more. Examples include Brave, Just, Deceitful, Fecund, Giant, Club-footed, and on and on. Traits grant various bonuses and penalties, many of which are situational. Some traits can be inherited.

Warscore. A running numerical assessment of how well a war is going, based off battles won and lost, territory occupied and occupying, and important hostages taken. A score of 100 means you can force a surrender on your terms. A score of -100 means you’ll be the one surrendering.