Dynasty and renown

House and dynasty

A dynasty is the line that descends from one landed founder. A house is one branch of that dynasty. The founding house is the first branch, and it usually carries the dynasty's name. A ruler can found a cadet branch: a new house, with its own name, motto, and coat of arms. Two quarters of that coat of arms copy the dynasty coat of arms.

Children are born into the father's house when the marriage is patrilineal, and into the mother's house when it is matrilineal. The arrange-marriage window names the house before you send the proposal.

Lowborn characters stand outside houses, renown, and legacies. A cadet branch stays inside the dynasty, so renown and unlocked legacies stay shared. The founder of the branch becomes its house head. The decision screen lists who can found one. A clan ruler needs to be independent before that decision appears.

Historical houses on the bookmarks, including the Rurikids, the Habsburgs, and the Komnenoi, are on the realms index. Those pages follow the seats. The dynasty tree works the same way in any realm.

• Realms
• Succession crash course
• Marriage and alliances

House head and dynasty head

The house head leads one house. When the house head dies, the primary heir becomes the next house head. The house head calls house members to war without spending renown, and can demand that a house member convert. A refusal of that conversion founds a cadet branch. A child born into the house gives the house head a weak hook. Legitimizing a bastard, and approving a divorce, follow the faith's doctrines. The interaction shows when you have it.

The dynasty head is the most powerful house head. Another house head takes that seat after becoming 10% stronger. Military strength is the usual measure. When every house head is administrative, celestial, meritocratic, meritocratic khanate, or Ritsuryo, the measure is powerful family rating. Adventurer government keeps a house head out of the dynasty head seat. Adventurer government is part of Roads to Power, released Sep 24, 2024.

The dynasty head is the character who spends the dynasty's renown. Open the dynasty tree from the character and use Pin to Dynasty Head. The heir on the succession screen can be someone else. The realm law screen names the heir. The dynasty tree names the head. The dynasty head can rename the dynasty. The house head can rename the house and its motto.

• Succession crash course
• Disinherit or a duchy vote

Where renown comes from, and where it goes

Renown belongs to the dynasty. Living members add it each month. The dynasty screen shows the amount on each member. A character with no title adds a small amount, and that amount stacks with the amount from a title. A ruler adds none while any liege belongs to the same dynasty.

A marriage to a ruler of another dynasty adds renown from that ruler's rank. After the wedding, the dynasty screen shows the new gain. Level of Splendor rises with the renown the dynasty has earned. A higher level makes marriage easier with a dynasty at a lower level. The acceptance bonus applies to a marriage with another dynasty. The dynasty screen shows the current level, and the renown still required for the next one. The level falls if a player character attempts suicide.

The dynasty head spends renown on legacies, and on actions aimed at dynasty members of the same faith: Call Dynasty Member to War, Claim Title, Denounce, End Dynasty Wars, and Forgive. Each button lists its renown, and any prestige printed beside it. A denounced character who becomes dynasty head loses the Denounced trait. The same happens to a dynasty head who carried Disinherited.

Disinherit is the succession sink. The dynasty head can give a dynasty member the Disinherited trait. A target with Disputed Heritage, or the Bastard trait, is disinherited free of renown. For everyone else, the renown on the button is higher for an heir than for an unlanded member, and higher again for a landed member. The same button can list prestige and legitimacy. Reversing a disinherit spends renown too. Read the button for the person you have selected, in this campaign.

The fifth Coterie legacy lets dynasty members disinherit their own children. That action spends prestige and tyranny. The renown stays on the dynasty. Coterie is a Fate of Iberia track. Steam dates that expansion to May 31, 2022. The button lists the prestige and the tyranny.

Adoption can bring a child into your house. The button lists prestige and renown, unless a tradition or the adoption game rule waives them. Roads to Power and All Under Heaven, released Oct 28, 2025, add further adoption cases. An adventurer can adopt a lowborn follower free of renown, and that follower joins the dynasty in a new house.

Court artifacts can add monthly renown while you hold them. The items index names the pieces that do, including the Reichskrone and the Crown of Justinian.

Legacies are the standing purchase. The dynasty head unlocks them. The next legacy costs 250 renown, plus 500 renown for each legacy the dynasty has already unlocked, on any track. The dynasty screen shows that price before you confirm. An AI dynasty head keeps buying on the track that already has the most legacies. Take the dynasty head yourself when you want a different track.

Some hegemony decisions pay renown directly: the Dar al-Islam adds 5,000 dynasty prestige and the Kingdom of Heaven 10,000. The hegemony guide lists their requirements.

• Court artifacts
• Disinherit or a duchy vote
• Reichskrone
• Crown of Justinian

Legacy tracks

A legacy is permanent. It applies to every member of the dynasty, in every house, including relatives who rule somewhere else. Each track has five legacies, and they unlock in order. Seven tracks ship with the base game. The others open with an expansion, or with a feature that expansion adds. Patch 1.20.1.2 has 22 tracks. The dynasty screen is the list for the head you have now.

Some tracks also ask the dynasty head for a government, a culture, or a faith. After the first legacy on that track is unlocked, later heads keep the track. The Unrestricted Dynasty Legacies game rule removes those gates.

The finished Law track adds 1 domain limit. Domain and economy is where rank, education, and that legacy are added up. The finished Warfare track adds one men-at-arms regiment and recruits House Guard. When to raise men-at-arms is stationing and upkeep. The fourth Blood legacy lets the dynasty head choose a congenital trait that shows up more often. An AI head who takes that legacy gets a random trait. The traits index is the congenital list. Guile feeds hostile schemes. Intrigue and hooks is the scheme loop.

Customs opens when hybrid cultures are available. That feature needs Royal Court, released Feb 8, 2022, or Khans of the Steppe, released Apr 28, 2025. Hybrid culture is the acceptance line. Adventure and Pillage open for a dynasty head with North Germanic heritage, or a culture descended from Norse, with Northern Lords. The Activities track is Tours and Tournaments, released May 11, 2023. Activities and tours is the tour, the tournament, and the wedding.

Legacies stay in CK3. The CK3 to EU5 converter preview carries the ruler, not heirs or the wider dynasty.

• Domain and economy
• When to raise men-at-arms
• Traits
• Intrigue and hooks
• Hybrid culture
• Activities and tours

Partition still shares the dynasty

The realm law decides who receives your titles. The house passes to the primary heir. The dynasty head is the strongest house head. Those three answers can name three different people on the same day. Succession is the law. Survive a partition is the grants you make while you are alive. Disinherit or a duchy vote is the renown button against one child, and the prestige vote on a duchy you hold outright.

Confederate Partition can create a title of your rank and give it to a child who then leaves independent. That child remains in your dynasty. Legacies you have already unlocked still apply, and an independent ruler of your dynasty adds monthly renown. A younger child who stays your vassal adds none while you, of the same dynasty, are their liege. The succession tab shows which of those two outcomes the next death will produce.

Disinherit spends the renown on the button and removes that person from the succession. The next legacy waits behind that purchase. Keep one heir who can inherit. A line with no suitable heir ends the campaign.

A cadet house founded by a sibling is still your dynasty. Once that sibling has no liege of your dynasty, their rule adds renown. If their house grows 10% stronger than yours on the measure above, they become dynasty head, and they spend the renown both houses earned. The first 100 years is the heir you still need in each generation.

• Succession crash course
• Survive a partition
• Disinherit or a duchy vote
• The first 100 years
• Domain and economy