The proposal
A character aged 16 or older can marry. When either partner is 15 or younger, the match is a betrothal until both come of age. The pair is opposite gender unless the Same-Sex Marriages game rule is set to Accepted. That switch sits on the game rules screen, and it stays for the campaign.
The match needs an acceptance of at least 1. The window shows the total. Rank, the desire for an alliance, level of splendor, and a hook are the lines to read before you send it.
On an arrange-marriage proposal, a weak hook adds 100 acceptance. A strong hook adds 200 acceptance, or it accepts the match on its own. The intrigue guide covers how a hook is gained. The button shows what this hook will do. A grand wedding is promised on this same proposal when you own Tours and Tournaments. Activities and tours is that activity.
| Hook | Acceptance |
|---|---|
| Weak | 100 |
| Strong | 200, or the match is accepted |
The children's house
Children of a patrilineal marriage join the father's house. Children of a matrilineal marriage join the mother's house. The arrange-marriage window names that house before you send the proposal.
The dynasty guide is the house, the dynasty head, and the legacies those children keep after a partition.
The arrange-marriage window names the house the children will be born into.
Alliances
An alliance forms when two characters marry. It also forms when a close family member of one ruler marries or betroths a close family member of the other. The proposal shows whether this match will form an alliance.
The Consorts and Concubines doctrine lets a ruler keep up to three consorts or concubines alongside a spouse. A consort or a concubine leaves the alliance line empty. They can be set aside without a divorce. Their children gain the Child of Concubine trait or the Child of Consort trait.
Negotiate Alliance is a separate action. The rulers need to be at peace, and neither imprisoned. It opens when they are close or extended family and the pair are not cousins, when the proposer has Defensive Negotiations and the pair is not a vassal with their liege, when both are house heads and the house relation is Faithful, or when a parent or spouse of either is a Blood Sibling.
A hegemon has no Negotiate Alliance action. A marriage alliance with a hegemon's close family still forms.
Blood Siblings share an alliance. That relation ships with Khans of the Steppe, released Apr 28, 2025.
A hook can accept a proposed alliance. The button shows the acceptance. When you call an ally to war, the call lists acceptance. The refuse line lists the prestige and the opinion for staying home. The first century guide walks through that call.
Only an emperor or higher can call a hegemon into a war. The hegemony guide lists the other rules that change at that rank.
Faith and divorce
The consanguinity doctrine decides which relatives count as a legal spouse and which relations count as a crime. The divorce doctrine decides whether the marriage can end.
The divorced spouse holds -25 opinion for 50 years. The opinion is named Divorced Me. Close family holds -5 opinion for 5 years. That opinion is named Divorced Close Family. A divorced character can marry again.
Read the doctrine on your faith before you send a proposal inside the family, or before you end a marriage. The faith guide covers conversion and founding a faith.
Succession
Set the child's education focus before age 6. The education guide covers the focus, the guardian, and the trait at 16.
A betrothal forms the alliance before the wedding when the pair is close family of two rulers.
Partition can send a younger child out with a title of the same rank. That child stays in the dynasty. An alliance on that child stays with that child.
A spouse is the ordinary way the heir line starts.
If you do not produce a suitable heir, the line and the game end.
Crusader Kings 3 · What is · Beginner · Succession · Governments · Faith · Warfare · Intrigue · First century · Hybrid culture · Traditions · Partition · Men-at-arms · Domain · Dynasty · Education · Court · Activities · Elective · Chapter V · By God Alone · Silk and Silver · Patch 1.19 · Hegemony · EU5 converter · FAQ · Sources · Items · Ark · Reichskrone · Iron Crown · Papal Tiara · Justinian · Sword
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