Your king could lose his mind if you're too nice in Crusader Kings 3
Heir raising
As we draw closer to the release date of Crusader Kings 3 on September 1, Paradox has started a series of videos to get you up to speed with their grand strategy game. First up is a look at how characteristics shape your regal avatar. It begins with the story of Erik the Heathen, a greedy, brave, and zealous Viking. Despite ruling Sweden, he is not chill.
We know from Nate's previews that roleplaying is a hugely important element of CK3. Each character has a number of personal traits that drive them. If you're not careful, you can make decisions that will stress out your leader. Erik's the kind of guy who finds comfort in imprisoning a former king and cutting off one of his legs. He's happy to sacrifice unbelievers to his cause. In fact, doing so keeps him sane. But if you decide to be generous his greed trait will cause issues. He’ll get stressed and act out, snapping at courtiers, shouting at everyone. Acting against their nature could send your character towards a mental breakdown, or even death.
Blimey. I got stressed just typing that, and I’m not even related to Erik. I really pitied his son in this video. He’s been raised to take over the world in the name of Sweden and their gods, but the pressure to excel in that task has made him miserable. He has a “Melancholic” health trait, and there's no guarantee that he'll be able to fill the role he's being prepared for.
If this torturous lifestyle simulator is your sort of thing, you can grab it on Steam from September 1. I'll be hugging my cat.