[MOD] After the End CK3 (2024)

(Written by nullpointer)
AtE CK3 Dev Diary 3: Imperial Bureaucracy

Hello everyone! I’m Nullpointer, one of the developers for After the End CK3. Today we will present one of the brand new mechanics we’re implementing - new both to CK3 and AtE itself.

That’s right, we’re going to Brazil! Or, more specifically, we’re going to present the Brazilian Empire’s unique government mechanics.
Motivation
In AtE, Brazil represents what China was to medieval western Eurasia: a large, advanced, bureaucratic, centralized state that, despite all these characteristics, should be slow to act, hard to expand and tricky to maintain. If the conditions are right it should be possible for the Empire to go on expansionist sprees or even collapse, but these would be uncommon events over this mostly stable frame.
We also want Brazil to represent - you guessed it - Brazil itself. With the inclusion of South America, Brazil (and its vassals) will be playable from game start, and despite representing China’s role it should also portrait concepts inspired on its own history, culture and traditions. Obviously this will be extensively portrayed through cultures, faiths, innovations and events, but in general Brazil in AtE won't be “China LARPing” but instead focus on Brazil as a gigantic, self-centered, bureaucratic colossus - hard to move and hard to stop, mostly due to its own fault.

The Undaunted Colossus is looking good…!
Finally, our third main objective is that whatever we implement in Brazil should be fun - fun to interact with as an external power, fun to play as the Emperor and also fun to play as a vassal. This means we can’t simply transform it into an inaccessible, immutable block, and even though we should restrain its capacities (in order to stop it from steamrolling everyone else) and enhance its stability (so it’s still there hundreds of years after game start), player agency (and/or sheer luck) should be respected.

...at least on the outside
In order to achieve all of this, we’re not only adding a few bonuses and restrictions - instead, a whole new set of mechanics (governments, contracts, succession laws and realm laws) has been devised in order to allow the Empire, its vassals and neighbours to steer the Undaunted Colossus towards progress, stability… or ruin.
New Government: Imperial Bureaucracy
The main characteristic that is common to Brazil, medieval China and imperial governments as a whole is the bureaucracy. Even if peasants are the vast majority of the population and local lands are ruled in traditional, quasi-feudal ways, actual power resides on the hands of a vast, complex group of officials, civil servants and courtiers that could set the whole country running in the right direction… or, more often than not, simply stall it.
In order to reflect this, Brazil is not a Feudal state, but rather a new government form: an Imperial Bureaucracy. This government form still has a monarch (the Emperor) on top, but the lands underneath are not necessarily governed by hereditary rulers. Instead, the Emperor can appoint (through vassal contracts) bureaucratic Governors (who should excel at peace time administration at the core of the Empire) and military Captains (who should take care of the conflict-prone borders) to aid him in maintaining a state of continental proportions. More on these later on.

Governors and captains, marquises and prefects, caciques and, of course, the Emperor
Many decisions rely on the opinion of councilors, governors and captains, who may also be influenced by their peers and vassals, creating a dynamic balance of power that can be influenced both by the Emperor (who can manage Governors and Captains), his vassals (who can influence or even force decisions) and, obviously everyone inclined to scheming.
One of the ways these vassals can influence the government is by helping to pick the next emperor. Just like the Byzantine Empire, hereditary rule is more of a suggestion, and inept successors will only be allowed if they have a strong enough backer. The Imperial Succession law mimics this, allowing key members of the court to influence who the next Emperor will be without (usually) deviating much from regular succession. Maybe your secondborn, well-read daughter is the prefered candidate for the bureaucrats, or maybe the captains would rather see your veteran brother over your feeble young children on the throne.

Only two of the Emperor's children can be chosen...

And Simão, the younger one, is heavily favored by the bureaucracy due to his diplomatic skills

Meanwhile, Vivaldo is not even considered due to his poor administrative skills
How much the bureaucracy (or the captains, or the Emperor himself) influences the Empire is dynamic, however: the Empire might be resolute as a whole, but the hands pulling strings on the court will change. In order to reflect this, Imperial Bureaucracies won’t have Crown Authority, but rather Court Authority, which can represent more power to Bureaucrats, to the Military or, in rare balance moments, to the Emperor.

Sometimes the pen is heavier than the sword
Finally, the Brazilian bureaucracy is pluralistic by nature, and as such vassals integrated in it have few reasons to claim independence in most cases, and most of them are too deep into the political system to see advantages in undermining it directly. Instead, bureaucratic vassals will work together in factions to increase the Bureaucracy’s grasp on the government… while military vassals will work on the opposite, taking power from these pampered civil servants and bringing them to those that keep the Empire united with blood and steel.

The Military won’t let a bunch of feeble clerks to rule Brazil on the Emperor’s behalf
New Vassal Contracts: Governorates and Captaincies
The Emperor (and his vassals) can negotiate with his vassals special contracts that vastly changes how the vassals will work. By assigning them to these, the vassal’s government form (and, potentially, succession and realm laws too) will be changed, which come with many bonuses, penalties and limitations.

The Emperor should also keep in mind the balance of powers: if too many bureaucratic Governorates are established, their faction will be too powerful to contain, and soon enough the court will be controlled by bureaucrats - their armies might be weak, but they excel at forging alliances and are wealthy enough to hire a large number of mercenaries. This is even more dangerous when we consider military Captaincies, since they usually have larger armies and more experienced commanders.
The player (and the AI) can negotiate these contracts, and they are valid for imperial vassals too - a governor might set up a Captain vassal if they end up bordering enemies, and a captain-general might turn a fertile captaincy into a prefecture. Finally, once per lifetime the Emperor can reorganize the empire - even without player interference, the AI will (usually) assign governors to core lands and captains to borders.
The base effects of these contracts are fairly straightforward: Governors provide more taxes, fewer troops and have bonuses to development and taxes. and Captains provide more levies, fewer taxes and have larger, more efficient levies (as well as expanded control). Their governments also unlock a series of other changes, as detailed below.
It’s important to notice that the Emperor is not forced to negotiate these contracts. Even though they bring many bonuses to their specialities (and also make vassals less likely to grow too much, due to the elective nature of governorates and captaincies), hereditary vassals are allowed to exist, but their loyalty won’t be guaranteed, as they might end up seeing themselves as rightful kings instead of mere imperial vassals.
New Government: Bureaucratic Governorate

Other than their obligations (and bonuses) from their liege, Governors and Magistrates are expected to come from the highest echelons of bureaucracy. As such, they’re initially assigned to the Bureaucratic Succession laws: only competent, well read characters can succeed. Small children, burly brutes and scheming scoundrels won’t have a chance, and the opinion of influential bureaucrats (such as Stewards and Chancellors) will be highly regarded during election. Finally, other than the governor’s close family and his vassals, the governor’s own counselors will be valid candidates for succession - the governor’s steward will be seen by many as his natural successor.

Bureaucracy can always outdo itself
Governorates also have a few limitations: they are usually not allowed to declare wars and, depending on their liege's Court Authority, their rights and powers might be further curbed (or expanded) - a bureaucratic court will give more importance to the opinion on Governors, for example.
Other than that, governorates are fully playable - instead of conquering your neighbours, a player might focus on consolidating power and use their optimized succession laws to focus on smooth transitions of power and mastering the courtly play… growing from Prefect to Magistrate to Governor by the pen, not the sword.
New Government: Military Captaincy

Captaincies have been part of the Brazilian history since the beginning, back when it was first colonized and divided between captain-generals. In more recent times, since the restoration of the Empire, Captaincies have the main function of defending the borders - and, when conditions are favorable, expanding them. In a counterpoint to Governorates, Captains are selected through **Military Succession** laws, prioritizing martial and prowess skills, and the opinion of knights and marshals is highly regarded in this selection.

Despite some maluses to development, Captaincies have a key advantage when compared to Governorates: they can declare wars. Notice that they ‘can’, not necessarily ‘should’, since increasing the territorial extension of the Empire is very costly. Still, with both the Emperor and the governors pretty much locked out of military conflicts, captaincies are one of the few ways that would allow territorial extension (both within and without the Brazilian borders).
Finally, captaincies are also fully playable and offer a middle ground between ‘classic’ CK3 gameplay and imperial mechanics, but being locked with only combat-oriented rulers (while the Bureaucrats can have a wider range of candidates) is a spin on its own. It’s also worth mentioning that, as emperors come and go, they might decide that a powerful vassal would serve them better as a governor despite their military origins.
New Realm Laws: Court Authority

The mechanic that ties everything else together is Court Authority. Brazil and the Empire might be too large to move or fail, but courts are much more fluid and their influence over Imperial administration are also much broader.
In 2666, Brazil starts with a heavily bureaucratic court, but this won’t last for long: not only the emperor is interested in gaining more power, but his Captains will gladly band together to press this issue. If the scales shift balance to the military, governors will do the same, and only when the conditions are right - with both factions either dwarfed under a strong Emperor or too busy fighting each other - power actually rests with whoever bears the crown.
Mechanically, Court Authority varies in a scale with 5 positions, similar to Crown Authority’s 4 levels. Differently from feudal mechanics, however, it doesn’t grow from 0 to 5, but moves from Bureaucratic on one side, to Balanced in the center, to Military on the other.

This means it’s not cumulative, and perks granted by one level can be kept or lost when you move to another one on either side. More importantly, these perks are not applied equally over all vassals - a bureaucratic court will favor governorates (with opinion bonuses, stronger rights and more saying on imperial decisions) and scorn captaincies (which will be enraged, weakened and even outright lose voting rights), and a military court does the opposite. At the most extreme positions, a faction can outright block candidates from being picked for succession, and might even appoint councilors directly, bypassing the ruler.
A balanced court, meanwhile, will grant the Emperor most of the powers one would expect from maximum court authority… and also give both Captains and Governors a large opinion penalty, which means only a strong, popular emperor can keep the power for himself, while weaker ones will need to rely on a faction or face frequent ultimatums.

Please fill in form 34b in order to capitulate
Court Authority also exists for imperial vassals, but they are capped by their government type: governorates can vary from Bureaucratic to Balanced, and captaincies can go from Balanced to Military. Just like the Emperor, governors and captains must control the expectations of their own military and bureaucracy - or be consumed by them.
Going into more details, here are the court authority levels:
Bureaucratic court: at this level, the court is completely controlled by the bureaucracy, with the actual leader severely restricted and the civil servants are free to optimize the state towards stability and progress.
* Vassal opinions are greatly improved
* Tax collection is improved, while recruitment is diminished;
* bureaucratic councilors and governors hold most power during voting, and captains and barred from voting
* Only able candidates can inherit the throne, in a similar fashion to Bureaucratic succession - while it’s not as harsh, a learned sibling will have priority over a minor child.
* Stewards and Chancellors can’t be sacked, their voting power greatly exceeds all others, and they are automatically picked by the bureaucracy, with no saying from the ruler
* All wars are banned, internal or external
* Governors are protected from sacking, while other vassal types can be revoked with no imposed tyranny.
Bureaucratic-leaning court: at this level, bureaucrats have more influence than the military, but their grasp on power is not absolute:
* Vassal opinions are slightly improved
* tax collection is slightly improved, while recruitment is slightly diminished.
* councilors and governors have more voting power than non-bureaucratic vassals
* Succession conditions are more lax, but some minimal bureaucratic virtues are expected
* Stewards and chancellors can’t be removed by the ruler, but they can be freely picked
* Internal wars are still banned, but captaincies can declare wars against enemies of the empire
Balanced court: either thanks to a strong leader or due to conflicting factions weakening each other, a balanced court allows the Emperor (or Governor, or Captain-General) to rule freely:
* Vassal opinions are greatly reduced
* Both tax collection and recruitment are slightly improved
* All vassals can vote, but the leader’s votes have by far the most influence
* There are no additional restrictions to candidacy - the Emperor can pick his successor among his close relatives
* Wars are allowed
* The Emperor can revoke titles at any time
Military-leaning court: as the court moves to the opposite direction, bureaucrats are replaced with officials, knights and captains:
* Modifiers are the opposite from bureaucratic-leaning court
* Marshals, captains and knights have extra voting power
* Marshals and knights can’t be sacked
* Candidates are expected to have a least some martial or fighting skills
* Vassals can declare wars
Military court: again, the de jure ruler is all but a figure-head, but now the army deals the cards
* Modifiers are the opposite from bureaucratic court
* Marshals are selected by the military, and not by the ruler
* Knights, Marshals and Captains have most of the voting power, and governorate vassals can’t vote
* Non-captaincy vassals can be revoked for free
* Vassals can declare wars
Due to the large number of vassals, a faction bringing ‘an offer you can’t refuse’ to the Emperor is more commonly a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’, while governors and captains can enjoy less rebellious vassals. The emperor should, then, learn how to swim with the current and make the best of the current faction, or wait until they’re popular and powerful enough to consolidate their power.
Next steps

Considering that Brazil is home to dozens of cultures and faiths, many other factors will account into the Empire. Given CK3’s next major patch, though, these cultural customizations will be postponed until we have a clearer view about how cultures are going to work. Custom succession styles, new factions or even new types of ultimatums are all planned.

https://i.imgur.com/NIIm3Bg.jpg
Another feature that is halted until Paradox implements a new voting system is a more extensive group of candidates and electors for bureaucratic or military states. Currently, CK3’s engine doesn’t allow unlanded characters to vote, nor characters without claims/ties to be candidates. Hopefully these limitations will be changed once they release a major patch that implements playable merchant republics.
Other mechanics are still planned - such as the dread Vestibular exams, which can bring glory or doom to young, up-and-coming bureaucrats - but they’re still being developed.
Stay tuned for the next dev diary!