Grand Duke?

[DTACBLF]

Just formed Lithuania, and now my Russian (ethnic and culture) guy is a Grand Duke. Is that correct, or a glitch? He's now a king right?

Side note; Whenever I give dudes a dutchy I get random pop-ups of "a new great house has been formed" and such, and it seems (note - seems) like a whole bunch of republics get formed. Glitch, or?

[[JJ-C] Jjeinn-tae]

That's just a cultural difference in naming. You're still equivalent to a King, but since you're Russian, your title is officially "Grand Duke." Should a descendant's culture end up being something other than Russian, that title will change to something else (probably King, it's the most common).

[ShadoWwolF]

if you give duchy level titles to mayors of cities then yes you'll go around forming republics. give those titles to castle holders instead

and you can tell if your character is a king or duke by the color of the ring around their character portrait. if its yellow then you're a king and if its blue then you're a duke. you didnt specify if you formed the kingdom or the duchy of lithuania

[Langkard]

Grand Duke is just the closest English translation to the Slavic title of Velikiy Knyaz, which was used for the rulers of the early Rus kingdoms and some others. The translation isn't really exact and it is sometimes given as Grand Prince or Arch Duke instead. It is the equivalent of a Western European king.

[DTACBLF]

Thank you all very much (yes, was the kingdom). But yeah - about the Republic bonanza, I was freaking out! I felt like my game was glitching or something, or it was the A.I. making the choice to go Repub. Thanks for the clearification!

You've all doomed Constantinople to an Iconoclast fate. Muahahahahah!

EDIT

To make it totally clear, give dutchy titles to people who hold county titles, not towns and such, correct (to avoid the Republic blitz)?

[ShadoWwolF]

Originally posted by DTACBLF:

Thank you all very much (yes, was the kingdom). But yeah - about the Republic bonanza, I was freaking out! I felt like my game was glitching or something, or it was the A.I. making the choice to go Repub. Thanks for the clearification!

You've all doomed Constantinople to an Iconoclast fate. Muahahahahah!

EDIT

To make it totally clear, give dutchy titles to people who hold county titles, not towns and such, correct (to avoid the Republic blitz)?

yes thats correct

the person you're giving the title to should have a castle as his primary holding type (barons/counts/dukes etc) and not a city (mayors/grand mayors etc) unless you want to create republics. republics can be interesting to have later in the game when they have enough tech to build trade posts everywhere and make a lot of money but they'll also dislike you because you're not a republic yourself

[DTACBLF]

So there are some benefits to making Republics? Is it purely money, or are there military / social benefits?

[Evil Crusader]

Money, dear boy. Not much else, but that is more than enough.

[ShadoWwolF]

Originally posted by DTACBLF:

So there are some benefits to making Republics? Is it purely money, or are there military / social benefits?

just money. they're city vassals so they'll pay you depending on your city tax laws. thats their only use though. just remember you'll have a permanent opinion penalty for being a fuedal lord as their liege so they might join a lot of factions

[Evil Crusader]

They'll also build many Trade Posts in your counties, bolstering indirectly your revenues.

[DTACBLF]

Alrighty. I'm currently trying to make a Russian - Sorta - HRE thing, so I guess i'll try out a few Repubs. on one or two of the coastal places.

[Langkard]

Lots of money. Especially if some of your personal demense counties are coastal and the vassal Republic builds trade posts there.

[Langkard]

Originally posted by DTACBLF:

Alrighty. I'm currently trying to make a Russian - Sorta - HRE thing, so I guess i'll try out a few Repubs. on one or two of the coastal places.

The money won't be quite as good on the Baltic as it is on the Black Sea. If you can, do both. The best vassal merchant republics are small (2-3 county duchies) and all coastal. Up north, Estonia or Courland would make good mechant republic. Down south, the duchy of Cherson or Crimea will be a great money machine.

[DTACBLF]

I sense Crimea may be annexed a lil' early by my Russian dude.