Vanilla Diplomatic Factional Marriages Can Result in Children (Proof)

This has been a question for me among others I'm sure. Randomly, on a vanilla Masaeslyli playthrough this happened to me. I'm documenting it so that others know it exists.

Screenshots

What it Does

At first, the child belongs to the father's dynasty. They seem like they do not do much since they are not politicians in your court. When I declared my child as my heir, however, all of the character options became available. This leads me to believe that If you do not declare your child your heir, then they will become the faction leader of the other faction when the father dies if the child is declared the faction heir. Until you declare your child your heir, you cannot arrange a marrage for them. Since they are technically in the court of their father by default, the only way they would get a marriage would be for the AI to arrange one either within either their own faction or with another diplomatic marriage with your faction. I haven't had this happen to me since these children seem to be rare enough. Also it seems like the portrait of your child will always be one of the random portraits for your faction. Sadly, I don't think you can convert your entire ruling court to another ethnic group like you can in Attila. This isn't really a big deal unless you get personal satisfaction from smashing a faction with one of their own leading your armies. And you still can, but you have to remember which character is, which is difficult if you've picked back up a campaign after a break.

[dreamalot062]

What in the actual Fu#@ You can marry into other factions????????

[Danarion]

Wow! I had no idea! I knew you could just seek spouse or marry into one of the other parties but I didn't know you could actually marry into another faction entirely! That's great!

[☧Belisarius☧ 穿得好的人]

The Ancestral update added all of this.

[☧Belisarius☧ 穿得好的人]

This is base game (vanilla). You have to find a faction leader of the opposite sex in order to see the option. With the latest patches, you'll usually see some female faction leaders throughout your playthrough. Check Illyria, Central Iberia, Aethiopia, sometimes Scythia, and around the Gaul/Germania regions. Those ususally have a higher spawn rate for female faction leaders. In Grand Campaign, the only guarenteed start factions with fem leaders that I know of are the Ardiae, Kush, and I think either the Veneti or the faction in Illyrian region right next to them (forgot their name).

[Danarion]

Wait, you can marry between different factions? How in the actual fuck is this possible? Is it a mod? I have never seen this before in any diplomatic options..???

[Runertje550]

I love the avatar of this guide

[Boicote]

Great find! I never use diplomatic marriages because I thought my faction leader couldn't have kids. Now I'm going to use them more often.