Duke

The role of the Duke

A duke is a governor promoted by a king or vice-king and granted special privileges.

They help the king develop and protect the kingdom.

Two dukes can be appointed in a standard kingdom (or four following a kingdom union).

How to become a duke

Duties and powers of a duke

Dukes are leaders in their own right and have unique mechanics that set them apart from governors.

✅ Can do:

• Activate treasuries to collect tributes and generate influence
• Collect treasures from raids, robber hideouts, and stolen goods
• View troop numbers, crop production, and battle reports from the king and other dukes in the kingdom

❌ Can't do:

• Invite new governors
• Manage diplomacy
• Use menhir relocation
• Enable vacation mode

Treasures and tributes

As a duke, you can convert one of your hidden treasuries into an active state.

By doing so, the village will generate influence just like a king’s treasury village.

The king and their dukes share information about troops in villages, battle reports, and crop production.

• A duke does not generate tributes for the king in villages with an active treasury. Instead, they collect tributes and treasures themselves to expand the kingdom.
• Duke villages without an active treasury generate tributes just like governor villages, which can be collected by the king or vice-king.
• Stolen goods sold by the duke are added directly to the duke’s own treasury.
• All treasures from a duke count toward the kingdom’s total treasures and victory points.

For dukes, robber hideouts spawn at only 50 % of the normal speed. This is offset by their ability to collect tribute funds.

Dismissing a duke

• Dismissing a duke automatically deactivates any of their treasuries and transfers their treasures to their tribute fund.
• The kingdom loses 10 victory points for each active treasure of the dismissed duke.
• No victory points are lost if the treasures are inactive.

When a duke abdicates, their duke slot becomes free. Dukes are not automatically replaced.  the king must manually promote a new duke if the slot is empty.

Additional duke features

• A duke attacked by their king will not be removed from the kingdom (unlike other foreign governors).
• If a king abdicates, they are automatically replaced by the duke with the highest population in the kingdom.

• In a kingdom union: A duke can only be promoted to vice-king by the king.

  If neither a king nor a vice-king remains — for example, after an abdication — the union is automatically disbanded.

• A duke cannot enable vacation mode, as it is an active leadership role.

Summary

Dukes play a pivotal role in kingdom strategy, acting as regional leaders with their own treasuries and tribute networks. They combine the influence of a leader with the activity of a governor, making them essential for territorial control and treasure collection.