the king has been lying on his deathbed for months with a disease that can not be cured
his eldest son died in battle against a rival country, his other 2 sons were lost at sea on a trading expedition. his only remaining child is his 2 year old daughter who is betrothed to a distant duke.
each of his dukes believe they should become the new king.
the first duke is an experienced man who has been ruling since the king was still in his cradle. his lands are rich and he has led campaigns to protect and expand the kingdom. his subjects love him but foreign leaders see him as too aggressive and unwilling to cooperate with anyone. and on top of all that he is 85 and unable walk without assistance.
the next duke is about 19 and has just inherited his title from his father who is the king's distant relative. he has experience fighting in wars but no experience leading. hes know to be a deeply pious man and has openly called to retake land lost in a holy war.
the last duke is 32 and is a hunchback and has been racked with pneumonia since he was a child. he has served on the council for years and pushed for major reforms to "take power out of the hand of nobles and priests, and give the peasantry more freedom" foreign leaders see him as a persuasive man and has kept an amicable relationship with several leaders. he holds the smallest dutchy and his subject have been plagued by perpetual famine.
You spent too much time talking about who the dukes are without even mentioning the Customs and Laws which had ruled that country´s succession.
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Brayden Rogers
The 19 year old on the condition that the other two are advisors/councilors whatever term you want to use.
After all, it sounds like the 19 year old is the only relative of the king besides the daughter.
Samuel Lee
>he king has been lying on his deathbed for months with a disease that can not be cured >his eldest son died in battle against a rival country, his other 2 sons were lost at sea on a trading expedition.
Honestly you could just end the post there. The answer is whoever wins the war of succession that will inevitably follow the king's death. Succession was very often an incredibly messy business, even when lines were clearly drawn, and this is a fuckup on top of that. The only way this ends without war is if one of the dukes has enough military allies to make it obvious to the other two that they have no chance.
Zachary Campbell
19 year old, on the condition that the other two dukes are placed on his council.
Both the other dukes are incredibly unhealthy but very much capable. Placing power solely in either of their hands would provoke further stability at a time of crisis.
The 19-year-old is young, healthy, likely to be popular with the people since he is calling for a noble objective (holy war).
Logan Morales
The first would be more powerful but the second has the better claim and if his countrymen are as pious as he is he might be able to sway them to his side. If the first duke became king it's likely he'd die before he managed to really consolidate power so the second duke would probably just wait and challenge his son or successor instead.
The third duke could become king if he could gain the support of powerful leaders in other countries and have them intervene on his behalf.
Oliver Russell
Whomever the nobility chooses.
Juan Watson
Depends on the power of the King and his government. Most likely the daughter would end up a puppet of either the King's officers or Duke 1 followed by Duke 2 or Duke 1's heir when Duke 1 dies.
Elijah Phillips
agnatic seniority secession.
>The only way this ends without war is if one of the dukes has enough military allies to make it obvious to the other two that they have no chance they all have a good chance though.
the first duke has experience as a leader and has seen war in his youth. he also holds the most prosperous land in the kingdom.
the 19 year old has seen war first hand and would have the support of the clergy but he has no experience as a leader and is still unproven to his subjects.
the third duke is an accomplished statesman and could gain the support of the general populous through his promises of economic reform.
Oliver Turner
The daughter is used as a puppet, he husband is sidelined and possibly killed (i assume he's not one of the 3 dukes) The third duke will most likely be taken out of the picture, the other two will rally the rest of the nobility against him, on the grounds of his support of the peasantry, and will paint him as a subversive element of foreigners, and use the famines as an argument against him, as well as declare him unfit to rule anything (because he's also a sickly cripple). The first two dukes will rule as co regents, but duke 1 will be in charge. Duke 2 will make sure he grabs power as soon as duke 1 dies.
Evan Butler
The daughter. The old duke can be her regent until he dies / she comes of age. The most vital role of a monarchy is continuity of rule, putting anyone but the next blood heir on the throne is asking for civil war.
