I have a quandary. My king, Coenwulf I
Rex Hibernia et Caledonia has two sons: Finn (the elder, Duke of the Isles and rightful heir) and Mael-Morda (the younger, Duke of Albany).
For some cockamamie reason, Finn decided to assassinate his brother's daughter. When she was about
two. And he got caught. Needless to say, there's some bad blood between them. But more pertinently, Finn is now tagged as a Kinslayer. I've played out the succession a couple of times, and it's clear that if/when Finn succeeds to the throne, all hell will break loose.
Finn is currently in my prison (thanks to an event I got), but I'm not sure how to resolve this crisis. Coenwulf is getting up in years, and there will be a succession soon. Even if I strip him of all titles and banish him, he remains the rightful heir. If I execute him, I become a kinslayer myself. I could try to assassinate him, but the odds are fairly low. I can't seem to plot against him and use others to help my chances, probably because Coenwulf is a content, kind, loveable imbecile. (Honestly, I think of him as being like Lennie from
Mice and Men.)
Ideally, I'd order his execution on my deathbed, so that Mael-Morda would assume the throne free of taint, but that's difficult to predict (and the game doesn't allow for player-initiated suicide). And, Finn has two young sons who would precede Mael-Morda in the succession.
Complicating matters is that Finn is married to a princess of Norway, who at the moment stands to inherit the throne when her aged father dies. It's a matrilineal marriage, but that doesn't matter because she's of a cadet branch of our same dynasty. If Finn were to succeed without ripping the kingdom in half, his child could wear three crowns (albeit Norway is somewhat reduced due to poor fortunes and revolts).
I could potentially change the succession laws from Primogeniture to Seniority, but that raises all kinds of issues in and of itself. And then I'd still have to wipe out Finn's line (or strip him of titles) to keep those lands from falling to Norway. Finn's wife is also a countess, so I need to keep her lands under my crown as well. A veritable bloodbath would be required.
None of this would be a problem if the dumb bastard hadn't decided that killing a little girl was a bold strategic move.