Not sure if someone thought of this yet but I think Emperor Xian should be a campaign mechanic.

I think Emperor Xian gave Cao Cao a significant boost in political influence and power when he "used Emperor to coerce the lords and take control of all under Heaven". Cao Cao probably would never have gotten as powerful as he did if Emperor Xian was in someone else's hands. It would be a shame not to have Emperor Xian as a campaign mechanic somehow. I have some of ideas on how this mechanic could work:

• Spawn: Luoyang. Games not out yet so I’m not sure about the specifics of the campaign start at this point but yellow turban dlc is confirmed. Depending on the starting time of the campaign, if it is the yellow turbans time, he could start at Luoyang as an independent but non-aggressive faction with no army and the capability of building armies. If the game campaign starts after yellow turbans, Emperor Xian should spawn as non-aggressive army at Luoyang whenever Dong Zhuo gets murdered. Whoever takes control of Luoyang would obtain the Emperor, either as an item/equipment, or actual lord/officer but would only sit at their faction capital. Dong Zhuo might have Emperor Xian as default. You can obtain the Emperor peacefully with the legendary item “chicken broth”. You can take control of him by force but would gain a huge initial de-buff for stuff like public opinion or guanxi. (P.S. Luoyang is the official capital of Eastern Han)

• Buffs: holding the Emperor means you hold the Han court/government at your capital, making you more “legitimate” than your opponents. The general population would be more inclined to follow your orders. Gain faction wide happiness/public order buff (if this is a thing), buff on monetary income and resources gained. Easier to attract talents fighting for a “just” cause of protecting Han: more officers/generals to hire. Gain tribute from other lords once every couple of turns. Failing to give tribute when required would give de-buff to that lord.

• De-buffs: my poor excuse of an attempt at balancing this shit. Degradation of relationships/guanxi with other factions. Since you are using the Emperor’s name and authority to further your growth and disrupt the other lords, everyone would hate you. (You are basically asking your colleagues for taxes) The Emperor might try to rebel against you the longer you take control of him. I haven’t thought of the details of this part, but the idea is whenever this “rebellion” happens you would suffer some de-buffs. You could quell the rebellion and suffer the de-buffs for some time or lose the emperor entirely. I’m thinking the emperor would haul ass back to Luoyang.

• Issue Edict/Imperial decree: probably the biggest use of the Emperor. Once every couple of turns you could issue an Edict in the name of the Emperor to other faction warlords. Possible Edicts includes:

1. Grant title to warlord of another faction. (can only be done once per lord. There’s only so many titles to give). Give some temporary buff to the said warlord, maybe public order or income. Gain some increase in guanxi.
2. Grant land to a warlord. Could be used in 2 ways. First is to name a warlord the governor of a province that they already control. Give them the recognition as owner of the land, give a buff like edict 1. Second is to name a warlord the governor of a province someone else controls. Cause guanxi decrease between the two factions.
3. Denounce a warlord as rebel. When a faction is denounced as rebel, that faction would take a massive de-buff in public order, guanxi, maybe army will as well. Only allowed to issue this to someone that is currently at war with you or has severe negative relation with you.
4. Order a warlord to attack a rebel. Suffer lose of guanxi with that warlord. If the warlord does not accept the edict and declare war on a rebel force, then they will suffer a de-buff for disobeying edict from the Emperor. If they do declare war and has won battles, they will gain some rewards.
   Every time you issue an edict, you would gain de-buffs (probably public order, penalty in guanxi stuff like that again), as you are using the Emperor when you are his subject.
   

• Self proclaim as Emperor: I thought of this last minute. When you do this, you gain massive penalties and de-buffs. (what did you expect… you just murdered the Emperor)
  You could gain a lot of prestige and exp to your lord and generals (if those were a thing). Should probably only do this late game as the penalty could ruin your run early on.

• Special Interactions to certain factions:

1. Cao Cao: The original abuser of the mechanic, might have an increase in the benefits of this mechanic and an increase in the penalties. As he would come up with ways to best exploit the Emperor.
2. Faction’s under surname Liu: since the imperial family has surname Liu, lords that are relatives as the Emperor should have closer relationships than other lords. Factions under Liu should have reduction on any penalties that the Emperor mechanic can impose. (Liu Bei, Liu Zhang, Liu Biao etc. if those other guys are in the game)
3. Dong Zhuo: This guy had the Emperor the entire time, but all he did was instigate a bunch of rebel campaigns against him. He also might start with the Emperor in possession, definitely needs nerf. Significantly reduce any benefits the Emperor can provide. Cannot issue some types of decree. (can only give title/land, cannot denounce other lords or order attack)

There’s probably a bunch of holes in the ideas that I have, it might be imbalanced af. The point is Emperor Xian was a significant figure, and should have some mechanic tied to the campaign in someway. If done right could make the good old “conquering the world” for the nth time more interesting. What you guys think? Anything to add/take away?

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