It’s only rigid and immovable because you want it to. You can always manipulate a system to your benefit. The easiest way to do that is through the sword. If you win a war and install your own regime in it, you can have the right to crown yourself Emperor, adopt an heir, and then uplift your friends and allies to nobility and power houses and demote those who stood in your path.
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True, but if we do it by demolishing the whole system then there is no need for an emperor title and my mc could fully form the kind of government he want, though like @P_Tigras said the cost of this is potentially very high. The only way becoming “Emperor” as opposed to Chariman would have any possible benefits at all is if it would make rebuilding easier, which means not totally demolishing the old system, but then it requires adopting at least some of the old customs and lifestyle as a compromise.
The cost could be the complete and total destruction of what you want to accomplish due to infighting between your band of rebels, foreign invasions, and constant rebellions either noble, grassroots, or fundamentalists and then once you die, your appointed successor has to survive and instill their will on your former lieutenants or purge them and have a whole crop of issues.
I will be sleeping, I promise to continue when I wake up in a few hours.
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Carlomagno come from a humble father who ascended in positions. Theo and zoe and many Bizantine emperors where or concubines or bastards or just people who ascending because the sword. In Spanish culture is really normal even nowadays People like poets, athletes doctors that created a lot of goodness. Are given a nobility title a real one. It is common here since VIII the Muslims wars here made our nobility practical like You are intelligent and now how fighting you have probed your own Nobility so here is the title.
For my mc that’s yes to the intelligence, no to the fighting, remember with com 0 we’re apparently “disarmed by Ellery in all of two seconds flat” and the only thing we have to show for it are painful, bruised wrists.
True, but that brings back a disturbing thought I’ve had about how dynasties could work and what may be (aside from any undiscovered positions in support of slavery) one of the biggest drawbacks of the Shayardene Codex.
We all know the Karagonds, maybe even the Karagond Codex introduced the gender egalitarian society due to the influence of theurgy. As a result things like gay marriage (for the upper castes at least) were finally allowed and dynasties in Karagon appear to work more on the ancient principle that the family name is what makes the dynasty and it is fully allowed to adopt (adult) heirs, which, again is crucial to making gay marriage, absent an artificial womb practical. The disturbing thing is that if the Laconniers really are what they say they are, as opposed to Hallassur funded “noble” opportunists, it seems like the old Shayardenes and the Shayardene Codex specifically valued the bloodline of their families and dynasties, like during most of our European history.
The unfortunate consequence of that would be that as an “Emperor” under the Shayardene Codex we would require a biological heir of our own blood, which would eliminate gay marriage as an option and in all likelihood force a proper “noble” Empress upon us.
In addition from playing CK2 a fair bit you can then just bet that the nobles will try to assassinate my mc shortly after said heir is born so they can either have the proper “noble” Empress revert everything back to what it used to be or install a regency council for a baby. Either way it would be disastrous on both a personal level for my mc and very likely on the political level as well.
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I had the idea to give each country to either the true blood line or the most popular general of that culture and split shayard into 2 different states on taken by me and have all the countries even karagong even if they will only be the title of duke because they won’t have much power will say as on nation and the people chose a common man to be the elected general who is basically in charge of foreign relations and war and a group that are elected to keep the kings in check with there laws but in the new empire each country has its own laws any problems or things to add
Rome never was a hereditary monarchy, but the people with that magical blood of the Emperor had precedence. That is how it always works, nobles are just looking back enviously at the glorious days of the Shayardene Kingdom and want it back. That is a human thing, they look back at the glorious days and idealise it. If you prove to be a better leader and more capable then the Lanconniers then why should you bend to them?
The best right to rule is the power of your cause and the strength of your armies. The Lanconniers can jump on the bandwagon by you forcing them to acknowledge you as a member of their family who got forced into slavery once they fled into the wilderness.
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Yeah probably lacoste guys reason to helping Mara is using me as pawn. But in the case i triumph they would say Hmm SHE is THE LONG LINE LOST or they would make me marry whatever from that line @Havenstone Could Mara defend she is from the old line I mean Mara don’t want mumbo yumbo religion as base but certainly could manipulated the old HOPE OF THE LACOSTE QUEEN RETURNS
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My character would still be a heretical Goete and very much gay however and merely being “acknowledged” as a member of the family wouldn’t make my mc Emperor, since you usually have to be the most senior member of the “family” in order to do that.
Still even half the nobility being willing to take order from a former helot (and an heretical one at that) seems to be stretch considering how deeply ingrained that caste system is, although it probably doesn’t help my mc’s case that he’s not all that willing to act “noble”, and by that I mean, wear the clothes adopt the mannerisms and partake in some of the decadence. 
I know, but that all depends to some extent on how the old Shayardene Codex dealt with some of these issues, most importantly whether gay marriage and adoption of (adult) heirs is allowed. Of course it does help that those practices are already allowed to the Hegemony’s upper caste’s today, but it might still be an uphill struggle to preserve them if they turn out to be some of the things the Laconniers have been vociferously against.
Except my mc doesn’t so much want the Shayardene Kingdom back as he wants a new state across all the domains of the Hegemony. Remember that he most likely will want to get started on that canal and certainly move the capital to Avezia.
Besides the rigid caste system, you mean? Hereditary monarchies are by their very definition not known to select monarchs and emperors on the basis of their actual personality and qualifications to rule. 
Personally of course my mc would never bend to them, but that doesn’t mean he’d be particularly eager to become a member of that dynasty or a “noble” in the first place since at present he despises nothing more than the caste system and the very concept of “aristocracy”.
They may do so, but my mc on the other hand only looks forward and certainly doesn’t feel any personal connection to Shayard’s ancient past.
Of course most of this is based on how my mc thinks now, certain views could “evolve” again, but getting him to embrace the current aristocracy (even if it’s only half of it) is a big ask, since him becoming a “noble” (not that it would ever be more than mere pretense to him) or tolerating the Shayardene version of the Xthonic faith is just about a 180 degree turn from where he is now.
Depending on how harsh and intractable reality turns out to be, I guess it would not be totally impossible but it would be highly improbable, since compared to the job and lifestyle of Chairman the job and lifestyle of “Emperor” would be one with a very low degree of actual job satisfaction and very much a “lesser evil”, when at the moment he’s still firmly fighting for the “greater good”.
I mean, these guys are giving me shit. Why not just wait until they give me a lot of shit, and then attack them with that shit?
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Shocking!, my mc at least half agrees with Mara now. 
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@Havenstone, so I found this channel where this buff guy makes stuff with nothing but his hands and if you’re still needing ideas for defending against the Phalangites, I found the sling video to be pretty nice.
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@Havenstone If I remember correctly, you mentioned that defeating the Phalangites in battle will be the most difficult path through Chapter 4.
Do you see it as the MC pointlessly throwing his followers’ lives away? Or will it be more of a high-risk/high-reward strategy, which will send shockwaves through the Hegemony if you can pull it off?
This channel is really cool. Thanks for sharing!
@Cataphrak should show this to anyone who bitches about the sling in Kendrickstone. 
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edges in
Slings also happen to be extremely easy to conceal, since they’re literally just a couple of cords in their simplest form. I’d imagine that’d be an immense advantage for any sort of insurgency.
edges back out
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You can make a bow with a good knife, some cord, and a tree. You can make arrows with a good knife, a tree, a dead bird or two, maybe some flint if you’re feeling generous, a bucket and some water.
/shrugs/ I’m being boring again
One of the reasons I picked the sling video was because of Kendrickstone’s descrptions about how badass slings were, actually.
You should see some of the videos where they use ammunition that was specifically designed to kill people like a steel ball bearing or a pointed lead projectile. Here is one where a guy drives a huge ball bearing through nearly an inch of plywood!
Whoa, that’s impressive! Thanks for sharing, Cascat.