Medieval Matchmaker

Hey all!

So, I have an idea that needs some fleshing out: medieval matchmaking. The basic hook of the game is that there are a number of kingdoms, and the players aren't in control of them. Instead, they're matchmakers, shuttling about, hooking up royals, either well (creating peace) or poorly (creating war, and possibly even destroying the kingdom entirely?).

This is the product of a discussion among my regular game group, where we decided that the best part of Suzerain, an otherwise unremarkable game where you start with a small kingdom and build up to a big one, was the courtly intrigue part at the end, where you're racing to produce an heir. That was cool, we thought; why not make a game just about that?

So, the big question is, how could this work? In my mind there's some sort of diplomacy-style map with various provinces, and possibly an auction / drafting game where you're trying to match quality royalty cards up with one another. They then produce children (or not?), which in turn get matched up in the next round. Players get some sort of percentage and perhaps influence within the court.

Some more spit-balling:

• Obviously some royals are better than others (more fertile? richer?), and some are better matches. Perhaps there's a kindhearted/tyrant scale, or just symbols you're trying to match up, to ensure a good match.

• Perhaps there's a deck for each family, which start in their "home " kingdoms, and when you marry different families the decks get mixed somehow to produce the child. Alternately, colored cubes mark each child's heritage, with the most cubes representing peace (and fewest, war?).

• Could some couples be more fertile/successful than others? If fertility is chance-based (say, dice), then is there too much randomness (dice plus cards)?

• Obviously a match between kingdoms means (temporary) peace. But how does a war start? Perhaps each round involves "claimants to the throne" where anyone with a certain number of heritage cubes (or the right deck color, if cubes are too fiddly) goes to war with eachother over the throne. Seems complicated. Is there a simpler way to do this? Maybe just a random draw?

• Also, what is the benefit to fomenting war (or peace)? Is there enough action here to sustain the game, or do the players need to directly profit from the war/peace thing in some sort of mercenary army sort of way? I'd really like to keep this game very focused on the "court intrigue" but maybe it's not enough.

So what are y'all's thoughts here? Any ideas or helpful tips?