Normal vassal kings can grow bloated enough, if you’re not careful, to challenge your power. It also circumvents another problem in that it keeps your vassals relatively weak. You therefore continually circumvent the succession crisis by choosing viceroys. It also solves the problem of Gavelkind succession, because when the viceroy dies, the title returns to you. This solves the original problem of too many vassals, because one can transfer vassals to the new vassal kings. You can appoint a vassal as a viceroy king when they die, you get the title back and choose the next holder (or keep it yourself). In 957, between conquering Kosala and Rajputana, the lords of the Bengal Empire approved the institution of the Kingdom Viceroyalties Law. The solution to the problem of many vassals and kingdoms with backwards succession laws was singular: Kingdom Viceroyalties. This meant that Gavelkind succession was really my only obstacle to keeping kingdom titles, since Ultimogeniture and Primogeniture both succumbed to my appointed heir. What I hadn’t quite cottoned on to at that point is that also lets you appoint an heir rather than relying on the normal succession laws. Last time I spoke about Jainism and its benefits to stabilising my realm. This was a particular issue when the conquered kingdoms used Gavelkind succession. With so many kingdoms to administer, and so many vassals, it started to become difficult to guarantee I’d be able to change succession laws in newly-conquered kingdoms. There came a point at which I could quite comfortably handle all of the remaining Indian rulers combined, so from here it’s just a clean-up job, with lots of fabricating of claims and handling internal politics. This rapid expansion put me at odds with a number of neighbours, even those I didn’t end up conquering, in the form of defensive pacts due to my ever-increasing threat. These would soon be incorporated into the empire. After usurping kingdoms and duchies, all that remained of the former kingdom of Kosala were three independent, isolated counties of Gwalior, Tripuri, and Sasaram. The decades running up to the turn of the new millennium were largely characterised by rapid expansion across the north of India, taking the kingdoms of Kosala and Rajputana in 943 and 984, respectively, as well as pressing a number of vassals’ claims to various counties, and even successfully simply asking border counts to vassalize. Get the rest of the story: The Legacy of House Mlechchha

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