It ' s definitely a trade off , aye . I hate those factions too , and can understand going to extreme measures to try and keep them from happening I feel like the distinction between faction and plot is an arbitrary one in this game , and faction leaders are criminals just as much as plotters it drives me mad that I get tyranny if I arrest people who are publicly committing treason . Vice royalties are a godsend . Definitely worth some usage . In the meantime , keeping those vassal dukes happy will severely reduce factioning . Permit no ambitious , arbitrary , or envious individuals to be vassal , promote content members of your same culture , who share some of your virtues if possible . Work on your noble customs and majesty laws , and if you have WoL , pursue carousing for a couple years and invite those dukes to party . If you have a group of vassals who are likely to always be unhappy , but you want to keep around such as a cadet branch of your family , shove them all in the same duchy so they spend their time all fighting each other , and are individually too weak to rustle your feathers . I ' m a couple hundred years in on my current game and have had literally one faction ever fire , of any kind , and it did so because a pair of rapid king changes on the heels of a major war reduced my personal levy to absolutely zero , from what had been thousands a couple months prior .