Keep in mind we know very little about the other consorts. Cornelia and Euphie's mother could be Brittania's Secretary of The Army for all we know, Others could be sitting in positions in Brittania like head of Civil Service, or Heading up the central bank, or maybe retain their corporate leadership/noble titles from before marriage. All positions that would be a nightmare if in the opposing faction in a civil war
See below...
How's my analysis in your opinion?
Also, I think one of the side materials of Code Geass claimed that the Emblem of Blood kicked off when Charles' parents (crown prince and his wife) were assassinated. What kicked it off in this AU, and who's faction did Charles start in for it?
It was fundamentally kicked off by the death of the previous emperor, Charles' grandfather. Charles and Victor escaped the assassination/power grab by a relative and were held in safety until Charles came back a few years older and meaner to kick ass, take names, and assume the throne.
Europa United was crossing their fingers and hoping the Empire would tear itself apart, but no such luck.
Your analysis was pretty good save for...
I wouldn't eliminated Guinevere so quickly. Let's say Schneizel supports Odysseus, if that happens I'm pretty sure that Guinevere would do so to, because she probably know that she can't win in 2 against 1 and there is the fact that if Guinevere is out of the picture Odysseus would become emperor in name only, maybe abdicating later to Schneizel, so it's in Odysseus and his supporters interest to have Guinevere survive.
Guinevere isn't stupid. She knows she wouldn't win if Schneizel publicly espouses support for Ody. If she really wanted the throne, she'd try to drive a wedge between their factions and then assassinate Ody to blame Schneizel. If it looks like she can't wedge them apart, Guinevere's trump card is actually marrying Ody and assuming the mantle of Empress. Granted, she doesn't really
want to, and that's easy to see with the way she likes to cycle through bed partners, but... needs must when the devil drives.
The other layers, though, as I hinted in a succession crisis would be the royals' mothers.
Marianne and Anastasia (Cornelia & Euphie's mother I mention briefly in one chapter) are old war buddies. That's why your families get along so well despite the commoner-issue. Anastasia was more formal Imperial Military while Marianne took the Knight track. They cooperated and fought with each other at various times. Somewhat rivals, somewhat friends, somewhat... well,
rumors abound as always, but suffice to say they
get each other. Both are... semi-retired, but are still advisors and
names for patronage and whatnot. In the extremely unlikely event Charles were to kick the bucket and the immediate successors died, Marrianne would 'politely suggest' a marriage between either you and Cornelia or you and Euphemia to solidify a powerblock. Possibly both if you looked to be taking the throne.
Guinevere's mother is indeed in finance. As with the Vi & Li Britannia mothers, there's a bit of an understood agreement about not being
overtly active in politics and letting the kids make their own way. That, of course, doesn't mean that she hasn't given Guinevere plenty of introductions and 'ins' with various companies and coorporations. She maintains seats on a few boards of directors and discreetly pushes an agenda for the hardline nobles focused on keeping noble privileges and/or expanding them. Her closest ally is Clovis' mother, whom she doesn't consider a threat and who would make a great marriage prospect if Guinevere did indeed take the throne. She's
cordial with Ody's mother and maintains a dialogue even though the other woman has politely turned down a number of marriage offers when the two were younger.
Ody's mother is descended from an offshoot of the Habsburgs and
super old blood noble. Her family has fingers in a lot of pies, but the woman herself is kind of a spoiled brat even getting into her fifties. She has virtually no political, financial, or military interests and takes a lot of things for granted in life. It's incredibly obvious that her family arranged the marriage and was more or less hoping that they could puppet the offspring into the throne where they could expand their own influence. If it came down to it, they'd be up for Ody marrying Guinevere even to the point of
overruling his mother... in whatever form that took.
Schneizel's mother is descended from a long line of former-Prussian statesmen and warriors. She errs on the statesmen side and has a strong political background as a bridge-builder and neutral arbitrator. His extended family is relatively small and they keep to themselves as much as possible and out of the headlines. They're not so much
secretive as they are
low profile. Rumor has it that their family has a lot to do with historical compromises and negotiations that have helped the Empire flourish. Specifically, one of his mother's ancestors was present when the Emperor of New Spain/Mexico signed a binding oath of loyalty in perpetuity to the Britannian Emperor at the time (in exchange for putting down large-scale rebellion and unrest in the territory), which ultimately laid the foundation for Area 1 as it is today.
Clovis' mother is a devotee of a number of cultural affairs. Art, opera, dance, theater, movies... she's fairly apolitical most of the time and, honestly, it's more than a bit of a mystery why she's even an Imperial consort at all. The most
reasonable explanation that a lot of people point to is that her family helped Charles secure a bunch of propaganda wins early into his tenure as emperor.
The whole 'gentlewoman's agreement' about staying out of
direct political/military/financial support of their kids' affairs, that would be broken if Charles were to die suddenly. They might keep to it if it looks like the kids can come to a reasonable agreement, but until they all have their feet under them with their own accomplishments, it's debatable exactly how much what the newest generation of royals do is under their own direction and how much is by direction of their families/factions.
As Lelouch, you have an advantage in that Marianne is
extremely low maintnence. She's chill about what you ultimately decide to do with your life and has said so. Sure she'd
like to see you on the throne and will go to the wall to support you in that, but if you choose a different life goal she isn't going to heap pressure on you until you fold back to trying to become emperor. That said, Marianne will be very disappoint if you decide not to accomplish anything with your life and lounge around.
But yeah she sounds like a pretty young gal, being a private after all.
