I am playing my first game in EU IV as Castile and it is pretty awesome. However, I got dragged into a personal union under Austria and I am wondering how this could have been prevented. I had four Royal Merriages but I didn't get a heir. When my monarch died, I found myself as a vassal of Austria.
Thus, I have two major questions:
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How can I actively prevent getting dragged into a pu ahead of time? What else can you do than establish Royal Merriages? Is there anything else?
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Now that I am a vassal, how to deal with it? What can I do to make the best out of my situation? Are there any other options than fighting a war to become independent again? If I fight such a war, who will be the new leader (since there is no heir)?
Best Answer
There is no way to actively prevent a PU besides not engaging in royal marriages. There is always the possibility to end up junior partner in a PU, if you have no heir, but active royal marriages, this is increased if a potential senior partner shares your dynasty.
However, becoming junior partner isn't all that bad. You have three options to regain your independence:
If you are strong enough, you can declare an idependence war pretty much immediately. In fact you can declare this war at any time, even while fighting in a war with your senior partner for ultimate backstabbery.
If the senior partners ruler dies and has negative prestige, you become independent. This is hard to influence, but maybe possible by causing him to lose wars.
If the senior partners ruler dies while your country has a negative opinion of him, you are independent. This sounds easier than it is, there aren't many ways to reduce the opinion of your people vs another nation.