Medieval: Total War/Agents

Princesses
Daughters of the royal line, a princess is a valuable asset to a leader. They act as information gatherers and are invaluable in forging lasting alliances. Offering a daughters hand in marriage does not only propose an alliance, but also may entitle the faction whom she is marrying into rights to your nation's land should the royal line end.

Emissaries
Emissaries act as the eyes, ears and mouth of a nation's ruler. They have many uses including:


 * 1) Espionage.  (Passive) The agent will gather whatever info he can on the province he is in.  Emissaries also act as a weak defense against assassination attempts made by agents of rival factions.
 * 2) Negotiating Treaties. Dropping the unit on a rival's Emissary or ruler will propose an alliance or a ceasefire if you are at war.
 * 3) Requesting Marriage. Dropping onto a foreign princess will attempt to convince the foreign ruler to give his daughter's hand in marriage to an bachelor in the royal family.
 * 4) Offering Bribes. Dropping on a foreign army that is not led by a prince or the ruler will offer a lump sum of gold for that unit to join your faction.  The price depends on the loyalty of the general, his vices, the size of the army he is commanding and the skill level (silver stars) of the agent offering the bribe.  This can be a good way to turn the tide of a losing war or bring it to a quick end.  Bribing a province's only army will gain control of the land without a fight.
 * 5) Stripping generals of title. (By dropping on your own general holding office) Sometimes it makes sense to reassign appointed titles.  Perhaps a more appropriate candidate has been found, perhaps the current holder is doing a lousy job or has picked up a detrimental vice.  The general's loyalty will decrease as a result of being stripped of his title.

Assassins
Assassins can make a ruler's life incredibly difficult by removing their own agents from play. They have one primary role: murder for hire, but also perform espionage while idle.
 * 1) Espionage.  (Passive) The agent will gather whatever info he can on the province he is in.  Assassins  also act as a fair defense against assassination attempts made by agents of rival factions.
 * 2) Assassination. (Drop on any general, leader, heir or agent)  This will weigh the skill of the target vs. the skill of the assassin (silver stars).  Other factors, such as the presence of a border fort, are considered.  Agents are the easiest targets, while princesses, generals, heirs and leaders make progressively much harder targets.

(The valour of an agent will increase with each kill. A useful strategy for producing assassins of high valour is to create three in the same province and set them to kill each other. The one that survives will have an increase of either 1 or 2 valour. Do this three times in three different provinces, then pit the survivors of those against each other. The winner will now have a minimum 2 and a maximum 4 valour, and will stand a good chance against a rival general)

Spies
Spies are less versatile than emissaries, but excel at information gathering. Their uses include:
 * 1) Espionage.  (Passive) The agent will gather whatever info he can on the province he is in, be it your own or an adversary's.  A spy in an opponent's territory will also sew dissent among its people while increasing loyalty in your own.  Spies  also act as a good defense against assassination attempts made by agents of rival factions.
 * 2) Reveal vices. (By dropping on to a rival's general) This will attempt to reveal secrets about the target that may be exploitable or damaging to his image.
 * 3) Open gate. (By dropping onto a besieged enemy's castle)  The spy will attempt to gain access to the enemies gate house, leaving it open for assault.
 * 4) Frame for treason. (Drop onto your own general) This can be useful for removing troublesome generals who have low loyalty, are known cowards, or have other detrimental vices.

Priest
The first religious agent for a Catholic or Orthodox faction. Priests can be used as all agents can, for espionage, but primarily to spread the word of God - more importantly, YOUR God - to the populace of the provinces you control.

Conversion

This is a priest's primary function. Putting a priest in a region that is, say, heavily populated by Muslims, will steadily increase its Catholic population over time. This effect is compounded by adding additional priests to the same province. Doing so will decrease the likelihood of a religious uprising against you., and if done enough, might encourage the Pope to grant you 1000 florins for 'services to God and mother Church' (This is of course not true in the case of Orthodox Priests or Alims). Be wary of the fact that putting a C. Priest, O. Priest or Alim in a province whose fervor is toward a different faith makes the agent a target for assassins.