Imprisoned characters are held against their will by a ruler.
Causes of imprisonment
Arrest by liege
Lieges can attempt to arrest any character they control. This has a variable chance of success depending on respective Intrigue scores, and will incur tyranny if attempted without cause. Unsuccessful imprisonment of an unlanded subject or indirect vassal will cause them to flee the realm and abdicate titles to their heir if applicable, while unsuccessful imprisonment of a direct landed vassal will spark a rebellion with the Overthrow Ruler casus belli.
Valid causes for imprisonment include:
- Plot leader
- Plot participant who refused the liege's demand to leave it
- Dishonorable actions. Cuckolding the liege (typically through
Seduction) qualifies, as does being caught at murder. - Character has been excommunicated
- Refused liege's demand to settle an internal war, under Late Feudal Administration or higher. (Requires
Conclave and 
The Reaper's Due.) - Muslims only:
If as a liege, you have a direct vassal whom you consider too powerful or otherwise too threatening to your rule, it can be to your benefit to fail to imprison him (usually after your spymaster has caught him/her plotting against some random NPC). It's usually unlikely he will succeed in his revolt, and the revolt will give you cause for title revocation.
Other causes of imprisonment
- Capture commander in battle
- Capture courtier in siege
- Rebelled against liege and lost the war
- Various random events
- Intrigue focus spying event
Hermetic society sabotage event- Demon Worshippers society abduction event
Effects of imprisonment
Characters in prison:
- require a regent and can have weak claims pressed against them
- cannot create, join, or continue to be members of factions
- cannot declare war
- do not contribute to a dynasty's decadence
- cannot become pregnant or impregnate women
Characters imprisoned by their liege:
- cannot refuse title revocation (and the captor does not have to wait for an answer)
- cannot refuse vassal retraction
Characters imprisoned by their direct vassal:
- cannot refuse faction demands
If a ruler's close relative is imprisoned, that ruler cannot declare war on his relative's captor.
If the leader of a war is imprisoned by the other side, the captor can enforce demands on the prisoner.
If a woman gives birth in prison, the infant remains in prison with her.
Actions available to captors
- See also: diplomatic actions available to captors
Move prisoner
Prisoners are usually held in dungeon cells, but can be moved at any time between:
- Oubliette: -20 diplomacy, -2 health, no fertility
- Dungeon Cell: -10 diplomacy, -1 health, no fertility
- House arrest: -5 diplomacy
Rulers left in dungeon cells will eventually trigger an event requesting nicer conditions. In this event, you can change their conditions or release them for a favor.
Actions that kill prisoners
| Method | Ruler requirements | Kinslayer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Execute
|
|
May require a council vote. May incur tyranny or upset characters in the victim's realm. Costs piety if same religion. | |
| Sacrifice |  Aztec religion(not reformed to Peaceful) |
no | Victim must be an adult Gain piety based on victim tier |
| Sacrifice | Non-Aztec religion with "Bloodthirsty Gods" doctrine | no | Victim must not follow the same religion Gain piety based on victim tier |
| Have Judged by Zun |  Zunist religion
|
no | Victim must be your direct subject in addition to being your prisoner. Usually kills the prisoner, but other outcomes are also possible. |
| Devour | Bear or ( and ( or  ))
|
|
Food poisoning, severe opinion penalties |
| Throw in the Brazen Bull | Phalaris bloodline | no | These "intimidating execution" methods cost tier-scaled piety and have 25% chance to add the Cruel trait. If used by a ruler with the Kind trait, additional negative consequences are possible (not shown in the tooltip).
Executing any prisoner with these methods grants the character modifier Intimidated Court (National Revolt Risk -5.0%, Plot Power Defence +10.0%) for 1250 days (about 3.5 years). Executing a vassal ruler additionally intimidates most other vassals into submission (+20 opinion) for 4 years. |
| Embalm Prisoner | Murder bloodline: Macabre Banquet |
| |
| Burn Prisoner | Murder bloodline: Burning or Dragon culture |
no |
Execution in festivals
Some rulers can also hold festivals that include prisoner sacrifice:
- Germanic pagans: Blot
- Most other pagans: Ancestor Worship
- Some Hindus: Kali Puja
Actions that release prisoners
Banish vassal: they are forced to abdicate all titles. Must be your direct vassal.- Banish courtier: you seize their wealth, and they move to another court. You must be their liege in addition to their captor (host). Cannot banish your spouse.
Ransom: generally, AI rulers will pay to ransom themselves, spouses, close kin, or courtiers rich enough to reimburse the ransom. They may pay ransom for other dynasty members they like enough (moving these prisoners to house arrest helps). The AI will often refuse to grant ransom to characters who hold claims on their titles. For traitors, counts as punishment.
Release: +3 realm opinion per rank, for 30 months, when releasing a ruler. Does not stack when releasing multiple vassals. 5 piety if prisoner is of same religion.
Demand religious conversion: Must be your courtier or direct vassal. For traitors, does not count as punishment.- Force a female prisoner to become a concubine.
- With
Legacy of Rome:
Castrate the prisoner: Requires Byzantine or Chinese culture group, or a 'castrating' bloodline. 
disinherits characters and prevents them marrying or being granted titles.
Blind the prisoner: Requires Byzantine culture group, or a 'blinding' bloodline.
- With The Reaper's Due:
- Torture
- Mutilate
- Bad Poetry: Requires
. - Humiliate: Prisoner gets Publicly Humiliated for 10 years (-25 general opinion, -2 monthly prestige)
- Recruit courtier: Must be an unmarried capable adult, and not parent/child/lover/friend of their liege. Opinion difference at least -25. Note that you *can* send gifts to prisoners to increase their opinion.
Prisoners will also be released if:
- The captor chooses to sign a peace treaty in a war to which the prisoner contributes warscore (100% for ruler, 50% for spouse or heir, 5% for ruler's other children).
- The captor loses all titles and becomes a courtier.