History Main / VoluntaryVassal

[[caption-width-right:350:[[KnowWhenToFoldEm The King who Knelt]][[note]]After watching entire armies [[CurbStompBattle get completely massacred]] by the flying beasties in the background.[[/note]].]]

%% Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions48
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* ''Literature/Overlord2012'': After Ainz ([[AchievementsInIgnorance accidentally]]) proves [[NighInvulnerable he can't be beaten by magical or physical means]], the Baharut Empire (up to then an ally in constant fear of [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outliving its usefulness]]) willingly submits to him. After Ainz looks up what exactly "vassal" means, [[spoiler:the Emperor can finally enjoy the peace of mind that comes from having a limitless undead army guarding his borders, the threat of instant zombification gone, and the fact that if anyone complains he only has to say "take it up with the boss" to see the complainers disappear.]] Demiurge, of course, thinks this was Ainz' intention all along.

* The Equestrian province of Latigo in Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse. Unlike most of the regions that Equestria has annexed over the years, it came in more or less voluntarily and under two major conditions. Firstly, its ruling line married into House Starlight, the unicorn viceroyalty (there are three viceroyalties, one from each of the three pony tribes. Only Princess Luna herself ranks higher in Equestria's nobility). Secondly, it was annexed as a unit, becoming one of Equestria's largest and most prosperous provinces.

* In ''Literature/ReflectionsOfEterna'', Kenalloa (the FantasyCounterpartCulture of Spain) has a long history of independence and special status: its dukes joined the old Taligoya voluntarily, formally bowing to the Rakans, but never fully submitting to them (e.g. rejecting the Esperatian state religion). When the Rakans were overthrown by the Ollars, Duke Alva of Kenalloa sided with the latter, and his son basically became co-monarch later, cementing Kenalloa's special status within the new kingdom of Talig. Meanwhile, Duke Neumar was the last Rakan loyalist who wasn't re-subjugated by the Ollars: instead, Neumarinen was brought into Talig via dynastic marriage. Both it and Kenalloa have the legal right to secede from Talig at any time.
* In ''Literature/TheWitchlands'' it's mentioned that the nations of Svoden and Portolla have allied with the Cartorran Empire to maintain some level of independence.
* In the ''Tamuli'' sequel series to ''Literature/TheElenium'', the Atan {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}} nation voluntarily joined the Tamul Empire and became nominal "slaves" of the Emperor because their code of honor was [[HonorBeforeReason so uncompromising]] that they feared driving themselves into extinction. They serve as the Empire's elite troops, but still have a lot of autonomy within their own kingdom.
* ''Literature/{{The Wheel of Time}}'' has numerous examples:

* Lindsey Davis' ''Literature/MarcusDidiusFalco'' series novel ''Last Act in Palmyra'' is set in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Nabatea, an independent state sandwiched uncomfortably between Roman Egypt and Roman Palestine. The Nabateans are aware their days as an independent country are running low, and the hero Marcus Didius Falco is unceremonially exiled when his spying mission for Rome is exposed. He does get to advise the Nabatean head of government that his country had better start thinking now about how and under what terms it should accept becoming part of the Empire [[note]]thirty years later, Nabatea submitted to Rome and became a self-governing province of the Empire[[/note]].
* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', the Talbot Cluster votes to join the Star Empire of Manticore as a cluster, maintaining their own regional government in addition to joining the Empire as a whole. In contrast, San Marco joins completely after liberation.
** There is also the Maya sector. After seeing the way the Solarian League was expanding outwards, annexing the Verge worlds and strip-mining their economies to line the pockets of the transstellar corporations, the Mayan worlds got together and built up a block of worlds with a functional sector government and a prosperous economy, then reached out to some of the transtellars that were smart enough to take a long-term profit rather than kill the golden goose. Maya was still annexed, but it managed to retain far more liberties for its citizens than most protectorate worlds, and its businesses pay proportionately less tribute to the transstellars than almost anywhere else in the Verge.
* ''Literature/TheHandsOfTheEmperor'': The province of Vangaye-ve did not get subjugated by the empire of Astandalas, as many other regions and eventually worlds did, but instead voluntarily allied itself with the empire in the days of Aurelius Magnus.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Jon Snow is crowned King in the North at the end of season 6, but in season 7 he relinquishes his crown so he can become Warden of the North to Queen Daenerys Targaryen (whose dynasty claims kingship over all of Westeros), since there are far bigger problems they have to face than dynastic squabbles. Once said problems are over [[spoiler:and he's killed the power-mad Danaerys]], Jon is [[spoiler:exiled to the North, his (adoptive)-sister Sansa becomes Queen in the North and their brother Bran (now King of the Seven Kingdoms) grants the North its independence.]]

* The halflings in ''TabletopGame/GrimHollow'' voluntarily became a SlaveRace to the humans when they went about conquering the continent.

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Chiss Ascendancy is unique among the subjects of the Sith Empire in that the Imperial military failed to capture its homeworld and gave up, but then the Chiss decided to join the Empire, anyway. This causes a lot of awkwardness, as the Empire is [[FantasticRacism openly xenophobic]], yet the non-human Chiss enjoy a lot of privileges that even the human residents of Sith-conquered planets don't.

* In ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings'' and its sequel, it's possible for a holder of a lower-tier title (i.e. Count or Duke[[note]]it ''can'' happen with the lowest tier, Baron, but it is very rare to see an independent baron, as they tend to be conquered by the owner of the county they're in (who of course have both a legitimate claim on the barony and tend to be much more powerful)[[/note]]) to swear fealty to a holder of a higher-tier title (i.e. Duke or King, respectively) without outside prompting. It's rare for it to happen outside of player control, however. Of course, higher ranked rulers can offer vassalization to any lower ranked independent ruler. They're more likely to accept if they're part of the higher ruler's ''de jure'' territory, because they feel a sense of proto-nationalism about it. (In other words, an independent Duke of York is fairly willing to voluntarily join a unified England, but would likely tell the King of Ireland to go pound sand, regardless of military strength.) This is one of the reasons why Ireland 1066 is favored as the "tutorial island" start by the fanbase. It's comprised solely of petty kings (independent Counts and Dukes). Once you conquer half the realm through the usual combination of fabricated claims, arranged marriages, and other ''casus belli'', you can create the kingdom of Eire, and the remaining petty kings are usually pretty willing to join up without a fight, assuming [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you haven't wronged them somehow]].
* ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' has a parallel mechanic, where a large nation allied to a much smaller one can turn the latter into a "vassal," granting the overlord nation a portion of its income, preventing either from opting out of wars which involve one, and allowing the large nation to diplomatically annex the small one after some time has passed[[note]]Though there are some strategic advantages to keeping them around[[/note]]. Not all vassals are voluntary, however—it's not uncommon to force a small nation defeated in war to be the victor's vassal.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series introduces this in later installments:
** ''IV'': The ''Beyond The Sword'' expansion introduced vassal states to the game, and in most cases a civilization will only become another faction's vassal as part of a peace treaty to avoid being wiped out. But if you're strong enough, other leaders may occasionally ''ask'' to become your vassals if they're afraid of being conquered by another rival. This can make accepting them as vassals problematic - said rival may declare war on your vassal anyway and drag you into a conflict you don't want or aren't ready for, and of course if you wanted to do some conquering of your own, you're not allowed to declare war on your vassals.
** ''V'' retains this mechanic for NPC city-states, as you can curry favor with them to get them to ally with you (granting bonuses and any connected resources in their lands) by completing quests they offer. More benign ways include giving gifts, opening a trade route, building a road connecting them to your empire, spreading your religion, clearing out a nearby barbarian camp, and bullying their rivals (hey, no one said you had to be nice to ''all'' of them). The introduction of ideologies in the ''Brave New World'' expansion give new ways to passively gain influence with city-states for civilizations pursuing Freedom or Autocracy; Freedom probably has the closest to this trope, giving bonus influence per turn just by having an active trade route with the "Treaty Organization" social policy (Autocracy's equivalent "GunboatDiplomacy" grants bonus influence on city-states you can demand tribute from, so the "voluntary" part of this trope becomes...suspect).
** City-states in ''VI'' operate much the same way as ''V'' in that major powers can become suzerains of them which grants that empire a unique ability depending on what city-state it is -- for example, being the suzerain of Mogadishu means all of your trade routes are immune from being pillaged at sea. Allied city-states will also share line-of-sight information, go to war with the same empires as its suzerain, and can even have their units directly taken control of by their suzerain for a set number of turns in exchange for gold. Empires become a city-state's suzerain by having more diplomatic envoys in that city-state than any other power (minimum three). Envoys are normally generated at given intervals depending on the empire's civics; empires can also accomplish tasks given by the city-state such as building a particular district or sending a trade route to them which reward additional envoys to that city-state when completed.
* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' has a variety of ways to render other species subjects of your empire, for instance [[TechnologyUplift technologically uplifted]] species automatically become protectorates when they obtain FTL and vassals once their tech is on par with their patron.
** As of version 2.0 gaining a [[PretextForWar Casus Belli]] to subjugate another empire requires giving them the opportunity to peacefully become a vassal first. And on occasion a weaker empire will request to become a vassal of a stronger empire that might offer them protection.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has the volus, who voluntarily became a client race of the [[SpaceRomans Turian Hierarchy]], offering their [[ProudMerchantRace mercantile expertise]] in exchange for [[BadassArmy turian protection]].

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfWonders4'': In addition to player-led empires the map is also populated by NPC free cities. A player can send a Whispering Stone [[note]](essentially a [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Palantir]])[[/note]] to the city to slowly influence them. Quests and event choices can sway a city's opinion towards or against a ruler, and once the city's AllianceMeter is raised high enough they become a vassal and tithe some of their resource income to their overlord.

* In ''Fanfic/AThingOfVikings'', Hiccup goes to pay a diplomatic visit to the petty king of Veisafjord (modern day Wexford, Ireland). The residents of the city promptly overthrow the king and offer the city to Hiccup, who is flabbergasted.

* The Crimean Crisis is such a political headache because it involves this. It was militarily annexed by Russia, mind you, but even [[https://www.pewglobal.org/2014/05/08/despite-concerns-about-governance-ukrainians-want-to-remain-one-country/ surveys conducted by]] [[http://www.bbg.gov/blog/2014/06/03/ukraine-political-attitudes-split-crimeans-turning-to-russian-sources-for-news/ Western observers]] noted that the overwhelmingly Russian-speaking population of Crimea supported joining Russia, and didn't see the annexation as unlawful. Ukrainians who opposed the decision were either Crimean Tatars (who only formed 11% of the population) or came from outside the region (so their opinion didn't really count). The general consensus is that the annexation referendum conducted by Russia was rigged, but that Russia would probably have still won in a fair vote. Just not by the eye-popping 97% that the rigged referendum produced.