'''Dread''' is a measure of how feared a ruler is by their vassals. Enough dread compared to another character's [[#Boldness|boldness]] can make characters either intimidated or terrified, allowing most diplomatic actions to succeed despite negative opinion.
Dread is gained by various actions that inspire fear, such as torturing or executing prisoners. However, it is also possible to lose dread through actions showing compassion or weakness, including releasing prisoners and accepting faction demands. Each character additionally has ''natural dread'' which is the value towards which dread will drift over time (either up or down), at a base rate of 0.5 per month. The lifestyle perk ''Forever Infamous'' prevents dread from decaying.
Each character has a hidden boldness attribute, which is decided by its [[traits]]. A character becomes intimidated by characters whose {{iconify|dread}} is 20 above their own boldness and terrified by characters whose dread is 45 above their own boldness.