Other than add character to them?

Difficult to say, really. Even more difficult to make measurable observations, I'd imagine. For that, you would need one of two things to happen: -

1) Change of dread score: Actions by the player, such as prisoner executions (+) or prisoners set free (- {?}), or actions by the game, such as a new VnV adding or taking away dread.

2) A change of ruler, with the successor having greater or lesser dread than the predecessor. This is an extremely awkward moment to measure what I'm about to suggest, below, because the succession event itself has issues attached, such as the complete re-assessment of loyalty to the new ruler.

In either case, it would take a lot of pain-in-the-ane note-keeping about the province happiness ratings for it to be possible to notice any fluctuations. Very time-consuming and, ultimately, probably not worth worrying about. If you want to save some time, you could just concentrate on the pre-programmed rebellious provinces, if you happen to hold any of them (Portugal, Scotland, Lithuania, etc).


I have no idea if dread rating has any bearing, whatsoever, on the likelihood of civil wars and would be grateful if anyone else was in a position to comment on that. I take it for granted that disloyal generals (due to low influence score on the ruler) and a royal-blood ringleader are the main pre-requisites but am speculating that high dread on the ruler might be enough to scare them out of trying their luck!