SirFozzie: Thanks! I'm glad you like it.
If Lodin dies, the game will still go on because then Torstein, his son would take over. If Lodin had no successors at all, then what's referred to as a country cousin would take over (i.e. still the same last name as Lodin, but only distantly related). The only way the game would end when a noble dies is if the successor was from a family other than that noble's family. So say Lodin of Agder were to die and Roger de Hauteville were to succeed him, the game would end.
MrBug708: If you mean CK, you do know that you can adjust the speed setting so that the game goes faster, right? It's something you can choose in the options.
That'll make things go by a lot faster.