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It's the first Thursday of a new month, and the stars just happen to be exactly right for a new entry in the Crusader Kings II developer diary! God willing, it will be an enlightening one. Yes, my friends, it is time to get serious and talk about religion, and, being a game about medieval times, religion obviously plays a huge part.

There are three groups of religions in CKII: Christian, Muslim and Pagan. Each group encompasses the main religions (e.g. Catholic and Orthodox) and their heresies (Waldensian, Bogomilist, etc.) Now, the specific religions have certain characteristics that set them apart from each other. For example, Catholicism has an independent chief pontiff (the Pope) who can excommunicate people and call for crusades. He can also, on rare occasions, grant a divorce or a special Casus Belli. Rulers can request excommunications, divorce or an invasion casus belli from the Pope, but it will cost them a lot of Piety, and requires that the Pope hold them in high regard.

Perhaps the most central feature of the Catholic Church, however, is the investiture of bishops. As you probably recall, fiefdoms can be held by members of the clergy (the rich and juicy Temple type baronies in particular). The income from these holdings normally goes to the Pope and not the secular liege of the bishops. However, if the Prince-Bishop happens to like his liege more than the Pope, he will instead pay taxes to his liege (and allow his troop levies to be raised.) The problem is just that the clergy naturally tends to favor the Pope, which is why kings can pass a law called Crown Investiture. This allows them to appoint new bishops who are appropriately grateful and loyal. Why not just do this all the time then? Because the Pope will be most displeased with kings who have passed this law, effectively barring them from any special Papal favors. There is a way around this problem too though: antipopes. Kings with Crown Investiture and high enough Prestige can set up a Pope of their own; an Antipope. This will ensure that all of the bishops in the kingdom pay taxes to the Crown, and will allow the king to excommunicate characters within the kingdom (but not outside it), arrange divorce, etc. Moreover, characters within the kingdom are immune to excommunication by the Pope, and foreign bishops who prefer your antipope might actually pay taxes to him (and therefore to you.) Antipopes cannot call for Crusades, however.

Another downside is that the setting up - and existence of - antipopes harms the "Moral Authority" of your religion. This value represents how respected the religion is and its general hold over the faithful. When the value is low, the chief pontiff can no longer call for Crusades, heresies start to run rampant, and characters and provinces will not convert to the religion easily. It is all a trade-off, and trade-offs are the heart and soul of good gameplay.

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What about the other religions then? Well, in Orthodox Christianity the chief pontiff is the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and he is vassal to the Byzantine Emperor. There is no investiture conflict (church taxes go to the secular liege) and the Patriarch cannot call for Crusades. However, he can excommunicate characters and grant CBs and divorces. Pagans have no chief pontiff at all and lack all the special mechanics. The two Muslim religions (Shi'a and Sunni) resemble Orthodoxy, but the Caliph himself is the chief pontiff, and they can call for Jihad.

That's all for now. At some point I will talk more about heresies. :) Until next time!

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Henrik Fåhraeus, Associate Producer and CKII Project Lead
 
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So what's the pope going to do with the mountains of gold he will probably be receiving?

Would be really cool if he could fund crusades or something. Like give gold to high piety rulers that are participating in the crusade.
 
Yes. An antipapacy is actually just a claim on the title to the real papacy.

If it is a claim, how and who can press it?

May I assume that there will be a way to press some other character's claim ? Like, our king can be press his Antipope (or his nighbour ?)' claim ?
Or there will be a sort of "elective" system involving bishops (for example, when a majority of bishops recognize the antipope, this one become the legitimate Pope) ?

And can rulers recognize a "foreign" Antipope as legitimate ?
 
But I'm not talking heretics here. Please at least read what I've posted. Having your own Patriarchate should give some bonuses as it was thought to be very tightly tied to the ruler and his power as well. In game terms you would be safe from excommunications from the other Patriarchates, being able to settle your internal issues as divorces etc. and maybe appoint bishops from your culture as opposed to being forced greeks and greek language if you are under the Byzantine Patriarchate.

That's what I mean when I was pointing out the pros and cons of having your own Patriarchate. The orthodox world is dependent on the Byzantine Patriarch unless you fight to establish your own. I don't think that would be such a big issue to implement in-game as it was something many countries tried to achieve (from Balkan countries to the Russians).
 
So what's the pope going to do with the mountains of gold he will probably be receiving?
Would be really cool if he could fund crusades or something. Like give gold to high piety rulers that are participating in the crusade.

That's a good question. I doubt the Papal State's two or three provinces will need all of the gold it will be receiving from all of Europe. I also wonder how so much money will be spent.
 
Are you saying that for example if France supports an Antipope France may declare war on the Pope and try to force him to abdicate? Will other countries (for instances, the Holy Roman Emperor) be able to help the current Pope continue being Pope?

Yes.

Also, does the figure of Papal controller continue to exist? Do they get special benefits from the Pope like an higher likelihood of having their requests granted?

No, there is no Papal Controller.
 
What about Judaism? I don't think that Judaism can be ignored as the jews are very important in Spain at the time and even have independent territories near the Caspian sea. - until that nasty horde arrives...

Of course the Jewish nations should be playable - nothing like a recreation of Israel 900 years premature ;)

There is no Jewish religion in the game.
 
If it is a claim, how and who can press it?

May I assume that there will be a way to press some other character's claim ? Like, our king can be press his Antipope (or his nighbour ?)' claim ?
Or there will be a sort of "elective" system involving bishops (for example, when a majority of bishops recognize the antipope, this one become the legitimate Pope) ?

And can rulers recognize a "foreign" Antipope as legitimate ?

Claims work mostly like in CK, except that they are rarer. You will more often want to press the claims of your courtiers and vassals.
 
The Pope, since he is not playable, can use his money for all kinds of things, through events, etc.
 
Claims work mostly like in CK, except that they are rarer. You will more often want to press the claims of your courtiers and vassals.

Better than my wildest dream. Please hybernate me and wake me up when the game is out. I cannot wait anymore !

PS For the Judaism, can we mod it in or there is no way to see Judaism in?
 
I must say I'm excited about that. But:

I don't like the coats of arms. They look too XVIIth Century, so flashy and so baroque. What about taking a look at some XIV-XVth Century armorials? There's plenty of books of arms out there.

Also, please, tell me you will remake heraldry. CK1 heraldry was awful and inaccurate. I will help, if needed. Many people here made submods with the right heraldry for the provinces (I'm thinking about that magnificent mod that gave Sweden the right heraldry for the main families, instead of nowadays regional coats of arms).
 
Better than my wildest dream. Please hybernate me and wake me up when the game is out. I cannot wait anymore !

PS For the Judaism, can we mod it in or there is no way to see Judaism in?

You can easily mod it in.
 
I must say I'm excited about that. But:

I don't like the coats of arms. They look too XVIIth Century, so flashy and so baroque. What about taking a look at some XIV-XVth Century armorials? There's plenty of books of arms out there.

Also, please, tell me you will remake heraldry. CK1 heraldry was awful and inaccurate. I will help, if needed. Many people here made submods with the right heraldry for the provinces (I'm thinking about that magnificent mod that gave Sweden the right heraldry for the main families, instead of nowadays regional coats of arms).

Dynasties have their own Coats of Arms in CKII, separate from titles.
 
I like what I'm seeing. Will there be ways to up Moral Authority to balance out having an anti-pope? Will other secular kingdoms have options or AI tending to stamp out anti-popes?

I'm looking forward to how heresies work out, too. Will there be an implied "religious stringency" vs. "religious flexibility" slider working in the background as in CK1?

But I am imagining a progression here: Crown Investiture > Antipope > Heretical State Religion.
 
I meant if you conquer the land, if you conquer Rome and you have a anti-pope what will happen. And what will happen of you "just" conquer Rome?

The Pope will still exist. Nothing in particular will happen if you conquer Rome as a Catholic (though you won't garner any favor with the Pope, obviously.)