Dynamic Reformations and Heresies

[Alfray Stryke]

So a while back I applied for the Game Designer position, but was turned down. @Groogy said provided I didn't violate any NDAs I'd be fine posting my ideas on the forums. So my suggestions on reworking Pagan Reformations and Heresies follow:

For Pagan Reformations, instead of the current “click button, reform religion” mechanic, when reforming a religion, a religious council is called. These consist of holders of the holy sites, the reformer and a number of high piety characters. They decide on aspects of the reformed faith to keep from the original or to introduce during the reformation, shaped by their traits, choices, and neighbouring religions. For example, if most of the council has the “Zealous” trait, the newly reformed faith could have the Germanic aspect of requiring regular war or suffering a prestige loss. The reformation will take time to complete and while the council deliberates, all characters can attempt to shape the new religion by influencing its members (adding another use for Favours). If the Moral Authority of the faith or the number of owned Holy Sites drops below the threshold, during this time, the council is dismissed incurring a further Moral Authority penalty and the reformation fails. This offers players greater challenges and agency in reforming the Pagan faiths, and gives a further rewards for a successful reformation by being able to shape the religion, similar to how aspects of most religions may be chosen in EU4.

Dynamically generated heresies could mirror the way historically religions often took on aspects of existing local faiths. Dynamic heresies would give further roleplay opportunities to players. These would take on religious mechanics shaped by the cultures, faiths, and government forms of the provinces they rise up in. For example, a Catholic heresy could develop in Scandinavia, syncretic to or assimilating the Germanic faith, by accepting Germanic deities as “saints”, granting the “Sympathy for Pagans” trait to members, and allowing raiding and/or concubinage.

 

[Rath12]

This please. There should also be the possibility of schisms, perhaps with like a female fylkir (Being thrown around a lot right now, not my own idea) or if there is two almost completely separate blobs of the religion under diffrent rulers. For example if a reformed slavic pagan rode along with a horde and then adventured a kingdom down in the Mediterranean, establishing an empire, a schism could occour after huge swaths of the mediteraniaan went slavic. North slavic and South Slavic.

Or if a pair of empires, one ruled by a cynical emperor who has the religious head as a vassal, and there is a second empire ruled by a zealous emperor who has -30 opinion of the liege of the religious heads liege.

Or a ruler owning an empire much more powerful than the current liege of religious head coming under the religious head (Conversion or inheriting from a infidel)

Or the crowning of a "Holy X Empire", for example the carpathia could become the slavic Holy empire, the Wendish empire that of the romuvans, scandinavia that of the germanics, Russia for the suomensukos, Mali for the west africans (maybe including the two duchys that are part of arabia but are right out in front of mali and get in the way of it reaching the sea. This is what triggered the actual Catholic schism, so it would make sense.

Perhaps characters who own a Holy empire of a recently reformed religion <50yrs could endeavor to become a secular religious head. This would murder piety, theocracy opinion and and a bunch of other things. Probably invoke like a -40 tyranny.

 

[Arona]

I think there should be new refomation systerm. If you start reformation. you have 15 to 30 years time to reform faith and add and remove aspects.

Lets say. you want to reform norse faith. Then you have decision tab options, how many wife are allowed, is there allowed designate heir, is there allowed raiding, and so on and changing thouse rules you need piety. and you also get some opinion penaltys if you add aspects from other religions or remove aspects from your main religion. And even chooce if you going to have religious head, holy triad, autocepaly or any other religious system, changing thouse need alot of piety, but in reformation period you can get events what will give piety.

 

[Rath12]

But changing those things should also require approval of the council of theologians. It should get to the point that you could go to war in order to take out a competing influencer of the reformation.

I wrote this as a suggestion a while ago:

think that it would be very cool to be able to create a heresy where you could adjust the parent religion, and begin preaching it in temples that members of that heresy control. To begin a heresy you must have direct control of temples (wrong holding type in demense-style) or vassal priests with +70 opinion. The more similar to the parent religion, the faster conversion should go. When creating the heresy, there should be a menu where you can select diffrent parts of the parent religion to reject, and other things to add. Most of the possible choices should be taken from all of the religions and heresy in the game. Several should be added in such as the ability to have women inherit with prority and such.

When reforming a religion, it could also be possible to do a more limited version of the above, so maybe when I reform Slavic paganism, I could allow absolute cognatic, but not go all the way to female priority.