Hello everyone,
I purchased this game about two months ago, and I, like many players, soon acquired an insatiable desire to command the Holy Father's religious authority. I only had some experience modding The Elder Scrolls V, but with a little trial and error involving removing and adding flags to a file, I got my butt on the holy see. I garnered some interest while parading my sanctified romp on these boards, so I'm publicly releasing this sordid excuse for a mod, which makes the papacy available to the player using two small workarounds, one of which is a little messy. Consider it a prelude to an upcoming DLC or, alternatively, a tantalizing taste of what could have been.
But how does it work?
There are two tiddlybits that make the Papacy unplayable: it's a "landless" title, meaning it persists even when unlanded (not the same as titular), and the Pope is the holder of a temple in his capital province. The two workarounds I implemented were, respectively, to remove the "landless" flag and to allow catholic feudal rulers to own temples. Now, this latter measure has a fairly nasty side effect: there are no more catholic bishops, and the Pope becomes a vulgar feudal lord. What, did you really think this mod was going to make theocracies playable???
But all is not lost! You will still be the Catholic religious head, receive all the events, be addressed as "Your Holiness", excommunicate rulers, call crusades, use donations to embellish your capital bishopric of Rome, and slowly gobble up land for your papal state, much like in history.
In summary, these are the files I changed:
common/religions/00_religions.txt
common/landed_titles/landed_titles.txt
How to use
First, you install it in your mod folder and activate it in the launcher like any other mod.
Now, the pope will still not be selectable directly; you will have to switch to him using the "play <ID>" console command. This mod simply makes it so that the game doesn't boot you out when you do this. The pope's ID in the Old Gods start is 7853 (lowborn, but it's not a problem), and in Stamford Bridge, 2008. These starts are actually rather difficult, as the papacy contains few holdings and is surrounded by large realms (and you can only call crusades from 1090 onward); generally later bookmarks will be easier, the Hundred Years War being the easiest, although I've also found year 1266 to be fortuitous.
If you want a player-controlled pope in multiplayer, make a save with this mod active and load from there, as the pope will be selectable then (I don't get it either...)
If you're really hung up on the bishop thing, you can try deleting the "religions" folder in the mod files, select your favorite ruler, and enter "give_title k_papal_state" in console. I haven't tested this, myself.
In-game observations
The developer in charge of pope-related decisions and events was kind enough to fully implement these events pope-side, complete with localization. However, many of them are coded in such a way that you are forced to take whichever option the AI would've chosen. For example, you will receive a lot of requests for papal indulgence, which you cannot refuse, and which don't even net you any money. You'll also find yourself nagging various rulers about heretics. On the other hand, you can choose to chastise rulers about their investiture (the best outcome is when they bribe you), as well as choosing whether to comply with an excommunication request (there is no other way to get someone excommunicated, sadly).
You might be asking yourself, "won't the game end when my first pope dies because he's the only character of his dynasty???" Well, I'll have you know that this mod accidentally does allow the pope to marry (cfr. vulgar feudal lord) but it's not even necessary nor recommended. The papacy has "open elective" succession, also used for baronies held by lowborns and normally not accessible to players, in which the successor is randomly generated on the spot, and of a randomly generated dynasty; this mechanic works perfectly fine for players. Once you die, you immediately switch to the next guy, no questions asked. Even your score will carry over. So, in essence, this mod adds a unique experience in which you never even have to worry about successors or claimants (disregard the "no heir of your dynasty!" notification at the top of the screen). Now, if you do manage to produce legitimate children, they will receive claims on the Papacy after your death, and will be considered antipopes. So it's best to denounce all of those bastards of yours.
The Pope has the same CBs as any other catholic ruler minus invasions and with the addition of crusades, although you will not have ready access to claimants if you eschew the marriage game; usually I expand using fabricated claims. Crusades are fully implemented and are called like Jihads. You can only call them starting in 1090, only once per pope, and once every 30 years, although I'm sure deleting some code in the casus belli file will allow you to spam them. I've found calling crusades to be the most fun aspect of the papacy. Be warned: from my experience, I believe that the weights that influence the AI pope's choice of target also influence how much support you are likely to get. So don't get any ideas of putting a catholic ruler in charge of Turkestan.
Also, you cannot request a divorce, excommunication, or invasion, due to the humorous "cannot interact with self" condition. You can, however, buy papal indulgence, which results in egregious silliness.
Due to the absence of bishops, you will never be as obscenely wealthy as the average pope in vanilla. Still, you are based in one of the richest areas on the map, and in the center of technological growth.
Screenshots
Excommunication request
Papal tooth fairy
God is dead
Egregious silliness
It's good to be the Pope
Show them who's Rome
A hungary-shaped Scotland
Last edited:
