To begin with, there has been much talk since the launch of Crusader Kings 2 about the possibility of playing as a theocracy. Generally, it has been noted that the point of the game is advancing one's dynasty...which is rather hard to accomplish while being a priest that is forbidden to marry. I have, however, crafted a suggestion that I can only hope will be noticed by Paradox (or a modder with ample free time on his/her hands, if such a thing was possible for this), and hopefully implemented someday.
The first issue that needs to be addressed is the problem of advancing one's dynasty while being an unmarried member of the clergy. All said and done, I think this is the least of the problems at hand, with the addition of an ecclesiastical dynasty. How it works is relatively simple: the head of the dynasty is the unmarried member of the clergy that the player plays as. His exact title is relatively unimportant for the suggestion, but I suppose he could be a "Bishop". He has a holding that exists "outside" the world, in a somewhat similar fashion to how the palaces of the merchant families work. I propose calling it a "church" or a "palace", but the name is relatively insignificant for my current purposes.
The player, although unmarried, still runs the family. The player has to run the family well, because he relies on his relatives to produce a son that will be set aside as the heir to the ecclesiastical dynasty's holding "outside" of the world, and thus become the new leader of the dynasty. My suggestion on this front is that it works somewhat similar to how successors are chosen in merchant families, although with one caveat: the oldest unmarried man is the heir, but the player is allowed to designate an heir if the oldest unmarried man is not to his or her liking.
As such, it is absolutely vital that every ecclesiastical dynasty start off with at least one leader (the player) and a male family member that can be married, so you can start him working on producing you a successor. Children can be the leaders of your family, but they can't be elected to any offices (to be explained later on).
The next problem inherent in designing a system is what the player does, and this part involves a near-complete reworking of how the Roman Catholic Church operates in this game. My idea is to add Episcopal Sees, as an entity that exist alongside de jure duchies. So, for example, you could have the "Duchy of Flanders", and within the same de jure territory, you have the "Episcopal See of Flanders". Within the "Episcopal See of Flanders" (which would ideally have its own tab for an ecclesiastical dynasty), much like inside of a Republic, are the various ecclesiastical dynasties that you would be competing with. My suggestion is up to one ecclesiastical dynasty per county that has a church in it. Much like the heads of merchant families compete to become the leader of the Republic, the heads of the ecclesiastical dynasties compete to become the Archbishop of their Episcopal See. The method of deciding the next Archbishop when the previous one dies would depend on the relevant crown laws of the area: if there is Papal Investiture, the next Archbishop is determined by things such as piety, the opinion of the Pope in Rome, campaign fund, etc. If there is Free Investiture, the next Archbishop is determined by the same thing, only replacing the opinion of the Pope in Rome with the opinion of the highest-ranking secular lord in the area.
If an Archbishopric is divided between two independent nations and there is Free Investiture, the opinions of both secular lords are taken into account, with a weighting system according to how much of the Archbishopric is controlled.
Following this, if you are the Archbishop in an area that is independent, you can compete with the other Archbishops in the independent country to be named the Primate of your area. The selection process would mirror the selection of an Archbishop. If there is only one Archbishop in an independent country, he is automatically the Primate for that area.
But, what do you get for being elected an Archbishop or a Primate? You don't inherit any land with the title, but you do get prestige, power and tax money. If a local Bishop likes his Archbishop more than his count, he will pay his taxes to his Archbishop. If an Archbishop likes his Primate more than his secular lord, he will pay his taxes to his Primate. If a Primate likes the Pope more than his secular lord, he will pay his taxes to the Pope. As for more power, that will be detailed below.
So, what do all of these fancy things let you do in a game? It involves another reworking of how the Roman Catholic Church works. Rather than every request for funds, divorces, or excommunications, going directly to the Pope in Rome, the secular authorities have to work their way up the hierarchy. For example, a count would first have to ask whichever Bishop owns the Church holding in his demesne (could be the head of an ecclesiastical dynasty, could be a randomly-generated Bishop). Depending on how much the Bishop likes him, how much he likes the person being targeted, and how much he recognizes the power of the count, he either approves the request (and gets a plus to relations) or denies the request (and gets a negative hit to relations). If he denies the request-that's the end of it. If, however, he approves the request, it is sent to the local Archbishop, where the same process happens again. If it gets beyond the Archbishop, then it goes to the Primate (if the Archbishop and the Primate are different), and if approved by the Primate, it then finally goes to the Pope in Rome for final approval. If a Duke asks, it goes first to the Archbishop, then the Primate, then the Pope. If a King/independent ruler asks, it goes to the Primate and then to the Pope.
Of course, the clergy might not be fond of the secular lord whose requests they are handling, but they might be convinced to let a request slip by if a donation was made to the local church. *wink wink*
And what of your ecclesiastical dynasty? How is its power spread? After all, this is a family-based game, it should be possible to gradually make your family more and more powerful. I propose that this be accomplished through the selection system. For any previous member of your dynasty that has had a certain office (excluding the Papacy), you get more points in your favor. While your dynasty is more likely to maintain control over an Archbishopric or a Primacy, it is not guaranteed. So, theoretically, it would be possible for your family to eventually be virtually guaranteed to be the Primate of your country.
But how do you acquire more holdings? Surely you can't just be expected to have a church that exists "outside" of the world, an Archbishopric, and a Primacy? That would be quite silly indeed. So, while you are still a Bishop, you can petition your local Archbishop to grant you the rights to a landed church that is not owned by the leader of an ecclesiastical dynasty. You then acquire the church through one of two ways: the current Bishop dies, or you raise an army and take it by force. Even if you die before the other Bishop dies, it will still come into your family one way or the other. It will be retained by your ecclesiastical dynasty, unless in situations where you are elected to be the next Pope and it is now filled by a random character.
Under this system, the College of Cardinals and the election to the Papacy remains untouched. If you want to get elected Pope, you have to work your way into the College of Cardinals and get elected Pope (possibly with the help of your secular liege in the form of campaign fund donations).
When you rise to become an Archbishop, you retain any churches or counties that you might hold within the Archbishopric, but you are not allowed to expand outside of your Archbishopric. When you rise to become a Primate, this simply moves you up the hierarchy and grants you access to more funds, and more control over fund requests, divorces, and excommunications. When you rise to become the Pope, however, you have to relinquish your Archbishopric, and your Primacy (if you have one), in addition to any counties or landed churches you own, but retain the family "church" that exists "outside" of the world. But you get the Papal lands to compensate.
That was a lot, and I thank everyone who was able to get through all of it. I hope it makes coherent sense, and that you are ready and willing to critique it. I welcome criticism, and would like very much to see a system implemented to play as a theocracy, being one of the only kinds of governments or characters that are not yet playable. So bring on the questions/comments/concerns! Before it is asked, I don't have any ideas on non-Catholic theocracies. Sorry.
The rest of this post is going to be an example of how this might be played in a game, enjoy. For the sake of space, I've put it in spoilers.
This next spoiler is some technical notes that are suggestions of mine, feel free to skip them if you want:
EDIT 1: Assume that requests for indulgences goes through the normal channels outlined above. Requests for claims and invasions should (imo) go through the Pope
The first issue that needs to be addressed is the problem of advancing one's dynasty while being an unmarried member of the clergy. All said and done, I think this is the least of the problems at hand, with the addition of an ecclesiastical dynasty. How it works is relatively simple: the head of the dynasty is the unmarried member of the clergy that the player plays as. His exact title is relatively unimportant for the suggestion, but I suppose he could be a "Bishop". He has a holding that exists "outside" the world, in a somewhat similar fashion to how the palaces of the merchant families work. I propose calling it a "church" or a "palace", but the name is relatively insignificant for my current purposes.
The player, although unmarried, still runs the family. The player has to run the family well, because he relies on his relatives to produce a son that will be set aside as the heir to the ecclesiastical dynasty's holding "outside" of the world, and thus become the new leader of the dynasty. My suggestion on this front is that it works somewhat similar to how successors are chosen in merchant families, although with one caveat: the oldest unmarried man is the heir, but the player is allowed to designate an heir if the oldest unmarried man is not to his or her liking.
As such, it is absolutely vital that every ecclesiastical dynasty start off with at least one leader (the player) and a male family member that can be married, so you can start him working on producing you a successor. Children can be the leaders of your family, but they can't be elected to any offices (to be explained later on).
The next problem inherent in designing a system is what the player does, and this part involves a near-complete reworking of how the Roman Catholic Church operates in this game. My idea is to add Episcopal Sees, as an entity that exist alongside de jure duchies. So, for example, you could have the "Duchy of Flanders", and within the same de jure territory, you have the "Episcopal See of Flanders". Within the "Episcopal See of Flanders" (which would ideally have its own tab for an ecclesiastical dynasty), much like inside of a Republic, are the various ecclesiastical dynasties that you would be competing with. My suggestion is up to one ecclesiastical dynasty per county that has a church in it. Much like the heads of merchant families compete to become the leader of the Republic, the heads of the ecclesiastical dynasties compete to become the Archbishop of their Episcopal See. The method of deciding the next Archbishop when the previous one dies would depend on the relevant crown laws of the area: if there is Papal Investiture, the next Archbishop is determined by things such as piety, the opinion of the Pope in Rome, campaign fund, etc. If there is Free Investiture, the next Archbishop is determined by the same thing, only replacing the opinion of the Pope in Rome with the opinion of the highest-ranking secular lord in the area.
If an Archbishopric is divided between two independent nations and there is Free Investiture, the opinions of both secular lords are taken into account, with a weighting system according to how much of the Archbishopric is controlled.
Following this, if you are the Archbishop in an area that is independent, you can compete with the other Archbishops in the independent country to be named the Primate of your area. The selection process would mirror the selection of an Archbishop. If there is only one Archbishop in an independent country, he is automatically the Primate for that area.
But, what do you get for being elected an Archbishop or a Primate? You don't inherit any land with the title, but you do get prestige, power and tax money. If a local Bishop likes his Archbishop more than his count, he will pay his taxes to his Archbishop. If an Archbishop likes his Primate more than his secular lord, he will pay his taxes to his Primate. If a Primate likes the Pope more than his secular lord, he will pay his taxes to the Pope. As for more power, that will be detailed below.
So, what do all of these fancy things let you do in a game? It involves another reworking of how the Roman Catholic Church works. Rather than every request for funds, divorces, or excommunications, going directly to the Pope in Rome, the secular authorities have to work their way up the hierarchy. For example, a count would first have to ask whichever Bishop owns the Church holding in his demesne (could be the head of an ecclesiastical dynasty, could be a randomly-generated Bishop). Depending on how much the Bishop likes him, how much he likes the person being targeted, and how much he recognizes the power of the count, he either approves the request (and gets a plus to relations) or denies the request (and gets a negative hit to relations). If he denies the request-that's the end of it. If, however, he approves the request, it is sent to the local Archbishop, where the same process happens again. If it gets beyond the Archbishop, then it goes to the Primate (if the Archbishop and the Primate are different), and if approved by the Primate, it then finally goes to the Pope in Rome for final approval. If a Duke asks, it goes first to the Archbishop, then the Primate, then the Pope. If a King/independent ruler asks, it goes to the Primate and then to the Pope.
Of course, the clergy might not be fond of the secular lord whose requests they are handling, but they might be convinced to let a request slip by if a donation was made to the local church. *wink wink*
And what of your ecclesiastical dynasty? How is its power spread? After all, this is a family-based game, it should be possible to gradually make your family more and more powerful. I propose that this be accomplished through the selection system. For any previous member of your dynasty that has had a certain office (excluding the Papacy), you get more points in your favor. While your dynasty is more likely to maintain control over an Archbishopric or a Primacy, it is not guaranteed. So, theoretically, it would be possible for your family to eventually be virtually guaranteed to be the Primate of your country.
But how do you acquire more holdings? Surely you can't just be expected to have a church that exists "outside" of the world, an Archbishopric, and a Primacy? That would be quite silly indeed. So, while you are still a Bishop, you can petition your local Archbishop to grant you the rights to a landed church that is not owned by the leader of an ecclesiastical dynasty. You then acquire the church through one of two ways: the current Bishop dies, or you raise an army and take it by force. Even if you die before the other Bishop dies, it will still come into your family one way or the other. It will be retained by your ecclesiastical dynasty, unless in situations where you are elected to be the next Pope and it is now filled by a random character.
Under this system, the College of Cardinals and the election to the Papacy remains untouched. If you want to get elected Pope, you have to work your way into the College of Cardinals and get elected Pope (possibly with the help of your secular liege in the form of campaign fund donations).
When you rise to become an Archbishop, you retain any churches or counties that you might hold within the Archbishopric, but you are not allowed to expand outside of your Archbishopric. When you rise to become a Primate, this simply moves you up the hierarchy and grants you access to more funds, and more control over fund requests, divorces, and excommunications. When you rise to become the Pope, however, you have to relinquish your Archbishopric, and your Primacy (if you have one), in addition to any counties or landed churches you own, but retain the family "church" that exists "outside" of the world. But you get the Papal lands to compensate.
That was a lot, and I thank everyone who was able to get through all of it. I hope it makes coherent sense, and that you are ready and willing to critique it. I welcome criticism, and would like very much to see a system implemented to play as a theocracy, being one of the only kinds of governments or characters that are not yet playable. So bring on the questions/comments/concerns! Before it is asked, I don't have any ideas on non-Catholic theocracies. Sorry.
The rest of this post is going to be an example of how this might be played in a game, enjoy. For the sake of space, I've put it in spoilers.
You start a game in the Old Gods start date. You pick an ecclesiastical dynasty located in the Archbishopric of Toulouse that has no holdings. Let's call this dynasty the de Toulouse dynasty.
At the beginning, you have a church that exists "outside" of the world, and you are one of the six ecclesiastical dynasties that exist within the Archbishopric of Toulouse. At the moment, you have a modest income, and don't really have much to do. But you have a brother, and you arrange a marriage for him. You have also begun to save money to put towards your...advancement. You've only got a limited lifespan, and don't want to die a simple Bishop. The very thought makes you sick.
So you take your stack of gold that you've accumulated through money gained from your one church, and send a gift to the local Archbishop. This is followed by a request for the church in Foix: it's not owned by an ecclesiastical dynasty, and you would very much like to own it.
The Archbishop grants your request, and you now have a right to that landed church. So, you begin to plot the assassination of that church's Bishop, and within a year, you get the church.
From here, you set your eyes on fabricating a claim on the county that the church is in. Surely no secular ruler can resist a claim from Holy Mother Church that she should rule over this county, right? It takes a few years, but you acquire the rights to the county. You are now free to assemble an army and conquer it, forcing that upstart count to become a mere baron, and be a vassal to your proud dynasty.
That upstart baron wants to excommunicate his rival, though, and he needs your help in doing so. Since you are doing him a service in a serious church matter, you can ask him for a "donation" to help you overlook some of his faults. He is dead-set on this excommunication, and has enough gold to pay your modest bribe, so he gives you the cash and you send the request up the hierarchy to the Archbishop of Toulouse. The Archbishop likes you and is relatively neutral about the baron, so he approves of it. The Primate approves of it, but the Pope wants a donation made that the baron simply can't afford. Oh well, looks like he doesn't get to excommunicate his rival.
Unfortunately, this has taken a somewhat long time, thanks to your rather unskilled Chancellor. But fortunately your nephew has just recently turned 16, and is ready to take on the mantle of leading your ecclesiastical dynasty, should you die. Knowing this...you die, and he takes over. He inherits the two churches, and the landed one comes with a county attached to it.
From here, your nephew (now referred to as Ruler 2 sets his eyes on becoming the Archbishop of Toulouse. He is relatively well-liked by the King of Aquitaine, who has made Free Investiture the law of the land, and with some help from a campaign fund, and the very timely death of the old Archbishop, Ruler 2 has become the next Archbishop of Toulouse. Being generally more liked among the Bishops of Toulouse than the Duke of Toulouse, most of them send their taxes to you.
Now, you can participate in the ecclesiastical affairs of Aquitaine as a whole: after all, there's a Primate of Aquitaine, and it isn't you. This problem needs to be fixed. This also gives you a place to negotiate from with the Duke of Toulouse-you can deny his every request, or you can squeeze him for as much as you can get. Or you can just decide to be nice and let the requests through. All you know is you want to be proclaimed the Primate of Aquitaine.
As previously mentioned, Ruler 2 has good relations with the King of Aquitaine, is a very pious man, and he has managed to save up some gold in his campaign fund. The poor old Primate, the Archbishop of Bourbon, had an unfortunate accident while on a carriage ride, and Ruler 2 has secured being named the Primate of Aquitaine.
Except, Karling politics being what they are, the King of Aquitaine has died and his crown was left to the King of West Francia. As the Primate of West Francia, the Archbishop of Normandy gloats, you are no longer the Primate of Aquitaine. Oh well, easy come easy go. You can now target his job, and then he won't be so giddy.
But, you decide to go on a different route. With your wealth, you realize that you could fund your own campaign to be selected as the next Cardinal in Rome. Being the Pope would be a nice change-you would have to surrender control of all your holdings outside of the family church...but you want to do it. For the honor of de Toulouse, you make it your mission to become the next Cardinal.
After a generous campaign fund donation and a few hired thugs, an elderly drunk of a Cardinal has unfortunately died, leaving the perfect place for you! The Pope names you the newest Cardinal, and everything is going well. You're still only the Archbishop of Toulouse, but you now have a say in who becomes the next Pope. Good news for you, you're so well-liked by the other Cardinals that you're the Preferatus! There is only one thing standing in the way between you and the Chair of Saint Peter...that pesky Pope. He dies of an unfortunate accidental snake bite, and you now find yourself the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. You've surrendered your church+county in Toulouse (to a randomly generated character), and have inherited the Papal holdings.
You are the final decider on all matters related to the Roman Catholic Church. Primates who like you more than their secular liege send their taxes to you, and boy, are they a lucrative source of funds, in addition to the funds provided by the Papal holdings. There is that King of England who has established an Antipope...but he is about to be killed by Norse pagans anyways, so you're not too concerned. England can be reclaimed for Christ at a later date.
You've been managing your family well, and you have a prime candidate picked out from several choices, to lead the dynasty in the unfortunate event of your death. Shortly after designating this unmarried young man your heir, you pass away.
Now, your new heir, Ruler 3 starts in a similar position that your first ruler did. Only, the dynasty is more prestigious, and the home church is certainly more spruced up than it was before. You also are more likely to be elected the next Archbishop of Toulouse. Who knows, maybe the current Archbishop will have an unfortunate accident...
At the beginning, you have a church that exists "outside" of the world, and you are one of the six ecclesiastical dynasties that exist within the Archbishopric of Toulouse. At the moment, you have a modest income, and don't really have much to do. But you have a brother, and you arrange a marriage for him. You have also begun to save money to put towards your...advancement. You've only got a limited lifespan, and don't want to die a simple Bishop. The very thought makes you sick.
So you take your stack of gold that you've accumulated through money gained from your one church, and send a gift to the local Archbishop. This is followed by a request for the church in Foix: it's not owned by an ecclesiastical dynasty, and you would very much like to own it.
The Archbishop grants your request, and you now have a right to that landed church. So, you begin to plot the assassination of that church's Bishop, and within a year, you get the church.
From here, you set your eyes on fabricating a claim on the county that the church is in. Surely no secular ruler can resist a claim from Holy Mother Church that she should rule over this county, right? It takes a few years, but you acquire the rights to the county. You are now free to assemble an army and conquer it, forcing that upstart count to become a mere baron, and be a vassal to your proud dynasty.
That upstart baron wants to excommunicate his rival, though, and he needs your help in doing so. Since you are doing him a service in a serious church matter, you can ask him for a "donation" to help you overlook some of his faults. He is dead-set on this excommunication, and has enough gold to pay your modest bribe, so he gives you the cash and you send the request up the hierarchy to the Archbishop of Toulouse. The Archbishop likes you and is relatively neutral about the baron, so he approves of it. The Primate approves of it, but the Pope wants a donation made that the baron simply can't afford. Oh well, looks like he doesn't get to excommunicate his rival.
Unfortunately, this has taken a somewhat long time, thanks to your rather unskilled Chancellor. But fortunately your nephew has just recently turned 16, and is ready to take on the mantle of leading your ecclesiastical dynasty, should you die. Knowing this...you die, and he takes over. He inherits the two churches, and the landed one comes with a county attached to it.
From here, your nephew (now referred to as Ruler 2 sets his eyes on becoming the Archbishop of Toulouse. He is relatively well-liked by the King of Aquitaine, who has made Free Investiture the law of the land, and with some help from a campaign fund, and the very timely death of the old Archbishop, Ruler 2 has become the next Archbishop of Toulouse. Being generally more liked among the Bishops of Toulouse than the Duke of Toulouse, most of them send their taxes to you.
Now, you can participate in the ecclesiastical affairs of Aquitaine as a whole: after all, there's a Primate of Aquitaine, and it isn't you. This problem needs to be fixed. This also gives you a place to negotiate from with the Duke of Toulouse-you can deny his every request, or you can squeeze him for as much as you can get. Or you can just decide to be nice and let the requests through. All you know is you want to be proclaimed the Primate of Aquitaine.
As previously mentioned, Ruler 2 has good relations with the King of Aquitaine, is a very pious man, and he has managed to save up some gold in his campaign fund. The poor old Primate, the Archbishop of Bourbon, had an unfortunate accident while on a carriage ride, and Ruler 2 has secured being named the Primate of Aquitaine.
Except, Karling politics being what they are, the King of Aquitaine has died and his crown was left to the King of West Francia. As the Primate of West Francia, the Archbishop of Normandy gloats, you are no longer the Primate of Aquitaine. Oh well, easy come easy go. You can now target his job, and then he won't be so giddy.
But, you decide to go on a different route. With your wealth, you realize that you could fund your own campaign to be selected as the next Cardinal in Rome. Being the Pope would be a nice change-you would have to surrender control of all your holdings outside of the family church...but you want to do it. For the honor of de Toulouse, you make it your mission to become the next Cardinal.
After a generous campaign fund donation and a few hired thugs, an elderly drunk of a Cardinal has unfortunately died, leaving the perfect place for you! The Pope names you the newest Cardinal, and everything is going well. You're still only the Archbishop of Toulouse, but you now have a say in who becomes the next Pope. Good news for you, you're so well-liked by the other Cardinals that you're the Preferatus! There is only one thing standing in the way between you and the Chair of Saint Peter...that pesky Pope. He dies of an unfortunate accidental snake bite, and you now find yourself the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. You've surrendered your church+county in Toulouse (to a randomly generated character), and have inherited the Papal holdings.
You are the final decider on all matters related to the Roman Catholic Church. Primates who like you more than their secular liege send their taxes to you, and boy, are they a lucrative source of funds, in addition to the funds provided by the Papal holdings. There is that King of England who has established an Antipope...but he is about to be killed by Norse pagans anyways, so you're not too concerned. England can be reclaimed for Christ at a later date.
You've been managing your family well, and you have a prime candidate picked out from several choices, to lead the dynasty in the unfortunate event of your death. Shortly after designating this unmarried young man your heir, you pass away.
Now, your new heir, Ruler 3 starts in a similar position that your first ruler did. Only, the dynasty is more prestigious, and the home church is certainly more spruced up than it was before. You also are more likely to be elected the next Archbishop of Toulouse. Who knows, maybe the current Archbishop will have an unfortunate accident...
This next spoiler is some technical notes that are suggestions of mine, feel free to skip them if you want:
*Treasuries are not passed from Archbishop to Archbishop or from Primate to Primate, they remain in the ecclesiastical dynasty. However, I don't think this should be the case for the Papal Treasury-it should be passed from Pope to Pope. So when Ruler 2 dies and passes on leadership of the ecclesiastical dynasty to Ruler 3, Ruler 3 starts off with a relatively small amount of gold, but if Ruler 2 worked on upgrading the dynasty's home church, he should have a nice income and modest troop levels.
*Personally, I don't think ecclesiastical dynasties should be able to move. So, in the above situation, your dynasty is going to be tied to the Archbishopric of Toulouse as long as catholic characters hold onto the land within the Archbishopric. If you get taken out in a Jihad, game over.
*If the Ducal title (such as the Duke of Toulouse) gets attached to, or taken by, the Archbishop of Toulouse, then he would simply be the Prince-Archbishop of Toulouse, and would fill the role of both the Duke of Toulouse and the Archbishop of Toulouse
*It goes without saying that members of ecclesiastical dynasties should be forbidden from holding titles in a Republic or holding feudal titles-anyone who marries into an ecclesiastical dynasty gives up their claims and cannot inherit titles. This prevents a fair amount of...funkiness.
*Personally, I don't think ecclesiastical dynasties should be able to move. So, in the above situation, your dynasty is going to be tied to the Archbishopric of Toulouse as long as catholic characters hold onto the land within the Archbishopric. If you get taken out in a Jihad, game over.
*If the Ducal title (such as the Duke of Toulouse) gets attached to, or taken by, the Archbishop of Toulouse, then he would simply be the Prince-Archbishop of Toulouse, and would fill the role of both the Duke of Toulouse and the Archbishop of Toulouse
*It goes without saying that members of ecclesiastical dynasties should be forbidden from holding titles in a Republic or holding feudal titles-anyone who marries into an ecclesiastical dynasty gives up their claims and cannot inherit titles. This prevents a fair amount of...funkiness.
EDIT 1: Assume that requests for indulgences goes through the normal channels outlined above. Requests for claims and invasions should (imo) go through the Pope
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