College of Cardinals

College of Cardinals

Rome is not the only diocese. In God Only, only Rome has a College of Cardinals. Discover a heretic and become pope, and you have no cardinals, no papal election, and no papal rites: every cardinal checks into the Papal States. This mod allows any pope of a Christian faith without a cardinal (heretics, reformed churches, faiths born after the Great Schism) to form their own college, using the same vanilla mechanics and windows as Rome.

feature

Form a College of Cardinals (Decision, 1000 piety): Appoint up to 10 cardinals from among your most pious clergy. Your cardinal is your own and in no way occupies a Catholic seat.

An elective conference (decision) is held: theocratic elective succession, so the College elects each new pope. The original Cardinal Academy windows and HUD buttons will appear.

The original cardinal mechanism is open to your faith: appointment and removal of cardinals, cardinal orders, priest requests, increasing papal rating, influencing votes, and AI filling vacancies.

Legacy of St. Peter (decision, 1000 piety, 500 reputation): Choose a principality with your own county (capital first, Holy Land marker) to become a kingdom-level Papal State. It becomes your faith leader title and primary title, so kingdoms and councils are named after it; your capital is moved there while it remains within its legal empire. In giving, you choose the fate of your crown:

to give it to the Church as a papal king;

Let them inherit by blood when you die: the papacy is elected by the pope, and the crown passes to your blood heirs according to your culture's laws of inheritance (partition, primogeniture, etc.), just like any secular ruler (clergy and cardinals do not inherit);

Let the blood take them now: a blood heir inherits the crown, rules by cultural law, and you retain only the Papal State;

Give them now to Caesar;

Or cancel and the fee will be refunded.

Theocratic rulers cannot enforce hereditary laws, so the moment a pope dies, the Papal States passes first to the next pope, who becomes independent, while the deceased pope ceases to be the head of the faith, leaving the crown to the in-game succession rules, following the succession laws of his culture at the time. You continue the game as the heir to the crown, and if the new pope belongs to your dynasty, you can choose to continue playing as the new pope one day later. The Judgment of the Crown Law (300 Piety) provides for primogeniture, whereby the eldest heir inherits everything, superseding cultural law. Whether letting the blood take them away, or passing it to Caesar, the crown changes hands in life: according to your gender laws, one heir succeeds through primogeniture, and the kingdom, even before cultural innovations, preserved primogeniture through papal prerogative.

Capture the Archbishop (Interactive): The original Replacement Archbishop only reached your own faith. Gaining an archdiocese from an archbishop of another Christian faith will give you higher lore when its capital county is of your faith or is within your domain. The cost was the same as the original; their faith leaders were offended. The Pope could also use it.

A papal crown of your faith, worn on the portrait and handed to each new pope. If it is lost, the Academy will recast a new one.

Bequest to the Holy See (Decision, 200 piety per item): The clergy has no bloodline heirs, so the deceased pope's personal items, including relics, will be removed. Bequeath an item you wear to the next pope, once. The Pope could also use it.

ceremony

It's built solely from By God Alone's art, music, and window effects, so it looks and sounds like the base game. There are no consecutive clicks and no repetitions.

Tu Es Petrus: full screen announcement. Choose the character of your academy: Roman Tradition, New Jerusalem, or Fishermen.

Red hat: First Council of Cardinals with a crown on the head.

Letter from Rome: The Pope will respond with a warning or a curse, depending on your …