• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Tinto Flavour #14 - 17th of April 2025 - The Papal States

Hello, and welcome to another session of our Tinto Flavour. This week we are continuing with the Christian Easter feel by taking a look at the Papal States.

Since its creation by the hand of Saint Peter himself, the Catholic Church has been guiding all of humanity to salvation through the ages, thanks to the leadership of the bishop of Rome, the Pope.

Starting with the Donation of Pepin, the blessed Papal States were created to both govern and help the faithful. However, the last decades have been a constant struggle as the death of Pope Bonifatius VIII Gaetani Aquila forced the relocation of the court to the exclave of Avignon, as the Papacy fell under the influence of King Philippe IV the Fair Capet, and its holdings in Italy were dominated by quarreling noble families.

What will the vicar of Christ do? Will he fully become a puppet of the Kingdom of France and allow the temporal rule over the spiritual? Or will he break free and rise to the position at the top of Creation that God himself intended for its Church?

Let’s look at the country directly:
Pope.png

As usual, consider all art as WIP.

And here are the lands they have, taking into account that their capital is in Avignon, not in Rome.
Country Map.png


They start with a special government reform, unique to the Papacy:
Holy See.png


And they also have some special privileges, representing their division between their French and Italian holdings:
French Cardinals.png

Powerful Italian Families.png


And also a unique policy:
Papacy Policy.png


They also have a work of art:
Palais des Papes.png


And here are some of their unique advances:
Word of the Lord.png

Glory to Rome.png

Donation of Constantine.png

Holy Father.png


One particular characteristic of the Papacy is that their succession is not like the rest of the countries. As such, they have a special succession law:
Papal Conclave.png


That makes it so that when a Pope dies, the country enters into a Papal Conclave Regency, and eventually it will be resolved with an event firing, where the player will be able to choose between some of the cardinals available.
Conclave Regency.png

Conclave Election.png


Here are some more events available to the Papacy:
Castello Event.png


Giving access to this special building:
Castello.png


And events for some special individuals:
Raffael.png

Galileo.png

Borgia.png

I’m sure this last one will have no repercussions whatsoever…

There’s also some events about some famous "refurbishings":
Sistine Chapel.png

Sistine Chapel Artists.png

Saint Peter.png

Saint Peter Monument.png


… and much more, but that is all we will show for today. Next week we will go to the military branch of Christianity by taking a look at the Military Orders of the Teutonic & Livonian Orders and Knights Hospitallers. See you there.
 
  • 120Like
  • 63Love
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
Reactions:
Adding to yesterday, I think countries need to first ask for permission from the papal state before building a cardinal seat with favors and gold.
Also if the papal states die they should become a BBC on rome, like the EU4 event, or in any other country that allows them if refused
 
  • 9
  • 1
  • 1
Reactions:
I'd like to suggest you to add another military order, Order of Dobrzyń/ Brothers of Dobrzyń through some flavour event maybe? because last mention of them is from 1248 but there is no news about how they ended because not all of them joined Teutonic Order. Canonically order ended in 1350s. So you see there's a room for cool event for Catholic Poland in 1337.


Fratres Milites Christi de Dobrzyn !
1744895892131.jpeg



Btw, Order of Dobrzyn has a star over sword unlike Livonian Order which has a red cross over sword.
 
Last edited:
  • 5
  • 2Like
Reactions:
How does the conclave work? Are the candidates chosen randomly from the existing cardinals or can you use your religious influence to try to get your guy elected? Do you gain anything if your cardinal ends up as the Pope?
 
  • 10Like
  • 1
Reactions:
Do other countries have any say in the conclave? Like if France has the majority of cardinals can they force the college to elect one of the French cardinals, also does having one of your cardinals becoming Pope give you any benefit?
 
  • 3Like
  • 1
Reactions:
I'm as Protestant as they come, but In the opening flavor text I doubt many Catholics would say that Peter "created" their church.

Also, in the final line I recommend a pronoun edit: "God himself intended for its his Church" (unless I'm completely misreading the sentence)
 
  • 8
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions:
On another note, how does the Conclave work if you're not playing as the Pope? Do you have a way to influence the elections to one of your cardinals if you have a lot of them and/or some other source of influence over the Pope (like you made them your subject, you have a strong presence in Italy and they're threatened or you caused another schism like Avignon papacy)?
 
  • 6Like
  • 2
Reactions: