Can I change my religion?

[Worldcrusher]

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere - I've had a good look and not been able to find the answer to the question.

I'm the Catholic Duke of Bohemia and I switched my allegiance from the (crumbling) Kingdom of Germany to the (also crumbling) Empire of Byzantium. I figured if all the powerful lieges were equally bad, at least this one would get me out from under constant threat of excommunication from the pope. However, it's been a couple of years and no one's asked me to change from Catholic to Orthodox. Also, I'm now first in line for the Byzantium title and I really don't want it - especially not as a Catholic. I'm hoping to get a religion change to Orthodox and then declare independence from Byzantium; the way the Emperor's vassals are dropping out he won't even notice me leave.

Will an event eventually fire that lets me change to Orthodox, or when the Emperor dies am I doomed to civil war, realm duress, and then being the pope's nine-hundred pound gorilla in the East once the dust settles?

 

[unmerged(7537)]

I don't think that there's an event for that. Religion is, generally, something a character is born with. The exceptions are characters with ecclesial education; once they graduate, they will switch their religion to the religion of their liege.

However: It is possible for an Orthodox parent to give birth to an Orthodox child. So if you want an Orthodox Bohemian ruler, you should marry your ruler and/or his sons to Orthodox women, and engineer it so that the eventual Orthodox child will in the end inherit your kingdom.

But to be honest, unless you are already in a really dire situation (like, say, being at war with the Seljuks) realm duress shouldn't be a problem for a sufficiently strong ruler. Just pummel your vassals into submission until they give up, or if you can afford the Badboy hit, take their lands and give them to your sons instead.

 

[TempestDK]

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere - I've had a good look and not been able to find the answer to the question.

I'm the Catholic Duke of Bohemia and I switched my allegiance from the (crumbling) Kingdom of Germany to the (also crumbling) Empire of Byzantium. I figured if all the powerful lieges were equally bad, at least this one would get me out from under constant threat of excommunication from the pope. However, it's been a couple of years and no one's asked me to change from Catholic to Orthodox. Also, I'm now first in line for the Byzantium title and I really don't want it - especially not as a Catholic. I'm hoping to get a religion change to Orthodox and then declare independence from Byzantium; the way the Emperor's vassals are dropping out he won't even notice me leave.

Will an event eventually fire that lets me change to Orthodox, or when the Emperor dies am I doomed to civil war, realm duress, and then being the pope's nine-hundred pound gorilla in the East once the dust settles?

There are events that will change the religion of vassals .. but whether this also fires for players, I am not sure.

So I guess it should be possible to change that way.

Also you can give your heir an ecclesiastical education. When he finishes it, he will take the religion of the king (or highest-tier) ruler. So in your case as a vassal of Byzantium, he would become orthodox. Once he inherits, you would be safe from papal prosecution

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

There are events that will change the religion of vassals .. but whether this also fires for players, I am not sure.

They will also fire for the human player

 

[Worldcrusher]

Brilliant! Thanks, guys. This may be the fastest forum on the internet.

 

[Worldcrusher]

Yep, worked like a charm. I was well on the way, with a church-educated Orthodox heir, when the event fired and my ruler had the chance to convert. Thanks again, now I have an Orthodox pope-immune enclave in the middle of Europe. Sweet.

 

[unmerged(149703)]

Semi-related, as the Duke of Antioch and Aleppo I'm currently forced to donate a huge amount to the church. I assume it represents the church working overtime to convert muslims, and that at some point these provinces will convert and the donation amount will normalise?

Edit, well I'm still paying 2/3rds of my revenue to the church. The slider is set as low as possible without losing loyalty, and 4 of my 5 provinces are catholic.

 

[unmerged(133776)]

... I'm currently forced to donate a huge amount to the church. .
Edit, well I'm still paying 2/3rds of my revenue to the church. The slider is set as low as possible without losing loyalty, and 4 of my 5 provinces are catholic.

Thank you for editing that. The term you used 'huge amount' doesn't really tell us anything. What Church Laws are you currently running? Did the Pope just force you to go with Church Supremecy?
Are you running with really low Efficiency?
Are you a vassal of a King, is he taking his cut too?
Are there Bad events happening in all of your provinces? Looted/Revolt/illness/Plague/robber bands/etc?

2/3 of your income seems like alot, unless you're getting alot less than you should for some reason.

Oh, and to answer your main question, no, the game doesn't take out extra in order to pay for converting those Heathen's to the One, True Religion. Only a one time Event would do that.

 

[unmerged(149703)]

Okay, I'm going to guess that the donations are static and not dependent on revenue. My revenue has been changing while my donations remain the same, and I do have bad events bringing down my income.