User Guide
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interface, you will see the shield of the country
that currently holds the title of “Papal Control-
ler”, indicating that this country has the sup-
port of the more of the curia members than any
other Catholic nation.
The papal controller gains several special bo-
nuses for his realm:
• The investment required to regain stabil
-
ity in the papal controller's realm is 20%
lower than would normally be the case.
• The papal controller will receive one extra
diplomat every year.
• Being the papal controller is a prestigious
title, adding a small monthly increase to
the realm's prestige.
Below the shield of the papal controller are the
names of each of the seven cardinals who make
up the Holy See. Each cardinal will favour one
Catholic country more than any other, being
loyal to its ruler's desires. The realm that each
cardinal supports is shown at the end of each
line, and the realm with the greatest support
will be the current papal controller. The papal
controller will not change until another coun-
try is able to gain the support of more cardinals
than the current controller enjoys.
It is possible to sway a cardinal's sympa-
thies by attempting to "influence" him to be
more sympathetic to your realm. This is done
by making a very generous donation to the
church's coffers in the hopes that the cardinal
will appreciate the gesture and begin to sup-
port your country instead. You will see the
amount of money that might make an impres-
sion on each cardinal, and an estimate of the
likelihood that the cardinal will switch loyal-
ties to your realm. If you are successful in your
attempt, the loyalty shield of the cardinal will
change to your nation's shield and you will gain
a small amount of prestige. If you fail in your
attempt, you will lose a small amount of pres-
tige.
Once you have gained the support of more
cardinals than any other country, your ruler
will immediately become the new papal con-
troller and will begin to receive the benefits
of this position. You will usually retain this
title until another country is able to influ-
ence enough cardinals to exceed your support.
There are a couple exceptions to this, which
we'll come to in a moment.
Cardinals are not immortal. In fact, most
cardinals are appointed to the curia after many
years of faithful service to the Church and may
have somewhat limited years of life remain-
ing. When a cardinal dies, a new cardinal is
appointed to replace him and is chosen from
amongst the many Catholic realms in the
world. The selection of a new cardinal is made
randomly, with each Catholic province in each
Catholic realm having an equal likelihood of
being appointed. The newly appointed cardi-
nal will begin his tenure supporting the realm
from which he was drawn. This means that a
large Catholic realm with many Catholic prov-
inces is considerably more likely to place a new
cardinal in the curia.
Any time a country tries to influence a car-
dinal, the nation he currently supports will be
notified of the attempt. This will damage the
relationship between the two realms that are
competing for the cardinal's support, with the
effect being understandably greater if his loyal-
ties change. There is no limit to the number
of times that you may attempt to influence a
cardinal, nor are you required to wait for any
period of time before making an additional at-
tempt. Whenever you fail in an attempt, you
will lose a small amount of prestige in addition
to the cost of gold. While this might not seem
too bad, a cardinal's willingness to change his
support is strongly influenced by your nation's
prestige. Each time you fail, you decrease the
chance that any cardinal will be interested in
your offers, and increase the amount of gold
you will need to spend to make each subse-
quent attempt.
If your country is ruled by a regency coun-
cil or becomes the junior partner in a personal
union, you will be disqualified from being the
controller of the Holy See. Any cardinals that
currently support your realm will transfer their