Dharmaserf
Chieftain
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2008
- Messages
- 43
I noticed in another thread that the Christianity Inquisitions aspect of ROM was a test-drive and that there was a desire to specialize other religions with the same amount of detail. Have some knowledge of most of the Asian religions, I thought I could contribute. I feel, in play-testing, that Hellenism and Kemitism are quite well-done. Another thing I noticed, however, was that AIs seldom wanted to switch religions and thus late tech tree religions rarely got global notice. This doesn't necessarily match the historical record. Buddhism, for example, entered China around 700-800 years after Confucianism and Daoism--the former being the state religion of the Han in the second century CE. Another thing I noticed was that in Asia until the modern period, there was not the same kind of exclusivity of religion that we find in the Abrahamic religions. In Ancient to Medieval India, we find Buddhist and Hindu rulers accommodating each of the other (so too with Jain rulers). This fits the CIV model to a certain degree. However, in China and East Asia, the level of syncretism we find between Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism seems to take to task the notion of a state religion (at least in certain time periods). While we can say that in China at the end of the Han dynasty (2nd c. BCE - 2nd c. CE) Confucianism was implemented as the State religion, and then what scholars call Neo-Confucianism in the Sung period (10th-12th c. CE) and later was the State religion, the time period in between this had a complex syncretic religious political dynamic. Thinking about how this is reflected in the game could be interesting. Japan is more difficult. Buddhist-Shinto syncretism led to something that scholars call Dual Shinto. Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines were built together. People worshipped Shinto Kami as if they were Buddhist Bodhisattvas. Perhaps (though I doubt it possible) a game mechanic could be created to reflect something like this (for example, having two state religions, gaining diplomacy to a lesser degree for both, but then not getting the full bonuses of each?). Buddhism in South-East Asia during the rise of the medieval kingdoms was intimately connected to Hinduism. It was a complex of Shaivism and Buddhism or weaved together through (what we now call) Tantric cosmology. How to model this in the game is something I have been thinking about ever since I saw the conversation on the 2.8 beta ideas thread. What I would like to do is talk about some of the things I have been thinking about, put together some ideas about implementation, and then see if they make sense and add flavor and realism to the game (as is ROM's purpose) especially in regards to the Inquisition part of the game (though with 2.8 I heard it is moved to a mod mod?).
Before I begin with this, I had some preliminary thoughts that may or may not frame my analysis. In thinking about the issue of religion in CIV these ideas came to me.
Anyway, with regard to the historical aspect of religions in Civ, I also think that modern and transhuman religions could be modeled as well. I know zap requested something like that. Modern religion could include things like: Marxism, Scientology, Falung Gong, or even stuff like Oprahism and consumerism. For the transhuman era, we could have semi-fictional religions: Cyber-Spirituality, some AI = God religion, or network-Buddhism. For existing religions, we have various manifestations of modern forms of religion: Cyber Buddhism (short-lived in our reality, but perhaps something more in ROM), for example, or that there are Hindu pujas online. Not sure how to model this. Just thoughts. I have some ideas about two modern/transhuman religions: New Age Spirituality, and Scientism.
Another thought I had was in regards to Karl Jasper's notion of the Axial Age. In Europe around 6th c. BCE, the Greek traditions of philosophy began with Thales. From the 8th to 4th c. BCE in Northern India, we have the period of the Shramanas, a critical age in the transformation from Vedic Culture to the Classical period of India (2nd c BCE to 7th c. CE). Buddhism and Jainism were founded in these periods--Hinduism as we know it as it developed in the Classical period in response to the dominance of Buddhism and Jainism. In China, the Warring States period of the late Zhou was also called the Period of the 100 Philosophers. During this period was when Confucius and Lao-tzu, Mo tzu and Legalism came to fruition. I'm not sure about modeling this in Civ, but it is interesting. Perhaps golden age is fine as a way to model it.
Another thing I think might be interesting is opening up the question of when religions are founded. undoubtedly (ala Marxist historical materialist analysis) there is some connection between the kinds of thought being developed and the underlying economic and socio-political context within which a tradition comes to fruition (see Shramanas or Period of 100 philosopher‘s above; both were periods of dramatic economic, social and technological transformation). While thinking about this makes me believe that this is too complex and perhaps we should leave it as is, a couple of examples from Asia should suffice to show how the founding of a religion being mapped to a particular technology is a mixed bag in regards to historical accuracy. Taking China as one example, Confucianism and Daoism were basically founded in the same time period (Warring States Period). So, in game terms, the technologies that China developed in this time period (the technology tree being a rough stand-in for economic and socio-political developments) must have been those that included the founding of Daoism and Confucianism. I am not sure if this is historically accurate in Civ (ie. the tech level connected to these were from later Qin dynasty, but then again we wouldn't call them religions until the Han Dynasty which came after the Qin), and to be honest, I'd have to do some examination of the tech tree and some research to wonder how well this CIV model reflects reality. By the time we figure out how to change things so dramatically, Civ 5 might be coming out. But I think it is worth thinking about. At this stage, however, I think more interesting and important would be to work specifically with the religions in question.
What I want to do is give a general overview of each religion taking into account shifts in cultural contexts but with an eye to the interplay between religion and politics, socio-economics, military, and geography. Of course the idea here is how to take each religious tradition and somehow reflect its uniqueness within the game terms of ROM. Additionally, I'll try and give some flare to each to reflect the focus of the two and a half religions that seem to be well-set up in ROM: Hellenism, Christianity and to a lesser degree Kemitism. Once this is hashed out, we might think about adding something like Leader preferences and other AI elements so that if an AI sees some benefit, they might switch.
Anyway, on to the religions: Confucianism, Buddhism, New Age, and Scientism. [Note the qualification that my thoughts will be over-generalized. However, I do try and account for as much specificity as I can for each tradition]
Confucianism:
In the context of thinking in broad generalizations about Confucianism's impact throughout history in East-Asia, there are many things that can be said. First, Confucianism was adopted as the first state religion in the Han dynasty (2nd BCE to 2nd CE). It came to its full fruition in the latter part of that dynasty, but also met its match in popular Daoist movements. While it finally put down the Celestial Masters movement in the South, it had so depleted its resources that it collapsed 20 years later. China would not be unified in the same way until the Tang dynasty. Fundamental elements of later Confucian state religion in China in many ways are innovations on this first model. Included among these elements are:
-Broad-based educational access. While one needed some money to get an education for their children, it was not just only the well off who had access and opportunity. A class of scholars, ru, made their way by tutoring pupils or advising rulers. [Note: Ru are also called literati. The chun-tzu, or Gentleman, is the Confucian ideal for the ru. Sometimes these terms became interchangeable.] This tradition goes back to the Zhou Dynasty. Under Confucian State Religion, however, the ru became essential to the heavy bureaucracy and State apparatus. Some elements of what we might hesitantly call the bourgeoisie and petit bourgeoisie had equal access to education. Until the 18th c. China was the most literate place on Earth. Around 30% of the population was literate. I think this should be reflected in game terms with a bonus to science.
-Meritocracy. Implemented in the Han and most succeeding dynasties, the government was both monarchical and meritocratic. That is, supreme executive power was in the hands of the emperor. However, the large bureaucracy was populated by various socio-economic classes in positions of power significantly related to merit. There were state-wide government examinations based on the 5 Classics (which were compiled by Confucius), and the quality of one's entry into the state apparatus depended on how well one did on the examinations. To take an example, a study of the Ming dynasty showed that 40% of government postings were held by people with no familial ties in the government. The effects of this were ideally to lead to the best person for the job rising through the ranks. Thus, in a large bureaucratic structure, this might tend to lead to more efficiency. I suggest that this would lead to a decrease in maintenance costs in civ terms.
-Confucianism is not just what we might think of as a religion, but also a political philosophy. I feel like this should be reflected somehow in regards to special buildings and units being related to civil management. Confucianism played out in many ways, but most predominantly throughout history as an ideal system for ordering centralized government. It works well with bureaucracy and monarchy. The techs that it might work well with are: city planning, civil service, Literature (The standardized tests were based on the 5 classics--literature and writing were far more important to the classical Chinese than the Indians and I would say even more than the Greco-Romans), Constitution, Aesthetics and Music (One of the classics was lost, but was the Classic of Music--to the Chinese music reflected the mathematical order of the Dao. In Confucian state rituals, music was a necessary and important element of state-craft).
-In its development in Korea and Japan, Confucianism came part and parcel with Buddhism, Daoism and Chinese culture, technology etc., in general. In Japan, Prince Shotoku (a mythological figure) developed the first Japanese constitution. It was a mix of Buddhist and Confucian ideas. Confucianism was the meat of it, for the most part (again, over-generalizing). Confucianism was instrumental in Korea and Japan developing a formal governmental structure. An idea I had was to reflect this with being able to build a Confucian building that would help government. Perhaps, If one had Confucianism as a State religion, one could get decreased maintenance costs.
-Another thing to note is that for many years China was undoubtedly one of the most cultured places on the planet. In civ terms this can be explained by having 3 religions and many wonders.
-I guess as a generalization, I would say that if any world religion was amenable to being a state religion, it would be Confucianism. The five relationships, li, and ren were always talked about in terms of creating harmony in the state and family.
-Because of its ability to exist alongside other religions, I suggest lessoning the diplomatic penalties for having Confucianism as a State religion, but also reducing diplomatic benefits.
-In the modern world, Confucianism ‘s notion of meritocracy still holds considerable capital for Chinese political theorists. However, the material effects of the cultural revolution on China decimated it (not as much as it did Daoism, but more than it affected Buddhism (which is quite amenable to free market and capitalist systems--I.e. post-1979 China). As such I don’t have any ideas for a modern manifestation of Confucianism. Perhaps a fictional political theory National Wonder if one wants to keep the meritocracy civic.
Game Mechanics:
Religion benefits: -50% diplomacy effects for sharing/not-sharing state religion. Effects: -25% maintenance costs, +3 science, +3 culture in holy city; +15% maintenance, +1 science, +1 culture in each city if state religion (upped the science aspect to reflect comments above).
Techs:
Meritocracy: follows Philosophy, in the same row as Feudalism. Requires: Code of Laws and Literature. Allows Meritocracy civic, Minister National Unit and Tutor National Unit. Research cost: 682
Wonders:
Confucian Revival – National Wonder – Requires Globalization - +2 culture, +2 Great Scientist – No happiness penalty for not being liberal. + 1 production with School, and university with Meritocracy active. [Based on current research and theory in the PRC].
Imperial court - National Wonder - requires Music, Civil Service, and Confucianism as State Religion - +4 culture, +2 Beakers, +2 Great Artist - Reduces maintenance 10 % for all cities with Confucianism and is state religion. Cost: 350
Forbidden Palace - Should also give +4 espionage if one has Confucianism as state religion.
Forbidden City - World Wonder - requires Divine Right and Forbidden Palace - +8 culture, +3 great engineer - +2 happiness with monarchy, +1 happiness in each city with bureaucracy, +10% commerce and culture in each city. +5% espionage in each city. Cost: 800
Kong Miao - Should be +1 gold, +1 beaker per city with Confucianism.
Buildings:
Ancestor Memorial Arch - requires Architecture - +1 happiness, +2 culture, allows 1 priest specialist, reduces local rebelliousness. Obsolete with Communism. Cost: 100
Confucian Monastery - Could be renamed to reflect that Confucianism did not have monasteries. Perhaps it could be called Ancestor Shrine. All the bonuses should stay the same.
Courtyard Residences - requires city planning - +5% espionage, +2 commerce, +1 happiness. Cost: 80
Provincial Ministry - requires Constitution - +5% commerce, science, and espionage, +1 culture, reduces maintenance 15%, helps thwart rival spies, allows 1 merchant. Cost: 200 Each Provincial Ministry requires 3 courthouses or 3 Confucian Monasteries.
Units:
Tutor - National Unit - requires literature and Confucian State Religion - Str 0, mov 2, cost: 65 - Can only be produced when a Gentleman could be produced. - Can Produce a Great Work (+15 beakers towards current tech), Can only defend, Can Produce a Great Work (+1 commerce to city when settled. Can give +2xp when attached to a unit (ala Great General).
Minister - National Unit – requires meritocracy and Confucian State Religion - Str 0, mov 2, cost: 110 - Can reduce maintenance in settled city by 5% (max 3 in each city). Can Hurry Production (+25 production, only on buildings). Can Produce Great Work (+ 25 culture).
Civic:
Meritocracy - Society Civic (Between Bourgeois and Feudal) - High Upkeep - Requires Meritocracy Tech - +10% Culture in each city, +10% science in each city, -10% production in each city, reduces civic maintenance costs for number of cities and distance from palace by 15%; +1 production for Jail Courthouse. Increased War Weariness, +10% military production time, +1 cost military units, -25% production time for Library, School of Scribes, University, Observatory.
Buddhism:
Buddhism is a complex religion to model, since it has had so many manifestations and covers such a diverse number of cultural regions. I’ll have to just think about the general effects of Buddhism in its large-scale implementation. I will give some general insights according to Chronology and region, and try to generalize from there.
One thing that I think is very interesting is that aside from actual missions (i.e. sent by Asoka) Buddhism mostly spread due to it being associated with merchant classes until the medieval era. Due to the discouragement of violent professions in Early Buddhism Buddhists generally favored professions of trade, craftsmanship, and administration. Buddhism spread as Buddhist merchants brought Buddhism with them, and monks followed. This may be reflected in a bonus to trade routes. Or alternatively, Buddhism could get a greater bonus to its spread than other religions. After all, most of Asia has been Buddhist at some point in time.
Starting in Early Buddhism but pervading all of Buddhism is the focus on the Stupa (or Pagoda from the Portuguese). All over the world, the stupa became the site for local festivals, rituals, and community organization. I suggest a stupa building that gives culture, happiness and trade route bonuses.
As for political organization, Buddhism has mostly been used by rulers to consolidate and organize territory. Khri srong lde btsan in 8th c. Tibet used Buddhism, like his father, to shore up a socio-political organization that was to stay with Tibet until the 1950s. The highly organized, hierarchical and bureaucratic form of Buddhism that developed was of great political value in ordering the society. Of course, this came with other cultural elements from India, such as the Brahmi script and administrative tools. A similar situation occurred in Japan, where the mythological figure of Prince Shotoku was said to have adopted Buddhism as the state religion in order to help unify and order a new structure to Japan to match the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Buddhism was used in a similar manner in South-East Asia. So, given these insights, I think Buddhism should reflect a kind of empire building religion. It’s adoption as a state religion was useful for empires to order themselves. Of course, part of this was adopting the other technological and cultural elements of the more dominant export cultures (India and China). But, nonetheless, I think it worthy of note. I don’t think the bonuses should be as heavily based on maintenance costs like in Confucianism. Rather, Buddhism has been a very material culture… so perhaps lots of buildings and wonders for various small effects relating to happiness, culture, commerce and health. One can order one’s empire as one sees fit.
Important buildings for Buddhism, aside from the stupa, are cave monasteries. These are important secluded places that were not just for monks to meditate. Communities would participate. Indeed, unlike the stupa gatherings which reflected the needs of a broad cross-section of the populace, cave monasteries were more elite driven community endeavors.
Another thing to note is how powerful monastic institutions became. Generally speaking, monasteries were tax free, often were administrative centers for large parcels of land, and thus also treasuries. Indeed, Tibetan economics for centuries were centered on the monastery. In China, and a lesser degree India, the State would often come into economic tension with powerful monasteries. In East Asia, monasteries would have standing armies to protect their assets. I suggest that the Buddhist monastery as it stands in the game does not adequately reflect this. Rather, it should be called a Chaitya Hall (like a temple, but where wandering Buddhist monks would stay during the rainy season and provide teachings to locals), with no other changes and a new building, the Buddhist Monastery should be created. Buddhist Monasteries were far more useful and powerful than just a source of happiness and culture (to use civ terminology). Monasteries should give culture, health, and a percentage bonus to gold.
Other notes about buildings. Buddhism has some amazing world wonder potentials even above and beyond those already in Beyond the Sword (i.e. Shwedagon Paya). Nalanda University in North India was for centuries the largest educational institution in the world. The Borubodur is the largest mandala in the world. The Daibutsu in Japan is the largest free-standing Buddha statue in the world. The Stupa complex of Anadhapura in Sri Lanka has some of the most spectacular and largest Stupa complexes in the world. The Bamiyan Buddhas, before they were destroyed, reflected the grandeur of Buddhist vision.
While the legend of the Shaolin monk is a quite overstated romantic image, it could add some flavor to Buddhism. Fighting monks were not uncommon in East Asia (though non-existent in India). Perhaps a military unit (and perhaps the only unit for Buddhism) would be interesting. Christianity gives a Crusader unit that unlocks with King Richard’s Castle. Perhaps, then, the Shaolin Monk should be unlocked with the wonder Shaolin Temple.
The last thing I wanted to note was that Buddhism could exist side-by side with other religions without penalty. But, then again, so too did most other religions in Asia. So, either we should reflect this with less penalty to diplomacy from other civs with a different state religion, or, rather, have those AI who adopt Christianity, and Islam be the ones with more penalties diplomatically for differing civ religions (but offset that with a balance that makes them more aggressively expansionistic somehow). For now, I will leave this out. Or, it could be reflected as not requiring state religion for many buildings.
Religion Benefits: Holy City: +3 culture, +1 healthy, +1 trade routes; All cities: + 1 culture, +10% trade route yield
Techs: n/a
Wonders:
Cyber Sangha – National Wonder – Requires Fiber Optics - +4 Culture, +1 Priest - +10% Science per city with Buddhism (all civilizations) if Buddhism is State Religion. Cost: 520
Bamiyan Buddhas – World Wonder – Requires Construction and Buddhism as State Religion - +2 Culture, + 2 Great Merchant – +20% commerce. +1 trade route per city, Merchants add 1 culture. Requires Stone. Obsolete with Explosives. Cost: 550
Borubodur – World Wonder – Requires Engineering - +6 culture, +2 Great Engineer - +1 health and happiness in all cities. +15% maintenance. +1 health, +2 culture, +1 happiness in each city with Buddhism if Buddhism is state religion. Obsolete with Psychology. Cost: 700
Mahavihara Stupa – World Wonder – Requires Aesthetics - +2 culture, +2 Great Artist – 1 free artist specialist, +2 culture and +1 gold each city with Buddhism if Buddhism is State religion. Cost: 400
Nalanda University – World Wonder – requires Education and Buddhism as State Religion - +6 culture, +2 Great Scientist - +35% to science, +1 trade route, +15% trade route yield, +15% Great Person Emergence; allows 1 priest, 1 merchant, 1 scientist, 1 engineer, 1 artist. Requires 6 Buddhist Monasteries. Obsolete with Computer Networks. Cost: 620
Shaolin Monastery – National Wonder – requires Athletics - +2 Culture, +2 Great Prophet; Units produced in this city gain the Shock I promotion. Obsolete with Rifling. Cost: 220
Buildings:
Buddhist Monastery – Changed title to Chaitya Hall with no change to bonuses.
Buddhist Monastery – requires meditation, prerequisites include trade and sculpture (no need for state religion) and Buddhism in city - +1 health, +2 culture, +15% gold. Allows 1 merchant, 1 priest. Cost: 110
Stupa – requires Construction, prerequisite trade and sculpture (no state religion) - +1 happiness, +1 culture, +1 trade routes. + 1 Happiness with Cost: 90
Cave Monastery – requires Aesthetics and Buddhism as state religion to build (benefits remain once built) - +1 culture, +1 science, +10% trade route yield, +5% commerce with incense, +5% commerce with Gold, +10% maintenance cost, +1 gold with State Church, +1 gold with Free Church. Cost: 130
Ashoka pillar – requires Meditation and Buddhism as state religion (benefit lost if not) - +1 culture, reduce maintenance by 5%. Cost: 50
Units:
Shaolin Monk – requires Shaolin Monastery World Wonder – Str , Mov , Cost – Starts with Heal I and Combat I promotions. +25% vesus melee. Can only defend.
Civics: n/a
I have yet to come up with a expanded idea for Daoism, but if people like the work I’ve done above, I will take the time.
As for the Modern and Transhuman religions, my thoughts are as follows (not spelled out to the same level of detail as above).
New Age Spirituality (or just New Age)
Key characteristics about New Age, especially from a materialist perspective, is that its formation coincides with consumer capitalism. While its roots lay with the Occultism and Orientalism of the 19th century, those roots are noteworthy for being aligned to a colonialist economy. For New Age and its earlier manifestations, one key feature is its ability to incorporate any religiosity into its ideology and make use of it. I suggest a bonus to happiness for each religion in a city if New Age is state religion. Another key feature of New Age is its nearly perfect accommodation in practice (but not necessarily in spirit) with free market and capitalist systems of political economy. The work of Paul Heelas and a recent book by Carrette and King, called Selling Spirituality are good examples of scholars identifying this aspect of New Age. For Carrette and King, among others, they argue that what New Age (and Neo-Buddhism, Neo-Daoism--in short all the various appropriations of modern Spirituality that conform to New Age presuppositions) allows is for people to feel better about themselves in order to work harder. They rarely challenge the extant structures, they just make people feel better while being complicit in the contemporary order of things. Think about meditation and yoga as two prime examples that scholars use for this understanding. I suggest a production bonus. If we broaden New Age to include various contemporary extensions of it (I.e. Oprahism, the Secret, the Celestine Prophecy) it is clear that a large aspect of New Age are the numerous techniques for building success. This could be modeled by a commerce or gold bonus.
So, I had two ideas for New Age. The first is to make New Age have big bonuses if state religion, but extra small ones for the buildings etc. As in, if New Age is the state religion, one would get a +1 production, +10% commerce, +10% trade route yield for each city per religion other than New Age--but then negate all global benefits of these religions. The second idea is to have this, with smaller bonuses, be attached to a building that would supply +! Happiness for each religion in a city, and have normal bonuses for other buildings etc.
Possible Wonders: The Baha’i Lotus Temple, Mega-church National Wonder (both in USA (Christian) and India (Hindu) we find these ultra-capitalist spiritual sites), A Spiritual “Mecca” (like Sedona, AZ), Amway Headquarters (or similar).
Possible Buildings: New Age Shop (+1 culture, +1 gold, +1 happiness) , Naturopathy Clinic (+2 health), Wellbeing Center [I.e. yoga/meditation] (+2 happiness, +1 health, +5% commerce), Relazation Center (+1 hammer per each religion in a city, +1 trade routes).
Scientism
Scientism is the ideological manifestation of taking “science” like a religion. For contemporary Religious Studies scholars, this shows up in various manifestations. In the 1960’s rationality was “in” and people thought religion was going to die out. Today, it is a kind of backlash to the hyper-religiosity (or hyper-real religiosity to borrow a Baudrillardian trope) of the last 25 years. A popular manifestation of this the ideology of people like Richard Dawkins and the “New Atheists” but can be often commonly seen in certain kinds of atheism and freethinking. For Religious Studies scholars, nothing is ideologically free and every position, even a non-position, betrays an underlying viewpoint and interpretation of the world. For ROM, I am thinking what if New Atheist/Freethinking became so popular or expansive that it took the place of religion for shaping people’s worldviews? So, why not call this “faith” (as a religious studies scholar note that I have fundamental issues with that term universally applied, but it works rhetorically here) in science a religion for the purposes of ROM? Let’s call it Scientism.
I was imagining it could, if it is your state religion, have a chance per turn of removing other religions from your cities, decrease the chances of religion spreading to your cities, and give you more bonuses for having less or no religions in your civilization. I also think it should have bonuses to science, production and commerce. Finally, either the existence of the religion in a city or something else could increase or create the chance to remove religions from a city. That could be a fun ROM sub-plot: culture wars! Hehe.
Possible Wonders: Darwin’s Legacy (if the recent celebration of Darwin’s anniversary is any guide, a possible world wonder could be a monument to Darwin). A wonder that removes all non-Scientist religion from your civilization, A wonder that increases chances of removing non-state religions from other civs.
Possible Buildings: Freethinker HQ (+1 culture, +1 science, +1 Production if Scientism is only religion in city), Learning Center (+15% science, +to commerce), Think Tank (trade routes, science?)
Before I begin with this, I had some preliminary thoughts that may or may not frame my analysis. In thinking about the issue of religion in CIV these ideas came to me.
Anyway, with regard to the historical aspect of religions in Civ, I also think that modern and transhuman religions could be modeled as well. I know zap requested something like that. Modern religion could include things like: Marxism, Scientology, Falung Gong, or even stuff like Oprahism and consumerism. For the transhuman era, we could have semi-fictional religions: Cyber-Spirituality, some AI = God religion, or network-Buddhism. For existing religions, we have various manifestations of modern forms of religion: Cyber Buddhism (short-lived in our reality, but perhaps something more in ROM), for example, or that there are Hindu pujas online. Not sure how to model this. Just thoughts. I have some ideas about two modern/transhuman religions: New Age Spirituality, and Scientism.
Another thought I had was in regards to Karl Jasper's notion of the Axial Age. In Europe around 6th c. BCE, the Greek traditions of philosophy began with Thales. From the 8th to 4th c. BCE in Northern India, we have the period of the Shramanas, a critical age in the transformation from Vedic Culture to the Classical period of India (2nd c BCE to 7th c. CE). Buddhism and Jainism were founded in these periods--Hinduism as we know it as it developed in the Classical period in response to the dominance of Buddhism and Jainism. In China, the Warring States period of the late Zhou was also called the Period of the 100 Philosophers. During this period was when Confucius and Lao-tzu, Mo tzu and Legalism came to fruition. I'm not sure about modeling this in Civ, but it is interesting. Perhaps golden age is fine as a way to model it.
Another thing I think might be interesting is opening up the question of when religions are founded. undoubtedly (ala Marxist historical materialist analysis) there is some connection between the kinds of thought being developed and the underlying economic and socio-political context within which a tradition comes to fruition (see Shramanas or Period of 100 philosopher‘s above; both were periods of dramatic economic, social and technological transformation). While thinking about this makes me believe that this is too complex and perhaps we should leave it as is, a couple of examples from Asia should suffice to show how the founding of a religion being mapped to a particular technology is a mixed bag in regards to historical accuracy. Taking China as one example, Confucianism and Daoism were basically founded in the same time period (Warring States Period). So, in game terms, the technologies that China developed in this time period (the technology tree being a rough stand-in for economic and socio-political developments) must have been those that included the founding of Daoism and Confucianism. I am not sure if this is historically accurate in Civ (ie. the tech level connected to these were from later Qin dynasty, but then again we wouldn't call them religions until the Han Dynasty which came after the Qin), and to be honest, I'd have to do some examination of the tech tree and some research to wonder how well this CIV model reflects reality. By the time we figure out how to change things so dramatically, Civ 5 might be coming out. But I think it is worth thinking about. At this stage, however, I think more interesting and important would be to work specifically with the religions in question.
What I want to do is give a general overview of each religion taking into account shifts in cultural contexts but with an eye to the interplay between religion and politics, socio-economics, military, and geography. Of course the idea here is how to take each religious tradition and somehow reflect its uniqueness within the game terms of ROM. Additionally, I'll try and give some flare to each to reflect the focus of the two and a half religions that seem to be well-set up in ROM: Hellenism, Christianity and to a lesser degree Kemitism. Once this is hashed out, we might think about adding something like Leader preferences and other AI elements so that if an AI sees some benefit, they might switch.
Anyway, on to the religions: Confucianism, Buddhism, New Age, and Scientism. [Note the qualification that my thoughts will be over-generalized. However, I do try and account for as much specificity as I can for each tradition]
Confucianism:
In the context of thinking in broad generalizations about Confucianism's impact throughout history in East-Asia, there are many things that can be said. First, Confucianism was adopted as the first state religion in the Han dynasty (2nd BCE to 2nd CE). It came to its full fruition in the latter part of that dynasty, but also met its match in popular Daoist movements. While it finally put down the Celestial Masters movement in the South, it had so depleted its resources that it collapsed 20 years later. China would not be unified in the same way until the Tang dynasty. Fundamental elements of later Confucian state religion in China in many ways are innovations on this first model. Included among these elements are:
-Broad-based educational access. While one needed some money to get an education for their children, it was not just only the well off who had access and opportunity. A class of scholars, ru, made their way by tutoring pupils or advising rulers. [Note: Ru are also called literati. The chun-tzu, or Gentleman, is the Confucian ideal for the ru. Sometimes these terms became interchangeable.] This tradition goes back to the Zhou Dynasty. Under Confucian State Religion, however, the ru became essential to the heavy bureaucracy and State apparatus. Some elements of what we might hesitantly call the bourgeoisie and petit bourgeoisie had equal access to education. Until the 18th c. China was the most literate place on Earth. Around 30% of the population was literate. I think this should be reflected in game terms with a bonus to science.
-Meritocracy. Implemented in the Han and most succeeding dynasties, the government was both monarchical and meritocratic. That is, supreme executive power was in the hands of the emperor. However, the large bureaucracy was populated by various socio-economic classes in positions of power significantly related to merit. There were state-wide government examinations based on the 5 Classics (which were compiled by Confucius), and the quality of one's entry into the state apparatus depended on how well one did on the examinations. To take an example, a study of the Ming dynasty showed that 40% of government postings were held by people with no familial ties in the government. The effects of this were ideally to lead to the best person for the job rising through the ranks. Thus, in a large bureaucratic structure, this might tend to lead to more efficiency. I suggest that this would lead to a decrease in maintenance costs in civ terms.
-Confucianism is not just what we might think of as a religion, but also a political philosophy. I feel like this should be reflected somehow in regards to special buildings and units being related to civil management. Confucianism played out in many ways, but most predominantly throughout history as an ideal system for ordering centralized government. It works well with bureaucracy and monarchy. The techs that it might work well with are: city planning, civil service, Literature (The standardized tests were based on the 5 classics--literature and writing were far more important to the classical Chinese than the Indians and I would say even more than the Greco-Romans), Constitution, Aesthetics and Music (One of the classics was lost, but was the Classic of Music--to the Chinese music reflected the mathematical order of the Dao. In Confucian state rituals, music was a necessary and important element of state-craft).
-In its development in Korea and Japan, Confucianism came part and parcel with Buddhism, Daoism and Chinese culture, technology etc., in general. In Japan, Prince Shotoku (a mythological figure) developed the first Japanese constitution. It was a mix of Buddhist and Confucian ideas. Confucianism was the meat of it, for the most part (again, over-generalizing). Confucianism was instrumental in Korea and Japan developing a formal governmental structure. An idea I had was to reflect this with being able to build a Confucian building that would help government. Perhaps, If one had Confucianism as a State religion, one could get decreased maintenance costs.
-Another thing to note is that for many years China was undoubtedly one of the most cultured places on the planet. In civ terms this can be explained by having 3 religions and many wonders.
-I guess as a generalization, I would say that if any world religion was amenable to being a state religion, it would be Confucianism. The five relationships, li, and ren were always talked about in terms of creating harmony in the state and family.
-Because of its ability to exist alongside other religions, I suggest lessoning the diplomatic penalties for having Confucianism as a State religion, but also reducing diplomatic benefits.
-In the modern world, Confucianism ‘s notion of meritocracy still holds considerable capital for Chinese political theorists. However, the material effects of the cultural revolution on China decimated it (not as much as it did Daoism, but more than it affected Buddhism (which is quite amenable to free market and capitalist systems--I.e. post-1979 China). As such I don’t have any ideas for a modern manifestation of Confucianism. Perhaps a fictional political theory National Wonder if one wants to keep the meritocracy civic.
Game Mechanics:
Religion benefits: -50% diplomacy effects for sharing/not-sharing state religion. Effects: -25% maintenance costs, +3 science, +3 culture in holy city; +15% maintenance, +1 science, +1 culture in each city if state religion (upped the science aspect to reflect comments above).
Techs:
Meritocracy: follows Philosophy, in the same row as Feudalism. Requires: Code of Laws and Literature. Allows Meritocracy civic, Minister National Unit and Tutor National Unit. Research cost: 682
Wonders:
Confucian Revival – National Wonder – Requires Globalization - +2 culture, +2 Great Scientist – No happiness penalty for not being liberal. + 1 production with School, and university with Meritocracy active. [Based on current research and theory in the PRC].
Imperial court - National Wonder - requires Music, Civil Service, and Confucianism as State Religion - +4 culture, +2 Beakers, +2 Great Artist - Reduces maintenance 10 % for all cities with Confucianism and is state religion. Cost: 350
Forbidden Palace - Should also give +4 espionage if one has Confucianism as state religion.
Forbidden City - World Wonder - requires Divine Right and Forbidden Palace - +8 culture, +3 great engineer - +2 happiness with monarchy, +1 happiness in each city with bureaucracy, +10% commerce and culture in each city. +5% espionage in each city. Cost: 800
Kong Miao - Should be +1 gold, +1 beaker per city with Confucianism.
Buildings:
Ancestor Memorial Arch - requires Architecture - +1 happiness, +2 culture, allows 1 priest specialist, reduces local rebelliousness. Obsolete with Communism. Cost: 100
Confucian Monastery - Could be renamed to reflect that Confucianism did not have monasteries. Perhaps it could be called Ancestor Shrine. All the bonuses should stay the same.
Courtyard Residences - requires city planning - +5% espionage, +2 commerce, +1 happiness. Cost: 80
Provincial Ministry - requires Constitution - +5% commerce, science, and espionage, +1 culture, reduces maintenance 15%, helps thwart rival spies, allows 1 merchant. Cost: 200 Each Provincial Ministry requires 3 courthouses or 3 Confucian Monasteries.
Units:
Tutor - National Unit - requires literature and Confucian State Religion - Str 0, mov 2, cost: 65 - Can only be produced when a Gentleman could be produced. - Can Produce a Great Work (+15 beakers towards current tech), Can only defend, Can Produce a Great Work (+1 commerce to city when settled. Can give +2xp when attached to a unit (ala Great General).
Minister - National Unit – requires meritocracy and Confucian State Religion - Str 0, mov 2, cost: 110 - Can reduce maintenance in settled city by 5% (max 3 in each city). Can Hurry Production (+25 production, only on buildings). Can Produce Great Work (+ 25 culture).
Civic:
Meritocracy - Society Civic (Between Bourgeois and Feudal) - High Upkeep - Requires Meritocracy Tech - +10% Culture in each city, +10% science in each city, -10% production in each city, reduces civic maintenance costs for number of cities and distance from palace by 15%; +1 production for Jail Courthouse. Increased War Weariness, +10% military production time, +1 cost military units, -25% production time for Library, School of Scribes, University, Observatory.
Buddhism:
Buddhism is a complex religion to model, since it has had so many manifestations and covers such a diverse number of cultural regions. I’ll have to just think about the general effects of Buddhism in its large-scale implementation. I will give some general insights according to Chronology and region, and try to generalize from there.
One thing that I think is very interesting is that aside from actual missions (i.e. sent by Asoka) Buddhism mostly spread due to it being associated with merchant classes until the medieval era. Due to the discouragement of violent professions in Early Buddhism Buddhists generally favored professions of trade, craftsmanship, and administration. Buddhism spread as Buddhist merchants brought Buddhism with them, and monks followed. This may be reflected in a bonus to trade routes. Or alternatively, Buddhism could get a greater bonus to its spread than other religions. After all, most of Asia has been Buddhist at some point in time.
Starting in Early Buddhism but pervading all of Buddhism is the focus on the Stupa (or Pagoda from the Portuguese). All over the world, the stupa became the site for local festivals, rituals, and community organization. I suggest a stupa building that gives culture, happiness and trade route bonuses.
As for political organization, Buddhism has mostly been used by rulers to consolidate and organize territory. Khri srong lde btsan in 8th c. Tibet used Buddhism, like his father, to shore up a socio-political organization that was to stay with Tibet until the 1950s. The highly organized, hierarchical and bureaucratic form of Buddhism that developed was of great political value in ordering the society. Of course, this came with other cultural elements from India, such as the Brahmi script and administrative tools. A similar situation occurred in Japan, where the mythological figure of Prince Shotoku was said to have adopted Buddhism as the state religion in order to help unify and order a new structure to Japan to match the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Buddhism was used in a similar manner in South-East Asia. So, given these insights, I think Buddhism should reflect a kind of empire building religion. It’s adoption as a state religion was useful for empires to order themselves. Of course, part of this was adopting the other technological and cultural elements of the more dominant export cultures (India and China). But, nonetheless, I think it worthy of note. I don’t think the bonuses should be as heavily based on maintenance costs like in Confucianism. Rather, Buddhism has been a very material culture… so perhaps lots of buildings and wonders for various small effects relating to happiness, culture, commerce and health. One can order one’s empire as one sees fit.
Important buildings for Buddhism, aside from the stupa, are cave monasteries. These are important secluded places that were not just for monks to meditate. Communities would participate. Indeed, unlike the stupa gatherings which reflected the needs of a broad cross-section of the populace, cave monasteries were more elite driven community endeavors.
Another thing to note is how powerful monastic institutions became. Generally speaking, monasteries were tax free, often were administrative centers for large parcels of land, and thus also treasuries. Indeed, Tibetan economics for centuries were centered on the monastery. In China, and a lesser degree India, the State would often come into economic tension with powerful monasteries. In East Asia, monasteries would have standing armies to protect their assets. I suggest that the Buddhist monastery as it stands in the game does not adequately reflect this. Rather, it should be called a Chaitya Hall (like a temple, but where wandering Buddhist monks would stay during the rainy season and provide teachings to locals), with no other changes and a new building, the Buddhist Monastery should be created. Buddhist Monasteries were far more useful and powerful than just a source of happiness and culture (to use civ terminology). Monasteries should give culture, health, and a percentage bonus to gold.
Other notes about buildings. Buddhism has some amazing world wonder potentials even above and beyond those already in Beyond the Sword (i.e. Shwedagon Paya). Nalanda University in North India was for centuries the largest educational institution in the world. The Borubodur is the largest mandala in the world. The Daibutsu in Japan is the largest free-standing Buddha statue in the world. The Stupa complex of Anadhapura in Sri Lanka has some of the most spectacular and largest Stupa complexes in the world. The Bamiyan Buddhas, before they were destroyed, reflected the grandeur of Buddhist vision.
While the legend of the Shaolin monk is a quite overstated romantic image, it could add some flavor to Buddhism. Fighting monks were not uncommon in East Asia (though non-existent in India). Perhaps a military unit (and perhaps the only unit for Buddhism) would be interesting. Christianity gives a Crusader unit that unlocks with King Richard’s Castle. Perhaps, then, the Shaolin Monk should be unlocked with the wonder Shaolin Temple.
The last thing I wanted to note was that Buddhism could exist side-by side with other religions without penalty. But, then again, so too did most other religions in Asia. So, either we should reflect this with less penalty to diplomacy from other civs with a different state religion, or, rather, have those AI who adopt Christianity, and Islam be the ones with more penalties diplomatically for differing civ religions (but offset that with a balance that makes them more aggressively expansionistic somehow). For now, I will leave this out. Or, it could be reflected as not requiring state religion for many buildings.
Religion Benefits: Holy City: +3 culture, +1 healthy, +1 trade routes; All cities: + 1 culture, +10% trade route yield
Techs: n/a
Wonders:
Cyber Sangha – National Wonder – Requires Fiber Optics - +4 Culture, +1 Priest - +10% Science per city with Buddhism (all civilizations) if Buddhism is State Religion. Cost: 520
Bamiyan Buddhas – World Wonder – Requires Construction and Buddhism as State Religion - +2 Culture, + 2 Great Merchant – +20% commerce. +1 trade route per city, Merchants add 1 culture. Requires Stone. Obsolete with Explosives. Cost: 550
Borubodur – World Wonder – Requires Engineering - +6 culture, +2 Great Engineer - +1 health and happiness in all cities. +15% maintenance. +1 health, +2 culture, +1 happiness in each city with Buddhism if Buddhism is state religion. Obsolete with Psychology. Cost: 700
Mahavihara Stupa – World Wonder – Requires Aesthetics - +2 culture, +2 Great Artist – 1 free artist specialist, +2 culture and +1 gold each city with Buddhism if Buddhism is State religion. Cost: 400
Nalanda University – World Wonder – requires Education and Buddhism as State Religion - +6 culture, +2 Great Scientist - +35% to science, +1 trade route, +15% trade route yield, +15% Great Person Emergence; allows 1 priest, 1 merchant, 1 scientist, 1 engineer, 1 artist. Requires 6 Buddhist Monasteries. Obsolete with Computer Networks. Cost: 620
Shaolin Monastery – National Wonder – requires Athletics - +2 Culture, +2 Great Prophet; Units produced in this city gain the Shock I promotion. Obsolete with Rifling. Cost: 220
Buildings:
Buddhist Monastery – Changed title to Chaitya Hall with no change to bonuses.
Buddhist Monastery – requires meditation, prerequisites include trade and sculpture (no need for state religion) and Buddhism in city - +1 health, +2 culture, +15% gold. Allows 1 merchant, 1 priest. Cost: 110
Stupa – requires Construction, prerequisite trade and sculpture (no state religion) - +1 happiness, +1 culture, +1 trade routes. + 1 Happiness with Cost: 90
Cave Monastery – requires Aesthetics and Buddhism as state religion to build (benefits remain once built) - +1 culture, +1 science, +10% trade route yield, +5% commerce with incense, +5% commerce with Gold, +10% maintenance cost, +1 gold with State Church, +1 gold with Free Church. Cost: 130
Ashoka pillar – requires Meditation and Buddhism as state religion (benefit lost if not) - +1 culture, reduce maintenance by 5%. Cost: 50
Units:
Shaolin Monk – requires Shaolin Monastery World Wonder – Str , Mov , Cost – Starts with Heal I and Combat I promotions. +25% vesus melee. Can only defend.
Civics: n/a
I have yet to come up with a expanded idea for Daoism, but if people like the work I’ve done above, I will take the time.
As for the Modern and Transhuman religions, my thoughts are as follows (not spelled out to the same level of detail as above).
New Age Spirituality (or just New Age)
Key characteristics about New Age, especially from a materialist perspective, is that its formation coincides with consumer capitalism. While its roots lay with the Occultism and Orientalism of the 19th century, those roots are noteworthy for being aligned to a colonialist economy. For New Age and its earlier manifestations, one key feature is its ability to incorporate any religiosity into its ideology and make use of it. I suggest a bonus to happiness for each religion in a city if New Age is state religion. Another key feature of New Age is its nearly perfect accommodation in practice (but not necessarily in spirit) with free market and capitalist systems of political economy. The work of Paul Heelas and a recent book by Carrette and King, called Selling Spirituality are good examples of scholars identifying this aspect of New Age. For Carrette and King, among others, they argue that what New Age (and Neo-Buddhism, Neo-Daoism--in short all the various appropriations of modern Spirituality that conform to New Age presuppositions) allows is for people to feel better about themselves in order to work harder. They rarely challenge the extant structures, they just make people feel better while being complicit in the contemporary order of things. Think about meditation and yoga as two prime examples that scholars use for this understanding. I suggest a production bonus. If we broaden New Age to include various contemporary extensions of it (I.e. Oprahism, the Secret, the Celestine Prophecy) it is clear that a large aspect of New Age are the numerous techniques for building success. This could be modeled by a commerce or gold bonus.
So, I had two ideas for New Age. The first is to make New Age have big bonuses if state religion, but extra small ones for the buildings etc. As in, if New Age is the state religion, one would get a +1 production, +10% commerce, +10% trade route yield for each city per religion other than New Age--but then negate all global benefits of these religions. The second idea is to have this, with smaller bonuses, be attached to a building that would supply +! Happiness for each religion in a city, and have normal bonuses for other buildings etc.
Possible Wonders: The Baha’i Lotus Temple, Mega-church National Wonder (both in USA (Christian) and India (Hindu) we find these ultra-capitalist spiritual sites), A Spiritual “Mecca” (like Sedona, AZ), Amway Headquarters (or similar).
Possible Buildings: New Age Shop (+1 culture, +1 gold, +1 happiness) , Naturopathy Clinic (+2 health), Wellbeing Center [I.e. yoga/meditation] (+2 happiness, +1 health, +5% commerce), Relazation Center (+1 hammer per each religion in a city, +1 trade routes).
Scientism
Scientism is the ideological manifestation of taking “science” like a religion. For contemporary Religious Studies scholars, this shows up in various manifestations. In the 1960’s rationality was “in” and people thought religion was going to die out. Today, it is a kind of backlash to the hyper-religiosity (or hyper-real religiosity to borrow a Baudrillardian trope) of the last 25 years. A popular manifestation of this the ideology of people like Richard Dawkins and the “New Atheists” but can be often commonly seen in certain kinds of atheism and freethinking. For Religious Studies scholars, nothing is ideologically free and every position, even a non-position, betrays an underlying viewpoint and interpretation of the world. For ROM, I am thinking what if New Atheist/Freethinking became so popular or expansive that it took the place of religion for shaping people’s worldviews? So, why not call this “faith” (as a religious studies scholar note that I have fundamental issues with that term universally applied, but it works rhetorically here) in science a religion for the purposes of ROM? Let’s call it Scientism.
I was imagining it could, if it is your state religion, have a chance per turn of removing other religions from your cities, decrease the chances of religion spreading to your cities, and give you more bonuses for having less or no religions in your civilization. I also think it should have bonuses to science, production and commerce. Finally, either the existence of the religion in a city or something else could increase or create the chance to remove religions from a city. That could be a fun ROM sub-plot: culture wars! Hehe.
Possible Wonders: Darwin’s Legacy (if the recent celebration of Darwin’s anniversary is any guide, a possible world wonder could be a monument to Darwin). A wonder that removes all non-Scientist religion from your civilization, A wonder that increases chances of removing non-state religions from other civs.
Possible Buildings: Freethinker HQ (+1 culture, +1 science, +1 Production if Scientism is only religion in city), Learning Center (+15% science, +to commerce), Think Tank (trade routes, science?)
. Just kidding 
.
. When I read his entries, I nodded in knowledgeable agreement as I read about it before. I'm a history major senior, a long way from being a professor (my career goal: a professor at Gallaudet U., the world's only liberal arts university for Deaf).
boost with Confucianism. A Decrease in overall maintanence should be possible too. The AI would be made aware of all these changes too.
