Tenets and Faith

[Xyth]

*** DEVELOPMENT VERSION FOR TESTING AVAILABLE HERE ***



Time for a more detailed preview of the big new features coming in 1.22: Tenets and Faith. A big topic, worthy of it's own thread.



Faith

Faith replaces Priest/Prophet . It is accumulated civilization-wide with a progress bar on the main UI, much like the Great General progress bar. The main sources of faith will be religious buildings/wonders and priest specialists. Some Tenets will provide additional ways to obtain faith. Every time the faith progress bar is filled, you receive a Great Prophet.


Reformation

Unlike Civics, Tenets cannot be changed whenever you wish. Instead, Great Prophets have a new ability called 'Reformation' which will allow you to change them once. A Reformation causes anarchy, just like a Revolution does, and if you wish to change your Tenets again you need another Great Prophet.

Another vital distinction from civics is that a Reformation can also change the Tenets of other civilizations with the same state religion as you. I'm still experimenting with the details of this mechanic, but leaders' favourite tenets and relative levels of faith will probably be the major factors. I'll post more on how it will work at a later time.


Religious Similarities and Differences

In BTS and HR thus far, civilizations tend to stick together in religious factions thanks to attitude bonuses you get for having the same religion, and attitude penalties you get for having different ones. Some leaders aren't too bothered by religion and have small attitude adjustments, others, like Isabella, take it very seriously.

In 1.22, this is all changing and attitude bonuses/penalties will come instead from Tenets. The more tenets you have in common with another player, the higher the attitude bonus they have towards you. The more tenets you have that are different to that player, the higher the attitude penalty they'll have towards you. Leader personality will still adjust how extreme these attitude changes can be, but to a lesser extent than in current HR or BTS.

What this ultimately means is that while there'll still be religious blocs, there will also be times where civilizations with different state religions will actually be friendlier to each other than civilizations with the same state religion. Diplomacy becomes much more varied and interesting, and more historical to boot.


Religious Civics

These will be removed in 1.22, replaced entirely by Tenets. I plan to add a new civic category to replace them, but I only have a vague concept of this at this stage. Might happen after 1.22, shall see. Only thing I'll say for now is that the new category will be focused primarily on the late game.


Divinity Tenets

This category is about how a religion perceives the divine. Divinity tenets cannot be reformed like other tenets; each religion has a defined Divinity Tenet, and the only way to change them is to change to a state religion with the one you want. The one exception to this is Humanism - once you've discovered Scientific Method you can switch to Humanism during a Reformation, or back from Humanism to the tenet defined for your state religion (if you have one).

Animism
Shinto, Shamanism, Druidism, Vodun
• Free Priest in cities with a Natural Wonder
• +1 faith from Animal resources

Polytheism
Pesedjet, Anunnaki, Baalism, Olympianism, Asatru
• Unlimited Priests
• +25% production of religious buildings and wonders

Pantheism
Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Teotl
• -2 Temples required to construct Great Temples
• Earn 50% faith from non-state religion buildings

Monotheism
Judaism, Christianity, Islam
• +25% GPP in cities with state religion
• -10% GPP from non-state religions in cities
• Earn 50% faith from state religion buildings in foreign cities

Ethicism
Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism
• -1 Temple required to construct Monasteries
• +100% faith during Golden Ages

Humanism
Requires Scientific Method
• Faith can generate any Great Person
• +25% production of science buildings and wonders​

Aspiration Tenets

This category is about what the people believe their religion will do or provide for them. Like the Divinity category, each tenet here provides a method of generating faith. All other bonuses require the religion's Temple. The first three Aspiration Tenets are available straight away, the other 3 require techs to unlock.

Fertility
• +2 food from state religion Temples
• +1 faith from Crop resources

Prosperity
• +3 commerce from state religion Temples
• +1 faith from Luxury resources

Order
• +3 production from state religion Temples
• +1 faith from Material resources

Preservation
Requires Property
• +1 health from state religion Temples
• +1 faith from Wonders

Salvation
Requires Priesthood
• +1 happiness from state religion Temples
• +1 faith from combat victory over heathen units

Enlightenment
Requires Ethics
• +25% GPP in cities with state religion Temples
• +5 faith from settled Great People​

Morality Tenets

This category concerns what a religion values and how it's hierarchy expects it's followers to act and think. It has most of the more military themed bonuses. Each tenet here has a bonus that is only useful for cities with your religion's Great Temple (which still require a Great Prophet and a particular number of Temples to construct).

Hedonism
• Free City Raider promotion in cities with state religion Great Temples
• +25% production of cultural buildings and wonders

Purity
Requires Medicine
• +2 health from Baths
• Free March promotion in cities with state religion Great Temples

Altruism
Requires Welfare
• Free Doctor in cities with state religion Great Temples
• +25% production of growth buildings and wonders

Honour
Requires Chivalry
• Can draft units each turn
• Free Leadership promotion in cities with state religion Great Temples

Duty
Requires Dogma
• Free Engineer in cities with state religion Great Temples
• +25% production of military buildings and wonders

Justice
Requires Humanities
• Free Spy in cities with state religion Great Temples
• -25% dissent in all cities​

Revelation Tenets

This category describes how followers of a religion seek knowledge and understanding of both the world and the divine. Many of the bonuses here are connected to Monasteries (which will no longer go obsolete, but will require a Temples to be built - half as many as Great Temples do). Of particular note are the tenets that add a commerce to Monasteries when Great Prophets emerge. These provide an additional reward for investing in faith.

Superstition
• State Monasteries gain +1 culture when a Great Prophet emerges
• +1 happiness from Cemetery

Occultism
Requires Alchemy
• State Monasteries gain +1 espionage when a Great Prophet emerges
• 25% chance for a free Merchant when constructing a Clinic

Scripture
Requires Writing
• State Monasteries gain +1 wealth when a Great Prophet emerges
• 25% chance for a free Priest when constructing a Library

Pilgrimage
Requires Compass
• +1 trade route in cities with State Monasteries
• +100% trade route commerce in city with State Religion Shrine

Discipline
Requires Aesthetics
• +2 experience for units trained in cities with State Religion Monasteries
• 25% chance for a free Artist when constructing a Stadium

Rationalism
Requires Education
• State Monasteries gain +1 research when a Great Prophet emerges
• 25% chance for a free Scientist when constructing a School​

Tolerance Tenets

This category is concerned with spreading religions and how a religion interacts with others, both domestic and foreign. Because I'm still finalizing some related mechanics, this is the category least finished and most subject to further iteration. You'll notice a couple of bonuses are currently missing. There will be no tech requirements for any of these tenets however.

Insularity
• Unaffected by foreign reformations
• No unhappiness from defying Apostolic Palace or United Nations resolutions

Forbearance
• -50% negative attitude from religious differences
• ???

Proselytism
• Can train 100% more Missionaries
• Spreading state religion also constructs its Temple

Fundamentalism
• Can train Inquisitors
• No spread of non-state religions

Syncretism
• +50% positive attitude from religious similarities
• ???

Pluralism
• No unhappiness from non-state religions
• No dissent from non-state religions​

Worship Tenets

You didn't think you'd get all these cool bonuses for free did you? This category is about what followers have to endure to get the benefits of their religion. There are no bonuses here, only penalties. Note that Apostasy has no tech requirement - this is the tenet for those that wish to have no state religion. You don't suffer the heftier penalties of the other Worship tenets, but most of the tenets in the other categories have bonuses that only apply to a state religion. So you'll miss out on those instead.

Idolatry
• Golden Age length reduced by 50%
• No access to Stone or Marble

Sacrifice
Requires Ritual
• No food stored after city growth
• Construction of Wonders sacrifices 1 population

Ceremony
Requires Astronomy
• +25% maintenance from number of cities
• -25% wealth in capital

Meditation
Requires Philosophy
• 50% slower production of Military Units
• +50% war weariness

Prayer
Requires Theology
• -50% Great Doctor emergence
• -50% Great Scientist emergence

Apostasy
• No state religion
• -2 attitude from civilizations with a state religion​

Currently I have most of this coded. Key exceptions are the aforementioned 'international' aspect of Reformations, most of the Tolerance tenets, and the tenet selection code for the AI. Once those are done, I'll need to do a bunch of testing and then I'll release a development version for everyone to try out. In the meantime, please post your thoughts and questions.

 

[Nightstar]

Looks great, I'm very much looking forward to playing with it!

 

[Alexej]

Yes this will be great, hope the great docs will stop crushing too

 

[The_Athenian]

I am so excited about this Xyth! I've been checking everyday to see if 1.22 is out yet. Your work on this is amazing, now I need to start moving my calendar around so I can block out some serious time to nerd out on some civ!

I have some comments too, but these are just nit-picky suggestions, because you have done such an amazing job on everything here:

Proselytism
I'm a little worried, that the 100% more missionaries will just lead to those religions sweeping across the globe. And i hate when the 70% of other civs are the same religion. Maybe %50 more missionaries?

Idolatry
Why do they lose access to stone & marble? It seems that the greatest practicers of Idolatry, the egyptians, built an enormous amount of stone monuments…like the pyramids. Preserve access to stone? The real issue with idolatry was that people were worshiping statues, and acting like lunatics, it was much more difficult to control them. Maybe a penalty where there is less control from distance from palace?


Question On reformation

I like the idea of adopting another Civ's state religion, and when they make changes they effects my civ as well. Though, I am a little worried that it could be quite frustrating to sacrifice a great prophet, and change my religious tenets, sit through a few turns of anarchy perhaps, and then have my neighbor do the same thing, and undo all that I have done.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

Looks amazing.

Did you look at Sevo's Faces of God mod for some inspiration? IIRC it has two different types of idolatry; big for those who want wonders and small for those who ant beautiful cities.

FoG was about running and expressing the religion your way so that two nations may have the same state religion but have differing tenets - so your reformation also worries me. Perhaps I should be able to say no to the changes and set up my own version of that religion? After all Henry VIII of England did and he was ruler for only one generation

Proselytism suggests actively spreading the religion so should it not be the only one with missionaries? The other types should have a different way to spread their religion.

 

[Xyth]

Yes this will be great, hope the great docs will stop crushing too

Relooking at this is on the top of my todo list for when the development version is out.

I am so excited about this Xyth! I've been checking everyday to see if 1.22 is out yet. Your work on this is amazing, now I need to start moving my calendar around so I can block out some serious time to nerd out on some civ!

1.22 proper is still a way away yet. Plan is to get 1.22dev2 out as soon as possible (ideally within the next 2 weeks). This will include all these new religious systems, but little else. While you guys are testing that, I'll be fixing any bugs you find but also getting all the other 1.22 changes implemented. Once that's all done, there'll be a beta version for a couple weeks, to ensure everything is balanced and stable. Then, 1.22 itself will be released.

If you're able to help with some of this testing, that would be a big help.

Proselytism
I'm a little worried, that the 100% more missionaries will just lead to those religions sweeping across the globe. And i hate when the 70% of other civs are the same religion. Maybe %50 more missionaries?

That bonus is one of the ones I'm least sure about. 50% is safer, but rounding becomes an issue (missionary and inquisitor limit scales with mapsize in 1.22). I might give it a tech requirement after all (probably Evangelism), so that it can't be used to dominate too early. Another option I'm considering is giving Proselytism the "build missionaries without monasteries" bonus, and give the Theocracy civic something else instead.

Idolatry
Why do they lose access to stone & marble? It seems that the greatest practicers of Idolatry, the egyptians, built an enormous amount of stone monuments…like the pyramids. Preserve access to stone? The real issue with idolatry was that people were worshiping statues, and acting like lunatics, it was much more difficult to control them. Maybe a penalty where there is less control from distance from palace?

It's not perfect, but my rationale is that idolatrous civilizations are using such materials (and sites where they are found) for sacred purposes and not for more mundane purposes such as construction. Mostly it's just a much more interesting mechanic than some sort of straight production penalty. Also, as Idolatry is the Worship tenet that everyone starts with it's important to have penalties that don't take immediate effect but instead reduce the benefits you may receive later.

I don't think I'd consider Idolatry to be the best tenet to define Egyptian worship either. Religion was an integral part of the Egyptian state, I think Ceremony is a much closer fit.

Question On reformation

I like the idea of adopting another Civ's state religion, and when they make changes they effects my civ as well. Though, I am a little worried that it could be quite frustrating to sacrifice a great prophet, and change my religious tenets, sit through a few turns of anarchy perhaps, and then have my neighbor do the same thing, and undo all that I have done.

Foreign reformations won't change all your tenets at once. It'll be some sort of chance per category, adjusted by how far ahead or behind in faith each player is. I also want to avoid situations where a religion is ping-ponging back and forth between the same tenets. Still figuring it all out.

Looks amazing.

Did you look at Sevo's Faces of God mod for some inspiration? IIRC it has two different types of idolatry; big for those who want wonders and small for those who ant beautiful cities.

I've not actually heard of that mod before now. I'll check it out.

FoG was about running and expressing the religion your way so that two nations may have the same state religion but have differing tenets - so your reformation also worries me. Perhaps I should be able to say no to the changes and set up my own version of that religion? After all Henry VIII of England did and he was ruler for only one generation

Isolation is the perfect tenet for this situation. I neglected to mention above that Tolerance tenets can never be changed by foreign reformations. With Isolation, none of them can be.

Proselytism suggests actively spreading the religion so should it not be the only one with missionaries? The other types should have a different way to spread their religion.

This is something I was experimenting with early on. Required a lot of extra AI manipulations though, so I abandoned it. May revisit the concept in future.

 

[dretnoth]

Meditation
Requires Philosophy
• 50% slower production of Military Units
• +50% war weariness

It look form me that this is the higest penalty from all. Probaly because i play slow, big games.
Can you meditate, again, about Meditation?

I dont thynk Templars or Samurais have both penalties.
Everything look fine, but this is look, not fiting there.

And i dislike when someone messing in my strategy.
What hapend if 10 leders whit same religion mess in tenets?
All will become ignorants?

 

[The_Athenian]

Xyth,

Looking forward to testing out the religion system when 1.22dev comes out. I think a couple weeks is perfect timing, I should have some time to really dive in then.

Your idea of moving the "build missionaries without monasteries" bonus to Proselytism is a great idea. Maybe Theocracy's bonus could be replaced with religious buildings built 50% faster.


On Idolatry, I didn't notice it was the starting tenant when I first read through. That makes a lot of sense now, since at that point our civs are really just tribes running around worshipping all kinds of weird sh*t . But that brings up another question, will all religions start with the same basic tenants?


My initial impression was that religions would begin with a set of tenants reflective of that religion's real world traits. But on re-reading this it looks like they will progress like civics, where no matter the religion you found, it starts out as primitive, hedonists, worshipping idols of fertility gods, and slowly through reformations across the globe they begin to evolve. Is that correct?

However, if I adopt a religion of another civilization, will it start with the tenants laid out by that Civ, or will I be starting from square one?

Thanks for your comprehensive response to my queries.

 

[ales_]

Some thoughts:
1) I think the religion should also influence the relationship between civs.
2) Do the players start with some tenets?

 

[Nightstar]

After mulling it over for a few days, there's two things that bother me a bit.

First, how will the flat '-# Temples required' effect of Pantheism and Ethicism work on smaller map sizes? Due to scaling, the Temple requirement at that size must be pretty low already.

Second, the randomness of the free specialists in some of the Revelation tenets makes me uneasy. The odds are high enough to tempt players to rely on it (unlike the random events that can also grant free specialists), but too low to be *actually* reliable. I think it's a mechanic likely to cause quite a bit of frustration.

 

[Xyth]

It look form me that this is the higest penalty from all. Probaly because i play slow, big games.
Can you meditate, again, about Meditation?

'-50% military unit production' might be too strong, I may go with -25% instead. Not sure yet, need to do some testing. Some worship tenets will be less appealing to some than others, depending on their preferred style of play. Remember though, they aren't fixed. You could run Meditation in times of peace, and then reform to something different when preparing for war.

I dont thynk Templars or Samurais have both penalties.
Everything look fine, but this is look, not fiting there.

Well meditation isn't the defining feature of Templar Christianity, they'd probably have Prayer. Samurai perhaps, but it's not meant to be a perfect match for every religious scenario. Remember too that this tenet refers to the entire society. It's harder to recruit and train soldiers and convince the populace that war is necessary when said populace are meditative and value peace and solemnity. That's the theme of this tenet.

And i dislike when someone messing in my strategy.

The idea is that religions aren't something that you should have complete control over. You can while you're the only civilization with it, but once it starts to spread beyond your borders it starts being influenced by other cultures. Other civilizations may adopt it and develop it in differently from it's original purpose, and sometimes some of this change filters back to other followers of the religion. This happens time and time again through history, sparking wars and schisms and reformations, between religions and even within religions. I really wanted this to be a factor in History Rewritten.

I'm very aware that too much messing with one's strategy can be frustrating, so I'm working hard to strike the right balance between control and external influence. I'm also providing the Insularity tenet for those that really don't want to have to deal with it.

What hapend if 10 leders whit same religion mess in tenets?
All will become ignorants?

I'm still working this out, but my goal is for it to be an occasional effect and not something you're constantly having to battle with.

On Idolatry, I didn't notice it was the starting tenant when I first read through. That makes a lot of sense now, since at that point our civs are really just tribes running around worshipping all kinds of weird sh*t . But that brings up another question, will all religions start with the same basic tenants?

My initial impression was that religions would begin with a set of tenants reflective of that religion's real world traits. But on re-reading this it looks like they will progress like civics, where no matter the religion you found, it starts out as primitive, hedonists, worshipping idols of fertility gods, and slowly through reformations across the globe they begin to evolve. Is that correct?

However, if I adopt a religion of another civilization, will it start with the tenants laid out by that Civ, or will I be starting from square one?

I haven't been too clear on this aspect. Here's a detailed synopsis:

• Everyone starts the game with Animism, Fertility, Hedonism, Superstition, Insularity, and Idolatry - even if no religions have been founded yet. This represents the primitive mysticism of peoples at the dawn of civilization.
  
  
• Founding a religion doesn't change your tenets. But being the first to adopt it as your state religion will.
  
  
• If you are the first player to adopt a religion as your state religion, your Divinity tenet automatically changes to the one associated with that religion. You then get what is effectively a free reformation; you can select which other tenets this religion will have (you can only choose tenets you have unlocked, of course).
  
  
• If you adopt someone else's state religion, you don't get this free reformation. Instead, you automatically adopt the same tenets that they have. If you haven't unlocked one of those tenets, you'll stick with what you already have for that category.
  
  
• If you adopt a religion that is the state religion of several civilizations, you'll adopt the tenets of the civilization with the highest faith. The Religious Advisor screen will show which tenets you'll adopt for each religion.

Only the Divinity tenet is 'fixed' for each religion, the rest can be reformed. I originally toyed with each religion having a second fixed tenet that could be from any of the other categories, e.g. Sacrifice for Teotl, Scripture for Judaism, etc. This was incompatible with tech requirements for tenets though, and made the tenets extremely difficult to balance since they all needed to be available straight away.

I still like the concept though, and will restore it if I can figure out a satisfactory way to make it work.

Some thoughts:
1) I think the religion should also influence the relationship between civs.

They will, and leader personality will have an effect on it. I'm still working out the details of this though.

2) Do the players start with some tenets?

Yes, see my response to The_Athenian above.

After mulling it over for a few days, there's two things that bother me a bit.

First, how will the flat '-# Temples required' effect of Pantheism and Ethicism work on smaller map sizes? Due to scaling, the Temple requirement at that size must be pretty low already.

I originally coded these effects with a percentage modifier, but actually found that the flat reduction provided more consistent and balanced scaling and was easier to comprehend as well. Here's how it works out:

Mapsize	  	 G. Temple	 Monastery
--------------------------------------------------
Duel: 		 4 (2)		2 (1)
Tiny:		 4 (2)		2 (1)
Small:		 5 (3)		2 (1)
Standard:	 6 (4)		3 (2)
Large:		 7 (5)		3 (2)
Huge:		 8 (6)		4 (3)
Giant:		 9 (7)		4 (3)
Massive:	10 (8)		5 (4)

The number without brackets is the normal # of temple requirement, the number in the brackets is the requirement with Pantheism or Ethicism. Percentage modifiers were too weak on small mapsizes and too strong on the large ones.

Second, the randomness of the free specialists in some of the Revelation tenets makes me uneasy. The odds are high enough to tempt players to rely on it (unlike the random events that can also grant free specialists), but too low to be *actually* reliable. I think it's a mechanic likely to cause quite a bit of frustration.

I needed a way to provide free specialists to some but not all cities, that didn't require a state religion to function (i.e., not connected to Monasteries as the other bonuses in this category already are). Randomness can be frustrating but I think it's appropriate for the realm of religious revelation. Plus, I've provided options in that category that don't rely on randomness, for those that prefer to avoid it.

 

[Nightstar]

Do you lose the free specialists if you reform to another Revelation tenet?

 

[Xyth]

Do you lose the free specialists if you reform to another Revelation tenet?

No, they remain. The free specialists in the Morality category are lost though.

 

[Nightstar]

That seems a bit prone to abuse, then. I could easily see people adopting one of the Revelation tenets, building the related building in all their cities for a chance at the free specialist, then reforming to a different Revelation tenet and doing the same thing with the building for *that* one. Rinse and repeat four times.

I'd much rather that the relevant building always grant the free specialist (even if it was built before adopting the tenet), but that they be lost upon reforming to a different tenet.

 

[platyping]

1) Free X to City with Building Y style.
Buildings can be destroyed by various means, but the free X, such as Specialist will remain.
Then it is inaccurate and highly exploitable.
I can just swap cities with a friend in MP to destroy the building and build again for another free X.

2) Same for X% chance to get free Y when Building Z built.

 

[Xyth]

That seems a bit prone to abuse, then. I could easily see people adopting one of the Revelation tenets, building the related building in all their cities for a chance at the free specialist, then reforming to a different Revelation tenet and doing the same thing with the building for *that* one. Rinse and repeat four times.

You can do that, but it's a fair bit of coordination, and a lot of Great Prophets. Given there are 4 such civics, 25% chance for each type, statistically you're looking at 1 free specialist per city, unevenly distributed with no control over which type goes in which city. Whole process has to be repeated for any new cities you found or capture (assuming the relevant buildings aren't already present). I don't think this is too strong, or even worth the effort in some games.

I'd much rather that the relevant building always grant the free specialist (even if it was built before adopting the tenet), but that they be lost upon reforming to a different tenet.

This doesn't work with foreign reformations. Your Revelation tenet is changed and - boom! - all your free specialists are gone with no way to get them back. Even if there were no foreign reformations, being able to have a free specialist of the type you want in every city is a stronger bonus than appropriate for these tenets.

 

[Xyth]

1) Free X to City with Building Y style.
Buildings can be destroyed by various means, but the free X, such as Specialist will remain.
Then it is inaccurate and highly exploitable.
I can just swap cities with a friend in MP to destroy the building and build again for another free X.

2) Same for X% chance to get free Y when Building Z built.

I'm going to disable the default chance buildings have to be destroyed on conquest or being nuked, and implement my own system. Will solve a bunch of problems like this. Won't apply to destruction from events, but that's okay. They're not exploitable and you can consider it a chance at a consolation prize when bad stuff happens.

 

[platyping]

Spies can still destroy buildings.
And I would be pretty happy if a volcanic eruption destroy my buildings which granted free specialists. Doesn't that make bad events become good events?

 

[Nightstar]

You can do that, but it's a fair bit of coordination, and a lot of Great Prophets. Given there are 4 such civics, 25% chance for each type, statistically you're looking at 1 free specialist per city, unevenly distributed with no control over which type goes in which city. Whole process has to be repeated for any new cities you found or capture (assuming the relevant buildings aren't already present). I don't think this is too strong, or even worth the effort in some games.

Well, this might just be my OCD talking, but this system would definitely make me feel forced to *not* build the relevant buildings unless I was under the appropriate tenet.

This doesn't work with foreign reformations. Your Revelation tenet is changed and - boom! - all your free specialists are gone with no way to get them back. Even if there were no foreign reformations, being able to have a free specialist of the type you want in every city is a stronger bonus than appropriate for these tenets.

That would be part of the point of also having them for previously built buildings. Reform back to your previous Revelation tenet and they'd come right back again.

And I can also easily envision situations where foreign reformation will be *intensely* frustrating even under the system as you have it now. Like an AI reforming you from Rationalism to Occultism just *after* you've finished building Clinics in most or all of your cities and are in the middle of mass building Schools...

 

[The_Athenian]

Originally Posted by Nightstar
And I can also easily envision situations where foreign reformation will be *intensely* frustrating even under the system as you have it now. Like an AI reforming you from Rationalism to Occultism just *after* you've finished building Clinics in most or all of your cities and are in the middle of mass building Schools...

Well isn't that the fun and realistic part, when you think about it. You know you're the leader of some nation, you don't have absolute control of your people's religious beliefs.

So it's completely reasonable that one day all the religious nuts in your society start getting out of control because of some religious occurrence in some other part of the world. Some one named Martin Luther or Jesus shows up in a neighboring nation and boom you have a serious situation on your hands. It's kind of intense and awesome.

You may have to have change to a new religion, found a new system, adopt an insular policy, or just start an inquisition and start murdering off all the believers.

Reformations will not be as frequent as government changes can be...
My understanding is that reformations are not like revolutions, they only happen with a great prophet, and another civ's reformation will only affect one of your tenants if you happen to have that tech AND if that civ has much stronger faith than you.

(Xyth,
maybe theocracy could have a faith bonus, or an reduction of the chance of a foreign reformation effecting your religion. Because in a theocracy, a leader has much greater control over how and what his people worship.)