Papal States Guide: Breaking Free of the Avignon Captivity
Like our Poland guide, this page is upfront about a real limitation: the wiki’s Papal States entry has no strategy content, just an empty template. Unlike Poland, though, the situation the game hands you is richly documented in its own startup narrative — which turns out to be enough to build a genuinely useful page around, even without tested strategic doctrine yet.
The crisis you’re actually inheriting
The game’s own framing, transcribed from the startup text: since the Donation of Pepin, the Papal States existed to govern and aid the faithful under the Pope’s leadership. But the death of Pope Boniface VIII forced the papal court to relocate to the exclave of Avignon, where it fell under the influence of King Philippe IV of France. Meanwhile, the Papacy’s holdings back in Italy became dominated by squabbling noble families. The game states the central question outright: will the Pope become a puppet of the temporal power of France, or break free and claim the authority the Church is meant to hold?
That is not scene-setting. It’s the campaign brief.
What you actually start with
Structurally, the documented position is a real asset wrapped in a real problem. You control twenty locations, nine of them urban — a genuinely strong potential economic base by the standards our buildings and economy guides describe, since urban locations generally carry denser building capacity. But your capital sits in Avignon, an exclave, disconnected from that Italian core, and the wiki is explicit that this significantly reduces your proximity — the exact mechanic our control guide covers, where distance from capital and governors directly caps how much of your own territory you can effectively administer.
You lead the Guelphs international organization, inside the Guelphs and Ghibellines situation — the game’s mechanical treatment of the historical Papal-versus-Imperial factional conflict in Italy. You also start with one vassal, Faenza.
The open strategic questions
Here’s where we’re honest about the gap. The documented situation raises several obvious strategic questions that we don’t yet have tested answers for:
- Does the France relationship actually constrain you mechanically, or is “under the influence of Philippe IV” primarily narrative framing that a capable player can ignore? We don’t know yet.
- Is moving the capital back to Italy viable or advisable, given what our economy guide says about capital relocation costs, and would it meaningfully fix the proximity problem the wiki flags?
- What does leading the Guelphs organization actually do in practical, mechanical terms, and what does “winning” the Guelphs and Ghibellines situation look like?
- Is Faenza worth integrating early, or does it serve better as a buffer while you deal with the bigger Avignon problem first?
We’d rather list these clearly as open questions than invent confident answers we haven’t seen tested. If you’ve played current-patch Papal States and have real answers, this is exactly the page we’d want to update.
Common questions, honestly answered
| Question | What we know | What we don’t |
|---|---|---|
| Is France actually controlling me? | Narrative says “under the influence of” | No confirmed mechanical constraint documented |
| Should I move my capital to Italy? | Avignon causes documented proximity loss | No tested cost-benefit for relocating |
| What does the Guelphs situation actually do? | You lead it; historical framing given | No mechanics or victory-condition breakdown yet |
| Keep or integrate Faenza? | General integration-cost mechanics apply | No Papal-specific guidance |
Sources checked
The startup narrative, location count, urban/rural split, and starting diplomatic situation (Guelphs leadership, Faenza vassal) are transcribed directly from the wiki. No strategy content exists on the source page, and we have no independent community source for the Papal States yet — this page will be substantially expanded the moment tested strategic guidance becomes available, following the same policy as our Poland guide.
Frequently asked
Why is my capital so disconnected from my own country?
It's not a bug — it's the whole starting premise. Your capital, Avignon, is an exclave, separate from the twenty Italian locations that make up the bulk of the Papal States, and that separation is documented as significantly reducing your proximity and therefore your effective control over your own Italian core. See our control guide for what low proximity actually costs you in practice.
Am I actually controlled by France at the start?
The startup narrative frames it as influence, not direct subjugation — the Papacy 'fell under the influence' of Philippe IV after relocating to Avignon. Whether that cashes out as a hard diplomatic constraint or a soft narrative framing is exactly the kind of detail we don't have tested strategic guidance on yet. Treat 'break free of France' as the game's stated goal for you, without an established playbook for achieving it.
What is the Guelphs and Ghibellines situation?
You start as leader of the Guelphs international organization, inside a situation named for the historical real-world conflict between Papal (Guelph) and Imperial (Ghibelline) factions in Italy. We have the wiki's confirmation that this situation exists and that you lead one side of it, but not yet a breakdown of its specific mechanics or victory conditions — that's a gap to fill as we get more data.
Is 9 urban locations out of 20 actually good?
Structurally, yes — a high urban share is real economic potential per our buildings and economy guides, since urban locations generally support denser building slots and higher-tier production. The wiki explicitly frames this as your core strength, immediately followed by the caveat that low proximity from the Avignon exclave undercuts it. The tension between 'strong economic base' and 'can't fully reach it' is the campaign in miniature.
What do I do with Faenza, my starting vassal?
No Papal-specific guidance exists yet. Generally, a single small vassal near your Italian core is the kind of asset our culture-and-integration guide's cost formula can evaluate directly once you know its urbanization and your integration-speed investments — worth checking before deciding whether to integrate it or leave it as a buffer.
Sources checked
DATA GAP: like Poland, the wiki's Papal States page carries only an empty strategy stub, and we have no independent community source for this nation yet. The startup narrative, location count, and starting situation details below are wiki-verified. The strategic framing is our own analysis of the documented situation, explicitly not tested community doctrine — flagged throughout rather than presented as consensus.