Having some sort of a running gag in that game I keep wanting to finish... Well, I say running gag but I'm don't really find it that funny...
My current Emperor, Thibault III, is rival with the current Pope, Leo IV. Don't really know the reason why. Anyway, this kinda sucked but I thought "meh, not going to be too much trouble".
And then Leo IV excommunicated Thibault III. This was the beginning of the insanity.
The first thing to note is that I absolutely don't know where this excommunication came from: aside from being a drunkard, Thibault III doesn't really have a negative trait. Hell, he might have five of the seven virtues! Not to mention I keep promoting Catholicism when I get the chance...
Still, since Excommunication can actually be pretty dangerous, I immediately issue a decleration of repentance. Pope Leo IV basically asked Emperor Thibault III to humiliate himself before him, and that's what I did. Felt unhappy but I thought the case was closed.
Until a few months later, when Thibault III gets excommunicated again. And this time, when I issue a declaration of repentence, Leo IV ask for abdication... Fuck that.
Now this pissed me so much that I basically declared War on the Pope for Spoleto, which was his last possession in Italy... Never actually warred with him before, but my vassals were more than happy to go after the counties that make the Papal State. And given how many troops I could raise, Pope or Not, Leo IV got his ass kicked something fierce and lost the last of his lands.
Naturally, after that I didn't really expect my excommunication to be lifted easily. Everytime I issued a declaration of independance, Leo IV would simply ask for Thibault III to abdicate because "his sins are too many"... Which makes me furious because the only flaw my character has is being a dunkard. Not to mention that he's the member of a monastic society and keeps donating money when asked for... Hell, I've also built and improved hospitals!
The worst part though? I managed to lift Thibault III's excommunication TWICE after that part. The first after I managed to get Leo IV to ask for Thibault III to humiliate himself rather than abdicate the throne... The second after I agreed to help the conversion of a pagan ruler. But what happened? A few weeks later, Thibault III was excommunicated yet again!
What makes this incredibly funny is that this excommunication hasn't impacted me negatively in the slightest... Probably has to with the fact I'm bloody powerful militarily, but as far as I've checked Thibault III is also extremly popular with the people around him: I rarely see people with a negative opinion about him. So it really feels as if Leo IV excommunicated him for petty reasons... Hell, even the abdication arguably wouldn't be a problem since I have adult sons to take my successions. But I'm just too stubborn to accept Thibault III renouncing his birthright.
The kicker? At one point Pope Leo IV managed to get the Emperor of Kanem-Bornu (who was Catholic despite Kanem-Bornu having converted to Orthodoxy for a while...) to attack me in a bid to restore the Papal States. And what happened? The fucking Knights Templars and Knights of Malta joined Thibault III's cause because they felt it was "righteous"! The pope sucks so much even his very own Holy Orders go against him!
Anyway, at the rate this is going, I'm expecting two things to happen... Either Emperor Thibault III is going to die (he's now in his 50s) while still being excommunicated or once Pope Leo IV kicks the buckett (dude is 73 right now and doens't look like he wants to die), the next Pope isn't going to give me that much trouble lifting Thibault III's excommunication if he asks...
On one hand I want to laugh because my character is excommunicated simply for the reason the pope doesn't like his face, but on the other I find that incredibly unfair and so does the rest of the world in-game...