Pagan denominations
Animist[edit | edit source]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.31. |

In the game Animist religion is as a label for a wide range of beliefs from South America to Africa or Indonesia.
All Animist nations receive:
All Animist provinces receive
+2% Local missionary strength[1]
Fetishist[edit | edit source]
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In the game most of Africa is classified as Fetishist.
All Fetishist nations receive:
All Fetishist provinces receive:
+2% Local missionary strength [1]
Cults[edit | edit source]
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Available only with the Rights of Man DLC enabled. |
Fetishist nations each choose a cult to follow every time a new ruler takes charge of the nation. The cult provides unique bonus modifiers and events until the ruler dies. Each fetishist nation starts the game with three cults available to them, the exact options depend on the nation's starting location. Additional cults beyond the initial three are unlocked via:
- battling nations of other religions or fetishist countries which have unlocked that cult
- bordering and allying nations of other religions
- bordering Fetishist nations which are following a cult (not for cults of other religions)
- owning a province of a different religion
All but the first option happens through events which have an MTTH of 36 months.
Note that the estate Embrace Singular Cult estate privilege, if granted, will appoint a primary cult, increasing the power of cult bonuses. This will stop your rulers from causing stability loss upon their deaths, but with this privilege, you can only change cults via a decision that can be taken once every 50 years which also causes a stability hit. Alternatively, the Flexible Cults privilege lets a nation change a cult more than once in a lifespan of a ruler, every 20 years, at the cost of 25 legitimacy.
The player will want to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of having flexible cults over those of being mostly locked into a more powerful one.
The available cults and their bonuses are:
- Fetishist (Madagascar) =
Sakalava,
Imerina,
Betsimisaraka,
Mahafaly
- Fetishist (Southern Africa) =
Loango,
Kongo,
Luba,
Buha,
Mutapa,
Maravi, etc.
- Fetishist (Western Africa) =
Mossi,
Oyo,
Benin,
Kano,
Zazzau, etc.
Totemist[edit | edit source]
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it with: new ancestors mechanics (1.31). |
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.31. |

In the game Totemism is the state religion of all North American Native states and it is present in most of the North American continent.
All Totemist nations receive:
All Totemist provinces receive:
+2% Local missionary strength[1]
With the Leviathan DLC, Totemist nations may add previous rulers, whether they died or were voted out, to their collection of totems. On being appointed, each new Totemist ruler gains only one (1) personality trait unlike other nations that generally gain three (3) over time. Luckily, this deficit of having only one trait is offset by:
- doubling the effect (the "level bonus") of that trait, with some material exceptions relative to other non-Totemist nations as seen in the tables below and
- the fact that Totemist rulers only receive positive traits.
Once the ruler becomes an ancestor, the nation can make that ruler's personality trait a permanent feature of the religion using the Religion interface tab. There are ten (10) ancestor slots and adding one costs a base of 400 Diplomatic points and can not be undone. Although ruler's may frequently share the same trait, the ancestor slots can only have one type of each bonus; no duplicates are allowed.
The permanent nature of these ancestor modifiers could make Totemist a powerful religion. However, it is fairly RNG dependent based on two main factors:
- Depending on a ruler's lifespan, it could take hundreds of years to fill all in the slots. This can be mitigated by making each ruler a general and always having them lead a battle or siege forts which may reduce their longevity, or through abdication if the nation no longer has native council government. Note that all ruler deaths still cause stability losses, whether they die in battle or not.
- Totemist rulers gain only a positive trait, yet there are nearly 30 positive traits in-game and rulers are very likely to share the same trait over the course of gameplay.
For balancing reasons, the effects of some traits are not doubled relative to other nation's ruler traits. The tables below compare the final bonus effects for Totemist nations vs other nations. Note that as of the 1.32 patch it "stopped Totemist tribe Chiefs from getting level two personality bonuses", making it equal to other nations.
Common trait bonuses that double (or are at least higher)
Trait bonuses that are the same as (or similar to) other nations
Tengri[edit | edit source]

In the game this religion covers a wide variety of Siberian and Manchurian Shamanism practiced by the states that start in North Asia.
By default, all Tengri nations receive:
Secondary religion[edit | edit source]
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Available only with the The Cossacks DLC enabled. |
Tengri is a syncretic faith; a Tengri nation can pick a secondary religion through the Religion screen. Without a secondary religion selected, the above bonuses apply; but selecting one will replace them with new ones associated with the selected religion. A religion is eligible for selection if the country either owns or borders a province of that religion. Changing secondary religion costs 50 Prestige and can be done once every 10 years.
Choosing a secondary religion will have the following effects:
- The provinces that are Tengri and the secondary religion will be counted as the true faith for purposes of tolerance.
- Neighbouring countries that are either Tengri or the secondary religion will see the country as having the same religion (Same Religion +25)
- Countries that are not Tengri or the second religion will see the country as a different religion (Different Religion −10)
- Access to secondary religion monuments
The available secondary religions and their bonuses are:
Christian religions
Muslim religions
Eastern religions
Dharmic religions
Pagan religions
Jewish religions
Zoroastrian religions
Note: If you use the Converter, you will be able to use other religions as your secondary one.
Mesoamerican and South American religions[edit | edit source]
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Available only with the El Dorado DLC enabled. |
(Without DLC these religions still exist, but have no unique mechanics.)
The Mayan, Inti and Nahuatl religions each have a mechanic to reach five religious reforms. When the last reform is passed and the country borders a province that is a core of a non-primitive nation that has embraced Feudalism (typically a bordering colonial nation but could also be an animist nation), it will be able to reform its religion, getting a technology boost (which brings it up to 80% of the neighboring nation’s technology level in each category) and gaining the permanent benefit of the religious reforms. Reforming the religion immediately grants all the
institutions that the bordering province had. You also adopt the government type of the neighbour, and become a
duchy.
Note it's best that the neighbor has passed at least its first government reform - hence a Tier 2 reform: For example, a Mayan Ryuku could reform to a Steppe Nomad. Also, for others to become Mayan, Inti or Nahuatl, they must be of pagan belief - say Animist - and then get a 100% positive war score against say the Mayans. During the settlement arrangement they must "surrender" rather than demanding from them and "offer" to embrace their religion; the Mayans will be forced to accept. However, in each of these cases your total province war score must be less than 100%; therefore give some land to your vassals before you enter the war.
Inti[edit | edit source]

In the game most of the Andes start out with the Inti religion.
The Inti faith is about maintaining the authority of the Sapa Inca by having the people worship him as a God. Inti nations have an authority value that goes up from owning vast stretches of territory, and goes down when the autonomy of a province the country owns increases (either from manually increasing it, being forced to by rebels, or choosing to do so in an event). Authority ranges between 0 and 100. It is also affected by a number of unique events added for the Inti religion.
All Inti countries also receive:
All Inti provinces receive:
+2% Local missionary strength[1]
Each point of authority gives:[2]
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−0.1% | Stability cost modifier |
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−0.02 | National unrest |
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+0.15% | Clergy influence |
Authority is gained and lost as follows:
- Yearly authority: +0.02 * total development
- Authority from autonomy: −0.2 or +0.2 per point of autonomy raised or lowered respectively
The standard action of raising autonomy in a province will raise autonomy by 25 and will give −5 authority, while lowering autonomy by 25 will give +5 authority.
An Inti state that has 100 authority, is at peace, has positive stability, no rebel-controlled provinces, and owns at least 10
provinces can pass a religious reform, but doing so will remove all their authority and spark a civil war as a pretender exploits the loss of authority to attempt to seize the throne for themselves. After all, every reformer is challenged if they go too far. If these rebels enforce their demands, two religious reforms are lost, greatly setting back the country's progress towards reforming the religion.
Upon reforming the religion, the bonuses from authority (the stability cost and national unrest reduction) will be lost, so it does not matter what level authority is at before reforming the religion. The reform bonuses listed below will remain for the rest of the game, however.
The available reforms are:
- Organized Recruitment:
+10% Manpower recovery speed
- Yana Lords:
+10% Morale of armies
- Reform the Cult of Inti:
+0.5 Yearly legitimacy,
+0.5 Yearly devotion
- Expanded Mitma Policy:
+1 Colonists (provinces adjacent to colonies are auto explored)
- Reform the Bureaucracy:
−10% Core creation cost
When the last reform is passed and the country borders a nation that has embraced Feudalism, it will be able to reform the religion, getting 80% of the neighbor's tech level, all institutions that the neighbor has embraced, and gaining the permanent benefit of the religious reforms.
After reforming the religion, the player's monarch power cap will be reduced in accordance with the number of institutions gained, e.g. if the player has gained all institutions currently available, the cap will be reduced to 999 for each type of monarch power. Excess monarch points above the new monarch power cap will not be lost immediately, but they may be lost after the first expenditure of monarch points of each type.
For example: suppose that a player has stockpiled 2000 admin power, and spends 500 admin power to research a new technology immediately after reforming their religion. The player's admin power stockpile may immediately drop to the new monarch power cap (999 if the player has acquired all institutions), resulting in the loss of several hundred monarch points. This behavior applies individually to each type of monarch power. The new cap will be applied to the admin power stockpile after the first expenditure of admin power, but the diplomatic & military monarch power stockpiles will be unaffected until points of those type have been spent.
Reforming the religion will also remove restrictions on gold production, which will substantially increase the player's income immediately after reform.
Mayan[edit | edit source]

In the game the Yucatan Peninsula and the former lands of the League of Mayapan starts out with Mayan religion.
For a Mayan nation to pass a reform, they will need to be at peace, have no rebel-controlled provinces, no overextension, positive
stability, and own at least 20
provinces.
All Mayan countries also receive:
All Mayan provinces receive:
+2% Local missionary strength[1]
Upon passing a reform, a Maya state will lose cores by releasing nations or giving provinces to existing nations and lose all subjects, shrinking to a size of 15 provinces + 1 provinces per already passed reform. Exact provinces released are determined by culture, religion and distance to capital. When the last reform is passed and the country borders a nation that has embraced Feudalism, it will be able to reform the religion, getting 80% of the neighbor's tech level, all institutions that the neighbor has embraced while keeping the benefits of the religious reforms.
Typically this means a bordering colonial power, but could also be any country which embraced Feudalism after it was developed in a province.
Note that when converting from an advanced nation to a primitive one (by force-converting on yourself as an animist nation in a 100% peace offer) be sure to have saved up a large war chest before converting since primitive economies suffer many penalties. This means you will suffer large revenue losses during your reform campaign until the final reform is done and you become advanced again. Also, during this phase you will have a limited access to ships and sailors. So each time a ship is at sea it will reduce the existing pool of sailors which only replenishment by 5 per month meaning that you should only engage in few or easy navy battles or risk losing your fleet (since without sailors the ship damage cannot be repaired). This threat is only remedied once the religion is reformed.
Available reforms are:
- A Unified Army:
−10% Land maintenance modifier
- Central Arbitration:
−2 National unrest
- Central Armories:
+10% Infantry combat ability
- Tribal Expansion:
+1 Colonists (provinces adjacent to colonies are auto explored)
- Reform the Bureaucracy:
−20% Core creation cost
Nahuatl[edit | edit source]

In the game most of the area around modern central Mexico starts out with Nahuatl religion.
Each Nahuatl state has a ticking Doom value that increases every year at a base rate of one Doom per owned province. High Doom increases technology costs and idea costs and should the value ever reach 100 the Nahuatl state will be forced into taking drastic measures to avert Doomsday. The ruling family will be sacrificed, killing the ruling monarch and heir and replacing them with a 0/0/0 ruler. In addition, all of the country's monarch power is lost and any and all subject states break away as the nation descends into chaos. As if that wasn’t enough, if the doomed state has gained any religious reforms, up to two of these will be lost. Therefore, do not let Doom get to a 100% or your hard won reforms will be lost; keep very few, high development provinces until you pass the 5th and final reform.
All Nahuatl countries also receive:
All Nahuatl provinces receive:
+2% Local missionary strength[1]
Each point in Doom gives:[3]
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+0.5% | Technology cost |
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+0.2% | Idea cost |
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−1.0% | Aggressive expansion impact |
To avert Doomsday, Nahuatl states have a few options. The ‘Flower Wars’ Casus Belli gives them the ability to declare war on their neighbours freely while occupying provinces and fighting battles will result in Doom being reduced as they secure captives to send to the gods. If just warring with neighbours isn’t sufficient, a Nahuatl state can also sacrifice ruling monarchs and adult heirs in their vassal states. Doing so will reduce Doom by an amount equal to the total skills of that monarch or heir, but will anger all subject states and make them more likely to seek independence. There is a 3-year cooldown before you can sacrifice another ruler/heir from any country. Nahuatl can declare war during regency.
Doom is gained and lost as follows:
- Yearly doom increase: +1 per province owned
- Yearly doom reduction: −20% per reform passed
- Immediate doom decrease from occupying a province: −0.05 per province development
- Immediate doom decrease from battle: −1 per 1000 men killed
- Immediate doom decrease from sacrifice: −1 per skill level of character sacrificed
Additionally, doom does not increase for subject countries.
For the country to get out of this cycle of war and sacrifice, it will need to reform the religion. Enacting a reform requires having at least 5 vassal states, no rebel-controlled provinces, positive stability, and less than 50 Doom. When enacted, Doom will increase by 25,
stability drops by 1, and all of your subject states will declare independence (which creates a one-way truce), forcing the country to go to war to bring them back into the fold (due to a bug in versions 1.28 and 1.29, not all subjects will declare independence). Furthermore, each reform decreases the rate at which the country accumulates Doom by 20% from the base rate. Enacting all five reforms effectively stops Doom from increasing every year, although it can still increase through special events.
Available reforms are:
- Open up Sumptuary Restrictions:
−0.05 Monthly war exhaustion
- Extend Pochteca Obligations:
+1 Diplomatic relations
- Warrior Ranks:
+5% Discipline
- Tribal Expansion:
+1 Colonists (provinces adjacent to colonies are auto explored)
- Legal Reform:
−20% Stability cost modifier
Once the country has passed all five reforms, the religion can be reformed as soon as the country borders a non-primitive nation that has embraced Feudalism. Typically this means a bordering colonial power, but could also be an animist nation which has developed the institution and embraced it. Reforming the religion brings the country up to 80% of that nation's technology level and it also permanently disables the Doom mechanic. (This means that whenever a trigger, such as an event's conditions, asks whether the country has doom, a reformed Nahuatl country does not.)
When converting from an advanced nation to a primitive one (by force-converting on yourself as an animist nation in a 100% peace offer) be sure to have saved up a large war chest before converting since primitive economies suffer many penalties. This means you will suffer large revenue losses during your reform campaign until the final reform is done and you become advanced again. Also, during this phase you will have no access to ships or sailors. So each time a ship is at sea it will reduce the existing pool of sailors without replenishment meaning that you should only engage in few or easy navy battles or risk losing your fleet (since without sailors the ship damage cannot be repaired). This threat is only remedied once the religion is reformed.
Norse[edit | edit source]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.23. |

By 1444 the Norse religion was long gone and exists in no provinces or countries.
There are normally no Norse provinces or countries in any game start, although a Norse state can appear in a Random New World if "fantasy" elements are enabled. With the Nation Designer it is possible to make a custom Norse nation, and it is possible to import Germanic religion countries from Crusader Kings II using that game's Europa Universalis IV Save Converter DLC. They have no specific decisions or events.
All Norse countries also receive:
All Norse provinces receive:
+2% Local missionary strength[1]
With the Wealth of Nations DLC enabled, Norse rulers are allowed to pick their deity through the religion screen. This choice lasts for the life of the ruler or until an event changes it. A Norse republic chooses a new deity every time a new leader is elected (4–8 years depending on republic type and choice). Such countries can rapidly change their stats to adjust to game circumstances.
Each deity comes with two to three bonuses to the nation:
Alcheringa[edit | edit source]
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.31. |
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it with: further informations (1.31). |

All Alcheringa nations receive:
Cults[edit | edit source]
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Available only with the Rights of Man DLC enabled. |
Like Fetishism, Alcheringa nations each choose a cult (story) to follow every time a new ruler takes charge of the nation. The cult provides unique bonus modifiers and events until the ruler dies. Each Alcheringa nation starts the game with three cults available to them: the Ancestors, Erathipa and Crow ( Palawa also starts with Moinee and Adnoartina). Additional cults beyond the initial three are unlocked by completing various missions unique to nations following the Alcheringa religion, and bordering nations of different religions. [4]
The available cults and their bonuses are:[5]
Cult | Bonus | Requirements to unlock |
---|---|---|
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Available by default. |
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Requires owning a province in the Christian religion group. | |
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Requires owning the North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and Makassar areas. | |
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Available by default. | |
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Requires owning a province that is either Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana or in the Dharmic religion group. | |
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Requires reaching 90% of the navy force limit. | |
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Available by default. | |
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Requires being the strongest trade power in Australia while holding more than 25% of the trade power in the node. | |
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Requires humiliating a rival. | |
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Requires owning all provinces in the Tasmania area. |
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Requires unlocking all other cults. | |
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Requires owning a province with a different religion. | |
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Requires being the Emperor of China or owning a province in the China superregion following the Alcheringa religion or being ![]() |
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 This means that these provinces are easier to convert.
- ↑ See in /Europa Universalis IV/common/static_modifiers/00_static_modifiers.txt (Static modifiers#Authority).
- ↑ See in /Europa Universalis IV/common/static_modifiers/00_static_modifiers.txt (Static modifiers#Doom).
- ↑ Note: The ingame description as of 1.31.1 is erroneously the same as for fetishist.
- ↑ These can be found in /Europa Universalis IV/common/fetishist_cults/00_dreaming_stories.txt
Concepts | Corruption • Governing capacity • Overextension • Power projection • Rebellion • Regions • Stability • States and territories |
Court | Advisors • Consort • Monarch power • National focus • Ruler • Ruler personalities |
Estates and Factions | Base estates • Cossacks estates • Dharma estates • Estates • Factions |
Events and Missions | Decisions • Disasters • Events • List of decisions • Missions |
Goverment | Absolutism • Culture • Government • Government rank • Modifiers • Policies |
Province mechanics | Autonomy • Buildings • Canal • Capital • Core • Province |
Religions | Christian denominations • Eastern denominations • Muslim denominations • Other denominations • Pagan denominations • Religion |
Specific governments | Native council • Parliament • Steppe hordes |
Colonisation | Exploration • Colonisation • Colonial nation • Tariffs • Trade company |
Economy | Debase currency • Development • Economy • Privateering • Production • Raid coasts • Tax |
Trade | Trade • Trade company • Trade goods • Trade nodes |
Diplomacy | Diplomacy • Diplomatic feedback • Envoy • Espionage |
Other | Defender of the Faith • Great power • Hegemon • Prestige • Regions |
Political structures | Emperor of China • Holy Roman Empire • Papacy |
Relations | Personal union • Relations • Subject nation |
Ideas and Policies | Idea groups • National ideas • Policies |
Ages and Institutions | Ages • Institutions |
Innovativeness and Technology | Innovativeness • Technology |
Declaring war | Alliance • Casus belli • Claim • Peace • War exhaustion • Warfare |
Defense | Fort • Zone of control |
Land warfare | Army • Condottieri • Discipline • Drilling • Land units • Land warfare • Manpower • Militarisation • Mercenaries • Professionalism |
Naval warfare | Flagship • Naval blockade • Naval doctrine • Naval units • Naval warfare • Navy • Sailors |
Other | Force limit • Military leader • Military tradition |