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CARDINAL
When Emperor Polithos took the throne in 76 LC, one of the first changes he made was to streamline the administrative structure of the Order of Omicron, removing certain powers and privileges from the original three colleges of Sephis I's making, and concentrating authority within a newly formed College of Cardinals.
Intended primarily as a means for better manipulating the politics of the Order of Omicron, the representatives of that body, the cardinals, were to be elected from the differing colleges. The cardinals would then have the power to institute broad administrative changes, where necessary, to the Order of Omicron, with the Holy Father exercising a veto on all relevant proceedings. Cardinals also had the power to elect a new Holy Father only from among themselves, though this was generally exercised on the death of a current one.
Over successive generations since, the concentration of authority within the ranks of the cardinals made them a constant target for bribery and corrupt practice, as richer noble houses and kingdoms within the Corianth Empire attempted to coerce at least elements towards favouring their own interests.
During the reforms of Wrenis in 522 LC, however, the College of Cardinals was irrevocably disbanded, along with the position of Holy Father, all according to the Infallibility clause introduced by the Holy Father Gallinios II during the fifth century.
Already rife with factional politics, the disintegration of the power structures within the Order of Omicron left the three original colleges general at odds with each other, not least on doctrinal and administrative concerns, and these disputes quickly became violent, leading to a significant number of assassinations, not least of the cardinals.
In fact, of the original 108 cardinals from the days of Wrenis, only three are known to be still alive in 541 LC: Caridinal Arasimos and Cardinal Montforth, both of whom have been disenfranchised of all office and authority due to serious injury; and the last Cardinal Pontiphas, who although supposedly under the protection of his adoptive son, Lord Rynell, has not been seem for five years and is now generally believed to have been murdered. |
