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COLLEGE OF CARDINALS
Supplementary college established by Emperor Polithos in 76 LC to concentrate all of the power of the Order of Omicron into a more easily controllable centre. Revoking the rights of the original three colleges founded under the auspices of Sephis I, Polithos denied them their right to cast individual votes for deciding successive Holy Fathers.
Originally, twenty men were chosen for twenty seats, each man being designated the title of cardinal, with the Cardinal Pontiphas serving as chairman and supreme authority over the others in times of dispute, though for the most part the Cardinal Pontiphas was expected to work with his colleagues, where applicable.
The cardinals themselves had no jurisdiction outside of their college, but were empowered to not only solely elect Holy Fathers among themselves, but to also decide upon who should lead each of the original three colleges.
Eventually the College of Cardinals came to number one hundred and eight seats, twenty-four of which were resident cardinals, with the rest each having jurisdiction over the Order of Omicron within other kingdoms.
However, in 522 LC a man named Wrenis was forced upon an internally weakened Order of Omicron by his father, Emperor Armon III, to be their new Holy Father. Tired of his duties and the bickering rivalry that had developed between colleges, Wrenis dissolved not only the position of Holy Father, but of the College of Cardinals itself. The Order of Omicron was sent into an empire wide panic as they found themselves lacking any focus for leadership, the three colleges cast adrift to survive by themselves within the surviving framework of the Order of Omicron.
What made this change worse was the fact that in wrecking this havoc, Wrenis invoked the doctrinal clause of the infallibility of a Holy Father, originally billed by one Gallinios II. Therefore, in legal terms, only another Holy Father or God himself has the power to overcome this barrier, Wrenis' actions being forced to be accepted as God's Will. Therefore, until anyone attempts to claim such astonishing authority, the colleges of the Order of Omicron are more content to simply survive for the moment, currently under the allied leadership of Lord Rynell and the High Priest, Bishop Siyat. |
