Over the course of history, no perfect method of governing a state has been found. As your tribe grows, you must decide how to rule and which gods to follow. Government shapes your strategy; faith unites your people. But remember: both crown and altar can be overthrown when times demand change.
Put all of your action cubes (one at least) on the city area - it is your last turn this round. Perform one out of three possible actions:
Choose one of three governments: AUTOCRACY, DEMOCRACY or THEOCRACY. Place this government card face up in your player zone.
Choose one of four religions: CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM, BUDDHISM or PAGANISM. Place one token of the chosen religion on your starting province, and another one - on your government card. This establishes your first religious community
Religious Community: A religious community encompasses an entire province that follows a particular religion. Each community you control provides
Glory and tithe during the achievement phase.
Discard all the experience cubes from the card of your old government and get
for each cube discarded. Take this card back to your hand. Instead, place the new government card to your player zone.
Discard the religion token from your government card, along with all faith cubes on it, and all religion tokens from your starting province. Place tokens of your new religion on your government card and in your starting province.
All Tokens Discarded: If your starting province contains religion tokens of other players, remove them as well.
No Auto-Conversion: Other provinces under the influence of your old religion are not converted, but you can spread your new religion to those provinces again on your next turns.
Multiple players may follow the same religion. When this happens, control of each religious community is determined by:
- Recent spread: Player with their action cube on the religion token (spread this round)
- Province control: Player who controls the province
- Spiritual Leader: Player with most Glory among those sharing this religion (ties maintain previous control)
Becoming Spiritual Leader: If you choose a religion already followed by another player and have more Glory, you immediately become the new Spiritual Leader and gain control of all religious communities not covered by rules 1 or 2 above.