THE PAPAL STATES: 2045-2076
2045-2073.
In 2042, the Papal States began the construction of The Hexagon - a project that required huge ammount of private investments which ZeoSet contributed by 75% for the requested budget. The project consisted of lifting a portion of the city of Rome, thus creating a new municipality on top of a hexagonal pillar three hundred meters high. The project was ultimated in 2045. ZeoSet legally owned The Hexagon, and the state in the prior years held no jurisdiction (although it kept pressing its claim). As for the AAA corporations and a few other companies, ZeoSet made sure they couldn't set up their branches on The Hexagon.
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Between 2045 and 2074, the corporate laws overshadowed the Vatican's because half of the cardinals had close relationship with the AAAs and the European A-rated companies, and put their interests in mind before the Church's.
Back then, the Vatican's biggest party "The Cross" was divided into two different movements. The Conservative who wanted to purge all metahumans, infidels and all who practiced magic. In addition The Conservative expressed the wish to abrogate the law that allowed women to be appointed as priests (Pope John XXV's biggest achievement back in 2042). On the other hand, the opposing faction - The Enlightened - wanted to accept magic and metahumans as part of the Sixth World.
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Until 2069, the corporate parties only engaged in political disputes that never turned violent. From the outside, it would have seemed that way, but in the same year, every AAA company secretly started to wage war against the Italian and European companies, and ZeoSet wasn't spared. The AAA corporations tried to weaken ZeoSet with the sole purpose of obtaining the extraterritoriality on The Hexagon, and eventually stripping ZeoSet off of its property. However, the AAAs were confronting enemies from all fronts and didn't succeed kicking out ZeoSet from The Hexagon, but still succeeded with other companies. This war was named "The Silent War" which lasted for two years. It was the anarchists who discovered this underground conflict and made it public knowledge. The Silent War wasn't silent anymore. The Corporate Court had no wish to escalate the conflict, so it declared that the war had to be ceaced. According to the Court, since some AA-type Italian and European corporations struck first, they were to blame for the conflict, they downgraded them to A-type companies, thus losing their currency but not their extraterritoriality, and had them pay for their war crimes.
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Before the war, there were 95 companies in the Papal States, and only 30 survived the conflict. Some of them were acquired by the AAAs or have been shut down. Despite everything, with the competitors out of the picture in some areas, the AAA corporations and ZeoSet were the only ones that ultimately took advantage from the war.
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​Unfortunately, peace lasted only until March 17th, 2072, when the anarchists started a revolution in the streets of Rome.
Back then, the anarchists gathered enough resources to hire Shadowrunners who infiltrated themselves into some cathedrals, in search for something in the crypts. In the meantime, the anarchists proceeded to massacre ecclesiastics from both factions, and attacked every single company headquarters all across the Papal States. The anarchists believed that the Conservatives were trying to raise an army of Templar warriors under their cathedrals, and feared that this army could potentially become a serious threat far worse than all the corporations. And apparently, the runners proved they were right.
A few Conservative cardinals were indeed training Templar units (a thousand strong) under their cathedrals in Rome.
The Templars' rebirth became public knowledge, and Vincenzo La Croce declared himself the new leader of the Conservative faction. Justifying the presence of metahumans and awakened among the "Anarchs" (the "Devil's pawns" as he defined them at the time), he ordered the Templars to purge them without the Pope's consent. The repression was so bloody and violent that Pope John was forced to excommunicate him.
The Anarch rebellion ended on November 5th, and in the same year, the Conservative faction started to gain popularity among the human population who had enough of the corrupted Enlightened and corporations. The Conservatives were seen as the heroes who quenched the Anarch rebellion and brought peace in the Papal States.
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2075.
In 2075, after the death of Pope John, Pope Sixtus VI succeeded him. He was a member of the Order of St. Sylvester from the Enlightened faction. Unfortunately, Pope Sixtus was found dead 33 days after his election, and Vincenzo La Croce who was in the meantime reintegrated into the church, became the new pope under the name of Alexander IX. In the first two months after his election, Alexander sparked a worker uprising against the corporations, and ordered the Templars to attack the headquarters of every single company that survived The Silent War and the Anarch rebellion. The pope's goal was to get rid of any corporation in the country, and executed for heresy (for not taking God's side) a few cardinals and bishops from the Enlightened faction who sided with the corporations.
In 2075, the pope officially went into war with the corporations - a war he named "The Holy Iconoclast". Alexander believed that the corporations were still licking their wounds after The Silent War, and seized the opportunity to strike and to free his people from the tyranny of capitalism once and for all.
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Little that he knew, both the AAAs and the lesser Italian and European companies joined forces, hiring mercenaries in order to defend themselves against the strikers and the Templars. Only ten of the surviving companies were shut down by the immense damage caused by the Templars and by the unbearable war expenses.
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What the Templars lacked in numbers and euros, faith was their driving force, and war was their element. ZeoSet wasn't spared in this conflict but it managed to push back the Templars. In the end, the confilct ended with The Corporate Court making an agreement with the Vatican.
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The corporations had to give up parts of their extraterritoriality to the Vatican and making half of its laws enforceable, while the Vatican had to let the corporations keep parts of their laws which at that point could've only been applied to those who had a corporate citizenship. However, corporations could still give corporate citizenship to anyone who wished to be hired by any company - no matter the rating - and to keep some of the corporations' representatives in the Senate.
After the war, the Templars continued their work of purging all heretics and infidels, while the metahumans were confined on The Hexagon - specifically into the Residential District.