High Pontiff Daniel III
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Daniel III (Common: Daniel III; High Imperial: Daniel III) (17th of Malin's Welcome, 1526 – 12th of the Grand Harvest, 1565) called "the Mad" and "the Blind". Daniel, priorly Prince Charles Francis of the Holy Orenian Empire, was elected Pontiff by a Synod seeking to regain traction, following the previous failure and decline under the High Pontiff Tobias I. Overall, his reign was marked by his decline into insanity and his consistently incompetent decision making.
After the death of Tobias I, the Prince Charles had already been placed upon the Synod and gained favor with the other Cardinals, who viewed Tobias as weak and a pawn of the Duke Augustus d'Amaury. This faction pushed for the election of Daniel and he was able to beat out his opponent, Adrian Denims-Therving. The coronation of Daniel seemed in good favor and his early reign was marked with positive progress. He reorganized his Synod, removing the corrupt and money embezzling Cardinals that had risen during Tobias. The early point of reform in his reign ended around the time he reforged a weak, unsuccesful Faith Militant and unsuccesfuly negotiated for the independence of the entirety of Visiga, under the Papal States, with John II, Holy Orenian Emperor. The Pontiff continued on a series of blunders which would give rise to a growing conservative faction. He was assassinated once, but cheated death and became blind by way of the Cloud Temple Monks.
The tension between the Pontiff and his opposing faction climaxed on the day of his second assassination, by plotters from within his Church. The College met, following his death, to elect a new Pontiff. However, the College was interupted when a revived, once more by Cloud Temple Monks, Daniel III returned and, with the aid of his Holy Knights, forcefully excommunicated the Cardinals who had opposed him. Following the removal of his enemies, the Pontiff, driven mad by his many resurrections and horrid blindness, declared himself a Prophet and issued a series of Revelations which completely eradicated the College of Cardinals, placed the Church under Imperial Control, established a Designated Inheritance system for the Pontificate, and elevated Man above the other races (a move seemingly against his previous liberal persona). After his abdication, Daniel elected his own heir, which had never been done before in Church History. He was succeeded by Theodosius I.
Issue
Charles Henry, Count of Visiga
