"The bones tell many things, about the past... and about the future"
-Cackling Crone retainer
Paganism is a major religion featured in multiple Total War games and is the definition of worship of many gods, like the Aztec sun and moon gods or the Roman pantheon for example. Paganism was the dominant religion of the world for centuries before the rise of Christianity and conquest of Islam.
Rome: Total War[]
Base game[]
Paganism is in Rome: Total War in the form of many, but identical, shrines and temples to the gods. While these shines don't cause much conflicting tensions or unrest when they are constructed in a conquered settlement or torn down as a result. They are unique to each faction and if the shrine is not to your faction, you will not get the bonuses it may give. Barbarian factions can only make 3 tiers of shrines, but more developed factions, such as the Romans or Greeks, can make many elaborate temples.
Each faction tends to have at least 3 different variants of shrine available to them to build in a settlement, however only one can ever be present in a settlement at any one time. Each shine is dedicated to a different deity and gives different bonuses as a result, again these bonuses are unique and generally tailored to the strengths of the faction, though all of them give public order bonuses due to religion, getting stronger with each tier of religious building. Due to only being able to have one religious building at a time, if a different religious bonus is wanted at a settlement, the existing building needs to be torn down before a replacement can be built.
Barbarian Invasion[]
In Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion, Paganism along with all the other religions play a far greater role. Where in the base game religion was a side building and the type of religious building constructed was based purely on the bonuses it game, religion in Barbarian Invasion is far more important to manage and take control of. Along with the two other religions in the expansion, Christianity and Zoroastrianism, conflicting religion in settlements create religious tension. Religious tension is the greatest threat to public order and the chance of the settlement revolting against your rule.
While a majority of the settlements in the expansion are still Pagan, several factions start off Christian only, such as the Romano-British or Berbers, so any settlements they take will be immediately restless due to religious differences. Religious buildings take on a far greater role, not only for their bonuses but for their conversion power and unrest reduction. Typically, the first thing done when taking a new settlement is to tear down the existing religious building and replace it with your own. Many factors affect religious tension, such as the faction's, faction leader's or governor's religion, all of which can contribute unrest to the settlement. Getting religious dominance over a settlement is a sure way to greatly reduce unrest and increase happiness in the settlement.
Paganism is still the dominant religion in the expansion, but many different factions still worship different Pagan pantheons. When taking a Pagan settlement as a Pagan faction, religious tension is not as great, since it all bundles together, but unrest will still go up briefly when the old Pagan building is torn down and the faction specific building is being built, but this is a far smaller unrest hit compared to trying to convert a settlement from Pagan to Christian, for example. Neighbouring settlements also contribute religious unrest to the settlement. If the neighbouring settlements are of a different faith, the population in the newly conquered and converted settlement will have extra unrest based on how many settlements they border who have a different faith, which is especially problematic if the settlement is bordering multiple different settlements.