Italy

How Italy's politics begin:

Elections are called by focus, never by the calendar. With historical focuses on, the AI takes Berlusconi's road.

The signature mechanic:

Seven powers, each with an influence from 0 to 100, shown in the Powers Behind Rome decisions: the Cavaliere's television (political power), the Church (stability), Confindustria and the unions (factory output, one against the other), the North (road building), the Octopus (it slows every building site) and the magistrates (they cost the government political power). Each works above 50 and against it below.

Focuses move them, and so do the decisions: court a power at its rival's expense, or curb it. A power at 65 or more makes demands now and then; refusing costs it influence.

A power at 55 opens its line in the Powers Behind Rome branch; three finished lines open The Balance of Powers.

A power that wins outright opens a hidden road from inside its government's: the television the Pizza Crusades, the Church the Papal State, the Octopus the Mafia State, the magistrates the Roman Republic. At 70 when the moment comes, or later at 75 by decision.

The signature mechanic:

Coalition stability, from 0 to 100, shown in the Revolving Door decisions. Above 50 the government gains stability and political power; below 50 it loses them.

It drains by itself, a point a month, and with every scandal, strike, defection and budget fight with the Union. Focuses restore it, and so do the decisions: buy off the allies, a reshuffle, a confidence vote (two times in three it works), a technocrat, the RAI shared out, the omnibus budget.

At zero the government falls: a snap election returns the majority under a new leader, or a caretaker government of experts takes over for a year. Either costs stability and political power.

A Majority Bonus, or A Government That Lasts, halves the drain.

Foreign policy:

Italy is a founding member of the federal Union, with the euro run by a joint economic government, and of the European Defence Union founded at Cologne in 1999 under German leadership. NATO is down to America, Britain and Canada.

The Mediterranean is Italy's: Libya and its oil, gas and migrants, Albania across the strait, the Balkans and the Levant. Russia courts Rome with gas and contracts; the Vatican is across the Tiber; and the Union needs Italy's votes and its debt kept in order.

The historical road:

Berlusconi governs from 2001 with Bossi, Fini and Casini: the media empire as the state, the laws made for his trials, the Contract's reforms, the Diaz school, Tremonti's amnesties and Europe's Kapo. The first term's end needs every line.

The election of 2006 (Prodi's twenty-four thousand votes, historically, or the Cavaliere holds on), then 2008 (the Cavaliere returns, historically, or Veltroni's Democrats); the bunga-bunga years, the spread at five hundred and Monti's technocrats; and 2013 (Enrico Letta's grand coalition, historically, or the Cavaliere's fifth comeback). Every election is called by focus.

Something in the Cavaliere's media empire may open a crusade nobody expected.

The centre-left road:

Open it with the Desistance Pact. Prodi comes home from Brussels and makes Italy Europe's champion inside the federal Union: euro discipline, the Union's budget, the Mediterranean Fund asked of Berlin, the conflict-of-interest law and a stable Italy, if the coalition from Mastella to Bertinotti holds together. The first term's end needs every line.

The election of 2006: the Olive Tree returns (and Prodi hands over to Veltroni's Democratic Party) or the Cavaliere takes his revenge.

The Vatican is across the river, and may decide it has waited long enough.

The League's road:

Open it with the Padanian Parliament. Bossi takes Rome: devolution and its referendum, the hard line on migration, Rome the thief and the Southern Question, the Sun of the Alps, the little firms, the Union as a superstate, and Bossi's stroke of 2004 (Maroni may take over).

Five Years of the Carroccio needs every line. The Election of 2006 is called by focus: the League holds the North, or Prodi governs two years until the election of 2008 brings the League back.

The second term settles the Padanian Question: a federal Republic, or Padania Libera - a peaceful Padanian Confederation governed from Milan, or a war of secession against President Ciampi's loyal Republic in Rome and the South.

In the South, someone else has been governing for a long time.

The right's road:

Open it with The Right Runs Alone. Fini's National Alliance governs: the Eternal City, law and order and Genoa, the presidential republic, closed ports, the social right, the foibe and Salò, national service and the Mediterranean.

The Leadership Question: Fini holds the centre (Fiuggi completed, Yad Vashem, the party of the nation) or Alessandra Mussolini takes the party and builds the social state, with no coalition left.

Five Years of the Right needs every line; the Election of 2006 by focus (or Prodi's two years and 2008); then Mare Nostrum, the elected presidency and a Europe of nations. Claims only; no war goal on this road.

Rome was an empire once.

Some roads are hidden:

A pizza may cross an ocean, a pope may take back his state, a family may stop pretending, and an eagle may return to the Capitol.

The family: on the League's road, when the Fund for the South is closed, hear out the gentleman from Palermo. The eagle: on the right's road, invite Professor Ferrante to the Capitol; the Roman Republic's war goals in Africa and the Adriatic come only in a tense world.

Each opens from inside one of the roads, and replaces it. Only one hidden road can open. The AI never takes one when historical focuses are on.