This elimination of the need for a conversion experience according to those principles became known as the Grontinion Article. It came into force throughout the Hillean Confederation (which included Hihaythea and the Yiffen Republic, as well as Colof and Alisia, where there were sizeable minorities of Beautavs). Surprisingly, however, no other country adopted the article for more than a century.
Acrola, indeed, might have lead the way on such a practice, and had circumstances been slightly different, the Grontinion Article might have come 50 years earlier, and been termed the AnaPaotai Article or similar. In 1423, the Acrolan Regency officially broke from the Orthodox Beautav Church and began preparing reforms. Within five months, however, the Emperor had died, precipitating the anarchy of the Interregnum. The Regency lost all authority and Acrola fell into disarray, leaving no one powerful enough to carry on the reforms that had begun so promisingly. A new Emperor, Rafael, was crowned in 1497 and soon after underwent his own conversion experience, but Rafael carred very little for matters of faith. Although his closest advisor, John Munner, was the very liberal Bishop of Tubraka, this man likewise was focused much more on the state than he was the church. The two of them likely believed in the Grontinion Article, as Archbishop Terrio must have as well, but it did not take priority. They had already alienated conservatives in Heroudland and Lylya with their political reforms, so why bother enacting such a law for which they had very little concern. It would only disrupt the status quo but would not, as far as they were concerned, bring about any real change.
Both Bishop Munner and Archbishop Terrio died in 1510, removing the trace influences of religion entirely. Rafael's position had become secure enough by the 1510's that he might easily have passed the article through a willing convocation, but it is doubtful that the issue even crossed his mind more than a few times in passing. In 1519 Rafael died, and the article's prospects in Acrola immediately took a dive. His son Henry was a devout Beautav, almost to the point of fanaticism, and although he did not go so far as to reinstate Beautav Orthodoxy, he moved the Acrolan Reformed Church in a decidedly orthodox direction. The Article's prospects were revived once again at his death, in 1576, but the new Emperor Leopold was ineffectual. He had far greater issues to worry about besides, such as the threats of three of his sons to declare their independence from his empire.
The Luvian Republic became independent shortly after but it negated the immediate need for the Grontinion Article by extending full citizenship rights to all persons irrespective of faith. The average Luvian citizen did not believe in the need for an orthodox conversion experience, therefore there was no fear among them that the lack of a Grontinion Article prevented a soul from its salvation. A convocation of Luvian bishops would ratify the Article in 1618, but even then it was only so that the bishops would not come home empty handed, as all of their other attempted compromises and new measures had failed.
This would be the trend over the next several years; eliminating the political necessity for the Article, rather than passing it. The Ahou Confederation granted full citizenship to the Ronans, Istis and Espiriters within its jurisdiction in 1599. Upon declaring its independence, in 1642, the Green Republic shepherded several liberal reforms through its Council, and these included the Grontinion Article. From there, however, its liberal policy stagnated, leaving it to be past by the Republic of Acrola (which was based in Frontton, not in Acrola). However, even the conservative Allonian Confederation and Republic of Vallo had passed the Article by 1700, and the Trans-Acrolan Republic followed a decade later.
By 1750, every Acrolan state except the Lylyan Republic, the Heroudland Union and Nistravo Field (to which the Article did not apply) had passed the Grontinion Article into law. This also included the seven Acrolan nations practiced a separation of church and state. In these, each of these, a convocation of the clergy readily accepted the Article.
Sayia, however, was a much different situation. The Kingdom of Hope was a moderate state, but it was dependent of the theocratic Empire of the Beautavus. It seems likely that, had Beautavus not been Hope's only ally in the region, Hope might have found a way to break free from the orthodox control and formed its own church. Even given the circumstances, however, Hope managed some reform. In 1484, Hope granted citizenship to all persons who pledged allegience to the Church of the Beautavus. While this certainly meant nothing to the large minority of Ronans living in Priempor and other parts of Hope, it was a step away from the tight grasp of the Anotus in Beautavus. Priempor would be lost to Hilleana within a decade anyway, making the Ronans much less of a concern.
From 1498 until 1519, Acrola actively pursued a policy of friendship with Hope, desiring to lure that nation into its own political sphere. During those twenty-one years, two successive Bishops of Berram and Haffstroke served as ambassador to Hope, and became among the King's strongest advisors. In 1515, under the Bishop's direction, the King relaxed the harsh laws that forced even Ronans to attend weekly Beautav services. They were now allowed to opt out of that requirement by paying an extra tax, whose revenues were split evenly between the church and the crown.
Acrola under Emperor Henry continued to ally with Hope, but they no longer pressed for such reforms. When the Confederation of Allonia became independent, in 1584, its King Matthew immediately sought strong relations with Hope. For the next century the two nations were closely aligned, and Allonia's influences led to the establishment of a hereditary monarchy in Hope. In 1598, the heresy tax was cut in half. It was lowered again in 1610, 1615 and 1618. Then Hope agreed to recognize the Ronan religion, which meant that the tax would no longer apply to them, although they still lacked certain rights of citizenship. Very few people were now required to pay the heresy tax, and their burden was further relieved when, in 1652, the Church's portion was removed entirely. This was essentially the first step in the separation of the Beautav Church from the Hope State, although like its neighbor in Allonia, Hope never officially ratified such a measure.
These advances, of course, had little to do with the Grontinion Article or conversion experiences, but they demonstrated changing attitudes. By the latter half of the 17th century, the Kingdom of Hope no longer made any distinction between persons who practiced the Beautav faith and persons who had successfully converted. Like in so many nations before, the need for the Article had largely been removed, making it mean very little that, even in 1750, the Article still was not in effect in Hope.
That left only one more country that practiced Beautavism as its state religion: the Holy Empire of the Beautavus itself. There is no such story of progression within those borders, however. The famed Sayn stubbornness and adherence to orthodoxy that had demanded the creation of a Beautav Church in the first place kept the great theocracy decidedly conservative. At least once a century (although often times more) the Church Council would issue a law banishing all Ronans from inside the nations borders. There must certainly have been a few Ronans who returned, or who perhaps never left in the first place, but by 1400 they had little motivation. They were free to live as they pleased just across the border, in Langra, and Sayn Ronans had such disdain for Beautavs that they cannot have liked living under the Anotus. In the later centuries, these laws must merely have been passed in order to whip up religious ferver among the commoners, who had to be constantly reminded of how evil the Ronans were in order to reinforce their Beautav fanaticism.
Because of this, however, the Empire rarely had to deal with persons not born in the Beautav faith. Occasionally they would produce Ronan persons who had converted, but this seems to mostly have been a matter of propoganda. Conversion to Beautavism from Ronanism was extremely rare outside of Acrola and Hillea, and it is doubtful that the insular and autocratic Beautavus would have much appeal to converts in the first place. So, at the given date of 1750, only fully converted Beautavs had any rights or power in either the Empire or in the Church that it officially governed. By that year, however, only four nations recognized the authority of the Orthodox Beautav Church.
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