Why did I lose all my piety upon death?

Question

For an experiment, I tried staying peaceful and waiting for a holy war to amass piety. I was Venice and had 1 county with a 6 size.

I thought it was going well - I had almost 500 piety and I had plenty of children (about 7), and an heir. All of a sudden I die and suddenly my son is just a patrician of one holding only, and with a liege. All my piety and prestige is gone!

What did I do wrong? Note that I can't replay as I am in ironman mode. The law is republic but I don't think it was before... Oops, now the game is over, we lost an invasion war and I received the message "You have become the head of as republic and are therefore no longer allowed to continue playing."

Answer 1

Piety is per character, not per dynasty. When your character dies, your piety and prestige increase the score for that character, and it is added to your total score for your dynasty. Your next character will have their own piety and prestige (which they have been accumulating before controlling them).