The Pact of the Pole-Star

A new Monarch becomes bound by the pact through a highly secret ritual that involves venturing into the Northern Frozen Aurora alone and returning with a strange, indescribable object. Past objects have included:

• Not a dog, but somewhat not similar to most other beasts, that didn’t swim and does not have scales, as brought by the Pack-King, Second of His Name, Jay Khandinal.
• Quite not short, but also rather not strong, with no smooth nor rugged surfaces, and bearing no resemblance to most rocks, as brought by the Frontier-Queen, First of Her Name, Phesant Khandinal.
• Very not squishy, but absolutely not dead, without any visible defects, that couldn’t fly, as brought by the Inkwell-King, Third of His Name, Owl Cardinal.

The first Reigning Monarch, First of his Name, Hawk Khan, entered into the Pact with the Holder of History during a distressed pilgrimage into the Northern Frozen Aurora. It is said that, when he left in the month of the Unicorn, the Monarch was a despondent, frail young man assured of his kingdom’s destruction, but when he returned in the month of the Griffin, he was a confident, fit, strong young man who would go on to conquer the rival kingdom of Tonitmon in just half a year.

The Pact grants the Monarch the ability to sense all things happening within the borders of their kingdom at any given time. If untrained, the overwhelming rush of information can incapacitate or even kill the Monarch, as almost happened with the Artist-King, Second of His Name, Heron Khandinal. But with proper use, the Monarch can perfectly control their country, from the mid-level bureaucrats to the poorest farmer in the Conquered Steppe, as the Blacksmith-King, Fourth of His Name, Albatross Cardinal had.

To prepare for taking on the pact of the Pole-Star, Crown Princes or Princesses usually undergo vigorous training in statecraft, logistics, politics, planing, and other such necessary skills Monarchs must have. Both heir-apparent and possible heir-presumptives usually undergo this training, but if there are three sons, like in the case of Princes Eagle, Robin, and Shrike, only the first two will get priority.

The consequences of not undergoing this training is clear in the case of the Artist-King, Second of His Name, Heron Khandinal. The former Painter-Prince was the fourth child of his parents, with two older brothers and one older sister, and due to the ‘older goes first’ order of succession in Polaris, it was never thought that Heron would be Monarch. But his eldest brother, Falcon, was killed by an irate farmer at the age of nineteen, and his second brother, Robin, was laid low with the Cheetah variant of Wampus Pox, later loosing his sight and disqualifying him from the throne. He swiftly got some rudimentary training, but when his sister, Horserider-Queen, First of Her Name, Paradise Khandinal, was killed in battle with the Autonomous Northern Mountain Terriroty of the declining Nadiquan Empire, the unprepared Heron became the Artist-King. When he performed the ritual, the new king remained in the Northern Frozen Aurora for nearly three months, before suddenly appearing in the duck pond at the Clean Spire Palace, holding onto something not wood but very much not weak. The Artist-King remained despondent for nearly a year, only really combing into the powers of the pact when he faced the invasion of two Autonomous Territories, Northern Mountain and Eastern Grayrock both.

As the Monarch ages, it becomes easier for them to filter the information granted by the pact, but they also often become disconnected and numb.