Monarch

* Classic / New Lands
* Two Crowns

The **Monarch** is the playable character in the *Kingdom* series. The Monarch runs the Kingdom by traversing it upon their mount, and organising the work of their subjects, using coins with the power of the Crown.

## Appearance

*For changing the appearance of the player character, see: Controls § Character customization.*
To keep their legitimacy, Monarchs wear on their head the Crown, which takes the shape of a Tiara on the head of a Queen.

 *Kingdom: Classic* &  *New Lands* – The King wears a coloured cape, while the Queen wears a coloured dress.

 *Kingdom Two Crowns* – The appearance of Monarchs vary according to the setting. Except for *Dead Lands*, there are three types of Monarchs available in each setting: a male, a female, and a character whose gender isn't explicit. In Europe there's one additional King and one additional Queen since the reintroduction of the legacy Monarchs.

Players also get their character a banner with random tinctures, ordinaries and charge after they establish a camp in game. The colour of the banner will be the same with the colour of the character's cape or dress.

## Usage

*For how to control the Monarch, see: Controls § Game controls.*
While in most real-time strategy games players have a godlike view of the battlefield, with zoom out features and minimaps through which they can spam commands at the rate of their actions per minute, players in *Kingdom* have to manage their subjects by embodying the Ruler on the ground with their physical, spatial, and temporal limitations.

## Succession

#Heir  #Descendant  #Lineage  #Dynasty

>
>
>
> | “
>  | Again, the Monarchs will try to last... | „
>
>

Again, the Monarchs will try to last...
In the *Kingdom* series, when players start a new run, the quote appearing in the introduction scene suggests that there's some sort of liaison between the Monarch that lost the Crown and the newcomer.
Based on real life historical references, they could have the same royal blood, following a vertical inheritance, but there's not enough in-game clues to assert that.
They could be:

* part of the same clan, family or dinasty
(most probable, considering rulers with the same coat of arms)
* from independent kingdoms, and part of a major empire
(successors with different emblems)
* part of a vague metaphysical alliance, or human consciousness
(monarchs venturing onto completely exotic settings)

In *Kingdom: Classic* the concept of clan isn't too clear, seeing that, as stated in the very first quote of the introduction scene, monarchs are "solitary".
In *New Lands* the idea of succession incorporates significant hints with the introduction of the Ghost and the warhorse battlefield scene.
In *Two Crowns* the existence of cooperative couples (being considered engaged or not), associated with the persistent islands, make the thought of a common kinship more plausible.

According to the introduction scene, the first Ruler of the Dynasty is "carrying the crown to a new land".
This character is commonly controled by someone who is playing *Kingdom* for the first time.
They have almost no knowledge of the land and its dangers.
With or without the initial tutorial, they will inevitably make a lot of mistakes that cannot be canceled.
No extra lives and checkpoints to reload.

The knowledge however is transmited to the next generations of Monarchs, by the player.
The introduction scene says that the descendants "will do better".
In *Two Crowns* the Ghost approaches them and proclaim the following enthusiastic compliment:

>
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> | “
>  | You are my **heir** and the best chance to defeat them forever!
>  | „
>
>

You are my **heir** and the best chance to defeat them forever!
...Which finally makes fully explicit the concept of succession between the Monarchs, and seals the overall goal they have in common.

Through the succession of monarchs, players experience that Dynasties aren't made of a single Ruler.
They also understand that the most rich and beautiful Kingdoms are necessarily built over the failures of their ancestors.
That none of them were or will be perfect; and none were expected to be.
But they all may take advantage and honor the knowledge acquired and excelled throughout their many generations.

## Achievement

 *Kingdom Two Crowns* –
Losing the Crown and continuing the same campaign with a Successor grants the "A New Heir" achievement.

## Cooperation

*For the technical details of the multiplayer mode in Kingdom Two Crowns, see: Co-op.*
## Trivia

* So far there is no defeat where the Monarch outright dies, although they are implied to have died since the Ghost has the colour of the previous monarch's dress/cloak.

## Gallery

A king riding a bear.A queen on a stag.A queen and a hermit riding a unicorn.

## See also

* Crown
* Coat of arms
* Community Ruler
* Theories/Monarch

## References

1. ↑ Monarchy and Order of succession on *Wikipedia*.
2. ↑ Sentence appearing in the introduction scene of a new run. The quote was featured for the first time using the plural form (Monarchs) in the Shogun teaser trailer, before the release of *Kingdom Two Crowns* in November 2018.