Editing Monarchy (section)

== Terminology and stuff associated with monarchy ==
*'''Line of Succession''': All those individuals who could legally inherit the throne in a hereditary monarchy. The person who's first in line is the '''Heir Apparent''' and after that there are second, third, forth, etc. If the current first in line's right of inheritance could be defeated, such as by the birth of a nearer relative to the monarch, then they are the '''Heir Presumptive''' instead. Having a clear line of succession is important, otherwise, you tend to end up with a lot of fratricidal civil wars for the throne (see the Ottoman Empire and harems). There are several types of succession:
**'''Primogeniture''': Eldest child will be the next monarch. By far the most widespread type, with its semi-Salic subtype (sons have precedence over daughters, who can only succeed if there are no males left in the dynasty) being an absolute norm in Medieval Europe. Nowadays, however, most European monarchies (excluding Spain, where ironically the King has no ''male'' heir) switched to absolute primogeniture, where the eldest child of any gender can succeed.
***Most fantasy settings go with primogeniture for succession in their kingdoms, either absolute for the good-guy kingdoms or male for the less savory sexist ones.
**'''Ultimogeniture''': Similar to primogeniture, but the monarchy is passed down to the youngest child instead. Far less common than primogeniture, and was used mostly in Mongolia and some English boroughs. 
**'''Partible inheritance''': King divides his lands among all his children (once again, mostly male). A much older succession form that was present in the Early Middle Ages, and as any Crusader Kings player can tell you it tends to result in a lot of wars between the successors.
**'''Seniority''': The throne passes to the oldest relative (typically male relatives only in its most common variation) before passing to any of the monarch's children. This typically results in a form of ultimogeniture due to many claimants from earlier generations dying before they can take the throne- or wars of succession should said earlier generations not wish to wait that long. 
**'''Rota''': A very weird Kievan Rus' and early Russian succession type similar to seniority, where the throne passes from the monarch to his eldest brother, and then, no matter if he has children or not, to his older nephew. Was very problematic and basically caused a lot of minor conflicts and wars, which noticeably weakened the country to Mongol invasion. A related form of this was used in Eastern Christian clerical families (Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, etc) where the eldest sons typically became celibate bishops, patriarchs, and pontiffs sworn to monastic vows while the other sons were married priests who raised their sons to take over for their uncles.
*'''Abdication''': Willingly giving up the throne of the monarchy, usually in order for a more able, (usually the child of the monarch) to lead. Subject to various [[Rules Lawyer|legal interpretations]] by nations with a parliament or elected monarchy especially if the abdication wasn't official or no heir was declared.
*'''Consort''': The spouse of a Reigning Monarch, be it a '''Queen Consort''' for a wife or typically '''Prince Consort''' for a husband (yes '''King Consort''' makes more sense, the rules were made by a bunch of sexist old guys a long time ago). Consorts don't have much in the line of formal power, but they do have influence.
**'''Dowager''': A Consort who outlives the Sovereign they are married to.
*'''Sovereign''': another name for a monarch, used to specify that the monarch in question is the ruler, specifically when it might not be clear otherwise. For example, most Queens are Queen Consorts; they are queens by marriage to the King but they do not have the authority of the King themselves. However, if the line of succession results in a Queen inheriting the throne, then she is known as the Queen Sovereign, and her husband becomes the consort. Sovereign is also used to mark the monarch in countries where for whatever reason, the monarch is not called "King," such as the Grand Duke of a Grand Duchy, the Grand Prince of a Principality, etc. By contrast, if we're talking about an Empire composed of several vassal kingdoms, then the Emperor is Sovereign as they rule over the lesser Kings.
*'''Court''': The various hangers-on to a monarch: extended family, treasurers, archivists, spies, philosophers, artists, representatives of the church/synagogue/mosque, foreign diplomats, more spies (really, a lot of spies), or just people who managed to make a good impression and get in good graces. Members of this group are known as Courtiers.
**'''Privy Council''': The top members of the court, including top generals and Ministers (Revenue, War, Foreign Affairs, etc) with considerable power directly delegated to them.
**'''Court Etiquette''': You know how online groups will develop their own inside jokes and memes, where someone posts a couple pictures of a shark and a sea turtle swimming over a coral reef and twelve months latter the pics and their derivatives are associated with frustrated hopes, the French Revolution, three prominent anime series and soccer moms through evolution that renders it damn near impenetrable to outsiders? Well imagine that rather than a group of internet weirdos you have a group of powerful ennobled wierdos who hang around the most powerful person in the country where slip ups are used as weapons against you with IRL stakes and failure to follow the customs and unwritten rules not only marks you out as a normie, but as a smelly pleb who has no business in said court ''(although Ben Franklin managed to pull off the "smelly pleb in court" routine)''.
*'''Pomp and Ceremony''': Monarchy ''loves'' to make a big freaking show of things and become so ingrained they become ritual. While they are not above sharing a few local props with their fellows monarchs in the general region, individual Monarchies also like to do things their own way so you don't confuse the King of Prance with the Kaiser of Bermany or the Tsar of Fussia.
*'''Regalia''': A bunch of objects which have significance as symbols of monarchy, most famously Crowns and Thrones. Along with [[Monty Python|Orbs that may or not be grenades]].
*'''Ladies-in-Waiting''': Daughters of less important nobles, unmarried spinsters, and widows waiting to be married off again, the clique of friends and mutuals that the princess keeps around to not feel totally lonely and start [[Wikipedia:Elizabeth Báthory|bathing in the blood of young women]].  For Regnant Queens such Elizabeth the First, ladies-in-waiting were often spies and messengers, either for or against the throne.  Being able to send a daughter to attend court as a lady is generally a sign that the family in question is on the Monarch's good side, although in the early days it was more akin to hostage trading.  
*'''Pretender''': Someone who claims to be unrightfully kept from their position as head of the monarchy via [[Rules Lawyer|convoluted rules of succession and various claims of descent and parentship]], or because the title they have laid claim to has ceased to exist. 
*'''Retinue''': Made up of "Retainers" (Bodyguards, personal servants, close friends, physicians) that follow the monarch around EVERYWHERE. If you heard this word here before, it's because it's used to describe a [[Inquisitor]]'s close circle of confidants and followers as well.
*'''Regent''': The ''de facto'' ruler for when the ''de jure'' monarch is alive, but cannot rule for whatever reason; typically this is because the heir apparent is too young to rule on their own. In this case, the Regent in question is most commonly the Queen Regent, the heir’s mother and wife of the recently deceased king. The Queen Regent will rule until the heir reaches adulthood. A regent may also come about if the current monarch is too senile or mentally ill to rule, and so the heir apparent becomes the Prince Regent and becomes King once the previous king either abdicates or dies. The best example of this is the Regency era of English history (lasting from 1810-1820), when King George III went insane and his son George IV was appointed by Parliament as Prince Regent to rule in his place. 
*'''Dynastic Politics''': Covers a fair number of concepts which arise in hereditary monarchy.
**'''Marriage Deals''': When your kid is going to inherit the Throne and that Throne has a lot of power, who you have that kid with is Serious Business. When a Prince comes into manhood, all the Dukes and Earls will try to set him up with their daughters, as will neighboring kingdoms which seek to establish or strengthen an alliance or end a war. This often involves a lot of diplomacy and dealings, with love playing a side role in the rare occasions it played a role at all. Success in managing said politics and lines of succession (not counting economic, foreign, and environmental factors) ensures the continuation if a dynasty (typically held within a blood-related house or clan). Failures to do so can end a dynasty in the form of succession wars and interregnum periods where central authority is all but evaporated.
**'''Dowry''': Older than monarchy as a concept by a far margin but has appeared in monarchist societies as well, basically a dowry is a payment a family receives for having their son married to another family's daughter. This was done as a way to pay for the daughter's living and needs as well as her potential children. As classes of nobility and commoner became stratified, larger and more lavish dowries became more common, consisting of things from full sets of valuable porcelain finery, priceless jewels, and artifacts to '''[[wikipedia:Catherine_of_Braganza#Legacy|WHOLE ENTIRE FUCKING CITIES]]'''.
**'''Paramours''': Monarchs were often stuck in loveless arranged marriages and have a lot of power and influence. It's no surprise that a lot of them kept lovers on the side, see Charles II and Catherine the Great. These were generally ignored so long as any bastard children born were kept out of the succession lest they mess it all up. 
**'''The Legitimate Dumbass''':[[File:EstatesGeneral.jpg|thumb|right|300px|When you invite the rabble have a chat about the country's problems, you're already screwed.]]A fundamental problem with following a strict line of succession is that some times it will put someone on the throne which is utterly unfit for it. They may be a hopeless ditherer, an brash impulsive fool with zero self restraint, a gullible rube easily manipulated by his courtiers, someone suffering from delusions of grandeur, a brutal and cruel sadist, a monumental idiot, or simply be stark raving mad and there's a good chance that they fill multiple roles. Either way, you have an incompetent entrusted with the highest position in the land where they can do the most damage by accident of birth. Unsurprisingly, this typically led to rivals asserting their own claims to the throne and/or bloody insurrections.  However, in the very, very worst case, they're a spineless pushover who convenes the Estates General (which promptly decides that they don't want a king at all and declares that the kingdom is now a republic).
**'''Fratricide''': One of the consequences of a line of succession is that a newborn son can mean that the heir presumptive gets knocked back in the queue and a second-born child is destined to be the spare tire close to the throne but likely to never sit in it. In medieval times, one option was to reset the clocks by offing the new heir apparent. Of course, this sort of thing is Murder and Treason of the highest order on top of making a personal enemy of the current Monarch. Pulling it off and getting away with it is extremely difficult and risky, but the potential reward is a throne and a crown. That being said, getting rid of your competitors wasn’t limited to the guys in the back of the line; the Ottoman Empire was infamous for the Sultans murdering their brothers once they ascended to the throne to eliminate the threat of Usurpers. This later changed to brothers and uncles being kept locked up in the royal palace to have all the hookah and concubines they’d ever want; less bloody, but still a problem if the sultan died without an heir and the next in line is some spoiled fratbro with zero leadership experience.
**'''Personal Union''': One of the potential consequences of a marriage alliance is that the monarch is now ruler of two kingdoms instead of just one; however, these kingdoms ultimately remain separate instead of merging into one state. This can be for various reasons, such as the rules for succession between the two states being different, or the legal systems of the two states can’t be easily merged into one. Typically, the personal union is dissolved once the current monarch dies and new monarchs are selected for each individual state; however, as was the case with Spain, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon merged into modern Spain through the ambitions of Isabella and Ferdinand, and created a centralized, unitary state to replace the medieval petty kingdoms they inherited. A similar thing happened in Britain to form the United Kingdom, when the Scottish and English monarchies merged together (Wales also having been merged in long ago, though that was more of a conquest than personal union), though it took about a hundred years before the governments of both countries merged into one.  
*'''Petitioner''': AKA "the Peasants doth complain too much". Petitioners were individuals who came to the monarch on days when they held court in order to speak their piece about an issue they hoped that the monarch would be able to solve. These people ranged from peasants who needed their local lord taught a lesson or issues between villages resolved, to knights wishing to be granted titles and or favors for their service. petitioners even included members of the monarch's own family, usually in order to resolve tension or make peace with each other. Some petitions were made in person but most were in the form of written letters that were read aloud before the monarch and court.
*'''Royal Guard''':[[File:Swiss Guard.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The richer your boss is, the uglier your uniforms are...]]A force of elite troops whose job is to protect the Monarch and their family from attack, usually with [[Musketeer|fancy uniforms]]. During the Middle Ages, the Royal Guard may be the only professional standing military unit in the whole country; on the one hand this gives the monarch some leverage when dealing with unruly nobles, but on the other hand the Royal Guard tends to be comparatively small and won’t be enough on its own to deal with a serious military threat. A prestigious position to be sure, but one that also has it's risks if the Royal Guard decide to play kingmaker; the Praetorian Guard of the Roman Empire was infamous for literally backstabbing the Emperor, sometimes for the highest bidder. That’s why some regimes opt for foreigners who had no ties to the local aristocracy, as was the case with the Byzantine’s Varangian Guard, or the Ottoman’s Janissary Corps.  The Swiss were so successful as mercenary guards that they eventually went exclusive to the Pope.
*'''Boons''': Do something notable and win the approval of a monarch and you might be given a Boon as a reward. Basically a blank check, ask something that a monarch can reasonably do and they'll make it happen. It can be a prosaic chest of gold or ennoblement and an estate with two hundred serfs, but it also might be the creation of an institution like a Royal School of Medicine, the backing of some endeavour like a trade mission across the ocean or a bit of legislation. Of course even an absolute monarch has limits in what they can do, but getting the crown on your side means you can easily do a lot.

===Legitimization===
A Monarch can't rule by force and fear alone. It's costly, wasteful, there's always someone who won't be intimidated, if the threat of violence fails to materialize the fear that cowed the populace can rapidly crystalize into hatred and a monarch still needs people to beat and scare people into line. A monarch can also buy the loyalty of those enforcing minions with money, food, housing, etc to follow their orders. But relying on wealth alone means that unscrupulous underlings will plot to usurp the throne, especially if pay is late. To ensure that their reign continues and their dynasty endures, Monarchs need something to convince people that their reign is the Right and Proper order of things. There are several ways to do so and most countries employ a mix...

*<u>Beneficence</u>: A Monarch provides wealth to worthy causes such as charity to the poor, assistance when disaster strikes and so forth. Obviously a Monarch who helps those in need out will be seen as a good thing by those who are or who have been down on their luck, especially when compared to a cruel miser. The same goes to those who use their wealth to build and maintain bridges, roads and other such useful things.
*<u>Justice</u>: A Monarch who is seen to settle disputes fairly, avoid unnecessary cruelty, properly deals with the corrupt and rights wrongs is usually seen as a positive thing. Creating uniform legal codes to replace centuries of outdated and confusing laws is one way for a King to streamline the legal system and make it more fair.
*<u>Pax</u>: The Monarch's Reign has brought peace, especially compared to the conflicts and turmoil which was the case before the rise of their dynasty.  A strong military or foreign policy that stops the threat of banditry and raids will give the peasants much-needed breathing room to help the kingdom's economy prosper, and normally leave them with more money as they don't have to worry about being attacked all the time.  In monarchies, peace is often bought through marriage, combining royal bloodlines and creating a personal union of nations; this can work very well when it unites groups that were already pretty similar.
*<u>Religion</u>: Either by claiming a measure of Divinity for yourself, holding key religious positions or by having religious institutions say that your rule is how the gods want it. In Medieval Times the Church said that the social order was divinely ordained and (with some exceptions, usually when the King repeatedly and majorly goes against the church) that disobedience to their Rightful Authority was not something god approved of. This eventually evolved into the Divine Right of Kings. Even so, a King may go the extra mile by building bigger and better places of worship, or by recovering holy artifacts and turning their capital into the religious center of the region, thereby bringing in pilgrims across and from outside the kingdom.
*<u>Tradition</u>: If this place has been a Monarchy for some time and especially if your Dynasty has reigned for a long while, you can claim that the rule of your line is the right and proper way of things and that attempting to change it would go against the ways of your people. With enough stability and good reputation, the citizenry will identify with the monarchy as part of its cultural heritage, even long after a particular monarchy has stopped having any real political power.
*<u>Culture</u>: A wealthy nation that actively promotes the arts and invests in talent can establish itself as a cultural centre to be envied and emulated. Not only does it keep the people happy, it can even cement your reign as your country's Golden Age of prosperity and cultural heritage. Future generations will seek to replicate the success of their Golden Age to legitimize themselves as well. It also helps that patronizing the arts gets you in the good graces of many artists, writers and intellectuals; it's not or nothing that Louis XIV put a lot of effort into being immortalized as the ''Sun King''.
*<u>Education</u>: A Monarch can afford to get the best education their kingdom can offer for their kids, especially the Heir Apparent. Numerous Tutors, each both wise in their fields and good at handling students and with access to all the works of history who can invest all their effort in helping them towards wisdom. The idea that the person destined to wield ultimate authority in a nation of millions has been trained since they could form a sentence to rule is in theory a solid justification as to why they should rule instead of Joe Schmo the shoemaker or Alice from Accounting. Of course it still takes two to tango and you can have a little shithead who'd neglects their lessons in favour of abusing servants for a larf.
*<u>Philosophy</u>: Learned individuals can be found who can articulate why Monarchy is the proper order of things. Once they emerge, promoting their essays, books and so forth can legitimize your rule to the masses. Since even the learned need to eat, your patronage on that front will produce lots of said treatises. The Philosopher-King was seen by Plato as the ideal ruler, seeing its closest form in the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. To this end, have your various channels of dissemination and religious authorities promote those ideas far and wide.
*<u>Censorship</u>: On the flip-side, eventually someone will write responses against the works justifying your rule while others will come up with arguments against your reign or even that (gasp) that Monarchy itself is not the best way to govern. In that case, forbidding the publishing of these seditious treaties or slanderous libel lets proper loyal modes of thought flourish without pernicious weeds of dissent spoiling the garden. 
*<u>Repression</u>: The next step from censorship is to establish a secret police force and crack down on republicans, reformers and revolutionaries. This of course can easily backfire; having a dozen democrats decapitated for spreading pamphlets saying that you are a cruel tyrant kind of proves their point. Beyond simply clubbing contrarians effective repression includes campaigns to discredit dissenters, manufacturing bogus chargers, shift blame and so forth.
*<u>Parliamentary Concession</u>: Sometimes the best thing a monarch can do if they want to keep their crown and a head to wear it with is to simply let at least a section of the common folk vote in representatives and have a say in government. It might lead to the degradation of their power in the long run, but at least the monarch and their descendants will be around to possess it.