Hainish Monarch

The Hainish Monarch is the ruler of the Kingdom of Hain and the leader of its noble houses. Whether the Monarch is a true authority or whether they are the first among equals of the nobility is an open question. Regardless, the Monarch is a person of great power, wealth, honor, and status. They symbolize the Kingdom and its nobles, and to challenge the Monarch's honor is to challenge the honor of every Hainish person.
The Monarch is the chief executive, war-leader, state representative, and master of edicts in Hain. They are almost always accompanied by a representative of each of the eight Elector-Princes, who act as advisors and servants of the Monarch. It is expected for the Monarch to work with these representatives as respected peers and elite servants, for they embody the monarch's relationship with their realm.
Despite the many limitations on the Monarch, their words and actions carry immense power. They are said to be a spiritual and symbolic guardian of the realm; their honor sustains the land and keeps it safe. It is the duty of any Hainish warrior to avenge any insult to the Monarch and to serve their interests loyally. Obviously, this duty is somewhat rhetorical. The upper nobility often squabble with the Monarch and even openly defy their will at times, despite rhetoric of loyalty and duty. But that is their princely privilege, not to be granted to the common, the heathen, or the foreign.

Appointment

Technically, anyone can be selected as the Monarch of Hain by the Royal Diet of the Eight Elector-Princes. In practice, it is exclusively someone from among the upper nobility who is chosen. For the last several centuries, only members of the Eight Elector-Prince dynasties have assumed the throne. Herzogs have been nominated during election discussions, but these candidates have never won. While no law exists barring commoners from being elected, nobility is assumed to be a requirement - any election of a commoner (by some miracle) would likely be challenged in court as a violation of common law and custom. The very notion of a pauper elected monarch is subject of Hainish comedies. Still, many a daydream has been had by lesser noble and commoner alike of being elected monarch.
The Royal Diet has two stages: the small council of the Electors, and the large diet of the greater nobility. Between two and eight nominees are selected by the Elector-Princes, who hold council at the start of the Diet. The Elector-Princes also have the opportunity to elect a Monarch through supermajority of their own Honor-based votes before it goes to the larger Diet. If the Elector-Counts fail to elect a Monarch, the issue goes to the broader Diet. The candidates must remain those chosen by the original Elector Council, but the greater landed nobility (Burgraves, Grafs, and Herzogs) are able to vote, with votes distributed by both rank and Honors. Given the enormous power the Electors have over this system, it is unsurprising that the crown has not escaped their ranks.
Royal Diets are a tense and fractitious process, full of intrigue and deal-making. The Princely dynasties can scheme and build alliances for years when the old Monarch reaches old age.
Official transfer of title occurs during the Monarch's coronation. For this coronation, all Eight Elector Princes (or their blood-relative representatives) must be present as well as the Archdruid. Each Prince swears an oath of fealty to the monarch, as the monarch swears an oath of protection and alliance to them. All princes and the archdruid give a blessing on the crown, but the Monarch chooses who among them gets to place it on their head.

Responsibilities

The Monarch is sworn to defend the realm, lead in times of war and crisis, and coordinate among the nobility to improve the realm.

Accoutrements & Equipment

The Monarch wears one of four royal crowns of Hain: there is the Coronation Crown, the Court Crown, the War Crown, and the Traveling Crown. Each of them is both gaudy and magical. 
Monarchs wear the Gilted Belt, which can rapidly summon and assemble armor of the Monarch's choice on command. They tend to have a number of items and outfits to go with this.
Symbols of the monarchy often carried at court include the Hainish royal scepter and the Scouringbreaker Sword.

Grounds for Removal/Dismissal

A unanimous vote of removal by the Royal Diet can legally negate the Monarch's power and summon them to a special replacement council. As the Monarch is typically from a family with a seat on the Diet, this has not happened in recent history - civil war is easily the more realistic option.

Notable Holders

King Zenalim Dezuren is the young king of Hain, a half-prism and son of the Elector-Prince of House Dezuren. Zenalim is imperious and sometimes arrogant, but seems to be skilled enough at administration to get away with it for the most part. More damaging than his arrogant attitude and defensiveness around status is his fear and discomfort around violence - he is happy to make battle-plans, rattle his saber, or order an execution, but panics quickly and acts foolishly if that violence begins to involve him. Some whisper that his honors earned fighting bandits and securing the Southern marchlands were done entirely from behind a desk, and that the man swordfights like squire. This, combined with his youth, has severely impacted his legitimacy - it is not entirely wrong to say that he was handed the crown by his father, and that his ascendance is a culmination of everything wrong with the electoral system.
While it is true that Zenalim is a novice with more book smarts than experience in most fields, he is an experienced political operator with a keen eye for intrigue. He has been recently turning his focus towards isolating and humiliating the Prince-Elector Yamar of the Geinmen family, who he has a personal grudge towards after Yamar dragged his failures as a swordsmen into the public eye during the 2016 election. Zenalim does have one major weakness as a politician, though - he is prone to completely discounting non-nobles as court actors with their own agendas.
Whether Zenalim is a spoiled brat who will drive the kingdom to ruin, or an insecure genius with a long reign of growth ahead of him, the young king will likely rule for many years unless House Dezuren loses so much ground that the Electors can force him to abdicate.

Type

Royalty, Non-hereditary

Form of Address

Your Majesty

Related Locations

• Ozaren

Related Organizations

• The Kingdom of Hain