The Beaked King

(Return to Index of Gods and Spirits)

The Beaked King represents to mortals in his godhood what he represented to the spirits of the Court during their rise: power, ambition, and cunning, but also duty and selflessness, the power to unify and rally those under his influence to a higher cause. By the same token, he is one who will fight to the end to further his aims or beliefs; he represents the roots of war as much as its fighting. To some the Beaked King is the tyrant with the fist of iron and boot of steel, to others the young face of the revolutionary who smashes chains with the pure idea of freedom. To all, they are the great and terrible song which each and every civilized being sings, that raised them from caves to the stars.

Origin and Mythology

Many aeons ago when the universe was yet young, the Beaked King was born a masked spirit of the Court of a Thousand Paths. Ambition, cunning, and guile are the currency of that divine court, and these things the Beaked King mastered quickly. But he also bore the power to inspire, the will to lead, and virtue of honesty, and these led him to climb the ranks of the Court. With their rise, their power grew like no courtier before or since, and soon he sat eye to eye with the Ambassador himself. When the divine turmoil of the Beacon’s supernova shook the world of the gods to its core, the Beaked King rallied the Court around him and broke the arcane ties binding him to the Two-Faced Ambassador, allowing them to take their place amongst the gods.

Cult, Rites, and Veneration

The Beaked King is generally venerated by those seeking advantage in interpersonal matters - these individuals will typically offer luxury goods at shrines or temples. Just as common as seeking the Beaked King's blessing in personal matters is seeking that the King not favor one’s peers or opponents, or to shield oneself or another from the excesses of their domain.

Perhaps the most regular supplicants to the Beaked King are soldiers and military folk - elaborate shrines are frequently a part of both permanent and mobile military headquarters and camps. Although not unique to military folk, many martial traditions of reverence to the Beaked King prominently feature bodily modification - the more pedestrian focusing on tattoos, the more extreme including self-mutilation, such as the removal of fingers or toes, or ritual scarring. Such traditions are often seen as barbaric, but nevertheless persist even amongst the ranks of the most “civilized” armed forces.

Cant of the Beaked King

Watcher of the Proceeds, watcher of the Court

Court of the Beaked King, in which all things begin and all things end

a cripple, unrestricted; in all things manifest.

Don the mask of the Beaked King

Don the crown of the Beaked King

Don the garments of the Beaked King

and so proclaim yourself emperor of its Court.

Climb that great mountain, that mountain of the Beaked King

Heft that great gate, that gate of the Beaked King

Humor that great fool, that fool of the Beaked King

and so proclaim yourself emperor of its Court.

And in doing so, take the Beaked King unto oneself

as the Beaked King takes you unto itself

Claim the scepter of the Beaked King

and so proclaim yourself emperor of your Court.

Toil, toil, in the name of the Beaked King

Toil, toil, for the name of the Beaked King

Toil, toil, by the name of the Beaked King

and so proclaim the greatness of your Court.

Toil, toil, in the mask of the Beaked King

Toil, toil, in the crown of the Beaked King

Toil, toil, in the garments of the Beaked King

and so proclaim the greatness of your Court.

Toil, toil, atop the mountain of the Beaked King

Toil, toil, behind the gate of the Beaked King

Toil, toil, alongside the fool of the Beaked King

and so proclaim the greatness of its Court.

See that the world struggles on beneath you

See that the ants toil endlessly without you

See that the Court argues endlessly beneath you

See that the world struggles on above you

See that the ants climb endlessly without you

See that the Court spirals from your grasp

and so become Emperor of the Court.

See the truth spoken by the recursive lie

See the face that lies beneath the mask, a mask

See the face that speaks without a head

See you cannot stand, for the ground is water

See you cannot sit, for the air is stone

See you cannot see, for your burden is light

and so become Emperor of the Court.

Lose your strength, borrowed from the Court

Lose your sight, borrowed from the Court

Lose your shackles, borrowed from the Court

Lose your mask, borrowed from the Court

Lose your crown, borrowed from the Court

Lose your garments, borrowed from the Court

The Beaked King is dead

Long live the Beaked King.