Emperor
by Duke Grendel of Hús Vetra Skald
Contents:
Regent
Selecting the right regent is important. After all, you'll be spending six months together. It is important that you be friends and share some interests. You should complement each other's style. You and your co-pilot will be responsible for providing the Iron Mountains with a reign worthy of her majesty.
You do not need a lapdog or a yes-man. Your regent must express himself or herself and stand for what they believe in, though not be so independent that they refuse to compromise or be flexible. As a consultant your regent should be honest and perceptive, it will be their job to provide you with support, perspective, and guidance when necessary.
The regent's responsibilities involve organization and behind the scenes work. Your regent is responsible for the promotion of the Arts and Sciences for the Empire. To have a great run your regent will need to establish and fulfill many goals throughout the time line of your reign.
When you struggle your regent should motivate you, and vice versa. The relationship between you and your regent will be reflected to the people, so enjoy yourselves throughout these next six months, your excitement is contagious!
Theme Or No Theme?
You can choose to have an ongoing theme to your reign or not, to any extent you choose. Some reign-long themes from the past in the IM include "Harry Potter," "Viking" and "Good VS Evil." There have been theme-based Arts and Sciences tourneys and theme based courts.
The benefit to themes is the unifying order they can bring to a reign. Everyone can get involved and focus on the theme when it's well organized and motivated. A fresh exciting theme can provide the exuberant direction and renew the energies of the jaded. A theme-heavy reign can also run the risk of putting some of your people off if you don't put your heart into it. It will be up to you to motivate and excite the Iron Mountains into playing! This can be as simple as getting a few people involved: as more and more of the populace take up the theme the energy will spread, without support from you and without support from the people the theme can wither. Doubters may offer their opinions to you, use the feedback that is productive if it feels right for you, but don't let a few complainers undermine the enjoyment of the majority.