What's a cool reason to have a ruler or other person of power constantly wear a mask?

Because if someone pulled it off, it would be extremely painful

>It's an extremelly ritualized society in wich the leader's actual identity doesn't matter, only their "plan".

For a twist on what other people have said - many people, one mask:

The ruler is just a single person. However, they frequently change masks to create the 'political fiction' that they are different people, rather than acknowledging that they have changed policies.

"A policy of nonaggression with the North? That was my predecessor, the Ice King. I am the Green Lord - you can tell by my mask - and I have always wished the North to be brought to heel."

The Mask is an ancient artefact worn by rulers of the kingdom from beginning of time an is impossible to forge. Whoever has The Mask is considered the king, his social status doesn't matter. Assassination of kings is perfectly normal, although the ruler can use all the kingdom's resources to protect themselves. The catch is they are expected to wear The Mask and act as a king only during public events and important meetings. Outside of them they can have normal lives without anyone knowing that they have The Mask an are the king. Therefore the conspirators are never certain who is the king at the moment and who to assassinate or steal The Mask from.

It is their face.

What's the source of the pic? I remember reading it before, but I forgot what it was called.

Nobody would care who they were otherwise.

They look really spooky under it.

/thread

>The ruler a single person with an extreme case of Dissociative Identity Disorder, who genuinely believes himself to be upwards of a dozen different people
>Anyone who has actually pointed this out has been subtly disposed of by the factions of the court who have noted that, while the man is crazier than a rabid hobo on cocaine, he is still exceptionally good at running a country
>Nonetheless, meetings of the Senate are a sight to behold

They're eccentric and believe that the mask stops the peasants from stealing their soul

Google search led me to a manga named el hazard

Might be kissmanga.com/Manga/Stravaganza-Isai-no-Hime

That's the one! Thank you!

Their head is actually a gourd. Their real head was stolen by a bat-monster, and to keep appearances they have concocted a story about an unfortunate accident in the royal garden. To this day they secretly hire adventurer parties and conscripted criminals to hunt down the bat-monster.

they're gay

Because multiple different people play the part of the great ruler where one person could not.

They're a shapeshifter that took the place of the real king, but now don't quite remember anymore what he looked like.

After the tragic death of his father, a young, kindhearted and sensitive young prince inherits the throne. This new king tries to rule kindly, to respect his subjects, to ensure everyone has enough food, to maintain friendly trade relations with his neighbors, to reduce crime and in all ways make his realm a better place to live for everyone. He eventually learns that it's not so easy. He learns severe crimes require severe punishment, that his neighbors will not give him peace purely because he asked nicely, that in times of famine certain regions and classes need to be prioritized in distribution of food while others have to stare purely for being of the wrong rank or in the wrong place. He realizes that being a ruler, by its very nature, demands a degree of cruelty and unfeeling.

Unable to fully accept this, the sensitive and kindhearted king starts wearing a mask. It's mostly a psychological aid: by wearing the mask, he becomes a different and faceless person that does not make decisions as a human being, but as a "force", unified with the entity of the kingdom itself. He does not do this out of cowardice or to rid himself of the responsibility of his actions, he does this to preserve the innocent man behind the mask.

Oh, I like this!

>it's actually many people in one body
>mask is to make it less upsetting when s/he speaks with multitude of voices

>king or queen starts wearing mask because reasons
>court follows suit
>now every position has a different mask
>wear a mask and suddenly you are minister of defence
>go out without mask and be part of the maskless servants

>what's a cool reason to
I smell bad GMing here..

The person isn't anyone important. The ruler is the intelligent magical mask.

They think the mask looks cool

>The king starts wearing a powdered wig because he's growing bald
>Court follows suit
>Now every position of power has a powdered wig
>Wear a wig and you're suddenly respectable
>Go out without a wig and you're a pleb

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

joke's on you I'm not even GMing anything

This. A ruler is expected to discard their identity and sever all connections to their life before to dedicate themselves to the realm.

Religious reasons. Like with the Protectorate of Menoth in the Iron Kingdoms setting.

Because everyone wears masks!

I'm actually impressed no one has mentioned Orlais from Dragon Age.
It's a cultural thing, much like the right clothes sends a message, so does the right mask. As well as each face signifies a certain personality trait.

There's never going to be a good reason for a person in authority to wear a mask at all times, because it would be difficult to ascertain that person's identity, which is kind of important.

Probably because everyone dropped DA after the garbage that was DA2.

Also the society of people wearing masks was another thing Bioware ripped off from Star Control.

Because DAI was terrible and everyone quit before they got out of the first area.

same reason a queen might have face paint
so you can have a servant pretend to be you and prevent assassination

Reminds me about a thread years back about a village of people who all wore suits of armor all the time. It was cute, they all had different styles of armor for their jobs and so forth.

Pretty much this.

Lets combine these.

It's been tradition for centuries. The tradition was started by a much loved king after he contracted leprosy. Although he recovered from the leprosy it left him hideously disfigured.

So as not to disgust foreign dignitaries or his own people he started wearing an iron mask coated in a mixture of silver and gold without further ornamentation.

That particular king never produced an heir and was the end of the male line of that family as he had only sisters and they had only daughters. So he nominated his heir and a new tradition of royal succession was started.

Now all kings wear the Royal Mask rather than a crown.

Back in the old days they would heat the mask so as you would become as disfigured as the original wearer and symbolically burn away your old identity and allegiances to serve the kingdom as a whole rather than your old house or tribe. That tradition has fallen out of favour.

Impersonating the king or making replicas of the mask is the sort of offence that gets you branded and exiled if you are lucky.

In Forgotten Realms (yes yes I know) The 21 Lords who rule Waterdeep as a council are known as the Masked Lords. 20 go masked and their identities are unknown, attempting to reveal or discern their identities or to impersonate them by dress or claim is punishable by *immediate* execution.

The 21st lord is the 'Open Lord', his face and identity are known. He speaks for the Masked Lords publically, and there is only one at any time. They become the literal 'face' of the Masked Lords. The Open Lord throughout the 1300's (Dale Reckoning) was Piergeiron the Paladinson. Who was himself a Paladin. A Level 17 Paladin. His Bodyguard was Madeiron Sunderstone, a level 15 Paladin.

Basically what i'm saying is if you were Evil in Waterdeep you were pretty fucked. Probably why Skull Port existed.

>They have a disfiguring injury or illness
>It's a badge of office
>It's enchanted with heavy protective magic

its the kings brother. the original king had burn-marks in his face he got while slaying the dragon.

His followers were a bit confused about the sudden vanity of their king.

It carries the mind and soul of all those that have put on the mask before, they guide (or control) whoever has it now

Frankly I like this idea. Combines pragmatism with ritual. Because a continuity of succession was lacking by blood, the King was instead nominated by the King themselves and then ratified by a council of the nobility in secret. This practice continues, with many heirs not even knowing they ARE the heir or are being trained to be so until the king themself informs them, possibly not long before coronation depending when it's done. All that is publically known is that the new King is chosen from among the most worthy, and that *anyone* could potentially become the next king (of course no one really expects it could be a commoner or such nonsense, but folktales of such keep the peasantry happy)

This means 1. The Kings children will compete to be the best.

2. It de-incentives assassinating their siblings because they could ALREADY be the heir, or it might be someone not related to them. It could be their fucking page. They don't know, unless either the King or the ratifying nobles fuck it up by telling them.

3. It makes it impossible to curry favour with the heir apparent before they become king or otherwise try to manipulate them.

Of course potential for abuse or exploitation exists, especially by the king or the ratifying nobles who can fuck up the whole thing. But thats the stuff game plots are made of so 'scool.

the Mask IS the King. Its containing a spirit and chooses a new Host every 50 years. Sadly, the old hosts die , but for the people in the empire, it is an honor to sacrifice ones life for the ethereal King.

Of course the identity of the next king is revealed when they are crowned/masked, and supported by the ratifying nobles and the old king themselves if still alive. This system breaks down due to it's own inherent secrecy if one of the nobles involved is corrupt or gaming the system for their own benefit. I can also forsee ferocious back room politics as the king and nobles fight over who will become successor, and exchange favours for votes.

Elective monarchies were a thing in the past. For example Hungarian nobility chose their king when the old one passed.

You're a big guy

The mask whispers secrets to them.

Leprosy is a pretty good reason.

It just happens. Whenever the ruler does anything ruker-y, a mask coalesces on their face.
It's incredibly freaky and the entire court is spooked by it but nothing else seems to happen other than the ruler looks fancy.
The court mage and a couple high priests are flummoxed as to why it happens, though they will happily babble about magical jargon for half an hour that can be summarised with "pretty sure it's magical or some shit".

The Party, in addition to whatever else the ruler of a nation might have for them to do, mentions if they can solve the mystery of the mask with any knowledge they have found in their travels, they'd be most grateful.

It works out quite well that the kings chosen heir has to have the iron mask burned onto his face, perhaps he wouldn't chose his own children just to spare them the pain?

ACK-ACK-ACK

The ruler is meant to be a figure and not a person, surrendering their identity to the role they must play. They wear a mask and are only referred to by their title.

There will be no glory, no recognition, no one will ever thank them for what they have done, theirs is a silent anonymous task which must be done for its own sake, and not for their own.

It also allows the ruler to remove the mask and dress in common clothing to go among their people without being recognized.

Gonna steal some elder scrolls lore here.

>Masque of Clavicus Vile
>The best known story of the Masque tells the tale of Avalea, a noblewoman of some renown. As a young girl, she was grossly disfigured by a spiteful servant. Avalea made a dark deal with Clavicus Vile and received the Masque in return. Though the Masque did not change her looks, suddenly she had the respect and admiration of everyone. A year and a day after her marriage to a well connected baron, Clavicus Vile reclaimed the Masque. Although pregnant with his child, Avalea was banished from the Baron's household. Twenty one years and one day later, Avalea's daughter claimed her vengeance by slaying the Baron.

Man thats some bad acne

It's syphilis, user

The "Crown" comes with/is actually a mask.

Assassination attempts from other nobles.

Magic curse/some power from the mask

They're headless.

The king is a fiction of political convenience for dealing with foreign nations and certain domestic political elements. The king is in fact an illuminati-esque organization of elites who manipulate the country through political and economic means. The mask passes between the members most suited for dealing with any given individual - any given visitor to court will probably have been dealt with by a member in a non-king context, so a specific member will usually have greater insight into the person. That person will use his experience to gain an edge in negotiations.

Felt nothing for her death

When one enters into power, one must sometimes make choices that offend the gods for the good of the nation. The ruler hides their true face so that the gods may not judge them for their stewardship.

I did something similar in my setting, where the Royal Crown is the spirit of the first king, who has godlike power but was bound to the crown itself, and it possesses whoever is the rightful heir and takes control of them.

the "rightful heir" tends to be the person who is easiest to control and mold.

A warring ruler
His armor is his royal garb
His helm is his crown
A blood soaked blade is his scepter
A warhorse is his throne
The battlefield is his kingdom

Vampirism
Also wear full-body clothing in general

Operatic singing

No reason.
It ALWAYS comes off as edgy bullshit

One of the setting's major villains is their identical twin.

There's a couple variations on a prince-and-the-pauper type thing

>The ruler hates ruling and decides to leave the job to a talented commoner. Unlike the Prince and the Pauper, they don't look anything alike, but their voices sound similar, so the commoner wears a mask under the pretense of it being one of the ruler's eccentricities.

>The ruler is actually softhearted and sensitive, and uses the mask to maintain the facade of a stern, stoic ruler. At night they go out without the mask to socialize with the populace incognito.

Same with Caesar's olive wreath

It's stuck to their face.

Yeah Facade 2 was probably the weakest part of the game for me.

religious tradition

cancer

The one problem with systems like this is that it makes it very easy to usurp the throne. When you teach people to respect the throne and not the ruler then stabbing the dude on the throne and sitting there yourself suddenly looks legitimate.

This is why hereditary systems are so durable. Even if you kill the king people don't recognize your legitimacy because the rules of who gets to be king next are rigidly defined and not governed simply by who is wearing the crown (or mask).

So the court can't read her reactions to their words so easily, making her seem more powerful.

In Thorgal the alien aryan overlord that is also thorgals dad had to wear a helmet to enhance his psychic powers so that he could rule as a god over the lesser races in south america and build a spaceship.

Source of the pic?

I think it's just good makeup.

The mask represents their official face, so to speak. When the ruler wears the mask, they speak as nothing but a ruler, when the mask is off, they are a person again.

So, for example, the ruler could show up at a party, and if he's unmasked, that's a sign to everyone that he's not here officially. While they still need to pay him respect, all the more traditional social rules don't need to be followed, no excessive bowing, no constant use of his title, things like that.

The ruler, on the same note, wouldn't be forced into acting as a ruler for the duration. While he still needs to keep a regal bearing, he wouldn't be forced to act on every little thing that requires his attention or demands his time. It would, for example, be considered a serious social faux pas to approach him about serious business while his mask is off.

This allows the ruler some more leeway in how he acts in a lot of situations while still keeping his power. The reality wouldn't be quite so easy, politics being politics, but there would be a clear shifting of gears between "Need to act incredibly officially" and "Can actually be a little laid back".

...

Its enchanted, probably to cover up any low stats the ruler has.
Enchanting their whole wardrobe would cost too much and enchanted jewelry is soooo cliche, totally beneath the consideration of a modern monarch. A good ruler needs to be at the height of fashion as well as civilization, so they need something that will make them stand out. Something like a sexy and mysterious magic mask!

The king is long dead and the royal servants couldn't tell that to anyone.
So he is now a walking armor with his soul bound to it.
His final quest is finding his replacement and avenging him by killing the royal cleric/necromancer.

So they can walk around like a normal person if they want to.

Because the person in question thinks it looks cool.

It's disrespectful to look upon her face. So she wears a mask when others are around since nobody is worthy.

A group of evil cultists who rule the land all wear matching red masks to keep their identities secret, and to represent their group and make sure everyone knows one when they see it and fears them accordingly. A symbol of fear and oppression to most.

He's a lich and is vain, doesn't want anyone to see his vile face.

Everyone is a clone, they wear masks to give themselves a visual identity. The more ornate the mask the higher the social status of the wearer.

1. To hide an identity, perhaps they're wanted, perhaps they don't want to be held accountable for what they do with the mask on.

2. It commands more fear, respect, attention, and reputation. It makes you more significant in people's memories. It makes you less human, as if you were something higher than that.

Or you could be like Bane or Darth Vader, needing it to survive.

"The King is always worshiped as an eternal benefactor and ruler of the land."

The mask is to hide his aging facade and to pass it on to his heir who will continue on the king's "eternal" legacy.

Frankly, the people know the king gets old. But they also realize that the mask is just as synonymous to a crown now and that its more romanticized for them to imagine that behind the mask is always a young and just ruler instead of a shriveled old codger.

Tradition
The mask is a symbol of power
The mask is a religious symbol
The mask is a symbol of wealth
The ruler is deformed
The ruler is ugly
The ruler is shy
It's used to hide the expressions of the ruler in negotiations

?

For him.

This one is good. What's a Char though?

I had an idea kind of like this. A ruler wearing a mask and the government itself being joke-themed.