Sharan monarchy

The Sharan monarchy have two titles, Sh'boan and Sh'botay, that they call their rulers depending of the gender of the sitting monarch.

When a woman rules Shara, she is called Sh'boan. She has a consort and rules the land for seven years. At the end of her rule, she dies and her consort, now called Sh'botay, rules and chooses a consort for himself. This cycle has repeated itself every seven years since the Breaking of the World, and it is believed that the first of these rulers was male, a Sh'botay. It is publicly unknown how the deaths of each monarch happen, and Sharans have been taught to believe that they occur due to the "Will of the Pattern." In reality the monarchs are terminated covertly by the Ayyad, the female channelers of Shara who are the real power of that country.

In 999 NE, the ruling Sh'boan was Chiape, who had newly been widowed after the death of the previous Sh'botay. She was about to marry Shaofan, but both of them were kidnapped by Graendal, plunging Shara into chaos. It was the first time in millennia that the line of spousal succession was broken.