King of Long

King Priyama is the current ruler of the Kingdom of Long and the seventh king of the Varanus dynasty. In the year FD 5, the King is 65 years old.

In contrast to the King of Hu who is a "warrior king," Priyama is a sedentary potentate. In his 60th year, when Priyama inaugurated the era of Filial Devotion, the king began to step back from presiding over the kingdom's political, economic and military endeavors and to leave ordinary administration of the kingdom in the hands of his older sons (Priyama has twenty sons) such as the First Prince of Long. The princes nevertheless meet with their father regularly and seek his counsel regarding the most serious and large-scale matters of state; despite his "retirement" from administration, the King is still the ultimate decision maker.

While the King is no longer heavily involved in administration of the kingdom, he continues to perform ceremonial and ritual duties. In doing so, the King has embraced the spiritual and hermetic. For example, the king sits daily on his throne facing south in order to radiate prosperity and tranquility for the benefit of his kingdom. The king has also composed special glyphs (such as those used in royal communications to represent "Filial Devotion") with the idea that these can instill contentment in his subjects. There is some precedent for this type of mystical kingship in the later stage of an older king's reign--of renunciation for spiritual pursuits. The king fathered twenty sons, but now he is celibate.

Long Kingship

The King of Long is almost universally considered the most powerful man in the two kingdoms. In recent military campaigns the goal of the Hu king is to have himself recognized as King of Long. The terms "Dragon Throne" is used as a metonym to refer to the kingship or the Long central government.