TEXT: 
  Chivalric Tragedy at the Utmost North
  By Ben Lehman
  Star Light Star Bright Edition
  
  There is nothing left.
  There are no artifacts.
  There are no stories.
  There is no history,
  not even in secret.
  There are most especially no games.
  Polaris: Chivalric Tragedy at Utmost North
  Copyright Anno Domini MMV-MMIX
  by Ben Lehman in Nostalgia Studio
  This is our game.
  The Polaris title typeface is Charlemagne; Carolina 
  is the subtitle. The book’s interior is set in the elegant 
  Centaur typeface family. Decorative elements are Ce-
  lestia Antigua Ornaments. Design and layout was 
  done with Adobe Creative Suite by Matt Snyder with 
  additional work by Ben Lehman.
  Editing was done with a pen and paper by Rich Forest
  All illustrations are by Boris Artzybasheff,
  from the book The Wondersmith and his Son by Ella Young
  Star Light Star Bright edition 
  Version 1.0, AD MMIX
  For my mother, my father, and my brother
  All of whom will save the world
  
  
  
  5
  This, on The 5Th page, is The Table of ConTenTs
  Here there are rumors
  On the 7th page there are Moments Frozen From the Flow of Time
  On the 9th page it is described as it was 
  On the 12th page it is described as it came to pass 
  On the 18th page it is described as it is 
  On the 27th page it is described as it is told 
  On the 28th page there is what matters in the end 
  Here there are rules
  On the 33rd page there is the introduction 
  On the 40th page, the protagonists are described 
  On the 55th page, we discuss the structure of the game 
  On the 68th page, we discuss conflict 
  On the 82nd page, we discuss tragic endings 
  Here there are appendices
  On the 91st page is the first appendix, variant rules 
  On the 94th page is the second appendix, example aspects 
  On the 114th page lies the third appendix, the ludography 
  On the 119th page I embarrass myself with thanks 
  On the 120th there are advertisements
  Here there are play materials
   On the 126th page there is a list of star names 
   On the 137th page there is the key phrases reference sheet 
   On the 138th page there is a protagonist record sheet
  
  7
  Moments Frozen From the Flow of Time —
  O
  nce upon a time, as far north as north can go, there lived 
  the greatest people that this world will ever know. We 
  cannot look upon them as they were, but we can understand 
  them as they die, melting like a snowflake in the sun.
  For those people are gone now, destroyed just as the world 
  destroys all beautiful things. All that remains are these moments 
  we call memories, moments frozen from the flow of time.
  Behold …
   a beauTiful girl, alone in a waste of ice, stares into a glowing 
  starlit city. Her face is expressionless, but the snow falling from her 
  lips betrays her envy.
   his blood drips from an alien flower that he cannot bear to hold, 
  while his sister cradles her own hand and waits, not quite crying, for 
  the knife.
   in suCh a blizzard, you can only see them by the light of their 
  swords.
   WiTh a single gesTure and a single note from her single song, 
  the flesh tears off the corrupt senators, exposing the worms squirming 
  beneath.
   danCing ThiCk on an iCiCle floor, a thousand couples 
  stop in time, staring through a rainbow glass at glowing edge of dawn, 
  just appearing on the horizon.
   enrapTured, he does not see its claws.
   sWords Clash at the edge of a glacial ravine, one pale and singing 
  like starlight, one hot and burning like the sun. Our knight looks up 
  into his opponent’s frozen and fiery eyes to recognize his brother.
   in a CrypT of sleeping knighTs, she leans over a fallen 
  warrior, betrayed by his own compatriots. “Hush…”
   she whispers, 
  and kisses him gently as he turns to ice.
   WiTh only a momenT’s hesiTaTion, she drives her sword 
  into her lover’s heart. “Forgive me,”
   he says, and toasts her as he dies.
  This is no longer a history; this is not yet a story. This is all 
  that remains. Whatever else is what you make of it.
  
  9
  As it was —
  The People
  Once upon a time, before knights fought with demons, 
  before battle, before war, and before the sun, there was a 
  great city at the top of the world. Built of ice and starlight, 
  full of elegant palaces, shimmering statues, it was home to a 
  people whose splendor we are not given to understand. Clad 
  in starlight and snowflakes, they lived a life of bliss, eating 
  thin delicacies, toasting each other with wine made from the 
  night, and loving each other like the sea beneath the ice. They 
  named their city Polaris, for it stood atop the world like that 
  guardian star stood atop the sky.
  It was an enchanted age, that single night. The stars spun at 
  their command and drew rainbows through the ice, painting 
  the air in red and blue and white and shadow. Between the star-
  shadows, the people danced with the stars, each other, to the 
  tunes of the empyrean. And in the dances they smiled, for the 
  stars were beautiful, they themselves were beautiful, and their 
  queen was most beautiful of all.
  The people in that age did not yet measure time, for they did 
  not yet know fear. Who can say how long it lasted? Perhaps it 
  was merely a moment, melting away as breath melts a snowflake, 
  passing even as it was born. Perhaps it was forever until it ended. 
  Does it matter, or is the thing the memory that lingers?
  Their King
  Amongst them, there was a man and yet, above them, he was 
  their king. Learned in both the oldest lore and the utmost 
  courtesy, the grace of his judgment and the wit of his law was 
  admired by all amongst the people, from the highest ministers 
  to the lowest dancers and entertainers. There were those poets 
  amongst them that excelled at their craft such that you would 
  go deaf to hear their art; there were those sculptors amongst 
  them that excelled at their marks such that you would tremble 
  with ecstasy to touch their work; there were those knights 
  amongst them that excelled at their quests such that you would 
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  cower in fear even to hear once of their bravery; but there were 
  none amongst them that excelled at their professions as much 
  as their king excelled at his kingship. Every word, every action, 
  every breath, he was his people. He was their justice, their law, 
  the nature of their love. He was everything that each one of 
  them wished in their darkest hearts, with wishes thick and 
  pungent with the smell of dreams, that they might become.
  And so it was natural that they named him Polaris, for he 
  ruled over them as their city stood atop the world, and their 
  guardian star shone above the sky.
  His Queen
  With him, there was a girl and yet, beside him, she was his 
  queen. Stark and quiet, with a laugh rare like blue starlight, she 
  held breath in her eyes — and such a smile! — to look upon 
  her was to love her, and love her the people did, but Polaris 
  loved her most of all. She darted in and through his life, a wink 
  here, a note here, and a soft word of love whispered quiet and 
  private right within his court, easing the weight of his crown 
  with a single effortless touch, never close enough to strain or 
  tire, but never, never, never far away.
  She was a queen and a princess, born of stars and night, 
  careful and carefree, each single sign unpracticed through long 
  study. She was so much his queen, so much devoted to him, 
  and love between them so clearly apparent that, even during 
  their courtship, there were none amongst the people who 
  called her anything but Polaris’s Queen, Lady of Snow and 
  Star, Maiden of the Highest City. Or, perhaps, if they were 
  close companions and friends of her family, the Snow Queen. 
  No one remembered her name.
  Her Knights
  Such a treasure, she was, that queen, such a treasure — the 
  greatest amongst a city of treasures, the greatest treasure that 
  her people had ever possessed — that she could not have 
  been left without her guardians. Not one amongst the people 
  would ever have harmed her, not even the mounts, not even the 
  crevasses, not even the sky itself, but still, her husband gave her 
  not just a single warrior, but a whole order. For the people, they 
  were soldiers and yet, in her honor, they were Knights.
  Each one of them loved her, of course, for it was not in their 
  power to to resist her grace. Each one of them would have 
  thought a thousand wars at her request, and not a one would 
  have died in the attempt, but each one of them would have 
  died for a smile. They were brave and elegant like footprints 
  in the snow. Surpassing in art, they trained constantly for her 
  defense, singing their war-songs to each other like the tides at 
  the edge of the world. The people were cold and kind, yes, cold 
  and kind, but where the people had leisure, her knights had 
  purpose, and that made them mighty, bright like the stars that 
  burn their holes in the sky. She was the only thing that could 
  have broken their will, and they would have loved her all the 
  more for that.
  There was one amongst them. who was greater than the 
  rest. He was not the strongest, nor the bravest, nor the most 
  beautiful as soft light fell from his lips in poetry, but he was 
  the greatest in his love for her. He was their captain, and they 
  named him Algol, for his star was red and beat a hot, slow 
  rhythm against the black skin of the sky.
  
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  As it came to pass —
  The Dawn
  Could that night have been forever? Was it some error, or 
  some choice, that summoned a rosy temptation into their 
  history? Were those people lax, or failing, or unlucky in some 
  way? Or was it merely the turning wheel of fate?
  We cannot know why it came, or what could have been if it 
  had not. We can only know that the sightings began with the 
  artists. One and one they saw it, only fleeting and irregular, 
  that light coming up from the edge of the sky, colors redder 
  than stars, new shades that had never been seen, yellow and 
  green and golden through the icicle walls, burning out the stars 
  from the sky, brilliant and impossible and beautiful and alien. 
  They spoke of it, they wrote of it, they drew on it and sung its 
  cacaphonies into the air. At first it was thought to be madness, 
  that particular sort of gentle madness, for it struck at the very 
  best of them, and those that are the very best are shrouded in 
  cloth and the dark heart of dreams. But if it was madness, it 
  was a madness that spread, for more people saw, and more, so 
  that by the time it reached the highest, Polaris himself, it had 
  already been given a name. Because it was new, they called it 
  beautiful. Because it was new, they called it the Dawn.
  The king saw it then, and saw it, and for the second time 
  in his life cried for beauty. And so it was that when the sages 
  discovered that the coming Dawn could be tracked, he ordered 
  the construction of a great calendar, that he might know its 
  comings and prepare them. The calendar’s thrummings and 
  clicking clackings filled the halls of Polaris, and black smoke 
  smudged across the whirling sky, and his people knew for the 
  first time a thing that was not beautiful.
  At those rare moments and in preparation for them, the 
  king began to hold court in the highest towers of the city, and 
  during the Dawn’s light they did not eat or drink or sing or 
  even dance, but instead sat, motionless, watching that heavy, 
  steady star suffuse the sky with its gaudy colors. And Dawn 
  came longer, each time longer, and the king said that it was 
  because the Dawn was pleased with them, pleased with their 
  calendar and its master. Soon, the Dawn dominated the sky, 
  and the king and his court sat endlessly in a solitary tower, 
  watching that vacant light circle silently around the edge of 
  the sky.
  The musicians that saw the Dawn would only draw from it 
  a long, hideous scream, but no one paid them any heed. Music 
  was out of style at the court.
  The Pact
  But hope was not yet lost, for there were some amongst the 
  people that did not love the dawn. First among them was the 
  Snow Queen, Polaris’s bride herself, and second only to her was 
  Algol, her champion. In the safest, deepest, darkest hallways of 
  Polaris, where that baleful alien light could not see their faces 
  or hear their hearts, they held their own shadow court, where 
  they spoke of the screeching of the musicians, the slow, soft, 
  unrelenting melt that had set in at outermost parts of the city, 
  the odd trances of the royal court, and many other things. It 
  was there that they each swore ancient oaths by the highest star, 
  oaths to stop the dawn’s fell influence.
  Each of the queen’s guardians took that oath, each of them 
  on his own, and that, it is said, was the origin of the Knights of 
  the Order of the Stars — each alone, wretched, huddled in deep 
  darkness like wild spiders, fearful of that celestial that they could 
  not understand. The first to swear against it was Algol, and it 
  was because he always wore his sword, even at the most decorous 
  occasions, that the sword was chosen as their symbol.
  It is said that that first oath was sealed with a kiss in the 
  most ancient manner. And some say that was the beginning 
  of the Mistake.
  The Mistake
  Beneath the light of the highest star, the Mistake festers like a 
  neglected apology, giving witness to the arrogance of the past just 
  as the demons it spawns give the promise of doom to the future.
  Many stories are told about the Mistake, its nature, its origins, 
  
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  and its history. Some say that it has always been there — that 
  the time of Polaris and the dancing stars is simply a myth for 
  children. Others say that it is not there at all — that it is merely 
  an illusion created by the summer sun. But most say that it was 
  done, and that it was done by the people, and so they must take 
  up the blame for their own doom. No one among the people 
  knows the truth. The histories, if there ever were histories, have 
  been lost. Although the libraries list books on the subject, they 
  are filled with ashes and not with words.
  No one knows the truth, but everyone knows that before the 
  Mistake, their city was perfect, their sky was dark, and the people 
  had no fear, and that now, their city is left a smoking crater, their 
  sky is lit by the brilliant sun and haunted by a ghostly moon, and 
  the people have learned horror, terror, and ten thousand other 
  ravages of time.
  Such knowledge cannot be born without some excuse, some 
  meaning, some explanation. And so it is that the people have 
  made their own stories of how it came to pass.
  Adultery and Blasphemy
  There are those people who say that, with the founding 
  of the Order and the conspiracy against the dawn, the Snow 
  Queen and Algol drew closer and closer together, until they 
  became lovers. As the great affection between the King and his 
  Queen melted as softly as the ice in a dawn-lit tower, the King 
  grew increasingly paranoid, his practices increasingly bizarre. 
  Eventually, he entombed himself and his highest councillors 
  in the highest tower of the city Polaris, where they performed 
  great and terrible rituals to the sun — things that were not 
  music and were not dances — and some further speak in 
  hushed whispers about the terrible prices that the dawn drew 
  from them as it burned their blood red, prices paid in skulls, 
  flesh, and still beating hearts.
  Sabotage and Sacrifice
  There are some that say it happened a different way, that in 
  a devastating assault on the King’s dawn cult, the Order of the 
  Stars struck and destroyed the foul apparatus of the Calendar, 
  leaving only rubble where there were once its intricate gears 
  and springs. Without that machine, the dawn worshippers did 
  not know when their deity might return and, as the darkness 
  wore on, they grew fearful that it would not. The King flew 
  into a mad fit, and declared that they must sacrifice what was 
  most precious to them that the dawn might return, and that 
  he must offer up his most precious Queen. Algol came to her 
  rescue and, as he and the King fought on that machine, their 
  icicle blood mingled with that of the woman they both loved, 
  strange alchemies began upon the mechanism of the calendar.
  Things that should not be built, power that should not be known
  Some say that the King learned of a certain type of crystal 
  that might magnify the dawn, and constructed a great one in 
  his high tower above the Calendar and the city Polaris. Even as 
  the crystal was being built, the Order of the Stars struck out 
  at it, but as that fearsome battle ensued, the dawn rose up and 
  was transformed by that crystal into the sun. Terrified by that 
  burning star, the King and all of the People rose up as one to 
  fight against it, but even then they and their city were destroyed 
  by its power.
  Cowardice and Contracts
  Some say that the Order of the Stars, in desperation to escape 
  the dawn, dug into the ice, deeper even than the sewers, deeper 
  even than the ancient and abandoned hovels of their ancestors, 
  deep into some terrible realm of water and fire. There they met 
  with the Mistaken, and led them to the city to fight against the 
  King, for they feared the dawn even more than they feared hell.
  It is the way of things
  Some say that the transformation of the mysterious dawn 
  into the terrible sun is a process as natural as the transformation 
  of sight into music, and that the terrible tragic violence of 
  the time was merely the reactions of an ignorant people to an 
  unknown phenomenon.
  
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  And there are a thousand other tales, and yet
  There are other stories, multitudinous and strange, but to 
  believe them, you must hear them for yourself.
  In the end
  All of these are right; all of these are wrong. It does not 
  matter. The world is as it is. The Mistake has already been 
  made. The sun spirals in the sky and the moon dances around 
  it. Demons live in smoke at the center of the world. The nature 
  of these things is that they shall not be reversed.
  All that is left to a dying people is to try to explain, to try to 
  understand, to try to comprehend some reason or meaning in 
  their own obliteration. Will you forgive them their inaccuracies, 
  or will you deny them that comfort, even as they die?
  The Sun and the Moon
  The first thing that was seen after the mistake was the fiery 
  sun, emerging from the dawn like a terrified scream, blinding 
  all those that saw it, burning all those that it saw, deafening 
  all those that were held in its radiance. Its power is without 
  peer. It melts snow into worthless water, blasts starlight into 
  insignificance, and curdles silk rough like leather. Even the 
  mighty glaciers soften and run beneath its light. There is no 
  thing mightier upon the sky or upon the ice. Without fail, it 
  spirals in the sky all summer long, up and then down, and will 
  not stop nor alter its path for any obstacle or song. Each time, 
  as it passes the sky, it once more takes on the form of the dawn 
  (sometimes called the dusk as it is dying), taunting the people 
  with the more fragile beauty that it once seduced them with.
  The sun is great and terrible, and naturally not without those 
  that regard it highly, but it is the enemy of the Knights, for they 
  are sworn against it.
  Nothing so great can come into the world without leaving 
  its mark, and so the sun has left the moon, a white and tattered 
  hole where it burned its way through the empyrean. The moon 
  spirals and circles behind and before the sun, dancing around 
  its progenitor, giving a reminder of its light in the dead of 
  winter and a ghost of its glory in the height of summer. It 
  changes, too, growing fickle and inconstant, as the sky tries the 
  heal the slash in its side before the sun once again tears open a 
  fresh wound.
  But the moon is white, and colored like starlight is colored, 
  and there are those among the knights, the most desperate for 
  hope, the most close to their dooms, that say it is a star.
  
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  As it is —
  Your People
  The people that live in the memory of Polaris are tall, thin, 
  and beautiful. Their hair is silver and gold and all the colors of 
  the sky at night and their skin is so thin that you can see their 
  pale blue veins beneath it. Their eyes are pale blue or pale red, or 
  rarely white or green or purple or black. They are so beautiful it 
  would it would stop your heart to look at them, so beautiful that 
  — at times — they move even themselves to tears. Their names 
  are taken from the stars. Their speech, when they deign to use it, 
  is like the sound of water freezing, their anger is like the cracking 
  of the glacial ice. Although they are capable of great feats of 
  combat and engineering, their tempers run towards the arts and 
  musics, even when they are roused to action.
  These people, who were once great, are decadent and dissolute. 
  They sip gaudy wines, while away their summers gazing listlessly 
  at the gaudy colors of the sun through careful crystals, and while 
  away the winters in petty politics and senatorial debates. While 
  they recall their former glory, few amongst them will do anything 
  to stop their own apathetic decline, or even the slaughter at the 
  hands of the Mistaken.
  The Remnants
  All that remains of the great dream of the city of Polaris are 
  four remnants, and each carries with it a fragile hint of former 
  majesty. Once these were the lowest parts of the city, the 
  furthest away from the royal court, the least majestic and most 
  southward. But, even now, if you looked upon those glowing 
  citadels crafted in ancient age from ice and silver starlight, you 
  would know beauty and wonder at its inhabitants. You would 
  know the smooth and winding hallways that lead to great 
  open vistas in the ice, the nooks and retiring rooms that are 
  intimately befitted with both crystal wines and spider silks, and 
  the grand council chambers that are home to such wonderous 
  arts and ceremonies that you would not dare to dream of them, 
  even in your darkest heart. The people live in a pale reflection 
  of their former age, but it cannot be said that they do not live 
  in splendor. 
  Splendor is not the remants’ only virtue, though, for each 
  has been rendered by the Order into a fortress. These four 
  remnants are all that remains of the people, all that remains of 
  the city and, if one were to fall to the Mistaken, it would be an 
  irreparable sorrow.
  The four remnants are named Southwatch, Southkeep, 
  Tallstar and Southreach. Each has its own unique qualities and 
  unique delights (Southreach, for example, is famous for its 
  orchestras), but those cannot be detailed here, and must be left 
  for you to discover.
  There are roads between the remnants, leading in a grand circle 
  around the Mistake, but none use them save the Knights.
  The Knights
  The Knights of the Order of the Stars are the great heroes of 
  the people, the only line between them and total annihilation 
  at the hands of the mistaken. Each one is bold and brave and 
  true, and you should mourn at their inevitable passing into 
  corruption, evil, despair, and death, and not make light of it.
  The Mistaken
  Rising up from the direct center of the four remnants, at the 
  very top of the world, the Mistake blights the sky and lurks, 
  reminding all those that look upon it of their ancestors’ folly. 
  The air around it boils over with wisps of steam and smoke, 
  lit white by sunlight. And yet no light can hide that it is not 
  smoke, for it slowly disappears, rising upward, into the cool, 
  clear summer air.
  Though there are those amongst the people who would try to 
  deny it, who say that the smoke in the sky is merely an illusion, 
  or that it was always there, meaningless. Most of the people 
  do not consider the meaning of the Mistake at all, though, 
  nor even regard it in any manner except when contemplating 
  the design of their landscaping and picture windows (most 
  point southwards.)
  
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  To the knights, of course, the Mistake is much more. To some 
  of them, it is a symbol of their greatest sin and their greatest 
  failure, to some of them, it is a symbol of their duty to the 
  people, to some others, a symbol of the truth of their cause. 
  And all of them know that it is the source of the Mistaken. But 
  there is so much more — the Mistake, and the hatred of it, is the 
  center of the Order of the Stars. Even more than the cities and 
  the people that they love, even more than their star light swords 
  and their patrons above, even more than the sun that they are 
  sworn to fight, it defines them. It is the Mistake that beckons 
  them to crusade, the Mistake that spawns the demons that haunt 
  them, the Mistake that gives them a reason to exist at all.
  The Mistaken are twisted, demonic creatures. Shaped by 
  whatever contamination lies at the heart of the Mistake, they 
  boil out of those boiling mists into the world, slaughtering and 
  devouring all in their path. Each is foul, the stuff of nightmares. 
  Each is unique, and any attempt to prepare you for your first 
  encounters with them is fruitless. It will be horrible. These 
  meager categories will have to suffice you.
  Demons of the Blood and Flesh
  These most obvious of demons — those made of blood, bone, 
  flesh, and rot — pour forth from the Mistake every Spring in 
  multifarious and improbable bodies. Most are roughly in the 
  shape of people, although there are those that resemble beasts, or 
  spiders, or shapeless blobs of transparent skin. Spikes of bone 
  protrude rudely from wounds in their hides, and their teeth are 
  long and yellowed with the marks of meat. Some demons are 
  great monstrous creatures, but yet have muscle and bone like the 
  people. Others are merely skeletal, or blood sculpted into a stable 
  form by some sort of foul will. Some, the more like the people, 
  wear the blood-stained fineries of their prey and others, more 
  alien, wear the skins of those that they have eaten.
  These demons shape their blood into weapons, or breathe 
  poison, or tear things apart with their claws. To a one, they 
  hunger for the flesh of the people, and will stop at nothing to 
  get it, although some prefer to drink blood, and others to eat 
  bones, and still others only yearn for the beat of hearts. When 
  they are cut, they bleed red, and hot enough to melt ice and burn 
  flesh. Many are mindless, slavering beasts, but others are clever, 
  and some might even be called subtle. They are not opposed to 
  sieges, and they understand stealth, infiltration, and patience.
  It is said, amongst the knights, that there are some demons 
  that are more sly than mere warriors — some that have mastered 
  the art of wearing the skins of the people as disguises, and 
  others have learned to crawl into the brains of the people and 
  turn their thoughts and wills to the purposes of whatever lurks 
  within the Mistake.
  Demons of the Heart and Soul
  But there are more insidious demons yet; there are those 
  which have no forms at all. Some of them are capable of taking 
  the bodies of individuals amongst the people, whilst others are 
  merely a feeling in the heart, a sinister cast to the light, or the 
  bright color in a sunny rainbow. Like the demons of blood and 
  flesh, they hunger for things from the people, but the things 
  that they hunger for are not so simple as flesh: some devour joy, 
  some feed from sadness, some require homage and dark pacts, 
  and one there is will destroy the one moment that you were 
  sure that she loved you, just because it can.
  These demons easily penetrate the remnant fortresses, and 
  manipulate the people to their own agenda. Although the 
  knights are often resistant to their powers, the people are far 
  too susceptible, and such a demon is often capable of enormous 
  harm before it is rooted out and destroyed, if it ever is.
  Such demons are difficult, though not impossible, to fight. 
  They cannot be cut, even by the starlight swords of the knights, 
  and they are often strong enough to overcome a simple exorcism. 
  Fortunately, each one has a weakness but, unfortunately, each 
  weakness is unique.
  The Two That Have Fallen
  The most terrifying demons within the horde are not giant, 
  slavering monsters, nor are they the barely noticeable shafts of 
  
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  poisoned light. The greatest among the demons are not demons 
  at all. They are people: the Solaris Knight and the Frost Maiden.
  Only rarely ever sighted, the Solaris Knight appears to be 
  the greatest general among the demons, and greatly respected 
  by their kind. He is one of the people, golden-haired, and he 
  wields a starlight sword that burns bright and hot with the fire 
  of the sun. His blood is so cold that it has frozen into icicles 
  that break through his skin but, for all that, he is tall and strong 
  and one of the people.
  He has been known, at times, to speak with knights, and 
  though he has been driven back and defeated many times, even 
  killed, he returns the same every summer.
  The Frost Maiden is even more rarely seen. She is the epitome 
  of beauty among the people — thin and silver-haired, with 
  eyes the white color of the highest star. She wanders the wasted 
  landscape between the remnants, all alone, and contents herself 
  with the sort of melancholy songs that can only be heard by the 
  saddest of souls. Snow falls from her breath, and her kiss turns 
  the most loving heart to ice.
  Some among the knights say that the Solaris Knight and 
  the Frost Maiden are Polaris’s Queen and her champion, Algol, 
  turned by the Mistake’s cruel irony into servants of the Sun. If 
  you listen to the stories, this makes sense. But the truth is not 
  that simple.
  The oldest, weariest, and wisest amongst the knights — 
  those that are near to death — know the truth. The Solaris 
  Knight and the Ice Maiden are every knight who has ever, 
  frustrated and angry, cast lots against the people, every knight 
  who has ever despaired of his people’s faith, every knight who 
  has ever turned to the demons with a corrupt and blackened 
  heart. The Solaris Knight and the Ice Maiden are terrible 
  because they are mighty, yes, but they are all the more terrible 
  because they are the future of every knight who does not 
  perish in battle against them. They are most terrible because, 
  with one look into their eyes, you know that once, a forgotten 
  age ago, they meant well.
  The Year
  Ever since the construction of the calendar, the people have 
  tracked the interval between the dawns and have given it the 
  name “year.” Now, after the rise of the sun, the year is further 
  subdivided into seasons, and the people sculpt their lives 
  around it, for the sun has burned its mark into their hearts and 
  changed their nature.
  Spring
  The coming of spring brings that ancient dawn spinning 
  to the horizon, and the people, captivated by its beauty, do 
  nothing but gaze at that golden fire in their sky, most through 
  windows crafted especially for the purpose, that paint the light 
  a thousand colors that never should have been.
  During this time, the remnants are eerily quiet, and no people 
  are about. The only things that move are Knights and Demons. 
  For, even in the winter, the Mistake is growing, ever growing, 
  and now it rouses itself, belching forth great hordes of demons 
  that rampage through the remnants, hungry from their long 
  hibernation. The Mistaken know that, beneath the dawnlight, 
  the people are paralyzed, and this is the motive behind their 
  invasion — it is an easy time to slake their foul thirsts for blood, 
  flesh, or things yet more perverse. So captivated they are by the 
  dawn, the people will stand staring into it even as the demons 
  rend them apart, unaware or simply uncaring of their doom.
  This is a time of year that the Order bands together, for all 
  hands are needed at the defense of the remnants. The Knights 
  establish siege lines, lay traps against the horde, and do their 
  best to fight against the invasion. This is also the time where 
  they function most as a group, and the time where they learn 
  each other’s news and experiences. In the dawn, deaths are 
  tallied, dirges sung, and heroes are congratulated, even as the 
  siege is held.
  As the years wear on, the Springs are getting shorter. Some 
  knights are grateful for the reprieve, whereas others worry 
  about what this might imply.
  
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  Summer
  As that burning star the people call the Sun leaves the horizon, 
  some of the people begin to stir from their trances, the demonic 
  hordes retreat for a time, and the remnants return to some 
  semblance of society. The people, so caught up in the golden 
  light of the sun, remember nothing of the atrocities that the 
  dawn brought (no matter if the knights remind them or not), 
  and devote their time to the crafting of rainbow rooms to trap 
  the sunlight and sculpt it into gaudy colors. Some of them 
  put on great feasts and balls to commemorate the Sun’s return. 
  Ostensibly, these are in remembrance of the Mistake, but in all 
  but name they are a celebration of that violent, bloated star. As 
  the sun works higher in the sky, the people hold sumptuous 
  feasts and clad themselves in red and yellow spider-silks.
  At this time of year, courtships begin at the grand dances, and 
  maidens hold the starlight from their suitors in crystal necklaces. 
  At this time, music is played, for the cacaphonious howls that the 
  sun sings to musicians are no longer considered foul.
  For the Order, the summer is a time of travel and questing. 
  The stragglers of the demons armies that were defeated in the 
  spring roam the wastes, and the knights sally forth to fight the 
  Mistaken and re-establish communication between the remnants. 
  The shifting of the ice during the winter changes the terrain in 
  the wastes, so each summer maps must be drawn anew.
  In this time, the knights often come upon mysterious ruins 
  — ancient castles and towers inhabited by people, demons, or 
  stranger things. Many also take this time to become reunited 
  with friends and acquaintances in other remnants. Within the 
  remnants, mistaken are largely limited to demons of the heart 
  and soul, who will use this social season to corrupt and feed on 
  unsuspecting lovers. In the wastes that stretch between the four 
  remnants, of course, there remain many other demons, who 
  pose a threat to both questing knights and the few people who 
  deign to travel…
  Each year, at the peak of summer, the sun has risen higher in 
  the sky. It is said by those that are too fond of prophecy that, 
  some summer, the fire star shall rise all the way to zenith and 
  eclipse the pole star, and in that year the people shall finally 
  be overrun. This year, if it ever comes, will be a while yet, and 
  many Knights say the end is coming much sooner than that.
  Autumn or Fall
  As summer draws to a close, the people of the remnants 
  become listless and unpleasant to each other for, though they 
  would never admit it, they are anticipating the orange fire of 
  the accursed screaming star as it sinks once more from their 
  sight. “The Song of the Return of the Stars” is played on 
  lightpipes and echoes through the halls of Southreach.
  As the sun touches the horizon, the people gather in great 
  dance halls in the heart of the remnants, windowed on all sides, 
  to watch the slow twirling descent of the demon eye. At this 
  time, disputes are settled in the new manner — whoever’s star 
  first appears in the sky has the victory. After such disputes, 
  weddings are held for lovers and, as the sunset wears on, 
  couples often retire to their personal chambers (although there 
  are some that prefer to watch the beauty of the sunset to any 
  physical pleasure).
  The demons, meanwhile, have been beaten back and, for the 
  knights, autumn is the season of crusade. The knights march 
  on the coldly evaporating smoke of the Mistake, rounding up 
  the final scraps of the demonic hoard and driving them back 
  from whence they came. It is at this time that the most zealous 
  of knights will charge into the Mistake itself, bringing the fight 
  to the demons, and be honored in song by his compatriots.
  This charge, and especially the return from it, is a somber time 
  for knights, for each time, there are fewer of them, and each 
  time, the Mistake is grown larger and closer to the remnants.
  Winter
  As winter comes, the stars return to the sky and, if you did 
  not move or speak or look to the north, you might believe for 
  a moment that the Mistake had never happened at all.
  Among the people, winter is considered the proper time for 
  affairs of state and politics, and the elders and most titled 
  
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  among them make pronouncements for the coming year. At this 
  time, the knights often appeal for more resources and, almost 
  always, are roundly rejected in favor of development of music 
  and the arts, usually on the grounds that they must surely be 
  exaggerating the demonic threat. In the lower hallways, where 
  the politics are truly played out: alliances are made and broken, 
  deals are craftily crafted, and people manipulated. Winter is 
  the time when the people are most ruthless towards each other, 
  and assaults and even murders are not unheard of. Knights, as 
  de facto policemen, are often called in to handle such cases. 
  Sometimes, there are Mistaken at the root of it, but sometimes 
  it is corruption within the people themselves.
  In a few forgotten rooms, off in ancient spires, a few of the 
  people given to ancient and traditional ways still dance, quietly, 
  with the stars, and sing their gentle songs, but they will not 
  speak of it for the shame of their conservatism.
  And outside, underneath the fickle and strange light of that 
  moon that marks where the sun was torn from the sky, the 
  Mistake grows larger, and within it, the demons rest for spring.
  As it is told
  The Mysterious South
  Amongst the people, there are whispered tales of foreign 
  nations, located “south of the sky,” where the sun is higher and 
  the world is filled with fantastical things such as stones, wheat, 
  and foxes, where dark skinned princes and princesses have magical 
  adventures that always end with happy marriages. Although these 
  stories are clearly mere fairy tales for children, there are those 
  among the people who believe that the torrid south does hold 
  some sort of civilization, citing strange relics found in the ruins 
  of Polaris. Chief among these believers are some members of 
  the Knights Stellar, and amongst them there are even those, their 
  hearts perhaps given over entirely to fool’s errands, who make 
  grand treks to the south in hope that these alien cities will offer 
  some lore or force of use against the Mistake. These questors 
  often do not return, although there are those who wander back 
  sheepish and empty handed, and there are also a small few who 
  return — half-starved, half-burnt, and entirely mad — with mad 
  tales of bizarre people, strange cities, and impossible empires. 
  They are usually ignored by all save the most impressionable, and 
  often pass away of mysterious illnesses.
  The foreign cities most often named in legend are: Byzantium, 
  Alert, Chang’an, Hopi, Rome, Mecca, Grail, Ur and Jerusalem. 
  Each has its own legends associated with it, but they are so 
  diverse and contradictory that it is perhaps best to leave you 
  to discover the truth on your own. After all, you should know 
  the nature of the South. You have already been there countless 
  times before.
  
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  What Matters in the End
  Your Battle —
  In the center of the world, the Mistake festers like a forgotten 
  apology, belching out demons onto the earth and a sickly white 
  white vapor into the sky. In everything you do: Dance, sing, 
  love, and war, it haunts your vision, a stain upon the perfect 
  empyrean, the mark of the sun upon the ice.
  Once, there would have been no need for Knights, when the 
  sky was dark and perfect, the starlight pure and cold, and the 
  people without fear or flaw. But that time is over now, and 
  the call for Knights has never been greater, for there is only 
  one order, your order, the Knights Stellar, that stand opposed 
  between the remnants of the people and the demons that 
  would devour them.
  And so, beneath the burning sunlight and its alien blue sky, you 
  have come to this battle. Your sword sings of winter’s starlight 
  and flows like water in your hand, one, two, and another hideous 
  form falls, belching red blood across the snow, to your hand.
  There are others with you, other knights, for this is a battle, 
  and not all of them fare well. The dooms of the Knights are 
  plentiful and great. Some time will come a time when you 
  succumb to them — to death on the field of treachery in the 
  heart. Some summer will come when this battle will not be 
  fought, when the Mistaken will rage without fear through the 
  melting ice, when the fiery sun enchants no hearts with its 
  gaudy colors as it rises like a wound in the spring sky, when 
  there are no more knights upon the field of battle. But this 
  summer is not that summer, for your sword is sharp and your 
  courage is bright. You are sworn against the sun, and the people 
  still have a champion.
  
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  31
  
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  33
  The Rules
  long ago, The people Were dying aT 
  The end of The World. buT hope is noT 
  yeT losT, for you sTill hear This song 
  of The sTars.
  firsT, The inTroduCTion
  Polaris is a game, but it is more like a game that you would 
  play with a small child and her toys than a competive game like 
  monopoly, chess, or soccer. The goals of playing Polaris are no 
  more and no less than the goals of a child’s play-pretend — to 
  create a good story, to explore an imaginary world, and to have 
  fun doing it.
  But Polaris also differs from pretend play in a few key ways. We 
  are adults now, and the stories that drew us as children will not 
  necessarily hold the same joy for us now. Adult stories demand 
  more structure, more action, and more compelling quandaries for 
  the protagonists. To this end, Polaris has a set background and a set 
  of rules to help you structure the story that you’ll be developing, 
  to make sure that it is satisfying, interesting, and fun.
  The setting of the story that you will tell is the world you 
  have just read about, a snowflake melting beneath a demonic sun, 
  doomed by the foolishness of its own people. The protagonists 
  will be the Knights of the Order of the Stars, and the conflicts 
  will be driven from their struggles against the alien mistaken, 
  their own people, and themselves. The story will be a tragedy 
  and, if I’ve done my job right, this game and its rules will help 
  you to make it a good one: full of heart-rending sorrows and 
  strong catharsis. Like a play or a novel, it should engage you 
  with its plot and characters. Unlike a play or a novel, it will 
  be authored by you and your friends together. And, because 
  everyone can contribute, it will speak to your interests and 
  desires, as well as surprising and intruiging all of you.
  It’s great fun, but there are a few issues that we need to discuss 
  before you can start.
  
  previous: 
  A veteran knight chastises a demon 
  on the steps of Tallstar remnant.
  
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  35
  This is the shape of the thing
  Polaris is intended to be played with four people, all of whom 
  are friends, whenever they have two or three hours of leisure time 
  that they wish to devote to the game. The game requires little 
  preparation or work between sessions. A single session of the 
  game can be perfectly enjoyable, but it really shines when the full 
  story-arcs are allowed to play out: somewhere between four and 
  ten sessions of play should be sufficient.
  During play, the players will sit together in a circle — usually 
  around a table, but sometimes on couches or even on pillows 
  on the floor — and collaborate on describing scenes from the 
  stories of the Knights Stellar, each player describing the actions 
  of some specific characters in the story and giving advice and 
  enthusiasm to the other players. Once a scene is over, a new 
  scene will start, focusing on the same or a different protagonist, 
  and the players may shift roles accordingly.
  When their play is done, between the scenes or after all of 
  them, the players take time to discuss the game (and other 
  things unrelated) and think about what they want to do next 
  with the story.
  Protagonists are the heart of your story
  The very center of a Polaris story is the set of protagonists, usually 
  one for each player. The dictionary defines protagonists as the 
  main characters of a story and also as the initiators of great 
  things. Protagonists in Polaris are both of these things and more. 
  Every scene must center around a single protagonist, and that 
  protagonist’s decisions will shape the fate of the people, the world, 
  and herself.  Protagonists are the heart of the Polaris game, and each 
  one is defined by her name, themes, values, and cosmos. For more 
  about protagonists, please see the second chapter (pg 40).
  Characters that are not protagonists, but still have importance 
  to the story, are called secondary characters. Characters that are of 
  no account are not often mentioned in this text, nor useful in 
  the game, but may be called minor or tertiary characters.
  A note on rules terms
  If a word is introduced which is a part of the Polaris game 
  rules, it will be presented in italics. Keep an eye out for these 
  terms — they will be important later.
  Key Phrases are used to structure play
  Play of Polaris is punctuated by key phrases which serve to 
  structure the narrative of the game into sessions and further into 
  scenes, to introduce characters, and also to govern conflict and 
  struggle. They are introduced throughout the text and, like other 
  rules terms, are always presented using smallCase leTTering.
  There are four general use key phrases and eight key conflict phrases 
  that are used in the game of Polaris.
  The general use key phrases are:
   long ago, The people Were dying aT The end 
  of The World.
   buT hope Was noT yeT losT, for [name] sTill 
  heard The song of The sTars.
   and so iT Was …
   buT ThaT all happened long ago, and noW 
  There are none Who remember iT.
  The eight key conflict phrases are:
   buT only if …
   and furThermore …
   iT shall noT Come To pass.
   you ask far Too muCh.
   iT Was noT meanT To be.
   ThaT Was hoW iT happened.
   iT Was no maTTer.
   We shall see WhaT Comes of iT.
  
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  Further information about the key phrases and how they are 
  used will be included as they are introduced in the rules.
  This is the most important thing in the book
  The most important thing about the game is to remember 
  that you are playing with your friends and trying to make a 
  good story. Working well together requires trust. Don’t abuse 
  the trust of your friends. Despite the fact that the story is a 
  tragedy, make sure that your cruelty and conflict is directed 
  towards the characters inside your game and not the players 
  outside of it.
  If, at any time, a player is not having fun, he should say so 
  at the earliest opportunity. Take time to discuss and resolve his 
  difficulties. If you cannot resolve them, set the game aside and 
  play another time.
  and so iT Was …
  
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  facing: 
  A general amongst the mistaken rests 
  in his personal estate.
  
  40
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  seCond, The proTagonisTs
  Protagonists are the central characters of your game. Whether 
  heroes, villains or both, they will make the moral, ethical and 
  personal choices that will define the shape and quality of the 
  story you are telling. As such, they deserve special consideration 
  and are the heart of the Polaris game rules. Protagonists are defined 
  by four components: Guidance, Cosmos, Values and Themes.
  How you will guide your protagonists
  Each player in the group serves in a different capacity as a 
  guide to the protagonist and a shepherd to his story. To this 
  end, each one is said to have guidance over a specific set of story 
  elements. Only the player with guidance over the proper character 
  can make a statement in the story about that character, although 
  other players are strongly encouraged to make suggestions. The 
  different guides are:
  The Heart guides the protagonist himself, and can make 
  definitive statements about his actions, their results, his health, 
  emotions, and general status. The Heart’s main responsibility in 
  play is to react to the situations presented by the other players 
  and play aggressively: making judgments, taking decisive action, 
  and moving the story forward. The Heart is also responsible for 
  maintenance of the Cosmos (see below). When there is conflict, 
  the Heart negotiates in favor of the protagonist.
  The Mistaken guides the antagonists of the story, including all 
  demons, and also guides the environment and background of 
  the story. The Mistaken’s main responsibility in play is to create 
  conflict for the Heart to respond to — difficult situations, 
  difficult battles, difficult choices. She plays the demons to 
  the hilt, as vicious and nasty creatures, and at the same time 
  makes sure that there is as much threat from those amongst the 
  people that have turned against the knights. Perhaps the most 
  important demons that the Mistaken must guide are the dark 
  temptations within the Knight’s mind, which is why, in conflict, 
  the Mistaken negotiates for the demons.
  The Full Moon guides the social and hierarchical realms of 
  the story, including guiding all the secondary characters with 
  whom the protagonist has a primarily societal or hierarchical 
  relationship, like fellow knights, artistic colleagues, 
  commanding officers, senators, or emotionally distant family 
  members. The Full Moon also guides minor male characters not 
  present in the Cosmos. The Full Moon’s main role in play is to 
  introduce these characters, support their interests, and allow 
  them to at times conflict with knight, at times aid him. In 
  conflict, the Full Moon takes a referee role, making judgments 
  about the fairness of the maneuvers between the Mistaken and 
  the Heart.
  The New Moon guides the personal and interpersonal realms 
  of the story, including guiding all the secondary characters 
  with whom the protagonist has a primarily emotional and 
  personal relationship, like lovers, close friends, and some family 
  members. The New Moon also guides minor female characters 
  not present in the Cosmos. The New Moon’s main role in play 
  is to introduce these characters, support their interests, and 
  allow them to at times ask too much of the knight, at times 
  support him. In conflict, the New Moon works with the full 
  moon in a referee role, making judgments about the fairness of 
  the maneuvers between the Mistaken and the Heart.
  Each of the four protagonists will have a different set of 
  guides, and each player at the table will serve in a different 
  guiding role for each character. Within the boundaries of these 
  roles, however, there is a great deal of flexibility. To set clearer 
  guidelines and avoid arguments between the players, guidance 
  is further delineated by the Cosmos.
  Note: If you have three or five players, the roles of the guides 
  are a little different. Please see the first appendix (pg 91).
  The Cosmos holds everything important
  In the center of the protagonist’s record sheet, there is a great 
  circular diagram, divided into four parts. This is referred to 
  as the protagonist’s Cosmos, and it is used to keep track of who 
  has guidance over each of the important people, places, things, 
  events, ideas and demons present within that protagonist’s story.
  Inside the small central circle labeled Heart is written the 
  
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  but that is not enough for a story. The knight’s Values describe 
  his internal ties to the world and ability to resist demonic 
  temptation, as well as his movement through a tragic story. 
  They are measured numerically, from one to five, and are used 
  during conflict and experience. Each knight has three Values.
  Ice is a measure of the strength of the knight’s relationship 
  to the world and society around him. A knight with a high Ice 
  value will be able to oppose the demons well when fighting for 
  the preservation of society or in relation to ideas, people or 
  events that he cares about. Ice starts rated at one and increases 
  throughout the game.
  Light is a measure of the knight’s internal strength and prowess. 
  A knight with a high Light value will be able to oppose demons 
  well when fighting them primarily alone, with his own abilities 
  and equipment. Light, like Ice, starts rated at one and increases 
  throughout the game.
  Zeal is a measure of the knight’s sense of purpose and 
  connection to the stars, drive to save the people and protect 
  them from demons, and general hatred of the mistaken. All 
  protagonists start with a four Zeal value, which they will slowly 
  lose over the course of play. Knights with Zeal values are often 
  called Novices.
  Once the Zeal value drops to zero, the knight will gain a Weariness 
  value in its place. Whereas Zeal measured the protagonist’s willing 
  ability to combat the demons, the Weariness value measures despair 
  and frustration at the impossibility of the struggle. Weariness only 
  goes up, never down. Knights with Weariness values are often 
  called Veterans.
  example: Emily’s Protagonist Suhail, like all Protagonists, starts 
  with an Ice Value of 1, Light Value of 1, and Zeal Value of 4.
  Later in her story, after some Experience, she has an Ice Value of 
  3 and a Zeal Value of 2, while her Light remains at 1. Now, she is 
  stronger against demonic influence when dealing with society or the 
  outside world, but not as strong when she depends on her own abilities 
  to combat demons. While her capabilities have increased, her drive is 
  beginning to falter as she realizes the immensity of her mission.
  Heart’s name and the one thing that that player is granted 
  guidance over: the protagonist himself.
  The outer ring is split into three sections, one each for the 
  Full Moon, New Moon, and Mistaken. In these sections are written 
  the names of important people, demons, and other things that 
  the player in question is called upon to guide. Also, the player’s 
  name is written in their own section.
  The protagonist’s Heart is responsible for updating, revising, 
  and tracking the Cosmos. Whenever the Heart wishes, she may 
  add to or move elements in her protagonist’s Cosmos to represent 
  changes in the protagonist’s relationships. Other players may 
  also request that the Heart change the Cosmos at any time. No 
  matter how much the Cosmos changes, there must be at least one 
  character in each section.
  Elements of the Cosmos can also also be moved or added as 
  part of a conflict. If this is the case, the Heart should refrain 
  from moving or changing them too much without the consent 
  of the Mistaken.
  The Cosmos also serves as a map of the world, with all four 
  remnant cities marked on it. The Mistake would be located in 
  the center of the four remnants, exactly where the Heart’s circle 
  is located.
  example: A scene focusing on Emily’s Protagonist Suhail has 
  just ended. During that scene, she met a fellow knight named 
  Praecipula. Emily wants the character to appear again in 
  Suhail’s story, and maybe have a role of some importance, so she 
  writes “Praecipula” in the Cosmos section of her record sheet. 
  As Praecipula is a fellow knight, and Suhail does not have a 
  particularly personal or emotional relationship with her, Emily 
  writes her name in the Full Moon section. Carrie, Suhail’s Full 
  Moon, now has guidance over Praecipula, which will only change 
  if Emily moves Praecipula to a new section to reflect a change in 
  Suhail’s relationship with her.
  Values measure a knight’s story
  The Cosmos serves to describe the world around the protagonist, 
  
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  Still later, Suhail has become a Veteran. She no longer has a 
  Zeal Value. Her Ice Value is now 4, her Light Value is 3, and her 
  Weariness Value is 1. She is now more skilled in a diversity of 
  situations, but she become weighed down by the burden of her fate, 
  and often despairs from it.
  Themes measure a knight’s soul
  The Cosmos describes the world around the knight, and the 
  Values describe the knight’s inner world. The protagonist’s Themes 
  serve to describe certain events, objects, abilities, or relationships 
  which will come up time and again in his story. Each knight has 
  the same four Themes, which are Offices, Fate, Blessings, and Ability. 
  Each knight also has several Aspects which describe how these 
  Themes apply to that knight personally.
  The Offices theme describes the formal roles with which 
  the knight relates to society. Possible Offices Aspects include 
  memberships in clubs or secret societies, membership in a great 
  family or great house, a job or honorary appointment, or a 
  general social role. All protagonists start with the Offices Aspect 
  Knight of the Order of the Stars. Example Aspects of the Offices 
  Theme include:
   Knight of the Order of the Stars
   Aide to Senator Altair
   Curator of the Leftmost Museum
   Sole Heir of the Kaus Borealis
   Matriarch of the Yildun
   Exile
   Renowned Champion
  The Fate theme describes those things, external to the knight, that 
  will be important to his story. Aspects are specific people, demons, 
  events, or ideas that are tied strongly into his history, reputation, 
  or destiny. I divide them, conceptually, into Ideas, Events and 
  Relationships, but there might be overlap between these. If such 
  a division doesn’t help you, by all means please ignore it. There 
  is no specific required Fate aspect for all protagonists, but the 
  players must decide on a Fate Aspect that their protagonists all share. 
  Example Aspects of the Fate Theme include:
   Event: Betrayal of the People
   Event: A Mysterious Disappearance
   Event: The Fall of Kerhah
   Idea: The Greatest Knight
   Idea: The South
   Relationship: Rischa, Maiden of the Midmost Hall
   Relationship: Asmidike, my Father
   Relationship: Etzlitotec, Princess of Spring
  The Blessings theme describes the artifacts, equipment, and 
  companions that the Knight has been granted by the stars to 
  battle against the mistaken. Blessings Aspects are specific items. All 
  protagonists start out with a Starlight Sword. Example Aspects of 
  the Blessings Theme include:
   Starlight Sword
   Greater Starlight Weapon
   My Father’s Sword
   Wings of the Stars
   Breathsuit
   Memory Crystal
   The Call of Home
   Loyal Steed Shackleton
   Boon Companion Arrakis
   Four Birds, Lord of Carrion
  The Ability Theme describes any personal characterics, skills, 
  or talents of the protagonist. Aspects of this Theme can be roughly 
  divided into Lore, Techniques, Attributes and Skills. All 
  protagonists start out with the Lore of Demons Aspect. Example 
  Aspects of the Ability Theme include:
   Lore of Demons
   Lore of the Stars
  
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   Lore of the Outer Wastes
   Technique: Strike from the Shadows
   Technique: Song of Truth
   Attribute: Refined
   Attribute: Big
   Skill: Musician
   Skill: Sculptor
  Each Theme can be used by both the Mistaken and the Heart to 
  open up new options when in negotiation over conflict. When a 
  Theme is used in this way, it is consider exhausted for that player, 
  and may not be used again until it is refreshed. For more about 
  the use of Themes, see the section on conflict (pg 71).
  example: At the beginning of the game, Emily’s protagonist, 
  Suhail, has the automatic Aspects of all characters: Knight of 
  the Order of the Stars under the Office Theme, Starlight Sword 
  under the Blessing Theme, and Lore of Demons under the Ability 
  Theme. In addition, she has extra Aspects to differentiate her from 
  other starting Protagonists: Lore of the Wastes under Ability, and 
  Kolab and Betrayal under Fate.
  Later, after the game has been played a while, these aspects have 
  changed somewhat. Her starlight sword has been replaced by a 
  Southern Ancestor Sword, she has acquired a crystal that serves 
  as the Call of Home and has the attributes of Brave and Tough. 
  Fomolhaut has been added to her Fate, and she has been appointed 
  to the rank of Sergeant, which is reflected as an Aspect of the 
  Office Theme.
  How a hero is made
  Before you begin play, you will need a set of protagonists. In 
  most games of Polaris, there are three or four protagonists, one for 
  each player of the game, though if you are just starting out you 
  might want to only use one or two protagonists. You will want to 
  have a record sheet for each protagonist. You can copy the record sheet 
  from the back of the book or download a pdf version from the 
  TAO Games site and print it out.
  First, Choose a name for the knight. Don’t just make up a 
  name, though! The people, to a one, take their names from the 
  stars. Look at the list of star and constellation names in the 
  appendix (pg 126) and choose one. Or, if you already have a 
  star name in mind, use that.
  Second, On the character’s record sheet, write down her initial Values. 
  Next to Ice and Light, write a one. Next to Zeal, write a four. Don’t 
  write anything under Weariness yet.
  Third, on the character’s record sheet, underneath each of the 
  Themes, write down the initial Aspects for each Theme. Under Office, 
  write “Knight of the Order of the Stars.” Under Blessing, write 
  “Starlight Sword.” Under Abilities, write “Lore of Demons.” 
  Under Fate, write the name of a demon or person that all 
  protagonists will have in common as a Fate Aspect. (All the 
  players must agree on this.)
  Fourth, you get to choose one extra Aspect for two of your 
  Themes, or two extra Aspects for one of your Themes. You shouldn’t 
  worry about having to invent new Aspects if you would rather 
  not. You can use the examples from the appendix (pg 94).
  Fifth, you need to fill out your Cosmos. You must have at least 
  one secondary character, person or demon, in each section (New 
  Moon, Full Moon and Mistaken). You can also add a few extra people, 
  places, ideas, objects, or other protagonists as you want, but don’t 
  overdo it (two or three per category is fine). If you’re having 
  trouble, the list of star names at the end of the book is a great 
  help. Remember to talk with the other players about these ideas.
  Sixth, Wait until everyone is done this far. Now it is time to 
  assign Guidance. Look around. The person sitting across from 
  you is the Mistaken for your character. The person to your left 
  is the New Moon. The person to your right is the Full Moon. You 
  are the character’s Heart. Let the other players look at your 
  Cosmos and get some ideas for what to do with the character. If 
  they like, they may add a single character or idea to the Cosmos, 
  preferably in their own section.
  (If you want to shuffle seating at this point, you can, but 
  not afterwards. Even in a multiple session game, seating should 
  continue in the same pattern each time.)
  
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  Seventh, Begin the character’s story by saying the key phrase 
  buT hope Was noT yeT losT, for [CharaCTer name] 
  sTill heard This song of The sTars. This is the way to 
  introduce the character in your world. On the character’s record 
  sheet, write down her name in the center of the Cosmos, in the 
  section labeled “Heart.”
  Eighth, you must decide who is going to start play. They can 
  start a scene for either their Heart or Mistaken character by saying 
  the and so iT Was key phrase and describing the scene.
  If you can’t decide who should start the first scene, the oldest 
  player goes first.
  example: Emily has gathered together Paul, Rick, and Carrie 
  for a game of Polaris. After introducing the basics of the game 
  and starting the session with the appropriate key phrase, it is time 
  to start character creation.
  emily: Okay, guys, now we’re going to make our Protagonists. 
  We’re going to make four, one for each of us, and these are going 
  to be the central characters of our story. All of them are definitely 
  going to be knights, but the rest is up to us.
  paul: Cool.
  emily: So, normally, we’d all make the characters together, but 
  we’re going to do my character first, as an example, and then 
  we’ll do the rest. Is that okay?
  Carrie: Sure, yeah.
  emily: Cool. So the first thing to do is pick a name. All of 
  the people, knights included, have the names of stars, and 
  fortunately there’s this big list of star names right here. So 
  what name do we want for my character?
  Carrie: How about “Suhail?” It doesn’t have a known 
  meaning, but it sounds cool.
  emily: I was kind of thinking of a mysterious character.
  riCk: I like it, too.
  emily: Cool. Suhail it is. Okay, so the next thing I’m going to 
  do is write down my initial Values. I have a 1 Ice, a 1 Light, 
  a 4 Zeal, and no Weariness at all. *Emily writes down the 
  proper numbers*
  paul: What do we use those for, again?
  riCk: The Zeal and Weariness values help with the storyline, 
  and all the values are used when we roll a die.
  paul: Cool.
  emily: Right, now I’m going to write in the automatic Aspects 
  to my Themes. I’m writing Knight of the Order of the Stars 
  under Office, Starlight Sword under Blessing, and Lore 
  of Demons under Ability. I’m going to leave the Fate space 
  blank — we’re going to decide later on a fate that all of our 
  Protagonists will share.
  Carrie: And we all have those same Aspects, right?
  riCk: Yup, we do.
  emily: Yes, but we also get to choose two extra aspects to flesh 
  out the character. I kind of want to play a loner-type, so I 
  think I’m going to take Lore of the Wastes as an Ability Aspect. 
  Any ideas for the second one?
  riCk: Maybe you could have a Loyal Steed or some other sort of 
  transport if you’re out in the wastes all the time?
  paul: I was thinking that maybe you could take an office like 
  “Royal Explorer” or something.
  Carrie: If she’s a real loner-type, she has to have some reason 
  that she’s alone. What if she had a Fate aspect of Betrayal?
  paul: Oooh. Emily, if you don’t take that, I will.
  emily: Betrayal, definitely.
  Carrie: Great! What next?
  emily: Next we’re going to fill out my Cosmos. We need at 
  least one person or demon in each section: New Moon, Full 
  Moon, and Mistaken. I think I’m going to be struggling with 
  my society’s expectations of me, so I’ll put a fiancee over in the 
  Full Moon section. Named… Fomolhaut. Any other ideas?
  riCk: Hmm… not really.
  emily: That’s okay. I’m just going to add in some random 
  names from the star list, then. Let’s put El Nasl in the New 
  Moon section, whoever that is, and maybe “The Engine of 
  Fire” in the Mistaken section.
  riCk: I’ve got to play that? That’s nasty sounding.
  emily: Yeah, well, that’s the way of it. I’ll probably steal some 
  
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  folks off of other characters’ Cosmos, as well.
  Carrie: Let’s get going on the rest of our’s so we can play!
  emily: Oh, one last bit: buT hope Was noT yeT 
  losT, for suhail sTill heard The song of 
  The sTars.
  and so iT Was …
  
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  Third, We disCuss The sTruCTure of The game
  How to organize a group of friends to play
  The ideal Polaris group is 2-4 other people who are good friends 
  of yours, who you trust to work together with you to make a good 
  story. While Polaris can be played satisfactorily in one evening, it is 
  best extended over a period of several play sessions, to allow the 
  full story arc to reveal itself. You will need the same set of players 
  for each game, so make sure that you can get together again, if 
  you have that inclination. Some players like to schedule things out 
  in advance (every other Monday is Polaris night) and others, with 
  busier lives, must play when the opportunity presents itself.
  All players should have some introduction to the game text 
  before you start play. At the very least, they should all have 
  heard “Moments Frozen From the Flow of Time” in the 
  beginning of the text.
  example: Emily has just bought a copy of Polaris and, after 
  reading the book fully, wants to play the game. She calls her friends 
  Rick and Paul, who she plays Primetime Adventures with, to see if 
  they’d be up for playing a new game that Sunday. They are interested 
  in at least giving it a try, but they are still short one player. Emily 
  calls her friend Carrie, explains a bit about the game, and asks her 
  if she’d like to play. Carrie is interested, and agrees.
  Emily loans her copy of the Polaris book to Rick, who also reads 
  it. That Sunday, before they start playing, she and Rick briefly 
  explain the rules to Carrie and Paul, read Moments Frozen From 
  the Flow of Time out loud, and then settle down to play.
  You begin with a Key Phrase
  Just as any other time when a group of friends gathers 
  together, you will want to do other things than just play a 
  game — eat a meal, catch up on each other’s lives, talk about 
  the events of the day, chat about creative projects, put the kids 
  to bed, schedule other social events, etc. But, at some point in 
  the evening, you will want to start playing the game and shift 
  the focus toward that activity.
  previous: 
  Fresh from rest within the Mistake, 
  this demonic host charges towards the remnants
  
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  For this reason, there is a specific way set aside to mark that 
  you are starting the game. When you are ready to start, gather 
  everyone around in a circle (around a table, on couches, on the 
  floor) and say the key phrase long ago, The people Were 
  dying aT The end of The World. Some people also light a 
  candle, play a song, or use some other marker — I’m partial to 
  the candle, myself — but the phrase is strictly mandatory.
  Saying this, and perhaps taking the other actions, serves to 
  separate the play of the game from normal interaction. Before 
  you said the key phrase, you were not playing the game. Now 
  that you have said it, the game has begun and should be the 
  focus of your attention.
  example: Emily has a big purple candle that she never uses 
  for anything, so she puts it in the center of the table for use with 
  the game. After she introduces Carrie to Rick and Paul, and they 
  all get to know each other a bit, she asks if they’d like to start the 
  game. Everyone agrees, so she lights the candle and says long 
  ago, The people Were dying aT The end of The 
  World. The game has begun.
  Between scenes, you should do other things
  When you aren’t playing a scene, it’s a good time to talk about 
  how the game is going, how cool the last scene was, what is or 
  isn’t working, what ideas you have for new scenes, what’s going 
  on in each other’s personal lives, current events, or anything else 
  that comes to mind. The Heart should make sure to update the 
  Cosmos after every scene, taking input from the other players. It 
  is also time to go to the bathroom, go get food, take a smoke 
  break, or call home and let your sweetie know that the game is 
  running just a little bit over time.
  When you aren’t playing a scene, any player can start a scene 
  focusing on either her Heart protagonist or her Mistaken protagonist 
  at any time.
  If both the Heart player and the Mistaken player want to start a 
  scene with the same character, the Mistaken takes priority.
  Many groups like to rotate scenes — having one scene focus 
  on each character in turn (so a scene focusing on Suhail would be 
  followed by a scene for Sir Mirzam, followed by a scene for Rick’s 
  protagonist). This is a great idea, and highly recommended for most 
  play, but it is by no means required, and you should feel free to 
  break turn order if you have a good idea for a scene out of order.
  example: After playing out two scenes, one for Paul’s 
  protagonist (started by Paul) and one for Emily’s protagonist 
  (started by Rick), Emily pauses to ask how everyone likes the 
  game so far. The two guys smile and nod, and Carrie says that 
  it’s been really fun, but she’s a little confused about the rules. 
  Rick takes time to explain the rules to Carrie, Paul heads out to 
  get some juice (he’s thirsty), and Emily updates her protagonist’s 
  Cosmos and then takes a bathroom break.
  Starting a scene properly
  As long as you are not presently playing a scene, any player may 
  start a scene for either their Heart character or their Mistaken 
  character by saying the key phrase and so iT Was… and 
  following that with a brief description of whatever situation 
  the knight finds himself embroiled in this time. Either before or 
  after that description, the Heart should place the protagonist’s 
  record sheet in the center of the table, where everyone can see 
  and read the Cosmos. Then, you are in Free Play (see below).
  If, for this session of play, it is the first scene with this 
  particular protagonist, introduce him by saying the key phrase 
  buT hope Was noT yeT losT, for [CharaCTer name] 
  sTill heard This song of The sTars before saying and so 
  iT Was… You need only do this once for each protagonist for 
  each session of play.
  For Polaris scenes, it is best to cut straight to the meat of the 
  story — terrible battles both internal and external, difficult 
  choices that the knight must make, and scenes of incredible 
  horror and beauty. Do not dwell upon the details of every day 
  life, or the long, boring travels through the wastes. Such things 
  can be quickly summarized or skipped altogether. Rather, make 
  sure each scene is active and exciting.
  
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  example: When everyone comes back to the table, Carrie starts 
  a new scene for Paul’s protagonist.
  Carrie (misTaken): Okay, let’s see… (she looks at the 
  protagonist record sheet for Mirzam, Paul’s protagonist, 
  particularly the Cosmos) and so iT Was that Sir Mirzam 
  faced off on an open plain with his ancient foe, The Lord Long 
  Summer, while his ward Gienah lay dead at his feet. (She does 
  not need to use the buT hope Was noT yeT losT, for 
  mirzam sTill heard The song of The sTars 
  key phrase, because he has already been introduced this session.)
  paul (hearT): Wha?
  Advice for Starting Scenes
  Usually, it is no trouble to start a scene. You have a great idea 
  about where you want to go next with the story, and you just 
  need to set it up. Great! Say and so iT Was and start it off.
  But sometimes, you’re just totally stuck. It’s your turn to 
  make a scene and everyone is looking at you all blank eyed 
  and you just have no idea what you’re going to do next. This 
  happens to everyone, all the time. The most important thing is 
  — don’t worry. The structure of the game is here to help you 
  in just this situation.
  The first thing to do is ask the Moons if they have any ideas. 
  Moons aren’t allowed to start scenes, but that doesn’t mean that 
  they haven’t been thinking about this knight’s story just as 
  much as you have. Often, one of the Moons will have a great 
  idea, which you can then modify or just use whole cloth.
  The second thing to do is look at the Cosmos. Remember, 
  everything important to the knight’s story should be written 
  down right there, on the sheet. If you’re in doubt, just pick two 
  people from two different parts of the Cosmos and think about 
  how they could be brought into conflict.
  The final resort, if you really can’t think of anything, is to 
  frame a scene with a character from the New Moon or the Full 
  Moon section of the Cosmos (or one from each) and describe 
  the character(s) as “crying for help,” or “bearing desperate 
  news,” or “in heated argument with each other.” Then, the Full 
  Moon and the New Moon will have to come up with the conflict 
  for the scene, leaving you totally free to handle things later. 
  This puts a great deal of pressure on the Moons, though, so you 
  probably shouldn’t do it too often.
  Conversely, sometimes you have a great idea for a scene, but 
  you have already decided in your head that it should definitely 
  turn out one way, and not any other. This is very dangerous! 
  Polaris is a collaborative game, and such predetermination 
  hinders any such collaboration in a particularly destructive way. 
  My recommendation is to simply ignore that scene and find a 
  different one to play, one that you are less attached to. If you 
  really want to play out the scene, you must divorce yourself 
  from any expected event or outcome. Planning things out too 
  much in advance shows that you don’t respect the creativity of 
  your fellow players. Don’t do it!
  example: It has come time for Rick to start a scene.
  riCk (misTaken): Okay, I want to do a scene with Suhail 
  (Emily’s protagonist), but I can’t think of anything. Guys?
  paul (neW moon): Well, she has “El Nasl” written 
  just on the New Moon side of her Cosmos, right next to the 
  Mistaken side. You gotta be able to use that for something.
  Carrie (full moon): Hey, maybe they’re lovers, and 
  Fomolhaut, her fiancee, who’s over here (points to the Full 
  Moon section), could catch them together.
  riCk (misTaken): Ooh, that’s good. Okay, and so iT 
  Was that, even as El Nasl and Suhail exchanged sweet 
  promises of love with each other, Fomolhaut watched unseen 
  from the balcony above.
  While you’re playing a scene
  After the introduction, everyone portrays the characters 
  that they have guidance over, with the Mistaken bringing in as 
  much difficulty as possible, the Heart trying to handle all the 
  terrible decisions and trials of the knight, and Moons playing 
  their characters as best they can. People will also be throwing 
  out suggestions at the other players, who will be using them or 
  
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  rejecting them as best they can. Everyone works together to say 
  what happens. This sort of play is sometimes called “free play.”
  Different people will guide their characters in different ways. 
  Some people like to play the game more like telling a story: 
  “and so Sir Arcturus took up his sword and spoke to Cassiopeia: 
  ‘We have too much love for our city to abandon it in its time of 
  need.’” Some people like to describe a character’s actions in the 
  first person: “I lift up my sword, look at her, and say ‘We have 
  too much love for our city to abandon it in its time of need.’” 
  Some people like to portray characters like an actor would, 
  without too much talking outside of character: (pantomimes 
  picking up a sword, gives Cassiopeia’s player a heavy look) “We 
  have too much love for our city to abandon it in its time of 
  need.” Any of these is fine. It is most likely that you will find 
  yourself moving amongst all three of them as the needs of the 
  scene dictate. Just use whatever makes you most comfortable. 
  The story is the important thing.
  When the scene comes to a natural end, either the Heart or 
  the Mistaken can end it by saying the key phrase and so iT 
  Was. Saying this ends the scene, and now the next person (if 
  you’re taking turns) or anyone with a good idea (if you aren’t) 
  can start the next scene.
  example: Continuing from the previous example.
  paul (neW moon, as el nasl): Okay, so I have my 
  arms around you, and we’re kissing, and I say “Suhail, my 
  love, when can we be married?”
  emily (hearT): We can’t do that, Nasl… My family would 
  never permit it.
  Carrie (full moon, as fomolhauT): Okay, I 
  burst in about now. I see them kissing and I drop to my knees. 
  “Suhail! I…”
  emily (hearT): “Fomolhaut! I…” I pull away and run 
  over to him, placing my hands on his head.
  Carrie (full moon): I thought you loved me, Suhail. We 
  are promised to each other. How could you do this?
  paul (neW moon): She doesn’t want you, you pathetic 
  creature. Get out of here and leave us in peace. Perhaps, if you 
  die, we can finally be happy!
  Advice for Free Play
  During free play, it is of the utmost importance that every 
  player says what they want to have happen. It can be very 
  tempting to hedge one’s bets, to say things that won’t have 
  long term consequences because you are worried that the other 
  players will be unhappy with your contributions or have their 
  own ideas, and you don’t want to step on their toes. This is a 
  reasonable fear, but you must conquer it if you want to be able 
  to play Polaris to its full potential.
  A good sort of statement to make is something like:
  “I perform an expulsion, knocking her sword aside, and with 
  a quick thrust I run her through the heart. She dies.”
  or maybe:
  “I kiss him, and he falls into my arms. He loves me.”
  A bad sort of statement to make is something like this:
  “I swing at him.”
  “I move in to kiss her.”
  Each of the first set of statements, you see, contains a result 
  of the action. If some player objects or wants something else, 
  she can address it via the conflict mechanics, or get someone 
  else to do so for her. The other statements, in truth, don’t 
  amount to much. There is no permanent change to the game 
  world. Even if another player objects to where you are going 
  with it, or has their own ideas about it, they can’t really bring 
  in the conflict mechanics because there is nothing for them to 
  start with.
  Conflict is good for your story, and the conflict mechanics are 
  good for your play. The Mistaken has a special responsibility to 
  drive towards it by making difficult situations, but every player 
  should also move towards conflict by always saying what they 
  want to have happen. I cannot stress this point enough — if 
  you do not make definitive statements, your game of Polaris will 
  be less satisfying, less interesting, and less fun.
  
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  Everyone ought to watch out for conflicts and experience
  During free play, there are a couple of things that you, as a 
  player, should keep an eye open for. The first is conflict, and the 
  second is experience. Both will be addressed in more detail later in 
  the book, conflict in chapter four, and experience in chapter five.
  Officially, conflict happens whenever one player has a character 
  do something that another player thinks should be difficult, 
  should have a price attached to it, or should not happen at all. 
  However, there can be times when a conflict is clearly coming 
  up, but neither the Heart nor the Mistaken is willing to make 
  a statement definitive enough to begin the conflict. If this is 
  happening, it’s a good time for one of the Moons to say something 
  like ,”Guys, is this a conflict? I think it is.”
  Experience is easier to notice. Every time that the knight 
  performs an action indicative of hatred of the people, sympathy 
  for the Mistaken, callousness, cynicism, or apathy (or when the 
  Heart fails a roll in conflict), experience must be rolled. The Mistaken 
  is in charge of when experience is rolled, and makes the final call, 
  but everyone should be on the lookout for it.
  A few words about Guidance
  Usually, players will be portraying and deciding the actions 
  taken by the characters that they guide. However, sometimes, 
  a single player will be called upon to guide more than one 
  character for a scene. In these cases, it may be handy to lend 
  guidance over a character or two to another player, for at least 
  the duration of the scene. This is fine, and you can do it any 
  time that both players agree, with the exception that the Heart 
  can never lend guidance over her protagonist.
  example: Suhail has a scene where she reviews the troops under 
  her command. Since there are no real antagonists or interpersonal 
  characters involved in this scene, Carrie (the Full Moon) lends the 
  other Paul and Rick a character each, lightening her own burden 
  and allowing them to participate in the scene.
  Whenever one protagonist appears in a scene which focuses on 
  another protagonist, the first protagonist’s Heart retains guidance 
  over her character, regardless of the character’s position in 
  the Cosmos. Indeed, no situation can ever cause the Heart of a 
  protagonist to lose guidance over the character’s actions.
  example: Sir Mirzam rides out with Suhail to patrol the wastes. 
  Despite the fact that Suhail is a rival of Mirzam’s (and thus listed 
  in the Mistaken’s section of his Cosmos), she is still guided by Emily 
  (her own Heart) and not Carrie (the Mistaken).
  example: Sir Mirzam has delved too deeply into mystic lore 
  and been possessed by the demon Etzlitotec. While the demon 
  controls his actions, Paul (his Heart) retains guidance and decides 
  what the demon makes him do, taking advice and suggestions from 
  Carrie (the Mistaken).
  It is good to have allies and friends
  It is quite likely that, in the course of play, you will at some point 
  want to have a scene that features multiple protagonists at the same 
  time. When this comes up, keep the following rules in mind.
  Each scene focuses on one and only one protagonist. Other 
  protagonists may be present, but they are treated as secondary 
  characters — they cannot enter conflicts, nor can their players 
  end the scene. However, there are two key exceptions to this.
  First, as mentioned above, the protagonist’s Heart always retains 
  guidance over the protagonist, no matter what the situation. 
  Likewise, to use another protagonist in a conflict statement, you must 
  have the permission of that protagonist’s Heart.
  example: Carrie (Mistaken) has just framed a scene focusing 
  on Sir Mirzam, where he faces down with his old rival Suhail. As 
  Suhail is Mirzam’s rival, she would normally be guided by Carrie 
  (Mirzam’s Mistaken). However, Suhail is a Protagonist. As such, 
  she is guided by her Heart, Emily. During the scene, Suhail is 
  treated like a secondary character — she cannot participate in 
  conflicts, Emily cannot end the scene, etc.
  
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  It is possible to have two protagonists participate in the same 
  conflict via judicious use of the and so iT Was key phrase. This 
  is somewhat of an advanced technique, and it is not recommended 
  until you have mastered the basic conflict methods.
  At the end of the world
  When the time has come that you need to stop playing Polaris 
  and take care of other things, make sure to take time to end 
  the game properly. Ask all the other players if there are any last 
  scenes that they want to play out. After all that is done, one of 
  the players should say the key phrase buT ThaT all happened 
  long ago, and noW There are none Who remember 
  iT. If you lit a candle at the beginning of the game, now you 
  should blow it out. If you played a song at the beginning, you 
  might want to play a song at the end, and so on. Saying this 
  key phrase means that the game is over for now, although you can 
  still take some time to talk about what happened, think about 
  what might happen next, and plan ahead for the next game.
  example: After a scene for each protagonist, it is getting late in 
  the afternoon. Emily asks if people want to keep playing for a while, 
  or if they’d like to wrap things up. Paul says that he’d like to run 
  one more scene for Emily’s protagonist, to set things up for next time. 
  The players play out the scene, then Emily blows out the candle, and 
  Carrie says “buT ThaT all happened long ago, and 
  noW There are none Who remember iT.”
  The players take some time to talk about the game. Emily asks if 
  they want to play again, and they agree to meet up two weeks later. 
  Paul gives Rick and Carrie a ride home.
  and so iT Was…
  .
  
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  facing: 
  A knight jests  
  with the Lord of Flames.
  
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  fourTh, a Clash of sTarlighT,  
  a song of sWords, a frozen kiss. ConfliCT!
  First you must know when to use it
  When, in the course of free play, one character takes any 
  action that another player feels should be difficult, should have 
  a price attached to it, or should not happen, a conflict should 
  occur. Either the Heart or the Mistaken can initiate by using one 
  of the key conflict phrases at any time during ordinary play. The 
  Moons may not initiate a conflict, nor can they use any of the key 
  conflict phrases, though they can and should ask for another player 
  to negotiate on their behalf. In this section, the Heart and the 
  Mistaken are sometimes referred to together as active players, and 
  sometimes the opposite (Heart for the Mistaken, Mistaken for the 
  Heart) is called the opponent.
  While it might seem that conflict is an argument between 
  players, it shouldn’t be. If the players are actually upset with 
  each other, something is wrong. Rather, the Heart and the 
  Mistaken are taking the opportunity to lobby for the knight and 
  the demons, all in the interests of driving the tragedy forward. 
  If players are actually upset with each other, it is past time to 
  take a break from the game!
  And you must know who can use it
  All conflict is settled by a negotiation between the Heart 
  and the Mistaken, with the Moons taking an important, but less 
  involved, position as referees. As such, if the Moon guides a 
  character to take an action that the Heart or the Mistaken objects 
  to, either active player can negate, oppose, or disregard that action 
  as they see fit, although they are not allowed to dictate a new 
  action to replace it. This is only appropriate, as the protagonists 
  and their demons are central to the story. Likewise, if the Heart 
  or Mistaken has a character take an action that a Moon objects to, 
  the Moon must ask for a representative in conflict.
  Either the Heart or the Mistaken can use the buT iT Was no 
  maTTer key phrase to negate or oppose a Moon’s action. When this 
  is said, the other active player must either repeat the phrase buT iT 
  Was no maTTer or say the phrase We shall see WhaT Comes 
  of iT. If the other player says buT iT Was no maTTer, the 
  dismissal, cancellation, or opposition occurs. If the other player 
  says We shall see WhaT Comes of iT, conflict begins as if that 
  player had made the Moon’s statement themselves, and the other 
  active player must respond with one of the key conflict phrases.
  example: Suhail is in an argument with her lover, El Nasl, and 
  her fiancee, Fomolhaut.
  Carrie (neW moon): El Nasl grabs a vase from the table 
  and just like that smashes it over Fomolhaut’s head, killing him.
  emily (hearT): Whoa, hold on! buT iT Was no 
  maTTer. Uhm, Suhail cuts the vase out of his hand before 
  he can swing it.
  Everyone looks at Rick, the Mistaken, who now must answer.
  riCk (misTaken): Hmm… buT iT Was no maTTer. 
  Sorry, Carrie, but I have too many plans for Fomolhaut to let 
  him go this early.
  Carrie (neW moon): No problem.
  Now we can discuss how conflict proceeds,  
  and what you say
  Conflict in Polaris is an extended negotiation between the Heart 
  and the Mistaken over the events of the scene. When it ends, you 
  can end the scene right there, or return to free play. You can 
  also play out the events you have just negotiated, or skip past 
  them to the new action.
  Conflict doesn’t proceed as a freeform negotiation, however. 
  Rather, it is performed through a series of specific key phrases, 
  called key conflict phrases. Following this structure focuses the 
  conflict on difficult choices, especially for the knight, which 
  moves the focus onto heroic tragedy. Not following it can 
  result in muddled, unfocused, and unpleasant play. 
  Two key conflict phrases — buT iT Was no maTTer and 
  We shall see WhaT Comes of iT — were introduced in the 
  last section. These phrases are used for conflict between the 
  active players and the Moons. The six remaing key conflict phrases are 
  
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  used exclusively between the Heart and the Mistaken. They are 
  listed, with their effects, below.
  	buT only if… followed by a statement means that you are 
  willing to allow the opponent’s statement to come to pass, if he 
  will only accept your statement as well. Conflict continues.
  buT only if can be used at the beginning of a conflict, 
  or in response to another buT only if statement. Any of 
  the key conflict phrases can be used to respond to it.
  	and furThermore followed by a statement means that 
  you accept your opponent’s statement, and that you have 
  another statement that must go along with it. Conflict 
  continues, but your opponent has a limited selection of 
  responses to your statement.
  and furThermore can be used at the beginning 
  of a conflict, or in response to buT only if and and 
  furThermore. Only the phrases iT shall noT Come 
  To pass, and furThermore, you ask far Too muCh, 
  and And ThaT Was hoW iT happened may be used to 
  respond to it.
  To use and furThermore you must exhaust an 
  appropriate Theme, confirmed by the Moons. If you have no 
  appropriate Themes available, you cannot use this phrase. 
  The process of exahusting Themes will be explain in more 
  depth later in this chapter.
  	iT shall noT Come To pass means that you oppose the 
  last statement, aren’t willing to compromise at all, and are 
  willing to take a risk.
  Based on the last Theme expended in the conflict, or their 
  own judgement, the Moons determine what Value is associated 
  with the conflict. (Ice is associated with Offices and Fate, Light is 
  associated with Blessings and Ability.) The Heart rolls a die to 
  determine the outcome, with a disadvantage going to the 
  player who invoked the iT shall noT Come To pass key 
  phrase. (If the Mistaken is disadvantaged, add Zeal (if any) to the 
  Value. If the Heart is disadvantaged, subtract Weariness (if any) 
  from the Value.) If the roll of the die is lower than or equal to 
  this challenge value, the Heart succeeds. Otherwise, the Mistaken 
  succeeds. This will be discussed more later in this chapter.
  If you succeed, the opponent’s last statement is negated, but 
  all the previously negotiated statements occur. If you fail, 
  the opponent’s last statement and all other other negotiated 
  statements occur. (If the Heart fails, you should also check 
  Experience — see the next chapter.) Either way, conflict ends 
  with the roll of the dice.
  iT shall noT Come To pass can be used at the 
  beginning of a conflict, or in response to buT only if… 
  and and furThermore… No key conflict phrase can be 
  used to respond to it, as it ends the conflict.
  Warning: At the beginning of the story-arc, the odds of 
  succeeding with iT shall noT Come To pass are only 1 
  in 6. Success becomes more probable later in the storyline.
  	you ask far Too muCh means that you don’t think that 
  your opponent is asking something reasonable. Your opponent 
  must offer up another suggestion which is either lesser in 
  scope or dramatically different from their previous statement. 
  The Moons must confirm that their offer is sufficiently smaller 
  in scale or different in scope. You choose one of the two 
  options, the original statement or the newly offered one, and 
  continue with any key conflict phrase you wish to use.
  You should not, under any circumstances, give your 
  opponent suggestions on what to offer.
  you ask far Too muCh can be used at the beginning 
  of a conflict, or in response to buT only if and and 
  furThermore The only response to it is for your 
  opponent to revise her statement.
  To use you ask far Too muCh you must exhaust an 
  appropriate Theme, confirmed by the Moons. If you have 
  no appropriate Theme available, you cannot use this phrase. 
  The process of exhausting Themes will be explained in 
  more depth later in this chapter.
  
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  73
   and ThaT Was hoW iT happened means that you accept 
  your opponent’s statement, and don’t wish to ask for anything 
  more yourself. It can be used in response to any key conflict 
  phrase except for you ask far Too muCh. It ends conflict.
  	iT Was noT meanT To be means that you reject your 
  opponent’s statement, and are willing to sacrifice some of 
  your own to deny it. Your opponent’s statement does not 
  happen, and neither does your own last statement. All 
  other statements do occur, and conflict ends. iT Was noT 
  meanT To be can be used in response to buT only if.
  These key phrases are summarized on the Key Phrases Reference 
  Sheet (page 137). You may wish to photocopy this page that lists 
  the key phrases and their effects and keep it at the table as you 
  play, to help remind you of them during play.
  example: and so iT Was that Sir Suhail found himself 
  in pitched battle against a great demon, some amorphous blob of 
  flesh that breathed acid and would not yield to his blade. Suhail 
  and Shackleton, his brave steed, battled for hours against the beast 
  to no avail.
  emily (hearT): Suhail jumps up into the air, pauses for 
  a moment at the top of his jump, and then drives his sword 
  straight into the beast, not stopping until he reaches its heart, 
  killing it.
  riCk (misTaken): buT only if Shackleton is fatally 
  wounded in the fight. You lose your “Loyal Steed” aspect from 
  your Blessings Theme.
  emily (hearT): No way! iT Was noT meanT To be. 
  I ride a retreat away from the demon, hoping to warn Southreach 
  in time.
  example: and so iT Was that, at the Autumn dance, Sir 
  Mirzam came across Algieba, who he had loved in his youth.
  paul (hearT): “Algieba! It has been a long time.”
  riCk (neW moon): She gets this guilty, slightly terrified 
  look on her face and then leans in and whispers “I’m sorry, 
  Mirzam, but I have broken our childhood promise. I am 
  betrothed.” You’re falling in love with her all over again, 
  though.
  paul (hearT): buT iT Was no maTTer. I’m here to 
  find that demon, not to get moony over some chick.
  Carrie (misTaken): We shall see WhaT Comes 
  of iT. C’mon, Paul, where’s your sense of romance?
  paul (hearT): All right, I’m falling in love with her, buT 
  only if I find the demon anyway.
  Carrie (misTaken): buT only if the demon is inside 
  of her.
  paul (hearT): Whoa! Okay, buT only if she doesn’t die 
  from it.
  Carrie (misTaken): Nice! and ThaT Was hoW iT 
  happened. Okay, so as you look into her eyes, you see the 
  face of Doubt reflected in them. “You see, there is nothing of 
  yours that I cannot take as mine.”
  Let’s discuss some basic procedures:  
  Exhausting a theme and rolling the die
  When you are called upon to exhaust a Theme, it means that 
  you must turn to the Moon and say, “I would like to spend my 
  Blessing Theme,” or whichever sort you’d like to spend. If you’d 
  like to, you can give a brief explanation (using the Aspects of the 
  Theme) as to why you think the Theme applies to the situation.
  The Moons consider the situation. If they agree, which is 
  likely, you exhaust the Theme and make your statement. If they 
  disagree, they can either reject your offer (in which case the 
  Theme is not exhausted and you can’t make the statement) or 
  they can ask you to exhaust an additional Theme, in which 
  case you can decide to spend the extra Theme or to just make 
  a different statement that doesn’t cost a Theme. For the second 
  Theme, any will do. It does not have to apply to the conflict.
  Each Theme may be exhausted once by the Heart (marked 
  by checking off the right hand side of the Theme on the record 
  sheet) and once by the Mistaken (marked by checking off 
  
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  75
  the left hand side of the Theme). When Themes refresh via 
  Experience, they can be spent again.
  When you roll the die, you first determine the challenge value 
  like this:
  First, if any Themes were exhausted in the conflict, the 
  challenge value is determined by the last Theme exhausted (Ice 
  if the last Theme was Offices or Fate, Light if the last Theme 
  was Blessings or Ability).
  If no theme was exhausted during the conflict, the Moons 
  decide which Value (Ice or Light) seems appropriate, given 
  the situation.
  Then, if the Mistaken has the disadvantage, add the knight’s 
  Zeal Value, if any. If the Heart has the disadvantage, subtract 
  the knight’s Weariness Value, if any.
  You now have a challenge value between one and five, based 
  on one or two of the knight’s Values. The Heart now rolls 
  the die. If the result is lower than or equal to the challenge 
  value, the knight has triumphed. If the result is higher than the 
  challenge value, the demons are victorious, and also the knight 
  must test Experience (see next chapter).
  A roll of the die always ends the conflict.
  example: Alsafi, who was once Sir Mirzam’s wife before she 
  was transformed into a demon, has come in the knight to take back 
  her love. Finding him in bed with Algieba, his new lover, she is 
  driven into a rage.
  Carrie (misTaken): Alsafi tosses Algieba out of the bed, 
  grabs her, and throws her against the wall. “You slut!” Then 
  she turns to you and says “I have always been faithful to you, 
  all these years, and you repay me like this!”
  riCk (neW moon): Eek! 
  paul (hearT): “You gave me up when you turned away 
  from the people!” I draw my sword and it sings softly.
  Carrie (misTaken): “No, it was all for them, all for you.”
  paul (hearT): I throw her against the wall. She falls down.
  Carrie (misTaken): buT only if Alsafi and Algieba 
  are sisters.
  paul (hearT): and furThermore I’m the only 
  one who knows about it. I’d like to exhaust my Fate Theme, 
  because I have Alsafi as an Aspect of Fate.
  emily (full moon): Sounds fine.
  riCk (neW moon): *nods*
  Carrie: *shakes head* Sure. and ThaT Was hoW iT 
  happened.
  example: and so iT Was that Suhail was trying to drive 
  out Doubt, the demon that had possessed her fiancee, Fomolhaut.
  emily (hearT): I hold up my sword, and the light of stars 
  shines into his eyes, and Doubt is driven from him in fear of 
  my power and the power of my star.
  riCk (misTaken): buT only if Fomolhaut dies.
  emily (hearT): you ask far Too muCh. I’m 
  expending my Ability theme, which has the Exorcist Aspect.
  Carrie (neW moon): Sounds fine. What are you going 
  to offer, Rick?
  riCk (misTaken): buT only if Fomohaut abandons 
  you, and moves to the Mistaken section of your Cosmos.
  paul (full moon): Hmm… is that really lesser than him 
  dying? I mean, for Suhail?
  Carrie (neW moon): It sure is different.
  emily (hearT): Hmm… I don’t like that either. iT shall 
  noT Come To pass.
  Carrie (neW moon): Well, the last theme expended was 
  Ability, and you don’t have the advantage, so you just use Light, 
  without adding Zeal, right?
  riCk (misTaken): Right. So that’s a three.
  emily (hearT) rolls. The die shoWs a five.
  riCk (misTaken): Hah! And remember that’s an Experience 
  roll, too.
  It is important that you know what you can ask for 
  and what you cannot
  Almost anything can be negotiated in a conflict, not just 
  events which have to do with the struggle at hand. Other events, 
  
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  seemingly unconnected, can be introduced, although if the 
  effects are lasting or removed in time it is good to tie them to 
  a change in the Cosmos or in the Themes. Further, the Heart 
  and the Mistaken can ask for Aspects to be added, removed, 
  or changed; Themes to be exhausted; and the Cosmos to be 
  shifted. Either can ask for an additional roll for Experience.
  The following things can only be asked for when the knight is a 
  Veteran (has a Weariness score): The death of a protagonist, which 
  only the Heart may ask for and only with a buT only if statement; 
  and the destruction or transformation of the whole or most of the 
  world, which only the Mistaken may ask for and also only with a 
  buT only if statement (characters on other protagonist’s Cosmos 
  are only affected at the discretion of the players who guide them).
  If you are using another protagonist as part of a scene 
  (or even if you aren’t), either active player can include that 
  protagonist in their statements, but only with the permission 
  of that protagonist’s Heart.
  No player can ever ask for the following things: Values cannot 
  be changed. Themes may not be refreshed. Guides cannot be 
  changed, and neither can any other rules of the game. If you 
  have asked for one thing already this scene, and it has been 
  denied, you can’t ask for it again (and generally it is bad form 
  to ask again until things have really changed dramatically). No 
  requests that are purely unrelated to the game (money, favors, 
  dares) can be requested.
  And, of course, the Mistake may never be wholly repealed 
  nor resolved.
  example: Early in Sir Mirzam’s story-arc, he is struck down 
  in a great autumn battle against the demonic host. Left for dead 
  on the field, his case seems hopeless, but because he is not yet a 
  Veteran, Paul (his Heart) cannot ask for his death.
  Later, after Mirzam’s Zeal has run out and he has become a 
  Veteran, he finds himself in a duel with the Solaris Knight atop of 
  Tallstar remnant. Because Mirzam is a veteran, Paul can ask for 
  Mirzam’s death with a buT only if statement. Carrie (the 
  Mistaken) still cannot ask for his death.
  Some Advice for the Heart and the Mistaken
  Don’t ever ask for things that you don’t want to see in play! 
  There can be a temptation to get the other player to back down by 
  making a big buT only if… statement. This is fine, but make 
  sure that its something that you don’t mind happening.
  Be considerate to the Moons. If they really want something 
  to happen, try to advocate for them if you can. Likewise, don’t 
  offer up particularly inappropriate Themes in the hope that 
  they will be accepted. That just wastes everyone’s time.
  But do go for the throat. If you ask for big things, you just 
  might get them. See how far you can push the other player 
  before they back down. Remember that a story is only good 
  if the players are emotionally engaged in it, and nothing drives 
  emotional engagement like hard choices.
  At the same time, know when it’s over. When you’re happy 
  with the outcome, don’t push it too much. Saying and ThaT 
  Was hoW iT happened lets everyone get back to playing out 
  the scene.
  If the events in play would cause a change to the Cosmos or 
  the Aspects of the character’s Themes, make sure to include 
  that in your statement. Anything you want to be important 
  long-term should be reflected on the record sheet, somehow. 
  Generally speaking, if what you’re asking for has long-term 
  effects or will only be important in the future, it should be 
  reflected as an Aspect or a change to the Cosmos or both.
  Get advice from the Moons. If you’re stuck for an idea of 
  what sort of statement to make, ask the Moons! They almost 
  certainly have ideas of their own.
  Don’t get advice from your opponent. If you ask your 
  opponent what they would be happy with, or what they want 
  you to ask, the entire conflict system breaks down. So don’t do 
  it. Make them sweat a little.
  Some Advice for the Moons
  Be fair. Remember that your role is as judges, not as participants. 
  If a Theme is appropriate, don’t reject it just because you don’t 
  like where that player is going with the challenge. Try to judge 
  
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  Themes based on whether or not they apply to the situation at 
  hand. (For instance, if the knight is fighting demons, of course 
  their starlight sword applies. Likewise, if a secondary character is 
  present in the scene, the knight can obviously use his Fate with 
  her.) At the same time, don’t be afraid to ask for a second Theme 
  or just deny the usage if it really doesn’t apply to the situation.
  If you are called upon to decide which Value applies to a conflict, 
  you should also try to decide impartially. Ice conflicts have to do 
  with things which are beyond the knight, or social connections, 
  etc. Light conflicts have to do with the knight himself and his 
  own abilities. If you absolutely cannot decide, you should choose 
  whichever is most advantageous to the knight.
  Engage as audience. Conflicts are really fun to watch, and feedback 
  is good for creativity. Talk about what’s going on while the others 
  are involved. Gasp, clap, or laugh when you’re impressed.
  Give advice. If either player seems stuck for an idea, start tossing 
  out things that they could use. There’s no rule against suggestions. 
  Your job is to keep things running smoothly, after all.
  Make sure all the statements play out. If, after a conflict is 
  over, people seem to be skipping over a statement that was 
  confirmed during the conflict, gently remind them of it and 
  offer suggestions for how they might work it into play.
  Finally, you must know what happens after
  When conflict ends, you can end the scene right there by 
  saying and so iT Was… or you can go back to free play. 
  Often, a scene will have lots of little conflicts, but sometimes 
  you also get one big conflict that really ends the scene.
  When you go back to free play, you can play out the events you 
  have just negotiated, or you can simply acknowledge that they 
  happened and move on. Either way is fine, and you’ll probably 
  use both at different times, depending on your group’s tastes 
  and the needs of the scene.
  and so iT Was…
  
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  facing: 
  Trapped in the south, a young knight bargains 
  with Leviathan for return to his homeland..
  
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  fifTh and finally, hoW The sTory moves 
  and hoW iT ends
  Let’s discuss how the rules of this chapter are a little different
  All the rules of the game that we have discussed so far have 
  dealt with immediate play — the Cosmos guides you in making 
  conflict, the Themes in furthering it, the Values in resolving 
  it, and so on. The rules in this chapter are different: they do 
  not necessarily influence play on a moment to moment basis. 
  Rather, they are about how protagonists change and grow, how 
  storylines move towards their final tragic endings and what 
  shape that ending might take.
  These sorts of rules take some getting used to, but they are 
  the key to a satisfying game. Make sure that at least one of 
  your players understands all the rules in this chapter before you 
  start play.
  What is Experience, and when does it happen, you ask?
  Experience marks the progression of the knight from a 
  untested novice, full of zeal and will to fight, to a seasoned 
  veteran, skilled but weighed down by the horrors he has seen. 
  Experience is checked whenever one of two things happens:
   The Heart loses a roll in conflict. It does not matter 
  who called for the roll.
   The protagonist acts in some way that is indicative 
  of sympathy for a demon or the demons as a whole, 
  hatred of a person or the people as a whole, apathy, 
  callousness, cynicism, doubt, or despair. If there is 
  an argument about what counts for Experience, the 
  Mistaken makes the final decision.
  You can roll Experience right when you see it, or you can wait 
  until the end of the scene to roll for it. If you do the second, 
  make sure to count each separate instance of Experience — it is 
  possible to get a great amount of Experience from a single scene.
  For an example of the first type of Experience, see pg 74.
  example: The scene is focusing on Suhail, after her fiancee 
  Fomolhaut has been taken away by the host of the Mistaken.
  paul (full moon, playing a felloW knighT): 
  Come, Suhail, let us go and win back your betrothed from the 
  foul things that have taken him.
  emily (hearT): No. You may go, but I will not.
  paul (full moon): Not go! Why?
  emily (hearT): Why should I care for him? He is not the 
  one I love.
  riCk (misTaken): Hey, Emily, that sounds like Experience 
  to me.
  emily (hearT): Yup, sounds like it to me, too. Let’s roll.
  How to roll for Experience and the results thereof: 
  Advances and Refreshes
  Whenever Experience occurs, the Heart rolls a die.
  If the number showing is lesser than or equal the protagonist’s 
  Zeal or Weariness Value, the result is an advance. Add one to 
  either the Ice or the Light Value, remembering that the highest 
  possible Value is a five. If the knight is a Novice, subtract one 
  from Zeal. If the knight is a Veteran, add one to Weariness. 
  Look at the knight’s Aspects. If there are any that no one really 
  cares about, the sort that probably haven’t been invoked since 
  the last advance, consider removing them. If the knight has less 
  Aspects than you’d like, now is a great time to add more.
  If the number showing is greater than the protagonist’s Zeal 
  or Weariness Value, the result is a refresh. Refresh all exhausted 
  Themes, for both the Heart and the Mistaken.
  example: Continuing the last example, Emily is rolling 
  Experience for her character Suhail. Suhail’s Zeal Value is a 2. 
  Emily rolls the die and the result is a 1. One is less than two, 
  so Suhail will Advance. Suhail’s Zeal drops to 1. Emily chooses 
  to raise Suhail’s Light from 3 to 4, and everyone else agrees that 
  that is fine. She doesn’t really see a need to adjust any of Suhail’s 
  aspects, so she doesn’t.
  If she had rolled a 3 or higher, she would not have changed 
  her Values at all, and would have instead refreshed all expended 
  Themes (both Heart and Mistaken).
  
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  How Novices become Veterans
  If the protagonist has a Zeal score of one and rolls an advance, 
  special rules apply. 
  First, add one to both Ice and Light, instead of just to one. 
  Second, replace the protagonist’s Zeal Value with a Weariness 
  Value, rated at one. 
  Third and most importantly, in the next scene the knight must 
  encounter the Frost Maiden or the Solaris Knight, and in that 
  scene must learn from them of the doom of all knights to betray 
  their cause. At the point where the knight learn of this, add 
  Aspect “Betrayal of the People” to the knight’s Fate Theme.
  The knight is now considered a Veteran. Previously off-limits 
  statements can be made in conflict (about protagonist death 
  and the end of the world). Weariness is subtracted, rather than 
  Zeal added, to challenge values. The knight has begun her slow 
  slide towards corruption or death.
  example: Later, Suhail faces another Experience roll. Her 
  Zeal is one, so only a result of one will result in an advance but, 
  eventually, it happens.
  Her Ice and Light Values both increase by one — Her Ice to 
  two, and her Light to five. Her Zeal has vanished entirely, never 
  to return, but she gains a Weariness Value that starts at one.
  Emily writes Betrayal of the People with Suhail’s other Fate 
  aspects. Now that she is done with the Advance, play can continue. 
  Rick jumps right into framing the next scene: 
  and so iT Was that Suhail, wandering in the wastes, came 
  across a frightened girl, huddled in the snow. The girl looks up at 
  you and snow falls from her lips as she says, “I will not let you 
  take him from me.”
  How they died
  After their protagonist becomes a Veteran, at any point, in any 
  conflict, the Heart can now say “buT only if [protagonist’s 
  name] dies,” which was previously not allowed. Generally, this 
  applies to the Heart’s protagonist, but it can apply to another 
  protagonist if their own Heart consents. The Mistaken can 
  never make this statement, and need not grant it.
  After this the knight is dead, and beyond the reach of the people 
  and the demons forever. The character cannot continue in play, 
  but please do take some time to go over her story, think about it, 
  talk about it, and keep the sheet that records it. You can make a 
  new protagonist to fill in the gap or just carry on with one less.
  example: And so it was that Sir Mirzam faced down with the 
  Solaris Knight on the very top of the Tallstar remnant.
  Carrie (misTaken): So, you’re fighting back and forth, with 
  lightning slashes and parries, right? Every time your swords 
  meet, great flames are leaping up from his sword, and they rise 
  in the sky and become aurora, blotting out the stars. Just as 
  the last star vanishes, he brings his sword down on yours in 
  a beat attack, and your sword shatters into a thousand pieces. 
  You lose the Starlight Sword Blessing.
  paul (hearT): buT only if the central shard of the 
  sword drives through his chest, pinning him to the spot forever.
  Carrie (misTaken): buT only if his blood seeps into 
  the remnant, corrupting its people.
  paul (hearT): Whoa… buT only if I die.
  emily (full moon): Wow… Are you sure?
  paul (hearT): *nods.*
  Carrie (misTaken): and ThaT Was hoW iT 
  happened.
  paul (hearT): Can I end the scene? and so iT Was that 
  Mirzam died, his corpse slumped over the Solaris Knight that 
  he had imprisoned, their blood mingling together and tainting 
  his home, under a starless winter sky…
  riCk (neW moon): Wow.
  emily (full moon): That was cool.
  Carrie (misTaken): Yeah, it was a little unexpected. Do you 
  have a new character?
  paul (hearT): Yeah, I thought I’d make a new guy right now, 
  if the rest of you don’t mind…
  
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  And how they fell
  Four is the highest possible value for Weariness. If, while this 
  Value is at four, the Heart rolls an advance, that protagonist has 
  finally given in to his frustration and pain and turned against the 
  people. The character has become a demon and can no longer 
  be considered a protagonist. As with when a character dies, take 
  time to reflect on the character’s tragic fall. If you wish, the 
  Heart or the Mistaken can frame one last scene focusing on this 
  protagonist which shows the exact moment of his descent.
  But, even though the character has turned permanently to a 
  foul demonic creature, it does not mean that the character has 
  left play. This character, a former protagonist, must now return 
  to play as a demonic antagonist. Further, whenever the character 
  is present in a scene, the character’s old Heart still guides him.
  Just the same as when a character dies, you can make a new 
  protagonist to fill in the gap or continue play with one less.
  example: Suhail, now a seasoned Veteran with a Weariness 
  Value of 4, plunges into the Mistake itself during the Autumn 
  crusade. She fights demon after demon, never falling, until finally, 
  before her, she sees, though the mists, an armored figure with a 
  sword that shines as bright as the sun — the Solaris Knight.
  emily (hearT): Suhail stands up to full height, bleeding from all 
  of her wounds but still strong. She points her sword at the Solaris 
  Knight and says, “Even if it means my death, I will destroy you.”
  riCk (misTaken): He reaches up and throws off his helmet. 
  You recognize Fomolhaut. “Kill me if you will,” he says.
  emily (hearT): Don’t think that love will protect you. I 
  never loved you.
  riCk (misTaken): I know you never loved me. But I loved 
  you. I loved you while you were in El Nasl’s arms. I loved 
  you when you abandoned me to the Mistaken. I loved you, and 
  at every turn you spited me, and I loved you still, and still I 
  love you now. He drops his sword and holds out his arms.
  emily (hearT): I run him through.
  riCk (misTaken): I think that’s Experience, for callousness. 
  Right?
  everyone: *nods*
  Emily rolls the check, and gets an Advance. Suhail has fallen 
  into corruption.
  emily (hearT): I think that she stabs him through to the hilt 
  and he falls on top of her.
  riCk (misTaken): He gently strokes your hair and says 
  “my love…”
  emily (hearT): And, as he is dying, I embrace him. and 
  so iT Was.
  riCk (misTaken): Whew…
  paul: I’m going to add Suhail to Arneb’s Mistaken section. Is 
  that cool?
  Carrie: Are you going to start a new Protagonist?
  emily: Yeah… I don’t know.
  riCk: That was pretty intense stuff. Why don’t we take a break 
  for a bit?
  emily: Sounds good. And I don’t think I’ll make another 
  character just yet. I want to think through Suhail’s story before 
  I start another one. We’ll see how it goes.
  And that is all
  There is no more of Polaris that I can show you. From now 
  on, you must discover it yourself, by playing the game.
  and so iT Was…
  buT ThaT all happened long ago, and noW There 
  are none Who remember iT.
  
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  Appendix 1: 
  VARiAnT Rules
  At times, you will find that various circumstances prevent 
  you from using the Polaris rules as they stand. In these cases, 
  please make use of these variant rules as you would.
  If you have three players
  For optimal Polaris play, you simply must have four players. 
  However, if you are desperate to play a game and can’t find the 
  last player, a perfectly satisfactory game can be achieved with 
  only three players, if you change around the rules a little bit.
  In a three-player game of Polaris, the role of the Full Moon 
  and the New Moon is combined into a single player, called 
  the Moon, who guides all the people and beasts that are not 
  actively antagonistic to the protagonist, and has all the other 
  responsibilities of both the Full Moon and the New Moon.
  The protagonist record sheet is changed, as well — the outer 
  is divided into two parts, Mistaken on the left, Moon on the 
  right. Similarly, the Moon sits to the right of the Heart, the 
  Mistaken to the left.
  If you have five or six players
  Perhaps you are truly blessed and have enough friends eager to 
  play your game that you exceed the four required to play. In this 
  case, the best device is to simply split into multiple groups of 
  three and four players (perhaps sharing the same setting events?) 
  However, if you have exactly five players, this clearly will not do. 
  For those players, the following variant rule is present.
  One player, usually the one two seats to the right of the Heart, 
  is chosen to be the Dummy. The Dummy has no guidance over 
  anything, and need not even be present when the scene is being 
  played. If desired, other players can loan guidance over particular 
  characters to the Dummy for the duration of the scene.
  The Dummy is also a good person to take notes on the game, 
  get tea and snacks, etc. Such things are left to the individual 
  group to decide.
  previous: 
  Two knights, a novice and a veteran, 
  ride demonic steeds into battle.
  
  
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  This may be expanded to a six-player variant, with two 
  Dummy players per scene (one two seats to the left, one two 
  seats to the right), but at the cost of the some slowness in game 
  play. More than six players is emphatically not recommended.
  If you have unexpected guests
  If you have a friend who wants to come and watch your 
  ongoing Polaris game, you should by all means welcome them 
  to join in. However, the structure of the game seems to prevent 
  participation by a newcomer.
  The simple resolution to this is, rather than giving them a 
  protagonist, have each player loan them guidance over specific 
  characters. This allows them reasonably full participation in 
  the game without disrupting the pre-existing structure.
  If one player simply cannot arrive
  If one player cannot, for whatever reason, arrive at the game, 
  your best option is simply to play some other game — I heartily 
  recommend Universalis for such occasions. If you simply must 
  play Polaris, you can play as such.
  Focus on the protagonists whose Heart and Mistaken are 
  both present. All the third player to play any characters in any 
  Moon section of the Cosmos. In addition, you might want to 
  allow the Moon to start and end scenes with the and so iT 
  Was key phrase. It is highly ill-advised to play scenes without 
  both the Heart and the Mistaken present.
  Make sure that you record what happened, so you can brief 
  the errant player when she returns.
  If you have an inconsistent group
  If you can’t get a constant group of friends to meet to play 
  your game, even irregularly scheduled, Polaris is probably not 
  the game for you. However, if you still really want to play, 
  you might consider this variant: don’t associate a particular 
  protagonist with a particular set of players in any way.
  To play like this, you must first build a pool of 2-6 protagonists. 
  Whenever you start a session of the game, distribute the sheets 
  to players via consensus, a draft, or perhaps randomly. Allow 
  the seating at the time to determine who fills the roles of the 
  Moons and Mistaken. All assignments are temporary and only 
  last for that one session of play.
  This will give you a much more disjointed story, and perhaps 
  not as satisfying, but if it sounds appealing, give it a try.
  If you want for more focus
  A great way to start the game is to only have one or two 
  protagonists. Assign guidance as normal, but not every player 
  will to take on every role. This allows you to test out the game 
  and move through a story more quickly, and new protagonists 
  can always be introduced if you see the need.
  Likewise, there is no saying that each player can only be Heart 
  for one protagonist. A game with more than four protagonists 
  could also be interesting, if slow moving.
  If you are not patient
  A Polaris storyline is long. On average, it will take around 
  27 times checking Experience to take a knight all the way into 
  corruption, 14 to get to veteran status. Depending on your 
  group, this might be a very long time, and some players might 
  want to end their story more quickly. If this is the case, try this 
  variant, which should result in a story about half as long.
  When checking for Experience, a roll of 1-3 indicates an 
  Advance, and a roll of 4-6 indicates a Refresh, regardless of the 
  knight’s Zeal or Weariness value.
  
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  Appendix 2: 
  exAmple AspecTs
  Remember that these Aspects are merely examples, and 
  that you can (and should) think up your own for your own 
  characters as well.
  Example Office Aspects
  Knight of the Order of the Stars 
  desCripTion: The character is a Knight Stellar, called or 
  driven into the service of the stars.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You need to find evidence in 
  an investigation. You use your role as a knight to gain special 
  privilege. You are performing some action characteristic of 
  knights and the Order.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: Someone brings up the Knights’ 
  bad reputation. The terrible doom of all knights confronts you. 
  You discover something terrible about the past of the Order. You 
  are fighting the Frost Maiden or the Solaris Knight. 
  speCial rules: Automatic Aspect
  Matriarch of Yildun 
  desCripTion: The Yildun are a numerous clan, particular 
  influential in the Southreach orchestra, and you are their senior 
  member, due great respect and appreciation.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: Using the support of your family. 
  Ordering family members around. Taking care of family business. 
  Using the prestige of your family name to your advantage. 
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: You are betrayed by a family 
  member. You have to deal with your family’s bad reputation. 
  You have to take care of an irresponsible family member. 
  Sole Heir of Kaus Borealis 
  desCripTion: You are the only Kaus Borealis left living, the 
  sole heir of the ancient heritage of royal philosophers that was 
  near exterminated by their cousins, the Kaus Australius.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: Calling upon the strength of 
  your ancestors. Reciting your lineage to impress others with 
  your ability. Recalling bits of family history. 
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: You are alone, without kin in 
  the world, and your solitude is turned against you. Someone brings 
  up a mad relative in conversation. Someone mentions that Kaus 
  Borealis was involved in the construction of the First Calendar. 
  Aide to Senator Altair
  desCripTion: You are employed as a clerk and aide to the 
  aging and senile Senator Altair. While he was renowned in his 
  youth for his political savvy and dashing rhetorical skills, he is 
  long since past his prime, and in truth much of the work of his 
  senatorial appointment falls into your hands.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You utilize the power of your 
  employer to call on a favor. You intimidate someone with your 
  office. You use your busy schedule as an excuse to escape a 
  boring conversation. You find a secret bill of law amongst the 
  senator’s papers. You can turn the senator’s interests towards 
  your own.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: The job takes up too much of 
  your time. You are pinned for a scandal. Senator Altair comes 
  under attack. Papers that need signing follow you everywhere 
  (even into battle.) The aging man suffers from a wasting disease. 
  In his senility the senator mistakes you for a demon. Your 
  hands are grimy with the sly manipulations of the political 
  realm. Someone mentions that no modern person really cares 
  about politics
  speCial rules: If you lose this position, this Aspect either 
  becomes Former Aide to Senator Altair or perhaps something else.
  Exile
  desCripTion: Whatever your crime or supposed crime, 
  perhaps as simple as unfashionable gossip or perhaps so terrible 
  that there are not words to speak of it, you have been exiled 
  from the society of your remnant, or perhaps the society of 
  
  
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  the people altogether. Bitter and alone, you wander the wastes. 
  None, not even your fellow knights, will take you in or give you 
  solace. Perhaps you have considered a desperate voyage south, 
  or a desperate strike into the heart of the Mistake, for either 
  death would be preferable to this slow torment. Or perhaps you 
  have reconciled yourself to your solitude, and draw strength 
  from it.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You are called upon to be alone. 
  Since you are separated from society and its judgments only you 
  can do what is right. You must flee from the sight of people. 
  You maintain a quiet dignity even in your solitude. You have 
  learned from your mistakes. Your desperation spurs you to do 
  great things. You need to survive alone.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: All that look upon you fear 
  and hate you. Even your brother knights turn from you. You 
  must flee from the sight of people. You are depressed and 
  moody about your past. You take vengeance upon the remnants. 
  You believe the Frost Maiden when she whispers that she alone 
  still loves you.
  speCial rules: If the character is ever accepted into society, 
  this Aspect vanishes.
  Renowned Champion
  desCripTion: You are hailed amongst the greatest of 
  knights, a wonder of the Sun Age, true hero to the people and 
  champion of the stars. Those that love the knights decorate 
  the ground you tread with tears and cries, and even those that 
  hate your order give you a grudging respect and even genuine 
  concern. Your brother knights love your company, and are 
  honored to serve next to you if they get the chance, for you 
  have rescued them time and again from the clutches of the 
  Mistaken. The stars themselves shine with your glory. Maidens 
  faint at a taste of the air that has run through your hair, and 
  poets are dumbstruck by your valor.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You must perform the greatest 
  of tasks. You are called upon to speak in public. You must 
  help the needy or lift up the fallen. Your reputation precedes 
  you. You go courting. You lead a thousand knights into battle 
  and execute it perfectly. You seek the help of those that call 
  themselves your enemies and find it despite your differences. 
  You are beloved by everyone.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: You are beloved by everyone. 
  All you want to do is get some rest. All you want to do is 
  handle your own affairs, without assistance. You are pestered 
  by a thousand relentless suitors. Everyone is so concerned for 
  your well-being that they will not let you risk yourself in battle. 
  You doubt yourself. You have nightmares about failure. All 
  the things that are said about you are lies. Across a crowded 
  battlefield, the Solaris Knight points his blazing blade at you, 
  smiles, and beckons you to duel.
   Keeper of the Leftmost Museum 
  desCripTion: You are, at least in theory, charged with the 
  care and keeping of the priceless artifacts housed within the 
  Leftmost Museum at Tallstar remnant. 
  hoW iT mighT aid you: Use the mysterious lore of those 
  Dark Age artifacts. Grant or take away access to the Museum. 
  Any conflict that occurs within the Museum. Leverage your 
  position for political favor. 
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: Your duties distract you. 
  Someone mentions that no one goes to museums in these 
  modern times, anyway. Your underlings are stealing items and 
  replacing them with fakes. 
  speCial rules: If you are ever stripped of your rank, this 
  Aspect becomes “Former Keeper of the Leftmost Museum.”
  
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  Example Fate Aspects
  Fates are events, actions, people, places or organizations that 
  are tied, irrevocably, into your story. They can be very loosely 
  grouped into Events, Ideas, and Relationships.
  Event: Betrayal of the People
  desCripTion: You are a Knight of the Order of the stars, 
  and your doom lurks closer by the hour — those among you 
  who do not fall in the bloody sieges of spring and the bloodier 
  crusades of autumn will turn against the people, becoming 
  demons yourselves. Once, that fate was long-off and easily 
  ignored, but now it lurks within your heart and nightmares. 
  The turned faces of friends confront you on the battlefield, 
  and you cannot dare to hope that you will be more valorous.
  hoW iT aids and hinders you: You are fighting a fallen 
  knight. You are tempted to turn against the people. You are 
  preventing a knight from falling. One amongst the people or 
  the mistaken names your doom.
  speCial rules: All knights obtain this Aspect when they 
  become Veterans.
  Event: A Mysterious Disappearance
  desCripTion: No one knows what became of poor Altinak, 
  that day that she visited your study and vanished before she 
  could return. It seemed that she had vanished like mist before 
  sunlight, here one moment and gone the next.
  Do you already know the truth? Are you committed to 
  uncovering it? Perhaps you will learn that Etzlitotec is at fault, 
  or perhaps it was you who caused her vanishing? Is she dead or 
  in hiding or something stranger?
  hoW iT mighT aid or hinder you: You are investigating 
  the disappearance. Others ask you about it. There are others 
  who are disappearing in similar manners. The demon that 
  confessed to you was a ruse within a ruse. You know the truth, 
  but no one will believe you.
  Event: The Fall of Kerhah
  desCripTion: Kerhah was a knight, a guide in the outer wastes, 
  a slayer of great demons, and a credit to her order. But in one 
  moment something changed, and she will be remembered by 
  the people not for her great deeds but for her horrific betrayal 
  and the terrible price that she paid for it.
  Has it already come to pass, or does it lie in the future? Were 
  you the cause of her downfall, her antagonist as she turned, the 
  witness to her failure, the bard of her corruption; or were you 
  the last to love her, even as she fell? Perhaps you were all this, and 
  more. As we start to play with this aspect, we do not know.
  hoW iT mighT aid or hinder you: The seeds of 
  Kerhah’s downfall are revealed. You confront Kerhah about her 
  corruption. You defend her against the charges and accusations, 
  even when they are true. As you hold her hand in yours, there 
  is a cold pink slime beneath the surface of her skin. You give 
  her the water, anyway.
  Event: Reuniting the Kaus 
  desCripTion: Torn by ancient but not forgotten feuding, 
  the Kaus families have split into the Borealis, Australius, and 
  Media branches, all of whom violently hate each other. Despite 
  the fact that the Kaus Australius slew all of your clan in a petty 
  power-play, you have nonetheless vowed that, as the last of Kaus 
  Borealis, you will reunite your wayward family and turn their 
  strength and anger against the mistaken. 
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You have an ally for your noble 
  goal, a member of a Kaus family thinks kindly of you for it, 
  your have a good opportunity to achieve your goal. You suffer 
  ridicule for your idealism. The members of Kaus Australius 
  oppose your goals. Your single-mindedness drives you onward, 
  ignoring or deserting other crises.
  speCial rules: If this Aspect is rendered impossible or 
  completed, it may be changed into another similar sort of goal, 
  preferably an appropriate one.
  
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  Relationship: Rischia, Maiden of the Midmost Hall 
  desCripTion: Rischia, hailed in song and poetry as the 
  greatest beauty of the Sun Age, has had suitors travel two 
  remnants and gift her with priceless rubies merely for the 
  privilege of a moment in her sight. But she cares not for these 
  suitors, wealthy and powerful and handsome as they may be, for 
  she already has found her true love — you, a common knight. 
  But, although you know she is beautiful and kind, you cannot 
  find it within yourself to love her back, and so your romance 
  lingers, unspoken and rotting, between the two of you. 
  hoW iT aids and hinders you: Rischia is involved in the 
  conflict — either she is in danger, or is fighting you, fighting 
  alongside you, or is, in some other manner, at stake in the conflict.
  Relationship: Asmidike, Your Father 
  desCripTion: Your father was a knight. Though you never saw 
  him, and only heard tell of his exploits from others in the Order, 
  you always imagined that he was the greatest among the champions 
  and, even as your mother disparaged the Knights Stellar, you came 
  to love them even more through the absent image of your father. 
  hoW iT aids and hinders you: Your father is involved in 
  the conflict—either she is in danger, or is fighting you, fighting 
  alongside you, or is, in some other manner, at stake in the conflict.
  Relationship: Etzlitotec, the Princess of Spring 
  desCripTion: Clad in the skins of the people she has slain, 
  wielding a knife of burning obsidian, Etzlitotec is a great princess 
  among the demons, the first to emerge from the mistake come 
  springtime, slaughterer of ten thousand people, all victims of 
  her fecund savagery. Plants and flowers sprout behind her as she 
  walks, and while her masks are capable of deception, her true 
  face is always curled into a scream of terrible agony. She has lived 
  in secret among the people from time to time, and in that time 
  has come to know you, just as you have come to know her. Once, 
  you swore that you would rid the ice of her corruption, but as 
  you hunt her, you have come to understand her. And, perhaps, 
  she has also come to understand you. In your darkest dreams, 
  you fear that she is the only one.
  hoW iT aids and hinders you: You are fighting Etzlitotec, 
  you are tracking her schemes, you are talking to her, she is 
  assisting you, or tempting you. 
  Idea: The Greatest Knight 
  desCripTion: It is not enough to be a great warrior, 
  defending your people from the Mistake, and sacrificing 
  yourself for the good of the whole. You must be the best 
  knight, at whatever cost. 
  hoW iT aids and hinders you: You strive to fight on even 
  when all your companions have failed. You volunteer for the 
  most dangerous mission. On Crusade, you plunge headlong 
  into the Mistake. You pick fights with your fellow knights, 
  testing who is the strongest. You cannot abide defeat lightly. 
  The Solaris Knight smiles as he lays his hand on your shoulder 
  and tells you of true power.
  Idea: The South
  desCripTion: The mysterious South! Tales of its contents 
  and myths of its nations have haunted the people since before 
  the Mistake. Now, afterwards, these things that were once 
  whimsical fantasies of the exotic have taken on a tone of 
  desperate hope and desperate fear. Perhaps those people in the 
  South will come to the aid of your people, or perhaps they are 
  simply another form of demon.
  Perhaps you will be called to go, perhaps you will discover 
  ancient artifacts brought from their in a forgotten ago, 
  perhaps you have already been and come bearing tidings from 
  it. Whatever its nature, the south tempts you, haunting your 
  dreams and your waking life. It will be important.
  hoW iT mighT aid or hinder you: The south comes up in 
  conversation. Someone enquires about your travel or travel plans. 
  You are headed towards the south. You are in the south. Someone 
  has come from the south, with a desperate message for you. You 
  are bearing a message from the south. You find evidence of old 
  and forgotten treaties with the Empire of Tass.
  
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  Example Blessing Aspects
  Blessings are all gifts of stars — strange artifacts with 
  mysterious powers. Those gifted with them intuitively 
  understand how to use them, but others may not (unless they, 
  also, have the appropriate Aspect.)
  Starlight Sword 
  desCripTion: A shimmering, transparent sword of starlight 
  appears in your hand whenever you need it (faintly colored 
  red, blue, or white). It is perfectly sharp, and sings slightly as 
  it moves. (Some knights keep their swords hung at their belts. 
  No one knows why some knights have permanent swords and 
  others don’t.) 
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You are fighting something in 
  melee combat. You gesture with your sword and all conversation 
  stops at the pure tone. You hold up your sword as a symbol of 
  your knighthood. 
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: The demon you are fighting 
  is immune to your sword. You accidentally hurt a companion 
  with your sword. 
  speCial rules: Automatic
  Breathsuit 
  desCripTion: A thin jumpsuit with a heavy visor and 
  breathing mask. The food and water stores inside allow you to 
  survive for a great time.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You need to breathe in a hostile 
  environment, you need protection against the elements, you 
  need to survive for a long time without food.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: The breathsuit has a leak. The 
  ugly image of the mask frightens a would-be ally. The taste of 
  food has become dry and dull to you. You choke suddenly.
  Loyal Steed Shackleton
  desCripTion: You have in your possession one of the great 
  steeds of the people, a creature by the name of Shackleton, a trained 
  jumper, with long, graceful legs and chitin proof against demon 
  claws. He carries you swiftly over the ice and fights beside you in 
  battle with terrible claws and mandibles. But most importantly he 
  is a silent, listening companion in your darkest hours.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You need to get somewhere fast. 
  Shackleton aids you in battle with his sharpened claws. A might 
  leap takes you to the top of some ruin. He provides comfort 
  in a long journey
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: Shackleton needs to hibernate, 
  eat or mate at an inconvenient time. He is easily distracted. 
  His armor and visage scare off the more delicate amongst the 
  people. He will not obey your commands, and bolts.
  Greater Starlight Weapon 
  desCripTion: Your starlight weapon takes the form of a 
  larger sword, or some other sort of weapon, or a bow and arrows, 
  or is bolts of starlight that you throw from your hands. 
  hoW iT mighT aid you: Just as a Starlight Sword might 
  aid, but take into account the different form. A starlight bow 
  will be useful at different times than a starlight sword.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: See above.
  speCial rules: Replaces the Starlight Sword Aspect.
  My Father’s Sword
  desCripTion: Your father’s fall is still unspoken amongst 
  the knights, whispered about only in the darkest parts of the 
  dawn, when neither sun nor the stars can see those that speak 
  of the terrible things that he did, and the black marks it put 
  upon the sword that you now wield. It is tainted, even to look 
  upon: It casts a rippled and shadowy light and is shot through 
  with crystals the color of obsidian. Can you redeem the blade 
  or are you lost to it already?
  hoW iT mighT aid you: Just as a Starlight Sword might aid 
  you. The insatiable hunger of the darkness devours your foes. 
  As you kill the demon, the taint begins to wash away. You are 
  killing the people. The darkness blots the sun from your vision. 
  Despite it all, you act with honor. Though the sword screeches 
  for murder, you do not touch it.
  
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  105
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: The sword is recognized and 
  feared. Your father haunts your waking. In battle, you turn on 
  your allies. As your draw it forth, the horde of Mistaken look 
  upon it and each cowers in honor of the blade.
  speCial rules: Replaces the Starlight Sword Aspect.
  Wings of the Stars
  desCripTion: You have a great glider, a pair of wings crafted 
  out of ice, rigid and smooth, and with them you soar through 
  the skies like the gulls of the south. Though your flights cannot 
  last forever, many hours can pass before you finally have snow 
  beneath your feet again.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: In battle, you circle around, 
  perhaps bombing, perhaps fighting those things that haunt the 
  air. You escape by leaping from a high place. You must travel 
  far, and quickly. From the high angle, you can see what others 
  cannot see. As the demon dies, the ground gives way, and you 
  are left floating in the air.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: The wings crack or crumble 
  at some odd moment. You are too close to the sun, and they 
  melt. You are too close to the stars, and driven mad by their 
  beautiful songs. Bulky and awkward, the contraption makes it 
  hard to maneuver on the ground.
  Memory Crystal 
  desCripTion: Beginning as a clear crystal, it gradually turns blue 
  or red as information is stored in it. It can return the information 
  as text, images (both flat and spatial), or even as a dull, flat speech.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: Use the crystal to recall something 
  important. Use the crystal as a trick. 
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: The crystal contains foul 
  things. The crystal contains incriminating information about 
  you. The crystal lies. 
  The Call of Home 
  desCripTion: A tiny contraption of gem and metal, it contains a 
  miniature star that helps the Knight navigate the treacherous wastes.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You need to find something in 
  the wilderness. You need to keep up hope.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: The star points you towards 
  the Mistake.
  Bound Companion Arrakis
  desCripTion: Bonded to you since birth, Arrakis is your 
  friend and servant, the perfect handmaiden, attendant on your 
  every need before you even wish it in your heart. She followed 
  you into knighthood as your squire and serves you still in that 
  capacity. She is clever, quick, and pretty — ultimately useful 
  and perfectly loyal.
  hoW she mighT aid you: She leaps in front of the black 
  knight’s sword, protecting you from the final blow. She throws 
  your sword to you from across the room. A sudden cry of 
  “look out!”
  hoW she mighT hinder you: She will not let you go into 
  danger. She clings to you even in the night. She is jealous of 
  your lovers. Others regard your relationship as strange.
  Four Birds, Lord of Carrion
  desCripTion: Ranked among the twenty-nine fearsome dukes 
  of battle, Four Birds is a demon, foul and miserable, the enemy 
  of the people and the slave of the Mistake. After each battle, he 
  sates himself on the flesh of the weak and the dying, cracking 
  open their marrowy bones while they still live, eating their eyes 
  while they still see, defiling their corpses so that the people will 
  not let them into graveyards. He is terrible and proud and not 
  above mockery, but you have mastered him and bound him into 
  your service with strange and sunlit ritual. Now, he serves you as 
  your steed and servant, and although he is still demon and enemy 
  of the people, he is subject to your will.
  hoW he mighT aid you: He lifts you off into the air, out 
  of danger. He gives you passage through demon held territory. 
  He advises you about the customs amongst the Mistaken. You 
  see through his eyes. Four birds descend and peck out the eyes 
  of your enemies.
  
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  107
  hoW he mighT hinder you: He demands a price that 
  you are not willing to pay. When you see through his eyes, it 
  is blood and madness. You gain his custom of eating carrion. 
  Other knights do not trust you. You have unknowingly let a spy 
  into your midst. He was not so bound to you, after all.
  Example Ability Aspects
   Abilities represent capabilities of your character — things 
  that he, personally can do. They are roughly categorized into 
  Lore, Technique, Attribute and Skill.
  Lore of Demons
  desCripTion: You have learned from the Knights about the 
  nature and types of demons, and how to fight them.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You recall something about a 
  demonic weakness, and exploit it. Your use your lore to diagnose a 
  demonic possession, or perform an exorcism.
  How it might hinder you: Your lore is incorrect. Demons use 
  your knowledge to manipulate you. Your knowledge seperates 
  you from the people.
  speCial rules: Automatic
  Lore of the Stars
  desCripTion: You are learned in the paths and tones of the 
  stars, their colors and the tunes they weave across the sky. Even 
  the alien stars that rise only in the south are not strange to you, 
  for you have read texts smuggled from those hidden kingdoms 
  in the ancient age of starlight, copied wholesale in their foreign 
  scripts that none among the people can understand.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: If you can see the stars, you will 
  known without question or hesitation your time, position, and 
  the conditions of the knights that bear their burdens. You must 
  give a lecture on the topic before the senate. You are familiar 
  with the ancient libraries. Even in the depths of the wastes, you 
  are never alone. You must comfort a star that is dying in the sky. 
  You are called upon to lead a wedding or a funeral.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: Your preoccupation with 
  studying the stars prevents you from paying attention to the 
  matters at hand. You make a mistake in your calculations. The 
  stars make a mistake in their motion across the sky. Someone 
  mentions that no one has yet done a study of the sun, and you 
  are fascinated by the challenge.
  
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  109
  Lore of the Outer Wastes
  desCripTion: Those rugged wastes that lie further south 
  than even the Remnants remain mostly unexplored by even the 
  knights, but you are not cowed by such things. You are intimately 
  familiar with the makeup and geography of the southern wastes. 
  Even the changes that they go through every winter are not 
  completely random to you — you have a certain understanding 
  and intuition which pierces through that veil of winter.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You must guide others through 
  the wastes. You must survive in the wastes, yourself. You use 
  your knowledge of the wastes to duck into a crevasse, avoiding 
  the flood of poisoned gas. You are the first to see them coming 
  from the south.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: You spend so much time in the 
  wastes that you have forgotten how to live among the people. 
  Your love and your friends are abandoned. The geography 
  around the demonic citadel is strange, and you stumble. Even 
  all your lore cannot save you in this barren, hostile land.
  Technique: Strike from the Shadows 
  desCripTion: You attack from hiding, allowing yourself more 
  time to study your opponent, and so striking more effectively.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You are fighting someone and 
  can use the trick.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: Your target sees you coming. 
  Someone uses the same trick against you.
  Technique: Song of Truth
  desCripTion: When you sing, it is a glorious song, and 
  right in the eyes of the empyrean. Lies have no power before 
  your tune — indiscretions are admitted, betrayals exposed, and 
  disguises torn off like ragged flesh. When you are done, no 
  falsehood remains.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You must root out a web of lies 
  and corruption. You are called before a senate committee on 
  false charges. Your superior has become corrupt. Your father 
  finally tells you how your mother died.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: Even you cannot resist your 
  own song. Your wife tells you that she loves another. They 
  blame you and not those that told the lies. You accidentally 
  expose a tactical deception in the midst of battle. You discover 
  that your entire life has been a carefully crafted illusion.
  speCial rules: When the Heart invokes this ability, he must 
  sing, at least a note.
  Attribute: Refined 
  desCripTion: You are, at your core, a refined and distinguished 
  member of the people. You have little taste for the rugged life of 
  the knight, and are capable of appreciating subtleties of music 
  and food that even surpass even the artists that create them. 
  hoW iT mighT aid you: Your recognized refinement 
  brings you social benefit. You notice something subtle about 
  music, food, or art that is an important clue. You refuse a 
  temptation that is not sophisticated. 
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: You miss something 
  important because of your refinement. You are placed in an 
  unacceptable situations. You get flustered. 
  Attribute: Big
  desCripTion: The people are small and thin, slight like rays 
  of starlight, but you are different. You stand nearly two heads 
  taller than the others, and are thick and muscular. You barely 
  fit through the smaller doorways within the remnants, and 
  can carry three other people on your back with ease. Even the 
  Mistaken are mostly smaller than you.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You need to pick up or move 
  something large. You intimidate someone. Alien armor, brought 
  from the south in some forgotten age, fits you perfectly. You 
  stand out in a crowd. Your sword is longer than someone else’s. 
  You shatter the ice with a single crushing blow. You barely feel 
  the claws as they strike you.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: You are bulky and awkward. You 
  stand out in a crowd. Other people think you are terrifying, or 
  maybe even demonic. You must kneel to see eye-to-eye with him.
  
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  111
  Skill: Musician 
  desCripTion: You are a musician of no mean skill, attuned 
  to the music of the spheres. 
  hoW iT mighT aid you: The sound of the stars gives you 
  some warning. You play music to impress people. The pure 
  sound of your star-music drives back a demon. 
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: You are overwhelmed by the 
  screaming of the sun. You must stop to play a song and are 
  distracted from your task. Your playing ability proves unworthy 
  to the composition that you have chosen to perform 
  Skill: Sculptor
  desCripTion: You ken the ice. It moves through your 
  guidance to reveal its true and beautiful forms, shaping your 
  hands into shaping its forms — people, cities, stars, and other 
  things that have not been seen before and shall not be seen 
  again. And, just as the ice gives them likeness and shape, the 
  light within reveals something more personal and true, a form 
  beyond shape, a meaning to the thing you have made and what 
  you have made it after. Once, people clamored and waited to 
  be sculpted by you, but now they are afraid of the insight you 
  will show.
  hoW iT mighT aid you: You recognize a form through 
  touch. Your sculpture is renowned. You make a beautiful thing. 
  Your art gives you insight into the nature of some thing. You 
  feel your way effortlessly, even when blind. You speak silently 
  to the ice, and it responds.
  hoW iT mighT hinder you: Something terrible lurks 
  beneath the ice. Your art is scorned, and no one will look at 
  it. Poseurs badger you about unimportant minutia. You make a 
  horrible thing. Your art gives you insights into the nature of the 
  Mistake. They take your hands. You speak silently to the ice, and 
  it lies to please you.
  
  112
  113
  facing: 
  A group of demons hauls trophies 
  from the remnants back to the Mistake.
  
  114
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  Appendix 3: 
  ludogRAphy
  Actual Play:
  These are games that were played, whether I played in them 
  or not, that have influenced my design of Polaris. As it is 
  unfortunately impossible to list every participant in each game, 
  they are listed by their game masters or organizers, if possible.
  Baker, Megeuy; Baker, Vincent; Boss, Emily Care. Griffin’s Aerie
  This slightly-famous “Ars Magica”
   game inspired the player 
  responsibility breakdown, as well as a lot of thought about the 
  nature of RPGs in general.
  Gafford, Ethan. Gravity, Vidi Aquam, etc.
  Morality in gaming. Morality in gaming. Morality in gaming.
  Johnson, Calder. Nocturne Imperium
  Calder’s fantasy setting and his fantasy game is a sister to my 
  own. A bitter, sometimes feuding sister, but a sister nonetheless.
  Kenney, Adam; Lehman, Ben. Threshold
  Adam’s Threshold setting was the source of a lot of the 
  melancholy tone of the setting, and his one-use system was the 
  way I started thinking about players having significant effects 
  in the world with ease.
  Yannopolous, Ion. The Great Game
  Ion’s conspiratorial game about the nature of the world has a 
  complicated relationship to Polaris.
  Essays About Gaming:
  Theory and criticism play a big part in my own game design, 
  and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the essays that 
  influenced me the most.
  Baker, Vincent. Doing away with the GM
  The guidance system used in Polaris was written directly in 
  response to this article.
  Edwards, Ron. GNS and other maters of roleplaying theory
  Ron’s revolutionary essay about the structure of games as 
  they are played, and how that interacts with game texts, really 
  revolutionized my thinking about games, and pretty much led 
  directly to my design at all. Furthermore, Polaris is distinctly 
  an attempt to write an RPG in a Narrativist style.
  —————. Review of Legends of Alyria
  Which pretty much blew my mind about what an RPG system 
  is, and how it is so much more than a resolution mechanic.
  Lehrich, Chris. Ritual Discourse in RPGs
  The key phrases are pretty much directly inspired by this 
  “impractical”
   essay.
  Game texts which influenced me:
  All good writers steal. I won’t make a claim to being a good 
  writer, but I’m a thief, and that’s half the battle, at least.
  Baker, Vincent. Dogs in the Vineyard
  Mormonesque marshals patrol a spiritually alive version of 
  pre-statehood Utah. The social role of the Knights is somewhat 
  similar to Dogs, and if I took some influence from this game’s 
  mechanics it was only for the better.
  Ben-Ezra, Seth. Legends of Alyria (forthcoming)
  A science-fantasy game of tremendous moral clarity and 
  spiritual depth.
  Borgstrom, Rebecca. Nobilis
  Godlings struggle to preserve reality from incomprehensible 
  invaders. The tone of beauty and loss in Nobilis is something 
  that I tried to emulate in parts of Polaris, and the Excrucians 
  and Mistaken bear more than a passing resemblance.
  
  
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  Chupp, Sam; Hartshorn, Jennifer; Dansky, Richard; Lemke, Ian. Wraith
  This game was among the first games I encountered with a 
  shared narration mechanic, and a division of responsibilities 
  for each player that was not “everyone controls a character 
  except for the Game Master, who controls everything else.
  Edwards, Ron. Sorcerer
  The zeal/weariness progression and story-arc mechanics are 
  pretty much a direct rip from this game of demon-binding and 
  prices. The negotiation mechanics are what I wished the game 
  could have been. The Cosmos is a shocking case of parallel 
  evolution. Demon-binding, mentioned in the aspects, should 
  work like Sorcerer’s does. Pretty much everything in this game 
  text can be seen as a direct response to, rip-off of, or achieving 
  similar goals to this impressive game.
  Polaris could have been a supplement for Sorcerer.
  Gygax, Gary and Arneson, Dave. Dungeons and Dragons
  Fantasy characters set out on quests to make their fortunes 
  and confront their dooms. My first introduction to role-
  playing, I would be remiss to not mention it in my bibliography. 
  Aside from the basic concept of using a game to assist in 
  group-created story, Polaris also takes its particular sense of 
  adventurous wandering straight from D&D.
  Knipe, Renee. Charnel Gods
  In this Sorcerer supplement, the players are mortals who wield 
  power they cannot control and, in the process of trying to save a 
  world, they will damn it. Sound familiar?
  ————————. Wyrd (forthcoming)
  A game of telling tragic Norse sagas. A great game, one of 
  the first I read directly targeted at story-telling, and gave me 
  the concept that stories could be tragedies and still be fun. The 
  tone of the game, especially with regards to Zeal/Weariness, 
  owes a great deal to Wyrd.
  Norwood, Jake et al. The Riddle of Steel
  A game of heroic passion, swords and sorcerers, mighty deeds and 
  glorious heroes. Fates are a direct play off of Spiritual Attributes, 
  and the Knights were first designed for a Riddle of Steel game.
  Tweet, Jonathan. Over the Edge
  A game of paranoia and conspiracies, famous for its very 
  flexible and simple mechanics. The self-defined traits are a 
  touch of a nod to Over the Edge, and the game system radically 
  realigned all of my thoughts about games.
  Wucjik, Eric. Amber Diceless Roleplaying
  This game totally blew my mind, both with respect to 
  character power levels and simplified resolution mechanics.
  Brown, Timothy B; Denning, Troy. Dark Sun D&D Setting, 1st edition
  An ancient ruined, desert world full of danger and mystery, 
  ruled over by draconian god-king and their corrupt priests. For 
  me, this was the first published setting which was alive with 
  wonder. Polaris draws a lot of the ancient, ruined, blasted tone 
  from Dark Sun, and the same approach to setting mystery that 
  was found in The Wanderer’s Journal that accompanied the 
  original rule set.
  Related Game texts that I haven’t read:
  I haven’t actually read these games, but just hearing other people 
  talk about them ended up influencing my design a great deal, or 
  perhaps I have just realized that they have shocking similarities.
  Stafford, Greg. Pendragon
  Heroic knights struggle with their knightly drives and their 
  mortal passions in Arthurian Britain. As far as I know, the first 
  game with numerical representation and morality.
  Matheny, Michael E. Hero
  I heard about this fantasy board-game after I had finished writing 
  Polaris and I wish I had heard about it earlier, because the mechanism 
  for monster and trap control is pretty much just like my Guidance.
  
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  Tweet, Jonathan. Everway
  This new-age game, where mystically-empowered characters 
  explore various planes. I have never had a chance to read this 
  game, and I have only played it in a very simplified form, but 
  the innovation of mechanics and theory contained is absolutely 
  staggering. It is in this book that Tweet lays out his Karma/
  Fortune/Drama distinction, and Polaris’s conflict resolution is 
  an attempt to do a Drama based system with more structure.
  Design Contests and Websites:
  Holmes, Mike (Chairman). Iron Game Chef.
  Polaris was originally designed for this annual contest, a 
  weeklong frenzy of game mechanics, mutual encouragement, 
  and smack talk. It didn’t win, or even place, but the contest was 
  a great experience. www.game-chef.com
  Nixon, Clinton; Edwards, Ron. The Forge
  The Forge is a tremendous community of game designers. 
  Without their incredible support and innovative ideas, Polaris 
  could never have been completed or even begun.
  There are, of course, many other things which have inspired 
  the game. However, time and space do not allow me to detail 
  them here in their entireity. www.indie-rpgs.com
  ThAnks To
  Mike Holmes, for starting me off. Eero Tuovinen for 
  believing in the game when even I couldn’t. Emily Boss, for 
  the Cosmos and the Conflict, as well as her amazing moral 
  support. Meg Baker for forcing me to play with three. Vincent 
  Baker for staying up late and hashing out the details, and for 
  being surprised that it was good. Sebastian and Eliot Baker for 
  yielding me their bedroom so graciously. Jon Walton and Dev 
  Purkayastha for bearing with me through the early, sucky drafts. 
  My mom, for taking an interest (oh, yeah, and that whole giving 
  birth thing). Tony, for his help with the sheet,  and Dave for 
  that one line.
  Thanks to all of my playtesters, without whom this game 
  would have never been possible: Eero Tuovinen, Low Grouse 
  (and crew), Jonathan Walton, Shreyas Sampat, Rich Forest, 
  Calder Johnson, Jasper Anderton, Anders Carlson, Vincent 
  Baker, Meg Baker, Santo Sengupta, Paul Friedman, Emily Boss, 
  Dev Purkayastha (and crew), Chris Edwards, Alexander Cherry, 
  Nathan Banks, Aaron Kesher, Christopher Weeks, Larry Lade, 
  Duck, Eric Finley, Star Newman, Tom Cantine, and James 
  Brown. Thanks also to Judd Karlman and Kirt Dankyemeyer, 
  for trying, even if it didn’t work out.
  Also thanks to my editor, Rich Forest, and my readers: Adam 
  Kenney, Rob MacDougall, Tony Pace, Carolyn Lehman, and 
  Thomas Robertson.
  The countless coffee shops throughout the world where I 
  have banged out draft after draft all for the low cost of one 
  iced tea.
  Sculpting in Time Cafe in Beijing, where I wrote the first 
  draft, and Salamander Farm, in Plainfield, where I wrote the 
  second draft, a year and a half later and at the opposite side 
  of the world.
  Everyone at the Forge, most especially Ron and Clinton.
  And you.
  
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    mesarThim : servants
    boTein : little belly
  auriga / Aurigae : the charioteer
    Capella : she-goat
    menkalinan : shoulder of him of the reigns
    prijipaTi : Lord of Creation
    maaz : he-goat
    sadaToni : two young goats
    kabdhilinan : anklebone of the rein-holder
  booTes / Bootis : the oxherd
    arCTurus : bear-guard
    nekkar / Nakkar : cattleman
    signus : (a bastardized version of Thegius, Medevial 
  Latin from Arabic 
   
  transliteration of Greek “bootes”)
     mirak / Izar/ Pulcherrima : loins / loincloth
     muphrid : isolated / lance-bearer’s
     alkalurops : shepherd’s crook
  Caelum / Caeli : the graving tool
  Camelopardalis : the giraffe
  CanCer / Cancri : the crab
    aCubens : claw
    Tarf : glanCe / eye
    asellus borealis : northern donkey
    asellus asTralius : southern donkey
    Tegmine : cover
  Canes venaTiCi / Canum Venaticorum : the hunting dogs
     Cor Caroli : heart of Charles
    Chara : joy
  Canis major / Canis Majoris : the big dog
     sirius : scorching
    mirzam : (unknown meaning)
    muliphein : TWo Causing dispuTe / swearing an oath
    Wezen : the weight
    furud : solitary ones
    aludra : maidenhood
  Canis minor / Canis Minoris : the little dog
  lisT of sTar names
  Below is a list of star names, grouped by constellation. Any 
  of these could be used for character names in Polaris, and 
  some players will enjoy using the constellations to create 
  famous alliances, rivalries, thematic, and family ties between 
  the characters.
  The names are formatted as such:
  primary name / Alternate Versions : Meaning
  Constellations are listed alphabetically. Stars within 
  constellations are listed according to scientific ranking, which 
  is generally brightness.
  andromeda / Andromedae : the daughter of Cassiopeia 
     alpheraTz / Sirrah : the horse or the navel
     miraCh : the loins
     almaCh : the weasel
     adhil : train of a garment
  anTlia / Antliae : the pump
  apus / Apodis : the bird of paradise
  aquarius / Aquarii : the water carrier
     sadal melik : lucky star of the king
     sadal suud : luck of lucks
    sadaChbia : lucky star of tents
     skaT / Scheat / Seat : the shin
     al bali : the swallower
     anCha : hip-bone
     siTula : water jar
  aquila / Aqualae : the eagle
     alTair : flying one
     alshain : falcon
     Tarazed : plundering falcon
     al Thalimain : the two ostriches (actually two stars)
  ara / arae : the altar
     Choo or qu : staff
  aries / Arietis : the ram
    hamal : ram
    sheraTan : the two signs
  
  122
  123
     mira : wonderful
  Chamaeleon / Chamaeleontis : the chamaeleon
  CirCinus / Circini : a pair of compasses
  Columba / Columbae : the dove
     phaCT / Phaet : dove
    Wezn / Wazn : weight
    zi / Dz : son
  Coma bereniCes / Comae Berenices : Bernice’s lock of hair
  Corona ausTralis / Coronae Australis : the southern crown
  Corona borealis / Coronae Borealis : the northern crown
    gemma / Alphecca : gem or the broken
    nusakan : the two series
  Corvus / Corvi : the crown / the raven
    alChibah : tent
    kraz : unknown
    gienah : wing
    algorab : raven
    minkar : beak
  CraTer / Crateris : the cup
   alkes : cup
  Crux / Crucis : the cross
    aCrux : first of the cross
    mimosa : (name of a plant)
    gaCrux : gamma of the cross
  Cygnus / Cygni : the swan
    deneb : tail of the hen
    albireo : iris
    sadr : breast
    gienah : wing
    ruChba : hen’s knee
    azelfafage: tortoise (originally a part of Lyra)
   x-1 : the first discovered black hole (not visible)
  delphinus / Delphini : the dolphin
    sualoCin : Nicolaus backwards
    roTanev : Venator backwards
    deneb or al dhanab al dulfim : tail of the dolphin
  dorado / Doradus : the goldfish
    proCyon : before the dog
    gomeisa : the bleary eyed
  CapriCornus / Capricorni : the horned goat
    al giedi : goat
    dabih : slaughterer
    nashira : she who brings good news
    deneb algiedi : tail of the goat
  Carina / Carinae : the keel of the Argo
    Canopus : Menelaus’s helmsman
    miaplaCidus : placid waters
    avior : (unknown meaning, modern)
    sCuTulum / Aspidiske : little shield
  Cassiopeia / Cassiopeiae : the wife of Cepheus
    sChedar / Shedir : breast
    Caph : palm
    Tsih / Ci : (whip?)
    ruChbah / Rukbah : knee
    segin / Navi : (unknown)
    aChird : (unknown)
  CenTaurus / Centauri : the centaur
    rigel kenTaurus / Rigilkent : foot of the centaur
    hadar / Agena : unknown
    muhlifain : unknown
    menkenT : shoulder of the center
    ke kuan : cavalry officer
  Cepheus / Cephie : a legendary king
    alderamin : right forearm
    alfirk : flock
    er rai : shepherd
    kerhah : blaze
    The garneT sTar
  CeTus / Ceti : the whale or the menace
    menkar / Menkab : nostril
    diphda / Deneb Kaitos : frog / tail of Cetus
    kaffaljidhmah : cut-short hand
    baTen kaiTos : belly of Cetus
     sChemali : northern (branch of the tail)
  
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  125
     al dhanab : tail
  herCules / Herculis : a famous hero
     ras algeThi : head of the kneeling one
     kornephoros : club-bearer
     sarin : Unknown
     massim : wrist
     marfik : elbow
     Cujam : club
     horologium / Horologii : the clock
  hydra / Hydrae : a legendary dragon
    alphard / Cor Hydrae : solitary / heart of the hydra
    minhar al shuja : the snake’s nose
     ukdah : the knot
  hydrus / Hydri : the water serpent
  indus / Indi : the Indian
    al nair : bright
  laCerTa / Lacertae : the lizard
  leo / Leonis : the lion
    regulus / Cor Leonis / Kalb: Heart of the Lion
     denebola : tail of the lion
     al gieba : forehead
     zozma : loincloth
     ras elased : head of the lion
     adhafera : curl of the hair
     Coxa / Chort / Chertan : hip / small rib
     zi Ceng : second general
     alTerf : glance
    rasalas : head of the lion
  leo minor / Leonis Minoris : the little lion
     praeCipula : principal star
  lepus / Leporis : the hare
     arneb : hare
     nihal : camels drinking
  libra / Librae : the scales
     zuben el genubi : southern claw (of the scorpion)
     zuben esChamali : northern claw (of the scorpion)
     mulu-lizi : man of fire
  draCo / Draconis : the dragon
    Thuban : snake
     rasTaban : head of the snake
     elTanin : snake (arabic)
     nodus seCundus / Altais : second knot
     Tyl / Jin Yu : Unknown / Goldfish
     edasiCh : hyena
     giauzar : dragon
     arrakis : dancer
     kuma : as last
     grumium : jaw
     alsafi : cooking tripod
     dziban : the two jackals
  equuleus / Equulei : the little horse
    kiTalpha : part of the horse
  eridanus / Eridani : the river
     aChemar : end of the river
     Cursa : Chair / footstool (of Orion)
     zaurak : boat
     rana : frog
     azha : hatching place
    aCamar : end of the river
     beid : ostrich eggs
     keid : broken eggshell
     angeTenar : curve of the river
  fornax / Fornacius : the furnace
  gemini / Geminorium : the twins
     CasTor : beaver / first twin
     pollux : muCh Wine / second twin
     almeisan / Alhena : shining / the mark
     WasaT : middle of the sky
     mebsuTa : outstretched
     mekbuda : pulled in paw
     propus / Tejat prior : forward foot
     TejaT : fooT?
  grus / Gruis : the crane
     al na’ir : the bright
  
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     sCheaT : leg
     algenib : flank
     enif : nose
     homam : the high-minded man
     maTar : rain
     baham : livestock
     sadalbari : lucky star of the excellent one
  perseus / Persei : the heroic rescuer of Andromeda
     mirfak / Marfak : elbow
     algol / the ghoul / the demon star
     menkib : shoulder
     aTik : shoulder
  phoenix / Phoenicis : the phoenix
     ankaa : (a magical bird)
  piCTor / Pictoris : the painter (or the easel)
  pisCes / Piscium : the fish
    al resChia / Rischia : rope
     fum al samakah : the fish’s mouth
  pisCis ausTrinus / Piscis Austrini : the southern fish
     fomalhauT : mouth of the fish
  puppis / Puppis : the poop deck (of the Argo)
     naos : ship
    asmidiske : little shield
  pyxis / Pyxidis : the box, the compass or the Argo
  reTiCulum / Reticuli : the net (or the optical instrument)
  sagiTTa / Sagittae : the arrow
  sagiTTarius / Sagittarii : the archer
     rukbaT : knee
     arkab : hamstringing
     el nasl : arrowhead
     kaus media : bow (middle)
     kaus ausTralis : bow (southern)
     asCella : armpit
     kaus borealis : bow (northern)
     nunki : of Enki
  sCorpius / Scorpii : the scorpion
     anTares : anti-Ares (rival of Mars)
     zubenhakrabi / Zubanalakrab: scorpion’s claw
  lupus / Lupi : the wolf
     men : Unknown
  lynx : the lynx
  lyra / Lyrae : the lyre
     vega : the swooping eagle
     sheliak or shelyak : harp
     sulafaT : tortoise
     aladfar : talons (with Al Athfar)
     al aThfar : talons (with Aladfar)
  mensa / Mensae : the table
  miCrosCopium / Microscopii : the microscope
  monoCeros / Monocerotis : the unicorn
  musCa / Muscae : the fly
  norma / Normae : the carpenter’s level
  oCTans / Octanis : the octant
  ophiuChus / Ophiuchi : the snake holder
     ras alhague : head of the snake
     Cheleb / Celbalrai : dog of the shepherd
     yed prior : western hand
     yed posTerior : eastern hand
     sabik : the preceding
     marfik : elbow
  orion / Orionis : the hunter
     beTelgeuse : hand of Al-Jazwa
     rigel : foot
     bellaTrix : warrioress
     minTaka : belt (west)
     alnilam : arrangment of pearls (middle of the belt)
     alniTak : belt (east)
     na’ir al saif : bright tip of the sword
     heka / Meissa : white spot / shining
     ThabiT : fixed star
  pavo / Pavonis : the peacock
     The peaCoCk sTar
  pegasus / Pegasi : the winged horse
     markab / Marchab : shoulder
  
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  129
     dubhe / Dubh / Dubb / Alruccabah : bear
     merak / Mirak : loins
     phad / Phecda : thigh
     megrez : insertion point
     alioTh : black horse / black bull
     mizar : corruption of “Mirak (loins)”
     alCor : black horse (?)
     alkaid / Benetnasch : the leader / daughters of bier
     al haud : the pond
     TaliTha borealis / Dnoces : third leap of the gazelle 
     TaliTha ausTralis : third leap of the gazelle
     Tania borealis : second leap of the gazelle
     Tania ausTralis : second leap of the gazelle
     alula borealis : first leap of the gazelle
     alula ausTralis : first leap of the gazelle
     musCida: muzzle
  ursa minor / Ursae Minoris : the little bear
     polaris : pole star
     koChab / Kokab : star
     pherkab : calf
     yildun : star
  vela / Velorum : the sails
     suhail / Regor : unknown / “Roger” backwards
     markab : ship
     suhail : unknown
     Tian ke : heaven’s record
  virgo / Virginis : the virgin
     spiCa / Azimech : ear of wheat
     zavijava / Alaraph : barker’s corner / grape gatherer
     porrima : (Roman goddess of childbirth)
     auva : the barker
     vindemiaTrix : vine-harvester (female)
     heze : unknown
     zaniah : corner
     syrma : train of a garment
  volans / Volantis : the flying fish
  vulpeCula / Vulpeculae : the little fox
     graffias / Acrab : claws / scorpion
     dsChubba : forehead
     sargas / seizer / smiter / weapon of the god of war
     shaula : raised tail
     jabbah : forehead
     al niyaT : the arteries
     lesaTh / Lesuth : sting / bite
     jabhaT al akrab : scorpion’s forehead
  sCulpTor / Sculptoris : the sculptor (originally the studio)
  sCuTum / Scuti : the shield
  serpens / Serpentis : the snake
     unuk al hay / Unukalhai : neck of the snake
     zhou : an imperial dynasty
     alya : the tail of a sheep
  sexTans / Sextantis : the sextant
  Taurus / Tauri : the bull
     aldebaran : follower
     el naTh : the butting
     primus hyadum : first Hyad
     ain : eye of the bull
  (The following are all in the Pleadies)
     alCyone : queen who wards off evil and storms 
    aTlas : he who dares suffers (father)
     eleCTra : amber
     maia : mother / grandmother / nurse
     merope : eloquent / bee-eater / mortal
     TaygeTa : long-neCked
     pleione : sailing queen (moTher)
     Celaeno : sWarThy
     asTerope : lighTning / twinkling / 
   
  sun-face Telescopium / Telescopii : the telescope
  Triangulum / Tranguli : the triangle
     moThallah / Caput Trianguli : head of the triangle
  Triangulum ausTrale / Trianguli Australis : south triangle
    aTria : height of the triangle
  TuCana / Tucanae : the toucan
  ursa major / Ursae Majoris : the big bear
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Polaris.pdf