Head of the Presidency (The Book of the War)

The head of the Presidency was a leader of the Homeworld before the War in Heaven. As a result of the Faraway Declaration, his severed head became known as the Poenari Relic and was used to deliver the First Message from the Enemy.

As President
Eighty years before the start of the War in Heaven, the future War King returned to the Homeworld and killed three Presidential guards so he could deliver a fifteen-minute warning about the upcoming conflict to the head of the Presidency. This terrified the President, who refused to heed the warning, even after the future King convinced the rest of the ruling Houses.

When the future War King returned to the Homeworld a third time, forty-five years later, the head of the Presidency had him immediately arrested and restrained at a public trial. At the trial, the President gave the Faraway Declaration, announcing a plan to personally start a new Homeworld colony on the supposed enemy base of Faraway; in their absence, Umbaste was appointed to rule as President. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

As the Poenari Relic
The Poenari Relic was the severed head of a Caucasian male wearing a frozen, horrified face and a large black mustache, preserved in a substance similar to honey. It was kept at Poenari by the Order of the Dragon. According to their legends, it belonged to one of the "first warriors" who stood at the gates of the city of Ubar at the start of time and was killed by the s'tanim. The Order believed that, if they guarded the Relic until the end of time, it would be returned to Heaven.

In 1476, after the Sultan requested Vlad III's severed head on a stake as evidence of his conquest in battle, Ottoman soldiers brought the Poenari Relic. It was then put on display in Constantinople for a century. In reality, Vlad survived the battle and died in 1973.

Later, the Relic passed westwards. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

First Message from the Enemy
Five days later after the delegation left for Faraway, the President's severed head returned to the Homeworld. It had apparently travelled the entire lifespan of the universe. Between its teeth was the First Message from the Enemy. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

"We are not amused."

- The First Message from the Enemy

Behind the scenes

 * The title "head of the Presidency" is a joke about the President's ultimate fate.
 * The gender of the President is kept ambiguous throughout the entries concerning his role on the Homeworld. It is only as the Poenari Relic that he is identified as male.