The Monarchs of Lithuania: The Legendary Court

INTRODUCTION

Four Kings. Four Legends. The Stories That Shaped a Nation.

The Monarchs of Lithuania: The Legendary Court is the second playing card deck in my illustrated series exploring Lithuania’s past. The first, The Royal Court, celebrated the historical rulers who built and strengthened its statehood. This new chapter turns to the legends through which Lithuania imagined its beginnings and gave expression to its identity.

Lithuania’s legendary tradition holds far more than four stories. I chose these four because they speak to defining turning points: the search for origins, the establishment of a spiritual center, the defense of an emerging state, and the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

Over generations, these stories helped shape Lithuanian consciousness and character. They became part of a shared national myth: the stories through which we understand where we come from, what we value, and what we hold worth defending.

Each of the deck’s four kings carries his own legend. Together, they bring these foundations of cultural identity into the language of playing cards.

In creating The Legendary Court, I explore how legends became part of history by shaping the imagination of a people. Richly detailed, woodcut-style portraits, symbols, and patterns carry these stories across the deck, inviting you to look closer and discover their meaning.

A deck to play, collect, and explore—one card, one symbol, one legend at a time.

Where history fades, legend begins.

THE CAMPAIGN AT A GLANCE.

This campaign brings together two distinct decks in The Monarchs of Lithuania series: a new chapter inspired by Lithuania’s legends, and a special edition celebrating its historical rulers.

The Royal Court is the first deck in The Monarchs of Lithuania series, dedicated to Lithuania’s historical rulers. This campaign introduces its Black Edition, featuring cold foil on the card faces and backs and gold-gilded edges.

The red Royal Court Standard Edition shown above is a proposed reprint of the original deck. The first print run is nearly sold out, and I continue to receive requests from people who want to add Lithuania’s historical rulers to their collections.

When this campaign reaches $10,000, the Royal Court Standard Edition will become available to back. Reaching this milestone commits the campaign to a new print run of the original deck—for collectors who missed the first edition, for those who cherish Lithuania’s history, and for anyone seeking a meaningful gift that carries a story of Lithuanian heritage.

For the original deck’s artwork, historical background, and full presentation, explore the first Royal Court Kickstarter campaign.

Below, I’ll introduce the two decks available from day one in more detail—beginning with the new Legendary Court, followed by Royal Court — Black Edition.

THE LEGENDARY COURT

Discover a fully custom playing card deck where royal portraits, ornamental patterns, and symbolic details tell four interconnected stories. Each suit has its own visual character, bringing kings, queens, and knights into a shared world of Lithuanian legend.

Let us begin with the four kings—and the legends each brings to the deck.

King Palemonas — a Journey to the Beginning

King of Diamonds · The Legend of Roman Origins

According to Lithuania’s origin legend, the Roman nobleman Palemonas crossed distant seas and reached the shores of the Baltic, where his descendants would become rulers of a new land.

For generations, this story gave Lithuania’s ruling families an imagined link to ancient Rome, expressing noble ancestry, political dignity, and a place within Europe’s classical 

In the card, Roman-inspired armor and classical ornament evoke his legendary ancestry, while his outstretched hand suggests arrival, direction, and the promise of a new homeland.

King Šventaragis — The Sacred Fire

King of Hearts · The Legend of the Sacred Valley

According to legend, Šventaragis chose a valley at the meeting of the Neris and Vilnia rivers as the place where his body should be burned after death. He asked his son to continue this rite for future rulers, binding their memory to one sacred place.

The valley became a spiritual heart in Lithuania’s legendary imagination—a place where land, faith, and ancestral memory came together. This story rooted the authority of rulers in a shared tradition and gave the future city of Vilnius a sacred past.

In the card, his antlered headdress and serpent staff evoke the natural and sacred worlds, while deep red tones recall the fire at the heart of his legend.

♠️King Ringaudas — Holding the Future

King of Spades · The Legend of the Battle on the Nemunas

In Lithuania’s legendary chronicles, Ringaudas stands against invading forces on the banks of the Nemunas. His victory becomes a story of survival: a land holding its ground before the rise of Mindaugas and the consolidation of the Lithuanian state.

Within the deck, his legend marks the defense of an emerging political world. It gives form to resolve, leadership, and the determination to protect a future still taking shape.

In the card, dark armor and a firmly held sword express vigilance and strength. His steady gaze carries the same conviction as the words accompanying his story: on the river of Nemunas, the future held its ground.

♣️King Margiris — The Last Stand

King of Clubs · The Legend of Pilėnai

In the story of Pilėnai, Margiris leads the defense of a wooden fortress against the Teutonic Order. As its defenses fall and flames consume the stronghold, the tragedy becomes a defining image of resistance: freedom valued above life itself.

Remembered and retold across generations, Pilėnai became a powerful part of Lithuania’s national myth. Within the deck, it marks the terrible cost of defending a community—and the enduring memory of those who refused to surrender.

In the card, Margiris raises his sword with fierce resolve. His green mantle connects him to the suit of Clubs, while his expression brings the urgency of the last stand into the portrait.

Four kings, four legends—origins, sacred memory, the defense of a rising state, and the final stand for freedom. Together, they form the narrative heart of The Legendary Court.

A forthcoming illustrated companion booklet will explore these legends in greater depth, with historical context and commentary on the symbols woven into the cards (see Add-Ons chapter).

THE QUEENS

The Unwritten Half of the Legend

The stories behind this deck speak of rulers and their sons, while the women beside them remain largely unnamed. In The Legendary Court, I give these women an imagined presence through four queens, each with her own character and symbolic details.

They embody a conviction at the heart of this collection: behind every man whose deeds became legend stood a woman of strength, with a story of her own.

THE JACKS

Warriors and the forest hunter

Three warriors and a hunter bring another human dimension to the Legendary Court. These imagined companions inhabit the worlds of the four rulers, each with a distinct character, gesture and symbolic role.

♦ The Jack of Diamonds carries the Roman heritage of Palemonas’s origin legend. Classical armor and a crested helmet evoke the distant world from which his story begins.

♥ The Jack of Hearts enters Šventaragis’s sacred grove. With a falcon, a grass snake and small ceremonial horns, this forest hunter brings a quieter presence to the court, where nature and ritual meet.

♠ The Jack of Spades stands ready with spear and shield. His steady gaze and imposing figure embody the martial resolve of Ringaudas’s world.

♣ The Jack of Clubs bows his head beside an upright sword. His contemplative pose brings a sense of solemn duty to the story of Margiris and Pilėnai.

Together, the four Jacks balance strength with reflection, giving each suit a personality of its own.

THE JOKERS — WHO WRITES HISTORY?

What reaches us from the distant past depends on those who recorded it — and on whose words survived.

The two Jokers, the White and Black Chroniclers, explore the human choices behind historical memory.

The White Chronicler, appearing as the red Joker, bends over an open manuscript, recording his account. His light robes and quiet concentration suggest sincerity — and the vulnerability of a voice that may never reach us.

The Black Chronicler holds his own chronicle close while burning another’s words. A faint, crooked smile turns toward us, the future readers. The account he preserves may become the only one we know.

A matching red Baltic motif links the White Chronicler’s manuscript to the burning leaf. One writes; the other decides what remains.

Together, these figures ask a question at the heart of The Legendary Court: when a story disappears from the written record, what disappears with it?

Where history fades, legend begins.

THE ROYAL COURT — BLACK EDITION

The historical court, dressed in black and gold.

The rulers of the first deck return in a distinctive collector’s edition, featuring a black-and-gold design, metallic ink accents on the card faces and backs, gilded gold edges, and an ornate tuck box.

Originally proposed as a stretch goal in the first Royal Court campaign, the Black Edition is now part of the collection offered from day one—no stretch goal needs to be unlocked.

Two complementary decks, each with its own visual character, bringing Lithuania’s history and legendary tradition into one growing collection.