I finally got why my star trails looked wrong for 2 years after a guy at the Kansas City club pointed at Polaris | Astronomy Photos - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Pointing at Polaris is such a simple fix but nobody ever says it out loud. Was your issue that you were aiming your rotation point at the pole star instead of the actual celestial pole? Two years is a long time to fight that before someone shows you.