Dragon Worship: Difference between revisions

Dragon Worship
Religion
Pronunciation	Es-tel-lon
Origins	The Prophetess Talea
Deities
	Various

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Revision as of 13:29, 10 October 2022

Origins

Exist Worship (Estellon) is understood to have gone back to the beginning of history, but its most modern iteration has very clear origins. In the earliest days of the Altalar Principalities, various folk religions competed for dominance. A single charismatic figure named Talea stepped forward and preached the word of Estel, her timeless creator dwelling in slumber beyond the world. Not just a prophetess, Talea was also a skilled general and politician. Her campaigns swept the land, saw the great war between the Altalar and the Dewamenet end in victory, and led to the creation of the earliest form of the Allorn Empire. At Talea's sides were the Gods and Goddesses, Estel's Pantheon, who continued to exist and offer guidance to the faithful after her death. Over the ten thousand years of the Allorn Empire's lifespan, they would disappear one by one as the decadence, Cultism, and separatism of the Allorn increased, until only a few were left by the time of Cataclysm. In the modern day, three hundred years after Cataclysm, a figure claiming to be the reborn Talea has swept through Daen followed by the Gods and resurrected a smaller Allorn state, which is still regaining its strength. Estellon worshipers around the world are bitterly divided on whether this Talea and her Gods are legitimate, or imposters wearing their appearances to garner legitimacy.

Core Identity

Estellon is a Religion centered around the struggle and journey of chasing perfection, the eventual climax of that journey, and all the skills and talents gained along the way. Estellon is not a religion that demands the worshiper live by a set of virtues like many other religions, but rather demands a high degree of success and punishes failure to achieve and reach a greater potential.

Tenets

Bravery: Estellon faithful are demanded to be brave in the face of adversity, and more specifically to protect each other, but more importantly, one's own soul's pureness from evil and corruption.
Calm: Estellon faithful are demanded to be calm and never quick to act in emotion and anger, to remain objective in reviewing the facts, and to act only in a measured manner with preparation.
Pleasure: Estellon faithful are demanded to see life as worth living, and for every sweet bounty to be tasted so long as it does not infringe on other Nelfin (not other Races particularly).
Ambition: Estellon faithful are demanded to always be bound by ambition to be the best at something, whether it is combat, magic, creating floral displays, or baking cooking. No mediocrity allowed.
Diligence: Estellon faithful are demanded to be diligent in their service and their work, to be hard working and hard earning the skills they will receive over the centuries of time spent.
Revenge: Estellon faithful are demanded never to let a slight sit, and to always make due justice for each wrong committed onto themselves, their next of kin, or their kin in general.
Greed: Estellon faithful are demanded not strictly to be greedy, but never to be content, and to always be in a state of want, for a content life leads to decadence and laziness.
Deceitful: Estellon faithful aren't strictly demanded to lie, but rather to never be always truthful if it is self-sabotaging, and to control the narrative and view of objective truth around them.
Ambitious: Estellon faithful are demanded to always remain ambitions with their goals for themselves, to always seek out new skills to gain, to improve, and to make a name for one's self.
Destiny: Estellon faith prescribes that each person born has a great destiny that only they can unlock, and when they reach it, they will re-incarnate as a more important person.
Perfection: Estellon faith highly praises perfection, or at least the conceptual thought of perfection (meaning, until something better is found). Perfection itself is considered holy and divine.
Sanctuary: Estellon faith prescribes a patronizingly protecting ideology to its followers which preaches the idea that the Nelfin are somehow uniquely more capable of protecting the world than others.

Beliefs

Narrative: Estellon is a religion that starts with Estel creating everything in the eyes of the Estellon faithful, followed by Estel birthing her daughter Talea through immaculate conception, after which she fell asleep, dreaming the other Estellon Pantheon into existence. The Pantheon is there to challenge the faithful to be a better version of themselves, to strive to be better, and to unlock that holy destiny and fate that is woven for every newborn by the Gods. Then, the Goddess of Death will lift the dead souls to the afterlife, where they will enter a phase of contemplation for years, or decades, or even centuries, before Cemaan weaves a new fate for them, drags them from the afterlife, and re-incarnates their soul into a newborn, wealthier if their life was full of accomplishments, poorer if it was found lacking.
Canon Evil: Canon evil in Estellon is hard to pin down, though the Void Arken come pretty close, and the Void Gods are definitely very high up. The general concept of evil in Estellon is more the idea of turning away from the faith and abandoning the virtues and chase for perfection. Since Void possession often causes this to happen, the worst evil to befall a faithful is to be possessed or worse, to be Kathar.
Identity: Estellon has no real concept of sex or gender, nor does it have a view on sexual orientation. If anything, Estellon encourages the faithful to experiment with all these kinds of things, and generally just kind of do whatever they feel like. This is often why Ailor thing that male Altalar wear women's clothes, and vice versa. Styling and society wise, the Estellon are fairly gender blind.
Conversion: Converting away from Estellon is a strange concept, because it did not exist for thousands of years prior to the Kathar appearing and Void Worship becoming institutional. As such, the slow-to dogmatically decide Estellon priesthood, 500 years later, still hasn't decided on an official stance on conversion of non-Nelfin, or converting away from Estellon, though Unionism is marked as a particularly vile religion to convert to, because it subverts the ideology of Nelfin superiority in Estellon.
Sins & Taboo: Sins and Taboos in Estellon all invariably relate to being lazy, not getting anything done, being unwilling to work, and generally being careless about one's future.

Gods and Goddesses

AAAA

Aurora, Arbitrator of Nature

Identity: Aurora is the Dragon of the Craters of Evolution, places where creatures are made, and where nature is eternal. Dragon worshipers believe Aurora designed every little creature, and every creature that has come from them, and continues to experiment with the possibilities in her hidden sanctum. She is also the Dragon of wilful disinterest in the Occult and Infected.
Racial: Aurora is strongly represented among the Isldar, a Race that she favors as her own, and to which she is intricately linked. Prior to cleansing, Aurora was known as Frisit, though in modern times, this is believed to have been an imposter who imprisoned Aurora’s soul and made the Isldar commit terrible acts in the name of Death, eventually causing the split with the Death Isldar. She considers the Death Isldar her mortal enemies, and the reason for the civil war.
Clade: Aurora's name in the Isldar language is Asaph, both names are commonly used. She also has the following supporting Dragons: Acilia of the Birds, Aelia of the Mammals, Aegidius of the Reptiles, Aerthirn of the Amphibians, Aurav of the Invertebrates, Aureliu of the Fish, and Aemilia of the Skyborn. These Dragons also have Isldarrin names: Altuya, Althadeïa, Alsalaahy, Albarmaay, Aleawac, Alsamac, Alsama, though even in cosmopolitan places like Regalia, the non-Isldar names are favored.
Home: Aurora’s penultimate home is the Crater of Creation, though supposedly there are several. Supposedly, because no mortal has ever laid eyes on a functional Crater of Creation, and the Dragons take great pains to hide the locations from mortals. As such, Aurora lacks a traditional Temple, though the Isldar cities in Ellador are rife with Temples to Asaph (and thus Aurora) which double for other Races, for those bold enough to brave the Isldar wastes and find them.
Occult: Aurora’s (and by extension her other Dragons) stance towards the Occult or the Infection, is blissful ignorance. Aurora concerns herself far too much with the perpetuation of life, and believes that her work must continue, while other Dragons deal with the implicit problem. As such, Aurora worshipers take a very apathetic stance towards the Occult, though tend to favor more isolationism and staying away from them, rather than actively fostering relations with them.
Themes: Aurora’s main themes are the midnight sky, stars, the heavens at night, creation, design, random events and occurrences, and winter. Particularly the aspect of winter is a more modern association due to her inherent favor towards the Isldar. By origins however, she is the Violet Dragon of the Midnight Sky, and before many associated her with the pale white Dragon Frisit, it was said her scales were adorned with the sparkles of a thousand stars, indistinguishable from the night sky.
Worship: Aurora has never favored active worship of herself, but Dragon Worshipers still engage in active worship, mainly by the act of the hunt. While Aurora is a Dragon of creation, she is not explicitly a Dragon of the preservation of creation, and as such, is seen as more apathetic towards what happens with her creations when they are unleashed on the world. What she does care for however, is how effective they are at dominating the food chain. To be able to offer up evidence of this fact to a statue dedicated to her is seen as worship.
History: Aurora lived in her Crater of Creation for most of history, being merely a footnote until the Altalar started hunting down the Dragons in the Allorn Empire. Aurora fled north with her Dragons and the Dregodar (a cult of Dragon worshiping Altalar) until she eventually perished in a battle against the Dwarves in Ellador. Aurora’s soul was returned by the Dragons Regulus and Renite during their quest to revive the Dragons, and resumed her position among the Isldar, initiating a civil war among them over old beliefs.

Regulus, Crownbearer of Command

Identity: Regulus is the Dragon of Centralization, organization of the Draconic cause, and the functioning of all Dragon installations and forces. Dragons do not function under an autocracy, so it is not quite true that Regulus is King among Dragons, though he effectively functions as one, while maintaining the Ley Systems, as well as the basic functioning of reality around the world, or so Dragon Worshipers believe. Regulus is the Dragon of benign survival of the Occult and the Infected.
Racial: Regulus is strongly represented among the Ailor, a Race guided by Regulus through history, and returned to in the modern era. Regulus has a long and complicated past with the Anglian people of the Regalian Archipelago, and is also linked both to the founding of the Regalian Empire, and the Regalian Imperial Throne, due to the current incarnation of Regulus being a member of the Imperial Family.
Clade: Regulus has no racial name, though he is sometimes called Cedromar so as not to dehumanize the current incarnation. Regulus has the following supporting Dragons: Renita of Gravity, Rosa of the Weather, Romalia of Matter, Ramirus of Time, Rabanus of Antimatter, Rufinus of Action and Reaction, and Rina of Movement. Many of the functions of Regulus’s Clade are esoteric, so the only tangible presence the living have ever felt was their control over the weather.
Home: Regulus has no true Temple, though smaller edifices are being built in Anglia, with the Temple of Soaring Wings in Draackenrust slated to be the largest one when it is done in a few months. In centuries past, Regulus frequented the Anglian countryside and treated the whole province as his Temple, interacting with the locals and those who sought him out with frequency.
Occult: Regulus’s stance (which some of his Clade reluctantly agree with), is the concept of benign survival. The idea is that the Occult or Aberrants weren’t at fault for being born this way, or becoming this way, because each person is fated due to forces out of their control. The world of Dragons is centered around the value of life, and if life is to be valued, it should not be disregarded over a matter of Infection. As a result, Regulus believes that the Occult have a right to live free of extermination, though applies this selectively.
Themes: Regulus’s main themes are royalty, the weather, crowns, leadership, command, rule, connecting and communicating, and managing the Leystone system. The Central Dragons (a common term for Regulus and his Dragons) are in charge of managing all the Soulcores of the Leystone system, as well as all Dragon Sites, designing and using their functions, and communicating and regulating all the other Dragons to ensure they are on the same page.
Worship: Regulus has actively discouraged worship of him, though this has not dissuaded many, and worship of Regulus in a previous reincarnation was rampant in Anglia. It is theorized that as much as a third of the Anglian population still worships Regulus to this day. Regulus worship is mostly done through passive obedience to his design. As Regulus was all about designing the policies of the Dragons, worship of him is simply the act of following this design, and not questioning it.
History: Regulus long lived in Anglia, but disappeared around the time of the Five Family Rebellion. Since then, Regulus has been absent, though the Dragonsoul was protected within a Regalian Noble House by the Dragon Wardens who tried to hide its presence from the world. After 300 years, the Dragonsoul was unleashed, and Regulus was found, re-uniting with Renita during the Dragon Crisis, which would eventually result in them going on a quest to revive all other Dragonsouls.

Marik, Peacewarden of the Dead

Identity: Marik is the Dragon of mortality and that final end that comes for all, the balance of life and death and the afterlife, order and stability of the world, and enforcer of the cycle that must go on eternally. Marik is claimed by Dragon Worshipers to have designed the demise of Dragons, a concept in which the Dragons voluntarily surrendered their Mantle of Creation, and chose to perish in the spotlight of history (though each Dragon chose their own way out). Marik is the Dragon of the Great Divide for the Occult.
Racial: Marik is strongly connected to the Songaskians, in particular because all Songaskians bear a piece of Marik and his fellow Black Dragon souls in them, as they were created when the Black Dragons perished. It is believed that when Marik executed the final end for himself, he had a moment of doubt, and this allowed the forces of Death to corrupt his end, and bring about death for the Qadir.
Clade: Marik (also called Masa in the Songaskian language) is supported by the Dragons Mele of the Desert, Maya of Murder, Magnus of Death, Marian of Aging, Milo of Youth, Mencius of Seniority, and Madronna of Birth. These Dragons each also have a name in the Songaskian Language: Diya, Hakili, Tunun, Fonenba, Kakabo, Duniya, and Seben. The Songaskians still strongly prefer to use the Songaskian names of their Dragon patrons, even in Regalia.
Home: Marik worship is still very prevalent among the Songaskians who keep alive the lore that they were born from the demise of Dragons. Among the Songaskians, this faith is called Mussaktu or “gratefulness for living”. While they sometimes pretend it is not, it is still part of Dragon Worship. Marik’s largest Temple is the forbidden sanctuary of Jiginni, a massive mountain in the heart of Farahdeen where none may climb to the top, but the base is surrounded by Temples.
Occult: Marik’s stance to the Occult is one of the Great Divide, meaning that evil and good among the Occult separates somewhere when an Occult crosses a threshold. This judgment has never been very consistent, but it implies that every Marik worshiper has a boundary which an Occult should not cross, and the moment they cross this boundary they should be hunted down and put out of their misery, but otherwise tolerated as friends.
Themes: Marik’s strongest theme is the sun, as Marik worshipers believe that while the Songaskians received part of his and the other Dragons’s souls, that their collective conscience transferred to the sun, watching over the people down below. Sunlight, the desert sands, fire, the color black, martial combat and putting the (un)dead out of their misery are all also important themes of Marik and by extension the other Black Dragons.
Worship: Marik Worship is done very frequently and is also very widespread. Many smaller Temples and shrines exist to Marik wherever there are Songaskians, these holy places usually featuring large golden sun disks with which to focus the light of the sun on a central altar, and pray to the sunlight and the sun during the day. The sun is also a strong motif in clothing and tattoos and body paint for Marik worshipers, and his name is invoked when in need of protection or good luck by the faithful.
History: Marik’s history is somewhat unclear, as only third-hand Qadir records can be sources, which have an obvious reason to make others distrustful or hostile towards the Black Dragons due to their ongoing conflict. Supposedly, the Qadir were attacked by the Black Dragons of Marik out of nowhere, and waged war on them for centuries, before they defeated Marik, unleashing the Great Storm and birthing the Songaskians. Marik is not yet revived, and likely will not be, as Dragon Worshipers believe Regulus and Renita would need to rip the souls from the Songaskians to do so.

Severena, Penultimate Defender

Identity: Severena is the Dragon of divine protection, of caring, of guidance, of compassion, and of empathy. She is the mother of the Sihai, and claimed by Dragon Worshipers to be the strategist of the Dragons, always helping Regulus see the bigger picture and plan for the correct future out of the hundreds of thousands possible at any given moment. Severena’s plan for the Occult is called the Great Reversal, the first of the two traditionally anti-Occult Dragon ideologies.
Racial: Severena is strongly linked with the Sihai Race, supposedly both as creator and as divine protector and director of their fate and future. Despite the demise of the other Dragons, Severena continued to live, albeit in a dream-state where she could no longer directly interact with her people, but had to resort to dreams to communicate. She remains immensely important among the Sihai both culturally and spiritually.
Clade: Severena’s Clade is supported by Silvius of Hope, Saccius of Dreams, Sisera of Defying Fate, Sophus of Ambitions, Stasius of Inspiration, Sylianus of Submission, and Summanus of Dominance. While this list uses the Ailor names, even most non-Sihai Dragon Worshipers use the Sihai names for Severena (Saaima) and her Clade: Nishiliu, Beishèn, Ao-Jin, Liu-Xing, Xin-Shidai, Lüra, and Ao-Shun, because Severena has really only ever interacted with the Sihai.
Home: If is difficult to pinpoint a single Temple that is great, for each Temple that houses one of the Loong Dragons is grand, as each Loong Dragon save for Sylianus and Summanus remains accessible in the wider Sihai lands (for non Occult at least). Severena’s Temple is generally considered the greatest, as she has seniority over the other White Sky Dragons as matriarch. The Sihai lands are saturated with lesser Temples dedicated to Severena and her Clade.
Occult: Severena’s stance on the Occult is the Great Reversal, the idea that the hold of Magic on the world must be pushed back step by step. Sealing corrupted areas, destroying Occult artifacts, cleansing or killing Demonologists and their Demons, and keeping Mages in line and creating as few new Mages as possible are all goals Severena believes in. This can be done either violently or nonviolently. In this way, she is more patient than Caius, but less accepting than Regulus.
Themes: Severena’s themes are the color white, the sky, dreams, meditation and places of great tranquility and peace, the defense of her realm from the corrupting influences of the Occult, and through relatively recent developments, jade crystals. Severena remains in active communication with many of her followers and priestly figures, and while her visions are sometimes troubling and unclear, her presence remains felt heavily by the Sihai, more-so than any other Dragon.
Worship: Severena worship is to act according to her beliefs. While she is immobile in her slumber, fragments of her psyche organize and guide her followers through whispers in their dreams, to save a world that does not want to be saved and has long since accepted the Occult as safe and natural. Severena is not prayed to for blessings or guidance, as the Sihai consider it ungrateful to beg from their creator, but prayed to in dedication when a step is taken towards one of her goals.
History: Severena’s history does not begin or end, as she was around when the Sihai first appeared in the world, and has guided them through every step and every century since. As such, Severena’s history is simply Sihai history. There have been growing concerns as of late that the other Dragons want to wake Severena and her Clade, which the Sihai believe would leave them vulnerable to Demonic invasion and in a very bad position.

Caius, The Final Judgment

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Nox, Weaver of Silk Accords

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Valerius, Force for Change

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 {{Info religion
-|image = Gdwsgdse.png
+|image = noimg.png
-|pronunciation = Dragon Worship
+|pronunciation = Es-tel-lon
-|origins = Unknown, presumed over 7000 years ago
+|origins = The Prophetess [[Talea]]
-|deities = Rhaakhr, Asaph, Saaima, Anlon, and Qaarn
+|deities =
-|subsects = Various Foundation Thrones and other Goddesses and Gods
+Various
+|subsects = N/A
 |}}
-Dragon Worship or Dregodar is commonly believed to be the world’s oldest [[Religion]], which at the same time is one of the smallest Religions in the world, even being outclassed by the [[Ailor]]-lead [[Cult of Evolution]] and some of the more obscure [[Unionist Sects]]. The nickname Dregodar dates back to the earliest Dragon Worship cults among the [[Altalar]] during the days of the [[Allorn Empire]], a name specifically used to refer to their cult. While Dragon Worship is thousands of years older than the Altalar, the last major group of people who worshiped the Dragons were a sect of Altalar, hence it carries their name. Dragon Worship is a somewhat unusual religion in that while it is absolutely based on providence and present (arguably) divine and sentient Dragons, the Dragons have never acknowledged their divinity or desire to be worshiped. Simply put, while the Faith of Estel is based on [[Avatars of the Gods]] who demanded worship, the Dragons are aware that they were or are worshiped, but are very ambiguous about the idea of them being worshiped, or at the very least have never confirmed the want to be worshiped. This does not mean that Dragons have never interacted with Dragon Worshipers in a positive light. In fact, while they do not ask for worship, they have on many occasions helped those who worshiped them with specific tasks or requests, or heeded the prayer of those in need. Still, no Dragon at any point proposed their own divinity or the duty of the faithful to worship them, which makes Dragon Worship the only religion to have that nuance.
+==Origins==
+Exist Worship (Estellon) is understood to have gone back to the beginning of history, but its most modern iteration has very clear origins. In the earliest days of the Altalar Principalities, various folk religions competed for dominance. A single charismatic figure named Talea stepped forward and preached the word of Estel, her timeless creator dwelling in slumber beyond the world. Not just a prophetess, Talea was also a skilled general and politician. Her campaigns swept the land, saw the great war between the Altalar and the Dewamenet end in victory, and led to the creation of the earliest form of the Allorn Empire. At Talea's sides were the Gods and Goddesses, Estel's Pantheon, who continued to exist and offer guidance to the faithful after her death. Over the ten thousand years of the Allorn Empire's lifespan, they would disappear one by one as the decadence, Cultism, and separatism of the Allorn increased, until only a few were left by the time of Cataclysm. In the modern day, three hundred years after Cataclysm, a figure claiming to be the reborn Talea has swept through Daen followed by the Gods and resurrected a smaller Allorn state, which is still regaining its strength. Estellon worshipers around the world are bitterly divided on whether this Talea and her Gods are legitimate, or imposters wearing their appearances to garner legitimacy.
-==Dragon Worship==
+==Core Identity==
-Dragon Worship does not take place in specific temples or holy sites like occurs in other faiths. In fact, the entire idea of idolization of Dragons is considered taboo among Dragon Worshipers, because one of the core beliefs of Dragon Worship is to acknowledge the flaws in their own gods as imperfect beings. And because their gods are imperfect beings, so too is their creation (the worshipers) imperfect, and in need of improvement. Dragon Temples certainly do exist, though they never really serve the same function as say, a Unionist temple would. While one goes to a Unionist temple for communal praise of the Everwatcher and the Emperor, a Dragon Temple is more about community and coming together, and helping each other through whatever ails exist. This is why many Dragon Temples throughout particularly [[Anglia]] and [[Kintyr]] where Dragon Worship has a notable presence, also double as hospitals and healing centers or soup kitchens and orphanages. Many buildings are not even clearly visible as Dragon Temples, because their identity was cleverly hidden in the masonry, with only few emblems recognizable at entrances for those initiated in the symbols. For many centuries, Dragon Worshipers were persecuted, first in the Allorn Empire when it turned against the Dragons and started killing them, and later by the Ailor as they started stamping out non-Unionists religions in favor of aggressive conversion. Enclaves of Dragon Worshipers continue to exist in Anglia, Kintyr and the deep forests of [[Daen]], as well as the northern reaches of [[Ithania]], but by far, is the smallest religion in the world with only a few thousand followers at best.
+Estellon is a [[Religion]] centered around the struggle and journey of chasing perfection, the eventual climax of that journey, and all the skills and talents gained along the way. Estellon is not a religion that demands the worshiper live by a set of virtues like many other religions, but rather demands a high degree of success and punishes failure to achieve and reach a greater potential.
+===Tenets===
+* '''Bravery:''' Estellon faithful are demanded to be brave in the face of adversity, and more specifically to protect each other, but more importantly, one's own soul's pureness from evil and corruption.
+* '''Calm:''' Estellon faithful are demanded to be calm and never quick to act in emotion and anger, to remain objective in reviewing the facts, and to act only in a measured manner with preparation.
+* '''Pleasure:''' Estellon faithful are demanded to see life as worth living, and for every sweet bounty to be tasted so long as it does not infringe on other [[Nelfin]] (not other [[Races]] particularly).
+* '''Ambition:''' Estellon faithful are demanded to always be bound by ambition to be the best at something, whether it is combat, magic, creating floral displays, or baking cooking. No mediocrity allowed.
+* '''Diligence:''' Estellon faithful are demanded to be diligent in their service and their work, to be hard working and hard earning the skills they will receive over the centuries of time spent.
+* '''Revenge:''' Estellon faithful are demanded never to let a slight sit, and to always make due justice for each wrong committed onto themselves, their next of kin, or their kin in general.
+* '''Greed:''' Estellon faithful are demanded not strictly to be greedy, but never to be content, and to always be in a state of want, for a content life leads to decadence and laziness.
+* '''Deceitful:''' Estellon faithful aren't strictly demanded to lie, but rather to never be always truthful if it is self-sabotaging, and to control the narrative and view of objective truth around them.
+* '''Ambitious:''' Estellon faithful are demanded to always remain ambitions with their goals for themselves, to always seek out new skills to gain, to improve, and to make a name for one's self.
+* '''Destiny:''' Estellon faith prescribes that each person born has a great destiny that only they can unlock, and when they reach it, they will re-incarnate as a more important person.
+* '''Perfection:''' Estellon faith highly praises perfection, or at least the conceptual thought of perfection (meaning, until something better is found). Perfection itself is considered holy and divine.
+* '''Sanctuary:''' Estellon faith prescribes a patronizingly protecting ideology to its followers which preaches the idea that the Nelfin are somehow uniquely more capable of protecting the world than others.
-Dragon Worship is primarily preached by so called Matrons (which can be either male or female) and exist in rough regional areas. For example, during its zenith, Dragon Worship had a different Matron for each Realm, however in modern times, perhaps only three Matrons still exist, with two likely in hiding. Other regions like Farahdeen also saw a religious shift away from Dragon Worship and into its own distinct religion that acted more like an evolved form of Dragon Worship, such as [[Mussaktu]]. Another important distinction to be made is that Dragon Worshipers do pray, and that the practice of praying in Unionism may have actually been inspired by it. Praying in Dragon Worship is the idea that a person may ask for aid in a difficult task or problem they cannot solve themselves, in the hopes a Dragon will listen and act. Finally, Dragon Worship has a complicated relationship with the concept of infallible divinity. In Unionism, to deny the will of the Spirit, as in the [[Faith of Estel]] to deny the demands of the Avatars or Talea, is heresy. In Dragon Worship however, there is some nuance. Dragons are commonly said to be “Resolute and Rightly Wrong”. What this means in practice is that so long as a Dragon does not make an absolute statement or demand, Dragon Worshipers have room to negotiate with the actual interpretation or intention of what a Dragon did or said. For example, if a Dragon attacks a coal mine and destroys it, the worshipers may invariably declare that it was the miner’s fault, the coal’s fault, the mine was badly built, or a [[Demon]] lived in it. The worshipers may even attribute a mistake to the Dragon, to believe that it attacked the mine because it thought there was a Demon, even if there was not. If however the Dragon had come down, assumed a humanoid form, and commanded that the mine be closed because a Demon had infested it, then the Dragon Worshipers are not permitted to disagree or disobey the instruction of the Dragon. Dragon Worship as such allows for some wiggle room of interpretation, and even disagreeing with what a Dragon does, but one may never disobey or deny an Order when it is given from the Dragon’s mouth in clear wording.
+===Beliefs===
+* '''Narrative:''' Estellon is a religion that starts with Estel creating everything in the eyes of the Estellon faithful, followed by Estel birthing her daughter [[Talea]] through immaculate conception, after which she fell asleep, dreaming the other Estellon Pantheon into existence. The Pantheon is there to challenge the faithful to be a better version of themselves, to strive to be better, and to unlock that holy destiny and fate that is woven for every newborn by the Gods. Then, the Goddess of Death will lift the dead souls to the afterlife, where they will enter a phase of contemplation for years, or decades, or even centuries, before Cemaan weaves a new fate for them, drags them from the afterlife, and re-incarnates their soul into a newborn, wealthier if their life was full of accomplishments, poorer if it was found lacking.
+* '''Canon Evil:''' Canon evil in Estellon is hard to pin down, though the [[Void Arken]] come pretty close, and the [[Void Gods]] are definitely very high up. The general concept of evil in Estellon is more the idea of turning away from the faith and abandoning the virtues and chase for perfection. Since Void possession often causes this to happen, the worst evil to befall a faithful is to be possessed or worse, to be [[Kathar]].
+* '''Identity:''' Estellon has no real concept of sex or gender, nor does it have a view on sexual orientation. If anything, Estellon encourages the faithful to experiment with all these kinds of things, and generally just kind of do whatever they feel like. This is often why [[Ailor]] thing that male [[Altalar]] wear women's clothes, and vice versa. Styling and society wise, the Estellon are fairly gender blind.
+* '''Conversion:''' Converting away from Estellon is a strange concept, because it did not exist for thousands of years prior to the Kathar appearing and [[Void Worship]] becoming institutional. As such, the slow-to dogmatically decide Estellon priesthood, 500 years later, still hasn't decided on an official stance on conversion of non-Nelfin, or converting away from Estellon, though [[Unionism]] is marked as a particularly vile religion to convert to, because it subverts the ideology of Nelfin superiority in Estellon.
+* '''Sins & Taboo:''' Sins and Taboos in Estellon all invariably relate to being lazy, not getting anything done, being unwilling to work, and generally being careless about one's future.
-==Dragon Hierarchy==
+==Gods and Goddesses==
-[[File:Dragonstuff.png|260px|thumb|right|This image shows the orientation of all the Dragon Thrones. It is important to note that the Purple Crown Throne technically rules all Thrones, but acknowledged that sometimes they simply cannot due to the difficulty and nuances of politics among Dragons, and have to cut their losses. As such, the primary Realms are depicted as nominally autonomous, even if they all fall under the Purple Crown leadership.]]
+AAAA
-The Hierarchy that exists within Dragon Worship is one of duality. The primaries are the major gods and goddesses, Rhaakhr, Asaph, Saaima, Anlon, Qaarn and Masrafaal. The primaries are the major gods much like the [[Pantheon of Estel]] has 8 major gods. Supporting these six Dragons however are the secondaries or supporting Thrones. Each primary has 3 secondaries (except the Crown Realm, which has 4), and each of these pairings are considered a “Realm” which are thematically grouped together. These distinctions are based on what Dragon Worshipers have gleaned from real Dragon politics and interactions, and many of these distinctions are also geographical. For example, the Crown Realm has Dragons which are all rumored or known to have centered around the Archipelago and the lands within close vicinity, while the Sky Realm has Dragons known between Farahdeen and the Sihai lands. A primary is always chosen as a Dragon Worshiper’s preferred god or goddess to live up to. Worshipers attempt to emulate their wishes for the world and embody their virtues, while also acknowledging their vices and attempting to minimize them. Secondaries are never worshiped as primary gods and goddesses, but can be rotated between in a supporting role for their primary. It is not possible to worship multiple primaries or secondaries belonging to different primaries than one’s patron primary. This is considered taboo and unfaithfulness to the chosen patron dragon.
-==Dragon Deities==
+===Aurora, Arbitrator of Nature===
 {|
-|[[File:Rhaakr2.png|260px|thumb|left]]
+|[[File:Viletdragon.png|220px|thumb|left]]
 |
-===Rhaakhr, the Purple Crown===
+*'''Identity:''' Aurora is the Dragon of the Craters of Evolution, places where creatures are made, and where nature is eternal. Dragon worshipers believe Aurora designed every little creature, and every creature that has come from them, and continues to experiment with the possibilities in her hidden sanctum. She is also the Dragon of wilful disinterest in the Occult and Infected.
-Rhaakhr represents the Purple Crown as the leader of the Purple Throne, becoming also the main deity of the Crown Realm. As a primary, Rhaakhr’s virtues are leadership, politics, and duty, while his vices are capriciousness, antics and vagueness. Rhaakhr is often depicted as a large and brawny purple and blue dragon with thunderbolts of lightning under its hands and feet. It may also be depicted as an Ailor with long black hair and bright purple eyes and fair soft features, clad in black robes and wandering the forests or farmlands. Prayer to Rhaakhr is done with traditional shrines and statues of Dragons, in fact any Dragon statue will do, even statues depicting the other Thrones. Rhaakhr is often worshiped by leaders, generals, politicians, and thinkers and philosophers, as well as diplomats and explorers. Those that worship Rhaakhr seek to be better people who may turn their resources and power to the better good of all, and to create order and structure where there is chaos and discord. They also acknowledge their own flaws of loneliness and mistrust, vices created by positions of power.
+*'''Racial:''' Aurora is strongly represented among the Isldar, a Race that she favors as her own, and to which she is intricately linked. Prior to cleansing, Aurora was known as Frisit, though in modern times, this is believed to have been an imposter who imprisoned Aurora’s soul and made the Isldar commit terrible acts in the name of Death, eventually causing the split with the Death Isldar. She considers the Death Isldar her mortal enemies, and the reason for the civil war.
+*'''Clade:''' Aurora's name in the Isldar language is Asaph, both names are commonly used. She also has the following supporting Dragons: Acilia of the Birds, Aelia of the Mammals, Aegidius of the Reptiles, Aerthirn of the Amphibians, Aurav of the Invertebrates, Aureliu of the Fish, and Aemilia of the Skyborn. These Dragons also have Isldarrin names: Altuya, Althadeïa, Alsalaahy, Albarmaay, Aleawac, Alsamac, Alsama, though even in cosmopolitan places like Regalia, the non-Isldar names are favored.
-====Purple Foundational Thrones====
+*'''Home:''' Aurora’s penultimate home is the Crater of Creation, though supposedly there are several. Supposedly, because no mortal has ever laid eyes on a functional Crater of Creation, and the Dragons take great pains to hide the locations from mortals. As such, Aurora lacks a traditional Temple, though the Isldar cities in Ellador are rife with Temples to Asaph (and thus Aurora) which double for other Races, for those bold enough to brave the Isldar wastes and find them.
-The Purple Foundational Thrones are Yellow Sea, Gray Stone, Silver Tongue, and Emerald Time. These are each represented by: Yellow Amaar the female dragon of dance and joy but foolishness, Gray Ulm the male dragon of fortitude and never giving up but weakness, Silver Zaalaanzaal the female dragon of speech and language but misunderstanding, and Emerald Ylon, the male dragon of time and growth but also wasting time. The Purple Foundational Thrones are often depicted as supporting Rhaakhr, flawlessly working with him to secure their mutual goals of peace and order between all Dragons, and all the lands. The Purple Foundational Thrones always have one more Throne than the other Realm Foundations, on account of the Crown Realm being the most central Dragon Realm that governs all others. As such, the Purple Foundational Thrones should always be treated as supporting Dragon deities.
+*'''Occult:''' Aurora’s (and by extension her other Dragons) stance towards the Occult or the Infection, is blissful ignorance. Aurora concerns herself far too much with the perpetuation of life, and believes that her work must continue, while other Dragons deal with the implicit problem. As such, Aurora worshipers take a very apathetic stance towards the Occult, though tend to favor more isolationism and staying away from them, rather than actively fostering relations with them.
+*'''Themes:''' Aurora’s main themes are the midnight sky, stars, the heavens at night, creation, design, random events and occurrences, and winter. Particularly the aspect of winter is a more modern association due to her inherent favor towards the Isldar. By origins however, she is the Violet Dragon of the Midnight Sky, and before many associated her with the pale white Dragon Frisit, it was said her scales were adorned with the sparkles of a thousand stars, indistinguishable from the night sky.
+*'''Worship:''' Aurora has never favored active worship of herself, but Dragon Worshipers still engage in active worship, mainly by the act of the hunt. While Aurora is a Dragon of creation, she is not explicitly a Dragon of the preservation of creation, and as such, is seen as more apathetic towards what happens with her creations when they are unleashed on the world. What she does care for however, is how effective they are at dominating the food chain. To be able to offer up evidence of this fact to a statue dedicated to her is seen as worship.
+*'''History:''' Aurora lived in her Crater of Creation for most of history, being merely a footnote until the Altalar started hunting down the Dragons in the Allorn Empire. Aurora fled north with her Dragons and the Dregodar (a cult of Dragon worshiping Altalar) until she eventually perished in a battle against the Dwarves in Ellador. Aurora’s soul was returned by the Dragons Regulus and Renite during their quest to revive the Dragons, and resumed her position among the Isldar, initiating a civil war among them over old beliefs.
+|}
+===Regulus, Crownbearer of Command===
+{|
+|[[File:Reguolus.png|220px|thumb|left]]
+|
+*'''Identity:''' Regulus is the Dragon of Centralization, organization of the Draconic cause, and the functioning of all Dragon installations and forces. Dragons do not function under an autocracy, so it is not quite true that Regulus is King among Dragons, though he effectively functions as one, while maintaining the Ley Systems, as well as the basic functioning of reality around the world, or so Dragon Worshipers believe. Regulus is the Dragon of benign survival of the Occult and the Infected.
+*'''Racial:''' Regulus is strongly represented among the Ailor, a Race guided by Regulus through history, and returned to in the modern era. Regulus has a long and complicated past with the Anglian people of the Regalian Archipelago, and is also linked both to the founding of the Regalian Empire, and the Regalian Imperial Throne, due to the current incarnation of Regulus being a member of the Imperial Family.
+*'''Clade:''' Regulus has no racial name, though he is sometimes called Cedromar so as not to dehumanize the current incarnation. Regulus has the following supporting Dragons: Renita of Gravity, Rosa of the Weather, Romalia of Matter, Ramirus of Time, Rabanus of Antimatter, Rufinus of Action and Reaction, and Rina of Movement. Many of the functions of Regulus’s Clade are esoteric, so the only tangible presence the living have ever felt was their control over the weather.
+*'''Home:''' Regulus has no true Temple, though smaller edifices are being built in Anglia, with the Temple of Soaring Wings in Draackenrust slated to be the largest one when it is done in a few months. In centuries past, Regulus frequented the Anglian countryside and treated the whole province as his Temple, interacting with the locals and those who sought him out with frequency.
+*'''Occult:''' Regulus’s stance (which some of his Clade reluctantly agree with), is the concept of benign survival. The idea is that the Occult or Aberrants weren’t at fault for being born this way, or becoming this way, because each person is fated due to forces out of their control. The world of Dragons is centered around the value of life, and if life is to be valued, it should not be disregarded over a matter of Infection. As a result, Regulus believes that the Occult have a right to live free of extermination, though applies this selectively.
+*'''Themes:''' Regulus’s main themes are royalty, the weather, crowns, leadership, command, rule, connecting and communicating, and managing the Leystone system. The Central Dragons (a common term for Regulus and his Dragons) are in charge of managing all the Soulcores of the Leystone system, as well as all Dragon Sites, designing and using their functions, and communicating and regulating all the other Dragons to ensure they are on the same page.
+*'''Worship:''' Regulus has actively discouraged worship of him, though this has not dissuaded many, and worship of Regulus in a previous reincarnation was rampant in Anglia. It is theorized that as much as a third of the Anglian population still worships Regulus to this day. Regulus worship is mostly done through passive obedience to his design. As Regulus was all about designing the policies of the Dragons, worship of him is simply the act of following this design, and not questioning it.
+*'''History:''' Regulus long lived in Anglia, but disappeared around the time of the Five Family Rebellion. Since then, Regulus has been absent, though the Dragonsoul was protected within a Regalian Noble House by the Dragon Wardens who tried to hide its presence from the world. After 300 years, the Dragonsoul was unleashed, and Regulus was found, re-uniting with Renita during the Dragon Crisis, which would eventually result in them going on a quest to revive all other Dragonsouls.
 |}
+===Marik, Peacewarden of the Dead===
 {|
-[[File:Mysteryperson.png|260px|thumb|left]]
+|[[File:Mariksand.png|220px|thumb|left]]
 |
-===Asaph, the Violet Creation===
+*'''Identity:''' Marik is the Dragon of mortality and that final end that comes for all, the balance of life and death and the afterlife, order and stability of the world, and enforcer of the cycle that must go on eternally. Marik is claimed by Dragon Worshipers to have designed the demise of Dragons, a concept in which the Dragons voluntarily surrendered their Mantle of Creation, and chose to perish in the spotlight of history (though each Dragon chose their own way out). Marik is the Dragon of the Great Divide for the Occult.
-Asaph represents the Violet Creation as the leader of the Violet Throne, becoming also the main deity of the Creation Realm. As a primary, Asaph’s virtues are foresight, planning, innovation, while her vices are mistakes, stubbornness and uncompromising. Asaph is often depicted as a snake-like dragon with four wings and two legs coiled up in a bowl or crater, or in a more humanoid form as a young-looking female [[Dwarf]] turning rocks into creatures and putting them in crates. Asaph is unsurprisingly worshiped by traders, performers and primary industry workers like farmers and herbalists, but also cattle herders and other animal-loving people. Prayer to Asaph is done while tending to her creation, meaning Asaph worshippers are not allowed to pray to her until they find a wounded animal or insect or person, and nurture it to health. They believe they may only pray to Asaph and have her hear them while tending to her creation in need. Those that worship Asaph seek to create better things and better the lives of others by the things they make or the ideas they bring forward. They however also acknowledge the vices of philosophers, inaction and stubbornness to dogma, and attempt to avoid narrowmindedness.
+*'''Racial:''' Marik is strongly connected to the Songaskians, in particular because all Songaskians bear a piece of Marik and his fellow Black Dragon souls in them, as they were created when the Black Dragons perished. It is believed that when Marik executed the final end for himself, he had a moment of doubt, and this allowed the forces of Death to corrupt his end, and bring about death for the Qadir.
+*'''Clade:''' Marik (also called Masa in the Songaskian language) is supported by the Dragons Mele of the Desert, Maya of Murder, Magnus of Death, Marian of Aging, Milo of Youth, Mencius of Seniority, and Madronna of Birth. These Dragons each also have a name in the Songaskian Language: Diya, Hakili, Tunun, Fonenba, Kakabo, Duniya, and Seben. The Songaskians still strongly prefer to use the Songaskian names of their Dragon patrons, even in Regalia.
-====Violet Foundational Thrones====
+*'''Home:''' Marik worship is still very prevalent among the Songaskians who keep alive the lore that they were born from the demise of Dragons. Among the Songaskians, this faith is called Mussaktu or “gratefulness for living”. While they sometimes pretend it is not, it is still part of Dragon Worship. Marik’s largest Temple is the forbidden sanctuary of Jiginni, a massive mountain in the heart of Farahdeen where none may climb to the top, but the base is surrounded by Temples.
-The Violet Foundational Thrones are Green Forest, Rose Metal, and Burgundy Heart. These are each represented by: Green Hulmark the female dragon of nature and growth but also chaos, Rose Tian the male dragon of bounty and wealth but also spoilage, and Burgundy Ayaal the female dragon of utility and function but also abandonment. The Violet Foundational Thrones are less cooperative than the Purple Foundational Thrones, and more divided. As the Creation Realm stands for the different primal disciplines of creation, the Foundational Thrones have neatly divided the different areas of creation between them, with very little cooperation or overlap. As such, the Violet Foundational Thrones are sometimes worshipped on an equal level to the Violet Creation Dragon Asaph.
+*'''Occult:''' Marik’s stance to the Occult is one of the Great Divide, meaning that evil and good among the Occult separates somewhere when an Occult crosses a threshold. This judgment has never been very consistent, but it implies that every Marik worshiper has a boundary which an Occult should not cross, and the moment they cross this boundary they should be hunted down and put out of their misery, but otherwise tolerated as friends.
+*'''Themes:''' Marik’s strongest theme is the sun, as Marik worshipers believe that while the Songaskians received part of his and the other Dragons’s souls, that their collective conscience transferred to the sun, watching over the people down below. Sunlight, the desert sands, fire, the color black, martial combat and putting the (un)dead out of their misery are all also important themes of Marik and by extension the other Black Dragons.
+*'''Worship:''' Marik Worship is done very frequently and is also very widespread. Many smaller Temples and shrines exist to Marik wherever there are Songaskians, these holy places usually featuring large golden sun disks with which to focus the light of the sun on a central altar, and pray to the sunlight and the sun during the day. The sun is also a strong motif in clothing and tattoos and body paint for Marik worshipers, and his name is invoked when in need of protection or good luck by the faithful.
+*'''History:''' Marik’s history is somewhat unclear, as only third-hand Qadir records can be sources, which have an obvious reason to make others distrustful or hostile towards the Black Dragons due to their ongoing conflict. Supposedly, the Qadir were attacked by the Black Dragons of Marik out of nowhere, and waged war on them for centuries, before they defeated Marik, unleashing the Great Storm and birthing the Songaskians. Marik is not yet revived, and likely will not be, as Dragon Worshipers believe Regulus and Renita would need to rip the souls from the Songaskians to do so.
 |}
+===Severena, Penultimate Defender===
 {|
-[[File:Mysteryperson.png|260px|thumb|left]]
+|[[File:Hitedragon.png|220px|thumb|left]]
 |
-===Saaima, the White Sky===
+*'''Identity:''' Severena is the Dragon of divine protection, of caring, of guidance, of compassion, and of empathy. She is the mother of the Sihai, and claimed by Dragon Worshipers to be the strategist of the Dragons, always helping Regulus see the bigger picture and plan for the correct future out of the hundreds of thousands possible at any given moment. Severena’s plan for the Occult is called the Great Reversal, the first of the two traditionally anti-Occult Dragon ideologies.
-Saaima represents the White Sky as the leader of the White Throne, becoming also the main deity of the Sky Realm. As a primary, Saaima’s virtues are tolerance, kindness, self-sacrifice, while her vices are laziness, sloth and slowness. Saaima is often depicted as a Dragon with an immensely long body that coils and turns and twists into a maze of lines. She is also alternatively depicted as an old wrinkled but dignified [[Sihai]] woman with immensely long white hair that folds several times around her towards the bottom of her robe. Saaima always has her eyes closed or is depicted in a state of rest or sleep, though with one hand raised in a stopping motion so as to shield others from something, even while she sleeps. Saaima is often worshiped by priests and healers, but also bureaucrats and soldiers for the guarding light that she brings. Saaima prayer occurs with a small shrine with a depiction of her, flanked by incense and a porcelain or ivory bowl filled with wine, upon which a single white [[Goose]] feather floats. Saaima worshipers believe that the goose feather drifts, where the direction distinguishes Saaima’s will. The feather floating towards her statue means her approval of the wish or prayer, it floating away from her meaning disapproval. If the feather floats left it means yes, and if it floats right it means no. If the feather sinks it means absolute calamity, and if it simply rotates in place, it means Saaima does not deem the person worthy of an answer, challenging them to be better. Those that worship Saaima seek to become more selfless and kind to others, to be the trustworthy shield and confidante others seek out in times of trouble. They must also be vigilant to her vices of becoming a victim and blind to true pain and horrors, as well as a savior complex that often forms in the wake of her ambitions.
+*'''Racial:''' Severena is strongly linked with the Sihai Race, supposedly both as creator and as divine protector and director of their fate and future. Despite the demise of the other Dragons, Severena continued to live, albeit in a dream-state where she could no longer directly interact with her people, but had to resort to dreams to communicate. She remains immensely important among the Sihai both culturally and spiritually.
+*'''Clade:''' Severena’s Clade is supported by Silvius of Hope, Saccius of Dreams, Sisera of Defying Fate, Sophus of Ambitions, Stasius of Inspiration, Sylianus of Submission, and Summanus of Dominance. While this list uses the Ailor names, even most non-Sihai Dragon Worshipers use the Sihai names for Severena (Saaima) and her Clade: Nishiliu, Beishèn, Ao-Jin, Liu-Xing, Xin-Shidai, Lüra, and Ao-Shun, because Severena has really only ever interacted with the Sihai.
-====White Foundational Thrones====
+*'''Home:''' If is difficult to pinpoint a single Temple that is great, for each Temple that houses one of the Loong Dragons is grand, as each Loong Dragon save for Sylianus and Summanus remains accessible in the wider Sihai lands (for non Occult at least). Severena’s Temple is generally considered the greatest, as she has seniority over the other White Sky Dragons as matriarch. The Sihai lands are saturated with lesser Temples dedicated to Severena and her Clade.
-The White Foundational Thrones are Blue Arcane, Black Desert, and Orange Veil. These are each represented by: Blue Haas the male dragon of mystery and power but also corruption, Black Kash-Tooral the male dragon of soldiery and defense but also ignorance, and Orange Mvu the female dragon of separation and purity but also defeat. The White Foundational Thrones are treated more like advisors and trusted friends by Saaima of the White Sky Throne, and as such, they are always strongly depicted as supporting deities. That being said, while Saaima is absolutely the main deity, the words and intentions of the Foundational Thrones of the Sky Realm are heeded as valued advice also, even if it contradicts the teachings of Saaima.
+*'''Occult:''' Severena’s stance on the Occult is the Great Reversal, the idea that the hold of Magic on the world must be pushed back step by step. Sealing corrupted areas, destroying Occult artifacts, cleansing or killing Demonologists and their Demons, and keeping Mages in line and creating as few new Mages as possible are all goals Severena believes in. This can be done either violently or nonviolently. In this way, she is more patient than Caius, but less accepting than Regulus.
+*'''Themes:''' Severena’s themes are the color white, the sky, dreams, meditation and places of great tranquility and peace, the defense of her realm from the corrupting influences of the Occult, and through relatively recent developments, jade crystals. Severena remains in active communication with many of her followers and priestly figures, and while her visions are sometimes troubling and unclear, her presence remains felt heavily by the Sihai, more-so than any other Dragon.
+*'''Worship:''' Severena worship is to act according to her beliefs. While she is immobile in her slumber, fragments of her psyche organize and guide her followers through whispers in their dreams, to save a world that does not want to be saved and has long since accepted the Occult as safe and natural. Severena is not prayed to for blessings or guidance, as the Sihai consider it ungrateful to beg from their creator, but prayed to in dedication when a step is taken towards one of her goals.
+*'''History:''' Severena’s history does not begin or end, as she was around when the Sihai first appeared in the world, and has guided them through every step and every century since. As such, Severena’s history is simply Sihai history. There have been growing concerns as of late that the other Dragons want to wake Severena and her Clade, which the Sihai believe would leave them vulnerable to Demonic invasion and in a very bad position.
 |}
+===Caius, The Final Judgment===
 {|
-[[File:Mysteryperson.png|260px|thumb|left]]
+|[[File:Firedragniric.png|220px|thumb|left]]
 |
-===Anlon, the Teal Deep===
+TEXT
-Anlon represents the Teal Deep as the leader of the Teal Throne, becoming also the main deity of the Deep Realm. As a primary, Anlon’s virtues are secrecy, disruption and deceit, while their vices are seclusion, mistrust and diversion. Anlon is often depicted as a massive wingless dragon with six legs and a long neck and tail, as he coils around a sphere representing the world. Another way to depict them is with an upper-body of an aquatic [[Allar]] and the lower body made of a torrent of water or a water cyclone. Anlon is the lord of trickery, deceit, and secrecy, and any prayers made to them are often hushed under the breath without any edifices. Anlon is often worshiped by rogues and spies but also trial-makers and public speakers. Those that worship Anlon seek to better the world by controlling it with misdirection and smoke and mirrors. Power is the only metric for those that worship Anlon, though they must also remain vigilant to unpopularity and isolation that comes from their positions of deceit and illusion. Anlon is also significant as the only well-known Dragon with a lack of gender pronouns, and is sometimes described as gender-fluid when they appear to worships.
-====Teal Foundational Thrones====
-The Teal Foundational Thrones are Cyan Coral, Rubine Decay, and Bronze Mind. These are each represented by: Cyan Maffa the female dragon of quirkiness and whimsy but also cannibalism, Rubine Pharta the male dragon of sustenance and nurture but also rot, and Bronze Duurh the female dragon of puppetry and insight but also frailty. The Teal Foundational Thrones are often depicted as wanting to have their own agenda, but being under the control and domination of the Teal Deep Throne, and as such not being able to fully express themselves. As such, the Foundational Thrones are sometimes worshiped on the same level as Anlon, but there is always a clear distinction between primary and secondary Thrones.
 |}
+===Nox, Weaver of Silk Accords===
 {|
-[[File:Qaarn2.png|260px|thumb|left]]
+|[[File:Silverzaal.png|220px|thumb|left]]
 |
-===Qaarn, the Red Core===
+TEXT
-Qaarn represents the Red Core as the leader of the Red Throne, becoming also the main deity of the Core Realm. As a primary, Qaarn’s virtues are strength, endurance and eternity, while his vices are naivety, witless and foolhardiness. Qaarn is often depicted either as a large wing-less dragon with many scales and horns, or a bipedal [[Eronidas]] with red skin and a long scaled mantle with black scaled armor. He is often depicted as old, with a white-scaled beard and long hair, a warrior long past his prime but with experience from the battlefield and having seen enough to be wise. Qaarn prayers are made to an open flame, but can also be made to singing coals or molten steel. Qaarn is frequently worshiped by metallurgists and other craftsmen for his close connection to the deep riches of the earth. Those that worship Qaarn seek to better the world with knowledge and wit, but also with world-wiseness and experience gained from traveling and doing things. They must also remain vigilant to the vices of abandonment and forgetting, as Qaarn is prone to when he is not around to exercise his control.
-====Red Foundational Thrones====
-The Red Foundational Thrones are Brown Bog, Ebony Curse, and Magenta Will. These are each represented by: Brown Tuuth the male dragon of disease and pestilence but also renewal, Ebony Ruunh the male dragon of revenge and usurpation but also healing, and Magenta Palin the female dragon of freedom and free-will but also revolution. The Red Foundational Thrones are by far and large the most independent of the Foundational Thrones, and some worshipers even get away with primarily worshiping them as opposed to Qaarn, due to Qaarn’s general perceived lack of control. The Foundational Thrones of the Core Realm often just do as they please with little oversight and also have agendas of their own detached from Qaarn. Ruunh in particular has some interesting attachments, because it is commonly believed among the Dragon Worshipers that Draga Ifrit of the Cult of Evolution is actually Ruunh touched by the Void or trapped by the Void, most scholars are not in agreement. As such, those that worship Ruunh are often mistaken for Draga Ifrit worshipers and vice versa. To Dragon worshipers, those that worship the name Draga Ifrit are not non-believers per-se, but it is also true to say that nearly any Dragon worshiper that worships Ruunh is generally mistrusted by the Dragon community at large. Either way, there is considerable friction between other Dragon Worshipers, and those that worship Ruunh or Draga Ifrit, or those who believe they are one and the same.
 |}
+===Valerius, Force for Change===
 {|
-[[File:Xszfssg.gif|260px|thumb|left]]
+|[[File:Urlansdragon.png|220px|thumb|left]]
 |
-===Masrafaal, the Golden Heart===
+TEXT
-Masrafaal represents the Golden Heart as the leader of said Throne, also becoming the main deity of the Heart of the World Realm, which is roughly understood to the the core of the Celestial Body (planet) that all Dragons reside on. Masrafaal's virtue is choice, the singular aspect that differs from free will distinctly, in that free will allows creation to make a choice, while Masrafaal represents the fact that there is always a choice in every matter. Masrafaal's vice is the original sin itself, in that supposedly, all vices and sins committed were first done and inspired by him. Masrafaal is a complicated entity in that many consider him classically evil, however Masrafaal himself never did evil or encouraged it, he just inspired all around him with his mere presence, to do the most depraved and immoral things possible. Masrafaal is also not depicted as a traditional dragon, but rather an entity defying traditional perception, as he has no solid form. He is sometimes as such depicted or symbolized as the casing of a chestnut still hanging from a tree, a spherical shape with an infinite amount of spikes that rapidly shrink and increase in size, splitting, merging, and undulating over one another in pure golden color. Masrafaal is also not traditionally prayed to, but rather, prayed to stay away from. This can commonly be done by collecting chestnut casings but only from fallen chestnuts that have already split open, as taking fresh and plucking them from the tree signifies sin of theft. These casings are then stored around the house and dried, to signify that "Masrafaal has already been here, and sin and vice has seen these walls" - also a common saying among Dragon worshipers, furthermore to emphasize that Dragon Worshipers do not consider themselves free of sin or vice, and will forever live with making mistakes and screwing up. Those that do worship Masrafaal pray to receive wisdom to undo the sins of others, or help others to come to terms with their vices and learn to live with them. As such, Masrafaal worshipers tend to be more ascetic and monk-like in how they conduct themselves. It is also a theory among Masrafaal worshipers that it was in fact Masrafaal that created the first intelligent life, not the Violet Dragons, as sin and virtue are qualities only beholden to sentient beings, and their souls reside in his realm (as all Soul Rivers eventually flow into the Celestial Body's surface or oceans into the deep).
-====Golden Foundational Thrones====
-The Golden Foundational Thrones are Titian Inward, Bisque Visage, Damask Presence, and Jasper Song. These are each represented by: Titian Naama the female Dragon of forgiveness but victimhood, Bisque Arit the male Dragon of light but shadow, Damask Kiana the female Dragon of gravity but repulsion, and Jasper Kyddaran the male Dragon of music but silence. One might have already observed that many of these traits and colors seem off, and this theme is carried through from their Throne leader, in that these Dragons also lack the traditional Draconic shape and reside in the Celestial Body's core, but are Dragons nonetheless. The Purple Foundational thrones are often depicted as reasons for Masrafaal, like they provide a reason for one another to exist, as the Thrones need a leader, but the leader's vice emanation is caused by the Thrones. The Golden Foundational Thrones do not receive much worship as such, because in many ways they are aspects of Masrafaal.
 |}
-==Festivals==
-Dragon Worshipers have a festival for every month of the year, that are shared between all Dragon Worshipers no matter what Dragon Realm or God or Goddess they worship. These are often rare opportunities for Dragon Worshipers to exchange ideas and all worship every Dragon as equal just on that one day, as it is permitted to hold all Dragons in equality only on the holy day of the month. Every month on the 15th a Dragon Festival takes place with a different theme:
-* 15th of January is the Festival of Before Spring. This Festival is often made to welcome the coming of spring, even if it is stil more than a month off. Due to the weather in the Regalian Archipelago in particular being somewhat off from the rest of the world, spring flowers can be greeted in January. As such, it is common for this festival to feature a lot of flowers and Dragon Worshipers giving curated flower arrangements or bouquets to each other, while offering to help garden in each other’s gardens.
-* 15th of February is the Festival of the Younglings. This Festival often corresponds to the time when all children from Cycle of Creation are born or have been born, and as such, this festival celebrates not only their birth, but anyone under the age of 15. A frequent activity during this Festival is to bake cookies and hand them out to children, while baking cake with draconic decorations and handing them to adults.
-* 15th of March is the Festival of Communal Song. This Festival features many Dragon Worshipers coming together in a large grass field wherever as many of them can congregate together for a day of communal song and choir singing.
-* 15th of April is the Festival of Gladiators. This Festival features the ritual fighting of many different warriors seeking glories in the name of the Dragons in the All-Faith Arena. It is actually very common to invite warriors of other religions as well to include them in the battle, primarily to show them the graces of the Dragons also, but also to show off Dragon Warriors and posit them as stronger than other religious warriors.
-* 15th of May is the Festival of the Cycle of Creation. It is commonly seen as the Dragon Worship version of the Love Festival celebrated by other cultures and religions, as much of the themes are the same. For the entire duration of the 15th of May, single Dragon Worshipers seek out other Dragon Worshipers to procreate, while loved ones treat this day as a particularly holy day to conceive children.
-* 15th of June is the Festival of Mourning. It is common for this festival to feature processions in the streets of towns and cities where Dragon Worshipers carry candles to the graveyards of other religions, and make displays of flower wreaths and candles to remember those that died, no matter what their religion or culture or citizenship was.
-* 15th of July is the Festival of the Stars. Dragon Worshipers come together at night for star-gazing, while many of them also bring food and drinks and all of them have a large communal barbeque or feast under the stars and the moonlight.
-* 15th of August is the Festival of the Sun. Dragon Worshipers often travel to caves, using a large selection of mirrors and shiny objects to reflect light from the outside into the cave and to light up the darkness with natural sunlight by letting it reflect and cascade off of reflective surfaces. It is believed that during this festival, the Dragon Worshipers must bring light to darkness in preparation for winter.
-* 15th of September is the Festival of Water. Dragon Worshipers travel cities and towns with balloons and bottles of water, and attempt to splash each other (or non worshipers) with water as a form of blessing and wishing good-luck and good-will to them. In many ways however, it could also be seen as a festival to prank each other, which is why many Dragon Worshipers may come home to a bucket of water precariously balancing on a doorway.
-* 15th of October is the Festival of Nurture. Dragon Worshipers come together in communal kitchens and produce one large potluck where every person contributes something to the stew, be it meat or some kind of vegetable of spice. These events also feature a lot of colors, as it is common to have dyed chalk which is smeared across people’s skin and clothes to mark them as worshipers of particular Dragon gods and goddesses.
-* 15th of November is the Festival of Demise, in which Dragon Worshipers pay homage to the Dragons that have fallen in past centuries due to what they perceive as the evil and corruption in creation. Previously this Festival was the Festival that celebrated the creation of Dragons, but since they went extinct around Cataclysm, it was changed to a festival to remember their senseless death. Even with the return of Dragons, this Festival remains unchanged as the worshipers deem it important to remember the slaughter as something that should never happen again.
-* 15th of December is the wildcard Festival. Matrons decide themselves what the theme of this Festival is, and every year has a different theme. This Festival is also a bit more unusual, as opposed to a single day celebration on the 15th, it is a longer lasting celebration from the 15th to the 22nd, with the most intense celebration occurring on the 18th.
-==Trivia==
-*Dragon Thrones actually have multiple Dragons. For example, the Purple Crown Throne has 7 Dragons in it with names, however only the leader, Rhaakhr, is acknowledged as a God for that Throne. Each Throne as such has a leader, which is generally seen as a physical embodiment of all Dragons within that Throne.
-*Dragon Worshipers can change their preferred Dragon Throne, but tend to generally stick with one for their entire lives. Changing a Throne is not seen as something shameful, but continually doing it over and over is. It is also considered shameful if it is done on a whim, as opposed to a major life event.
-*It is sometimes believed that Dragon Worship is compatible with [[Mussaktu]], [[Frisit Worship]] or [[Vultdragon Unionism]]. It is distinctly not however, due to the fallible divinity principle of Dragon Worship. This very idea is repugnant to all other organized religions, and as such, it is not possible to be a Dragon Worshiper and faithful of another religion at the same time.
-*Infantilization or imitation of Dragons where not part of racial Abilities is considered taboo among the Dragon Worshipers. Anyone that uses Magic or some sort of Void or Exist born power to imitate Dragons is considered insulting to Dragon Worship and Dragons.
-{{Religion}}
-{{Accreditation
-|Artists = MonMarty
-|Writers = MonMarty
-|Processors = HydraLana
-}}
-[[category:Religion]] [[category:Human Religions]]