The Divine Five

== The Divine Five ==
The Divine Five are the five eldest Dragons of Eternia. Ryujin is considered the 'greatest' (though Valmasians have little in the way of comparison) of the Divine Dragons, and he is the most well-known, too, as a result of the blessing gifted to Nehir Alakkan. However, he is by no means the only Divine Dragon. In fact, four others are known to exist. While not much is understood about their nature nor their being altogether, one could easily assume that they practice a similar role to Ryujin, traveling from continent to continent while serving their individual purposes. Like him, they each have their own intention bestowed upon them by Kraus. The full list goes as such: Spirit, Body, Energy, Land, and Time.
= Origins =
While there's much speculation as to the specific realms, resting places, and beginnings of the Divine Five, it's usually conceded that they were born of Kraus' wishes for protectors, guardians, and creators to both aid and follow him. They serve a role similar to Asena and Saekanis in that they uphold their distinct portions of the Lifestream/Eternia, likely as a result of Kraus being unable to do so himself (frequently).
= Powers =
It's incredibly difficult to pin all of the Divine Dragons' powers down to a single list, and not just because of ignorance. They are incredibly powerful, known to have nigh-boundless levels of mana and as a result can perform practically any feat of magic within the realm of reality. As shown with Drakanites, they are capable of warping and reforming the human soul if desired, though it's possible this is a capability of Ryujin alone as a result of his aspect. Whatever the case, this is a list of their assumed similarities:
Immortality: Dragons themselves live for an even longer time than most Yokai; however, they are not regarded as truly immortal. Divine Dragons, though, are renown for being ageless, growing in wisdom and power even beyond what was gifted unto them by Kraus with every passing century. They do not hardly feel the ravages of time, and this trait is presumed to continue on throughout the oncoming history of Eternia.
Telepathy: Similarly to how Yokai operate but without the corresponding Occult sickness, the Divine Five are capable of a presumably rangeless telepathy, communicating extremely rarely with humans just as easily as they might speak with their fellow dragons.
Size: While it's easy to guess that with Divine Magic in their arsenal, one of the Divine Five could take on any size they desire, it's still widely accepted that their base forms are nonetheless immense. When one arrives, storms form and clear as a result of the shifting air currents - if one were to land upon Valmasia's landmass itself, the earth would likely have to shift in order to accommodate their mighty size.
= Personality =
As you'd expect, the Divine Five are all individual souls, and they all have their own individual personality to boot. However, there are some recurring themes that show up in the actions and results of every one of them - many of which tie into selfishness or inward-thinking. This isn't to say, of course, that they're by any means evil or vile; it is moreso a trait of their race, really, than any malignant intent.
Whatever the case, this behavior displays itself most evidently in their dedications to the constructed dragons, each of them often delivering their individual significance unto the race in a manner they prefer. For instance, not all of the Divine Five wield an appearance as dragons do under the familiar western theme-- Ryujin is understood as a sort of Wyrm, not a Drake at all. This is a result of the Divine of the Body shaping the race's form in its own image, constructing them in their well-known winged shape. Another example is the Drakanite race being gifted with Ryujin's primary element, fire, rather than an alternative magic.
While all of the Five display the aforementioned habit at some point in their existence or another, some are more objectively-thinking than the rest. The Divine of Energy is famed in other continents where it remains more active for an absolutely objective, neutral mentality, operating solely for the benefit or the balance of Eternia. Some view this as a negative, however, seeing as how this also includes being far less active than the other dragons, which can easily be perceived as a lack of care or even outright neglect.
= Members and their Significance =
=== Ryujin  ===
Ryujin is the most well-known of the Divine Five in Valmasia, having gifted both the Drakanite race or "blessing" upon Nehir Alakkan as well as knowledge of his name. As stated above, he is responsible for the guiding of spirits to the spirit realm, souls to and from the stars, and the creation of the spirit realm altogether. While it's feasible to break the aforementioned cycle through specific effort, Ryujin is the one that repairs large damages to his domain.
While Ryujin is the Divine Dragon Valmasia knows best, he's rumored to actually be the most elusive of the Five, able to escape sight by fading in and out of the spirit realm at will.
He travels the entirety of Eternia and has been known to have visited Valmasia two times, first bestowing Nehir with his famed blessing and replying to the destruction of his city of worshippers, Frostvale, on his second trip. Ryujin's part in the construction of the Dragon race consisted of creating and maintaining their cycle of souls, bestowing upon the newly-forged strain a spirituality similar to his own.. resulting in the most common element of the dragons being, of course, fire.
=== Body ===
Like all of the Divine Five besides Ryujin, the Dragon of the Body's name and signature is not known.. the aspect, however, is. The Divine of the Body is responsible for the creation of the physicality of many of Eternia's races, forging flesh from his magic and allowing the many unique shapes and sizes seen throughout.
He is also reportedly intended to mend damages to the format of his (or Kraus') creations, though with recent developments such as the Malpercians and the Falcos (both amalgamations of human and Yokai) it's hard to say whether he does so at all - or perhaps his standards for "damages" are simply higher than our own.
The Divine of the Body contributed perhaps the largest benefit to the race of Dragons, gifting them an immense body in the shape of his own, as well as a difficult-to-crack outer shell of scales as a method of shielding them from harm and garnering safety in even the harshest of environments.
=== Energy ===
The Divine of Energy, while not necessarily playing as much of an active role in present-day Eternia, nevertheless allowed for much of the world to proceed smoothly. The Divine of Energy aided Kraus in creating the stars that line the sky, imbuing within them their familiar trait of cleansing depravity from souls. Without this property, it's likely that instead of continually progressing toward a safer, less evil and vile world, those of Eternia would spiral on an endless downward slope, becoming more and more depraved with every iteration of their soul.
As with the others of the Divine Five, that of Energy also had a hand in constructing the race of dragons. Unto them, it gifted the ability to cast magic as humans do, permitting them an abnormally immense capacity for the magical arts much like those of the Divine Five wield.
=== Time ===
While not directly responsible for the timestream nor its derivatives, the Divine of Time nonetheless provides an incredibly critical addition to the world of Eternia: age. Without age, souls would become crowded upon the land, and without death, it'd be infeasible for the cleansing of depravity to properly occur. To some it might be considered a curse! However, from a truly neutral and dramatic standpoint, the Divine of Time manages one of the most important sections of Eternia.
It is said that the Divine of Time holds a great hatred for those that escape its bonds, and served as one of the primary offensives against Azrael's ideal of universal undead.
To the new race of dragons, the Divine of Time allowed them a brief recourse from the arguable "punishment" he'd bestowed upon the rest of the world. To the dragons, they were allowed an extensive lifespan, stretching far beyond any human's and likely any Yokai's, even, as well.
=== Land ===
Last but not hardly least, the Divine of Land is the fifth of the Divine Five. It is said that the Divine of Land is, while not necessarily the strongest, the largest of his fellow Divine Dragons, his scales an earthen, almost bark-like shell of immense capacity. This is paid for without the ability to fly, however, and it's an equally popular folktale that the Divine of Land raised the mountains of Eternia as a way to commune with his brethren every so often. Over centuries, these became mountain ranges, towering at great heights for the sake of their creator's unfortunate circumstances.
It's a less popular (but just as exciting) theory that the islands or even the continents of Eternia as a whole are a result of the Divine of Land's intervention, raising entire landmasses with its outrageous magical ability and capacity.
The Divine of Land is responsible for both creating the north and south poles, as well as bestowing upon them their familiar chill. At their harshest, they are survivable alone by the race of dragons, their resistances to extreme cold also a result of this Divine's remarkably potent and technical influences.
Category:Lore Characters
Category:Religion