Draconic Religion

The Draconic Religion (sometimes called Draconism) is the faith of the Dragons and Draconic Humans. It is centred around the Flame-Bearer, an extremely powerful deity who created the universe and appointed the Dragons as its guardian. The Flame-Bearer was a real and powerful Titan who lived during the Age of Titans, but only those following this faith believe is he divine. The Flame-Bearer went dormant just before the Annihilation, lying in wait under the sea for over 1500 years, but returned to fight against the Cosmovores, his physical body dying in the final battle against the Cosmovore Queen.

The original form of the faith, prior to the second coming of the Flame-Bearer, was that the Flame-Bearer created the Dragons and the castes, and appointed the Goldscales at the top. Goldscales would become deified after their physical death, joining the pantheon and ruling jointly with the Flame-Bearer, but still subservient to him. Other deceased souls would be judged by the council of deified Goldscales as to whether they were worthy to enter Paradise or have their souls destroyed in the Burning Abyss (i.e. Hell).

The faith radically changed with the second coming of the Flame-Bearer. His arrival caused two problems to the traditional religion. Firstly, the Flame-Bearer was not summoned by Goldscales as was prophesied, but rather by an Elf (Colados Yavesa), an Orc (Ewa Khundo) and a Pinkscale (Kiyek Asarax). Secondly, the Flame-Bearers multicoloured feathers of the Flame-Bearer led many lower caste Dragons to a radical conclusion: the Flame-Bearer did not merely represent the Goldscales, nor merely all of Dragonkind, but all creatures; his feathers not only bore the colours of each race of Dragon, but also white and blue and green, the colours used to represent Humans, Elfkin and Orcs respectively in Dragon culture, and many more colours besides. Though it was commonly known that the Flame-Bearer was feathered, the knowledge that his feathers were multicoloured was reserved to the Goldscales and high-ranking Pinkscales; most did not know the colour of his feathers, and simply assumed they were gold, an idea the Goldscales subtly reinforced. In addition to merely his physical appearance challenging the traditional caste structure, the Flame-Bearer also did so through his actions; he scorned and condemned the Goldscales on many occasions for being weak, cowardly and arrogant, misusing the power they had been entrusted with, but he treated the lower castes with respect and kindness.

This realisation was kept quiet during the War for the World, as the Dragons saw the need to unite against the Cosmovores and not divide themselves with religious disputes. Once the war ended, though, the lower castes began openly challenging the Goldscales, demanding the recognition that all races would be deified by the Flame-Bearer's grace, justifying this theology by pointing to the physical appearance and behaviour of the Flame-Bearer. The non-Dragons in particular, especially the Humans and Orcs, also began demanding reforms to the structure of the caste system, demanding no longer be mere slaves to their overlords and petitioning for a long list of rights and freedoms.

A bitter debate ensued for several decades, sometimes even spilling out into open violence, until the Imperial Government finally intervened and ordered the Goldscales to concede to the demands of the lower castes. The Goldscales initially refused and mustered their forces to defend their traditional status, but following their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Kaleek Ana, they conceded and begrudgingly accepted the political and theological reforms. It is an open secret, though, that the Goldscales privately maintain that they are the only race who becomes deified after death.