Zracon Religion

*"For as long as there is Light, there is hope for the galaxy. For as long as there is Shadow, or work will never be over"*

-Meditations of Wise Lumaginaar, Zracon priest-

The main religious belief of all Zracons , the worship of **the Light**is the most important aspect of life in the Zracon Union. From rituals to behaviour and politics, there is no aspect of their society which is not influenced in some way by their religion. No other worship is allowed inside the Union's frontiers.

## The Light and the Shadow

   While Zracons are always eager to accept new members to their religion, it is strange for a priest to speak of the origins and history of their worship. Unlike other religions in Earth, there is not one prophet whose statues can be seen standing on Zracon temples, or clear backstory for the main enemy of the Zracon religion: **The shadow.**

The ancient texts (a series of documents greedily kept by the Zracon priesthood) speak of a time when all the galaxy was under the influence of an evil force known simply as "the shadow" or "Eternal Darkness". Even the Zracon themselves were bound and enslaved by this force. Only thanks to the purity of the Light were they able to break their bindings and push the great evil back to the "Eye of Terror".

Yet darkness still had left its taint in the rest of the galaxy. Across countless planets, billions grew under its influence, blind to the truth and unable to do nothing to stop it. Thus, only the Zracon remained pure in a galaxy covered by darkness. Such a gift from the Light did not freely however. To remain pure and protected from ever returning to the bindings of darkness, the Zracon would need to stay true to their worship and stop the Eternal Darkness before it could come again and destroy the galaxy once and for all.

## The Light and Zracon Society

The worship of the light follows a strict set of rules and codes of behaviour, which must be followed both by the lowest peasant and the most important High Priest in the Union. Every day without exception, a Zracon worshiper must stand and meditate while facing the sun. Those who are traveling across the stars do so too, only pointing their bodies on the direction of the main star at the heart of their Union.

No politcial, economial or military choice can be made which contradicts one of the main principles of the Light. A crusade cannot be started without the blessings of the High priests, a trade deal cannot be made if there is a chance the other side will use those resources to stop the Zracon mission to purge the galaxy of shadows. In complete opposition to the Commonwealth's belief in practical measures, a Zracon will willingly put his or her life in danger if that means helping in the fight against the shadows.

### Temples

   Zracon temples are the heart of any city in the Union and, as such, tend to be the most elaborate buildings to be found in any other metropolis. While designs change from world to world, they all tend to be tall buildings which stand over every other building in their surroundings, the symbol of the light drawn or sculpted on walls, windows and doors.

Not only is the temple the center of all religious practice in the city. Administration, politics and even sometimes trade is mostly found on the richly-decorated halls and corridors of the temple's many sections. Hundreds of priests of all ranks can be found here, giving espirital advice to concerned Zracon or serving as judges for those who have not followed the teachings of the Light.

On special days, the temples are filled in with devotees as the priesthood prepare ceremonies and conduct the voices of thousands of Zracon as they sing the songs and hymns they have been taught to learn since they were young enough to listen and remember.

## Points of view

While most of the Zracon's priesthood agree on most of the rules and teachings of the Light and what needs to be done with the main shadow, there is still some division about the Union's behaviour towards the rest of the galaxy and its species. There are a few schools of thought about it:

**The Redeemers:**These Zracon priests think that all the other species in the galaxy should recieve the same chance they had of being freed from the shadows and thus becoming part of the Light. Unlike other schools of thought, these priests do not wish for the slaughter of alien species and consider that crusades should focus most of their efforts in coverting, rather than slaughtering the population.

Wars with the Union's neighbours have seen the decline of this current of thought, as priests either gave up on other species or became part of the Hardeneer school.

**Hardeneers:**Like the Redeemers, these Zracons wish for the other species of the galaxy not to be all killed. However, those converted will need to pay back this freedom from the shadows and show their devotion to the Light, taking all manner of harduous or risky duties. Many priests in the Aramathi liberation war  were followers of this current, using Aramathi  brainwashed slaves to slow down the advance of Commonwealth forces.

**Purifiers:**For these Zracon, there is no doubt of what needs to be done with shadows. Any planet infested by those tainted by the old evil will be purged of all shadows, so the true and righteous can settle it instead. Since this current of thought also considers heresy to make allies of shadows to fight wars against other shadows, it is believed priesthoods who follow this school of thought are still a minority in Zracon society.

## A false truth

As the 23rd century arrived to the galaxy, an event like no other took place in the territories of the Zracon Union. What few information was recovered of the event (most of it taken from the corpse of the Zracon priest known as Wise Lumgaar), speaks of the most powerful psionics of the Zracon priesthood performing a mass ritual which ended the whole Zracon race in the blink of an eye. Apparently, the high priests at the top of the Zracon's hierarchy wanted to finally bring their god to the galaxy, or at least part of it, to battle the many "evils" which surrounded them.

They got their wish, but not in the way they were expecting.

Years after the dissapearance of the Zracon, an entity of immense power appeared in the galaxy. Bright like a small sun and powerful enough to obliterate heavily-armed bastions in a matter of minutes, it attacked anything which dared to approach it. The world of Nidira, home to more than 20 billion living souls, was turned into a purple, irradiated sphere in little more than an hour. From the Ahadi Conglomerate to the lands of the Yaanari, the galaxy held their breath, never having seen such a thing before.

It did not take the Commonwealth long to name this creature of destruction, as its origin was painfully clear. Finally, after countless generations, the Zracon had brought their god to reality: The Light.