Religion

Whether directly or indirectly, Religion shapes the daily life of the people of the Reach, with traditions and roots stemming back to the founding of the region by the Celestials, who brought with them memories and stories of a world long forgotten. Upon Kerebos, the question is not if the gods exist, but if they are worthy of one's devotion. Some may dabble in prayer and deliberate as to whether or not to put their faith in an anointed being, others will deny their power and abstain, while others still may dedicate their entire lives to their faith.

There is no directly-outlawed worship within the confines of the Reach, as even Hierarchal oversight allows for the freedom of religious worship. Churches large and small dot major population centers, while those in smaller rural areas may instead dedicate space in their abode or community for gathering. Though each religion functions differently than the next, common points include feast days, prayer, and acts of service within one's community.

Those who dedicate their lives in service to a deity may be rewarded with power, be it arcane ability or spiritual knowledge. There exist clerics whose deeds transcend a single member of a pantheon yet find themselves blessed by divine magic, though such cases are very rare indeed, often attributed to those who have later been anointed to godhood, such as the Seven Sisters.

The presence of Dragons brought a new dichotomy of understanding the world. The mortal species, long removed from their Celestial creators, had developed traditions and belief systems all their own, and it was the Prime Dragons' arrival that returned them to the land of the creation. While some chose to worship the massive, alien exiles for the divine beings they were, others returned to the Celestials and their belief system: faith and worship of The Vigilant Mother and respectful caution of The Diligent Father.

Celestic teachings speak of the Mother's patience and compassion. Though that patience may sometimes cause pain and that compassion may feel hollow and empty, her path and plan is set out in broad strokes, machinations thousands of years in the making. The older generation of Celestials believe wholeheartedly in this plan coming to fruition, and some claim to have even seen the fruit she has set to bear for themselves. Others, further removed from whatever world their people arrived from, have begun to doubt in her grace and her plenty, and strike out against the very nature of their being — children of a goddess they cannot remember — in pursuit of better understand of who they are.

Worship of the Father, while not forbidden, is a considerable taboo the closer one clusters to Celestials proper, who view his followers are cultists at best, doomsayers at worse. Other cultures, not as intricately tied to the beliefs, have sometimes shifted their prayer to him, believing that his silence, unlike the Mother's, is unintentional: that he waits to be freed from the shackles which bind him, body and spirit, and his believers will one day reap the rewards of their diligent belief. Drakirim

It is difficult to deny the grandeur of the five Prime Dragons, and that majesty which allowed them to reconcile a separated world into one ruled under their singular grasp also twisted into belief in their presence as extraplanar deities, rather than simply life from somewhere beyond the stars. Having granted the Reach gifts of magic, technology, language, art, and considerably more, it is easy to see why some would come to view these myths as Divine in nature.

Nearly all Dragonkin worship their progenitors as gods, even those who have strayed from The Hierarchy's grasp. Drakirim is a well-oiled machine, equal parts faith and bureaucracy, and is the throughline of the Hierarchy's control over Kerebos. It is permissive, but defined. It is not all-knowing, but an authority nonetheless. Betrayal of the Hierarchy is, by extension, a betrayal of Drakirim.

Typically, worship is split fairly evenly between the Prime, though most believers will focus on one or two uniquely theirs, typically corresponding to the elemental affinity or the cosmic force each dragon represents. These Cosmic Forces exist across multiple pantheons and myriad beliefs, but are most stringently codified by the Prime, who introduced the concept to the people of Kerebos.

As the story goes, Seven Sisters were a sect of humans who travelled away from The Elysian League League's holdings north to Tyrafin, where they were the first to encounter their Celestial creators. Surprised to see their blessed children severed from the magic that had first created them, the Celestials invited them to stay and learn of their culture. In time, each of the Sisters devoted themselves mind, body, and spirit to worship of the Vigilant Mother, vowing to forever uphold her teachings and spread her message back to their people. In response, she granted them the divine blessing of magic, a gift that had eluded humankind since their exile from elven lands.

With this spark reconnected, the Seven returned to Ostea and fulfilled their promise. Countless more paladins and clerics rose to champion the faith of the Celestials, which in turn sparked yet more magic back into humanity's grasp. As generations passed, this gift seemed to be passed down through bloodlines noble and common alike, and by the arrival of the Prime Dragons, humanity had all but recovered their lost gift. For their service, the Seven were sainted, and sainthood eventually gave way to divinity.

It is unknown whether the Sisters share blood relation, or if this is simply a title bestowed upon them.

Prior to the establishment of their great empire, the Ele'nar shared a connection to the elements alongside their Oro'kyr bretheren in the worship of The Wild Gods. These fey-aligned creatures emerged from the forests of The Reach, imbued with otherworldly appearance and power, seeking knowledge and purpose upon this fledgling world. When encountered by the earliest of the Celestial's offspring, they would be revered as gods, and through that faith, they would only grow in power.

Eventually, elven worship was restricted to their God-Kings, while the Wild Gods dominion grew in small pockets across the whole of Kerebos. It is far less stringent and standardized, with cultures having their own versions of what may be the same deity they worship, while some remote communities or isolated tribes will worship a Wild God entirely unto themselves. Few have been witnessed in several generations, though theories exist that they are archfey in search of pact-bonds, or othertimes fiends in search of prey.

Smaller in scale still are The Stray Gods: those who are worshipped by all but a handful of remaining believers, those who are still fledgling, as well as those who have fallen entirely out of worship and are now considered dead. An example is The Harlequin, worshipped by thieves, particularly those in the city of Sanctum.

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