Primacy of Scales
The Primacy of Scales is a dangerous and antiquated ideology, rooted in the belief that dragons and scaled folk are inherently superior to all other sophonts. It enforces a rigid caste system, placing true dragons at the top, followed by reptilian, avian, and amphibian sapient species. At the bottom, barely above livestock, are mammals, who are considered meat.
This xenophobic heirarchy is the state law of the Dragon Empire, but it is outlawed here in the Kirinal Concordance Zone. We classify it alongside cannibal cults and other cabals that reject the dignity of other sophonts
The Primacy wants scalykind to be on top. Aleph Zero pushes human, elf, and dwarf supremacy. Even Winter's True Voice wants orcs on top. All these backwards lookin' fools want a status quo that don't exist no more. We killed those old ways for a reason. We're better than that.
The Primacy of Scales is the official doctrine of the Dragon Empire, instituted by Emperor Harmonic Horizon, and enforced by his Inquisitors of the Red Dome of Heaven. It delineates a caste system with dragons and their closest relatives on the top. Other scalykind come next with bird and amphibious sentients underneath them. Mammals are at the bottom and considered food. The doctrine states that "Mammals are Meat."
On Darastrix Tolgalen, the Empire's central island, the Primacy of Scales is the law of the land. Any mammalian mortals who breach the Boundary Monoliths are declared "unreal" according to the doctrine of "Truth and Fallacy". They are stripped of personhood and marked as meat, suitable for consumption by Imperial decree.
Hidden Cult in Exile
When scaled refugees fled the tyranny of the Dragon Empire, most left the Primacy behind, but not all of them.
The Primacy has infected the Bluestar Peninsula and in the Zone itself as a hidden cult. In secret halls and watery grottoes they conduct cannibalistic rituals, consuming the flesh of mammals to affirm draconic supremacy.
Their doctrine has become extreme and is ritualized and mythologized. They assign divinity to dragons, especially the Emperor Harmonic Horizon. They have placed sleeper agents, known as molts, in public-facing roles to be activated when the Primacy will be unleashed.
They target disenfranchised scaled youth with an indoctrination disguised as "heritage preservation." They venerate Imperial idols and relics of true dragons.
Some factions have made strategic alliances with the Golden Gospel, the Profit Houses, and the Magister's Dominion.
I remember Harmonic Horizon from before he was exiled under his Red Dome. He was a kind dragon who valued all life equally. I shudder to think of what happened to that gentle soul during 100,000 years of exile. As to the Primacy of Scales, I submit that, to my kind, all animals eventually become fertilizer.
Dragon supremacists? I knew they were arrogant but this is a whole new level of pride. Nevertheless I enjoyed this article and I'd definitely say these cannibal reptiles are controversial (to say the least)!
This was not what I had in mind originally, but it's the article that was screaming to be written after I did the Bluestar Peninsula!
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