Prismaticism
The Dragonborn worship one god, a draconic being who in their tradition is considered father of them all. The dragon is depicted in many ways, with scales of all kinds of colours and shades, and in most depictions has many heads, one of each color. There are many ‘faces’ that are worshipped, but it is believed that these are Eighteen That are One, as opposed to Eighteen individuals. Each head is in control of different domains of the faith. In certain depictions, each color is shown as a separate dragon, not just a head.
The Dragon God has many titles - accordingly with Dragonborn society, titles are sought after and highly valued, the more the better. Each head has its own titles to refer to, though the God as a whole holds many as well.
Each head has a related Order of clerics and paladins, who serve as a military elite for the Faith and the Republic as a whole. These Orders are intrinsically tied to the Temples, following a similar naming structure - Temple of the Red, Order of the Red.
The details and portfolios associated with each colour of head go as follows:
The Red Warning - fire, pride, battle, light.
The Red Head belongs to warriors primarily. Those that fight with arms call for its blessing, to guide them through to the end of battle. Red does not value destruction in itself, more the process and the struggle to destroy, or to protect from destruction.
The Black Death - destruction, death, pain, disease.
The Black is a mourning being. While worshipped less than many others, it is important to society due to its part in bringing peace to those that suffer. Black is by no means considered evil, and can be considered more of a lawful neutral aspect.
The Blue Wind - storms, air, sky, freedom.
The Green Keeper - forests, beasts, lies, nature.
The White Frost - winter, youth, medicine, ice.
The Purple Embrace - underworld, undeath, the dead.
The Purple Head brings all dragonborn into its embrace. Those that are dead are cared for by its warmth - and those that might come back into this plane must first be released from its grip.
The Brown Pilgrim - earth, travel, burial.
While a rather mundane aspect of the Dragon God, the Pilgrim is vital, in that he cares for the very land upon which the Dragonborn live, walk, work, and perform the other functions of their lives.
The Yellow Torrent - water, sea, rain.
The Yellow Head brings water, both in the form of blessed rain, and cursed floods.
The Gray Hunter - luck, chance, gambling, hunting, chaos.
The Gray is considered one of the more unknowable aspects of the Dragon God, with potential to bring both great boons and great curses to Dragonborn.
The Gold Teacher - knowledge, wisdom, learning, books, secrets.
The Teacher aids the propagation of history, mathematics, engineering, and knowledge for the good of all Dragonborn. To elevate from ignorance into enlightenment. Though he also knows that not all knowledge is beneficial, so even he must keep some secrets from his followers, and assist his people in their own secret keeping. It maintains a darker aspect in this, as well as through forbidden knowledge.
The Silver Joy - agriculture, wine, spring, life.
The Silver aspect is very much a relative of Gray and Copper, in love with debauchery and the living of life, though less devoted to chaos, and so less unpredictable. Silver is often associated with plenty, and the joy provided through having plenty - plenty of wine, food, and so on.
The Bronze Hammer - smithing, war, creation, gifts.
Bronze is a creator, a forger, and a user of what he forges. Whether it is the creation of weapons with which to smite an enemy, or the creation of a ring to give a lover.
The Copper Jester - theft, autumn, music, poetry.
The Jester is another aspect which might be construed as negative in some aspects. The Jester represents play, decline, and debauchery, similar to the Hunter in his love of chaos. Many criminals look to Copper for guidance, to keep their games going unhindered.
The Brass Grace - summer, love, beauty, Fertility.
The Grace is a loving, warm aspect of the Dragon God. She is often involved in prayers relating to courtship, pregnancy, or families, as well as for more carnal activities.
The Platinum Lord - justice, law, truth, time, protection.
One of the three Great Virtues of the Aspects. They are a core of 'chivalry' in Dragonborn sense. The Platinum Lord governs the law, and the proper proceeding of things, including day to day existence. In this sense he is one of the most vital and powerful of the Dragon God's aspects, with 'Lord' being another signifier of his importance. Platinum would be considered the 'mind' of chivalry in Dragonborn culture.
The Steel Virtue - patience, hard work, festivities, honor.
One of the three Great Virtues of the Aspects. They are a core of 'chivalry' in Dragonborn sense. This Virtue is the 'Soul' of the chivalry of the Dragonborn. Patience, diligence, and honour are important traits in all walks of life, but are most especially valued by the Steel aspect.
The Cobalt Knight - conquest, courage, competition, strength.
One of the three Great Virtues of the Aspects. They are a core of 'chivalry' in Dragonborn sense. The Knight is the 'heart' of chivalry. Courage and strength, the will to act and fight for what is right, all of these things are watched over by Cobalt.
The Adamantine Weaver - magic, fate, discipline.
Structure
Structure within the Temples starts with the Council of Eighteen Priests, known as Vertex. Collectively they are the Vertex Consilium.
Vertex > Spiritus > Spina > Manibus > Cauda
Within the Orders that are tied to the temples, ranking begins with the Maw of the Colour.
Maw > Wing > Claw > Talon > Scale > Whelp
Mythology & Lore
In the end, it is believed that all Dragonborn who die return to the scales of the Father and when all Dragonborn have died, returning to the Father and replenishing his many missing scales, only then will the Father provide a second clutch of eggs, allowing for the rebirth of all Dragonborn in the form of True Dragons.
Divine Origins
For countless centuries the Dragonborn of the peninsula lived as individual Clans, divided by the colors of their Scales. At this time, the clans worshipped their own Dragon God, one that was all in itself, alone, each Clan insisting that their Dragon God was the colour of their scales. When the Empire arrived to the shores of the Peninsula, it led to the Dragonborn Clans uniting, at first temporarily, to fight the invaders. It was this that first established the grounds of the Dragon Father, both as a God and as a faith.
It was accepted, as part of the initial alliances of the Clans, that each Dragon God of each colour existed, leading to two factions. In the first faction, it was claimed that the sixteen different dragon Gods were all one, multicoloured Dragon, simply being interpreted by different colours of Dragonborn as whichever colour pertained to them. In the second faction, it was believed that the sixteen dragon gods all existed independently, as part of one pantheon.
When peace was reached with the Empire, the two factions became more clearly distinguished, which led to, over some years, the formation of the two great cities of the Dragonborn - Amatar and Harricolum. While Amatar had historically been the gathering grounds for all clans, as a place of neutrality and peace, where the clans would trade, discuss, and argue over matters, control was taken by the freshly made Prism King, leader of the worshippers of the multi-coloured Dragon God. Meanwhile in the north west of Clan lands, the faction that backed the idea of a pantheon of dragons laid the foundations of Harricolum, led by the Dragon Chamber of Senators.
It took some decades before the religious schism came to a close, some saying that the Father himself came in a vision to the people of the Prism King. He was overthrown by his own people, supplied with arms and armor by the Dragon Senate, and in the final days, backed by their warriors.
It took the priests of both realms to come to a conclusion, through prayer and debate, fasting and meditation, to come to the conclusion that both divisions of the faith were flawed. There was not one God, nor sixteen, they both were true. The Senate and the Kingdom were joined, with Amatar becoming the new Capital of the Prismatic Republic, and a new god was born, one dragon, with sixteen faces. It took even longer to determine what each Head of the Dragon would have power over.
The practices of those that follow this religion now are an amalgamation of sixteen different religions, combined into two, and then combined once more into a singular faith.
Cosmological Views
According to the Priests of the Dragon Father, Dragonborn were first born by the Father, alongside true Dragons and other Dragonkin. It is believed that True Dragons were the first to be born, hatching from Eggs in the image of the Father, while Dragonborn were the last to be made, formed from the very scales of the Father himself.
While the priests of the Dragon Father do not claim to understand the origin of all things, itt is believed that the earth itself is formed around the egg of the phyiscal form of the Dragon Father
Priesthood
Priests of Prismaticism are easily identified by the color of their robes, which coincide with the color Dragon they are a representative of. There is no restriction on the colour of the Dragonborn in relation to the Temple they serve, but it is more common to find a Dragonborn priest in service to a Temple at least similar in colour to them, a leftover of the history of the religion.
The faith as a whole is led by a council of sixteen Priests, who wear multi-coloured robes. Each of these priests hails from a different colour temple, and is known as a Patriarch, regardless of gender. Beneath them are the Arch Priests, who serve as the heads of Temples. Patriarchs are elevated from among the numbers of the Arch Priests, though there have been a small number of elevations from lower ranks straight to Patriarch.
Type
Religious, Pantheon
Alternative Names
Faith of the Dragon Father
Demonym
Prismite
Subsidiary Organizations
Divines
Related Ethnicities
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