Pyramid

"The Pyramid is the truth, distilled into simple geometry. Look upon the pyramid, and you look upon your place in the world."
~Vekagigellimonxeron, Blue Dragon

History

The Pyramid was an abstract concept formulated by the Saurians as an expression of their supremacy. Over several thousand years of their civilization, they solidified it until it was almost a secular religion. When the dragons supplanted the Saurians at the top of the pyramid, they maintained the structure of the society as a handy control system.

Execution

The Dragons supplanted the Saurians as the capstone on the pyramid as the god-kings.
Down one side of the pyramid, the Dragonborn serve as generals, Lizardfolk serve as warriors, and Kobolds serve as cannon fodder and sometimes regular fodder.
Down another side of the pyramid, Yuan-Ti Purebloods serve as priests, Yuan-Ti Abominations serve as templars, and Ophidians serve as acolytes, sacrifices, builders of shrines and temples, and laborers.
The rear side of the pyramid is known as the "Unknown Steps" and the inhabitants are a secret of the dragons presumably also wrested from the Saurians.
The front side of the pyramid are devoted to the steps, and they are where the sacrifices are led or carried up the steps.

Components and tools

Shrines to the god-kings are always in the form of step pyramids. Small shrines are often only a few feet high, though the larger shrines and full pyramids are large enough to be tread upon. Each side is made from a different colored stone: The warriors stand on the brown stone, the priests stand on the green stone, and the black stone adorning the rear is forbidden entirely. The front of the pyramid hold the stairway up which the sacrifices are brought. Only priests, dragons, and generals are allowed on top where a sacrificial altar is maintained. Behind the altar is an opening where sacrifices are thrown into the pyramid's depths.
In metallic dragon society, the altar is gold and the sacrifices are treasure or evil artifacts. Evil creatures such as demons or aberrations are sometimes also sacrificed this way, which is believed to be a method of permanently destroying such difficult to kill creatures.
In chromatic dragon society, the altar is quartz cut to convert sunlight into a rainbow that bathes the lighted slopes in brilliant colors. Sacrifices on these altars are usually blood and treasure, with celestials being the most prized target.

Participants

Any devotee of the Mythos of the Scalykind can build a shrine.
To build a pyramid, a god-king (adult dragon or older) must be present, and must have with them a priest and a general (almost always a yuan-ti and a dragonborn, respectively) and enough slaves or servants to accomplish the manual labor involved. The first sacrifices of any such pyramid are the slaves or servants that built the dark side.

Observance

The erection of a pyramid is a mark of a full Draconic Scalykind society. It means that a dragon has made a permanent residence, that a priest and a general are in attendance, and that they have marked out their borders and are planning to stay.