Holy Cross of Dralia

Summary

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"The holy cross protects, informs, and nurtures the devout followers, and thus it should belong to them."

— Pope Benjamin Prala

The holy cross of Dralia is a large 10-foot tall wood encased cross that is displayed at the palace of the Royal Seal of Dralia. The cross itself is made out of the fine Zuhellion metal, meaning it has quite a menacing look as the orange-infused liquid seems to be flowing inside of the metal itself.

The cross itself is part of the Dralia family, who are the religious and political, leaders of the Royal Seal of Dralia. They use the cross as an object of all-knowing truth and it is the main symbol of the country, inspiring its citizens to live by the standards the Dralia family has set for everyone.

Folklore

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"The cross will protect me as I ask for forgiveness in these last moments."

— A peasant before being struck down by a rogue bandit leader.

In modern folklore, a lot of things are said about the holy cross, mainly aimed at reinforcing the lore around its capability to accurately predict the future, heal any 'deserving' man or woman, and show guidance to those who ask for it.

Regardless of whether or not these things are true, there are a few stories that have been recorded in history and presumed true, which are summarized below;

The guidance of a leader.

One of such stories is that of Benjamin Prala. Born on a farm near the border of the Royal Seal of Dralia young Benjamin did not have much planned for life besides taking over from his parents when they got too old or sick to continue the physically intense farm work, but that all changed when a beaten up man in dirty red robes came stumbling up the path leading to his families farm.

The beaten-up man turned out to be a travelling priest who came from the royal palace of Dralia in order to find those who could use a helping hand in life. However, as fate has twisted, it turned out the priest himself needed a helping hand as his travelling caravan was robbed on a forest trail not far from the family farm. Benjamin's parents decided to help the priest by tending to his wounds and providing him with shelter and food to get back to his full strength. The priest was so grateful for this show of faith he decided to gift the family with the Dralia cross that was hanging around his neck, saying it would help them find guidance during the hard times. The priest was then on his way back to the royal palace.

As the family went on with their business, they first dismissed the small cross on a chain to have any special divine powers. During one particularly harsh winter, the family was having a hard time keeping themselves warm in their rather basic home, and as the firewood started to run out, the desperation started setting in. Out of sheer panic, the family decided to pray using the cross pendant and nothing happened in the moment.

The family quickly huddled up together to try and keep each other warm, with Benjamin holding the small cross in his hands constantly wishing for warmth for his family to merely make it through the winter until his eyes shut and he went to sleep. As the morning sun rolled around and the family woke up they noticed their fireplace was happily crackling with fresh firewood, warming up the room around them. Next to the fireplace was a large stack of freshly cut firewood, which would last them well into the spring if they used it somewhat conservatively.

The family was absolutely stunned and searched the farmhouse and its surroundings for any person that did them this favour, but upon walking outside looking at the snow blanket, there were no steps anywhere of any horse nor man. From that moment Benjamin never went anywhere without the cross, using it as its personal mentor, taking up reading in the process. He even went as far as spreading the word amongst the people living in the closest town about the power of the cross of Dralia.

As his life went on chances to help others out came along frequently and upon being successful, Benjamin felt like he was being rewarded by the cross with new opportunities at achieving his new life goal; Becoming the pope of Dralia, spreading the word far and wide, converting the masses to follow his positive and supportive approach to life.

Now that he has achieved his goal, Benjamin looks back to the time he first received the cross pendant, unsure of how so much power can be held within such a small item. Or perhaps it was the illusion of power that brought out his good side.

The siege of the cross

Another story is about the large cross itself. Shortly after the royal family had acquired the large cross from their royal blacksmith, Fredrik Smithwonder, there was a period of restlessness in the country. A few harvests had failed back to back causing a food shortage that was disproportionately affecting the poorer citizens. On top of this, the royal family had recently insulted the neighbouring chiefdoms and republics due to their unwillingness to join the Royal Seal of Dralia, which now resulted in the royal family getting no help with their food shortage problem.

All of these issues together caused a large part of the population to turn their physical hunger into an emotional hunger for a change in power. The neighbouring chiefdoms and republics saw their chance to turn the tables into their favour and started clothing, feeding, and weaponizing the masses.

This built up the confidence of the masses up to the point that they started marching towards the capital, where the royal palace was located. They stormed the palace, taking no prisoners, looking for the royal family who they wanted to bring to justice. As the palace was searched, word got out that the family was hiding in the church section of the palace, which was also where the Holy Cross of Dralia was located.

The angry mob flocked to the church where they burst through the doors, to find the royal family standing in front of the cross with their scared faces turned to the door. Before the mob could attack and ultimately kill the entire family, the leader of the mob, Peter Goatherder, a simple farmer, and severe sceptic towards religion, from the south of the country, saw the irony of the situation and decided to let faith decide.

In front of the large angry mob, he proposed that if the newly acquired holy cross of Dralia was really so powerful, the cross should decide who was in the right and who was in the wrong, which would ultimately decide who the cross, and thus the religion, was faithful to; Its natural leaders or the people.

A moment of silence went by and as somehow ordained by a god unknown to anyone present at the siege, the cross slightly moved, first not noticeable to the naked eye, but then the first people started noticing it. As more started to point to the cross tilting back and form in its place, the royal family turned around to witness it for themselves, and as they did, the cross tilted forward more than it had before, toppling of its pedal stool right on top of all 5 members of the royal family, crushing them and burning them to a crisp due to the Zuhellion material that was used for the inside of the cross.

The mob considered this a direct sign of a god that they were in the right, but most importantly, that their leader, Peter Goathorder, was the newly appointed person in charge of connecting the people with their god. The mob lifted Peter and the cross out of the palace, leaving it to never return, instead building a new palace on the other side of the country and installing Peter Goatherder as their first appointed Pope of the Dralia faith.

Perhaps a gust of wind came in through the broken windows that were caused by the attack of the mob, which then caused the cross to topple of its pedal stool, or maybe it was a divine finger tipping the cross of its pedal stool in a similar fashion as tipping fate into a perfect balance once more.