The King of the Animals [WASC2020]

In the country of true Linea's the worship espoused by the followers of the five dragons is the primary cultural religion of the worshipers. Prior to the establishment of this faith, the worship of animals and their spirits was prevalent across the country of saga dorm. Each country had their own animal special to them based on the elemental powers that were discovered or emphasized in their countries.
It wasn't until the establishment of the nearly global religion that those who worshiped the animals sought to unify under a single banner. This became the animal lists. As the worship of animals was greatly discouraged by the fairies and those who were in power, the animal lists worshiped in secret. They went so far as to take the jewelry and the iconography of the followers of the five dragons and adapted it to their own purposes. This allowed them to, on the outside, appear to be devout followers of the dragons but secretly worship the animals. This was accomplished by rearranging the beads that they wore and also pictures that they hung in their home.
The king of the animals was the leader of the animalistic movement. This title was passed from generation to generation. During the life of Sable the peaceful, the king of the animals was a shopkeeper in the outskirts of true Linea's. He also functioned as a craftsman who specialized in selling modified religious iconography of the five dragons to those who worshiped the animals. His crafts were sought out by analysts and thus he became a central communication hub for all those wanting to keep this faith living.
Due to his influence, the animal lists were able to grow in numbers because they no longer feared being outed by the followers of the five dragons. Those who were disaffected or disenchanted by the teachings of the five dragons could find solace in animal worship. Since true Linea's was the melting pot of all countries of saga dorm, there were peoples who worshiped all 16 of the different animals. It was thus the king of the animals that brought a harmony to the disparate worships of animals into a more cohesive worship that removed overlapping deity traits.
The king of the animals also promoted a rejection of magic. This is because of the tightly integrated nature of fairies, their magic, and Dragon worship. After the great decimation of 1123 CE, the animal king of that era was able to organize the animal lists of true Linea's to be able to recover more quickly than their formerly fairy counterparts. They were able to continue on with health and vigor, that the former fairies could not due to the wasting.
Many of the animal lists saw the wasting as retribution against the fairies for their oppression of the animalistic for the previous millennium. While the worship of the five dragons remained, the worship of the 16 animals of the different countries saw a great resurgence. 1/3 movement of anti-religionists also started at this time as they felt that the great decimation was a sign that all of the gods Dragon or animal, had abandoned humans. They felt that it was left to them to be able to determine their destinies without a deity to guide them.
The king of the animals, is a closely guarded secret known to but a few. He as a shopkeeper was known to be an animalistic but very few of those who worshiped animals truly understood with whom they were conducting their business. He portrayed himself as a fellow faithful analyst who only sought to serve all of the different sects of animal lists. Only the leaders of the 16 sects new his true identity and what he did for the movement.
A new animal king was selected from the leaders of the animalistic counsel. And the new King of the animals is replaced by a high priest or priestess of that sect to fill the void.