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History of Ashtar and its People: Faith of the Everglow

    In the days of early Xorem, three thousand years before the First Elenthriel War, Dragons still roamed Ashtar’s face.

            Out of all the lands in ancient Ashtar, the lands of Xorem were the most densely populated by these glorious soaring creatures. They had kingdoms and kings, same as men, and they had desires and greed, same as men. In those times, men were superstitious and few. Dragons looked down upon them and often took pleasure in tormenting them or simply plucking away their livestock for their own sustenance. They had magic and knowledge greater than any human could wish for. Should one manage to earn a dragon’s trust, they must never betray it. One man foolishly did, and his greed scarred the land.

            In a small, unknown town, farmers had made a deal with a dragon, that it would live on their farmlands and be worshipped as a god to the local peasantry, in exchange for protection of their crops and livestock. This dragon lived for decades, growing less and less satisfied with their agreed terms the older, larger, and hungrier it grew. Still, it kept its terms, as it was common knowledge that Dragonkind kept promises close to heart, and the noblest of dragons would rather lose a horn than break a promise it could keep. The peasants, after all, had been upright in their offerings, bringing it their fattest and most bountiful livestock and harvest every fortnight, never scrimping, and never breaking their end of the oath… so far.

            One day, a farmer with an ill child and failing harvests did the unthinkable. He stole from the dragon’s offerings to feed his family. The dragon’s wrath upon finding an empty altar was severe, and it devoured livestock to its heart’s content, the promise having been broken. Because of this, the peasants called a dragonslayer to rid them of the beast. The dragonslayer failed in his task, and this attempt to kill it enraged the dragon further. It began attacking and killing the men, women, and children as well. They turned their supplications to a local spirit. Normally, spirits of pure Syphir did not bother with businesses of mortals or dragons, but he took pity on them and answered their pleas. The spirit went to the dragon and struck it down in one blow, tearing its wings off. He did not kill it, but laid it to a deep slumber.

            The spirit was venerated as the new patron god of the farming town. He took on the mantle of “Ramatirami”, the deity of the Everglow, fittingly after his luminous appearance when he appeared before their eyes. The dragon’s wings, strangely never rotting, were nailed upon the town hall’s entrance a trophy. Years passed, and almost everyone who had seen the dragon with their own eyes passed to usher in a new generation, but the tale of the Everglow spread, inspiring a religion to sprout up in many distant reaches of Xorem, up until the Great River. Despite not being a true God spirit, nor even High Spirit or Djinn, Ramatirami was worshipped as one, and he taught the mortals many lessons in agriculture, writing and speech systems, and metallurgy.

            Eventually, the dragon awoke to find its wings torn off. It crawled all the way to the far aeries of East Xorem, to plea before the Dragon King for vengeance. The Dragon King, seeing one of his own humiliated as such by mere humans, waged war against humanity.

    But humanity had learned to unite. The many tribes of Xorem now spoke one tongue, and fought as one army. With the aid of Ramatirami's kind, the Lesser and Higher Spirits, they fought back the dragons and pierced their scales with steel, trapped them in Xorem’s mountainous landscapes with code and cunning, and picked them off one by one with giant machinations of dragonslaying. All of them worshipped under the banner of the Eight-rayed Halo of Ramatirami, who had seemingly ascended to the heavens to watch above them all. The syphir spirit never passed spiritkind’s average lifespan of three centuries before decomposing into mindless energy, but his teachings and visage remained amongst the men who now prayed to him as a god.

    The army of Xorem marched against the Dragon King, holding their banners up high. In a final desperate attempt, the Dragon King, as tall as a mountain, struck the land of northern Xorem, tearing it asunder and sending it into the ocean. Evidence of its strength can be seen in any map of Xorem today in the form of the Avalon island chains, and that was when the Dragon King fell. Three stakes of Adamantine-laced steel the size of warships were driven through its heart, and as it erupted in flames, so did the Age of Dragons in Xorem. The knowledge of the arcane and the histories of Dragonkind inscribed within the depths of their mountain kingdom fell to ruin and were lost to time, as no human, even with the aid of spirits, could read dragon tongue.

    Nowadays, the Xoremi people are staunch believers of the Faith of the Everglow, and most are xenophobic towards all manner of sorcery besides their own holy Miracles of Evershine. Xorem became a land of Spirits and Fae miracles. In some areas, the Everglow has become a state-mandated religion for all born within Xoremi nationality, and in others, magic is outlawed. As a response, the Ancient School of Magic, Avalis Escholaria, tore their school from the Avalon islands, and sent it hovering into the sky. After all, the laws of the land do not matter when the school is not on the land. Nowhere in Xoremi law are different religions outlawed, but the people scoff at them anyway.

    Just Xorem’s luck to have established their kingdom next to the continent of Mecusor, the future greatest melting pot of magical diversity in the southwest.

_________________________________________________________________________

Fuck RWBY World of Remnant style, BlazBlue Continuum Shift prologue is my lore artstyle now.
I should make a redo of my Map of Ashtar. It's been a while and the lore's pretty inconsistent now.

Commissions available over here: [LINK]

Description

History of Ashtar and its People: Faith of the Everglow

    In the days of early Xorem, three thousand years before the First Elenthriel War, Dragons still roamed Ashtar’s face.

            Out of all the lands in ancient Ashtar, the lands of Xorem were the most densely populated by these glorious soaring creatures. They had kingdoms and kings, same as men, and they had desires and greed, same as men. In those times, men were superstitious and few. Dragons looked down upon them and often took pleasure in tormenting them or simply plucking away their livestock for their own sustenance. They had magic and knowledge greater than any human could wish for. Should one manage to earn a dragon’s trust, they must never betray it. One man foolishly did, and his greed scarred the land.

            In a small, unknown town, farmers had made a deal with a dragon, that it would live on their farmlands and be worshipped as a god to the local peasantry, in exchange for protection of their crops and livestock. This dragon lived for decades, growing less and less satisfied with their agreed terms the older, larger, and hungrier it grew. Still, it kept its terms, as it was common knowledge that Dragonkind kept promises close to heart, and the noblest of dragons would rather lose a horn than break a promise it could keep. The peasants, after all, had been upright in their offerings, bringing it their fattest and most bountiful livestock and harvest every fortnight, never scrimping, and never breaking their end of the oath… so far.

            One day, a farmer with an ill child and failing harvests did the unthinkable. He stole from the dragon’s offerings to feed his family. The dragon’s wrath upon finding an empty altar was severe, and it devoured livestock to its heart’s content, the promise having been broken. Because of this, the peasants called a dragonslayer to rid them of the beast. The dragonslayer failed in his task, and this attempt to kill it enraged the dragon further. It began attacking and killing the men, women, and children as well. They turned their supplications to a local spirit. Normally, spirits of pure Syphir did not bother with businesses of mortals or dragons, but he took pity on them and answered their pleas. The spirit went to the dragon and struck it down in one blow, tearing its wings off. He did not kill it, but laid it to a deep slumber.

            The spirit was venerated as the new patron god of the farming town. He took on the mantle of “Ramatirami”, the deity of the Everglow, fittingly after his luminous appearance when he appeared before their eyes. The dragon’s wings, strangely never rotting, were nailed upon the town hall’s entrance a trophy. Years passed, and almost everyone who had seen the dragon with their own eyes passed to usher in a new generation, but the tale of the Everglow spread, inspiring a religion to sprout up in many distant reaches of Xorem, up until the Great River. Despite not being a true God spirit, nor even High Spirit or Djinn, Ramatirami was worshipped as one, and he taught the mortals many lessons in agriculture, writing and speech systems, and metallurgy.

            Eventually, the dragon awoke to find its wings torn off. It crawled all the way to the far aeries of East Xorem, to plea before the Dragon King for vengeance. The Dragon King, seeing one of his own humiliated as such by mere humans, waged war against humanity.

    But humanity had learned to unite. The many tribes of Xorem now spoke one tongue, and fought as one army. With the aid of Ramatirami's kind, the Lesser and Higher Spirits, they fought back the dragons and pierced their scales with steel, trapped them in Xorem’s mountainous landscapes with code and cunning, and picked them off one by one with giant machinations of dragonslaying. All of them worshipped under the banner of the Eight-rayed Halo of Ramatirami, who had seemingly ascended to the heavens to watch above them all. The syphir spirit never passed spiritkind’s average lifespan of three centuries before decomposing into mindless energy, but his teachings and visage remained amongst the men who now prayed to him as a god.

    The army of Xorem marched against the Dragon King, holding their banners up high. In a final desperate attempt, the Dragon King, as tall as a mountain, struck the land of northern Xorem, tearing it asunder and sending it into the ocean. Evidence of its strength can be seen in any map of Xorem today in the form of the Avalon island chains, and that was when the Dragon King fell. Three stakes of Adamantine-laced steel the size of warships were driven through its heart, and as it erupted in flames, so did the Age of Dragons in Xorem. The knowledge of the arcane and the histories of Dragonkind inscribed within the depths of their mountain kingdom fell to ruin and were lost to time, as no human, even with the aid of spirits, could read dragon tongue.

    Nowadays, the Xoremi people are staunch believers of the Faith of the Everglow, and most are xenophobic towards all manner of sorcery besides their own holy Miracles of Evershine. Xorem became a land of Spirits and Fae miracles. In some areas, the Everglow has become a state-mandated religion for all born within Xoremi nationality, and in others, magic is outlawed. As a response, the Ancient School of Magic, Avalis Escholaria, tore their school from the Avalon islands, and sent it hovering into the sky. After all, the laws of the land do not matter when the school is not on the land. Nowhere in Xoremi law are different religions outlawed, but the people scoff at them anyway.

    Just Xorem’s luck to have established their kingdom next to the continent of Mecusor, the future greatest melting pot of magical diversity in the southwest.

_________________________________________________________________________

Fuck RWBY World of Remnant style, BlazBlue Continuum Shift prologue is my lore artstyle now.
I should make a redo of my Map of Ashtar. It's been a while and the lore's pretty inconsistent now.

Commissions available over here: [LINK]