Order of Alzar'agnatus

The Order of Alzar'agnatus, or just Alzar'agnatus, was the national religion of Alzaria and remains the prominent religion in the current city of Alzaria, located in Sylvania.

The religion is heavily tied to the history of Alzaria, with the city being the main holy site for prayer and rituals. The faith focuses on the worship of the great Alzar - the incarnation of light itself, who came down to the mortal plane and founded Alzaria - as well as Alzar's kin known as The Elder Dragons.

The name comes from the phrase "Alzar et agnatus" which translates to "Alzar and his relatives". This shows both the importance of Alzar and how he has become the main focus and figurehead of the religion, but also that there is more to the faith than just him.

Omnia
Omnia refers to the consciousness that embodies all of existence. In fact, the name "Omnia" directly translates to the word "all". It is said, at the beginning of everything, when there was only Absence, the lack of anything created infinite Potential - all that could be, and all that would be. This intense force of endless possibility was so powerful that it became aware of itself, and thus this created the mind of Omnia.

Omnia was born with the innate desire to create. This desire led them to unleash the infinite potentials that lay within them upon the universe, which at the time was just a void. They watched as all that energy condensed into matter, and monitored its evolution into stars and galaxies. Since everything originates from Omnia, people often refer to them as the creator and the universe itself interchangeably.

The Ur-Dragon is the name given to Omnia's physical form, which takes the shape of a colossal dragon. The Ur-Dragon exists in the physical world and has the strength to contain a powerful consciousness, such as Omnia. In fact, the purpose of The Ur-Dragon is to be a vessel that accommodates Omnia's mind, providing a means for them to exist in space and time, and interact with the physical world at the same level of existence. The Ur-Dragon is the progenitor to all of dragon kind, starting with their direct descendants, The Elder Dragons, which then in turn create the race of mortal dragons, of which humans are more familiar with.

When Omnia does not take the form of The Ur-Dragon, they exist in a higher plane, somewhere outside of the cosmos, where they observe all of space and time simultaneously.

Elder Dragons
One of Omnia's early creations was their children - The Elder Dragons. Though they are smaller in scale to The Ur-Dragon, The Elder Dragons remain the next mightiest beings in existence, with each of them having contributed to the creation of our world, and controlling a key aspect of the universe through possessing a portion of Omnia's divine essence.

Atyra
Perhaps the most influential of The Elder Dragons is Atyra - The Emerald Wyvern. She played an important role in ending The Great Dragon War, though she was not aware of it at the time. Atyra and The Ur-Dragon were the only few dragons that resisted the call to fight one another during the horrendous battle. Over time, their mutual agreement not to fight brought the two gods closer, as they protected each other from the other hostile dragons that sought to invade their peace. Their relationship grew stronger and stronger and their optimism remained undying, eventually manifesting into the aspects of Love and Hope. During this time, The Ur-Dragon gifted Atyra their own personal realm which consisted of an infinite forest under perpetual night, in hopes that it would keep her safe from the chaos that ensued. Atyra would remain here for the rest of the war, while The Ur-Dragon periodically altered between visiting her and attempting to alleviate the conflict. Eventually, the love and hope that bonded these two deities formed into a force known as The Light of Sol, which was thus followed by the birth of Sol himself - a being of pure light, that would later be known as Alzar. Much like how Omnia spontaneously came into existence, originating from the aspect of Potential, so too did Sol, who spontaneously came into being from the shared love and hope between Atyra and The Ur-Dragon. Sol would then go on to cleanse the rest of the brawling dragons of the Darkness that had been driving this barbaric war for millennia, finally ending it by uniting The Elder Dragons under a common cause - the construction of the world.

During the creation of the world, Atyra's most notable contribution was populating the lands with an abundance of different plant and tree species, which is said to have been inspired by the forest realm that was given to her by The Ur-Dragon. She would go on to become closely connected with nature, admiring its beauty and serenity, with some believing her to be Mother Nature itself.

The flag of Alzaria features Atyra surrounded by a dark navy background, representing her forest of eternal night. Some might wonder why the flag does not include Alzar instead, since he founded the city. The reasoning for this is that Alzar wanted the flag to feature something important to him, as well as his people, that wasn't himself, to show that Alzaria]] stands for more than just Alzar.

The original design is still incorporated in today's flag of Alzaria, with the addition of Sylvania's signature purple and a lower white portion to represent the Light of Sol.

The Not-there and The Hidden
At the beginning of everything, there was only Absence. A void without size that prolonged for eternities. No here, no there. No start, no end. No is, no was. Nothing.

Yet the lack of existence ironically caused an entirely new concept to be created. The fact that there was nothing gave rise to an unimaginable amount of boundless, infinite Potential - the idea that things could be. The moment Potential became actualised into the universe, the twin concepts were able to be defined as the adverse of the other. Thus the two concepts existed, and having now fabricated existence, the void was no longer empty.

Eternity was henceforth an idea made up of two parts: The Is-not and The Could-be, The Not-there and The Hidden, Absence and Potential.

Hiatum
Potential was a powerful force - all that ever could, and all that ever would. Countless incomplete ideas danced around in the blackness of the abyss, their presence so potent in the endless void. So vigorous and so determined to be born; to become free. The power was so strong that even the concept of Potential itself began to form its own awareness and sense of identity. Eventually, an entity, with a consciousness representing eternity, was formed. This was Omnia, who's name directly translates to "all".

Omnia was determined to create; to manifest the infinite potentials that swam around in their mind and fill the universe around them. This great ambition began as Omnia released the unbridled power from within their very being, letting loose the endless potentials of what could be and what would be. The abundance of energy condensed into tiny packets, later named Matter. Omnia watched as various particles and atoms formed - the building blocks of creation. Over thousands of years, Omnia gazed upon the evolution of Matter, rarely interfering and mostly allowing Matter to find its own way, until it formed into a beautiful sea of wispy nebulae, populated by various young stars. In modern times, this place would become known as Hiatum - the gap between worlds.

The Birth of Dragons
There came a time when Omnia desired a form for themself, to exist amongst the wonders of Hiatum at the same level of existence. And so, Omnia began to descend from their plane of omnipotence, as their abstract consciousness started to manifest into the physical world. Their mind was so vast that a powerful form was needed to accommodate it. Matter from across the universe began collecting and assembling into a body of inordinate magnitude that towered over the early proto-stars of the universe. All across its surface, hundreds of gleaming scales, representing endurance and immortality, reflected the light of the stars that surrounded. Atop its broad neck stood a great skull with mighty jaws, representing power and strength, as the back of its throat expelled a turbulent ball of fire between its teeth. Extraordinary wings, representing freedom and grace, rose from its back, enveloping the universe with divine affection. This was Omnia's physical form - the first of the dragons, the embodiment of the universe, a being whose mind held eternity. In the holy texts of Alzar'agnatus, the ancient monks named it The Ur-Dragon.

Upon entering the physical world, the Ur-Dragon stared in wonder at the sight of their creation. They could see the early beginnings of Hiatum all from a single point of view. This feeling of limited perspective was so fascinating to this powerful deity, and the Ur-Dragon could feel the touch of cosmic clouds against their wings as they flew through the vast nebulae that surpassed even them in size. But soon this wasn’t enough to satisfy the great Omnia. As beautiful as it was, Hiatum still felt barren and lifeless, with Omnia as the only conscious being to explore it. They had no one else to experience this gleeful existence with. They were alone.

Eventually, this loneliness inspired Omnia to create their own form of consciousness. In fact, Omnia decided to pull not one but hundreds of small fragments from the infinite well of divinity that existed in their mind. The Ur-Dragon combined these fragments with the matter from around them, sculpting them with their claws into bodies of various shapes and sizes. These figures slowly began to form consciousness, as their bodies finished forming autonomously. Their forms resembled that of the Ur-Dragon, though much smaller in scale. These were The Elder Dragons. As the dragons came to awareness, they glanced around the reality they found themselves in, before staring at the Ur-Dragon. Almost instantaneously, they recognised the Ur-Dragon as a figure bearing authority and stood there meekly, awaiting the words of their creator. The Ur-Dragon welcomed their children gracefully, explaining that they had gifted them with the joy of existence.

Darkness Emerges
At first, dragonkind was full of peace, with each of them exploring the world as Omnia did, marvelling in the beauty of Hiatum. Yet existence for the Elder Dragons quickly grew empty and stale, with a great lack of inspiration. The Ur-Dragon saw this and sensed it was time for them to enact their vision of collaboration. They gathered a large number of the Elder Dragons for a great speech and disclosed their great ambition upon them, hoping to inspire their kin to aid them in their pursuit of creation. However, during this speech, some distance away from the Ur-Dragon’s audience, two dragons seemed to discover a different kind of inspiration. These dragons were becoming increasingly aware of the harsh power that lay within each of the Elder Dragons, breathing fire and slashing claws at each other, as they uncovered new abilities. They were eager to explore these new found feelings of strength and vigour, simply curious of everything existence had to offer them, even that which sparked chaos…

It was here that a great calamity began to brew, as one of the dragons decided to let loose a barrage of flaming inferno from their jaws, directed precisely at another unsuspecting dragon in the distance. The unlucky target lurched forward, letting out an intense roar. Upon hearing this sound that none had ever heard before, the other dragons turned away from Omnia’s speech to face the victim. Each dragon felt a cold shiver rush through their body, and a great darkness seemed to loom over the world, as if all the light from the stars had dimmed. A new aspect had been born into the world - it was Pain. Noticing his children’s attention had shifted, the Ur-Dragon stopped their speech and approached the escalating situation. The wounded dragon rose and turned to face his attacker, as the dragons felt yet another eerie shiver come over them. The aspect of Anger had manifested into being. The dragon beat its wings hard, their eyes now filled with rage, as it propelled itself forward, opening its mouth wide to let out another roar. Hearing this thundering voice, the other dragon found itself frozen in place, only able to stare into the raging yellow eyes that were headed for him. Another cold shudder made its way around the Elder Dragons of creation, as the aspect of Fear forced its way into reality. Seconds after, the dragon began to panic. But before it could let out a cry of fear, their throat was grappled by the jaws of their aggressor, muffling their cry and preventing them from breathing. One large jerk of the neck was all it took for the enraged dragon to rip the head of their enemy from their shoulders. A fourth tremble of darkness shot through the children of the Ur-Dragon, as the aspect of Death revealed itself to the world. Each limb of the carcass went limp, as the lifeless body and dismembered skull, belonging to the Dragon of Fear and Death, drifted apart in the void.

Beside the corpse, the ally of the fallen dragon stared in awe. As she felt the soul of their acquaintance wither and cease, the realisation that they would never return began to settle in. This was followed by another disturbance in the fabric of reality, which she shared with the rest of the dragons watching the event unfold. The aspect of Sorrow had bled its way into reality. Moments later, this grief evolved, as the mourning dragon set her rageful eyes on the Dragon of Pain and Anger that had slaughtered her beloved companion. This was not merely rage that she felt however, for this feeling of animosity was so potent that it would surely endure for millenia. No, this was the aspect of Hatred emerging into being, causing the sixth and final quiver of unease to shake the hearts of dragonkind. A few observing bystanders came forward, following behind The Dragon of Sorrow and Hatred as she charged towards her defiler. The battle now consisted of four ruthless dragons, but it didn’t stop there. The hostility only grew as more dragons were antagonised and caught in the crossfire. The aspects of Pain, Anger, Fear, Death, Sorrow and Hatred, united under the aspect of Darkness, spread across to the ends of Hiatum, clouding the mind of almost every Elder Dragon. Having felt these six new concepts come into existence, the dragons turned away from the wisdom of the Ur-Dragon, their interests now fixated on the new sensations and experiences achieved through suffering and conflict. The Ur-Dragon watched as their children gave in to the Darkness, fighting one another, feeling pride in their strength, and lacking any kind of remorse. The Ur-Dragon could have destroyed them, but they still possessed a sliver of hope that the fighting would end, thus preventing them from seeing their children wiped out while that hope still remained. And thus began The Great Dragon War of Hiatum, which lasted for what felt like an eternity…