Krayhan

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Krayhan atop his eyrie
"In the beginning, we were beasts until Krayhan flew from the heavens. When atop that mountain he roared, He took off to the skies and soared. Heard his loud call we did, and thus his faithful word we spread."
―From the hymnal Story of Rauch

Krayhan is the chief deity of the religion of Jamzezism, an ancient religion that originated on the planet Ucharpli. Krayhan is usually depicted as a sapphire giant, featherless Yoltox that soars through the heavens to bring knowledge and wisdom to all. Krayhan is also worshiped as the guardian of the afterlife, looking after warriors who die honorably in battle until the end of times. In some older versions of Jamzezism, Krayhan also takes the place of a four-armed Vaikan with the face of a dragon.

He is associated with the elements of water and air and is depicted as a graceful flying dragon. He represents the virtues of wisdom and free thought. In musical scores, Krayhan is represented by horns and string instruments. The song would have a serene yet strong melody.

According to Vaikan mythos, when the Vaikan lived in a plane known as the Garden, Krayhan appeared from the heavens and perched atop a tall mountain, gazing upon the Vaikan. Realizing that they had much more potential, Krayhan bestowed a roar of wisdom and promptly took off into horizon as the sun began rising. Moments later, the Vaikan heeded that wisdom and gained intelligence which would eventually propagate civilization over the course of the next many thousand years. Of course, they had to leave the Garden for obtaining such knowledge and were forced to live on Ucharpli, a world with monsters.

Personality

Krayhan, despite his fearsome appearance, is depicted as wise and benevolent. When he speaks to mortals, he frequently answers questions with questions, teaching that the answer within an individual is truly within themselves.

It is said Krayhan prefers to play by just rules and laws. When Krayhan is in combat, he takes the form of what is fair for his opponent. Against a single, bipedal opponent, he becomes a heavily armored knight with a sword and shield. Against large creatures, he takes the shape of a fire-breathing dragon with two legs and two wings. In this form, he highly resembles the legendary Garmatox, hence why such creatures are revered in Vaikan culture.

History

Mythical origins

Imagery of Krayhan appears all throughout ancient Ucharpli, and he has been associated with multiple, sometimes conflicting origin stories. According to older scriptures of the Book of Krayhan, it is said that both Krayhan and his brother Morduin originated from another plane in the distant past. Their opposing views lead to a civil war between all the spirits of order and chaos. With their powerful magicks, the two obliterated one another and destroyed their bodies, but their souls persisted.

A passage from Khathic mythology tells that Morduin and Krayhan wandered among the cosmos in the nexus between worlds until they found another Levenslang's world created by a god named Levenslang. In the presence of another powerful god, Krayhan and Morduin were able to form a truce. Levenslang, fascinated by Morduin and Krayhan's ideas, became inspired to create a new breed of dragons known as Yoltox, but was dissatisfied with them for how destructive they were, and thus, he locked them away in ice. However, Morduin felt betrayed by this action, and his bond with Krayhan shattered completely. No longer did Morduin embody chaos, but now destruction leaving Krayhan to take on the burden of becoming the aspect of true balance. In his rage, he caused the destruction god Vernietigen to devour the plane that Levenslang created.

Krayhan, grieving over the betrayal of his brother, Krayhan chose to collect himself on the planet Ucharpli. Krayhan was originally the aspect of order just as Morduin was chaos, but overtime, he took on the role of balance for himself. With a roar of wisdom, he taught the Vaikan self-control and discipline of the mind.

Morduin's vengeance was not satiated. He wished to wreak havoc once more and this time, he unleashed his other brothers locked away in the ice prison unto the world of Ucharpli, inhabited by the Vaikan. Many great wars would follow, but Morduin was eventually driven away by the hero Burwof. As a result, Morduin went into hiding and Krayhan himself did much of the same.

Uszaroth

Inspired by the tales of Morduin's actions, a Mavetian named Uszaroth sought to propagate chaos to the Vaikan and begun spreading his own teachings, resulting in the Uszaroth War. Though Uszaroth is known to be a real entity, the events surrounding his actions were heavy mythologized. The Vaikan believed that Uszaroth was once Krayhan's personal servant until he betrayed him. Not wanting to see the Vaikan meet an untimely destruction, Krayhan interfered and imprisoned Uszaroth inside the planet Alk'charis for thousands of years. Modern scientists believe that Uszaroth's banishment was likely the work of the Tokarthi attempting to stop Uszaroth from interfering with primitive Vaikan culture any further.