The Crowned One, born Nirah (pronounced NIH-rah), is a messianic figure worshiped as a living god by his small following in Kintaka and Vua Ran. The sovereign dragon claims to be not the next appearance of the Eternal Suzerain, as have many others in the centuries after the emperor died, but rather the first incarnation of a new draconic god.
History
For a dragon of his age, remarkably little is known about the Crowned One prior to when he started claiming divinity. Two things are certain, however - he was once named Nirah, and he did not hold any position within the dragon-courts of Vua Ran. In Y9755* the dragon first appeared in the Kintakan city of Rahaden, quickly rising within the city's social life to become a charismatic and influential civic leader. Around this time shrines to the dragon began to appear in Rahaden and with them small cults. Nirah's civic guidance morphed into religious instruction in a slow and natural way, in many senses mirroring the same rhetoric employed by the Eternal Suzerain in directing the many projects undertaken by the Sangiran Empire - in the words of the dragon, to labor together is to bring prosperity, and to bring prosperity is to sing to the heavens. And prosperity he brought, transforming Rahaden into a strong and wealthy city and its people into content followers who wanted for little.
By the later years of the ninety ninth century Nirah had not only become the central pillar of social, political, and religious life in Rahaden, but had also spread his influence into the surrounding countryside. Now calling himself the Crowned One, the living god solidified his claim to divinity by drawing a direct connection from himself to the Suzerain. But he did not declare himself to be the emperor reborn as have others. Rather, he announced to his followers that he was a new deity come to guide them to bring a new era out of the shadows of the old.
Beliefs and followers
The Crowned One teaches many things. He addresses his faithful regularly from his temple in Rahaden, frequently holding speeches full of lessons and edicts that do not end for days. Priests of the dragon god dutifully transcribe his oration, copying their accounts by hand to spread amongst his followers. Duty, work, and the obligation one holds to the future are the concepts to which the Crowned One returns most often. This guidance can be vague sometimes, or take the form of parables, but just as often it is direct and detailed. The Crowned One regularly provides detailed instructions on farms to be built, canals to be dug, and walls to be raised, tasks which his followers embark on with great enthusiasm. These undertakings may bear fruit immediately or not for a hundred years - either way, the Crowned One's true believers know that under the dragon's guidance they will succeed.
Symbolism of the Crowned One is common in the cities, towns, and villages in which he is worshiped. His priests and faithful hang banners with his scale pattern on the outside of their homes, across the streets, and from flag poles. In some settlements, life-sized statues of the dragon look down upon the community from high vantage points, always observing his worshipers at work.
Despite forming a religion around himself, the Crowned One is adamant that those of all beliefs are to be accepted by his followers as equals. His faith is one of action and he cares not for tensions with those of spirit. Many times, in fact, the Crowned One has summoned the priests, oracles, and speakers of other religions to his temple to engage in discussions for mutual support.
Both the pacifistic monarchs of Kintaka and the dragon-judges of Vua Ran view the Crowned One's growing influence with increasing alarm. Many are concerned he seeks to establish a new realm of his own or perhaps even reunite the empire. Those who worship him, meanwhile, fervently desire that he do so, seeing in the dragon the unity and shared purpose they once had under the Eternal Suzerain. The Divine Inheritors, meanwhile, have denounced the god as a false pretender who mocks the achievements and inevitable return of the Suzerain.
So far the Crowned One has been careful to limit his direct activities to within Kintaka, out of the reach of the laws of the dragon-courts, though many of his followers live within Vua Ran. Kintaka has so far left the new faith and god alone.