The Sea Dragon cult

A generous god

They think they've seen the Sea Dragon's hoard

— an idiom to indicate a know it all

Since the dawn of time, the Dragons shared a special link with the Svajan Sea, being it one of the favourite sources of food for the powerful creatures and of sand and salted water to help with their seasonal shedding of their outer layer of skin.
Some of them used it also as a source of treasures for their instinctive collecting tendencies, plundering both wrecked and not wrecked (yet) ships in the lookout for new shinies. In the course of the years the seemingly endless supply of treasures that the sea provides gave birth to the cult of what Makarids, Dragons and some humans call the Sea Dragon.
According to the legends of this cult, in the depths of the sea lies a giant dragon whose hoard is of immesurable vastity and encompasses every beautiful and interesting thing that the humans or the dragons lineage ever created or discovered.

An ever curious cult

This is it! This is my gift for the Sea Dragon

— a excited artist in front of their last creation

The accolites of this cult believe that in the afterlife the worthy worshippers would be able to share the knowledge of the Sea Dragon, being able to roam free and peruse the full extent of its collection.
The surest way to gain the favour of the Sea Dragon is to create or discover something useful or interesting and gift a sample of it to the sea. Many dragons and Makarids, thus, dedicate their life in the pursue of knowledge, often with little specialistic aim, but trying to achieve that unique piece that will grant them eternal life in contemplation of all the wordly creation from the abyss of the sea.
Once a year, during the last high tide of Nyria, Dragons and Makarids of the cult gather on the beach or on board of ships, and throw into the sea an example of their work, being it a crafted object, a piece of a new natural discovery or an art piece, to increase the magnificent hoard of their divinity.

The raft dwellers schism

One particular sect of this cult is the one practised by the Raft dwellers in their isolated community of the Raft village.
Due to the scarcity of resources, this community has very little to donate to the Sea Dragon, but consider themselves integral part of the Sea Dragon's treasure.
This translate in the tendency to decorate their own bodies with tattoos, painting, scarifications and other forms of body art to make themselves a masterpiece worth the privilege of being included in their divinity treasure.
For the same reason, and because of the scarcity of textile materials available to them, nudity is commonly practised in this community.