Vo'Kum

The Vo'kum or (The Five) are the creator deities of Varanus folklore whom played a physical major role in shaping the Ancient Varanus and their culture before being physically slain by Varn the Conqueror, despite having been slain by a supposed mortal being these deities are considered to have ascended to a purely incorporeal realm where they influence the universe and Varanus in subtle ways. The faith decrees that the Varanus serve a role as the agents of these divine powers in the physical realm and to uphold the doctrines of their respective patron, however over the years the faith has diverged into various understandings primarily between the old faith before the discovery of Drakenhelm and the New faith that incorporates a larger pantheon of dragonic beings and reshapes their purpose as ancestral spirits that guide the Varanus.

Tenets of Faith

There are Five primary patrons of the Old faith whose adherants serve a purpose in wider Varanus culture:

• Kumaktole: The Dragon of Death and Shadow serves as a stern parental figure whose clawed hand guides the fallen under the shadow of his wings to the beyond, the adherants of Kumaktole understand the meaning and reality of death, facing it stoically while guiding others through moments of torment and grief. Fallen corpses of kin are recovered from foreign planets and lands to be burnt or buried among kin, lost armour and trinkets are hunted by the adherants to be returned to their rightful owners and the more fanatical of Kumaktole dance between the worlds of life and death through self-inflicted torture and near suicide as a means to better understand the worlds beyond. The most active service the adherants of Kumaktole do is the burial of the dead and the commitment of last rites

• Nasnas: The Dragon of Life and Fertility serves as the motherly opposite of Kumaktole, her grace and breath stirs the life within unhatched eggs and her tears serve as the rain that nourishes fields. Adherants of Nasnas nurture the growth of life serving as caretakers, gardeners and more in the service of the growing potential that lies within life, it is these adherants who are given the most vital task of Varanus society in safeguarding the unhatched youth by maintaining the state hatcheries, ensuring that each egg is healthy and safe as it becomes transferred to their respective families near the hatching period. Most adherants to Nasnas are female Varanus who have borne eggs before and continue to serve as caretakers to those who have none while the few males tend to serve as experts in maintaining life from agriculture to terraforming.

• Armaros: The Dragon of War and Passion serves as the oldest child between Kumaktole and Nasnas, it is through his ambitious blood that Varanus society drives itself to push boundries and to pursue what they desire. The patron deity of all things martial and military the adherants of Armaros tend to be closely related to the armed forces, serving often as trainers, confidants and often brothers in arms to those that take up the call to arms. Armaros is also considered the patron of love which extends beyond intimate relationships to include passions for crafts, hobbies and art, the elements that grant a being to drive itself to be more then just surviving and as such many adherants of Armaros also make up the craftsman, artists and creative class of society waging their wars through creation, sculpture and the written word to combat the mundane.

• Orysan: The Dragon of Wind and Change serves as the middle child whose fickle mind uproots the status quo and instills those to travel, the patron deity of trade and commerce it's her teachings and adherants who created the first currencies and trade languages of the old world. Her adherants thrive in the worlds of resource gathering, bartering, trade and universal commerce, to oversee the trade of goods and services to the most vital of sectors. As patron of change her voice gives power to all others to not just exchange goods but also ideas ensuring that the material and mind grows in this her adherants make up charismatic and rational voices in debates that liven the civic health of society.

• Kobalos: The Dragon of Mind and Scholar is the youngest of the Five who values the pursuit of knowledge and understanding above all else, his adherants make up a myriad of scholars, scientists and engineers that document and record all they can, granted insights and clarity it is through them that Kobalos can gift the faithful and the society it serves with empirical and practical results that benefit all and most adherants extend these understandings through teaching in academies and schools across the galaxy.

Hidden in oral history and fragmented scripture however is a sixth figure whose name and purpose has been forgotten, all that is known by the priesthood is that the Sixth was cast out by the Five for some unforgiveable sin and it's implied greatly that the Sixth found it's revenge through Varn whom it granted the knowledge to slay the Five in their physical forms.
The New Faith retains all aspects of the Old Faith but considers the Five as part of a wider Draconic Pantheon to which the Varanus have the potential to join, dragons in this case are seen not as purely gods but as ascended forms that the Varanus have yet to achieve. Adherants of the New Faith retain a more open minded approuch to their tenants and favour self-improvement over other aspects upheld in the Old faith.

Sects

One Sect diverges greatly from the Old and New Faith of the Vo'kum known only as the Cult of the Reforger. The Cult believes that Nozdormu was the greatest draconic being from which all else descended from having forged the stars upon which all life thrives and whose efforts to devour the galaxy should not be seen as a great calamity in itself but rather the calamity was that it was quelled by the Heroes of Old for the cult believes that once the The Convergence was complete the galaxy would be reborn in a more perfected pure self. The Cult also believes that since the Convergence was the primary influence that drew the Varanus and their worldship out of intergalactic travel to crash within the Milky Way was not a coincidence but destiny that the Varanus was meant to complete the work Nozdormu failed to complete, the broken forms of the Varanus the cult believes can be remade as the galaxy becomes reborn.
The Cult itself hides within the shadows of the Vo'Kum faith, being too radically different in purpose and often dangerous to challengers of their adherants. The numbers and influence of the cult is unknown and how they intend to restart the Convergence is just as mysterious. The Prime Tribunal itself regard the cult as a fringe cast-off of the wider spiritual body of the Varanus but despite this the Serpentum Imperium for it's rather open freedom of religion does not treat open heresy of the offical faith lightly forcing the cult to often draw it's hand in the underground.

Alternative Names

The Five

Parent Organization

Serpentum Imperium

Permeated Organizations

• Serpentum Imperium

Related Species

• Varanus