Zaldrism

Dragon pendants are worn as necklaces by many Zaldrists in similar manner to Messianist crucifixes.

Zaldrism is a polytheistic religion originating in the Yulia Valley in Arcanstotska around the 10th Century BCE following a period of southward Szlavic migration from Maloria. Today, Zaldrists (the adherents of Zaldrism) are largely concentrated within Arcanstotska (where they make up over 40 percent of the population) but are also present in Arcanstotskan minority communities in other nations. Zaldrism encompasses a plurality of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices centered around the worship of nature, animals, ancestors, and dragons.

Zaldrism is believed by scholars to have been a Szlavic adaptation of the religion of the Yulia Valley's pre-Szlavic inhabitants: the Ylkentic peoples. The Ylkentic tribes are thought to have inhabited central Arcanstotska between at least 2000 BCE up to the 10th Century BCE, when they were subjugated and supplanted by Szlavic groups who had migrated southeast from what is now Maloria. Archaeological findings have unerassed Ylkentic-era artifacts that strongly hint towards dragon-worship. After the Proto-Arcanstotskan Szlavs conquered the Yulia Valley, it is believed that the worship of dragons was progressively incorporated into an already existing Szlavic pagan faith as Szlavic and Ylkentic culture increasingly merged in the region.

Etymology

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Beliefs

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Practices

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Priesthood & Prophets

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History

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Demographics

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