Dragonstar: The Unification Church
Every inhabited planet in the known galaxy has at least one pantheon of deities. On most worlds, every civilization, culture, and race has its own gods. If you look closely, though, strip away the layers of cultural ornamentation, you'll find most of them are strikingly familiar. Now, some deitypes, as they're called, are more common than others. No matter where you go, you'll find the drow worshipping their demonic Spider Goddess. This is where the eight-legged icon on their banners comes from. According to the Unification Church, however, the drow's goddess is an aspect of two deitypes: the Mother and the Destroyer.
The Unification Church was founded during the rise of Qesemet and Asamet, before the war. It was a time of expansion, contact, and unification—not just of religion, but of political power, commerce, and culture. The church resonated powerfully with the times, and it soon became the preeminent religion in the known galaxy. The church teaches that there are really only 12 true deities in the universe, and that everyone on every planet worships different cultural aspects of them. Gods are terribly complex beings, far more complex than the cultural masks we have them wear in our provincial temples and shrines.
In fact, it's possible for people who worship different aspects of the same deity to make war on each other, each begging their patron to shine favor on them and exact vengeance on their enemies. No one knows if the gods play favorites: Ask two different clerics and you'll get two different answers.
The Unification Church has a simple answer to the mystery of sameness we find throughout the known galaxy. All these worlds and all these peoples are the same because the same pantheon of 12 deities made them that way. The Twelve created the universe, filling it with galaxies, stars, and planets. They populated these planets with creatures formed in their own images—sentient beings like you and me. The Twelve even gave their children the gift of language, and that's why we all speak the same tongues. Humans speak Common, elves speak Elven, and Dwarves speak Dwarven for a very simple reason: We were born to speak those languages.
Nor are these distant gods, according to the church. The Twelve continue to mold and shape their worshippers, acting through their chosen clerics and paladins, as they wish. They continue to raise their children, long after their birth. So if you ever find yourself wondering why you can find the same halfling pastry recipe on Serpentis III that you first experienced on Mistral, you've got your answer: Halflings, no matter where they are, were created to make pastries. Looking at it that way, you'll be able to find a little of the divine in just about everything.
So why don't the gods take a firmer hand in things? Why don't they destroy the Dragon Empire with fires of their wrath? Well, who's to say the gods have anything against the dragons? For all we know, the dragons are their favored people, their first children. The dragons certainly seem to think so. They call themselves the "chosen people." They believe the Twelve gave them greater gifts than all other races so that they would have dominion over creation. So far, no one's been able to prove them wrong.
Generally speaking, the dragons are mindful of their place in the grand scheme of things. Very few are prideful enough to challenge or blaspheme against the Twelve. Even a favorite child is careful not to incur his parents' wrath. Mezzenbone, in fact, is thought to be the most pious of all the emperors to date. It is our misfortune that the temples he raises honor the Reaper and the Destroyer.