Sun God...with a twist. Ideas?

In brief: I want my new campaign world to have a monotheistic religion, with the deity being a Sun God. This choice is made for a variety of reasons, mostly flavour - it'll be a hot, dry land, so a Sun God just fits.

But, Sun Gods are a bit hackneyed (in D&D and in RL), so my question is basically this: what are some ideas to give the ole Sun God concept enough of a twist to inflame my players' imaginations? In other words, how can I have a Sun God without having Pelor?

NB: I'm not going to use alignments in this game, so there will be both 'good' and 'evil' priests/clerics/worhshippers etc.

Go the pseudo aztec route, the sun god is an oppressive evil power who is propitiated with worship and sacrifices so that he does not wreak his veangance on the mortal world.

use a different Sun.

this one is a white dwarf. the planet is cold. very cold.

and the powers of the god revolve around gravity and force. things of str or shape changing with size being the key.

If he's the major god, give him a 'civilization' spin. He's also the god of building and creating things, the god of cities and laws and all the things that you think of when you think 'civilized area'. Sun and Fire are linked very closely, so make him the thing that brought fire and light to humanity, driving back the dark.

Temples to him are massive affairs, sometimes as big as (and in some cases doubleing as) small towns. They are almost always square-walled, with a circular inner sanctum open to the sky. (The circle-in-a-square theme is replicated everywhere).

His priests are mainly justices who travel throughout the land settleing cases and laying down the law. Clerics of the god are like special investigators charged with keeping the peace and fighting back the encroaching barbaric hordes (anything that goes against the idea of 'civilization' is anathema to the sun god, so humanoid tribes who want to tear down what has been built are automatically on the list, so to speak. Rangers that serve the sun god choose humanoid species as their hated enemy most often).

There is a healing sect within the temple heirarchy who also has the 'fire' aspect of the sun god. Fire also purifies. They always use sterile (cleansed by the kiss of the sun god) instruments and work environments so many of their patients live who would otherwise die. This really endears them to the people, though the healers are somewhat 'cold' after a fashion. They follow a strict code and seldom vary from it, even to the point of leaving someone to die who might otherwise have been saved.

There is an 'evil' branch of the healer sect that seeks to purify through fire. They burn humanoids in order to 'cleanse' them of the 'taint' they bear.

Another aspect would be to use 'light' as 'enlightenment' and have a sect that specializes in sagecraft and knowledge. After all, the hallmark of civilization is the transmission of knowledge. Libraries are sacred to him, and writing, and art.

The Sun god is the Fun god!

The first thing that comes to mind for the Church of the Sun, is how important their cycle of worship is going to be. Much like Catholic monks IRL, there will surely be a multitude of services held that vary with the position of the sun in heavens. At high noon, when the Sun is overhead, maybe the church has it's highest and most holy sacraments?
Maybe the church promotes burnt offerings to the Sun god, but instead of being put to the torch, the offerings are burned under a large lens that focusses the rays of the sun.
Maybe the church worships the Sun in all its aspects? Having a good tan might be a sign of the sun's blessing, getting sunburned might mean that you have some secret sin that needs "dragged into the light". The church might find special meaning in droughts and long periods of sunny days without rain.
Weather could be a big issue. Maybe the church will only perform weddings in full view of the Sun, as such, no one can be wed on overcast days.
Druids could well be incorporated right into the church as well. Since th Sun is the source of all life, it only makes sense for Druids to be particularly aware of this.
As for the god him/herself ... I'd keep the details vague. The Sun is a big impersonal force that shines on the just and the unjust. Don't personify it at all. When the gods become human, then the humans can challenge the gods. Keep the real mysteries of the faith secrets known only to the properly initiated.
Hope it helps ...

Only the King can worship the Sun. Everybody else worships the King.

diaglo said:

use a different Sun.

this one is a white dwarf. the planet is cold. very cold.

and the powers of the god revolve around gravity and force. things of str or shape changing with size being the key.

Click to expand...

First thing I learned from Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser:

If its worth anything, steal it.

Diaglo, consider this idea stolen.

Aaron.

Building on the "sun god as evil" concept:

The campaign world exists in a binary system, and has two suns. The main sun is visible during the day, and is very powerful, leading to the arid, desert climate of the world. Outside of civilization, the days are unsafe- many types of monsters and evil beings who thrive in the heat roam the wastes and attack any humanoids they find. Obviously, this is the evil sun god.

When the main sun sets, the second, weaker sun rises, giving way to this world's equivalent of "night"- a sort of 12-hour twilight, like those old movies that simulate night shoots by using blue camera filters. The secondary sun emits some sort of radiation or light ("magic", as far as the PCs are concerned) that drives the monsters away and makes the land safe for travel. Since the sunlight is also weaker, this is the main period of activity for the world's inhabitants, who conduct all their work and business at night and then rest and sleep underground during the day. Obviously this sun is the good, life-giving variety.

The orbit of the planet is not such that the day and night are always evenly divided. Every so often, one sun will intrude on the other's domain. This could give rise to the occasional night when the monsters are still able to come out and attack the cities, or the occasional day when the radiation of the weaker sun drives them away. Either one can be interpreted as the good and evil sun battling for dominance. So the church could have these as holy days, crusades could be declared, etc. The problem is, adding a second sun into the mix, even if it is the weaker sun, still isn't going to cool things off. So these days of battle would be especially unbearable and exhausting.

Major civilized areas would probably be in temperate zones, with an inhospitable equitorial zone in the middle. Perhaps there are two main civilizations in the world, in northern and southern hemispheres, and they are seperated by their inability to make it across the tropics. There might even be some way to work things so that each polar cap is bathed perpetually of one of the suns- the north pole could be the equivalent of the hells, for instance- filled with demonic servants of the evil sun. While the southern cap could be closest to the weaker sun and act as a sort of celestial paradise on earth. I'm not sure if it would be physically possible to align the planet's axis in such a way, but in a fantasy world this too could be chalked up to "magic".

Hm, in RL Sun Gods have nothing in common with Pelor if you look at hot, arid countries - desert people are likely to envision Hell as a hot, glaring desert and see the sun as a terrible, hostile force.

(Similar to traditional cold-country beliefs, which picture Hell as being a hell of ice and frost and cold and eternal night. )


If you're not into a sizzling, frying, stern and hostile deity, diaglo's idea of a cold sun is very very cool of course.