Is Amaunator Back in Faerûn!?

[MadMaxim]

Is Amaunator Back in Faerûn!?

I was just wondering whether anyone could tell me, if Amaunator, the Netherese God of Law, Bureaucracy and the Sun is back in Faerûn? Has Lathander ascended to become Amaunator, or has he just been resurrected? I'm just wondering, because I just saw the excerpt from the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide that has a feat for clerics called "Power of Amaunator" that gives them another way to use their channel divinity ability. I really would like to know, because I'm starting to play in a campaign (3.5) where my warforged cleric worships Amaunator (where, of course, he's a dead god)! I hope somebody with the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide can shed some light on this matter. Thanks in advance

 

[Exquisite Dead Guy]

Yeah, he's back. I just glossed over the write up in the new FRCS, but apparently he was Lathander all the time.

 

[D'karr]

Yes, Amaunator is back. He appears in the FRCS.

 

[MadMaxim]

But how much further into the timeline did that happen and why did it happen? What has then happened to the church of Lathander?

 

[Weregrognard]

A player in my campaign wanted to play a "Sun" cleric, but didn't like the info on Amaunator (too strict). It really made me think about all those clerics of Lathander. I don't think the news went over well with them since the Amaunatori used to be a heretical sect. I figure there has to be a splinter sect that doesn't believe Lathander is really Amaunator. So now her PC is a cleric of the "Lathanderite Heresy", which believes all that about Lathander being Amaunator all along is a bunch of malarkey spouted by the tightwads over in Elturgard. Fun times to come

 

[jadrax]

Its another of the changes that really confuses me as to *why* it was done. Replacing one god with a little known dead god dosen't seem to simplify the panthion any, indeed it complicates it, while at the same time removing two Iconic elements of the realms in one blow.

It's a shame, because some of the FRCG has really nice ideas, but there is a distinct amount of it like this that really leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

 

[jsaving]

Amaunator and Lathander are one and the same. The idea is that the sun goes through phases like the moon does, with Amaunator gradually becoming Lathander and then back again over the course of centuries.

 

[Zaister]

Now that's recton, lol.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Amaunator is back only in name. He has nothing to do with bureaucracy or the Netherese. He isn't even the same alignment. It's just Lathander, but with less neutrality. I can't help but feel the change was made for only two reasons. 1) There is no Neutral Good anymore, and 2) GOTTA SHAKE THINGS UP GUYS, SHAKE THEM UP!

 

[Staffan]

A likely reason for the replacement just occurred to me. The Netherese of Shade are a major power in the new FR (in 3e, they were newcomers, but now they're entrenched), and they're all Shar-worshippers (to the point of outlawing worship of other deities). Amauntor used to be a Netherese god, so his returning will probably have something to do with the Netherese somewhere down the line.