A Suggeted Pelor Replacement
Here is my suggestion for a Pelor replacement. He's a bit uncoventional and his faith may have implications you are not comfortable with, so feel free to reject him. Or ridicule my poor attempts at making his religion up.
Aten's emphasis on sanity draws him away from being purely a Pelor rip-off, and I think it can interact nicely with the psionics elements in the campaign.
If accepted, I think using some Occult Lore OGC on Oneiromancy might be appropriate; it will need to be modified, but some psychological ideas there can be utilized to expand on the Aten's mind angle.
The Knights of the Disk (horrid name, I'll need to come up with something) is an order of paladins.
I stil haven't meshed him with the politics, but as a PH-deity substitute he shouldn't be abhorred anywhere that counts.
I'm really bad with names. Consider all names as definitely temporary.
Aten is, BTW, a monotheistic Egyptian sun-god.
Aten, the Waking Sun
Alignment: Neutral Good
Granted Domains: Good, Healing, Mind*, Strength, Sun
Portfolio: Sanity, healthy life, protection of innocent life.
* Clerics of Aten with the Mind domain do not gain a +2 bonus to Bluff, instead gaining a +2 bonus to Heal. [The Mind domain is found in the Psionics section of the SRD]
Church: Aten is the most respected deity in large parts of the world, his worship is almost universally accepted and is the state religion in X. His church is not strictly hierarchical, however, and is not united under one leader.
Most Aten temples are dedicated to healing the sick, looking after the mentally ill, and feeding the poor. A few orders, however, are dedicated to training warriors to stand against evil, with special emphasis being put on fighting underground threats. His knights are well known champions of the people against oppressive lords, however, which tends to limit these order's fundings.
Recently, [state] X founded a new order of knights, the Knights of The Disk, whose exploits have quickly gained popularity and acclaim. The sudden popularity, and increased funding, have resulted in a massive recruitment of new knights, making it the largest current knightly order in the service of Aten, though most of these knights are young and inexperienced.
Classes: While most priests are experts and adepts engagesd in charity work, these typically work jointly with a related militant order. The faith emphasizes the need for martial and physical strength as well as spiritual one, and higher ranked priests invariably undergo at least some martial training.
Clerics and fighters largely comprise the militant orders, and many paladins serve under the Knights of the Disk. Clerics can be found in all orders, especially amongst the higher-ranked priests.
Relations: Although tolerant of the worship of other good deities, Aten's church proclaims him as the greatest of the gods, whose constant struggle against evil is what keeps our very existence and sanity. While this view is accepted by some other faiths, others adamantly reject it which has led to strained relations. Specifically... [to be filled later]
Aten's church is often widely popular amongst the poorer classes, who make heavy use of its charity. It is somewhat less popular in the higher echelons of society, and rarely an extremist militant temple has even been outlawed. The Knights of the Disk are sworn to respect local laws, and are highly respected by the nobility. Many of them are nobles themselves.
Symbolism: Aten's symbol is a sun's disk, with light rays radiating from it. It is the rays that are considered to be representing Aten, so they are never omitted.
Many of Aten's temple make heavy use of gold in holy relics, items, and cloths, often in depiction of the sun or sun rays. This is seen as decedant and abominable in light of its teaching of healing and charity by its detractors, including some extremist Aten temples, but is nonetheless common.
Dogma:
Aten is a nurturer and a warrior, in the day he brings the power of life to our plants and fields, in the night he battles the darkness below.
We are drawn to sleep just as Aten is drawn to the underworld, it is in our dreams that we struggle with our inner darkness, sharing a portion in Aten's eternal war. The real world and the dream world are one, dreams are but different consciousness states. When you plunge deep into the underground, you plunge deep into our nightmares. Horrid aberrations that can shatter the mind lie beneath us all, and it is only Aten's constant sigil that wards us from oblivion, only Aten's light that saves us from eternal darkness. None of the other gods have the power to replace him, and so every night he plunges deeper than our most horrid nightmares, to battle the heart of darkness itself. None of the other god's glory compares to him, they are but pale stars in a dark night when he is the burning sun in a clear sky.
Those who say Aten is thought confuse the matter. He is thought, but he is also the sun, and its tangible light, a conduit to the life energies and a bringer of light.
Those who say Aten is light confuse the matter. He is the sun's brilliance and its life giving light, but he is also the inner light that shows good over evil, that makes truth evident, he is the thought that is good and sane dragged forth from the evil madness below the surface.
All that is good is but an island upon an endless sea, uplifted from the depths of mind and matter by the power of Aten. Glory be his name.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
