[FR] What would happen if a dead sun god came back to life?

[Psychotic Jim]

Hello. I plan on starting a plot arc in my Forgotten Realms game where Amaunator the ancient god of suns/law comes back to life. Does anybody have any ideas? I figure his ressurection would affect Lathander in some special way, considering their (potentially) special connection. One of the players has a new 8th level priest of Lathander, so I want to make it special for him. I also plan on getting Old Empires if that helps. Thanks.

 

[Eremite]

I've been thinking about this one for years (and already have LoEF... which is an excellent resource, BTW) and think that the best way for this to happen is for Amaunator to come back as a LE tyrant.

Perhaps he has been corrupted by Shar or by one of the denizens of Baator? Either way, he's not so much as gunning for Lathander but for Bane because he wants to be Faerun's ultimate tyrant.

 

[Piratecat]

You may want to change the title from 'son' to 'sun'; I'm reading the post saying "Amaunator isn't Lathander's son!"

I'd have the sun glow double brightly while they warred, withering crops and causing heat waves. I'd also consider having two suns in the sky at certain times of day, having the same effect.

 

[cybertalus]

Dunno if this is the direction you wanna go or not, but in Lost Empires of Faerûn there's a sect of Lathanderities who believe Lathander to be a reincarnation of Amaunator. They believe Lathander is in ascendance and will one day rule the Faerûnian pantheon. They've even got their own prestige class, the Sunmaster. Lathander's so far neither confirmed nor denied that he's Amaunator, but has told his various sects to play nice with each other. It might be interesting to add to the mix some followers of Amaunator who don't think Lathander is his reincarnation.

The interesting thing about this sect is that the part about Lathander ruling the pantheon isn't too far off base from what Lathander tried during the Dawn Cataclysm and what it's been hinted at he may be preparing to try again. Of course since it's about impossible to mention Lathander without bringing up the Dawn Cataclysm as well, I'd be tempted to avoid this route entirely.

Instead perhaps Amaunator was the victim of deicide. Lathander wasn't responsible, but maybe he could've helped and didn't in order to increase his own power. Lathander's kept it a secret all these years. Now that Amaunator may be returning, Lathander's desperately afraid his secret will get out, his goody-goody reputation will be damaged, and he'll lose most of his followers.

One neat thing is that the new Servant of the Fallen feat from Lost Empires of Faerûn really muddies the waters. Used to be to that dead gods granted no spells, so it was pretty easy to tell whether a god was dead or alive. Of course the characters don't have to know that clerics have found a way to receive spells from dead gods, so they see the non-Lathander Amaunator clerics casting spells, and figure Amaunator is back. Word goes up the chain of command to Lathander, who absolutely freaks out.

One way to make things interesting for the PCs is to somehow have them find out Lathander's secret before anyone else does. Then they've gotta decide what to do about it. You can actually work things so that you have a deity begging the forgiveness of a mortal for wrongs he's committed.

 

[Joker]

One way to make things interesting for the PCs is to somehow have them find out Lathander's secret before anyone else does. Then they've gotta decide what to do about it. You can actually work things so that you have a deity begging the forgiveness of a mortal for wrongs he's committed.

Or Lathander could just erase them from history .

 

[Eremite]

(snip) I'd also consider having two suns in the sky at certain times of day, having the same effect.

Oh, I like that. I've had a few extra thoughts inspired by this suggestion from Piratecat.

Netherese wizards bear the stigma of having produced Karsus who used a powerful spell to steal the power of Mystra's predecessor which, as all FR fans know, resulted in the destruction of most enclaves and hastened the fall of the Netherese civilisation.

Netherese refugees established the nation of Halruaa and it wouldn't be inconceivable for one of more families to be related to Karsus. What if some scion of the family wanted to atone for this past misdeed of Karsus and thus has determined to resurrect, rather than slay, a deity and that deity is Amaunator?

If he succeeds, two suns appear in the sky, not concurrently but in some sort of succession so that there is no longer darkness or night. Can you imagine the consequences of this on food production, the effect on daily temperatures and melting icebergs, glaciers and snow?

Faerun would be hit by strife and chaos. Shar might even gain power despite the absence of darkness as people start praying for night to be restored. Cyric's religion would thrive amidst the chaos and potentially Bane's as well as the tyrant's faith provides a level of order and certainty that is otherwise lacking (I understand the Illuminati's motto is supposed to be "order out of chaos" which is what I'm getting at here).

Perhaps, too, the Halruaan mage responsible (high Int, low Wis and probably low Cha) is merely a pawn for the yuan-ti and their sarrukh masters who are using the Halruaan's research to perfect the ritual by which they will awaken Sseth or even Dendar the Night Serpent.

Anyway, all of this could make for an interesting Epic campaign.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

IMC Lathander and Amanuator are two of three aspects of the true sun god -- one each for dawn, noon, and dusk. Some sort of major cataclysmic event causes a transformation of one aspect into the next. Netheril's fall caused the transformation of Amanuator into Lathander ... and perhaps the (as yet) unknown third aspect is right around the corner, the hellfire god of peak noon heat who will bake all of Faerun into barren desert. If the transformation is triggered, the sun will swell to a red giant, seas will boil, forests will burn to ash, and all will become desert waste.

There may be a plot yet ongoing to gather the combinations of magical rites and artifacts to cause this transformtion, because just as there is a small sect within Lathander's church that still reveres Amanuator, there is yet another that wants to see the sun god asendant over all others. It's a minor political intrigue IMC at the moment, that the PCs hadn't spent much time investigating, and that they now probably won't at all since our priest of Lathander player can't make the game.

Moander's cult is trying to ressurect him, too, but that's another story ...

 

[Eremite]

(snip some good stuff that I might borrow) Moander's cult is trying to ressurect him, too, but that's another story ...

Care to tell that other story... pretty please?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Care to tell that other story... pretty please?

Well, seeing as how it's one of the core mysteries of our current campaign, I won't say much, but I'll give a few hints.

The party has encountered a small sect of Moanderites whose clerics still seem to e able to cast spells. The sect contains a strange mix of humanoids and aberrations -- and they've raided some Dales settlements as a diversion from their primary activities: locating a Netherese artifact known as the Black Grail, which (apparently) has some ability to magnify the power of a sect's worshippers.

There's a strange and tenuous linkage between the Moanderites and drow, so what is happening deep in the caverns of Maerimydra with the drow followers of Kiransalee may not be quite what it seems.

Is there a connection between the goddess of undeath and the lord of rot, corruption, and decay? Who is Hedrack, the mind at the other end of a mind link established by Fiddle Skipstone the Dragonslayer using one of the stange bone rings found on a Moanderite priest?
What is the Quaan, and how are its self-styled "Pactlords" linked to the Moanderites? Are the machinations of the dwarven wizard Finister behind it all? And where does the Church of Lathander fit in all of this -- the church who has taken possession of the long-lost, but now recovered, Sword of Truth, but that now denies it's existence?

Only a small party of adventurers, the Stormslayers, may be able to piece the mysteries together, but first there's the matter of recovering their kidnapped comrade from the mindflayer prison of Manseznine ...

(See diaglo's Story Hour for the ongoing saga ... next session 13 March).

 

[Blackrat]

If my memory serves me good i think there was rules for resurrecting a dead god in 1E or 2E. It was probably in the old Faiths and Avatars or in the Powers and Pantheons. Worth checking if you want good ideas for the rituals involved.