Lathander

Lathander, whose title was The Morninglord, was a deity of creativity, dawn, renewal, birth, athletics, spring, self-perfection, vitality, and youth. He favored those who dispelled the undead and blessed those who planted new life. Lathander was also the god called upon to bless birth and fertility related ceremonies. Some saw him as the neutral good aspect of Amaunator but the two were considered separate deities again after the Second Sundering.

"Offer prayers to Lathander, and his light will shield thee."

- A statue in Idyllglen

Description
During his numerous visits to the Great Mother's Garden, Lathander appeared as a giant of a man, to match the size of his lover, Chauntea. His visage radiated bright shine of the morning sun and his hair burned with flaming orange-red fire. Lathander appeared as a handsome young slender muscled human man. His preferred clothes were a set of colorful robes of reds, pinks, and yellows. A red and golden sash embraced the god's waist. He wore golden sandals and left scorch marks everywhere his feet touched the ground. Lathander often floated and liked to materialize in a glorious spectacle of dawn sun beams. His radiant face darkened akin to sun eclipse when the god was angered or upset.

Relationships
Lathander and Chauntea had been romantically connected for centuries and saw each other as kindred spirits. His allies included Gond, Tymora, Tyr, Torm, Ilmater, Sune, Selûne, Oghma, Kelemvor, and Mielikki. His foes were Cyric, Talos, and Shar. Helm held a great deal of resentment for Lathander, as the latter indirectly caused the death of Helm's lover, Murdane.

Prior to Chauntea, Lathander's paramour was Tyche, an ancient goddess of fortune and mother of Tymora and Beshaba. Tychie and Lathander once observed a birth of a new universe for an entire year while lounging on a space whale's back. The couple watched as a crystal sphere engorged and then split apart, new stars lit inside them. The Morninglord held that memory dear.

Worshipers
Novices in the Lathanderian faith were called the Awakened, while clerics were known as Dawnbringers. The full priests took a new name in his service when they were ready to signify that Lathander personally recognized and accepted them. This new name could either be used instead of their old name or simply used only when addressing other Dawnbringers and when in solitary prayer. Titles used by Dawnbringers (in ascending order) were: Dawngreeter, Dawnlord, High Dawnlord, Dawnmaster, Morninglord, High Morninglord, Mornmaster, High Mornmaster, and Sunrise Lord. Morninglord was the title for an elite cleric. All followers were required to be of neutral to good alignment.

All of Lathander's clergy respected art, liberty, nature, and culture; promoted betterment of oneself; and strove to bring hope to their followers and others. Many of these followers worked in various creative arts. They were intolerant of evil, especially undead and inaction that caused evil to prosper. Most ceremonies of Lathander were held at dawn and actions and contracts agreed to at sunrise were said to be blessed by him. Funerals, among his followers, were held at dusk, and followed by a wake that lasted until dawn.

Some followers of Lathander insisted that he was in fact the reincarnation of Amaunator, the Netherese god of the sun. Others took this heresy further, claiming that he would take up the mantle of the lawful neutral Amaunator again, and that the transformation from deity of the morning to sun god was imminent.

Temples

 * Eveningstar: In 1372 DR, there was a large temple located in Eveningstar.
 * Lathander's Light: In Dagger Falls, the temple of Lathander there was rebuilt in 1372 DR after the Zhents burnt it down during their occupation of Daggerdale.
 * Spires of the Morning: A grand temple to Lathander in Waterdeep at the northern spur of Mount Waterdeep.
 * Morninglow Tower: The largest temple in Daggerford, it shared the hill with the ducal castle and was directly supported by the duke.
 * Rhyester's Matins: This major temple in Silverymoon had a ceiling and wall made of glassteel.
 * Temple of Lathander in Myth Drannor: In 1358 DR, the Heroes of Waterdeep came to liberate the temple from the Dark God.
 * Song of the Morning: In 1368 DR, there was a major temple to Lathander in Beregost, dominating the town.

Orders

 * Order of the Aster: A small restricted order of paladins and fighters sponsored by the church of Lathander.
 * Order of the Sun Soul: A monastic brotherhood with links to Sune and Selûne as well.

Prophets

 * Rhyester of Silverymoon

Favored sayings

 * "From death, life."
 * "There is always another dawn."
 * "In the dawn, beauty reigns, and the way is clearer."

History
Lathander was the central figure in the Dawn Cataclysm, an ill-fated attempt by the Morninglord to reshape the Faerûnian pantheon in his own image. Several deities were killed in the events that followed, including the goddess Murdane, a death for which Helm never forgave Lathander. The Morninglord believed that his efforts went so wrong because of the interference of agents of Shar, and secretly began working on a second attempt at reforming the pantheon. The biggest loss for Lathander, however was Tyche, his lover at the time. She refused to partake in Lathander's grab for power and left him to wander the Realms, leaving him a kiss of misfortune as a parting gift. It was during that time she came across a beautiful rose high in the mountains of Toril. The flower was so perfect, the goddess thought it to be an apology from her misguided consort. In reality, the flower was a seed of Moander. Tyche tucked the rose in her hair, from whence the flower corrupted and rotted her from the inside. To save her, Selûne was forced to split the goddess of luck, birthing Tymora and Beshaba. Neither of two women were to Lathander's liking and he missed his lost lover for centuries to come.

In 916 DR, Lathander, enraged with the unchanging, tyrannical, undead-centric philosophy of the Cult of the Dragon, sent an avatar to Cormanthyr to personally do battle with Sammaster during a Harper raid. He destroyed Sammaster but was wounded in the battle.

In 1345 DR, Lathander's worshipers, along with those of Selûne, Shar, and Tempus were involved in religious unrest, culminating in the Night of Temple Fires.

In 1358 DR, Lathander met the Heroes of Waterdeep after they restored one of his sacred statues in Myth Drannor. He requested that they rid his temple there of the Dark God and offered them help in their quest. During the event in which the adventurers recovered the Morning Light, Lathander bestowed to them the magic sword Dhauzimmer.

At some point between the Time of Troubles and the end of the Spellplague, Lathander disappeared and was replaced by the resurrected Amaunator, presumably confirming the truth of the theory that the two were one and the same. Moreover, the formerly lawful neutral Amaunator had apparently inherited the goodness of Lathander, as he became lawful good.

Lathander, however, returned during the events of Second Sundering in 1486 DR, thanks to the effort of his Chosen and prophet Stedd Whitehorn. However, by the year 1491 DR, Amaunator and Lathander were once again worshiped as separate beings. It is unknown if they were actually separate beings by this time or if Lathander was simply granting spells to the followers of Amaunator.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Tymora's Luck
 * Video Games:
 * Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor

Connections
Lathander