Sunmasters were divine spellcasters of Amaunator.[2]
Culture[]
Sunmasters were members of the Brotherhood of the Glorious Sun, a sect within the church of Lathander that believed that the Morninglord was a reincarnation of Amaunator and destined to transform into the Yellow God at some point in history.[3]
Sunmasters were mostly Lathanderite clerics who discarded Lathander in favor of Amaunator and received their spells from the dead power. While a minority, paladins and clerics with wizardly training also became sunmasters from time to time. The latter group did so in the belief, that the Morninglord would reward them for their service.[4]
Sunmasters held the belief that Lathander's belief was the best to have and tried to show their supposed superiority through their action. Another reason to do this was that they believed that Amauantor's re-emergence would be hastened through their work.[4]
Sunmasters were often tasked with the organization of Lathanderite shrines and chapter houses that put Lathander's sun aspect to the forefront. A chapter house usually had up to five practicing sunmasters, up to five acolytes and clerics who were Amaunatori but not sunmasters yet and up to ten subservient warriors, fighters, and paladins.[5]
Abilities[]
Every sunmaster was versed in geographical, historical, and religious matters. They were all fluent in Loross. They could cast divine spells and had access to the Law and Sun domain. As mentioned above, the source of their magic came from Amaunator instead of Lathander through becoming a servant of the fallen.[4] Another avenue to gain this power was by embracing a heresy called the Risen Sun heresy, radicals among the Brotherhood of the Glorious Sun who did not just say that Lathander was Amaunator but his transformation was close.[6]
With increasing skill as a sunmaster, a sunmaster had a lot of freedom at casting Sun and Law domain spells and gained access to the Planning domain. They also became increasingly resistant against fire.[4]
The sumasters had a total of two magical abilities called glaring eye, an ability that allowed their eyes to glow like searing light up to three times a day and protected them from magical blindness and dizziness, and another ability called sunform that allowed them to become a glowing ball of light that shed light with the strength of a daylight. In that form, they could fly, were completely immune against fire, light, and air, and their touch burnt. They could take this form for up to one minute once a day.[4]
Sunmasters were very aggressive divine casters who made it a priority to destroy their enemies over healing their allies and often trained their spellcasting abilities. As mentioned above, they had great freedom regarding the casting of Law and Sun domain spells. Especially order's wrath and searing light were favorites in their arsenal. Sunmasters often trained their skill at aiming rays like the latter and considered gathering lawful allies to prevent harm on the own side through the former spell. The aforementioned sunform-ability represented the pinnacle of a sunmaster's development but had severe downside. It made spellcasting impossible, unless the sunmaster learned the necessary metamagic to cast spells without somatic, verbal, or material components.[7]
Possessions[]
A sunmaster owned a holy symbol of Amaunator. This symbol needed to be either unearthed from a ruined temple to the dead god or be given by a practicing sunmaster to the would-be-one.[4]
Sunmasters were also advised to learn crafting magic items by themselves, especially weapons and armors.[7]
Relationships[]
Church of Lathander[]
The sunmasters were part of—to be more precise a sect of—the church of Lathander. They upheld lawfulness over goodness like the Netherese god and referred to Lathander as Amaunator. The differing views between them and the rest of the Lathanderites caused them to have a rather rocky relationship with them. For example, sunmasters believed that Amaunator was destined to take over the entire Faerûnian pantheon, something orthodox Lathanderites considered an arrogant notion. Some sects of the church of Lathander actively opposed the sunmaster, but overall they were tolerated for their actions were viewed as more beneficial for Lathander's cause than open schisms. When a particular sunmaster made it a point to preach his differing views to other Lathanderites, he or she could expect to not be provided with any form of aid including food or loding.[8]
That said, they were considered the elite comparable to the morninglords, when it came to combat abilities and were an acknowledge clerical and knightly order within the church. However, sunmasters reported to two masters, official superiors within the church of Lathander and their superior in their sect. The two groups were not necessarily in the same physical place.[9]
Brotherhood of the Glorious Sun[]
All sunmasters were members of the Brotherhood of the Glorious Sun. This sect was much more willing to help a sunmaster than other sects of the church of Lathander. This went from healing, loaning magic items, to active assistance.[10]
The brotherhood was generally willing to accept new members and part of a sunmaster's job was to gather new members for the brotherhood. The sect itself was mostly a meritocracy.[9]
Lathander[]
Lathander's policy of equal treatment was a major reason why the sunmasters' and orthodoxes' differing views never degenerated into open confrontation.[5]
Sunmasters who became such through becoming servants of the fallen were judged Faithless on death.[11]
Church of Horus-Re[]
Horus-Re was a god who believed that he was the only sun-deity and his followers and sunmasters had a hostile relationship.[4]
The relationship was so bad that sumasters were required to act undercover when they were in an area where the church of Horus-Re held power.[5]
Order of the Sun Soul[]
The Order of the Sun Soul was an order of monks whose forebears were an order dedicated to Amaunator. The organization was a source of allies for the sunmasters.[5]
General Public[]
Apart from Lathanderites, the differences between the sunmasters and other Lathanderites were not perceivable. Therefore, the general public treated sunmasters in the same way they would other members of the church of Lathander. However, the sunmasters needed to act under a layer of stealth when they operated within an area where evil held sway.[5]
History[]
By the 14th century DR, the sunmasters were within the church of Lathander for about fifteen centuries.[2]
Notable members[]
- Andar was a sunmaster who picked up orphans from the streets and gave them employment as torchbearers.[5]
- Daelegoth Orndeir was the Sunlord, the leader of the Brotherhood of the Glorious Sun.[12]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 25–28. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 25. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 25, 28. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 26. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 28. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd (March 2006). Power of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 47. ISBN 0-7869-3910-9.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 27. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 25–27. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 26–27. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 27–28. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 9, 26. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd (March 2006). Power of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 58. ISBN 0-7869-3910-9.