[RPG] Are Amaunator and Lathander addressed separately

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I have not read any book except the "Sword Coast Adventurers Guide" for 5e for FR-Lore. In my game the god "Amaunator" plays a huge role, but on the FR-Wiki page it says that Lathander and Amaunator are actually the same (no word about that in the Book).

Now: are the temples still dedicated to either Amaunator or Lathander?
Are they worshiped by two different groups? Or is a priest/temple/cleric of Amaunator automatically one of Lathander, too? How common is that knowledge?

Best Answer

At various points in the history of the Realms, Amaunator and Lathander have been the same, separate, and/or non-existent. In particular, there was a lot of combination during the Spellplague1. Later, during the Second Sundering2 the overgod Ao rewrote the Tablets of Fate. Many old gods were restored to power, others were split into parts, and some were destroyed. There was a period of time when gods, via their "Chosen" had to collect mortal followers and restructure their churches.

The current state of affairs in the "modern" time period is that Amaunator and Lathander are two separate deities. Amaunator's teachings mostly center around light as a purifying power, a source and sign of justice and righteousness. Lathander is more about the dawn - new life, new growth. There's certainly some overlap in their portfolios, but they are different.

It's entirely possible that a given temple may give service to one or both deities. In smaller settlements, there are temples used with multiple deities - many of the Realms gods work together or are allied, so their faithful do the same (the triad of Tyr, Torm, and Ilmater is probably the most notable example). However, they are separate entities, which means there are also temples that only deal with one of them.

1The Spellplague was used as the justification for the drastically different mechanics behind magic in 4E.

2Returning spellcasting mechanics in 5E to a method more like 3.5E and before.

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