Pelor the Dawn-Father (PAY-lor)

Pelor the Dawnfather, is one of the Prime Divinities. The God of the Sun, Agriculture and Warmth. He is one of the prime creator gods of Aetheus. He rides amighty ki-rin named Star-Thought, summoning eagles and destroying evil with bolts of light.

Church of Pelor

Worshippers

Generally worshipped by farmers and people who live off the land. Much beloved by the common-folk. Giving promises of reaching the Bright Lands. He is the most powerful of the divines, and a number of his followers have in the past achieved near-deific status.

• Saint Scourger, Ios Raidan, the patron saint of those who hunt the undead - the enemy of Vecna.
• Saint Benedor of the Ashen Hand, patron of the Knight Protectors, a famous paladin and remains greatly revered by the Dawn-Father's faithful.

Clerics

Pelor's clergy heal the sick, bless crops, help the needy and destroy evil and undead. They are caring and nurturing, with backbones of steel. The Pelorian priesthood attracts many youths to his service, but training is rigorous enough to send many of them back to their farms. Pelor's elite priests are called the Radiant. His favoured weapon is the mace. Vestments are typically yellow or gold.
Druids Pelorian Druids, or Sun Shamans, are small in number, and behave similarly to his clerics, but with a greater emphasis on the care of plants and animals. They usually associate themselves with settlements rather than living as hermits, aiding the community with their spells, hands, and animal companions wherever they can. They are considered to have priest status within the Pelorian church, though they have a separate hierarchy. Pelor is worshipped in this fashion as part of the Old Faith, where he is seen as a god of summer and spring.
Paladins Pelorian Paladins, known as Crusaders, are rare. They once appeared in large numbers before the Great Divine War. They see themselves as the burning light of the sun which scours away darkness and evil and brings strength and comfort to the innocent. Though uncommon in the present, they can be found in nearly every nation, their dress varying according to local culture. They believe that laws are helpful, but are at best a secondary goal and must be tempered with mercy. Their slogan is "Equity for the Meek with Perseverance and Strength." When not in formal dress, the Crusaders favour light-coloured tunics, particularly sky blues, pale greens, or greys. Some dress in commoners clothing, especially when serving as community healers or in disguise. On formal occasions, they wear a black cloak emblazoned with the symbol of the sun. They blend into the darkness, only the shining symbols visible to their foes. The ancient order of Pelorian paladins once existed, known as the Lords of Sol, are now extinct, at the hands of the defeats faced against Torog the Crawling King.

Temples and Shrines

Pelor's temples are tall, with large windows, many are stained-glass cathedrals. They are arranged so that the sun shines into most of the rooms during the day, and many feature large courtyards. They tend to be airy and blindlingly white. Temple trappings are typically yellow or gold. They are always kept clean. Many Pelorian temples have hospital wings.

Realm

He lives with Erathis in Hestavar, the Bright City in Celestia.

Divine Domains

Life - Light - Nature

Holy Books & Codes

The Light of Pelor
The Light of Pelor is the most common Pelorian holy book, beginning with Pelor's creation of the sun and telling of how Pelor instructed the first mortals. Some turned against his teachings (allusions of the Ophidian empire), thus creating evil and this wvil spirit waxed and waned over time. Some version portray Pelor as the sun itself, rather than its creator, and tell of Pelor's attempts to win back those that have strayed from his light. The Light of Pelor only has minor variations in it, and all are considered canonical, despite these minor discrepancies. The book is often enchanted to glow with a soft solar radiance when it is closed, and some versions are gilded.
The Sun Father's Hand
The Sun Father's Hand is considered a controversial text accepted at present by only a few handful of Pelorian temples. Written by a woman that believed herself to be Pelor's chosen representative on Aetheus. Somehow she performed miracles, including curing an entire village of plague, before writing about her beliefs and vanishing in front of her disciples in a flash of golden light. She taught that all property should be held communally, that society should return to a more "natural" state, like that assumed to exist before the spread of civilisation, and that clerics were unnecessary. Pelor could intervene directly instead. Most branches of the Pelorian faith consider this woman to be gifted but delusional.
Parable of the Hungry Man. This myth tells of a man who was driven to crime out of a combination of desperate poverty and foolish pride. His community forgave him and fed and clothed him when his perfidy was discovered.
Punishment of the Undead. This myth tells of the origin of vampires, said to have been cursed by Pelor after turning from his light to the pursuit of evil magic. The myth suggests that Pelor would forgive them, if only they would ask. Gift of Eternal Light. This is an epic saga of an ancient kingdom threatened upon by mortal, demonic, and undead evil. Though sorely tested by their foes, the people of the kingdom had their morale restored each morning at the sight of the rising sun. In a climactic battle, the sun's rays helped defeat the demons and undead, and the Pelorians were victorious. An interesting detail is that this myth claims the sun's rays are the spirits of the righteous, a claim that no other Pelorian texts makes.

Divine Symbol

A shield emblazoned with a bright eight-pointed star in the centre.

Tenets of Faith

• Be ever vigilant for evil. People are quick to forget the lessons of the past.
• Help relieve the suffering of the innocent wherever it exists.
• Deliver the light of the Dawn-Father where darkness dwells, with kindness, compassion, and mercy.

Personal History

Believed to have been born from the Great Founding, and arrived with the other Prime Divinities into the world of Aetheus.
From there, they established their powers and dominance against the threat of the Elemental Chaos and the Primordial's. They sought to grant aid in bringing a balance and growth to the universe with the Primordial Green that resided upon the world.
Destroying a great number of the Titans, Pelor grew to be enamoured with the Season Riders of Spring and Summer, and tolerated the Season Riders of Autumn and Winter, which gave rise to the myth that Pelor's sun dwindled in those times of the year, due to his romantic interests with the two goddesses of the new year.
Pelor gave healing light to the universe by sacrificing a portion of his divinity and power to conjure Aetheus' sun and light to heal the world and bring it into its cycle of day and night, under the purview of his rival, Shelúne.
Pelor did not see it to conjure his own children, believing that the world was his charge and that the day and the dawn were more important to the cycle of the world.
Pelor was among one of many of the Gods that plotted to destroy the fallen angel Asmodeus before he sought the means to destroy them, spurred by Bane, but before Pelor could strike the killing blow to the surprised Asmodeus - Venarion foiled the plot in the event that was known as Honours Folly. The alliance between the lawful gods gave rise to a bastard god, Craevan, to which Pelor remained stern and cold towards - berating this evil amalgamation of the fallen angel. Though he tolerated him, but much like his paramour, Erathis, kept a close eye on the being for any mischief. Believing that he would one day betray the gods and cause Asmodeus to rise from the Nine Hells of Baator.
Amongst this time, and the end of the Giant-Dragon War - with the rise of Venarion, came the concerns of power amongst Asmodeus, who had fallen from grace and left his post in order to combat the evils and spread of the Abyss. Pelor led the charge, under the influence of Bane, to try and destroy Asmodeus - but was abetted by Venarion... and in the event of Honour's Folly, came the birth of a new deity, Craevan the Repentant One. Pelor did not trust this being that was the blood heir to Asmodeus, and of the Nine Hells ... and through his arduous labours for each of the gods, he proved himself, although at the beckoning of the gods, Pelor granted him the power of healing to his portfolio.
During the Founding, Pelor was one of the Prime Divinities that fought against the Primordial's, whose destructive forces made it impossible for the gods newly created races to survive. It was here that he found a brotherly kinship with Bane, as the champions of good, before his fall.
Once the Primordial's and were defeated by the Prime Divinities, it was safe for the gods to begin their grand project: the creation of new mortal races to inhabit Aetheus. But then came the Great War, began with Tharizdun seeking the destruction and deaths of the gods after the Abyss felt the changes in the Elemental Chaos, and the destruction wrought by the Titans in the early eons. Pelor aided Pansophia in sealing him away for the first time. Pelor also aided in the defeat of the Crawling King Torog, aided by Craevan, the child of Venarion and Asmodeus - to banish him into the Far Realm.
By the end of the Great War, and the first sealing of the Diabolical Ones - Pelor grew romantic relations with Erathis, as their worship grew stronger, and walked the earth together - though was often spurned by other goddesses that he approached. He grew furious at the kidnapping of Eostara the Spring Maiden, by Bane, whom stole her away and corrupted her essence into Persephone in Hades - in his ambitious ploy to assemble his armies of Banaethlin goblins against the world. But he organised a ploy with the other Seasonal Riders - a time in which had devastated the seasonal calendar of the world, known as the Long Twilight Years - aided by Freya, Vernoron and Boreas. For his reward, the Seasonal Riders blessed him to be the patron of farmers of the season - to which his compassion made Erathis furious, and while he was gone, she nursed and aided Melora, for whom started a new furious relationship in Pelor's absence.
In the time ahead, Pelor would spend his time half the year with Eostara, tending to her and healing her corruption as Persephone to take charge as the Seasonal Rider of Spring, and bring new beginnings to the world after winter... retrieving her from the Underworld, though portioning his powers at the time so the world would not descend into darkness. Empowering it into one of his divine chosen champions - and the other half of the year, he stayed in Hestavar, loving his fair maiden and queen Erathis together. He would return then every Winter Solstice and try to take back the Queen of the Underworld as she fell to her darker side, to return the seasons back into alignment. Although at the fury of Erathis.
In the Interim of these years, Lolth sought to take advantage as well as Zehir the Cloaked Serpent - devastating the elven kingdoms in a rampant war, and darkness spread across the regions. With Shelúne's aid, he scoured the world against these threats and the rise of the Ophidian Empire, corrupted by Zehir, he destroyed their civilisations and sought to annihilate the corruption spread by the abominable Yuan-Ti.
It is believed that Pelor came to empower and purify powerful Coatl at this time to combat against Zehir, and to aid in thwarting the rise of Bane and his goblinoid armies of Banaethlin - wishing for them not to become corrupted in the darkness that was prevalent in the ancient jungles of Malevolem.
During the Arcanum Era, Pelor and the other gods grew concerned by the expedited ambitions of the mortal races in conjuring and advancing the magic in which they gave them to newer and more bolder heights. Of course, they were pleased by the success and talent of their children - until they began to experiment beyond the sanctity of life. Pelor had watched the world grow and had seen life begin and end for countless living souls and see them pass to meet with them in their heavenly afterlife... but then he learned of the mortals attempts to corrupt the Spirit of Life, and extend it beyond its natural limitations, seeking immortality and becoming unwittingly evil liches. These archmages and necromancers violated the sacred thread of life given to them by the Gods - and Pelor summoned a crusade. At this time, Vecna's attempt at the rise of godhood was interrupted by the Beacon of Arms, an army of Crusader paladins under the banner of the Dawnfather. Led by Ios Raidan, later martyred as Saint Scourger, they successfully defeated Vecna and his forces, though very few members of the army remain - and Ios sacrificed himself to defeat Vecna's great vampire general Kas, and banish him to the Shadowfell. But Vecna was not destroyed - and the lives lost in the battle were used to fuel his dark machinations into rising and becoming a god.
After an Archmage (believed to be Vecna) broke open the Diabolical Ones prison, Pelor and the other Prime Divinities aided the citizens of the world against the Diabolical Ones. They ultimately succeeded, and began preparing for war.
At the beginning of the Divine War, Pelor and Craevan defeated Torog, the Crawling King. They lured him above ground, and Pelor pierced Torog's body with thousands of lances of sunlight. He was then banished to the Far Realm. His ancient order of paladins, the Lords of Sol, were believed to have been driven to extinction in the war with this being and his nefarious forces of torturers.
Pelor had come to Erathis' aid after she had committed deicide against the evil god Bane, destroying his body, but at the sacrifice of tens of thousands of voluntary martyrs - he spoke at her trial in front of Venarion and the other gods about her good intentions and that she was not a threat; only seeking to stop Bane from getting his hands on the Tablets of Fate lost when Asmodeus killed the creator god. Hearing the plea, Venarion stripped Erathis of her position, at her request, of being the Goddess of Law, but enabled her to keep her title as the Lawbringer.
Towards the end of the Divine War, Pansophia baited Tharizdun to her temple in Ankh'hera, and Pelor's battle with him was so violent it created the glass craters in which the lands of Ozon'Siiari and the Great Vasharan Desert currently stand, and raised the mountains. Pelor chased Tharizdun to a dark mountain, where the Rites of Prime Banishment were used for the first time. Pelor used all of his power to beat down Tharizdun, attach four Prime Trammels and banish him to the Abyss. The aftermath of his battle had reduced the majority of Aetha'Shar into a barren desert, destroying any sort of vestige of Abyssal energy and demon into atomised dust.
After the defeat of Tharizdun ended the Divine War, Pelor and the other Prime Divinities created the Divine Gate. The Gods retreated from the Material Plane, in the hopes that the gate would also prevent the Diabolical Ones from crossing over into the mortal realms again.

Physical Description

He wears a white cloak over an intricate golden plate armour. Where a head should be, instead, there is a burning star. An almost featureless male head burns within the corona. He comes across as a stern but fair god.
Artefacts & Relics Famed relics of Pelor include the maces known as Dawnstars, and the holy symbols known as the Shards of the Sun.
There are four Dawnstars. They were gifts from Pelor to four solars who rescued a paladin from the bowels of hell. The Shards of the Sun are described in Pelorian holy texts as "Pelor's gift, which I carry into darkness - a sun that never sets." The Rod of Sustenance: a relic of a legendary paladin, to which some of his holy bones were placed in the hilt of the mace, becoming the relic. It glows, removes disease, and regenerates the wielder. Ronnam's Icon was named after a Pelorian cleric who apprenticed as a smith. He created his holy symbol himself; it is flawed, a crude thing of mere bronze, but he wore it as a rebuke to those who revered only beauty. the icon has special qualities against undead, and its solar rays can turn into gold to use to feed the needy. It has been lost since 594AD, when the cleric Devlim Handorgan disappeared on a raid.

ASSOCIATED READING