Lathander

The Morninglord holds a vast divine portfolio including dawn, youth, resurrection and renewal, spring, athletics, and creativity. Theologians believe that the entity now known as Lathander was originally a Netherese sun god known as Amaunator who, before the fall of Netheril, underwent some kind of reincarnation renewal of his own to become this more powerful version of himself.

History

Amaunator was a lawful neutral god of daylight and justice, who enforced the rightful rule of kings and the law. While the Netherese empire spiraled into tyranny and the misuse of magic, his power and influence waned. Under a new name, and declaring himself the god of the dawn, he took up new ideals and spread his influence into the surrounding lands, particularly the kingdoms along the sword coast.

Dawn

Lathander's nature slowly changed and began to grow as new worshippers prayed to him. They began to associate him with the idea of a new day and new possibilities. Lathanders opposition to the corruption of magic, particularly necromantic and shadow magic, tied the dawn to representing the banishment or overcoming of darkness and shadows and set him ideologically against the undead.
Worshippers began to ask his blessings from the creative cycles of the world: dawn, spring, and new births became part of Lathander's portfolio. Blessings of creativity and inspiration (with their association with change and chaos) eroded his previous link to laws and the rule of kings. Although he can't claim primary power over it, many associate him with the powerful and universal concept of hope.

Light

Many of Lathander's blessings include some aspect of magical illumination. His blessings are generally simple and universal, and his faithful create lamps and ward-lights that almost any non-evil creature can activate. He is willing to share his power with good-aligned deities to the point that spells like protection from evil, sanctuary, and light are almost ubiquitous with non-evil clerics.
On the other hand, few of Lathander's protections are secret or hidden, and they can be easy for enemies to notice or avoid.
Additionally, the common decoration of gold on temples and vestments of Lathander can draw the greedy or covetous, and thefts from the temples of lathander, or materialistic and corrupt clergy are not uncommon.

Rebirth

Lathander represents rebirth attuned to the natural cycles of the world. Some of Lathander's priesthood specialise in resurrection magic, although if the soul holds on to grudges or negative emotions, the process can be more difficult. In many cases, the resurrected may be missing particularly traumatic memories, or lack that emotional connection to their previous traumas. In some cases the resurrected may instead be reincarnated, often as a much younger or newborn person. As such, the church of Lathander often runs and provides funding for orphanages, where children without parents join those who were reincarnated into young children without the memories, or the connections of identity, to their old lives. In some locations, the Morninglord's temples also run creches or schools for children whose parents must go out and work, particularly for dangerous jobs like adventurers or soldiers.