Dawnbringers

Dawnbringers

The Dawnbringers are the faithful of Lathander the Morninglord — clerics, crusaders, and holy warriors sworn to destroy evil, drive back the undead, and carry hope and the light of the dawn into the dark places of Faerûn. Ancient and far-flung, the order keeps temples and chapterhouses across the Sword Coast and the Western Heartlands, but in recent decades its highest seat has come to rest in Elturel — drawn, the faithful say, to the one city where the light never dies.

Beliefs

• Every dawn is a fresh chance; despair is the only true defeat.
• Evil must be opposed wherever it is found — and the undead, which mock true life, destroyed without mercy.
• To stand idle while evil prospers is itself a sin.
• Leave the world brighter for those who come after: nurture, build, and give more light than you found.
• Temper zeal with wisdom, and guard ever against pride.

Methods

• Hunt the undead, fiends, and the servants of tyranny — chief among them the Cult of the Dragon, whose founder's undying legacy the order has opposed since its earliest days.
• Greet each sunrise with the Dawn Song, and carry that hope to the fearful and the grieving.
• Shield temples, pilgrims, and the innocent; raise up new hope where the old has failed.
• Win with light what cannot be won with the sword, and lead always by example.

Desired Outcome

A Faerûn where the undead are ash, tyranny is broken, and no soul need face the night without the promise of morning.

Structure

The Dawnbringers are two arms of one faith:

• The Priestly Order — the ordained clergy who tend the temples, greet the dawn, heal, and shepherd the faithful. Their titles ascend from Awakened (novice) through Dawngreeter, Dawnlord, High Dawnlord, Dawnmaster, and Morninglord to the order's supreme priest, the Sunrise Lord, seated at Elturel.
• The Militant Order — the Soldiers of Light, who take the fight to the enemy. Baelgrum serves in this arm.

To rise in either arm, a Dawnbringer makes pilgrimage to the seat at Elturel and is raised by the Sunrise Lord's hand, renewing a solemn oath of service with each elevation.

Militant Ranks

Rank 1 – Kindler

You carry the first spark. Squires, fresh converts, and the newly-sworn begin here — tested on patrol, on the hunt, and in the tending of shrines while elders take your measure.

Rank 2 – Aster Knight

You are a full Soldier of Light, trusted to hold the line against the undead and the cultist, to bear the order's colors, and to draw upon its armories and healers.

Rank 3 – Dawnward

A proven hunter. You lead a lance of your fellows on your own judgment — running down dracolich-cults, undead nests, and the servants of the dark without waiting on orders.

Rank 4 – Sunmarshal

You command the order's soldiers across a whole march or city, coordinate with allied temples and knighthoods, and train the Kindlers who come after you.

Rank 5 – The Dawnbreaker

The supreme commander of the militant order, seated at Elturel beneath the Sunrise Lord. Where the Dawnbreaker rides, dawn is said to follow. There is only one.

Renown System

Gaining Renown:

• Destroy undead, fiends, or the servants of the Cult of the Dragon.
• Bring hope to the fearful — save a village, lift a curse, shelter the grieving.
• Keep the order's rites and greet the dawn faithfully.
• Reclaim a lost temple, relic, or holy site of the Morninglord.
• Show mercy where it is earned, and strength where it is needed.
• Uphold an oath in the face of temptation or despair.

Losing Renown:

• Consort with, raise, or spare the undead and fiends.
• Spread despair, or abandon the innocent to save yourself.
• Act from pride, cruelty, or vengeance rather than duty.
• Let evil prosper through your inaction.
• Break faith with the order or its allies.

The Seat at Elturel

The Sunrise Lord's seat, the Dawnspire, stands within Elturel, and the city's Dawnbringers speak warmly of the Companion — the second sun that never sets — as a blessing that "feels like the Morninglord's own regard." Some quietly wonder whether it is a sign that the Morning is growing into the Noon; orthodox clergy in the north find such talk unseemly, but few who have stood in that unsleeping light care to argue. High Overseer Thavius Kreeg has been a generous patron of the order, and the party's bastion at Nuts Deep sits within sight of the Dawnspire's light.

Notable Members

• Baelgrum – Dwarf cult-hunter and warrior-cleric of the militant order; a recent and celebrated convert
• The Sunrise Lord of Elturel – supreme priest of the order (as yet unmet)
• The Dawnbreaker – supreme commander of the Soldiers of Light (as yet unmet)

Relationships

• Lathander – The Morninglord, the god they serve
• Cult of the Dragon – Their oldest and most-hated enemy; the order has hunted the Cult since the days of its founder
• Order of the Gauntlet – Kindred good faction; shared war on the Cult and the undead
• Hellriders and the paladins of Torm in Elturel – Allies in the field under Elturgard's law and the Creed Resolute
• Deez Nuts – Through Baelgrum, the party is tied to the order; their squires are drawn from Elturel's light-temples

Appearances

• Session 40 – A Temple of Lathander (the Dawn Vault) is established over Wave Echo Cave
• Session 52 – Baelgrum, drawn toward the faith, is expected to take a squire from Elturel's light-temples