Sune
| Sune | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Aliases | Lady Firehair, the Lady of Love, the Princess of Passion | |
| Alignment | Chaotic Good | |
| Divine Rank | Greater Goddess | |
| Pantheon | Faerûn | |
| Portfolio | Beauty, Love, Passion | |
| Domains | 3E: Chaos, Charm, Good, Lust, Prude, Protection 4E: Love, Skill, Trickery 5E: Life, Light |
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| Home Plane | Great Wheel: Brightwater (Arborea) World Tree: Heartfire Quarter (Brightwater) World Axis: Brightwater (Gates of the Moon) |
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| Worshippers | Aesthetes, Hedonists Romantics, Lovers, Gentle Warriors | |
| Favoured Weapon | A Silken Sash (Whip) | |
Sune (pronounced Soo-Nee) is the Forgotten Realms version of Aphrodite, known for her vanity and casual flirtatiousness, she is both simultaneously extremely shallow while also being surprisingly deep.
Summary[edit | edit source]
Nobody really knows where she came from, other than she is one of those fundamental deities of a particular force rather than a particular people or set of ethics. So it explains why she could be as powerful as a greater deity without being notably militaristic or widespread.
Sune is renowned for being extremely superficial and flighty with her affections; like some Hollywood socialite, she has been romantically involved with practically every other non-destructive deity in every pantheon. While she is the goddess of love, it is really only the outward appearance of love. Meaning that she gives particular favour to handsome/beautiful worshippers while rejecting the ugly ones. Priests and Priestesses of her faith are rated by looks and scars or other unsightly marks are grounds for religious stigma.
Amongst the other Gods, despite her status as a greater deity, she is rarely considered worth the time. Like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian; Sune is considered a bit of a joke. Amongst other deities of Beauty and Love, particularly those from other Prime Material worlds, Sune is considered to be some backwater harlot with delusions of grandeur. Despite her apparent power and influence, she has little involvement in any of the major political struggles of the Gods.
However, the curious thing is that despite her somewhat shallow nature, she can be freaking protective over what she considers her portfolio. Rather than shrieking helplessly like some victimised maiden she is quite willing to get into armed conflict in situations surrounding the destruction of beauty.
Realm[edit | edit source]
Sune resides in the realm of Brightwater on the Plane of Arborea, sharing it with some of the other deities of hedonism and enjoyment. The realm is practically a cosmopolitan city full of romance, excitement and intrigue.
Sune's portion of it is called the Heartfire Quarter and is actually considered relatively quiet compared to the rest, which are comparable to Las Vegas, Ibiza, Magaluf or downtown Bangkok. Sune's portions would be more like some idyllic tourist locale, full of beauty and culture. Where the inhabitants can appreciate the finer things, rather than darting from thrill to thrill.
The realm was actually destroyed during the transition to 4e as part of the Spellplague, but Sune would rebuild it after seeking refuge with Selune in the Gates of the Moon which is ordinarily located in Ysgard.
Worshippers[edit | edit source]
Sune is worshipped by anyone who wants to be beautiful, or who likes beautiful things.
Heartwarders[edit | edit source]
The head honchos of Sune's religion are the Heartwarders. They make it their business to be sexy 100% of the time and it is their own personal mission to nurture love and intimacy in other people.
As a prestige class, it's quite awesome. Though it is hindered by some quite limiting entry requirements: You need to be Chaotic Good, you need to have access to 3rd level spells, you need four feats; three of which have nothing to do with spellcasting, and of course you need to worship Sune.
What this gets you is a FULL spellcasting progression along with 3/4 BAB and good Fort and Will saves.
You also get a class feature at every level: granting you bonuses on Charisma checks, spell penetration with Enchantment spells, the ability to buff people with a kiss, cry holy water, eventually become Fey, and every other level you increase your Charisma by one (totalling +5). So if you started out as a Sorcerer, this class is absolutely fantastic, and because of the prerequisites just to enter it you can't really be accused of powergaming.
Order of the Ruby Rose[edit | edit source]
Sune is rather unusual for a Chaotic Deity in that she sponsors lawful Paladins. Meaning that somebody somewhere is a bit hypocritical when your Deity tells you to live and love freely, but you use your powers to enforce law and order.
Ruby Rose Knights are a set of substitution levels for Paladin. Which is essentially the same as a Pathfinder archetype.
What this gets you is early access to the new Love Bite spell, allowing you to kiss someone from a distance... or bite them for 1 point of damage. It makes you immune to Charisma damage/drain and also allows you to give a hearty pat on the back to one of your companions for a +4 morale bonus on attacks, saves and skills for a minute. The trade-off is that your Paladin become less capable of dealing with diseases... which as a worshipper of free love, you'd think would come in handy.
| The Deities of Forgotten Realms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawful | Neutral | Chaotic | |
| Good | Ilmater • Nobanion • Torm • Tyr | Chauntea • Deneir • Eldath • Enlil • Gwaeron Windstrom • Lathander • Mielikki • Milil • Mystra • Shiallia | Lliira • Lurue • Selûne • Sharess • Sune • Tymora • Valkur |
| Neutral | Azuth • Helm • Hoar • Jergal • Kelemvor • Red Knight • Savras • Siamorphe • Ulutiu | Akadi • Ao • Auppenser • Gond • Grumbar • Istishia • Karsus • Kossuth • Oghma • Silvanus • Tempus • Ubtao • Waukeen | Finder Wyvernspur • Ibrandul • Leira • Mask • Shaundakul • Uthgar |
| Evil | Asmodeus • Bane • Gargauth • Gilgeam • Iyachtu Xvim • Loviatar | Auril • Bhaal • Myrkul • Shar • Velsharoon | Beshaba • Cyric • Garagos • Malar • Moander • Talona • Talos • Umberlee |
Hanali Celanil[edit | edit source]
| Hanali Celanil | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Aliases | The Heart of Gold, Lady Goldheart, Winsome Rose | |
| Alignment | Chaotic Good | |
| Divine Rank | Intermediate God | |
| Pantheon | Seldarine | |
| Portfolio | Art, Artists, Beauty, Enchantment, Romance | |
| Domains | 3E: Chaos, Charm, Good, Elf, Protection, Magic 5E: Life |
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| Home Plane | Arvandor (Arborea) | |
| Worshippers | Aesthetes, Elves, Lovers, Sorcerers | |
| Favoured Weapon | A Shining Heart (Dagger) | |
Hanali Celanil is the Elven Goddess of Love and Beauty. Though in this case it is the deeper meaning of love and not the superficial outward appearance that Sune represents.
Hanali is not quite as vain as Sune, though as a Goddess of beautiful things it is kind of her nature to get distracted by pretty things in windows. The difference is that she is chiefly concerned by the emotions they illicit in others, rather than get excited about the thing itself.
Clerics to Hanali perform sermons which can turn into impromptu "revels". The best celebrations happen every month under the full moon, where romantically involved members of the congregation experience the "full bloom" of their affections, and are said to be rosy cheeks for days afterward as their inner beauty manifests (really, they are probably blushing for days afterwards because they've just participated in a religious mass orgy).
As an Aspect[edit | edit source]
Hanali Celanil is considered by the Elves to be an aspect of an even greater goddess called Angharradh, who is the non-specific deity of pretty much everything Elven, and also the wife of Corellon Larethian. When taking the form of Angharradh, she combines her essence with two other Elven deities: Sehanine Moonbow and Aerdrie Faenya.
Unfortunately, by 4e it transpired that Hanali Celanil was in fact Sune all along (even though, being Hanali an interloper deity--like all the Seldarine--that was a hamfisted retcon), and that the Elven deity was only an independent aspect of the goddess of beauty in general. Meaning that much if the well intended conflict between the churches was entirely redundant. It also pretty much means that it is Sune who joins with the other Goddesses to create the super babe that is Corellon's wife. In 5e, however, this was re-retconned, and Hanali is now her own entity again.
Melira Taralen[edit | edit source]
| Melira Taralen | ||
|---|---|---|
| Golden lute on a blue background | ||
| Aliases | Patron of Bards and Minstrels, the Songstress | |
| Alignment | Chaotic Good | |
| Divine Rank | Lesser Goddess | |
| Pantheon | Seldarine | |
| Portfolio | Songwriting | |
| Domains | 2E: Chaos, Charm, Creation, Guardian, Healing, Protection, Summoning, Sun 5E: Knowledge, Life, Trickery |
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| Home Plane | Arvandor (Arborea) | |
| Worshippers | Bards, Half-Elves, Minstrels | |
Melira Taralen is the daughter of Hanali Celanil, though the father is unmentioned (supposedly Solonor Thelandira and Tarsellis Meunniduin both courted Hanali at one point, so they are both potential candidates) She is the apprentice of Corellon Larethian who thinks of her fondly enough that he set a place in the stars for her.
Melira does not have a traditional church, since she has a dislike for anyone without proven musical talent, so her "clergy" are mostly made up of Bards, while her true Clerics are unique in that the cannot turn undead unless they are singing or playing musical instruments. She also has few dedicated temples and instead has shrines in temples of her mother Hanali Celanil or located in guildhalls.
Because of her love of music, she has a rivalry with Milil, who she feels is unfairly encroaching onto her territory as the patron of elven arts, though they do work well together and have been known to perform duets.