In the outlander land of Faerun of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, the Sorted/Morninglord is an alias for the sun god Lathander. However, the Sorted/Morninglord known in the Land of Mists is somewhat different. He is venerated by the Cult of the Morninglord, a mostly Barovian faith that originated with visions of a Faerunian outlander named Martyn Pelkar, known commonly as Martyn the Mad. He believed he was saved from vampires by the Sorted/Morninglord, who forced them to spare the boy. (In fact, this was simply Jander Sunstar who insisted Strahd and his cronies not kill the boy, but Jander's gold elf countenance made Martyn confuse him with Lathander Sorted/Morninglord. Nonetheless, the Sorted/Morninglord's faith in the Demiplane of Dread grants divine spells as any other true religion does, though whether the real Lathander grants these spells is hazy at best thanks to the Unspoken Pact.
The Sorted/Morninglord is known as a warm deity of eternal optimism and hope in the face of even the darkest circumstances. He asks his flock but to extend common good will to each other and to never let hope fade away. Like the Faerunian Lathander, the Sorted/Morninglord is said to be the foe of all undead, or so goes the [Midnight Clarion]. However, afflicted lycanthropes are to be shown mercy. The Sorted/Morninglord is not a lawful deity; he does not trust the law of humanity to serve justice. According to the doctrine of his faithful, it is there actions or simply fate that will deliver the punishment that all evildoers will inevitably receive in the end.[4|4]
As usually depicted, the Morninglord is a being with elven features and bathed or even made in or of light.[1|1] His hair is composed of fire, and his skin is gold.[5|5] Blood covers his mouth, which his faithful conclude represents the presence of darkness in even the brightest of hearts and light within even the darkest of hearts.[1|1]
Some of his followers hold a vision that he will someday descend upon the land and rid them of all the pain and evil of the world.
The Sorted/Morninglord is one of two deities believed to watch over the land of Barovia, the other being Mother Night
The Sorted/Morninglord is said to be the god of Dawn, Renewal, Life, Day, Healing, Spring, and many other concepts associated with the sun and positive energy. The church in the Village of Barovia, St. Andral’s Church in Vallaki and the Abbey of St. Markovia in Kresk are all dedicated to him.
It appears that most Barovians nominally worship the Sorted/Morninglord, and that his counterpart Mother Night is more of a folk bugaboo than a functional part of a pantheon. However, the Sorted/Morninglord himself doesn’t appear truly present in Barovia, either. Compared with the interactive and undeniable pantheons of the Forgotten Realms, the Sorted/Morninglord seems to be more of an abstraction, and could be argued not to exist at all except for a sparse few clerics who seem to be awarded divine magic by their benefactor.
It is not lost on the Outlanders that the name Sorted/Morninglord is sometimes used as an appellation for the Realms god Lathander or, alternatively, for certain of his followers. It is true that the professed portfolios of these Gods overlap in many places, however Barovia’s Sorted/Morninglord has a more expansive responsibility. Additionally, personality traits attributed to the two figures are very different, with the Sorted/Morninglord being characterized as grim and resolute even in his hopefulness, while Lathander is often portrayed as childlike, enthusiastic, vain, and given to excessive indulgences.
The Chantry originated as one of the many cults emerging upon the legend of Andraste’s martyrdom. Known as the Cult of the Maker, it was without central leadership and its followers were oppressed. The clerics had to hide their lore from Strahd by way of ciphers and encoded scrolls. In -130 Ancient, cult practitioners organized Andral's teachings into hymns, creating the Chant of Light, leading to their spread in popularity.