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I'm planning to run a Dwarven religious ceremony in Highhelm for an upcoming game, so I was reading up on Torag. Apparently, he is not supposed to be on good terms with Sarenrae for some reason. Supposedly, the Dwarves don't understand sun worship.
Now, I get that Paizo likes to make divine relationships more interesting than "Team Good vs. Team Evil," and that's coo. But it seems to me that the Dwarves, with their Quest for Sky, ought to be more appreciative of, you know, *cool things in the sky*.
So in my ceremony, on the anniversary of the End of the Quest for Sky, the high priest of Torag gives jewels to priests of Desna and Sarenrae: a yellow topaz "to brighten the sun" and a white diamond "to make another star". Then the priests give these jewels back to the Dwarven King, to add to the royal treasury. This symbolizes that the Dwarves are Torag's gift to the surface world, and that the beauty of the sky is Torag's gift to the Dwarves.
I think this helps the Dwarves be more interesting than the standard xenophobic cave-dwelling smiths that they are in every other fantasy setting.
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It's less a dislike of the sun and more a personality conflict between the two deities. Sarenrae is big on forgiveness and redemption, while Torag's stance is more hardline. The enemies of his people are not to be forgiven of the atrocities they've committed, but crushed beneath his hammer and their families scattered to the winds so they can never again harm others, that kind of thing. This is especially true because the greatest enemies of the dwarven people are the orcs and giants, who on the whole look like they'll never change their rapacious and violent ways. Forgiving an orc is just inviting an axe to your neck. Trying to convince a giant to live in peace is just asking for a boulder to be dropped on you. Torag respects Sarenrae as all the other gods do (for her role in defeating Rovagug). He just feels her forgiving nature is weak and that her followers set themselves up for disappointment and failure by trusting creatures that should NEVER be trusted.
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It's less a dislike of the sun and more a personality conflict between the two deities. Sarenrae is big on forgiveness and redemption, while Torag's stance is more hardline. The enemies of his people are not to be forgiven of the atrocities they've committed, but crushed beneath his hammer and their families scattered to the winds so they can never again harm others, that kind of thing. This is especially true because the greatest enemies of the dwarven people are the orcs and giants, who on the whole look like they'll never change their rapacious and violent ways. Forgiving an orc is just inviting an axe to your neck. Trying to convince a giant to live in peace is just asking for a boulder to be dropped on you. Torag respects Sarenrae as all the other gods do (for her role in defeating Rovagug). He just feels her forgiving nature is weak and that her followers set themselves up for disappointment and failure by trusting creatures that should NEVER be trusted.
That's fair enough. I wouldn't say the Dwarven kings pay much attention to the teachings of Sarenrae's clerics. But I do want to emphasize the Dwarven connection to the sky here, and she's a sun goddess, so she's getting included.
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And that's totally cool. Like I said, virtually all races have respect for Sarenrae, even if it's grudging. It's why even though Asmodeus is a jerk, no gods lead crusades against him. Binding the god of destruction and the apocalypse lends you some SERIOUS street cred divinity-wise.
Actually, this has given me a neat little twist: there's actually only *one* cleric of Sarenrae in Highhelm, and he's old and gets sick before the ceremony -- which means that the PC cleric of Sarenrae has to step in as a replacement! :)