Contributor
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Worship of Sarenrae is and has pretty much always been legal in Taldor. The Cult of the Dawnflower is illegal there, but it also isn't general worship of Sarenrae, it's a mildly heretical militant branch of her worship.Just worship Sarenrae in Taldor, I'm pretty sure.
It's a bit of a conundrum, though. Worship of Sarenrae used to be illegal there, when at least two scenarios were written, but now it's not, so I'm not sure what happened to the previous cultists.
At least one older source actually calls the faith itself out as forbidden.
Stavian I made worshiping Sarenrae illegal in Taldor, destroying all of her temples and places of worship in the Great Purge of 4528 AR and uniting most of Taldan society against Sarenrae’s followers by propagandizing them as treasonous spies.
This has obviously been removed from canon, but for a time, it was legitimate.
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Are there some special requirements for a character to join the Cult of the Dawnflower? The things I've read on it just talk about their goals and views but nothing specific about how one becomes a member.
Nope, nothing stopping ya! :) Great choice (and it comes up in *several* scenarios, to boot)!
As for the rest - the worship of Sarenrae in Taldor is forbidden "sort of" - there are some PFS scenarios in which this actually appears front and center in the plot, in fact. Others don't seem to put too much onus on it (i.e. if Kyra is there or somesuch).
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Neither the Inner Sea World Guide nor Inner Sea Gods mentions the prohibition at all; they even list Taldor as one of the major centres of worship of Sarenrae. So by time of their publication the stealth retcon was already in effect.
I suspect that somewhere during the transition from 3.5 to PF rules and re-issuing of campaign materials, someone decided that a non-evil nation prohibiting one of the most prominent Good deities with a guaranteed-to-be popular portfolio (Healing, Redemption) was just hard to defend. So the general ban was quietly downscaled to just a ban on this particular fanatic Sarenite sect, and then eventually abandoned altogether.
My personal take on it is that perhaps during Stavian I's reign he originally tried to ban all Sarenite worship, but eventually Taldor realized this was absurd and indefensible. So they did what Taldor typically does in such cases: alter the history books to show that it's always been the case that only this particular Qadiran fanatical sect was outlawed. Taldor doesn't acknowledge it's embarrassing lapses of common sense, it covers them up.
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Contributor
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If I recall correctly...
Sarenrae was one of James Jacobs's creations, and much like with Erastil, he wasn't too happy when he found out what other authors had done with her. He didn't like the hardcore-aggressive Cult of the Dawnflower, nor the idea that one of the kindest, most merciful, capital-G Good deities was outlawed in a major nonevil nation.
So, you're on the right track.
I do like the idea that it's a historical event that was later "written out of the history books". ^_^
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It has always been legal to worship Serenrae.
Where exactly is it said that Sarenrae worship was never outlawed? Because, (the very recent) Inner Sea Races has;
"The church of Sarenrae has had a rocky history in Taldor, and the goddess's worship was even outlawed for a time more than a hundred years ago. Despite this, Sarenrae remains a popular deity among Taldans of all classes, though few support the militant Cult of the Dawnflower, which seeks to 'cleanse' Taldor with sword and fire."
