Petitioner

Petitioner was the term applied to a dead person's soul that made it in some way or another to a plane of existence other than the Material Plane.

"Petitioners don't care about whether they are killed in the name of the Blood War or in the name of justice. They're just deaders."

- The Declaration of the Ring-Givers

Becoming a petitioner
"I don't see it as death so much as a chance for a new life."

- Aroukis, a petitioner of Apollo sharing their view on being a petitioner.

Upon dying, a mortal's soul was transported to the Fugue Plane. Once there, these souls counted as petitioners but didn't have the attributes of one yet. They became full petitioners after entering the plane of their respective deities.

Other petitioners received judgement from Kelemvor, the assigned arbiter of the placement of the dead. The standards by which such judgements were determined were based on whether or not a mortal followed a deity, which deity they chose, and how honestly they lived according to its ideals during their lifetime.

Normal Petitioners
Normally, the soul of a dead mortal went to the Fugue Plane. Once there, it waited until the deity it followed during its lifetime, or an agent of the same, came and took it to its final destination, that is, the divine realm of the deity. Souls could not be deceived in any way into following agents of a god not their own, instantly recognizing those of their deity and innately knowing they were supposed to follow them, not that divine agents were capable of taking souls that didn't belong to them.

Attributes
Once in their deity's realm, a petitioner became a full petitioner with all the attributes of such. A normal petitioner served its deity and interacted with their realm in varying capacities, based on the nature of the deity they served. Petitioners didn't usually remember their previous life, though there was some evidence to suggest that they retained strong emotions connected with those they knew in life, such as past lovers or family members. If their loved ones followed the same deity, or pantheon, they could be reunited.

Some petitioners were remodeled upon entering the realm of their deity. For example, followers of an elven deity took on the form of handsome elves with exaggerated, fey-seeming features, even if they weren't elves in life. A similar thing occurs with petitioners of the dwarven deities, appearing as sturdy dwarves. Barring resurrection, a petitioner could not leave the realm of their deity, though allied deities allowed their petitioners to mingle with loved ones who served another deity. While most resurrected petitioners didn't usually retain their memories of their time being dead, Fflar Starbrow Melruth retained vague memories.

Duties
As mentioned above, a petitioner served their deity in varying capacities, based on the nature of the deity. Some had a more relaxed afterlife, while others were called upon to defend the realm. Petitioner pursuits could also be similar to those it had in life. For example, petitioners of Oghma would pursue knowledge in the vast libraries of the Hall of Knowledge, petitioners of Tempus engaged in battle, and those of Arvandor spent their days feasting on its bounty and communing with its nature.

Unclaimed Petitioners
If a petitioner did not have a specific patron deity in life (most mortals were polytheistic), they were taken in by the one they gravitated to the most. In some cases, the standards by which a soul could be claimed were incredibly low. Any form of worship, whether a prayer or curse made in a time of strife, was a sufficient basis for a god to do so. Even if active interest in the divine had never been expressed throughout life, a patron deity could be chosen at the moment of one's death.

There were few beings, mortal or immortal, who wished for a soul to go unclaimed. The gods greatly desired mortal souls, and some would try unorthodox tactics to claim even those that would rightfully go to other gods, let alone those no one else wanted. Lurue the Unicorn Queen for example tried to find the souls of those who died alone in forests and other wild places, attempting to take them to her realm if no one else would. Many gods considered certain deeds "acts of worship" even if the mortal in question did not intend them as such. Deities of the dead would even try to claim souls by conducting certain funerary rites.

Standards were known to be particularly low in regards to infants and chilren. If they noticed or were infatuated with one deity, whether by an associated symbol, image, item, ritual, priest or actual manifestations more than any other, that deity received their soul. This also occured in cases where they were consecrated to a deity and favored no other more. The innocent spirits of the stillborn and sacrificed children had a patron protector and nurturer in Zaphkiel, leader of the celestial archons.

Even so, the gods did have standards for which souls they would claim, and those deemed unworthy by whatever standard they applied would not be collected. If no deity came to claim a soul, which depending on the god took somewhere between a day and a tenday, their fates were decided by Kelemvor. Those who never revered any deity or betrayed their god were deemed Faithless or False, and it was these souls who, as opposed to wandering the Fugue Plane, were compelled to enter Kelemvor's city and face his judgement.

Faithless
The label of "Faithless" referred to the soul of a deceased individual who had no patron deity. This meant that the soul in question lacked any true personal attachment to any deity, which could be for different reasons. For example, only paying lip service to one without ever truly believing would constitute faithless behavior, as would rejecting all gods as unworthy as worship.

This could also mean that the soul in question never believed that deities existed during their lifetime, having firmly denied their existence, though this was exceedingly rare given that deities were very active forces on Toril. Even this would not ensure one would be deemed Faithless however. Indeed, there were many faiths throughout Faerun that did not strictly worship gods that one could be devoted to, and doing so would not make one Faithless.

Some wizards and sages did not venerate Mystra as such, but rather worshiped the Weave itself, and it could be argued that Siamorphe's faith was non-theistic. There existed cults to monsters such as beholders, liches who worshiped older, more famous liches as role models, and religions which venerated magic items. By necessity all druids possessed patron deities, but not all distinguished the divine forces from nature itself, while the cult of the Cosmic Balance worshiped the concept rather than a specific god.

Someone who dedicated their lives to a certain way of living without specifically worshiping or spurning gods had a chance of being picked up by an appropriate deity. Souls who followed no particular ethos who would receive Kelemvor's judgement on where they would go. Rather than those who followed no gods, the truly faithless were those who refused any sort of patron until the very end, and unless otherwise taken, it was for them that Kelemvor reserved his most infamous punishment.

All Faithless souls received the same sentence from Kelemvor; if no deity came to claim the soul in question he disposed of them. Such a soul could still be resurrected or reincarnated before Kelemvor was finished dealing with them, which took about one to ten days, after which they were used to form bricks in the living Wall of the Faithless around his City of Judgement, held with a supernatural greenish mold that prevented escape and broke down their soulstuff until all consciousness was dissolved into the plane. Only divine intervention (such as through a miracle or wish spell symbolizing such) could save the soul at that point.

False
The label of "False" referred to the soul of a deceased individual who intentionally turned from a faith they believed in. This did not mean that all who had a change of heart were branded as false, but to actively change religions haphazardly or quickly was likely to garner one a reputation for weakness of faith and risk the label. Like souls without a particular ethos, those who somehow transgressed in the eyes of their favored deity would need to wait for a deity to take them or for the potential centuries it might take for Kelemvor to determine where they would be placed.

False souls were judged and punished for all eternity to a life in Kelemvor's packed metropolis according to their deeds in life. The punishment was enacted by Kelemvor and Jergal and it always included an assignment as the eternal labor force in the City of Judgement, but the content was determined by the deity the petitioner swayed from and depended on the severity of the offenses.

In some cases these were relatively light sentences, such as patrolling the city for unauthorized guests, escorting visiting baatezu or other lost souls, and caring for those they disliked. In others they were tormented in ways even the cruelest demon would be surprised by and which would kill a living mortal. As part of his agreement with the devils, Kelemvor allowed a few groups of baatezu to ocassionally torment the city's citizens. The truly False souls were punished the same as the truly Faithless, with eternal condemnation to the Wall of the Faithless.

Like the Faithless, the False were also capable of leaving the Fugue Plane, at least in theory. While technically sent to be punished "forever", it would be more accurate to say "indefinitely". In very rare cases, the sentence lasted until a deity sent servitors to "harvest them for a new life", giving the soul another chance. Like the Faithless only divine intervention could grant one judged as False new life, and only after that deity negotiated with Kelemvor. Only Kelemvor could grant the False respite and he was not known to change his mind on his sentences, but even he, for reasons unknown, sometimes removed souls from their usual fates to act in his service, reincarnating them in the mortal world.

Fiends
Small enclaves of baatezu devils existed on the Fugue plane and were allowed, by contract with Kelemvor, to negotiate with souls while they were there. While not permitted to hurt or trick them (normally), they could explain the situation they were in and bargain with them. The baatezu sought souls that could be used to create lemures, the lowest devils, and generally only particularly wicked mortals could be subject to the transformation.
 * Devils:

While not the most appealing of offers, souls who for whatever reason feared for their future in the hands of their own vile deities might be tempted to consign themselves to the Nine Hells. Early or automatic promotions could be haggled for depending on the power of the soul and outcome of its bargain, as could other benefits like the performance of devilish services against still-living enemies or even aid for friends and family. The conversion rate was low for the baatezu, but enough souls died across Faerun that making the offers was still worth it, and just because it was illegal didn't mean some baatezu wouldn't steal souls.

Before transformation the average hellish petitioner, sometimes called a "soul shell", were ghost-white shades, although not insubstantial wisps. They were (as much as other petitioners) beings of flesh and bone, and in fact slightly rubbery. The term referred to the fact that they were mere shells of their former selves, disheveled, terrified and as wounded as they were in life. After the paperwork was done, a program of torture was enacted to strip away their humanity and individuality and drain them of divine magical energy before what was left of the quivering husk was dumped in a putrid processing chamber and reborn as a lemure.

While the lawful baatezu devils had an agreement with Kelemvor allowing portals to the Nine Hells to open his plane, the chaotic tanar'ri demons had no such arrangements, obtaining souls their own way. On occassion, a demon lord made a portal to the Fugue Plane from the Abyss, whereupon servitor demons attacked the Wall of the Faithless and raided the City of Judgement. The doomed souls ripped from the Wall and kidnapped denizens of the city would be dragged back to the Abyss to become manes, among the lowest examples of demonkind.
 * Demons:

Kelemvor would tolerate these attacks up to a point, generally just defending his realm through his servants, those of Jergal, and the baatezu who were always ready to battle their ancient foe. However, if attacks became too frequent, caused too much collateral damage, the demons became too greedy in their theft, some of his or Jergal's divine agents were taken, or he simply felt the need to teach the demons a lesson, he would either step up the defenses of the realm or perform a counterstrike. He preferred raiding sorties and campaigns made to make the rulers of the Abyss seem incompetent, harrassing as many of the demons as was possible. Even so, these attacks were just to keep the number of attacks on his city low and were rarely needed.

Ironcially, being stolen by demons could end up in the salvation of such a soul, for if any deity became interested in such a figure they might send servitors to wrest the freed soul from their kidnapper before giving it new life and watching to see what they did next. This often happened to souls of those known for being innovative, creative, or daring.

Malicious mortals spirits that came to the Barrens of Doom and Despair or the Blood Rift were reborn as soul larva, the currency of the fiendish planes who could be used to create other types of fiends, including lemures or dretches. Kelemvor might see fit to impose this form on an unclaimed soul before casting the squirming worm into the dust.
 * Larva:

Unusual Petitioners
Worshipers of the gods Tyr, Torm, and Ilmater became lantern archons when they died.

Petitioners of Brightwater became creatures highly similar, if not identical to, bacchae, revelers caught between human and bestial natures.

A vhaerath was a special type of petitioner who followed Vhaeraun.

Petitioners of Auril and Talos took on almost elemental forms, appearing as cold spirits for the former and sentient lightning for the latter.

The souls of most wild creatures went to the celestial plane of Arvandor, although there were many guardinal paragons in the House of Nature that acted as the patron of different creatures. Certain deities were also known to gather animal souls to act as willing and brief messengers or helpers before their spirits moved on. These included but were not necessarily limited to: Silvanus, Chauntea, Mielikki, and Eldath of the House of Nature; Sheela Peryroyl of the Green Fields; and Malar of Fury's Heart. Pets and familiars were exceptions to this rule, and either went with with their bonded partner's soul or to whatever plane best suited their attitudes and the qualities they gained or improved while in service.
 * Animals:

The souls of certain planes and gods were known to take on the forms of animals. Petitioners of the House of Nature initially appeared as they did as mortals, but over the course of centuries gradually took on more bestial features until they became Celestial creatures. The evil gnome god Urdlen turned his petitioners into small, blind moles with adamantine claws. Malar, and to a lesser extent Umberlee, transformed their petitioners into particularly fierce and primal versions of normal animals. Like the fiends, Malar also stole souls from the Fugue Plane before forcing them into innocuous animal forms for his own petitioners to hunt.

Unusual Attributes
Some types of petitioners possessed abilities unusual for their kind.

Certain types of petitioners were able to leave their home plane. These included those that became members of outsider races, such as lantern archons, larva, lemures, and manes, and others like the vhaerath, who could leave Vhaeraun's realm of Ellaniath.

Certain types of petitioners retained the abilities they possessed in life, although not necessarily the context for how they had them. These included petitioners from the House of Knowledge and the vhaerath.