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 standards according to which judgement was handed were whether, which, and how honestly someone followed a certain deity during its lifetime. If a petitioner did not have a specific patron deity in life (most mortals were polytheistic), they were taken in by the deity who was most closely aligned with their moral and ethical outlook. Those who never paid homage to any deity, or betrayed their god, were deemed Faithless or False.

Normal Petitioners
Normally, a soul of a dead mortal went to the Fugue Plane. Once there, it waited until the deity it followed during lifetime or an agent of the same came and took it to its final destination, that is, the realm of its deity. In the deity's realm, the petitioner became a full petitioner with all the attributes of one.

Attributes
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.

Faithless
A "Faithless" was the soul of someone who'd never believed in a deity, for example by not knowing that they existed during their lifetime (though this is rare, as the deities are very active forces on Toril), or only paying lip service to one. They were sent to form the Wall of the Faithless as its bricks for punishment for their lack of faith by Kelemvor. They were eventually dissolved by the wall but could, at least in theory, leave the Fugue Plane.

False
A False was the soul of someone who intentionally turned from their faith in life. These were judged and punished according to their deeds in life. The punishment was enacted by Kelemvor and Jergal but the content was determined by the deity the petitioner swayed from. It always included an assignment as the eternal labor force in the City of Judgement. The punishment ranged from something light, such as to work as an escort, to the sort of torture that demons were incapable of envisioning.

A False couldn't be resurrected without the consent of the deity from whom the soul swayed in life and only after that deity negotiated with Kelemvor.

Like the Faithless, the False were also capable of leaving the Fugue Plane, at least in theory.

Others
Devils were allowed by contract with Kelemvor to negotiate with souls while they were on the Fugue Plane. These souls could bargain for a position in the Nine Hells, starting at the bottom as a lemure or somewhere higher depending on the power of the soul and outcome of its bargain.

Demons sometimes attacked the Wall of the Faithless to harvest from it and occasionally raid the City of Judgement to kidnap some of its denizens. Kelemvor would tolerate to this a point - but would move against the demons, with help from Jergal's servants as well as Baatezu, when collateral damage became too high for him to endure or if his divine servants were directly at risk. Sometimes after an attack he would counter with his own sorties into the realms of the Abyss that they came from. Petitioners who were brought into the Abyss became manes and, unlike other petitioners who were unable to leave their plane, were capable of leaving the Abyssal plane.

A vhaerath was a special type of petitioner who followed Vhaeraun. They not only retained their skills from life but could also leave Vhaeraun's, realm Ellaniath.

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