While fantasy is a many-varied genre, religion in fantasy RPGs is often some mix-up of polytheism with Christian notions - including of the afterlife. The common assumption seems to be that while there are a multitude of gods, if you dedicate your life and belief in that god in particular you will end up in the specific afterlife of that god.

In Christianity, the situation is of course a bit more complex than that. One major precondition for entering the “good afterlife” (i.e. Heaven) is that you need to get baptized. For a long time, this left a rather awkward question mark for what happens to the souls of infants who died during or soon after birth - before they could receive a baptism. Folklore sometimes comes up with its own answers for that, but this was certainly a thing that people worried about.

RPG fantasy religions tend to deemphasize baptism since it’s such an iconic Christian rite - but this only further emphasizes the question of what happens to the souls of children who died before they could actually express faith in a particular deity. Does any particular deity claim these children then? Perhaps a deity worshiped by a parent - and if so, of which parent (are there “afterlife child custody” court cases)?

Of course, a fantasy setting does not need to have an afterlife people believe in. But if there are multiple afterlives maintained by different deities (or at least, if people believe that such afterlives exist), then people will worry about that.

  • GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 days ago

    The setting I run, a soul is created when the child takes its first breath. Because the soul is a reflection of the mind, it’s really a malleable thing, full of potential.

    It goes wherever it wants. Becomes whatever it wants. It had very little concept of a life, so it doesn’t viciously and maliciously seek vengeance on the living like mature deceased souls do. Often, they wander between realms and just end up in places. There are benevolent deities that send minor celestials to pick up these spirits and deliver them to safer destinations, or follow them around and make sure they don’t get into too much trouble.

    Maybe they grow up to be angels. Or devils. Or fey. Who knows? No one’s ever really definitively found out. The gods don’t take a particularly active role in this setting. They barely talk to their own clerics. They’ve had to take a more subtle approach, since the Cataclysm.

    • Jürgen Hubert@ttrpg.networkOP
      1·
      1 day ago

      One possibility that might be interesting is if religions have some sort of ceremony that “marks” children for the afterlife of their religion, such as baptism for Christianity. Without this ceremony, the souls of children - or people in general - will develop into other types of spirits, instead of moving on to the afterlife.

      • GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world
        2·
        24 hours ago

        A couple of my players have religious trauma, so this is something that one of my players wrote. Out of respect for them, I haven’t changed it.

        It’s something that I cherish, having the chance for my players to help create the broader world. It’s something special, having a fictional place that we share and make together.

    • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
      1·
      22 hours ago

      “Your Honor, my child’s soul does not belong Zorian, the Fifth Prince of Hell. My child’s soul belongs with us in our afterlife.”

      Zorian “It is established case law that if a child has yet to enter a religion. The soul belongs to me.”

    • Jürgen Hubert@ttrpg.networkOP
      3·
      2 days ago

      As the linked story shows, religious parents could be very distraught if they thought that their children would not end up in the same afterlife as they did.

      So what happens if the parents end up in different afterlives? It’s certainly something to ponder.

  • iamthetot@piefed.caEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    In my setting on Aedelor, there is Ziune, the god of souls and sometimes called the Ferryman. Much like his inspiration that I’m sure you can guess, he ferries the souls of dead creatures from Aedelor to their destined afterlife.

    How is that determined? A few ways. Sometimes, gods lay claim to certain souls, and Ziune will acquiesce to avoid conflict. Other times, it’s entirely at his whim. And then there are times when particularly powerful souls are fought over by the gods.

  • Isaac Ji Kuo@spacey.space
    2·
    2 days ago

    @juergen_hubert I think the simplest and most elegant solution is that the professed beliefs of the person dying is utterly irrelevant to which gods “get custody”. All the gods that actually exist are just doing their own thing, and whichever gets to you first gets dibs. Or maybe they tustle about it afterward if they feel like it.