Straight to the soul blender.
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
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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.
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.
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.
@juergen_hubert My goodness. Your idea of "'afterlife child custody' court cases" ... 🫨
"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."
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.
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.
@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.