Forgotten Realms/Fridge

Fridge Horror

• You know, in Forgotten Realms people in Toril who are faithless get sent to the Wall Of The Faithless for not believing in gods. In the most recent edition, the Abeirans got transposed bodily into Toril, where there have been no gods (that we know of) for thousands of years. Does that mean that the first Abeirans who died got damned for an eternity in a wall because deity worship was pointless when they were born?
  • I would say not necessarily. Belief does not imply existence and vice versa.
  • This troper would like to remind you that, in some cases, a deity can speak up for a soul that they particularly liked but no one had claimed, and that demons and devils both can harvest souls from the wall (devils orderly, demons in huge raids that would make the Warhammer 40,000 Orks proud). So some of the Abeirians may have been rescued by the likes of Sune or Ilmater.
  • Ed Greenwood's Guide to the Realms makes it plain that 'belief' in a deity means 'acknowledging that this deity does really exist, and having sincerely prayed to them at least once'. Its a really low bar to hurdle... especially in a world where the existence of gods is accepted as scientific fact, and only hardcore fanatics of a particular sect (the Athar) even try to believe otherwise.