Solam did not believe in gods. He had never hidden that fact. He followed the Shamanic Doctrine, which held that all things possessed spirits, and that gods were merely one among all things. Perhaps they were powerful, but that did not mean they had truly transcended all things. Thus, Solam would show gods respect for their strength, but as for faith—forget it.
Moreover, Solam was an Arcane Knight. Although many inheritances of his profession had been lost, its core philosophy still originated from the Arcanists of Netheril. In that era, their view of gods was very simple. They believed that deities of the planes were not fundamentally all that different from mortals. Yes, they were unimaginably powerful, but they were not gods. After all, they could fail, feel sorrow, and even die. More pitifully still, their existence depended on weak mortals. Without mortals, there would be no gods! As gods, they had to please their followers, and in order to gain more followers, they would even fight one another endlessly like children.
So, deep down, Solam had never thought gods were all that remarkable. He even found these so-called gods pitiful. Their existence had to be sustained by other people—was there anything more pathetic than that? At any rate, Solam could not accept having his life and death held in someone else's hands.
In short, Solam had always harbored a pride toward gods that even he himself found difficult to notice.
But among all gods, there were still some worthy of Solam's heartfelt reverence, such as Ilmater, the God of Suffering. In Solam's eyes, this god might have been the purest of them all.
If Solam had to use one word to define Ilmater precisely, he felt that "good person" was the most fitting term.
Ilmater willingly bore the suffering