Hikkal ensures that the things that are stay as they well should be. The ends will always and forever justify the means. If a parent tells their young to stay out of the ocean, Hikkal is the understanding that only hubris would allow the child to drown. If Volqui’s sweet whispers threaten to tip the delicate power balance between mortals and Gods, then her tongue is a thing to be done away with. Should Libero’s frequent traipses down to play with the mortals further blur the line between the flowers of Josmir and the seeds that fall to the ground, then the traitor should be locked away where he can no longer grow. And should his own sisters tear themselves away from the body they once shared with him in protest, then he would hunt them to the very ends of the world to avenge his lost wholeness.

      The wholeness that Hikkal and his sisters shared was one body: the divine Kayahikkalmeera, Conjoined Deity of Justice, Order, and Discipline. When his sisters left, they took with him the pieces that made him strongest. Without justice, the corrupt officer erodes the public’s faith in their own guard. And without discipline, kings order tax collectors to take and take and take until there is nothing left to give. And while order has continued to thrive, its influence is waning. The Imperium is halved in size. The Scar of the World renders much of it uninhabitable. Men become Gods, and Gods sprout out from the soil as though they were dreamed up by mortal thought. Things are beginning to change, and Hikkal sees the chaos that these changes may bring on the horizon.

      I admit my own biases: I struggle with Hikkal. He is the direct foe of my patron. I have gone against his plans and known what it is to suffer at his hand. But I have also looked him in the eye and come to the strange realization that he views his heavyhanded rule as an act of sacrifice. Without order, there is no society; and its master is far from benevolent. You will not swim if there is a chance that you might drown. He would first take your limbs so that you could never wander again

      He has learned to live well enough without his own arms and legs. Under Hikkal’s guidance, you will do the same. You will have no choice.

      And in truth, I suppose he is right. All will be as it should be. Even if the God of Order has forgotten that Josmir himself marches ever forward, never content to be where he has already been.

       -From the Oracle Notes of Kaelmorn Teverin