Hakiyah

Hakiyah

The Honest, Hakiyah of the Sea Breezes. LG/unaligned¹ greater power of the wind, truth, discernment, divination and honesty (She/Her).

Pantheon: Zakharan

Realm: Mount Celestia / Lunia / Port Veracity (Port Veracity also been found in Arcadia and Mechanus)

Hakiyah (ha-KEE-ya), the mighty goddess of truth in the lands of Zakhara, is an intriguing power. Her teachings of honesty and the calm examination of truth are admired across Lunia and align with the values of integrity and justice. Her role as a goddess of truth underscores the importance of transparency, fairness, and seeking the facts before making judgments or decisions.

It’s interesting to note that, as with other Zakharan greater deities, Hakiyah transcends traditional notions of alignment. This reflects the complexity of truth itself – a force that can be harnessed for good or ill depending on the intentions and actions of those who wield it. Her typical morality fits with the hierarchy of Mount Celestia, but Her actions and pronouncements often surprise, and draw the disapproval of other powers of Lunia. In particular, while all of them are honest, some of her petitioners do not match the alignment of the plane, which can lead to some interesting intrigue. Her realm is in Lunia simply because She wills it so.

Hakiyah’s symbol, the cresting wave, evokes the idea of uncovering hidden truths and bringing them to the surface. Her appearance as a human, dressed in city-dweller’s attire, suggests relatability and approachability. Guiding others with a calm voice of reason, She embodies the role of a wise counsellor and a source of moral guidance.

Her realm, Port Veracity, is a windswept sea port on the shores of the Crystal (or Silver) Sea of Lunia. Surrounded by a silver sand desert and situated at some distance from the gate-town of Heart’s Faith, it resembles a typical Zakharan port, with a marketplace and a grand mosque. 

Hakiyah is on good terms with most of the powers whose realms lie near to her own, especially the Vedic power Brihaspati, god of learning, and the Norse power of justice Tyr.

Worshippers Alignment: Any, although there is a preponderance of Lawful worshippers outside the League of the Pantheon, and of Chaotic ones within it, where the faith is not tolerated.

Other Manifestations: Hakiyah’s principal manifestation is of a cold, refreshing wind, which can blow away dust and other concealing grime to reveal unseen material. Hakiyah also favours a whispering voice coming from within concealed spaces to reveal their presence, or sea-going birds, which She also employs as messengers. Her manifestations are always real – She never employs any kind of ruse or illusion, but only true, physical things. Serving her on the planes and on the prime are her devas and archons. In particular, Hakiyah uses a squadron of monadic devas as her messengers to the djinns of the Elemental Plane of Air, where She has developed quite a following because of her ideal of clarity and her love of the winds.

The Church

NB: The remainder of this entry refers to concepts from the Al Qadim, Land of Fate setting.

Clergy: Pragmatists, Ethoists, Moralists, Mystics, Hakimas.

Clergy’s Alignment: Any

Turn Undead: Prag: Yes, Etho: Yes, Moral: Yes, Mystic: Yes, Hakima: No

Command Undead: Prag: Yes, Etho: No, Moral: Yes, Mytic: No, Hakima: No

All ordered priests of Hakiyah gain a permanent +1 to their Wisdom scores, to a maximum of 18, as described in the Adventurer’s Guide to Zakhara.

Attitudes to the worship of Hakiyah, as to that of Haku, are strictly divided in Zakhara. In the Pearl Cities, the wealthiest and most prosperous settlements of Zakhara, Hakiyah is prominent. The locals feel the need for wisdom and guidance, and the priests of Hakiyah provide it. Elsewhere, the Honest and the Free are tolerated and respected as Enlightened gods. But in the League of the Pantheon, where Kor is the only master of wisdom, and where perfect freedom results from service, the two are worse than unpopular: their faith is considered execrable and heretical, and worshippers are persecuted. Although I do not know with certainty, I guess that the genies too divide into Pantheist and Free, and that their worship too is thus divided. In areas where Hakiyah’s is not a persecuted faith, her mosques, often shared with Haku or even Kor, are finely decorated, with the emphasis lying on the power of the written word. Midani script over lintels and at the tops of walls recounts the wisdom of the Loregiver and of the prophetic mystics of her faith. Pride of place is given to a lectern or legelium from which scrolls of such wisdom are read. Hakiyah’s mosques are sparsely adorned, apart from the beautifully inlaid script, with simple patterned tiling making up the majority of the decoration.

The priests of Hakiyah serve to dispense wisdom and advice, and to help those who are trapped in self-deceit. Often they act as counsellors as well as preachers, assisting others to find the truth within themselves that they have lost. Moreover, the faithful often act as librarians or museum curators, making knowlege accessible to the public. The lowest-ranking priests of the faith are called readers, and in ascending order, the subsequent titles are preacher, teacher, lecturer, advisor, tutor, master (or imam), and professor. The hierarchy is not strict, however, and there is mutual respect between all ranks. The titles are purely formal, and there’s nothing to stop one rank performing the task implied by the title of another, although readers are discouraged from actively influencing others without reference to scripture. The higher-ranked clergy also act as qadis, or magistrates, because of their strong love of truth.

Dogma: Hakiyah’s most simple dogma is that knowlege is desirable, and that from it comes understanding. There are a great many wise saws of Hakiyan clergy of the past recorded on sacred scrolls, which are read as a counterpoint to the Law of the Loregiver in mosques. The attitude to these scriptures was summed up by Kerim min Ajayib (who died some 200 years ago, stoned by a mob in Mahabba) when he wrote: “Alas for those who reject the scriptures, or who conceal them! For within these volumes is much that is holy, and much that is insightful, and nothing that is false or blasphemous. Alas for the deniers of truth!” His own writings have, in time, been added to the scriptures which he so praised.

Day-to-Day Activities: As others in Zakhara pray at morning, noon and dusk, so too do the worshippers of Hakiyah. In fact, their practices by and large conform to the ‘typical’ cycle of worship of the Zakharan populace in general. They prostrate themselves conscientiously at dawn and dusk, and may also do so at noon, although it is less common to do so. In areas where Hakiyah is considered strong, and especially in the Cities of the Pearl, a reading from a scroll of scripture is given by a priest at at least one of the gatherings each day, regardless of the what gods the faithful have assembled to worship. In the League of the Pantheon, the Hakiyans are in an awful situation: they cannot worship in public, for fear of attack or denouncement, nor in secret, because their faith precludes all concealment and falsehood. So a person wishing to honour Hakiyah in the Pantheist cities must do so quietly, and carefully. Such brave people are rare. All the worshippers of Hakiyah attend, or hold privately, reading-meetings weekly where they meditate on the Law and the other scriptures. The faithful of Hakiyah also maintain and lecture in the universities of the Pearl Cities, famed for their strong academic traditions throughout the Land of Fate.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: The faith of Hakiyah admits no special holy days other than the five days up to and including Yasad, and the Grand Caliph’s birthday. On both those days, special readings are given of the story of the First Caliph, and of his finding of the Law of the Loregiver. Also, upon Yasad and upon his birthday, the Caliph traditionally gives an address to the assembled pilgrims. Aside from the usual wishes of fortune and guidance that recur twice every year, the Caliph is sure each time to provide some original and appropriate short speech, for the interest of his people. When the transcript of these holy words has been taken, it is distributed to the four corners of the world, and the priests of Hakiyah and of Kor read the Caliph’s words to the people. This is cause for special attendance at the mosque or square where the speech is read.

It is also the tradition of the priests of Hakiyah to bless ocean-going ships before they set sail on any long voyage. It is said that Hakiyah’s knowledge of the sea will aid the sailors on the coming journey, and that with her aid, they will perceive only that which is truly there, and guide their vessel safe to harbour again. This rite is known as the Ceremony of the Ocean Wind, and is marked by adding a line from the book of the Wisdom of Fayiz the Sailor-Prophet on a blank page of the ship’s log.

Major Centres of Worship: There are obviously no mosques to the worship of Hakiyah at all in the League of the Pantheon. The largest Hakiyan mosque outside Huzuz, however, stands at Ajayib, which looks out over hundreds of miles of ocean to the Pantheist Cities. There, a monument has been erected to the memory of the prophet Kerim, such that a person reading the inscription – ‘In the land that is called Charity, he was given stones to eat and blood to drink’ – can look out over the ocean and think of the ruthless Pantheists far away. That, at least, was the intention. Many read the inscription and wonder why the Enlightened can’t all be friends. The mosque itself at Ajayib is well-appointed, being close by the harbour, where ships set sail south into the Bahr al-Izdiham and the Utter South, and east to Suq Bay, the League of the Pantheon and Afyal. Other mosques to Hakiyah stand at Huzuz, in the Court of Enlightenment. Members of the Soft Whisper, an all-female assassin movement, are thought to have considerable influence here.

Affiliated Orders: The Soft Whisper, as mentioned above, is an all-female assassin sect. Nobody is certain where the Whisper operate from, although suggestions that either the Hakiyan mosque in Huzuz or the Grand Caliph’s court itself acts as a base for them have met with little in the way of obvious denial. Some even claim that Grand Vizier Alayna, or Tanya, or one of the Caliph’s other wives, is the secret mastermind behind the group. In the Pearl Cities, a minor mystical movement called the Whistlers venerates Hakiyah. They meditate by standing facing either towards the sea or towards Huzuz and whistling or humming. This whistling is said to represent the sea wind that Hakiyah guides. They do not employ tunes or rhythms, or co-ordinate their devotions, but merely occupy themselves with their own personal meditation.

Priestly Vestments: Although there are no ‘official’ priestly vestments that priests of Hakiyah are required to wear, it is considered seemly for a Hakiyan priest to wipe his or her hands on a piece of clean embroidered linen before reading aloud from any holy scripture. To this end, such a cloth is often carried by the priest about his or her person, perhaps looped over an arm and secured with a pin. Also, there is a preference for city clothes over desert garments among the clergy, even in wilderness areas.

Adventuring Garb: When expecting to confront the forces of unenlightenment, and particularly the shaitan (fiends) loyal to Iblis, and the scorched elves of Lolath, a priest of Hakiyah is expect to carry a shield, even if only a small symbolic one, with some encouraging verse of holy writing on the back. Other than this, however, there is no requirement except modesty made of a priest of Hakiyah.

Canonical References:

• Land of Fate (Adventurer’s Guide to Zakhara (2e) p45–46 (background info on Zakharan pantheon), 48 (description of Hakiyah).
• Forgotten Realms wiki entry for Hakiyah.

Source: Alex Roberts and Jon Winter-Holt, based on material in Land of Fate.

1. The Al Qadim references do not place Hakiyah in a realm, and indeed Zakharan Great Gods do not have an alignment per se. While the lack of alignment of these powers does not mesh with the Great Ring cosmology. I’ve placed Hakiyah in Lunia with the caveat that she may not always behave in a predictable way. ↩︎