Though not a massive pantheon, the gods of the Bakluni are well represented in the daily lives of their people. They pay respect to their deities with a wide variety of offerings and obeisance. With Piety being a trait to which all honorable Bakluni aspire, or at least want to appear to aspire, it is not surprising that the temples and their mullahs discuss passionately the nature of orthodoxy and the truest path by which divine enlightenment can be reached. This religious passion, while a noble thing, can lead some to rationalize deeds from which even the most devout Mullah would recoil. It is upon these throes of religious passion that fiends of hell and the abyss gain footholds upon Oerth and cults arise as dark reflections of the Bakluni gods. Graz’zt makes a dark mockery of Istus, uttering his own blasphemous commands to the eager ears of cultists who foolishly believe they are doing the Lady of Fate’s bidding. It is for this reason that the Baklunish region suffers a larger quantity of cults than do most other regions and it is why the Mullahs are swift to punish these tools of heresy. It is perhaps this very adversarial environment that caused the first Hakima to be blessed with “The Sight.”

A word originally in ancient Baklunish meaning wise, or insightful, Hakimas were often women skilled in midwifery. Most temples had Hakimas on staff and even the poorest of villages boasted at least one such woman. Searches in the ancient records of the Empire revealed no precedent, so it is believed that the Sight is a recent development. Hakimas are gifted with the ability to see and hear the truth of matters and even the most skilled liar cringes at the presence of these wise women. In the years since their first appearance, Hakimas have become the “one honest soul” who can speak out with impunity against the edicts of the Mullahs, the deeds of the military, even the laws of the Caliph. For their part, the Hakimas have taken this change in stride and treat the gift of the Sight as an honor and duty and while there are always rumors, no case of a Hakima being stripped of the Sight has ever been confirmed.