Hadin

Hadin is a god of combat and war when all pretense of honour, glory and nobility is abandoned. Hadin is not considered evil, though his ruthlessness and selfishness appeal to mercenaries, pirates, thieves and bullies.

Hadin's Mantra, a series of lessons in warfare written before the Fall of Hylach, speaks of tactics and strategy rich in deception, and, as his followers would attest, common sense. The Mantra makes no excuses for war, describing it as "bloody, harrowing and destructive... lacking in any noble qualities whatsoever." Yet, since mortals seem so utterly intent upon engaging in it, the Mantra urges to exploit it for it is worth.

Hadin is famously the patron deity of deserters, since he admires, and does not shun, those who look out for themselves. His symbol is that of a the hanged man: the deserter paying the ultimate price.

Most consider Hadin's Mantra to be allegory, however, it possible that the legendary Hadin, - the so-called "voice of sense" - could have been a real person. If so, he was likely a foreign-born Hylachian general from the early empire, who despite his ignoble birth, demonstrated martial prowess worthy of acknowledgement. Whether or not this original Hadin was killed by hanging remains a mystery.

The Mantra was passed on by oral tradition and not written down until many years after Hadin's death, during the 3rd Century, AE.