Makiel. First Judge of the Abidan Court. The Hound. Leader of the First Division. Reads and manipulates Fate across hundreds of worlds simultaneously.
Faction: Abidan (First Division: Hounds)
Stage: Judge (First Judge) Title: The Hound Division: First Division (Hounds)
Leader of the Abidan’s tracking and Fate-reading division. Designation zero-zero-one. His eyes blaze a brighter violet than the celestial lenses around him, and he tracks over a thousand threads of Fate at once across hundreds of worlds. He has never augmented his body the way other Judges have. Dark brown skin, slightly wrinkled. Silver at the wings of his black, short hair. Trim and solidly built, with a square jaw. He looks like an old soldier, and he is as timeless as any of the other Judges.
Stage: Dead
His real name was Tommess. He retired his position as First Judge, sent his Mantle to Sanctum, and sacrificed his life through a transference ritual to restore
Identity
The records describe a man who works harder than anyone around him. Makiel tracks over a thousand threads of Fate personally, a workload that would crush lesser practitioners, and he does it from a planet he created himself, where every atom and idea is focused on enhancing his sight. He has never altered his human body. Rumor says he works solely on natural talent, but he would never allow a scan to confirm those rumors. His Hounds worship him. His designation, zero-zero-one, reflects a simple truth: he was the first, and he has never stopped being the standard by which all others are measured. [SK Ch.2]
His philosophy is contained in a single statement about the Scythe of Ozriel: “Such power should never rest in the hands of one man.” Makiel’s career has been defined by this conviction. He alone voted to execute Ozmanthus Arelius when the other Judges proposed raising him as a peer. He spent centuries developing his own reproductions of the Scythe, twelve experimental failures stored in Haven where no one could find them. He worked to distribute power that Ozriel concentrated, to create systems where no single point of failure could bring down the whole. The irony, noted without commentary: his own actions created the very catastrophe he feared. [UC Ch.1; RP Ch.9]
His real name was Tommess. He carried it in silence for so long that only the act of dying prompted him to speak it aloud. “I intended to give up my position on our return anyway.” A man who spent centuries opposing Ozriel’s methods, who manipulated Fate to constrain him, who allowed circumstances that could have killed him, and who, in the final accounting, gave his own life to bring Ozriel back.
Unsouled
The First Judge of the Abidan appears in the earliest records alongside
Soulsmith
Makiel does not appear in person. His right hand, Gadrael, delivers his demands to
Blackflame
An Abidan threat assessment formally designates him: “Makiel, the Hound. As the Judge of Fate, he is the only individual whose prediction skills rival Ozriel’s.” In combat power alone, he was once considered capable of assuming the role of Razael, though he declined the mantle. He led the opposition to all of Ozriel’s proposed modifications to the Eledari Pact. Unofficial reports suggest he has been developing his own Scythe. [BF Ch.21]
Skysworn
The simulation’s most complete record of Makiel comes from the Hound’s headquarters: Outpost 01, Oversight, at the nexus of the Way. A blue-and-green planet orbited by sixteen moons, home to twelve billion people, most of whom are not Abidan. Makiel lives beneath two hundred meters of snow and ice at the north pole. His front door. [SK Ch.2]
He confronts
His Presence manifests as an arc of eyeballs when active, collapsing to a single purple eye hovering over his shoulder at rest. Through it, he tracks over a thousand threads of Fate across hundreds of worlds, a workload he maintains personally and continuously. [SK Ch.2]
Uncrowned
Makiel stands at the center of creation and watches the past. His synchronization, set at 99%, replays events with near-perfect fidelity. Through it, he discovers that Iri the Angler has stolen his twelve experimental Scythes from Haven and delivered them to Daruman, the Mad King. “Such power should never rest in the hands of one man.” The weapons he built to distribute Ozriel’s monopoly have become instruments of a threat he did not anticipate. [UC Ch.1]
The Mad King combines the stolen Scythes into a weapon closer to the original than Makiel ever thought possible. When Daruman detects Makiel’s temporal observation, the synchronization drops from 99% to 87%. The Hound recognizes a peer-level threat. [UC Ch.17]
Makiel orders an unprecedented Abidan recruitment drive, with special attention to Sector 11. He personally guarantees the restrictions on Penance, the arrow presented as the tournament prize. The weapon that killed the Dragon King exists because Makiel authorized its release. [UC Ch.20]
Bloodline
The records note that no one had realized how much Ozriel’s meddling had changed things, or how Makiel’s alterations would speed Cradle’s destiny. The chain of events set in motion during the Skysworn era has accelerated beyond anyone’s projections. [BL Ch.17]
At the Iteration called Oasis, Makiel and
In the Sanctum, Makiel’s existence has been severely damaged. His power would suffer unless healed slowly and carefully. His mind remains active, gazing into the future to preserve threads of Fate even while his body recovers. Gadrael, the Titan, is astonished that his sponsor could have failed. Without Makiel, no two Judges can stop the Mad King. [BL Ch.20]
Reaper
The records reveal a critical historical detail. When Ozmanthus Arelius created the Scythe and demonstrated the power to erase corrupted worlds cleanly, the Judges voted to raise him as a peer. All except Makiel, who alone urged execution. The Shears of Makiel, a weapon from a previous holder of the title, once snipped threads from Fate. They became one of six components incorporated into the Scythe’s construction. [RP Ch.9]
At the nexus of Fathom, the full Court of Seven assembles for the first time in the current crisis. Makiel, still weakened, dark weathered skin and iron-gray hair: “If we are to walk this path, we will walk it together. All of us.” He directs Fate through the battle, steering causality around dead ends and pitfalls, returning threads to their proper course with each swing of his purple-veined sword. [RP Ch.14, Ch.21]
When
Dreadgod
Makiel’s secret is exposed before the full Court. His experimental Scythe reproductions, stolen from Haven by the Angler and delivered to the Mad King, are now public knowledge. “Now you all see what I have seen.” He moves to strip
The records from this period reveal the depth of Makiel’s calculated pragmatism. The Mad King reads Fate and deduces what Makiel has already calculated: six out of ten times, Ozriel dies.
Makiel watches the battle between
Waybound
Three Judges fight cooperatively for the first time in the available records: Makiel wielding the Scythe of Ozriel, Ozriel wielding the Sword of Makiel, and
The Mad King kills
“I am no longer Makiel. I retired my position. And I’m helping you.”
“My name was Tommess. And I intended to give up my position on our return anyway. Consider this my revenge.”
The revenge is this: by Ozriel’s reckoning, resurrection at the cost of Makiel’s life is a loss he can never wipe off. Suriel agrees: “He will hate this.” That is the point.
The wrinkles by Makiel’s eyes deepen as he smiles. “I know. I know…everything.” The narrator notes it was perhaps the most like Ozriel the man had ever sounded. [WB Ch.28]
Threshold
The records from the post-series era reveal Makiel’s compatibility score: seven out of seven, the only Judge to achieve this level. The seventh discipline, commanding reality directly, was Makiel’s specialty and is “often considered the most difficult.” Ozriel scored six out of seven.
The Mantle of Makiel has been difficult to place. Makiel named his successor, and there are many skilled Hounds in his division, but Fate has yet to stabilize. The Mantle itself will not select a candidate until the way forward is clear. The Court would appoint “a loaf of moldy bread” before Ozriel. [TH S12]
Powers & Abilities
Fate Manipulation
Makiel’s primary ability is reading and manipulating Fate across the Willverse. He tracks over a thousand threads simultaneously across hundreds of worlds, bending probability and steering events toward desired outcomes. His interventions require exertion even at Judge level, and the consequences ripple outward in ways that are difficult to predict. He deliberately awakened the Bleeding Phoenix to accelerate Cradle’s destiny, an action that cascaded far beyond his initial calculations. [SK Ch.2]
Synchronization
Through his Presence, Makiel can replay past events at 99% synchronization, observing them with near-total accuracy. This temporal observation can be detected by sufficiently powerful entities: the Mad King noticed Makiel watching and disrupted the synchronization from 99% down to 87%. [UC Ch.1, Ch.17]
Compatibility
Makiel’s compatibility score of 7/7 is the highest achieved by any Judge. This measures aptitude across all seven Abidan disciplines. The seventh, commanding reality directly, was his specialty. Ozriel scored 6/7 by comparison. [TH S4]
Weapons
Sword of Makiel
A massive two-handed blade, purple energy passing through its steel in complex veins. Once used to pass capital punishment on the first generation of Abidan. Its strikes hit multiple possibilities at once, closing out branches of Fate where attacks fail. The weapon channels the same authority over Fate that defines Makiel’s abilities. [BL Ch.18; WB Ch.21]
Scythe of Ozriel (wielded briefly)
Makiel wielded the Scythe of
Relationships
Suriel
Relationship: Fellow Judge
The Sixth Judge and the First Judge share a relationship built on institutional loyalty and personal friction. Makiel orders, Suriel executes. He manipulates the situation at Harrow knowing she would volunteer. He bends the Fate of a world she personally saved. Their dynamic shifts across the series: from superior and subordinate, to adversaries when his betrayal is exposed, to partners in a final act that costs one of them everything. She offers the Scythe to him with the words “I have faith in him.” She holds his life as it drains away. [US Epilogue; SS Ch.4; SK Ch.2; WB Ch.5, Ch.28]
Ozriel
Relationship: Rival
The defining opposition of the Abidan era. Makiel voted to execute Ozmanthus Arelius when the other Judges voted to raise him. Their philosophies are incompatible: Ozriel believes one weapon, precisely applied, can save more than any system; Makiel believes such power concentrated in one individual is the threat itself. Their conflict destabilized Iterations. In the end, Makiel gave his life to restore Ozriel, an act of revenge disguised as sacrifice: the one debt Ozriel could never repay. [SK Ch.2; RP Ch.9; WB Ch.28]
Gadrael
Relationship: Right hand
The Second Judge, the Titan. Makiel’s loyal subordinate. Gadrael carries out Makiel’s directives, votes with him in the Court, and is astonished when his sponsor fails at Oasis. Their relationship mirrors the Herald-Monarch dynamic in Cradle: absolute loyalty to a superior who commands through demonstrated competence and institutional authority. [US Epilogue; BL Ch.20; DG Prologue]
Daruman (The Mad King)
Relationship: Enemy
The Mad King assembled Makiel’s own experimental Scythes into a weapon that nearly rivaled the original. Their conflict spans multiple Iterations and culminates in two direct confrontations: the defeat at Oasis, where Makiel was severely damaged, and the final battle where the Mad King killed
Quotes
By Makiel
“Will you verify for the record that Ozriel is dead?” — Makiel, to Suriel [SK Ch.2]
“I cannot see any further than thirty years in Cradle’s future.” — Makiel [SK Ch.2]
“Such power should never rest in the hands of one man.” — Makiel, on the Scythe of Ozriel [UC Ch.1]
“Daruman, King of Madness, the Court of Seven sentences you to die.” — Makiel [BL Ch.18]
“If we are to walk this path, we will walk it together. All of us.” — Makiel, at Fathom [RP Ch.14]
“You have much to answer for.” — Makiel, to Ozriel [RP Ch.26]
“Now you all see what I have seen.” — Makiel, after his secret is exposed [DG Prologue]
“I accept my punishment, and I go now to make amends.” — Makiel, to Suriel [WB Ch.5]
“My name was Tommess. And I intended to give up my position on our return anyway. Consider this my revenge.” — Makiel [WB Ch.28]
“I know. I know…everything.” — Makiel, final words [WB Ch.28]
Trivia
- Makiel has never augmented his body. He looks like a natural human, unaltered since birth. Every other Abidan she knew had improved themselves in some way. Whether this is discipline, pride, or proof of concept, the records do not say. [SK Ch.2]
- He created the planet of Oversight himself. Every atom and idea in the place is focused on enhancing his sight, like a great telescope at the heart of existence. He lives beneath two hundred meters of snow and ice at the north pole. [SK Ch.2]
- His twelve experimental Scythes were described as his “twelve most promising failures.” They could not match the original, but combined by the Mad King, they came closer than Makiel ever thought possible. [UC Ch.1, Ch.17]
- His compatibility score of 7/7 is the highest of any Judge. Ozriel scored 6/7. After Makiel’s death,
Northstrider
- His final words, “I know…everything,” are described as “perhaps the most like Ozriel the man had ever sounded.” Ozriel’s echo, spoken moments later over Makiel’s body: “I know everything.” [WB Ch.28]
- The Mantle of Makiel will not select a candidate until the way forward in Fate is clear, despite Makiel naming his successor before death. The seat of the First Judge remains empty. [TH S12]
- The Shears of Makiel, a weapon from a previous holder of the title, once snipped threads from Fate. They became one of six components incorporated into the Scythe of Ozriel. [RP Ch.9]