Jari

Jari is an Exalted oracle from the Enigma of Hours, his body destroyed after drinking from the Deeps on Apas and now inhabited by a supernatural presence alien to both the Quiet and Brethren. Both arms and one leg have been amputated; he is sustained by mechanical hoses and attended by the crewman Marko.

Jari's oracle proves deeply significant to Hadrian Marlowe. He demonstrates impossible knowledge of Hadrian's past, reciting the final words of Cat with perfect accuracy, and delivers a prophecy of "Light" accompanied by a shared vision of a black ship plunging into whiteness before a host of Cielcin. He names the powers inhabiting him "leopards" -- a word Hadrian had not yet chosen at the time -- and states that "there is no future: everything already is."

Brethren later identifies the forces behind Jari as alien to itself and calls Jari a distraction built by powers outside its narrative, suggesting that Jari's inhabiting entity and Brethren operate in opposition or competition. The prophecy's meaning continues to resonate: as the body of the Cielcin scourge Iubalu is incinerated at the Imperial Triumph, Hadrian is visited by a vision and hears Jari's voice shrieking "Light! Light! Light!" -- confirming that the oracle's single prophetic word was pointing toward this moment.