The Oracle is read by the majority fans as a simple Chessmaster, but a subset of fanfic writers have taken to a rather tricky interpretation of the whole "Lickmyorangeballshalfling" thing.One notable one is that the planet within its realm is its effort to create life and an orderly world, unlike the chaotic nonsense which lead to its formation. The Snarl, as a result of Epileptic Trees, has several.Equally however his apology to Malack above appears entirely genuine, and does cause him to change his approach to tackling the Order.
As Tarquin is a skilled manipulator and peerless liar who is demonstrated multiple times to perceive everything in terms of its impact on his desires, it's entirely plausible that his relationship with the entire Vector Legion is, to him, a purely transactional one.
This can be expanded to question the entire character's motivations and relationships - how far do Tarquin's The End Justifies The Means tendencies in relation to his Evil Plan extend? Does he really care about his relationship with colleagues like Malack, or is his seemingly reasonable and emotionally intelligent response to Malack's fury about Tarquin's actions during the battle for Girard's Gate merely a continuation of his willingness to manipulate everyone around him in order to achieve his, Tarquin's, desired goals? Malack's status as a divine caster of equal level relative to Tarquin's Crazy-Prepared melee fighter, in a world in which Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards is in full effect, leaves the question open-ended it's in Tarquin's interests to make it seem to Malack that Tarquin understands that his actions are selfish and unreasonable, regardless of whether he actually does recognise this.
It was partly settled when Malack was revealed to be a vampire who planned an endless campaign of human sacrifice when he took over the kingdom, perhaps employing a special chamber. How much he cared for his children, how much he does or does not genuinely respects Durkon, and a lot of other parts of his personality are up for debate. Exactly how evil he really is has been up for debate since the very beginning. Girard Draketooth - Chaotic version of a Knight Templar or Properly Paranoid?.