The Tevinter Imperium is the oldest human nation on Thedas, ruled by mages and formerly dominant over nearly the entire continent. Though their territory has been reduced greatly to a piece of land on the northern coast of Thedas, they remain a strong nation to this day. Currently and historically, they have difficult relationships with most of their neighbors. And everyone else, except maybe the dwarves. Their very real, if exaggerated at times, history of conquering, slavery, and blood magic have not helped in that regard. Oh, and Tevinter magisters are the reason we have darkspawn, so there’s that minor threat to the entire world, too. The empire was born over 2,000 years ago when its first Archon, Darinius, consolidated power in Minrathous, which is still the capital city. Obviously there is too much history in those multiple millennia to go over here, but the short version is this: They fought with everyone except, again, the dwarves. They defeated and enslaved the elves of Arlathan, conquered nearly the entirety of Thedas, had several civil wars, unleashed the darkspawn on the world and were then crippled by them during the First Blight, killed the Bride of the Maker, stopped worshipping the Old Gods but then broke away from the Chantry to form their own Imperial Chantry, refused to sign the otherwise unanimous peace treaty with the Qunari, and continue to this day to surreptitiously and illegally acquire slaves from the other countries of Thedas.

Personally, I think a large part of the Imperium’s issues with the rest of Thedas stem from perception. Not just in the abstract, in relation to all that quite awful history I just breezed through, but literally how they are seen. Everything in Tevinter, from fashion to art to architecture, is pointy and evil-looking. Considering how mired in tradition they are, that is unlikely to change, but I would recommend a rebranding if they feel like improving how they are viewed across the continent. And it’s not just people who perceive Tevinter as evil and pointy. The famous Mabari hounds of Ferelden are only “of Ferelden” because they literally defected from Tevinter when the magisters brought them to that land for the first time. If being abandoned by their own dogs isn’t a sign that the place has problems, I don’t know what is. Even with all of that said, though, the Imperium isn’t completely rotten. It’s a place like any other, full of people who just want to live their lives in peace and comfort. Dorian, one of my companions, for example, is one of the most lovely, caring individuals you could hope to meet. Krem, the second-in-command of Bull’s Chargers, is a similarly fantastic human. As it stands now, weakened by centuries of decline, at war with the Qunari and with no real allies across Thedas, the future of Tevinter might hinge on individuals like these becoming examples to follow and the rule, rather than the exception.