Mages

“Mage” is the most common term in Thedas for a person who can use magic. Depending on where (and sometimes who) you are, mages are subject to various levels of freedom across the continent. In Orlais, Ferelden, and other countries that follow the tenets of the Chantry, mages are generally met with suspicion and fear due to magic’s very real connections to the Fade, demons, and abominations, and as such are kept in Circles, organizations meant to train them safely away from the general populace, under guard of the Templars. Apostates are mages in those countries that aren’t part of a Circle, and they’re generally shunned and hunted. And, actually, when I say “are kept,” I really mean “were kept,” because after the Mage-Templar war and the defeat of Corypheus, Divine Victoria abolished the Circles, and the mages have gathered together to form their own College of Enchanters, an organization separate from the Chantry and its oversight. Dalish elves, like me, are more tolerant of magic, we think it’s a gift from our gods, but a gift to be respected and handled with care. Our clans are run by mages called Keepers. Keepers have apprentices, called Firsts, which is what I was before I was sent to the Conclave. Another difference is that no Dalish mage that I know of, myself included, carries around an enormous book, which is something I observed in a vast majority of the random mages I came across. I was never able to figure out why they did that, and just assumed it was something Circle related. The two groups with the most extreme views on mages are, coincidentally, fighting a war right now. Tevinter is run by mages, called magisters, and magic is virtually unrestricted in the Imperium. Also, to clarify, mages in Tevinter aren’t always magisters, but magisters are always mages. I know, it gets confusing. The Qunari, on the other hand, literally keep their mages, called saarebas, leashed and blinded like unruly horses. They’re constantly supervised, but actually accept this treatment as their place within the Qun. Wherever they are and whatever they’re called, mages are an inherent and important part of the history of the world, and their actions and actions taken against them have shaped, and will continue to shape, the history of Thedas.

A quick aside for the sake of clarity. More often than not in the actual story, when I say “mages,” I am not referring to what I just described, every person capable of doing magic on Thedas. Instead, I am describing the group of mages that broke away from the Chantry, the “rebel mages” as they were often called. While this group is integral to the tale of the Inquisition that I am telling, it is by no means all, and not even a majority of, mages. In fact, none of my three mage companions, nor me, for that matter, were a part of this group. Solas was an apostate with no allegiances, Dorian an Altus of Tevinter, Vivienne a “loyal mage” on the opposite philosophical side as the rebels, and I was the First to my Dalish clan’s Keeper. But, since the vast majority of my mentions of “mages” as a group refer to the rebel faction, I decided it was okay to simplify the term throughout this book. Also, I would have had to change it as the story went on, because, as you might now if you’ve read far enough, the “rebel mages” stopped rebelling when they joined the Inquisition. I am confident that my writing skills are sufficient to have context be enough to easily figure out when I am talking about the rebel mages specifically or magical people in general. I hope this last bit was useful to you, or even better, completely unnecessary, thank you for your time.