Magisters

Magisters are the members of the highest and most powerful house of the senate of the Tevinter Imperium, the Magisterium. While the Imperium is helmed by an Archon, it has several layers of government that help run the country. While the lower group, the Publicanium, has basically no authority, the Magisterium wields tremendous power and influence, and has the ability to create and change laws. While there is nothing officially saying that magisters have to be mages, this is Tevinter we're talking about, and all of the magisters are mages, as is the Archon. So, unlike the rest of Thedas, the mages make the rules. Your typical magister is notably affluent, often gaudy, and enjoys flaunting their wealth and power in public while attempting to hamstring their political rivals in secret. If you’re thinking “wait, that’s just like in Orlais,” you’d be correct, but that’s about where the similarities end. While blood magic is officially frowned upon in Tevinter, virtually every magister uses it in some form to aid their own cause. They also utilize slave labor, as the Imperium is the last country on Thedas where owning another person is legal. And, if you believe what the Chantry and Corypheus say, it was seven magisters, Cory amongst them, that slaughtered hundreds of slaves and used blood magic to physically enter the Fade and returned as the first darkspawn, probably the direst threat in the history of Thedas. Needless to say, magisters do not have a sterling reputation outside the Imperium, and most of the examples I met during my inquisiting did nothing to change that. The only real exception was Dorian’s father Halward Pavus. Though he had done many terrible things to his son in the past, he seemed genuine in his desire to atone for those sins and reconcile with his progeny. The others were all arseholes. Though, they were all part of the Venatori, which probably greatly magnified their arseholishness. I won’t judge the rest, because I’ve never actually met them, but it would take a lot to convince me they didn’t fit the stereotype.