Red Templars

AKA:
Reds

The Red Templars were the corrupted soldiers that made up the bulk of Corypheus’ forces. As the name implies, they were once ordinary members of the Templar Order, but they were tricked into consuming red lyrium by Cory and his general, Samson. Unlike regular lyrium, which is merely addictive, red lyrium began to actively alter the people who ingested it. These unfortunate beings were transformed from the inside out, going from humans with glowing, red eyes to monstrosities almost completely comprised of red lyrium crystals and everything in between. All Red Templars were stronger and faster than normal, but the more warped they became, the greater and stranger powers they developed. Some could hurl shards of themselves as projectiles, expel some form of damaging red mist, and the most powerful could cause red lyrium crystals to violently erupt from the ground around them. The first the Inquisition saw of the Red Templars was when they assaulted Haven after we closed the Breach for the first time. After the village was destroyed, they spread across Thedas to do Cory’s bidding and we did everything we could to shut them down. Most of them were killed when they marched on the Arbor Wilds, either at the hands of the Inquisition and its allies or the elven Sentinels that guarded the Temple of Mythal that the Reds were trying to breach. By the time we captured Samson in the temple, there weren’t many left, and with nobody to lead them, they ran for the hills. After defeating Corypheus, we tracked down those that we could, but since they would die from the red lyrium slowly consuming them from the inside, it was more an act of mercy than a necessity. The bulk of the Red Templars were created at the same time that I was busy with the rebel mages, the Venatori, and the whole time-travel nonsense. Though I try not to, sometimes I do wonder about what would have changed if I had been there to stop it at the beginning, if we could have done something differently, if we could have split our focus enough to help the Templars and the mages. There’s no use in it, what’s happened has happened, and I believe in and stand by my decision, but… a lot of good people suffered and died because of it. Inquisiting isn’t always fun and glowy-hand jokes, everyone, sorry.