Introduction
Before you start, care for some music while you read? So you want to have proper context for Dragon Age: Inquisition’s story, but don’t feel like combing through pages upon pages of wikis to do it? I hope this thread serves as a quick-look guide into the lore that will hopefully supplement Shinobi's excellent OT next week. For that purpose I'll skip over the games except to include them in the timeline as Shinobi will be covering them in depth next week!
General Info
Dragon Age takes place on a continent called Thedas (aka THE Dragon Age Setting). Locations outside Thedas are rarely if ever referenced by its inhabitants, so don’t worry about it.
Thedas uses Ages to count time. Each Age is 100 years long and is named after some unique trait that is believed will define the coming 100 years. In the game timeline, dragons have begun appearing after having been previously thought extinct. Hence the games taking place in the Dragon Age.
Races
Elves – Self-described as the most ancient race in Thedas. They say they were immortal until humans arrived and made them mortal, which is called The Quickening. They were dominated by humans, and now either live in the wilds as tribes called Dalish elves, in human city slums as City elves, or as slaves in countries such as Tevinter. The area of the city where elves live is called an Alienage. Elves are known to excel at poverty.
Dwarves – Live in big underground cities and thaigs. Orzammar is the important city for the games’ purposes. Dwarves are political connivers with a deep respect for written history and tradition. Dwarven society is heavily stratified into hereditary castes. Underground dwarves isolate themselves from the surface. Surface dwarves are largely merchants. Dwarves worship their ancestors instead of gods. Dwarves are resistant to magic but also cannot be mages.
Humans – Dominate Thedas after arriving from the north as nomadic tribes.
Qunari (koo-naw-ri) – Qunari come from north of Thedas, and are steadily attempting to conquer southward. Qunari follow a religious doctrine called The Qun (queue-n). Other races can be called Qunari if they also follow the Qun, but since the horned race always defines itself as either Qunari or not-Qunari, there’s no name for their biological race and everyone just calls them Qunari (don’t worry, this confuses series fans as well). Official smiley for Qunari: }
tl;dr for races: Elves hate humans, everyone looks down on elves, dwarves do their thing underground, everyone hates Qunari and Qunari look down on everyone.
Magic & the Fade
The Fade: A non-corporeal reality inhabited by demons and spirits. When people dream, their minds enter the Fade (except dwarves who don't dream). These demons and spirits take the content of people’s dreams and shape them into structures. Thus whenever someone enters the Fade, what they see is a bizarre interpretation of people’s memories. The Fade is normally completely walled off and separate from normal reality by a fabric of reality called The Veil. At the center of the Fade is a mysterious structure called the Black City. The Black City is the only commonality between everyone who enters the Fade: it's there for everyone to see, looming. See Old Gods myth below.
Mages: People born with the special ability to draw magical power from the Fade. They can be trained to shape this power into spells. Mages have a special relationship to the Fade as they can remain lucid while dreaming and thus entering it. They can be possessed by demons and spirits if they give in to temptation. This generally leads to massacres by the possessed mage, and is the primary source of Thedas’s general fear of magic and mages along with blood magic.
Blood magic: A special category of magic that uses pain and suffering as its energy source instead of the Fade. Illegal virtually everywhere and punishable by death.
Countries
Tevinter Imperium – Mage-ocracy ruled by mages named magisters where slavery of elves is practiced. Magic is not only encouraged but celebrated. Perpetually at war with the Qunari. Feared and hated by other countries.
Ferelden – Relatively new country formed by human barbarian tribes. Home of the Fifth Blight in Dragon Age Origins and half of Inquisition. Looked down on by richer countries for being relatively…basic in lifestyle.
Orlais – Powerful empire ruled by a nobility and an Emperor/Empress on top. Rich and cultured. Talk like French people. Currently in the middle of a Civil War between Empress Celene and Gaspard.
Antiva – Rich trade country with a capital that serves as a hub of commerce. Usually talk like Italian people. The Antivan Crows are the most notorious assassin’s guild in Thedas.
Orzammar – Underground Dwarven city.
Nevarra - Monarchy known for its famous dragon hunters and practice of necromancy as a form of honoring the dead.
Anderfels - Harsh winterland country and central stronghold of the Grey Wardens.
Free Marches - Collection of wealthy autonomous city-states. Kirkwall is the important one to remember as it's where Dragon Age 2 takes place and therefore where the mage rebellion began.
Rivain - Once conquered by the Qunari, now "freed" but still bearing heavy Qunari influence.
Par Vollen – Now the Qunari "homeland" as they conquered southward towards Thedas.
tl:dr for countries: Orlais and Tevinter are the power players, Qunari in Par Vollen to the north, Origins is in Ferelden, DA2 is in Kirkwall, Inquisition is in Ferelden and Orlais.
Religion & Important Myths
Elven Gods Myth: According to the elves, there was a Pantheon of good Gods and a group of bad ones called the Forgotten Ones. There was a god named Fen’Harel who moved among both groups of gods and wanted Thedas to himself, so he tricked both the Pantheon and the Forgotten Ones into sealing themselves away from the world, leaving Fen alone to work his mischief on Thedas. This myth is largely believed by the Elves and no one else.
Old Gods Myth: The ancient Dreamers (humans mages) were able to enter the Fade in their dreams and speak with The Old Gods, who were described as dragons. The Old Gods taught them many secrets of magic (including blood magic). The Old Gods then convinced a group of ancient Tevinter magisters to attempt to enter the Fade physically and open the gates of the Golden City, a mysterious, beautiful structure at the center of the Fade. By using huge amounts of lyrium and sacrificing hundreds of elven slaves through blood magic, the magisters succeeding in entering the Fade physically. The Chantry tells that when the magisters opened the gate, the Golden City became corrupted and turned Black. The magisters became corrupted as well, becoming the first
darkspawn. The Old Gods became corrupted themselves and disappeared, falling into slumber.
*In Dragon Age 2’s Legacy DLC, you accidentally unleash an ancient Tevinter magister-turned-darkspawn named Corypheus from his Grey Warden prison, who claims the Golden City was already Black when they got there. What a twist!
The Qun: Religious/philosophical doctrine practiced by Qunari. Everyone is born into a precise role, freedom is dangerous and an illusion. Focused on efficiency and purpose. Other races may follow the Qun, and if they do they are also called Qunari.
The Maker, Andraste & the Chantry: The Chantry is a monotheistic religion that worships The Maker, who they claim created everything and lived in the Golden City in the Fade. Once Thedas began worshipping pagan gods the Maker abandoned the world. But he was drawn back to it by the singing of a beautiful woman named Andraste, who he fell in love with. Andraste begged him to return to Thedas, and he agreed under the condition that Thedas abandoned its other religions. Andraste raised an army under the Maker's name to convert the continent by force, but was betrayed by her then-husband and burned at the stake by Tevinter. Andraste joined the Maker as his bride, and the Maker still promises that when Thedas is united in worship of him he'll return.
Because other races generally don't practice Chantry worship, they are denounced as heathens by the Chantry.
tl;dr for religion: Humans largely believe in Chantry (which makes the Chantry by far the largest religion in Thedas), Qunari believe in Qun, Elves believe in Elven gods, dwarves revere the underground earth as The Stone to which they feel a spiritual connection.
Templars, Seekers, & Circles of Magi
The Circles of Magi were established by the Chantry to separate mages from the rest of the population. The Templar order was founded to guard the mages and keep them isolated. Templars use lyrium to develop special anti-magic abilities that help them keep the Circles in line. As a result templars suffer from lyrium addiction. Chantry leaders and Templar commanders can legally order the execution of any and all Circles of Magi if they feel the mages have been lost to demonic influence or are otherwise an imminent threat to the mundane population.
Lyrium is a natural mineral-type resource that is found primarily underground. There are two known types of lyrium. Blue lyrium must be processed into a liquid or powder as mere proximity to raw lyrium can drive anyone except dwarves mad. Red lyrium corrupts the mind with much more dangerous speed, but is also more powerful and can even give magic-like powers to non-mages. The distribution of blue lyrium is controlled by the Chantry. Red lyrium has only recently (DA2) been discovered.
Seekers are an elite order under the Chantry's control that govern the templars and are responsible for special investigations (Chantry Spectres, basically).
Blights, Deep Roads, Darkspawn, Grey Wardens
Darkspawn thrive in the Deep Roads. The Deep Roads are ancient labyrinthine passages of stone built underground. It is believed that Darkspawn originated from ancient Tevinter magisters who tried to enter the Golden City and became tainted. They are perpetually seeking the Old Gods. When Darkspawn find a sleeping Old God, they awaken it and a Blight begins. The corrupted Old God (called an Archdemon) leads the Darkspawn onto the surface to destroy everything. Killing the Archdemon ends the Blight and the life of the Warden that killed the Archdemon (it must be a Warden who kills it otherwise the Old God's soul will just inhabit another darkspawn). Darkspawn taint is a sickness that can overcome anyone around Darkspawn for too long.
Grey Wardens are an independent ancient order created to fight against Darkspawn. New Grey Wardens are created by a ritual called the Joining which includes drinking a cup of darkspawn blood plus a drop of Archdemon blood which fortifies against the taint. Despite the Joining giving them resistance against the taint, the blood they consume eventually turns against them. Before the taint consumes them completely, most Wardens embark on what's called The Calling, which simply means they go to the Deep Roads and kill darkspawn until they are killed. Old treaties allow the Wardens to call upon armies and factions to fight against a Blight. There are seven Old Gods and there have been five Blights. It’s therefore guessed that two Blights remain.
Timeline of Important Events (remember each Age is 100 years. Time is counted by Age: Year within age and then name of Age. So the 10th year of the 9th aged named the Dragon Age would be 9:10 Dragon):
Ancient: Humans arrive in Thedas and Elves fall.
-395 Ancient to -191 Ancient: Tevinter magisters open a gate to the Golden City, corruption occurs, darkspawn are born. First Blight begins.Grey Wardens end it by killing the Archdemon and capture Corypheus, the most powerful magister-turned-darkspawn and seal him away.
-170 Ancient: Andraste is burned at the stake.
-100 Ancient: The first Inquisition (not ours!) is founded to hunt mages. Tales vary on whether they were an idealistic independent power dedicated to punishing the wicked and protecting the just, or a power-hungry plague upon mages and commonfolk alike.
-3 Ancient: The Chantry is formed. Divine Age begins.
1:5 Divine: Second Blight.
1:20-95 Divine: The Chantry and Inquisition form a treaty to merge. The Inquisition's leaders become the first Seekers of Truth. The first Circles of Magi are created to isolate mages. Second Blight ends.
6:30 Steel: Qunari conquer Par Vollen and remain.
9:30-31 Dragon: Fifth Blight begins in Ferelden. Start of Dragon Age Origins! The Grey Wardens unite the armies of Ferelden and kill the Archdemon in Denerim. A Ferelden refugee named Hawke (DA2 protag) flees Ferelden for Kirkwall with his family.
9:37 Dragon: A mage named Anders destroys Kirkwall's Chantry, inciting Knight-Commander Meredith to invoke the Right of Annulment. Kirkwall's Circle of Magi rebels and with the help of Hawke (or you can support the templars, whatever you fucking dick) defeats Meredith who had gone crazy from red lyrium.
(Now the shit goes down for Inquisition)
9:40 Dragon: Civil war erupts in Orlais between Celene and Gaspard.
9:40 Dragon: Orlais' Circle of Magi rebels with the help of the Chantry (I know, right?!) against the Templars. Lord Seeker Lambert declares the Seekers and Templars split from the Chantry. A significant amount follow him but some remain loyal to the Chantry. Lambert then declares the entire institution of Circles of Magi annulled (presumably so he can kill the shit out of some mages). Meanwhile rebel mage leaders declare war against the Templars. Cassandra Pentaghast - a Seeker still loyal to the Chantry - captures a dwarf named Varric known to be Hawke's friend and tries to find out where Hawke is, hoping Hawke can contribute to peace talks.
Current: The title screen of Inquisition shows leaders of the Chantry, rebel mages, templars, and Seekers arriving in the town of Haven in Ferelden for peace talks.
Before you start, care for some music while you read? So you want to have proper context for Dragon Age: Inquisition’s story, but don’t feel like combing through pages upon pages of wikis to do it? I hope this thread serves as a quick-look guide into the lore that will hopefully supplement Shinobi's excellent OT next week. For that purpose I'll skip over the games except to include them in the timeline as Shinobi will be covering them in depth next week!
General Info
Dragon Age takes place on a continent called Thedas (aka THE Dragon Age Setting). Locations outside Thedas are rarely if ever referenced by its inhabitants, so don’t worry about it.
Thedas uses Ages to count time. Each Age is 100 years long and is named after some unique trait that is believed will define the coming 100 years. In the game timeline, dragons have begun appearing after having been previously thought extinct. Hence the games taking place in the Dragon Age.
Races
Elves – Self-described as the most ancient race in Thedas. They say they were immortal until humans arrived and made them mortal, which is called The Quickening. They were dominated by humans, and now either live in the wilds as tribes called Dalish elves, in human city slums as City elves, or as slaves in countries such as Tevinter. The area of the city where elves live is called an Alienage. Elves are known to excel at poverty.
Dwarves – Live in big underground cities and thaigs. Orzammar is the important city for the games’ purposes. Dwarves are political connivers with a deep respect for written history and tradition. Dwarven society is heavily stratified into hereditary castes. Underground dwarves isolate themselves from the surface. Surface dwarves are largely merchants. Dwarves worship their ancestors instead of gods. Dwarves are resistant to magic but also cannot be mages.
Humans – Dominate Thedas after arriving from the north as nomadic tribes.
Qunari (koo-naw-ri) – Qunari come from north of Thedas, and are steadily attempting to conquer southward. Qunari follow a religious doctrine called The Qun (queue-n). Other races can be called Qunari if they also follow the Qun, but since the horned race always defines itself as either Qunari or not-Qunari, there’s no name for their biological race and everyone just calls them Qunari (don’t worry, this confuses series fans as well). Official smiley for Qunari: }
tl;dr for races: Elves hate humans, everyone looks down on elves, dwarves do their thing underground, everyone hates Qunari and Qunari look down on everyone.
Magic & the Fade
The Fade: A non-corporeal reality inhabited by demons and spirits. When people dream, their minds enter the Fade (except dwarves who don't dream). These demons and spirits take the content of people’s dreams and shape them into structures. Thus whenever someone enters the Fade, what they see is a bizarre interpretation of people’s memories. The Fade is normally completely walled off and separate from normal reality by a fabric of reality called The Veil. At the center of the Fade is a mysterious structure called the Black City. The Black City is the only commonality between everyone who enters the Fade: it's there for everyone to see, looming. See Old Gods myth below.
Mages: People born with the special ability to draw magical power from the Fade. They can be trained to shape this power into spells. Mages have a special relationship to the Fade as they can remain lucid while dreaming and thus entering it. They can be possessed by demons and spirits if they give in to temptation. This generally leads to massacres by the possessed mage, and is the primary source of Thedas’s general fear of magic and mages along with blood magic.
Blood magic: A special category of magic that uses pain and suffering as its energy source instead of the Fade. Illegal virtually everywhere and punishable by death.
Countries
Tevinter Imperium – Mage-ocracy ruled by mages named magisters where slavery of elves is practiced. Magic is not only encouraged but celebrated. Perpetually at war with the Qunari. Feared and hated by other countries.
Ferelden – Relatively new country formed by human barbarian tribes. Home of the Fifth Blight in Dragon Age Origins and half of Inquisition. Looked down on by richer countries for being relatively…basic in lifestyle.
Orlais – Powerful empire ruled by a nobility and an Emperor/Empress on top. Rich and cultured. Talk like French people. Currently in the middle of a Civil War between Empress Celene and Gaspard.
Antiva – Rich trade country with a capital that serves as a hub of commerce. Usually talk like Italian people. The Antivan Crows are the most notorious assassin’s guild in Thedas.
Orzammar – Underground Dwarven city.
Nevarra - Monarchy known for its famous dragon hunters and practice of necromancy as a form of honoring the dead.
Anderfels - Harsh winterland country and central stronghold of the Grey Wardens.
Free Marches - Collection of wealthy autonomous city-states. Kirkwall is the important one to remember as it's where Dragon Age 2 takes place and therefore where the mage rebellion began.
Rivain - Once conquered by the Qunari, now "freed" but still bearing heavy Qunari influence.
Par Vollen – Now the Qunari "homeland" as they conquered southward towards Thedas.
tl:dr for countries: Orlais and Tevinter are the power players, Qunari in Par Vollen to the north, Origins is in Ferelden, DA2 is in Kirkwall, Inquisition is in Ferelden and Orlais.
Religion & Important Myths
Elven Gods Myth: According to the elves, there was a Pantheon of good Gods and a group of bad ones called the Forgotten Ones. There was a god named Fen’Harel who moved among both groups of gods and wanted Thedas to himself, so he tricked both the Pantheon and the Forgotten Ones into sealing themselves away from the world, leaving Fen alone to work his mischief on Thedas. This myth is largely believed by the Elves and no one else.
Old Gods Myth: The ancient Dreamers (humans mages) were able to enter the Fade in their dreams and speak with The Old Gods, who were described as dragons. The Old Gods taught them many secrets of magic (including blood magic). The Old Gods then convinced a group of ancient Tevinter magisters to attempt to enter the Fade physically and open the gates of the Golden City, a mysterious, beautiful structure at the center of the Fade. By using huge amounts of lyrium and sacrificing hundreds of elven slaves through blood magic, the magisters succeeding in entering the Fade physically. The Chantry tells that when the magisters opened the gate, the Golden City became corrupted and turned Black. The magisters became corrupted as well, becoming the first
darkspawn. The Old Gods became corrupted themselves and disappeared, falling into slumber.
*In Dragon Age 2’s Legacy DLC, you accidentally unleash an ancient Tevinter magister-turned-darkspawn named Corypheus from his Grey Warden prison, who claims the Golden City was already Black when they got there. What a twist!
The Qun: Religious/philosophical doctrine practiced by Qunari. Everyone is born into a precise role, freedom is dangerous and an illusion. Focused on efficiency and purpose. Other races may follow the Qun, and if they do they are also called Qunari.
The Maker, Andraste & the Chantry: The Chantry is a monotheistic religion that worships The Maker, who they claim created everything and lived in the Golden City in the Fade. Once Thedas began worshipping pagan gods the Maker abandoned the world. But he was drawn back to it by the singing of a beautiful woman named Andraste, who he fell in love with. Andraste begged him to return to Thedas, and he agreed under the condition that Thedas abandoned its other religions. Andraste raised an army under the Maker's name to convert the continent by force, but was betrayed by her then-husband and burned at the stake by Tevinter. Andraste joined the Maker as his bride, and the Maker still promises that when Thedas is united in worship of him he'll return.
Because other races generally don't practice Chantry worship, they are denounced as heathens by the Chantry.
tl;dr for religion: Humans largely believe in Chantry (which makes the Chantry by far the largest religion in Thedas), Qunari believe in Qun, Elves believe in Elven gods, dwarves revere the underground earth as The Stone to which they feel a spiritual connection.
Templars, Seekers, & Circles of Magi
The Circles of Magi were established by the Chantry to separate mages from the rest of the population. The Templar order was founded to guard the mages and keep them isolated. Templars use lyrium to develop special anti-magic abilities that help them keep the Circles in line. As a result templars suffer from lyrium addiction. Chantry leaders and Templar commanders can legally order the execution of any and all Circles of Magi if they feel the mages have been lost to demonic influence or are otherwise an imminent threat to the mundane population.
Lyrium is a natural mineral-type resource that is found primarily underground. There are two known types of lyrium. Blue lyrium must be processed into a liquid or powder as mere proximity to raw lyrium can drive anyone except dwarves mad. Red lyrium corrupts the mind with much more dangerous speed, but is also more powerful and can even give magic-like powers to non-mages. The distribution of blue lyrium is controlled by the Chantry. Red lyrium has only recently (DA2) been discovered.
Seekers are an elite order under the Chantry's control that govern the templars and are responsible for special investigations (Chantry Spectres, basically).
Blights, Deep Roads, Darkspawn, Grey Wardens
Darkspawn thrive in the Deep Roads. The Deep Roads are ancient labyrinthine passages of stone built underground. It is believed that Darkspawn originated from ancient Tevinter magisters who tried to enter the Golden City and became tainted. They are perpetually seeking the Old Gods. When Darkspawn find a sleeping Old God, they awaken it and a Blight begins. The corrupted Old God (called an Archdemon) leads the Darkspawn onto the surface to destroy everything. Killing the Archdemon ends the Blight and the life of the Warden that killed the Archdemon (it must be a Warden who kills it otherwise the Old God's soul will just inhabit another darkspawn). Darkspawn taint is a sickness that can overcome anyone around Darkspawn for too long.
Grey Wardens are an independent ancient order created to fight against Darkspawn. New Grey Wardens are created by a ritual called the Joining which includes drinking a cup of darkspawn blood plus a drop of Archdemon blood which fortifies against the taint. Despite the Joining giving them resistance against the taint, the blood they consume eventually turns against them. Before the taint consumes them completely, most Wardens embark on what's called The Calling, which simply means they go to the Deep Roads and kill darkspawn until they are killed. Old treaties allow the Wardens to call upon armies and factions to fight against a Blight. There are seven Old Gods and there have been five Blights. It’s therefore guessed that two Blights remain.
Timeline of Important Events (remember each Age is 100 years. Time is counted by Age: Year within age and then name of Age. So the 10th year of the 9th aged named the Dragon Age would be 9:10 Dragon):
Ancient: Humans arrive in Thedas and Elves fall.
-395 Ancient to -191 Ancient: Tevinter magisters open a gate to the Golden City, corruption occurs, darkspawn are born. First Blight begins.Grey Wardens end it by killing the Archdemon and capture Corypheus, the most powerful magister-turned-darkspawn and seal him away.
-170 Ancient: Andraste is burned at the stake.
-100 Ancient: The first Inquisition (not ours!) is founded to hunt mages. Tales vary on whether they were an idealistic independent power dedicated to punishing the wicked and protecting the just, or a power-hungry plague upon mages and commonfolk alike.
-3 Ancient: The Chantry is formed. Divine Age begins.
1:5 Divine: Second Blight.
1:20-95 Divine: The Chantry and Inquisition form a treaty to merge. The Inquisition's leaders become the first Seekers of Truth. The first Circles of Magi are created to isolate mages. Second Blight ends.
6:30 Steel: Qunari conquer Par Vollen and remain.
9:30-31 Dragon: Fifth Blight begins in Ferelden. Start of Dragon Age Origins! The Grey Wardens unite the armies of Ferelden and kill the Archdemon in Denerim. A Ferelden refugee named Hawke (DA2 protag) flees Ferelden for Kirkwall with his family.
9:37 Dragon: A mage named Anders destroys Kirkwall's Chantry, inciting Knight-Commander Meredith to invoke the Right of Annulment. Kirkwall's Circle of Magi rebels and with the help of Hawke (or you can support the templars, whatever you fucking dick) defeats Meredith who had gone crazy from red lyrium.
(Now the shit goes down for Inquisition)
9:40 Dragon: Civil war erupts in Orlais between Celene and Gaspard.
9:40 Dragon: Orlais' Circle of Magi rebels with the help of the Chantry (I know, right?!) against the Templars. Lord Seeker Lambert declares the Seekers and Templars split from the Chantry. A significant amount follow him but some remain loyal to the Chantry. Lambert then declares the entire institution of Circles of Magi annulled (presumably so he can kill the shit out of some mages). Meanwhile rebel mage leaders declare war against the Templars. Cassandra Pentaghast - a Seeker still loyal to the Chantry - captures a dwarf named Varric known to be Hawke's friend and tries to find out where Hawke is, hoping Hawke can contribute to peace talks.
Current: The title screen of Inquisition shows leaders of the Chantry, rebel mages, templars, and Seekers arriving in the town of Haven in Ferelden for peace talks.
