The Water God wrote...
Yeah I actually said in another thread that what the Chantry does is nothing compared to what the rest of Fereldan would do. Just look at the elves, one little slip up and the alienage gets purged. No doubt if Fereldan got one whiff of mages causing trouble they would come down on them pretty harshley.
You know why the Circle was first established? Because mages got angry about how the Chantry restricted their powers, and they had a non-violent protest by barracading the cathedral in Orlais? Let me provide the codex History of the Circle as proof:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that nothing is more successful at inspiring a person to mischief as being told not to do something. Unfortunately, the Chantry of the Divine Age had some trouble with obvious truths. Although it did not outlaw magic-quite the contrary, as the Chantry relied upon magic to kindle the eternal flame which burns in every brazier in every chantry-it relegated mages to lighting candles and lamps. Perhaps occasional dusting of rafters and eaves.
I will give my readers a moment to contemplate how well such a role satisfied the mages of the time.
It surprised absolutely no one when the mages of Val Royeaux, in protest, snuffed the sacred flames of the cathedral and barricaded themselves inside the choir loft. No one, that is, but Divine Ambrosia II, who was outraged and attempted to order an Exalted March upon her own cathedral. Even her most devout Templars discouraged that idea. For 21 days, the fires remained unlit while negotiations were conducted, legend tells us, by shouting back and forth from the loft.
The mages went cheerily into exile in a remote fortress outside of the capital, where they would be kept under the watchful eye of the Templars and a council of their own elder magi. Outside of normal society, and outside of the Chantry, the mages would form their own closed society, the Circle, separated for the first time in human history.
From Of Fires, Circles, and Templars: A History of Magic in the Chantry, written by Sister Petrine, Chantry scholar."
There's nothing in that codex about the Circle being a means to keep mages from turning to blood magic or even becoming abominations, so it seems the Chantry lies when it says otherwise.
The Water God wrote...
Mages don't have much a choice, it's either stay put and try to live happy in the circle or become an apostate and risk getting hunted down by a templar. The mages aren't weak for accepting the fact that it would be better to stay in the circle tower as opposed to living a life on the run. The Chantry may be over paranoid, but so is the rest of Fereldan.
I place the blame on the Chantry. Ferelden is paranoid about mages because the Chantry preaches hatred and intolerance towards mages. It's an Andrastian nations, and the Chantry preaches the same brand of fear and hatred of mages across Thedas. As for the mages being slaves:
IanPolaris wrote...
Aldandil wrote...
Mages are slaves because they have no rights? That's not what any definition said.
Mages are slaves by one (proper) definition because they exist solely on the sufference of another (in this case the chantry).
Throughout history, the word slave has meant a person forced to do labour for someone else against his will, often being considered property. This does not apply to mages. They are free to pursue scholarly interests.
Your definition includes people who have some rights mages don't have such as city elves, peasants or upper class twits from P.G. Wodehouse stories. It the definition fits there as well, and that is what makes it pointless. It fits everywhere.
No. A slave is someone who is cosidered property and under the total control of another (Lob has the precise definitions I am sure) and in a very real sense, it does fit the mages in dragon age especially the tranquil.
A Mage can pursue scholary interests but only if the Templars/Chantry permit it. True in most circles such day to day decisions are delated to the First Enchanters, but if the chantry says so, then at any time for any or NO reason, a mage that hasn't done anything wrong, can be put into solitary or even thrown into battle against a bunch of Qunari and told "fight". Worse, they can (until harrowed anyway) at any time be lobomized and then forced to make items to enrich the chantry.
Seems like slavery to me. Some historical slaves lived very well indeed, but were still slaves.
-Polaris
Modifié par LobselVith8, 20 janvier 2011 - 08:57 .
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I love the villain that does good for the wrong reasons. 
