352 réponses à ce sujet

[KnightofPhoenix]

Benchmark wrote...
She's not. No mages stay in the tower except Bethany. Orsino knows mages are sneaking out, and he is an idiot. It would have been so much better if you found evidence to say that Mereidth was helping and instigating the Mage's escapes to give herself more evidence for an RoA. Now that would have been a tense discussion to have with her and Cullen just before she goes Sith lord.

If Meredith was willing to work with Orsino, maybe he would have told her.
Irving assisted Gregoir in security matters, because they collaborated. It wasn't perfect, but Gregoir was certainly wiser than Meredith.

[AlexXIV]

Benchmark wrote...

AlexXIV wrote...

Benchmark wrote...

Rifneno wrote...

The Angry One wrote...

Not to mention that they say the homeless children are often IN THE CHANTRY.
Another victory for Anders: Orphan Murderer!

"Who are they going to complain to?  Their parents?" - Mr. Burns

Holy cr** that's funny.
I am playing Act 3 right now and killing mages must make my humor a bit macabre.... but that is funny!

Things like that make you look like a troll. 'I kill mages and it is fun'. Wonder what you are trying to prove by posting that in a thread like this.

Someone posts a really disturbing yet funny post about who orphans would cry to and I can't find it funny???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

You win. I hope your blood magic can control my mind moar.

I also found it funny. But I don't know why it was necessary to throw your 'mage killing' comment in this thread. It makes you look like a mage hater for the lulz. And makes it hard to take you serious.

[Sherbet Lemon]

hawkmoondirge wrote...

Village Idiot wrote...

hawkmoondirge wrote...

How? Only the weak willed are a true threat. The harrowing exists for a reason. It fuffils all purposes of the circle. The harrowingproves they are above the threat of becomming an abomination willingly, so why bother having the templars once teh harrowing is complete? The system is flawed at it's very core. And merideth being bonkers didn't help anyone.

Except for the fact that I'm pretty certain that the mages in Uldred's group were a combination of harrowed mages and apprentices.  Yes, Meredith is bonkers, but just because a person passes their Harrowing doesn't mean their immune or resistant to possession.

Counterpoint, Uldred sought out blood mages and made a pact with demons, which most of the aprentices did. Most of them just wanted freedom. Noticing a pattern between blood mages and want of freedom.

I still maintain that some of them were harrowed mages who used blood magic and sought out demons.  Again, a harrowing doesn't make them immune from resorting to blood magic.  It just means that a person is able to resist possession in that instance.   It's an indication that they have "passed" beyond a less dangerous level.

The question then becomes how much trauma can a mage face before they feel forced to embrace the forbidden, and to take that a step further, how do the existing power structures contribute to further inducing that trauma?  Meredith and her ilk show that their brand of crazy is a recipe for disaster.  That doesn't mean that Hawke, choosing the Rite is evil, is a war criminal, etc.  Many people have made that argument much more eloquently that I could so  I'll just leave it at that. 

[Foolsfolly]

Benchmark wrote...

klarabella wrote...

Anders says he removed the possibility of compromise, namely Elthina. How can the avatar of inaction be a possibility of compromise?

She wasn't. Pro- Anders agruments have to demonize Elthina so that they can agree to murdering a kind senior woman. Not to mention all the other chantry sisters. Who spend their time talking about preparing weddings and finding better ways to feed more street children in low town.

Elthina was the only thing keeping an extremely weak and ineffectual Orsino from being completely overrun by an increasingly paranoid Merdith. Orsino ran to her constantly and she spent most of her time trying to get the two side to come to an agreement. She was trying to temper Meredith and bolster Orsino. She saw them both as good people and wanted them to see reason.

Sadly, her reasonable and compassionate nature was her downfall. She never saw the situation as a lost cause. She probably should have replaced Meredith with Cullen and replaced Orsino with a mage who was willing to stamp out blood magic in the circle. Gregoir was burnt once, maybe ask him to come down from Ferelden.

Word.

Anders murdered innocents to pretend like he was making some big political statement. But come on, of course the guy's a villain. He's delusional about himself, he refers to being the cause of Mages. Who titled him that? Who is he really speaking for? The most violent filth in the city? The kinds that only want to see good people exploded and madness unleashed?

Anders and Meredith are two sides of the same madness coin. They're both villains in their own way.

[Benchmark]

AlexXIV wrote...

Benchmark wrote...

AlexXIV wrote...

Benchmark wrote...

Rifneno wrote...

The Angry One wrote...

Not to mention that they say the homeless children are often IN THE CHANTRY.
Another victory for Anders: Orphan Murderer!

"Who are they going to complain to?  Their parents?" - Mr. Burns

Holy cr** that's funny.
I am playing Act 3 right now and killing mages must make my humor a bit macabre.... but that is funny!

Things like that make you look like a troll. 'I kill mages and it is fun'. Wonder what you are trying to prove by posting that in a thread like this.

Someone posts a really disturbing yet funny post about who orphans would cry to and I can't find it funny???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

You win. I hope your blood magic can control my mind moar.

I also found it funny. But I don't know why it was necessary to throw your 'mage killing' comment in this thread. It makes you look like a mage hater for the lulz. And makes it hard to take you serious.

Well 1, that post wasn't a serious post, and 2 I guess maybe you skipped over the word "macabre" when you read it.

I assume your response is a reading comprehension issue since my post doesn't say anything about the fun level of killing mages.

It says killing mages makes me "macabre"... So a tastless joke about orphans dead parents strikes me as funnier than it should...

[AlexXIV]

Foolsfolly wrote...

Benchmark wrote...

klarabella wrote...

Anders says he removed the possibility of compromise, namely Elthina. How can the avatar of inaction be a possibility of compromise?

She wasn't. Pro- Anders agruments have to demonize Elthina so that they can agree to murdering a kind senior woman. Not to mention all the other chantry sisters. Who spend their time talking about preparing weddings and finding better ways to feed more street children in low town.

Elthina was the only thing keeping an extremely weak and ineffectual Orsino from being completely overrun by an increasingly paranoid Merdith. Orsino ran to her constantly and she spent most of her time trying to get the two side to come to an agreement. She was trying to temper Meredith and bolster Orsino. She saw them both as good people and wanted them to see reason.

Sadly, her reasonable and compassionate nature was her downfall. She never saw the situation as a lost cause. She probably should have replaced Meredith with Cullen and replaced Orsino with a mage who was willing to stamp out blood magic in the circle. Gregoir was burnt once, maybe ask him to come down from Ferelden.

Word.

Anders murdered innocents to pretend like he was making some big political statement. But come on, of course the guy's a villain. He's delusional about himself, he refers to being the cause of Mages. Who titled him that? Who is he really speaking for? The most violent filth in the city? The kinds that only want to see good people exploded and madness unleashed?

Anders and Meredith are two sides of the same madness coin. They're both villains in their own way.

Well if you judge a person's whole life on one error he or she made then we probably all end up being bad people. Anders wasn't really evil up to the point he blew up the Chantry. Usually he was helping people, even if one could argue that it might have been just to cover his true intentions.

[Benchmark]

Foolsfolly wrote...

Benchmark wrote...

klarabella wrote...

Anders says he removed the possibility of compromise, namely Elthina. How can the avatar of inaction be a possibility of compromise?

She wasn't. Pro- Anders agruments have to demonize Elthina so that they can agree to murdering a kind senior woman. Not to mention all the other chantry sisters. Who spend their time talking about preparing weddings and finding better ways to feed more street children in low town.

Elthina was the only thing keeping an extremely weak and ineffectual Orsino from being completely overrun by an increasingly paranoid Merdith. Orsino ran to her constantly and she spent most of her time trying to get the two side to come to an agreement. She was trying to temper Meredith and bolster Orsino. She saw them both as good people and wanted them to see reason.

Sadly, her reasonable and compassionate nature was her downfall. She never saw the situation as a lost cause. She probably should have replaced Meredith with Cullen and replaced Orsino with a mage who was willing to stamp out blood magic in the circle. Gregoir was burnt once, maybe ask him to come down from Ferelden.

Word.

Anders murdered innocents to pretend like he was making some big political statement. But come on, of course the guy's a villain. He's delusional about himself, he refers to being the cause of Mages. Who titled him that? Who is he really speaking for? The most violent filth in the city? The kinds that only want to see good people exploded and madness unleashed?

Anders and Meredith are two sides of the same madness coin. They're both villains in their own way.

I love that you talk about the violence coin and how evil people are that want to see good people exploded. Then you have Zaeed as your avatar.

I am finding all kinds of ironic funny today. You sir are awesome. Lets go kill some Batarians once this DA2 farce is over. Noone complains when you kill Batarians- as long as they are the slaver kind... Maybe we should stick to Vorcha... damn PETA is looking this way.

[Foolsfolly]

Well if you judge a person's whole life on one error he or she made then we probably all end up being bad people.

I'm pretty sure terrorists get that one thing brought up again and again as a reason for their villainy.

But Anders can also kill a young mage for no reason. And there's no telling how many people he's killed away from Hawke. We know he's loosing a battle with Justice and he has more blanks in his memories now. He could be out there killing innocents for small vague crimes or no reason at all.

Pure speculation since we only see two such hulks outs in the game, but he does tell Hawke he's loosing control more often.

[Deztyn]

KnightofPhoenix wrote...

Benchmark wrote...
She's not. No mages stay in the tower except Bethany. Orsino knows mages are sneaking out, and he is an idiot. It would have been so much better if you found evidence to say that Mereidth was helping and instigating the Mage's escapes to give herself more evidence for an RoA. Now that would have been a tense discussion to have with her and Cullen just before she goes Sith lord.

If Meredith was willing to work with Orsino, maybe he would have told her.
Irving assisted Gregoir in security matters, because they collaborated. It wasn't perfect, but Gregoir was certainly wiser than Meredith.

You're just assuming the fault lies with Meredith. Orsino was unwilling to work with her in Act II, possibly even as early as Act I as we see with Quintin. If he'd done his job and worked to keep the Circle clean, proved that he was committed to controlling his mages (as is his job) their relationship may have been better. The entire situation may have been better. As far as I'm concerned he's as much at fault as Anders and Meredith.

[Foolsfolly]

Actually Benchmark, the Annulment does have a few things in common with the big event at the end of Arrival. Killing the few to save the many.

And killing vorcha are like killing talking Darkspawn. Who cares.

[AlexXIV]

Foolsfolly wrote...

Well if you judge a person's whole life on one error he or she made then we probably all end up being bad people.

I'm pretty sure terrorists get that one thing brought up again and again as a reason for their villainy.

But Anders can also kill a young mage for no reason. And there's no telling how many people he's killed away from Hawke. We know he's loosing a battle with Justice and he has more blanks in his memories now. He could be out there killing innocents for small vague crimes or no reason at all.

Pure speculation since we only see two such hulks outs in the game, but he does tell Hawke he's loosing control more often.

Well the thing with the mage was clearly Justice because of the glowing eyes. But the 'real' Anders seemed to be rather horrified by the thought he could have killed her. The guy blowing up the Chantry was probably Anders. Because when he plans it he is actually talking to Hawke and blatantly lying.

[AlexXIV]

Benchmark wrote...

Foolsfolly wrote...

Benchmark wrote...

klarabella wrote...

Anders says he removed the possibility of compromise, namely Elthina. How can the avatar of inaction be a possibility of compromise?

She wasn't. Pro- Anders agruments have to demonize Elthina so that they can agree to murdering a kind senior woman. Not to mention all the other chantry sisters. Who spend their time talking about preparing weddings and finding better ways to feed more street children in low town.

Elthina was the only thing keeping an extremely weak and ineffectual Orsino from being completely overrun by an increasingly paranoid Merdith. Orsino ran to her constantly and she spent most of her time trying to get the two side to come to an agreement. She was trying to temper Meredith and bolster Orsino. She saw them both as good people and wanted them to see reason.

Sadly, her reasonable and compassionate nature was her downfall. She never saw the situation as a lost cause. She probably should have replaced Meredith with Cullen and replaced Orsino with a mage who was willing to stamp out blood magic in the circle. Gregoir was burnt once, maybe ask him to come down from Ferelden.

Word.

Anders murdered innocents to pretend like he was making some big political statement. But come on, of course the guy's a villain. He's delusional about himself, he refers to being the cause of Mages. Who titled him that? Who is he really speaking for? The most violent filth in the city? The kinds that only want to see good people exploded and madness unleashed?

Anders and Meredith are two sides of the same madness coin. They're both villains in their own way.

I love that you talk about the violence coin and how evil people are that want to see good people exploded. Then you have Zaeed as your avatar.

I am finding all kinds of ironic funny today. You sir are awesome. Lets go kill some Batarians once this DA2 farce is over. Noone complains when you kill Batarians- as long as they are the slaver kind... Maybe we should stick to Vorcha... damn PETA is looking this way.

Well I complain because Bioware screwed my paragon Shep. But it's not like my complaining changes anything.

[Rifneno]

Benchmark wrote...

I am finding all kinds of ironic funny today. You sir are awesome. Lets go kill some Batarians once this DA2 farce is over. Noone complains when you kill Batarians- as long as they are the slaver kind... Maybe we should stick to Vorcha... damn PETA is looking this way.

I like the way you think!

Foolsfolly wrote...

But Anders can also kill a young mage for no reason. And there's no telling how many people he's killed away from Hawke. We know he's loosing a battle with Justice and he has more blanks in his memories now. He could be out there killing innocents for small vague crimes or no reason at all.

Pure speculation since we only see two such hulks outs in the game, but he does tell Hawke he's loosing control more often.

I don't want to get into the Chantry thing again, but I don't think it's likely he hulked out on anyone else Ella.  He was extremely shaken by it.  Even if Hawke stops him, he just about has a mental breakdown from it.  I think we'd have seen him shaken up again if it happened a second time.  Also, he indicates in a very early conversation that the hulk outs happen when he loses it emotionally.  The scene with Ella was enough to drive even anyone into a fit of rage.  A group of templars is going to cut out the soul of some girl whom even Bethany refers to as a kid, and make her their sex slave.  I could've killed 10 templars with a spork myself.  I'm not excusing what he does, I'm just saying that it only happened after witnessing something jawdroppingly horrific and it'd likely require another over-the-top dark scene to make him lose it that bad again.

[KnightofPhoenix]

Deztyn wrote...
You're just assuming the fault lies with Meredith. Orsino was unwilling to work with her in Act II, possibly even as early as Act I as we see with Quintin. If he'd done his job and worked to keep the Circle clean, proved that he was committed to controlling his mages (as is his job) their relationship may have been better. The entire situation may have been better. As far as I'm concerned he's as much at fault as Anders and Meredith.

A large part of the blame lies on Meredith, yes. Even before Act 1, we knew she was more repressive than other Templars, and her attitude is not that great either.

Orsino can't work to keep the Circle clean if the KC is not willing to collaborate with him, and keeps adding fuel to the fire with incompetent heavy handedness.

All of them are at fault, but I consider Meredith  the primary culprit, starting off by her thinking she can play at politics.

Modifié par KnightofPhoenix, 17 avril 2011 - 11:24 .

[Foolsfolly]

Well I complain because Bioware screwed my paragon Shep

Would you rather the universe get eaten and you keep your morals?

I thought it was a great moment. Commander Shepard's going to be tested in the hardest ways possible. Shepard can try to save a few lives, it's for nothing, but the alternative is the Reapers defeat everyone.

Shepard's becoming a troubled leader. We may finally get that first trailer from ME1, about the choice between saving one planet or going to another. Hard choices where there are no right or wrongs...just trying to kill the Reapers and make sure that someone's still alive to save.

I love Mass Effect.

[AlexXIV]

Foolsfolly wrote...

Well I complain because Bioware screwed my paragon Shep

Would you rather the universe get eaten and you keep your morals?

I thought it was a great moment. Commander Shepard's going to be tested in the hardest ways possible. Shepard can try to save a few lives, it's for nothing, but the alternative is the Reapers defeat everyone.

Shepard's becoming a troubled leader. We may finally get that first trailer from ME1, about the choice between saving one planet or going to another. Hard choices where there are no right or wrongs...just trying to kill the Reapers and make sure that someone's still alive to save.

I love Mass Effect.

Well I tried my best to kill as few people as possible with my paragon shep and then bioware come along screwing my kill count by 300.000 more kills. No, the decision was right, but I would have prefered it would never have happened, as in Shepard would not even have come into the situation. I mean, try to prove that Shep was doing it to stop the Reapers. Especially with the rumors about Shep being now with Cerberus and Reapers being hardly more than a fairy tale to most people. Very likely.

[Camenae]

Ugh, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but making personal attacks, like the OP did, at those who disagree is taking it a touch too far.

Choosing the Right of Annulment in the game means I, the real life player, is the equivalent of a war criminal? I'm a straight woman and on some of my playthroughs I like to play a male PC and romance girls. Does that mean I'm a man IRL? A lesbian?

[AlexXIV]

Camenae wrote...

Ugh, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but making personal attacks, like the OP did, at those who disagree is taking it a touch too far.

Choosing the Right of Annulment in the game means I, the real life player, is the equivalent of a war criminal? I'm a straight woman and on some of my playthroughs I like to play a male PC and romance girls. Does that mean I'm a man IRL? A lesbian?

Well there is a thread in the non spoiler forum that claims I like to dress up like women irl because I play female protagonists. Welcome to the interwebz.

[Nashiktal]

AlexXIV wrote...

Foolsfolly wrote...

Well I complain because Bioware screwed my paragon Shep

Would you rather the universe get eaten and you keep your morals?

I thought it was a great moment. Commander Shepard's going to be tested in the hardest ways possible. Shepard can try to save a few lives, it's for nothing, but the alternative is the Reapers defeat everyone.

Shepard's becoming a troubled leader. We may finally get that first trailer from ME1, about the choice between saving one planet or going to another. Hard choices where there are no right or wrongs...just trying to kill the Reapers and make sure that someone's still alive to save.

I love Mass Effect.

Well I tried my best to kill as few people as possible with my paragon shep and then bioware come along screwing my kill count by 300.000 more kills. No, the decision was right, but I would have prefered it would never have happened, as in Shepard would not even have come into the situation. I mean, try to prove that Shep was doing it to stop the Reapers. Especially with the rumors about Shep being now with Cerberus and Reapers being hardly more than a fairy tale to most people. Very likely.

When it comes to the reapers you will have to forget paragon and renegade. All of your energy, moral or otherwise, will have to be focused on the defeat of the reapers. Sacrifices will be made, and your happiness is irrelevent. 

Unless your a dirty servent to the reaper. Then go ahead, save lives. Let them become glorious slaves to the reapers, their combined corpses become a monument to the eternal awe inspiring power the reapers possess .

[Rifneno]

Camenae wrote...

Ugh, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but making personal attacks, like the OP did, at those who disagree is taking it a touch too far.

He did?  Ugh.  I didn't even read the whole wall of text.  I wouldn't have bothered explaining if I knew that.

Edit:  Actually, NM, I didn't realize which thread I was in.  Stupid vicodin.

Choosing the Right of Annulment in the game means I, the real life player, is the equivalent of a war criminal? I'm a straight woman and on some of my playthroughs I like to play a male PC and romance girls. Does that mean I'm a man IRL? A lesbian?

Of course, all women are.  Spam says so, so it must be true.  Who am I doubt spam?

Modifié par Rifneno, 17 avril 2011 - 11:38 .

[AlexXIV]

Nashiktal wrote...

AlexXIV wrote...

Foolsfolly wrote...

Well I complain because Bioware screwed my paragon Shep

Would you rather the universe get eaten and you keep your morals?

I thought it was a great moment. Commander Shepard's going to be tested in the hardest ways possible. Shepard can try to save a few lives, it's for nothing, but the alternative is the Reapers defeat everyone.

Shepard's becoming a troubled leader. We may finally get that first trailer from ME1, about the choice between saving one planet or going to another. Hard choices where there are no right or wrongs...just trying to kill the Reapers and make sure that someone's still alive to save.

I love Mass Effect.

Well I tried my best to kill as few people as possible with my paragon shep and then bioware come along screwing my kill count by 300.000 more kills. No, the decision was right, but I would have prefered it would never have happened, as in Shepard would not even have come into the situation. I mean, try to prove that Shep was doing it to stop the Reapers. Especially with the rumors about Shep being now with Cerberus and Reapers being hardly more than a fairy tale to most people. Very likely.

When it comes to the reapers you will have to forget paragon and renegade. All of your energy, moral or otherwise, will have to be focused on the defeat of the reapers. Sacrifices will be made, and your happiness is irrelevent. 

Unless your a dirty servent to the reaper. Then go ahead, save lives. Let them become glorious slaves to the reapers, their combined corpses become a monument to the eternal awe inspiring power the reapers possess .

True, I just don't want to forget what I am fighting for on the way to victory.

[Foolsfolly]

Well I tried my best to kill as few people as possible with my paragon shep and then bioware come along screwing my kill count by 300.000 more kills. No, the decision was right, but I would have prefered it would never have happened, as in Shepard would not even have come into the situation. I mean, try to prove that Shep was doing it to stop the Reapers. Especially with the rumors about Shep being now with Cerberus and Reapers being hardly more than a fairy tale to most people. Very likely.

I'm a paragon player myself. I want to limit causalities as much as you. But this case...wasn't a way around it. Sad but necessary. The Annulment of Kirkwall's Circle is different from that since there are other options, there is no unstoppable force forcing your hand. Hawke totally could have talked reason into Meredith or stopped Anders...or walked away.

And yeah, the point of Arrival is to set up Shepard on trial. There's no way Shepard can defend themselves. Shepard's a known rogue Spectre and is known to work with a terrorist organizations and now 300,000 innocents are dead and war between the Batarians and Alliance will seem likely.

(But it's fine for Batarians to bomb Terra Nova or that one colony in ME2 where you can only save the Spaceport or Capital. Batarians are the least developed of the races in ME. They're all terrorists and slavers....kinda like Tevinters actually.)

[Rifneno]

Foolsfolly wrote...

I'm a paragon player myself. I want to limit causalities as much as you. But this case...wasn't a way around it. Sad but necessary. The Annulment of Kirkwall's Circle is different from that since there are other options, there is no unstoppable force forcing your hand. Hawke totally could have talked reason into Meredith or stopped Anders...or walked away.

And yeah, the point of Arrival is to set up Shepard on trial. There's no way Shepard can defend themselves. Shepard's a known rogue Spectre and is known to work with a terrorist organizations and now 300,000 innocents are dead and war between the Batarians and Alliance will seem likely.

(But it's fine for Batarians to bomb Terra Nova or that one colony in ME2 where you can only save the Spaceport or Capital. Batarians are the least developed of the races in ME. They're all terrorists and slavers....kinda like Tevinters actually.)

You know, if those idiots hadn't gotten themselves indoctrinated, the best solution would be to wait for the reapers to show up, then slam the asteroid into the relay.  I don't know exactly what it takes to kill a reaper, but I'm pretty sure a supernova does it.

[AlexXIV]

Rifneno wrote...

Foolsfolly wrote...

I'm a paragon player myself. I want to limit causalities as much as you. But this case...wasn't a way around it. Sad but necessary. The Annulment of Kirkwall's Circle is different from that since there are other options, there is no unstoppable force forcing your hand. Hawke totally could have talked reason into Meredith or stopped Anders...or walked away.

And yeah, the point of Arrival is to set up Shepard on trial. There's no way Shepard can defend themselves. Shepard's a known rogue Spectre and is known to work with a terrorist organizations and now 300,000 innocents are dead and war between the Batarians and Alliance will seem likely.

(But it's fine for Batarians to bomb Terra Nova or that one colony in ME2 where you can only save the Spaceport or Capital. Batarians are the least developed of the races in ME. They're all terrorists and slavers....kinda like Tevinters actually.)

You know, if those idiots hadn't gotten themselves indoctrinated, the best solution would be to wait for the reapers to show up, then slam the asteroid into the relay.  I don't know exactly what it takes to kill a reaper, but I'm pretty sure a supernova does it.

It takes Shepard. He killed the human reaper prototype on foot with only 2 squadmates.

[Deztyn]

KnightofPhoenix wrote...

Deztyn wrote...
You're just assuming the fault lies with Meredith. Orsino was unwilling to work with her in Act II, possibly even as early as Act I as we see with Quintin. If he'd done his job and worked to keep the Circle clean, proved that he was committed to controlling his mages (as is his job) their relationship may have been better. The entire situation may have been better. As far as I'm concerned he's as much at fault as Anders and Meredith.

A large part of the blame lies on Meredith, yes. Even before Act 1, we knew she was more repressive than other Templars, and her attitude is not that great either.

Orsino can't work to keep the Circle clean if the KC is not willing to collaborate with him, and keeps adding fuel to the fire with incompetent heavy handedness.

All of them are at fault, but I consider Meredith  the primary culprit, starting off by her thinking she can play at politics.

Meredith was strict, but not unreasonable until Act III. She may have been willing to work with a First Enchanter who had proved himself competent and respected her position. We never see anything from Orsino except a desire to protect the mages, regardless of whether they deserve his protection or not. Mage Hawke pretty much proves that Meredith is capable of working with a mage with common goals, and that's with the idols influence.