Silfren wrote...
2. There are always going to be free mages, some malign, most just not interested in giving up their freedom. No Circle system of any kind of ever going to change this for so long as people exist who prefer freedom over incarceration. But the existence of free mages does not automatically or inevitably mean magical terror. There is no lore in the game ANYHERE to indicate that Thedas has such a perpetual problem with free mages raining tyranny and death on people. Constant, repetitive attacks by free mages intent on terrorizing people would make the case for Thedas "suffering under the yoke of magic," such that I would expect it to be necessary for Templar patrols and curfews...and I would expect to hear the populace talking about frequently fearing to leave their homes, or always waiting with held breath for the next attack. Sorry, but occasional and infrequent cases of magical attacks do NOT make a case for yoked suffering. Some rogue mages will always be free, for the same reason that some criminals will always evade the law. Something that occurs on occasion due to the reality of statistics does not make a case for claiming an out-of-control crisis situation.
There doesn't need to be an out-of-control crisis situation; like Kirkwall; in order for there to be people who are suffering because of magic. And while it is true that not all apostates harm people for fear of discovery by the templars, it is also true that many do so out of their own free will or simply because they've been possessed.
3. The mage rebellion happened specifically because of the Chantry's heavyhanded approach to dealing with the risk of mages by treating them like chattel. Some logic should be applied here: Treating mages like criminals and then having the audacity to complain when they resent being treated that way and fight back through the only means available to them is...not the way we prevent problems. One doesn't push a mage to the breaking point and then use that mage's reaction as justification for mistreating them in the first place.
I would argue that this rebellion is not the result of any sort of mistreatment but that is for a different discussion.
Right now, all that matters is that the presence of magic has lead to yet another war. This is not an argument meant to justify the Circle system but rather simply another example of how magic has brought suffering to mankind.
4. Sorry, you lost me on this one. How has magic negatively affected scientific discovery? The Chantry has impeded research that could be beneficial, but I'm not aware of any evidence that magic has injured science in any way. On this subject, you should probably keep in mind that mages have made the difference in battles with the Qunari...unless this is what you mean, that because people rely on mages they're not putting resources into discovering non-magical means of countering Qunari cannons. Which is still not really something of which I'd consider magic a scourge. Even so, I don't see this as related to mages' causing suffering in Thedas, because the mages are not the ones in control, it isn't as though they are collectively banning research into scientific discovery in order to maintain their own usefulness.
Exactly. When there is an easier path, people rarely follow the more arduous and time consuming one despite the fact it would yield better results in the long term.
Relying on magic has hampered, scientific discovery in Thedas. Val-Royeaux is all illuminated by magic, so there's no point in inventing electricity. We have fireballs at our disposal, so we don't invent gunpowder. We have crystal ball (seriously), so we don't invent the telephone. Etc.
I didn't say this was a case of mages deliberatelly causing suffering on Thedas. I'm not speaking against mages, I am speaking against magic.
5. Yes, the Circle system was enacted three centuries after the Chantry's formation. Do we have any evidence that prior to that point, mages outside of Tevinter were running amok and slaughtering people in droves, and causing magical destruction on a cataclysmic scale? You say it didn't work, but where's the evidence it didn't? I'm aware of two codices on this point, both which have conflicting details. The lore about the Nevarran Accord suggests that the Inquisition formed to protect people against the tyranny of magic, but to the best of my knowledge, it is silent on precisely what was happening at the time other than to say that blood mages and Old God cults were widespread. That's ALL it says, though. Oh, wait, it does hint that some people of the period in question considered the Inquistion itself to be a reign of terror. It sounds more than a little to me of a case of history's details being skewed in favor of the victor. Sounds much more to me like the Inquisition was made up of a group of people who hated mages to such an extent that all magic was evil magic in their eyes. Note that lore on them says that they hunted down heretics, too, as one of the magical threats to the people. That doesn't sound like a case of religious fanaticism at work, oh no.
1- The evidence that it didn't work is the simple fact that mages were displeased with the ban of magic to the point where they would barricade themselves inside the Grand Cathedral which almost started an Exalted March.
Whether or not mages were rampaging through the land is not the sole determinant factor deciding the sucess of the system.
2- I can easily believe that both the mages and the Inquisition were causing their own specific sort of terror. Because that is what happens when empires fall. After the Roman Empire fell, what is now commonly known as the Dark Ages fell upon the land.
After Tevinter fell, we must keep in mind that while Southern Thedas had won its freedom, it also meant the downfall of the only system that for a millenia had taught mages what they needed to know as well as controlled them. Lawlessness, conflict and abominations; both of a magical and non-magical variant; were likely extremely common until Drakon united the lands.
The culture of Thedas would still be much centered around "magic is might, might makes right" and the mundanes would likely answer with the slaugther of any mage they could get their hands on.
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