LobselVith8 wrote...
In the example of the Dalish clans, we have been told that non-mages can become Keepers (as this was mentioned by Felicia Day),
Not only do you not present a source for this; Felicia Day is hardly a DA writer.
and the elders are also in positions of authority of the clan, to the point where they could refuse a marriage between a Keeper and one of their own.
The elders have as much authority as the Keeper of their clan allows them to have, no more, no less.
Those elders had authority over a member of their own clan, never over the Keeper of another.
As for the seers in Rivaini, they aren't leaders.
World of Thedas page 80 "All decisions involving the welfare of most Rivaini communities rest solely with the eldest women. The most senior of these women are caled seers, who freely practice magic."
So yes, political power in Rivain rests largely with the mages,
Again, this idea that free mages automatically lead to another Tevinter is disproven by the societies where mages are free, and none of them attempt to emulate the Imperium.
And in all of these societies you mentioned, mages are the higher strata with non-mages having to obey them. What exactly is hard to understand about the concept that, even if they don't emulate Tevinter, all examples of society where mages are free inevitably leads to mages dominating non-mages; even if in a benevolent olygarchy; and that some of us have a problem with that. We're not interested in non-mages being second class citizens just so the mages can be free.