Mm, did she ever die on-screen in DA:I? "Never found the body" is too easy to retcon as "never really died".
We never see her die on-screen.
She doesn't appear in the Mage path (but still exists) and either leaves peacefully or swan-dives off a waterfall in the Templar path. All three outcomes allow them to easily write her back into future games, which they should, because she's probably one of the most complex characters, as well as antagonists, we've had since Loghain.
I have spoken of this before, maybe even too much, I don't see any changes of Calpernia returning to Tevinter. Being a runaway slave who joined in a group of zealots in order to take over the Imperium for a darkspawn. It would be really obvious that the Archon and Magisterium would want her head on a spike. Heck, I even think Dorian would be a outlaw just because of his connection to the southern Chantry.
Not much in the way of a spoiler for Magekiller, but will tag it anyway for those who haven't read it;
So you're not wrong that even if she survives Inquisition and returns home, it's not going to be the safest place for her to be.
Heck, I even think Dorian would be a outlaw just because of his connection to the southern Chantry.
Dorian doesn't really have a connection to the southern Chantry, beyond the superficial. He's also a Magister, so he's clearly not an outlaw.
Depends how the Imperium would see his work with the Inquisition of whom the next Divine was found, granted he also helped bring down Corypheus so that is a plus. But he is not a Magister yet, only in line for the seat.
Archon Radonis will potentially work with the Inquisition, which includes a military joint operation.
As of Trespasser's epilogue, Dorian has assumed his position in the Magesterium. Officially, he had already been given the seat during the events of the DLC.
If we're going to Tevinter, I think that would be the perfect time to reintroduce the origin story mechanic. Tevinter is going to be-culturally-very different than what we've become accustomed to on southern Thedas.
So, having origin stories like they did with DAO would be a great way to get us involved. Perhaps not hours long like DAO, but it would make sense to have that now.
Archon Radonis will potentially work with the Inquisition, which includes a military joint operation.
As of Trespasser's epilogue, Dorian has assumed his position in the Magesterium. Officially, he had already been given the seat during the events of the DLC.
So that makes it clear, Dorian will be in the next game.
Yes I read that, though him being the leader of the Imperium should make him simply have them apprehended and killed. I find it a bit strange that Archon would need to work in secrecy. It kind of does not make sense. Calpernia for instance is but a slave, despite being pampered in the story. Her short story gave no indication of her getting status inside Tevinter, only in the Venatori group. Why would Archon have problems dealing with them? That is a bit strange.
Calpernia wasn't the only target of the Archon, and the others were in a more delicate situation. Despite what we think of them in DA:I, the Venatori have important connections in Tevinter. Alexius himself was a Magister. Before the Breach, the Archon may even fear they're plotting against him. If he's too brash, he might end up losing all the leads or having a civil war.
Fortunately for him, we know that the creepy fanatics went to the south to cause havoc, so Radonis is safe. For now.
I have spoken of this before, maybe even too much, but I don't see any changes of Calpernia returning to Tevinter.
Her not going there would be strange. In DA:I she repeats to everyone who wants to listen to her that she dreams with a better Tevinter and she directly mentions she wants to go there if she survives. Being an outlaw hasn't stopped other characters before, and since now Tevinter is in open war with the Qunari, the chaos should help her to keep a low profile.
^ Just to add, Erimond was also a magister. The epilogue slides make it clear that the Venatori are still a presence in Tevinter and are still plotting. It's logical, really. The Venatori are a movement of Tevinter supremacists who were only galvanized by Corypheus, not created by him, and those kinds of thoughts and views aren't going to go away simply because a chunk of them were killed off by the Inquisition.
If we're going to Tevinter, I think that would be the perfect time to reintroduce the origin story mechanic. Tevinter is going to be-culturally-very different than what we've become accustomed to on southern Thedas.
So, having origin stories like they did with DAO would be a great way to get us involved. Perhaps not hours long like DAO, but it would make sense to have that now.
So much this.
Origin stories and the entropy/spirit/blood magic skill trees, please Bioware.
^ Just to add, Erimond was also a magister. The epilogue slides make it clear that the Venatori are still a presence in Tevinter and are still plotting. It's logical, really. The Venatori are a movement of Tevinter supremacists who were only galvanized by Corypheus, not created by him, and those kinds of thoughts and views aren't going to go away simply because a chunk of them were killed off by the Inquisition.
You know, now I'm worried that the Venatori may become the equivalent of ME2's Cerberus in an upcoming game. "Sure, you have to join the Venatori to fight Solas, because it's not as if they weren't complete bastards in the previous game".
^ Well, I don't know anything about the ME games, but I'm not sure how valid a comparison that is. The Venatori are all about Tevinter, and as we saw in DAI, they don't care if the rest of the world is destroyed as long as Tevinter comes out ahead. Sure, it might be that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," but I don't think we have enough information to go on at this point.
^ Well, I don't know anything about the ME games, but I'm not sure how valid a comparison that is. The Venatori are all about Tevinter, and as we saw in DAI, they don't care if the rest of the world is destroyed as long as Tevinter comes out ahead. Sure, it might be that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," but I don't think we have enough information to go on at this point.
You are right, the problem is that's exactly what Cerberus was too. All about humanity, not caring about opther species, but since Shepard faced an enemy that was hellbent on destroying every advanced species in the galaxy, including humans, they helped. At first. So it could happen again: the Venatori are Tevinter supremacists, but they may help against an enemy that wants to destroy all the world, Tevinter included.
Not that I support that path. ME2 was subjected to a lot of criticism precisely because Shepard was railroaded into working for an organization that in ME1 was below only to the geth and the Reapers in horrible deeds.
To be fair, Shepard would have been dead but for Cerberus, and you could play them that they weren't overjoyed by working for Cerberus and they were trying to deal with a major problem for human colonists which was helped by the resources Cerberus was offering. Plus at the end you could put up two fingers to TIM (metaphorically speaking). Many of the people TIM persuades to work for them do so precisely because they had a personal loyalty to Shepard and they were unhappy how Shepard's previous contributions and reputation were being ignored and misused by those in charge. I must admit I can see parallels there with what happens with the Inquisitor.
Calpernia is a much more sympathetic character than TIM. It is one of the supreme ironies that the leader of the Venatori should be able to recognise the worth of all people, including the slaves and it is out of desire to help them rise and thus Tevinter with them, that gives her the motivation to follow Corypheus. What she realises by the end, if you show her his binding ritual, is that not only was he using her but that he was equally using them. It is odd because, whilst Dorian says Aexius is acting out of character in joining the cult, given what we are told about him in WoT2, it actually makes sense that he might have been drawn to Calpernia even without the promise to help Felix. Many of her most loyal followers were former slaves and she treats them well. WoT2 says that one of the principle things that gets up the noses of the mage-lords is that the Venatori are led by an ex-slave. The one that seems out of place is Erimond but he seems a separate thread that Corypheus has set up since he appears independently of which path you follow; I really can't see Erimond having been happily taking orders from an ex-slave. Since she is an outlaw in Tevinter, I can really see her becoming a companion of the next PC as they are likely to be acting from the shadows as well.
Since she is an outlaw in Tevinter, I can really see her becoming a companion of the next PC as they are likely to be acting from the shadows as well.
It is odd because, whilst Dorian says Aexius is acting out of character in joining the cult, given what we are told about him in WoT2, it actually makes sense that he might have been drawn to Calpernia even without the promise to help Felix.
The one that seems out of place is Erimond but he seems a separate thread that Corypheus has set up since he appears independently of which path you follow...
I don't see how or why we might be falling in with the Venatori to stop Solas. To be honest, I don't even see Calpernia continuing to operate as their "leader", as their ideology and hers seem to be wholly incompatible.
I don't see how or why we might be falling in with the Venatori to stop Solas. To be honest, I don't even see Calpernia continuing to operate as their "leader", as their ideology and hers seem to be wholly incompatible.
Cassandra: What does Corypheus hope to accomplish? Dorian you must know.
Dorian: Let me guess, because he's Tevinter.
Cassandra: Well, you have better insight into the Tevinter mind than anyone else here.
Dorian: Darling Cassandra, Corypheus is from a Tevinter that's been dead and gone a thousand years. Whatever nostalgic vision he's selling, it has little to do with my Tevinter... or his followers frankly.
Cassandra: Do you truly believe the Venatori have no idea what Corypheus will do?
Dorian: Some of my current country men look at the current state of our nation and despair. They hear how powerful and glorious we once were and think, "That would be better. It has to be." What they overlook is that Corypheus wasn't here for our downfall. He has no idea that it was unavoidable.
Cassandra: Could he be convinced of the truth?
Dorian: You're asking me? I'll wager he believes he is the truth.
To be fair, Shepard would have been dead but for Cerberus, and you could play them that they weren't overjoyed by working for Cerberus and they were trying to deal with a major problem for human colonists which was helped by the resources Cerberus was offering. Plus at the end you could put up two fingers to TIM (metaphorically speaking). Many of the people TIM persuades to work for them do so precisely because they had a personal loyalty to Shepard and they were unhappy how Shepard's previous contributions and reputation were being ignored and misused by those in charge. I must admit I can see parallels there with what happens with the Inquisitor.
It should bebe even easier for a character who didn't know much of the Venatori (we won't play as any of the previous heroes) to join them than for Shepard, galactic hero, possible vanquisher of several Cerberus cells in the first game and, in one of the freaking backgrounds, a victim of Cerberus, to join a known terrorist group. Yet, as you mention, they managed to justify it somehow.
Please, don't let it happen again in DA4.
I personally see Calpernia as the Venatori's Miranda Lawson. Hard and ruthless when she must be, and a true believer in the supposed ideals of the group, but fair and more open-minded in the end. If she leads a splinter cell of "good" Venatori, maybe she could be recruited as a faction, and maybe herself, not unlike Iron Bull's Chargers or the Mages/Templars in DA:I.
If we're going to have a more mature woman as a follower, I'd prefer Maevaris for multiple reasons that I really don't want to to clutter this thread with. I don't see them having two such women, no matter how different their personalities, as followers in the same game.
Do you think so? Cassandra and Vivienne were two mature women, and we've just had them as companions in DA:I. If only, I'd doubt it mostly because both of them are mages, for gameplay reasons. Given that Calpernia and Maevaris are polar opposites in many regards, yet have a common desire of seeing a better Tevinter, the party banter could be very interesting
Do you think so? Cassandra and Vivienne were two mature women, and we've just had them as companions in DA:I. If only, I'd doubt it mostly because both of them are mages, for gameplay reasons. Given that Calpernia and Maevaris are polar opposites in many regards, yet have a common desire of seeing a better Tevinter, the party banter could be very interesting
You are right. I should perhaps also have remarked that those two are both mages, because I did think of that as well. I dunno... I just think of Cassandra and Vivienne so differently that it's difficult to even compare them in this manner.
The point I was making about Alexius and Calpurnia was that I can see an initial conversation with her pulling him in and then it just goes from there. WoT2 definitely says that she is the leader of the Venatori, so you would think she would be the first point of contact. (According to the comic series there were originally 4 leaders but she is the only one to survive to the events of DAI). I'll admit that later on he probably just gets obsessed with healing Felix and is blind to what Corypheus really stands for but the things she claims she wants when you confront her and are detailed in WoT2 seem exactly the sort of agenda that Alexius was pursuing, minus the Tevinter ruling the world aspect. When she makes her speech at the end about her motivations, Dorian approves of them and letting her go. He actually says that Tevinter could do with more like her, which is why it doesn't seem a huge stretch for me that Calpurnia was first contact that got him involved with them and then he met Corypheus, who claimed to be able to fit Felix. So Dorian in Redcliffe is arguing against Alexius from his knowledge of what the Venatori stand for and the sentiments that Alexius appeared to have expressed in his letter to him and by this time it is all about Felix for Alexius. That doesn't mean he might not have been initially attracted to what Calpurnia claimed to be working towards.
Why does it just have to be that he went to the bad simply because is mind was unhinged, instead of he went to the bad because he was in favour of the goals she was claiming to be working towards as well as a promised cure for Felix. Surely if it was only ever about curing Felix, you'd think he would quickly realise that wasn't happening before the Breach occurred that allowed him to pursue his time magic idea. In game it is implied the approach seems to have only come a short time before but according to WoT2 he went missing with Felix 2 years before the events of DAI and only got back in touch with Dorian just before he travelled south.
Incidentally I would love to know the cure that Dorian and Alexius originally came up with that allowed them to prolong Felix's life years past what you would normally expect. As he says, you would normally expect him to only have lasted months after the initial infection before turning into a ghoul or simply dying but there he was looking quite normal 6 years after the attack. Then in only 1 year he went downhill very quickly.
I really want nothing major to do with Calpernia or Dorian or Maeveris... the Magisterium is not something I want as a major part of the the next DA 4 as rogues and warriors have no place. Sure, do I talk with Magisters? Or even representatives of the Magisterium itself? Yeah... great, but I don't want any part of the game to be about the Magisterium.
These stories are so painful sometimes... in the course of some ridiculously small span of time a nobody has the ear of the most powerful organizations of the world.
I find that premise more fantasy than magic and dragons.
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