Minor spirits/golemlike automatons? Hell, animated brooms? If WoW has more imagination in this regard than Dragon Age, we may be in trouble.
Why waste good magic on inanimate objects when you can threaten people into submission and boost that superiority complex a bit?
So you are saying that you prefer a Watsonian approach to Thedosian lore, rather than a Doylist approach, aren't you? Well, both of them are equally valid, but I must admit I find the Watsonian approach more enjoyable.
I meant that I would examine a fantasy setting's history and societies as I would examine real-life ones, and that I suppose this puts higher requirements on the author for making them believable enough.
I meant that I would examine a fantasy setting's history and societies as I would examine real-life ones, and that I suppose this puts higher requirements on the author for making them believable enough.
Yes, that's the Watsonian approach, although in this case applied only to in-universe history and society.
Here is something else that occured to me today - does anyone have an explanation why the Circle mage rank is "Enchanter" when only the Tranquil do any enchanting?
You know, that's a very good question. According to the codex, enchanter, senior enchanter and first enchanter (and grand enchanter, as seen in Asunder) are ranks in the circle above mage, bot no explanation is given about the name. As you pointed out, it doesn't make sense to have it in Thedosian lore when real enchantments happen but aren't made by them.
I posted this elsewhere but an answer has not been...made avialable....
You know, that's a very good question. According to the codex, enchanter, senior enchanter and first enchanter (and grand enchanter, as seen in Asunder) are ranks in the circle above mage, bot no explanation is given about the name. As you pointed out, it doesn't make sense to have it in Thedosian lore when real enchantments happen but aren't made by them.
Might be somehow connected to the history of the Circle, maybe before they discovered the Rite of Tranquility it was mages who enchanted objects, though at the cost of greater danger or of outright sacrificing themselves by working with unrefined lyrium. If there are enchanted and non-dwarven weapons pre-dating the Rite of Tranquility, this springs the question of how they came to be enchanted and by whom.
I posted this elsewhere but an answer has not been...made avialable....
Spoiler
I don't think the use of Chantry-refined lyrium affects the lifespan of humans. I can think of examples in DAO of pretty old templars. It seems to cause visual and aural hallucinations and exhaust them psychically though. Cutting a templar, or any lyrium addict from the lyrium on the other hand, intensifies these side effects of its prolonged use, and can drive them mad. The early death, as far as I understand isn't a direct consequence of the abstination, but more of a side-effect of being mad 
I guess you've read this already, but neither the article, nor its sources mention anything about lyrium use lowering life expectancy.
I'm very much in agreement with the suspicions that lyrium use for templars serves no other purpose than providing a means for the Chantry to control them. The official line is that lyrium use is intended to compensate their lack of magical gift and training, to still allow them to use their anti-magic powers when needed. On the other hand, mages use lyrium, albeit diluted, without developing an addiction, so why not develop a means to avoid the addiction for templars too, unless the addiction itself is a desired effect? I don't know, and I don't think anyone knows enough details about the process of lyrium refining, its prepration for use by mages vs use by templars, etc. yet someone in the Chantry must be responsible for this process, and some formulas must exist...
I'm very much in agreement with the suspicions that lyrium use for templars serves no other purpose than providing a means for the Chantry to control them. The official line is that lyrium use is intended to compensate their lack of magical gift and training, to still allow them to use their anti-magic powers when needed. On the other hand, mages use lyrium, albeit diluted, without developing an addiction, so why not develop a means to avoid the addiction for templars too, unless the addiction itself is a desired effect? I don't know, and I don't think anyone knows enough details about the process of lyrium refining, its prepration for use by mages vs use by templars, etc. yet someone in the Chantry must be responsible for this process, and some formulas must exist...
Nothing in the lore says that mages can't get addicted to lyrium if they take a lots of it. In fact, the dev originally planned an addiction feature in DAO tied to lyrium potion usage but the dev considered it unintuitive and removed it (same has with the Templar spec lyrium addiction). Mage can also suffer from physical mutations caused by taking too much lyrium (which makes me wonder if Corypheus look is a side effect of lyrium or the taint).
Nothing in the lore says that mages can't get addicted to lyrium if they take a lots of it. In fact, the dev originally planned an addiction feature in DAO tied to lyrium potion usage but the dev considered it unintuitive and removed it (same has with the Templar spec lyrium addiction). Mage can also suffer from physical mutations caused by taking too much lyrium (which makes me wonder if Corypheus look is a side effect of lyrium or the taint).
I'm very much in agreement with the suspicions that lyrium use for templars serves no other purpose than providing a means for the Chantry to control them.
I agree were already starting to see what happens when Templars go 'rouge' Imagine things would be even worse (for Chantry and especially the Mages)
If the Templars where unbound and basically "free".
Nothing in the lore says that mages can't get addicted to lyrium if they take a lots of it. In fact, the dev originally planned an addiction feature in DAO tied to lyrium potion usage but the dev considered it unintuitive and removed it (same has with the Templar spec lyrium addiction). Mage can also suffer from physical mutations caused by taking too much lyrium (which makes me wonder if Corypheus look is a side effect of lyrium or the taint).
Re your first statement - I can't think of anywhere where mage addiction is even hinted at. Regarding your second, can you provide a source?
It's not a question of hints, nowhere does it says that only Templars get addicted to Lyrim. World of Thedas doesn't even mention Templars when it says that the more one person use lyrium the more they get addicted to it (see post #33).
Also, DAO Lyrium codex.
Lyrium has its costs, however. Prolonged use becomes addictive, the cravings unbearable. Over time, templars grow disoriented, incapable of distinguishing memory from present, or dream from waking. They frequently become paranoid as their worst memories and nightmares haunt their waking hours. Mages have additionally been known to suffer physical mutation: The magister lords of the Tevinter Imperium were widely reputed to have been so affected by their years of lyrium use that they could not be recognized by their own kin, nor even as creatures that had once been human.
If you were talking about the removed features of DAO, it used to be on the DA wiki, but the line was removed when they revamped the lyrium page.
On page 21, on the bottom-right it says "The years-long siege of Arlathan ends when Tevinter is said to sink the city into the ground using blood magic." If Arlathan was a huge city it's highly unlikely it would have endured a "years-long siege" without its inhabitants resorting to cannibalism and without suffering from epidemics, when the attackers would catapult diseased corpses of animals into the city. A siege of a large city would have hardly lasted more than a few months, especially if the city was completely cut off from food and water supplies. A side question - given that the elves hadn't met hostile civilizations before, would their cities even be surrounded by walls to begin with?
That would depend entirely on the layout of the city, the population of the city, the supplies of the city, the infrastructure of the city, the supplies of the sieging army and a truckload of other factors, ALL unknown to us. But in a world like Thedas, with magic and healing, launching dead cattle over city walls are probably not as efficient as in our world, since the enemy mages could, theoretically at least, quickly eliminate any potential contamination.
Anyway, for all we know the Siege of Arlathan lasted for a couple of years. And that is all we have to go on.
On page 76, it says "Powerful, noble mages form a legislative body known as the Magisterium" and also "Archons rule by divine right, a tradition that predates the imperium" -- The common meaning of "by divine right" is "deriving a right to rule directly from the will of a deitiy/deities". If this is truly so, then the Archon shouldn't need a "legislative body" at all, and the Magisterium shouldn't function as more than a king's council with final authority sitting with the Archon.
The Roman emperors also had a senate. The power of the senate varied widely depending on the personality of the emperor on the throne. I'd imagine it is similar in Tevinter.
On the same page, from the description of the Magisterium it follows that its members are no more than 20-30 people (7 coming from the Circles of Magi, plus every grand cleric plus the Imperial Divine, plus whomever the Archon has appointed). Doesn't the Archon's prerogative to appoint new magisters allow him to manipulate the Magisterium's contents and its decisions at will? From the described rules it follows that if he wants a certain move passed, he can simply appoint enough of his own cronies to ensure the move has enough votes.
Almost 50% of the Magisterium consist of people the Archon has no power to appoint (the clergy and First Enchanters), the last 50% he can, in theory, appoint at will, though the Magisterium can probably pressure him to appoint certain individuals over others.
On page 78 - "Liberati can join a Circle of Magi or serve as an apprentice in a trade. Liberati may also own property, but they cannot join the military and rarely have a say in governance." -- this puts the Liberati in a position similiar to that of Jews in medieval and early modern Europe, with the exception that Jews in most places weren't allowed to own land either. If a Liberatus is exempt from holding any public office or military rank, the only venue remaining for him/her would be amassing wealth. I wonder if there isn't a thin layer of Liberati who have become superbly rich.
Probably. Though I think the common Tevinter attitude to slaves, even of the ex variety, is much worse than anything to Jews ever faced in medieval times.
since this is a topic about Thedas Lore, I was wondering if the main language of Thedas, ie English, actually has its own name, or its just kinda... there. not called anything?
since this is a topic about Thedas Lore, I was wondering if the main language of Thedas, ie English, actually has its own name, or its just kinda... there. not called anything?
I believe it is called King's Tongue or the Trade Tongue commonly. But every country, except Ferelden, has their own national language.
I believe it is called King's Tongue or the Trade Tongue commonly. But every country, except Ferelden, has their own national language.
Ah, thank you. Any particular reason for the King's tounge name? the Trade tongue however makes sense, kinda like Common in Dungeons and Dragons.
Ah, thank you. Any particular reason for the King's tounge name? the Trade tongue however makes sense, kinda like Common in Dungeons and Dragons.
I would guess King's Tongue because it would be what foreign dignitaries used in court. Or because it is (or was) a language commonly taught to nobility, but not the peasants.
I would guess King's Tongue because it would be what foreign dignitaries used in court. Or because it is (or was) a language commonly taught to nobility, but not the peasants.
Ah, I suppose that make sense. Thanks for the info, it just started nagging me.
So, the content, books and games, is contradicting the lore then.
Nothing is contradicting the lore anywhere except via gameplay segregation because it's not fun (and lyrium addition is the least of it).
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