Here is exactly what we say:
Some people are given political protection and she was. The part where she screwed up is making a contract with a slaver state. It is reasonable to assume Tevinter would make these people slaves. So if you give someone safe harbor you expect them to follow laws in Ferelden and not the laws of a foreign nation.
Second, no matter how you put it, these mages were never considered slaves before. Again, none were citizens of Tevinter which is very important. She doesn't own them. If she did this in Ferelden, she broke the laws in Ferelden.
Finally, She broke the law per your example whether she knew what was going to happen in Redcliffe or not. I don't think she wanted Tevinter to take over Redcliffe, but she was still guilty because she stayed their ALLY.
Does she get a pass if she is an ally of a criminal operation, and does nothing to stop it? The answer is no.
Your comment: "Furthermore is the deal any different from what we do in our world? Seems to me no different from giving someone a work visa and making them "serve" the foreign country they're staying in for the duration of that term... and eventually allowing them to apply for citizenship as a reward?"
OMG NO! If you sell someone into slavery for 10 years inside a nation that is considered free, it is against the laws in that nation. Two things make this clear:
None of the mages were from Tevinter. The contract occurred on Ferelden soil. Not all the mages agreed to it. Some were killed and some ran away.
Your comment: "Even Alexius states that the deal was for full citizenship as members of the Imperium, not enslavement. He explains quite clearly that while the terms of the deal did require ten years of service, they were citizens of the Imperium, who'd gain full citizenship upon the expiration of the contract."
Of course he feels this way. Slavery is part of their culture. Slavery is against the law in Ferelden.
Question for you: Should we let someone take poor 12 year old orphans from the USA to marry them off in a third world country that allows this? They promise to be good to them. There are many different cultures out there, and none of them see themselves as wrong.
Your comment:"(This is also why Josephine says we cannot march on Redcliffe in force, as politically we're seen as an "Orlesian" Chantry organisation, with our operation in Ferelden already being difficult without marching on one of their villages, to combat Tevinters and newly created citizens of the Imperium. Hence the line about how Alexius has outplayed us.)"
Answer:
But Ferelden CAN. We are not the law in Ferelden. The King and Queen kicked them out, required payment and could have charged those who committed murder. We just killed those people before they got there.
All nations have their own laws and a person doesn't have the right to disregard them.
Fiona never made contact with Tevinter. Alexius showed up in order to subvert the Mages into Corypheus' cause and even used Time Magic to arrive before the Inquisitor. Where do you think Tevinter gets it's slaves? Most countries in Thedas have laws against slavery but most of them also break them. "Slavery still thrives in Thedas, even if the trade has been outlawed. Who hasn't heard the tales of poverty-stricken elves lured into ships by the prospect of well-paying jobs in Antiva, only to find themselves clapped in leg-irons once at sea? And humans fall prey to this, too. If they're lucky, they end up in Orlais, which has only "servants." Most nobles treat them decently because they are afraid of admitting the truth. Orlesians go to great lengths to maintain the fiction that slavery is illegal." - Codex Entry Slavery in the Tevinter Imperium
Also, Alexius was part of a cult. He was lying to the Mages, had no intentions of honoring any such deal and no official support from the Magisterium.
Retour en haut
And yes to the fan club
