Breakdown of Dai Grepher's speculation from the GDC video;
3:30 Epler - The Qunari, an invading force from across the sea that hates magic.
Here Epler refers to the Qunari we see in Trespasser as an invading force that hates magic. So clearly he is not referring to the Qunari people. He is only referring to the Qunari in the DLC that try to invade. This is Viddasala's group. This means Viddasala's group is separate from the rest of Qunari society in what they are doing in the DLC.
False-equivalence. You assume because you think they are not invading, they cannot be the people referred to.
In actuality, Epler is defining the Qunari for the uninitiated. The Qunari are from across the sea and are an Anti-Magic. These are things that we have seen repeatedly and have been established in the lore as far back as Origins. By defining the Qunari and referring to them as "an invading force", he's making it clear this is the faction we are dealing with in Trespasser.
20:00 Weekes - Solas' spy, who points out the Qunari body, was not supposed to be his spy in the original draft. Idea added later.
This proves two things. 1. "The Qunari" can refer to anything, from one individual Qunari to the Qunari as a people or as race. So just because someone says "the Qunari" doesn't mean they are referring to the Qunari people or the Qunari leadership. 2. The original story had this elf as your agent. They changed this in the end to be Solas' agent. This proves that storylines can start out one way but end up being something completely different. Just because this elf was your agent in one of the first drafts doesn't mean she is in the canon release. So you wouldn't argue that she is actually an Inquisition agent, would you? No, because the storyline was changed. This is very important.
Weeks tells us that the Elf who shows us the body was an Inquisition agent from the earliest draft, but they realised how perfect it was to show the levels of infiltration in our ranks by making them one of Solas' double-agents later on. It fit thematically the tone of the story, so they went with it. In the final canon game, they work for both Solas and the Inquisition.
This argument that something changed with the writing has nothing to do with the Qunari. Furthermore, your assertion these aren't real Qunari because "the Qunari" is a nebulous term within the franchise, is a logical fallacy because when you look at in context, Epler started by accurately defining the term here as referring to the resident magical anti-faction from over the sea (The Qunari under the Qun) who are launching an invasion.
But because you don't want it to mean them, you seem intent to insist it means otherwise.
22:20 Wanted to have the Qunari present.
Establish the Qunari as a threat. Amp up tension.
Tie Qunari to lyrium mining. Hopefully enough of a hook. It wasn't.
The Qunari didn't have a great reason to be there mining lyrium. No story connection.
This is all self-explanatory. They had the Qunari minding lyrium, it wasn't enough of a hook because they had no reason and this didn't connect to the story in any way.
Which they then go back to when they discuss the aborted idea of Qunari Templars, as well as the route they eventually went with with the Saarebas. We know the reason now why they were mining lyrium, for the purposes of study and because they intend to use it on their mages.
23:10 Weekes - At the start of the dungeon, you knew the Qunari were a problem doing something bad. At the end of the dungeon, you knew the Qunari were a problem doing something bad. No rising tension.
Explain what they are doing and give them a reason.
Again, Weekes is referring to the Qunari in Trespasser as "the Qunari". Not the Qunari as a nation or as a race. Also, he wants to give them a reason to be there mining lyrium.
Again, you're making the assertion that because it's a nebulous term, it doesn't mean the nation. Epler defined it and made it clear that the group being referred to where those under the Qun.
23:33 Epler - Tension graphing. Low tension x3, then all of a sudden you're fighting the "Qunari leader".
John Epler explains the graph showing how much tension there was in the DLC at each stage. He points out three places with low tension, the Deep Roads included, and then refers to the stage in which the tension jumps and we are fighting the "Qunari leader". He is clearly referring to Viddasala and identifying her as the Qunari's leader. This proves that she was the top commander of this mission, and that she was alone in this command. Epler didn't call her "one of the Qunari leaders", he called her THE Qunari leader.
Now, we know from the game that she is nothing more than the head of the Ben-Hassrath's Dangerous Purpose branch. She is not a leader among the Qunari people. She is an agent. Calling her the leader proves that Dragon's Breath was her idea and hers alone. She had no other agents lateral or above her to direct the mission. She was the only high ranking official there. No other high ranking Qunari agent was involved. Not any other priest of the Ben-Hassrath, not the Ariqun, not the other members of the Triumvirate.
This proves Viddasala was unauthorized. In an authorized operation, she would not have been the leader.
The Viddasala is the Qunari leader in charge of overseeing this operation.
You are assuming that because no-one else is present she was not sanctioned by the Triumvirate to conduct the operation and carry it out on their behalf, but we simply do not have enough evidence or information about their hierarchy when it comes to field operations to say that this isn't the case.
If we were to assume the Qunari are acting with the intention of plausible deniability, then it would be sensible to have only one person running the op should it be discovered. They can more easily disavow the actions of one, rather than having to explain why so many important high-ranking Qunari were present in the Darvaraad at the time this aborted invasion was thwarted.
24:05 Writing side. Weekes - What do the Qunari hate? Magic. They want to suppress magic. Best way to suppress magic is templars, so what if the Qunari were making templars? What if the Qunari were mining lyrium to make templars? This makes sense.
So here is Weekes explaining their thought process for giving the Qunari a reason to be there mining lyrium. The Qunari hate magic, so the first idea was to make templars.
So you are agreeing now with Epler that the Qunari are indeed a "force from across the sea that hates magic"... because if you stick "invading" in front of that to complete the definition he began with, what do you think he's telling us about what faction these Qunari belong to and their intentions?
24:40 Jerran explains Qunari are here mining lyrium to make templars so they can suppress our mages when they invade the South. This makes sense... or not.
The first idea was to have Jerran explain that the Qunari were making templars so they can suppress the Southern mages when they invade. This made sense, until it didn't.
Three things here. 1. Just because they are planning to invade the South doesn't mean the Triumvirate was. 2. This storyline was scrapped. So regardless of what you think Weekes was referring to, this storyline is not canon because it didn't make sense. 3. Even if the Triumvirate approved of a plan such as this, they wouldn't have started it during Trespasser. The Qunari would have tested out the templars ahead of time against Tevinter first. It makes no sense to test them right before Dragon's Breath. So the Triumvirate being involved makes no sense.
25:55 Needed something simpler, something to work with the gameplay. Took out idea of Qunari templars. Didn't make sense. What did make sense was the saarebas.
A few things here. They scrapped the idea of Qunari templars being used for invasion to suppress southern mages. Scrapped it. Gone. Dead. Now, if the Triumvirate had at any point been intended to be part of this operation as having authorized it (which they weren't, and Weekes indicates this is still Viddasala only), then dropping this templar storyline would also mean dropping any storyline about the Triumvirate authorizing it. We know this because what are you left with to combat southern mages during an official invasion?
In other words, if your plan was to invade with templar Qunari to combat southern mages, but then this idea gets scrapped, then what would the official invasion use instead? Nothing. There is nothing else you can use.
So they replaced this with a plot where the Viddasala uses saarebas instead. This is because a saarbas fits the gameplay style.
Insane Troll Logic all over the board here.
Because they aborted the idea of the Qunari deciding to make Templars, you are wrongly inferring and assuming that means the invasion was made non-canon as well. All Weekes is telling us here is that they decided to nix the idea of Qunari Templars, this has nothing to do with debunking the Triumvirate being involved with the invasion.
Weekes actually explains why the Qunari would use Saarebas instead of Templars below, that they are far more powerful than Southern Mages because they've been suppressed so long, letting them unleash is far more devastating, even when pitted against other magic users.
26:19 Weekes - The saarebas are suppressed by the Qunari culture. The Qunari in Trespasser give lyrium to saarebas. They're making super-weapons. Taking parched mages and hooking them up to a fire-hose.
This is objectively a really bad idea for the Qunari. But that is the kind of short term gain/long term loss, dangerous deal with the devil that characters in the Dragon Age universe make all the time.
And here is Weekes 100% irrefutable confirmation that Viddasala was unauthorized. He differentiates the Qunari in Trespasser from the rest of Qunari culture. Separating the two. What the Qunari in Trespasser were directed to do is the exact opposite of what Qunari culture has taught since the culture was founded. The Qunari culture suppresses saarebas to magic. Viddasala and those she ordered around were immersing saarebas in magic. This directly contradicts the Qun and Qunari culture. The Triumvirate is confirmed to have no part in this by extension.
Weekes also confirms this is a bad idea, but is the type of deal that DA characters make all the time. By referring to characters, Weekes confirms this is Viddasala alone. This is not the Triumvirate as a collective making this choice. It is only Viddasala.
Also, to go back to my previous point of what else would you invade with, saarebas would not be the Triumvirate's answer. Not only would the Qunari not have templars to combat southern mages, but they would then be using their own saarebas. What does the South have to combat these saarebas? Templars! So how does it make sense to send your own mages against templars in the South? Clearly this was just Viddasala's insane plan, and Jerran even states as much in the game.
And to bring up another previous point, even if we are to believe that the Triumvirate made a sudden 180 on keeping saarebas separate from all magic, and instead started powering them up with lyrium (in violation of the Qun), then once again I state that they would have tested all of this on Seheron first in battles against Tevinter. They would not risk testing them during Dragon's Breath, which was supposedly the linchpin to a southern invasion.
Actually this shows how serious the Qunari are about invading the South, because they are prepared to suffer this necessary evil and unleash their mages, something they almost never do. When they let them off the leash to use against the Free Marches centuries prior, the Saarebas were capable of reducing city walls to rubble far quicker than any siege weaponry could have.
If the Qunari really wanted to eliminate all magic, they'd murder their mages rather than restrain them. But they don't. Instead they turn them into powerful weapons that can only destroy (no healing skills whatsoever) because they are keeping them in reserve for when things are so bad, they need to bring out the big guns. Saarebas are the equivalent to nukes, something you never want to use if you can help it, but you want to have just in case you have no other option.
Furthermore you are projecting again your own interpretation onto Weekes' words, when he says about this being a deal with the devil, something we often see from characters in this series. Weekes never specifies the Viddasala here, so you cannot make the assertion that he's talking about her, nor it was her idea and not that of the Triumvirate. It's a blanket statement he was making, not specific enough to deny or confirm anything.
What you forget is that because the plan uses Eluvians, something that also allows secret lyrium mining to take place, which shows they are acting in a very stereotypical Qunari manner by taking advantage of the situation to accomplish multiple goals. They get to wipe out the southern leadership, use the Eluvians to establish beachheads, mine the necessary lyrium and test out their new Saarebas in combat.
It also makes sense to testing the super-Saarebas against the Southern Mages first, because the restrictions of the Circles mean that they are overall weaker... or at least have less combat experience and tricks up their sleeves than Vint mages. It gives them a good indicator for what they might expect should they decide to turn them against the Imperium next.
Also, we see that despite the Saarebas being super-charged, they are still bound so the Arvaraad can control them and bring them back under heel. That the Qunari have a serious "Oh sh-" moment when the Saarebas breaks out of his restraints in Trespasser, backs up what Weekes said about how dangerous this gamble would be if it should blow up in their face.
29:07 Revision - Test ideas to see if they work. If they don't you can change them to something better.
This part proves that the writing team had ideas that didn't work, and they scrapped them. So even if Dragon's Breath was meant to be official at some point during production, then it was scrapped before the final release. But I contend this was never to be an authorized mission, and both Weekes and Epler confirmed this in the conference presentation.
Again, wild speculation on your part.
Watching the video, Weekes and Epler never talk about the Viddasala or the Triumivirate, nor do they claim this was the actions of rogue group or any of the other dozen "facts" that think this video has proven? Actually do they even say the words "Viddasala", "Qun" or "Triumvirate" once?
Most of your "irrefutable" facts are merely what you've been accusing us all of, wild speculation, reading things and putting words into the mouths of people who actually said nothing even remotely close what what you are claiming they are confirming?
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Apologies for having to cross-examine you in this manner, but it seemed necessary at this point. It's a little hard to endure (over) fifty pages of being accused of wild flights of fancy whilst providing actual evidence and words from the writer's own mouth, when the other side gives only speculation or inference from what they said, while touting it as "irrefutable facts".
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