One Thing Origins Did Is Make Me A Ferelden Nationalist. That's My HOME COUNTRY Right There And I Want

Chronological Timeline of Dragon Age Media - From "Stolen Throne" to Veilguard

A timeline I put together for my own personal reference, which I figured I'd share. It does not include every single piece of Dragon Age media (for example, it doesn't have all the short stories Bioware has put out or some of the older comics) but it's got all the big ones.

These dates are either taken from the timeline found in the first volume of "The World of Thedas," surmised from evidence within the stories themselves, or in a few cases provided by the writers and creators.

Events listed under the same year are not necessarily listed in chronological order, as it's often not clear in which month specific events took place.

9:00 Dragon

The events of "Stolen Throne" (novel)

9:10 Dragon

The events of "The Calling" (novel)

9:22 Dragon

The events of "Dawn of the Seeker" (animated film)

9:30 Dragon

The events of DA:O begin

The events of DA2 - Prologue

9:31 Dragon

The events of DA:O conclude

The events of DA:O - Awakening (DLC)

The events of DA:O - The Golems of Amgarrak (DLC)

The events of DA2 - Act 1

9:32 Dragon

The events of DA:O - Witch Hunt (DLC)

9:34 Dragon

The events of DA2 - Act 2

9:37 Dragon

The events of DA2 - Act 3

~9:31-37 Dragon (exact dates unknown)

The events of DA2 - Legacy (DLC)

The events of DA2 - Mark of the Assassin (DLC)

The events of "Redemption" (web series)

9:38 Dragon

The events of "Silent Grove" (comic)

The events of "Those Who Speak" (comic)

The events of "Until We Sleep" (comic)

9:40 Dragon

The events of "Asunder" (novel)

The events of "The Masked Empire" (novel)

9:41 Dragon

The events of DA:I begin

The events of "Last Flight" (novel) begin

9:42 Dragon

The events of DA:I conclude

The events of "Last Flight" (novel) conclude

~9:41-44 Dragon (exact dates unknown)

The events of DA:I - The Descent (DLC)

The events of DA:I - The Jaws of Hakkon (DLC)

9:44 Dragon

The events of DA:I - Trespasser (DLC)

The events of "Knight Errant" (comic)

The events of "Deception" (comic)

~9:44-45 Dragon (exact date unknown)

The events of "Blue Wraith" (comic)

9:45 Dragon

The events of "Dark Fortress" (comic)

~9:44-51 Dragon (exact dates unknown)

The events of "Tevinter Nights" (short story anthology)

The events of "Absolution" (animated series)

The events of "The Missing" (comic)

The events of "Vows & Vengeance" (podcast)

~9:52-54 Dragon*

The events of DA:V begin

*From what I could find, there is conflicting information from different devs as to the exact year that Veilguard begins. If anyone has newer information or an official answer, please let me know.

On the pitfalls of relying on myth and historic, faded strength during an international emergency.

Part 2 of a series of posts talking about the letters my first character received from the Inquisitor during the events of Veilguard, and why I am very excited about them and personally really enjoy what they have to say about the political and strategic situations in the South.

I am going to strongly recommend that you read part 1 first, especially if you find this post in isolation! I go into a lot of context there that sets the stage for this one.

However long this series winds up being, in the final post I will wrap up how I feel the letters tie into the overarching themes of both this game and the series as a whole, and my feelings as a narrative designer on how Bioware used these letters to thread an impossibly small needle. If I make any lore mistakes, my apologies! But I'm mainly going to be talking about strategy and political ramifications here.

So!

The first letter, with a load bearing middle paragraph, told us a lot about the starting position of the South, in particular, of Ferelden and Orlais, during the events of Veilguard.

In that paragraph, it evoked a LOT of history. Both in-world historical events prior to the games, and of our actions within each title.

The second letter, received after the fall of Weisshaupt, is even more densely packed than the first. I'll be presenting it in chunks and going through it bit by bit as a result.

From the title of this letter, it sets the tone. The fall of Weisshaupt, capitalized as The Fall of Weisshaupt, reflecting that this is an event of immediate major consequence in the now and historic record.

Weisshaupt, as a fortress that was constructed in the First Blight, and that has never fallen in all that time, is a location shrouded in legend.

Before we can go through this letter, we need to consider the circumstances in which it was built, and why.

To do that, we need to consider the first Grey Wardens. Per the codex entry from Origins of, The Grey Wardens, the original Wardens were former soldiers of the Tevinter Imperium. Their lived experience had been nothing but endless war and Blight, and they met in the newly constructed Weisshaupt fortress to discuss their options. Per World of Thedas, p. 156, Weisshaupt was built in an area strategically close to Tevinter, but not hit as hard by the Blight.

In a time when the Blight had been an omnipresent reality for 90 years, that's a very significant starting position for a new order to have. They renounced their nationality and political ties.

Weisshaupt becomes their base of operations, and while it is a considerably larger fortress, we can consider it analogous to Skyhold in Inquisition in several ways - both in Inquisition itself and in Veilguard.

Per the codex entry gained in Origins, The First Blight: Chapter 4, one of the first if not THE first major victory the Grey Wardens won was at the city of Nordbotten, circled in the screenshot above.

Reports of each Warden taking down 10-20 Darkspawn at a time - a number that seems almost ludicrously low compared to the expectations on them in current Thedas.

But the first Blight, while very long, also saw the Darkspawn divided heavily between their surface and underground activity. There were less of them overall, and they had to cut their way through the Dwarves in order to establish their underground hives that would allow them to become an exponentially multiplying threat.

Over the next hundred years, the first Wardens fought to establish themselves. They made treaties, they established conscription and did not discriminate by race or class or background. In many ways, their actions mirror those the Dwarves took in creating the first Golems, but that's a subject for a different post, maybe.

All of this builds up to saying:

Weisshaupt was critical as a strategic location when it was first used as a base of operations. That victory cemented it as the ancestral headquarters of the Grey Wardens in all the time that follows, but as time marched on it became less and less strategically relevant to subsequent Blights.

Its main value became symbolic - the last refuge, the place to make a last stand. Weisshaupt has never fallen, and while it remains standing, there is hope.

I am being handed a note. It's this note. We can talk about the rest of this note now.

With all that prior context established, we can look at the actions the First Warden takes here with a critical eye. Leaving aside the merit of some of the things he has to say to Rook in the game, when we consider the actual underlying positions that the First Warden holds, he is deeply conservative, and a hardline traditionalist. He is an old soldier, yes, but as has been seen by references to his actions in previous titles and in this one: he is largely a figurehead, caught up in politicking.

As a political figurehead, but one fully on board with the death-cult tendencies of the modern Wardens (obsession with past glory and future heroic, destined death; deeply secretive to its own organizational detriment; rife with paranoia), First Warden Glastrum is faced with a deeply unenviable burden: constant darkspawn activity and multiple Blights across what we can assume is his entire tenure in the position, since no reference I can find is made to his having been a newcomer to the role.

Already quite old, both by normal standards and ESPECIALLY Warden ones, the First Warden displays some irrational behaviours that made me suspect he was actively experiencing his Calling from our first meeting with him.

His fixation on due process struck me as a desperate attempt to seek control in the face of that, and the actions that followed reinforced my feelings that this was a man who wants to cement his own legacy while he still can.

Calling the Wardens back to Weisshaupt is a strategic choice that does not make sense outside of that framework, and it is reinforced as what is probably going on by the Veilguard codex entry: Every Warden's Journey.

Viewed through this lens, and with him experiencing the Calling later confirmed if you reason with the First Warden, we can see that calling the Wardens back to Weisshaupt was less about meaningfully combatting the new Blight, and more about forcing a last stand.

We know that all the Wardens are having a bad time once Ghilan'nain takes control of the Blight. We know, per Dorian, that the First Warden signed off on the plan to raise a demon army in Inquisition, a plan which involved active collaboration with the Venatori. It is not the first time he has approved Glorious Last Stands.

The First Warden is a perfect target to subvert if you are Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, and the Grey Wardens are a potential obstruction to your plans to consolidate control over the entirety of Thedas.

He wants to do right. He wants to fulfill his duty. He wants to die with honor, and make his mark in a way he has not been able too across the rest of the games, trapped as he is in the role of a figurehead.

And so he calls the Wardens, en masse, back to Weisshaupt. And we all know how that goes.

He concentrates them all in one place, which at this time in history, is a strategically useful location, but not for what we see it used for. Not as a border fort with immediate access to the worst off areas in this new Blight.

Weisshaupt would have been the perfect place to house refugees, and to use as a counterpart to Skyhold in the South. An information and logistics center.

Baiting the First Warden into a suicidal last stand serves multiple strategic purposes:

It consolidates the bulk of the Grey Warden order in a single, isolated location.

It pisses off everyone who currently really needs Grey Warden support.

It denies those people and places Grey Warden support, which as we will go over in the letter has devastating consequences.

It denies the forces in the North a powerful base of operations, as just outlined.

A victory at Weisshaupt is a devastating blow to morale across all of Thedas. It's fall robs everyone of the comforting myth that no matter what happens, they can always fall back to Weisshaupt and know that they will be safe. It sends a message: nowhere is outside of our reach, and there is nobody who can protect you.

We see how this unfolds in the next lines of the letter. The Grey Wardens withdraw, and it results in immediate losses of ground, particularly for Orzammar. It is a betrayal of one of the oldest alliances that the Wardens have, and one that will stoke the isolationist tendencies of Orzammar's ruling class.

If they are abandoned, once again, why should they show up for anyone else? And, indeed, I did not hear of them again until the final letter.

Orzammar has been dying a slow death across all of the games. The humans - and then the Qunari, in the events of Trespasser - have been trying to circumvent reliance on the Dwarves for access to the lyrium trade across all of the games and in the historical record.

There is a horrifying mirroring of the true history of the Dwarven people we learn about in the Descent DLC and the things we learn in Veilguard that we can see in these efforts.

And no matter who we made King, Orzammar has up until now refused to adapt and make the systemic change needed to reverse this slide into obliteration: the abolishment of the caste system. I want to go into the differences between Orzammar's approach and that of Kal-Sharok, but that will have to be a different post I think. Suffice it to say, based on everything we have seen of that city in prior titles, I expected exactly this result. Now Orzammar will have to contend with the same set of circumstances that Kal-Sharok was once forced into:

The unaddressed systemic cultural issues and generational trauma of the Dwarves of Orazmmar led to them becoming increasingly isolationist and reliant on the lyrium trade in order to tend to their daily needs. And without Grey Warden allies, and with their supply lines also affected by the same issues hitting Ferelden, their options dwindle sharply.

And a thousand or so Wardens die at Weisshaupt.

That is a devastating loss. We see what even a pair of Grey Wardens can do multiple times across the series.

With the loss of the Wardens and Weisshaupt both, Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan can launch the next stage of their offensives. Remembering that aside from being known as the mother of the halla, Ghil is the elven goddess of guides and navigation. We can subsequently intuit that she probably has a very firm understanding of how long it takes to get places, and she has control of the Blight and the Darkspawn - which means she now controls the Deep Roads near entirely unopposed. She's got the subway.

Coordinating an eruption of Darkspawn at historic sites terrorizes Thedas with what the Dwarves already knew: the Darkspawn are everywhere, in seething hordes, and surfacers will reckon with those numbers when Orzammar no longer holds them back.

So!

Per the last letter, the border with Orlais is being harried. The Darkspawn horde at Ostagar appears to have made directly for Denerim - another strong strategic move. Take out the capital, and theoretically you undermine the ability of the nation to organize and field meaningful resistance. Except, here, the less centralized structure of Ferelden society does it a firm favour. As we have seen in prior games, Denerim is not the only key location to locking Ferelden down. Redcliffe is also critical. I'm being handed another note, but that's a problem for future me and for future Ferelden.

The situation in the capital is grim, yes, but not currently totally lost. We have seen how stubborn and determined the people of Denerim are in the face of adversity in Origins firsthand.

Next up is the one part of this that I did not see coming after receiving the first letter - though I should have! I overlooked the implications of the Jaws of Hakkon dlc, having only viewed it through for the first time shortly before Veilguard's release.

When the political process is failing, when the establishments are tearing themselves apart, when civilians lives are on the line and there is an existential threat to everyone: the sorely neglected and othered often step up to provide the most critical support. So it is here, with the Chasind and the Avvar.

Relegated to the margins across all of the games, treated mostly by our viewpoint characters and those we interact with as backward and provincial at best, both the Chasind and the Avvar are substantial and mostly unrepresented groups in the franchise. They also occupy the most outwardly 'hostile' terrain in Ferelden, and know it like the back of their hands.

I got so, so excited when this popped up. The implications of this alliance were the most stirring thing to give me hope for the South. With access to the travel routes and supply lines, as well as remote and well protected territories, the potential to slip civilians out from the noose that Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain are tightening around Ferelden shoots up.

Troops can be moved, and so long as the Blight is contained and harried at by those who at this point have a great deal of learned experience fighting Darkspawn, this alliance marks a potential turning point both in the immediate moment we receive the letter, and in the long-term arc of history that will go on far past the events of the game itself.

It's exciting to me, and I'm excited to also dig into the next letter! As with the last one, nobody else has to like what they've done here, but I think it's great, and I'm really excited to share more of why.

Languages of the Dragon Age

I am not a linguist. I have had loose associations with linguists in the past; I am at best passingly familiar with some general or interesting features of a scattered handful of languages and writing systems. This is more than enough to despise the way Dragon Age lore handles languages.

“Trade Tongue” is a convenient device for streamlined storytelling—you don’t have to worry about characters being able to understand one another—but it’s in the absolute top tier of poor world-building, especially for a fantasy medieval setting where information travels slowly and most people aren’t going to be doing much travel at all.

So, on the basis of some off-the-cuff reflection and with utter disregard for canon linguistics (aside from canonical names and vocab), I present a sketch of the known languages, and language families, of Thedas in the Dragon Age:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Proto-Alamarri: Originating between the Waking Sea and the Frostback Mountains, the Alamarri language family is the most diverse in modern Thedas; Alamarri languages share phonetic and structural features with real-world Celtic and Germanic languages.

Fereldan: The common and court language of the kingdom of Ferelden; its use was suppressed among the nobility during the Orlesian occupation, but to little effect in the long term; it shares features with the Welsh and Gaelic languages.

Chasind: The language of the nomads who inhabit the Korcari Wilds south of Ferelden; although evidently related to its neighboring languages, it is not written and is little attested outside the Chasind tribes.

Avvar: Spoken by the semi-nomadic peoples of the Frostback Mountains, Avvar shares certain phonetic features with Andrisch by linguistic convergence.

Rivaini: The popular language of most of Rivain, to which the first Alamarri speakers came before the Tevinter period. Its vocabulary is strikingly varied from other Alamarri languages, including significant Neromenian borrowings, although it retains distinctively Alamarri phonology.

Andrisch: The dominant language of the Anderfels, Andrisch is less closely related to other Alamarri languages than any other pair in the family; it parallels real-world Germanic languages.

Marcher: The common speech of the Free Marches, characterized by its heavily Neromenian vocabulary fitted to Alamarri grammar. Spoken with significant regional lexical variation from Kirkwall to Ansburg and Wycome.

Neromenian: Originating in north-central Thedas, the Neromenian languages are the most widely spoken in the modern world; they correspond to real-world Romance languages.

Tevene: The language of the Tevinter Imperium and closest to (though by no means intelligible with) Neromenian, it has three distinct but mutually intelligible dialects in modern Thedas.

Classical: The dialect of Tevinter’s upper classes, featuring some modifications to vocabulary and pronunciation but grammatically very close to the Tevene of the old Imperium.

Vulgar: The dialect—or, more properly, dialects—of Tevene’s non-mage and slave castes, featuring significant regional variation, altered vocabulary, and grammatical innovations.

Arcanum: Not actually spoken in Tevinter, Arcanum is a preserved academic form of Ancient Tevene read (and loosely “spoken”) in southern Circles of Magi.

Orlesian: The language of the Orlesian Empire, Orlesian takes much of its vocabulary from languages of the Alamarri and Planasene families, although its grammatical structure remains distinctively Neromenian. Orlesian is the most widely spoken language in southern Thedas, used to facilitate trade between non-Orlesian kingdoms (although this is often lamented as a sign of persistent Orlesian influence).

Antivan: The language of the kingdom of Antiva, Antivan differs from Orlesian in the historical timing of its word loans and the decidedly higher concentration of Neromenian and Alamarri vocabulary. 

Planasene: Originating in south-central Thedas, Planasene culture was largely wiped out by successive Tevinter and Orlesian expansion. 

Nevarran: The only surviving Planasene language, sharing features of Classical Greek and Avestan, with significant influence from surrounding Neromenian languages, especially Orlesian.

Dwarven: The dominant language of the dwarven trade empire by the time of the First Blight, preserved in remarkably stable form in the surviving thaigs of Orzammar and Kal-Shirok. Its grammar and phonology parallel Uralic languages, especially Hungarian; it is written in an alphabetic runic script which is the basis for most human writing systems.

Elvhen: The language which was dominant in Arlathan before the rise of Tevinter, it is now spoken among the Dalish clans in diversely modified form, often drawing on regional human languages to replace vocabulary lost under Tevinter domination; these dialects are, however, transmitted carefully to ensure that they remain mutually intelligible. Elven script is alphabetic and unrelated to other Thedosian writing systems.

Qunlat: The language of the Qunari people and organized ideology, unrelated to the other languages of Thedas. Qunari script is logo-syllabic. 

It is calming to see something familiar in another

inspo x x

On the importance of morale, the opportunism of Empire, and the value of supply lines.

This is part 3 of a series of posts in which I closely examine the letters my character received from the Inquisitor across Veilguard, and talk about the strategic and political implications of what we see within them.

I strongly suggest reading parts 1 and 2 before proceeding with this one, they contain vital context!

Part 1 can be found here!

Part 2 can be found here!

With that said, I will get into it:

Morale is critical to sustained conflicts. Underestimating this is lethal, and Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain clearly understand its value per the last letter.

They have been concentrating on symbolic attacks as well as strategically significant ones, often weaving these together with devastating effect for the South, as outlined in the last letter.

In this one, we see how critical Rook's actions will be for the outcome of this entire conflict: because we goad Ghilan'nain into making mistakes. And we do this via hits to her morale.

For all the strategic value of her victory at Weisshaupt, it pales to her in the face of the loss of her Archdemon. That's her baby, her perfect creation. The mother of monsters mourns her daughter. We reminded her immediately that she is now mortal, which is another devastating morale hit.

When we take out her blighted dragons at Hossberg it only compounds. She is overcome by her anger and grief, a situation so dangerous for them that it prompts Elgar'nan's direct intervention to soothe and retrieve her.

The war against the Evanuris will not and cannot be won in a numbers game. Both sides are keenly aware of this. Our attacks are instead personally targeted and blisteringly effective.

We see some of that in the course of playing, but it is driven home additionally very firmly here.

As the letter makes clear - to the people of Thedas, this is not just Rook's victory, this is a victory for the Wardens, who desperately needed a win to demonstrate that their Order was not robbed of power and agency in the wake of the Fall of Weisshaupt.

Hossberg sends a message: we will survive, we will endure, and we will win and rebuild.

And not just here, in this victory, either - as we progress through the game this is driven home thematically when Antoine tells us that flowers will bloom again there. No matter how bad it seems, some form of life will cling on.

Morale is everything, and this victory has encouraged enlistment in the overall struggle. The stakes are clear: we will fight together, or die alone.

However. Empires, are Empires.

Empires tend to die alone. Imperialism isolates you from everywhere that isn't another Empire, and while collaboration does happen, and is happening here, there is a constant friction when two expansionist Empires are rubbing up against each other.

We see here confirmation of the speculation from part 1: the Venatori are on the ground and providing direct military aid to the Orlesian rebels and their forces. The taking of Val Royeaux is a significant blow, and one that grants naval access to the Free Marches, which seems to have been immediately made use of by launching attacks eastward.

While they could make use of the overland route I've put on here for good measure, there's not much meaningful opposition to controlling this stretch of the Waking Sea. Attempting to take Kirkwall is the next move in stepping up aggression.

It is another goal with multiple strategic purposes and morale consequences.

To the people of the city, which finally had reconstructed under Varric's tenure as Viscount, the attacks threaten what they have just regained and would create desperation, which we all know historically goes great in Kirkwall.

To the Venatori, taking the City of Chains back would be a significant morale victory and affirmation of Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain's 'commitment' to their cause. Reclaiming the ancient powerful sites of Empire would do a lot to bolster their political influence back home, and also be a blow against the Shadow Dragons - regardless of what their current status is.

Kirkwall is the source of almost all the trade that flows between the Free Marches and Ferelden. Take it out? Ferelden is completely isolated, and the additional morale hit from this realization and starvation tactics will begin to also do their work.

If you take Kirkwall, you have consolidated naval control up to the mouth of the Waking Sea, with the Antaam intended to be performing a pincer here to lock down control of the coastlines. I'm being handed a note, we'll get to that.

Meanwhile, Orlais is dying on the hill of standing alone. We can see in the Trespasser DLC that regardless of who is in control, tensions between Ferelden and Orlais flared again when it came time to talk about what to do with the Inquisition. It is a substantial concession for Ferelden to send any military aid to Orlais, but its rejection is to be expected.

To an Empire that is governed with revolving door betrayals and power plays, accepting help and coordinating tactics with a former territory is an unacceptable display of weakness, and the sending will likely be regarded as a display of opportunism from Ferelden, rather than genuine solidarity in the face of the current existential threat.

After all, it would be opportunistic for Orlais to send aid to them, no? As it was in Inquisition? Why would this be any different?

The Inquisitor also points to the generational trauma of the war directly here, just to further drive it home. But this is a systemic cultural barrier that even an hypothetical edict from the Divine herself would not be able to overcome - the work has not been done to enable it too. All of this, incidentally, is why we will be working with the Shadow Dragons rather than appealing to the Magisterium directly. The vast bulk of Magisters have nothing to gain by working with us, and all of them have everything to lose. What support we get can only come through underground channels, lest it risk a complete purge, and depending on our actions that can occur as it is. Empire is often a game of sunk cost, and we cannot expect meaningful aid in overthrowing a corrupt system from the vast majority of those who are personally invested in it.

I have been handed the rest of the note. Again, our work up in the North is critical to the stability of the South.

I've marked with red X's the locations we know for sure are almost entirely out of commission at this point: Denerim, Orzammar, and Val Royeaux. Kirkwall is being harried, and so was Ostwick, so those are circled in yellow.

The Felicisima Armada historically close ranks when under attack by outsiders, and our work in Rivain and Treviso provides ancillary support to the overall fight against the Antaam, sowing division between two of their leaders and dividing their attention back down to the warband level.

The Armada's work draws the Antaam away from the mouth of the Waking Sea, opening up supply lines.

Per volume 1 of The World of Thedas, pages 72 and 82, we can also get a sense of the likely situation.

I've circled Treviso in yellow as well, since we know it is having a bad time. I saved Treviso in this run, so I don't know if anything changes at this point if Minrathous has been prioritized - but it's use in this situation is limited regardless while the occupation continues. Llomerryn and Estwatch, circled here in magenta, are stronghold locations for the Armada. Taking them would require significant commitment of resources and a well oiled logistics network, and I expect attempts are being made.

Even with begrudging Venatori aid, however, we see at this point in the game there are substantial cracks, as Rook's and the faction's efforts popping up all around the North are dividing attentions and interrupting supply and disrupting morale there. The Antaam cannot take to the open ocean, which means they have no choice but to travel up the coast, getting harried every step of the way.

As the Inquisitor points out, it's much needed relief. But this is also a dangerous moment, because we have driven our enemies to desperation that they cannot afford to wear on their sleeves.

After the loss of the Archdemon and the two Blighted dragons, Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan need to consolidate their power and reassert their divinity and right to rule, or else they risk losing control of the Venatori and the Antaam. That means they need another major symbolic victory, and that means another act of targeted terror. I was!

Very frightened at this point!

That wraps up this round!! I'm glad these are being enjoyed, they are fun for me to write out.

no but how popular are maryden’s songs?? i know she’s playing in every tavern we go to but that could be a conveniently identical npc because inquisition didn’t have a ton of models lol

like what kind of notoriety does Scout Lace Harding have? is rook going to feel like they’re meeting, idk, billie jean. eleanor rigby. jolene herself

Elf girls 🥹🌿🌸

what is the walls of darkrown made of? wood?

Thinking about the mage rebellion and Fereldan. My main Warden is a Surana that sticks Alistair with the throne so I never really gave it much thought about why Ferelden's ruler would accept the rebellion.

But I replayed and something stuck out to me: Connor was frustrated about them being in Redcliffe. He asks how that could be seen to be a good idea. And honestly? Given that the Wardens rule Amaranthine and it's a major point of entry from the sea it wouldn't be that hard to have set Fiona's people there and gotten fewer side eyes by the locals. They're used to Wardens, mages ain't that weird in comparison. Especially after the Warden-Commander let a possessed corpse follow them home from the swamp like a lost mabari.

But Ferelden has a population problem. Lots of dead young men and women just at Ostagar, let alone the southern hills, the bannorn via the rebellion, and Denerim. And the survivors of the Siege at Denerim would have had high chances of Blight Sicknesses, there were probably epidemics following 9:31. That would have crippled the fighting population. That doesn't even count that a lot of the refugees who made it to the Marches and elsewhere never returned.

Redcliffe is the fortified gateway to Ferelden from the /Orlesian/ border. The same Orlais that certain powers (Gaspard) want to return to being an expanding empire.

Celene's hold was weak. Weak enough the Inquisitor could arrange to break it entirely.

The Chantry is primarily Orlesian and that would give the mages a reason to not want Orlesian control if it came down to Gaspard as Emperor bringing chevaliers back across the Frostbacks.

I don't think Ferelden took the mages in out of generosity. At least not entirely. I think they saw a chance to add a significant military force to their country if their gamble paid off - and that's why Teagan agreed. Unfortunately for the rebellion the Tevinter thing is a definite point of no return - the mages weren't loyal enough to their own cause, to where they were, to continue the risk of keeping them.

Daemon Age: Inquisition

Dorian’s Loved Ones

Gereon Alexius & Pteriidum - Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) Like Alexius, emperor penguins go to extreme lengths for their children, of which each season they only have one. If they lose their child, they will even steal one from another penguin. Penguins care deeply for others (see Alexius wanting to fight corruption in Tevinter), but the love for their child trumps all. After the magister’s run with the Venatori, Pteriidum manifests Gereon’s deteriorating mental health as catastrophic molt.

Felix & Melzar - Yellow-winged bat (Lavia frons) Bats are symbols of vigilance, and Felix will dutifully watch his father in order to help him and others. Bats are also known as holders of disease, similar to how Felix suffers from the Blight. Yellow-winged bats are social animals and will search for their fellows if they are lost. They are also especially vigilant; during the day, one of a mated pair will stay awake to guard their territory. And they’re yellow.

Halward Pavus & Aplites - Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) A bass is no trogon or felid, but it is a carnivore, and its mouth is full of teeth. It will eat anything in its path, and will not change course in its ascension. While not feared, it is formidable. Aplites is kept wet by enchanted jewelry and “swims” through the air in a bubble of water following her other half. Halward and Aplites had great things planned for their son, but if it takes too long for the fry to leave, the parent bass will not hesitate to eat them.