Codex (Origins)

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The Codex is a collection of lore that the Player Character can increase throughout the game. There are the stories of historians and scholars, passages from the Chant of Light, and folktales. The information in the Codex comes from within the setting, and may not be completely accurate. The Codex entries are unlocked through dialogue, eavesdropping on someone’s conversation, reading lore books, or some other action.

There are lore books in the game. A player doesn't read the book directly; instead, when a book is opened, or the player picks up a rare item, the Codex is updated with the story or relevant information. The PC also receives a small amount of XP for each Codex update.

Mother Ailis is a prominent contributor to the Codex.

Codex Entry 34: The Litany of Adralla
Adralla of Vyrantium dedicated her life to the study of blood magic--the academic study, rather than the practice. A deeply pious mage, she was renowned in her day for having found a counter to every form of mind control, a defense against dream walkers, and even counter-spells to demonic summons.

Her efforts went unappreciated in her native Tevinter, however. After three different magisters attempted to have her killed, she fled the country, choosing to take refuge in the land of Blessed Andrate's birth. She spent the remainder of her days with the Circle in Ferelden.

The Litany of Adralla disrupts the casting of mind control spells. Use the Litany whenever a creature tries to dominate another with magic, and it will interrupt the casting. Once the spell is in effect and a character is under a blood mage's power, it is too late.

Codex Entry 36: Havard's Aegis
Harvard was Maferath's closest friend. They were children together in the same Avvar Clan. They fought side-by-side in so many battles that Maferath dubbed him, "Havvard the Aegis," better to have at his side than any shield.

Maferath brought Havvard with him to meet with the Tevinters; it was unthinkable to stand before his enemies without his Aegis.

When he understood that Maferath was giving Andraste over to be executed, Havvard, unwilling to draw swords against his friend and liege, placed himself between Andraste and the Tiventer soldiers. The Tiventers struck him down, and Maferath left him for dead.

But Aegis was not so easily destroyed. Havvard lived and Made his way, gravely wounded, to the gates of Minrathous to stop the execution. Too late. He found only the ashes of the prophet, left to the wind and rain. When his fingers touched the ash, his ears filled with song, and he saw a vision of Andraste dressed in cloth of starlight. She knelt at his side, saying, "Rise, Ageis of the Faith, the Maker shall never forget you so long as I remember."

His wounds healed instantly. And with new strenght, Havvard gathered up Andraste's remains and carried them safely back to the lands of the Alamarri.

Codex Entry ###: The Proving
This entry is incomplete.

Valos atredum. In the 23rd year of the reign of King Ragnan Aeducan, an old man of the Servant Caste was accused of stealing a sapphire ring from his employer, Lord Dace. The servant was stripped of his position, he and his family thrown to the streets, and soon after, the servant died.

The son of the disgraced servant challenged Lord Dace to a Proving, declaring that his father had been the victim of a cruel injustice and the ancestors would bear him witness. Lord Dace had no choice but to accept.

On the sacred stone of the Proving Ground, the nobleman faced the servant boy. Lord Dace carried a sword crafted for his own hand and was clad in his great-grandfather’s armor. The servant boy had neither armor nor weapon. When the battle began, the boy fought like a whole pack of angry deepstalkers, flinging himself upon the startled lord, wrenching the sword from his hand, and prying at his armor with bare fingers. The boy knocked Lord Dace to the ground and beat him until the lord begged for mercy.

The boy and his family were reinstated.

Codex Entry 235: Promises of Pride
Uldred will show us the way. Finally, recognition within the Circle and freedom from the scornful eye of the templars. We will not be shunned. Be ready.--Enchanter Gravid, Libertarian

Codex Entry 243: Improved Drain
The victim of a must be war not only of damage from the elements, but also spellcasters who wish to sap life or mana to restore their own bodies. The spells and are twice as effective in those circumstances.

Codex Entry 246: Shattering
A creature frozen or petrified by magic, as from the spells or, is in a vulnerable state, subject to shattering if excessive force is applied to just the right spot. A critical hit from any weapon may suffice, and the spells and  have been known to achieve the effect as well.

Codex Entry 251: Tactics
The tactics screen (\) is a tool used to customize your party's actions and reactions based on current situations in combat.

AI: General Behavior

A party member's general behavior can be configured using the drop-down menu at the top of the right side of the screen. For example, should he or she charge at enemies, or be more cautious? Does this party member prefer ranged or melee weapons?

Tactics slots let you set up automatic actions that the party member will take in specific situations, like casting Heal whenever a party member drops below 50% health. Tactics are displayed in a numbered list. Each tactic requires a condition and an action.

The condition determines when to execute the tactic. The action determines what happens when the tactic fires.

Tactic slots at the top of the list are the highest priority; they will activate before ones further down in the list. You can reorganize tactics slots by left-clicking on a number and dragging.

Tactics slots can also be temporarily disabled by left-clicking on the + symbol in front of the slot. To re-enable the tactic, click the + again.

AI: Tactics Presets

You can save a set of tactics at any time. Click the Save Preset button to store the current settings. Use the Presets pull-down to switch between different sets of conditions and actions.

Codex Entry 253: Area Map
The area map (M) displays a top-down view of your current area. Some regions will only be revealed when you explore them. By default, plot helpers are not shown in unexplored regions, but you can change this in the options menu (Esc).

Codex Entry 259: Combat Basics
You are in a combat situation. Mastery of the battlefield is important. Zoom out (Scroll backward) in combat to gain a better view of your situation. You can also pause for tactical preparation by pressing Space.

To attack an enemy, simply right-click on them. To use a talent, left-click on it in your quickbar to use it against your current target.

Codex Entry 261: Ranked Creatures
The names of particularly challenging opponents are displayed in different colors to draw attention to the significant threat they represent. Opponents with yellow names are more challenging and aggressive than average. Orange names represent extremely powerful enemies capable of threatening a full party of adventurers by themselves.

Codex Entry 262: Injuries
One of your party members has fallen in combat! He or she has now sustained a serious injury. These injuries cause penalties that can only be cured with an injury kit or certain high-level spells. The injury is indicated by the small red icon that you can see above the quickbar (when you have the injured character selected) or in the character record (C).

Codex Entry 264: Health Poultices
You have acquired a health poultice. These instantly restore some of your health. To use the poultice, drag it from your inventory into your quickbar, double-click it directly from the inventory, or right-click on it in the inventory and select Use. Stores sell more poultices, and characters who have learned Herbalism can create their own.

Codex Entry 265: Controlling Party Members
A new party member has joined you. You can take control of this character directly by left-clicking on his or her portrait or body. Alternately, you can use the tactics menu (\) to adjust how the AI controls them.

Codex Entry 266: Crafting
The Herbalism, Poison-Making, and Trap-Making skills allow you to mix potions, concoct poisons, or assemble traps. Left-clicking on the icon for the first rank of any of these skills will open a crafting window that displays your current recipes and ingredients. You can buy new recipes and ingredients in stores or find them by exploring the lands.

Codex Entry 270: Exploration
Use the W, A, S, and D keys to explore the world. Alternately, right-click on the ground to select a destination.

Use your mouse wheel to zoom in (Scroll forward) for exploration and out (Scroll backward) for tactical combat. In exploration mode, moving the mouse while clicking in the right button rotates your view. In tactical mode, clicking in the mouse wheel lets you pan across the screen. You can only pan until your party members are at the edge of the screen.

Codex Entry 271: Fatigue
Although armor provides great protection, safety comes at a price: Anything heavier than regular clothing causes fatigue, which increases the mana or stamina cost of spells and talents by a percentage. Sturdy armors like plate carry more of a penalty than lightweight leathers, but some talents, like the warriors Powerful, can reduce the effects of fatigue.

Codex Entry 272: Gifts
You have found a gift. You can give it to one of your party members by opening the inventory screen (I), switching to the party member, then right-clicking on the item and selecting Gift from the radial menu. Each party member has a favorite type of gift, and certain items are so precious to a particular character that others will refuse the gift outright. Your camp is a great place to give gifts, because party members are sometimes reluctant to talk about themselves on the open road.

Codex Entry 273: Friendly FIre
The powers of magic are significant, but can be uncontrollable. Mages have access to spells like Fireball that affect a whole area rather than just a single target. While these spells are useful against groups of enemies, they are also indiscriminate, and will harm friend and foe alike. (At the easy difficulty setting, however, party members take no damage from friendly fire.)

Codex Entry 274: Inventory
Inventory (I) is divided into two sections: Equipped items for the selected character on the left, and shared party inventory on the right. You can drag and drop items between the two sides or down to the quickbar, double-click to use or equip them automatically, or right-click and hold to open the radial menu to interact with items.

Codex Entry 276: Journal
Your journal (J) tracks updates to your current objectives and records the results of prior exploits. This includes quests completed as well as codex entries that describe the world around you. At the bottom of the journal screen, the Make Active button lets you designate the quest you're currently working on, which activates arrows on the map and in the game world that direct you to the next point in the plot.

Codex Entry 278: Sustained Abilities
Sustained abilities reserve mana or stamina when they're activated, and remain on until deactivated or the character runs out of mana or stamina. Most sustained abilities include a fatigue penalty, increasing the cost to activate a subsequent spell or talent, which makes it difficult to maintain several sustained abilities at one. To manually deactivate a sustained ability, simply left-click it again in the quickbar. Note that some of these abilities, such as Defensive Fire and Rapid Shot, cannot be used simultaneously.

Codex Entry 279: Inventory Overload
The current number of items in your inventory (I) exceeds its limit. You have two options: Clear space in your inventory by destroying, selling, or equipping items, or purchase a backpack to increase your inventory capacity. Until you do one of these, you will not be able to pick up additional items.

Codex Entry 282: Locked Item
You just encountered a locked object. You might be able to pick the lock if your skill is high enough, or you might need to locate a key through adventure or negotiation.

Codex Entry 283: Plot Helpers
Plot helpers are markers on your current area map that indicate where you need to go to progress in your active quest.

Codex Entry 289: Stealth
Stealth makes it possible for you to deal devastating surprise attacks, lay traps, or to avoid immediate confrontation with your enemies.

Codex Entry 290: Merchants
You have just gained access to your first store. Here, you can buy or sell items. Various stores are scattered throughout the world.

While a transaction is open, you may use the buyback function to reverse any accidental sales or purchases at no loss of money. Once the deal is closed, however, the items become the full property of the shopkeeper and are thus only available at full prices.

Codex 291: World Map
You have just opened the world map. It details major locations of interest around the kingdom of Ferelden. You can use the world map to travel to various locations, although some are not available until you meet certain criteria.