Rivain

The nation of Rivain is located in the northern part of Thedas. Its capital city is Dairsmuid, which is on in the southern end of the Rivain peninsula. Being a peninsula, it is almost wholly surrounded by water except for a bridge of land connecting it to neighboring Antiva.

Geography
Major cities:
 * Ayesleigh
 * Dairsmuid (Capital)
 * Kont-aar - a Qunari settlement located on the northern coast. It's the last holding of the Qunari on the main land of Thedas and is supposed to be well fortified. It is also the sole peaceful Qunari settlement on the continent.
 * Llomerryn, a politically neutral port city on an island off the southern tip of Rivain. It is famous for being the location in which the Llomerryn Accords were signed, finally ending the Qunari Wars and Exalted Marches which had been afflicting the continent for nearly 150 years. The city is a favored base for pirates and criminals and its renowned bazaars often peddle stolen goods. It is also the headquarters of the Felicisima Armada.

History

 * 992 TE: The Rivaini participate in the Battle of the Silent Plains in the southern reaches of Tevinter. Dumat is destroyed and the darkspawn forces routed.
 * 1050–1120 TE: The Rivaini rebel in an attempt to split off from the Tevinter Imperium. They are supported by the eastern cities in the Free Marches. Tevinter launches campaigns to stop the rebellion. After several losses that culminated in the disastrous Battle of Temerin in 1117 TE, the Imperium finally abandons the east.
 * 1126 TE: Foundation of the Kingdom of Rivain.
 * 5:12 Exalted: Awakening of Andoral and the rise of the Fourth Blight. The darkspawn pour into Rivain from Antiva.
 * 5:24 Exalted: Rivain is freed from the darkspawn during the battle at the city of Ayesleigh, where Garahel dies after defeating Andoral in combat.
 * 6:32 – 42 Steel: The Qunari conquer Rivain.
 * 7:25 – 85 Storm: The New Exalted Marches are declared repeatedly by both the Imperial Chantry (to retake Seheron and the eastern city of Qarinus) and the Chantry (to retake Rivain). Three major Exalted Marches occur. The wars take a terrible toll upon the population of Rivain.
 * 7:84 Storm: The Qunari have been pushed back to the city of Kont-Aar in northern Rivain. The Llomerryn Accord is signed and peace is declared.
 * After 7:84 Storm: The Chantry and nationalist forces of Rivain, unable to convert its people back to the worship of the Maker, try a purge by the sword, slaughtering countless unarmed people and burying them in mass graves.
 * 9:40 Dragon: The Circle of Dairsmuid in Rivain is annulled.

Culture
The Rivaini have a peaceful relationship with the elves. The Qunari settlement of Kont-aar is in northern Rivain. Racially, the Rivaini originally hail from island chains beyond the Donarks.

Unlike the majority of peoples in Thedas, the Rivaini are not Andrastians and don't believe in the Maker. Rather, they are pantheists who believe in the Natural Order. As such, many hold to the belief that their god and the universe are the same. Many, especially in Kont-aar, have also converted to the Qun, as their religion and the Qun are not very contradictory. According to Ferdinand Genitivi, a well-known Chantry scholar, "The Chant of Light never truly reached the ears of these people. Resistance to the Chant goes deeper than the Qunari Wars. The Rivaini refuse to be parted from their seers, wise women who are in fact hedge mages, communicating with spirits and actually allowing themselves to be possessed. The Chantry prohibition against such magical practices violates millennia of local tradition."

Though a Circle existed in Rivain, it was merely a means to appease the Chantry. The mages of the Circle were allowed to see their families and the women were specifically trained to be seers, a position in Rivaini society that is revered as a matter of tradition. These local hedge witches converse with spirits and even allow themselves to be possessed, though it is supposedly done so for the benefit of their villages. These seers educate apprentices in their craft and are allowed their freedom provided they assist Templars when needed. The Rivaini Circles are similar to those elsewhere in Thedas and are supported financially by Andrastian nobles. Indeed, Rivaini royals are devout Andrastians but are also more open-minded in their views than may be found in other nations, perhaps because - given the variety of cultures present in the nation - compromise and cooperation are necessary.

When the Chantry discovered these facts in 9:40 Dragon, they called the mages of the Circle of Dairsmuid apostates and declared a Right of Annulment down upon them.

The Rivaini have skin tones ranging from dark tan to ebony. Social standing in Rivain is often marked by tattoos and body piercings. The more elaborate one's decorations, the higher one's rank. The Rivaini are traditionally a matriarchal people and many believe that women are best suited to ruling. Most Rivaini communities are governed by elder women, the most senior of these women being the above-mentioned seers. .

The Rivaini, though possessing a currency-based economy as other nations do, place no real value on the accumulation of individual wealth and instead promote the idea of community welfare. As such, communities work together to support each other, sending supplies to other communities when needed.

The Annulment of Diarsmuid
When we heard of the injustice against our fellow mages at the White Spire, the Circle of Magi in Val Royeux, I feared what was to come. Our Circle at Diarsmuid is small and isolated; it exists largely as a facade to appease the Chantry.

When the other Circle rose up, the Chantry sent Seekers across the Bay from Ayesleigh to investigate. They found us mixing freely with our families, training female mages in the traditions of the seers, and denounced us as apostates. Perhaps they thought we were spineless robes who could be intimidated with a little bloodshed. Before I was First Enchanter, I was the daughter of Captain Revaud, of the Felicisima Armada. I know how to plan a battle.

They brought with them a small army of templars. We fought. And we might have won. But they invoked the Right of Annulment, with all the unrelenting brutality that followed. It is their right to put screaming apprentices to the sword, burn our "tainted" libraries, crush irreplaceable artifacts under their heels, tear down the very walls of our home. No mage has the right to disagree.

We of the Diarsmuid Circle wait now, behind barricades. I have sent word to our brother and sister mages of this outrage. When they break through, we will not die alone. --Final journal entry of First Enchanter Rivella, slain in Diarsmuid, 9:40 Dragon

Notable people with Rivain origins



 * Duncan
 * Isabela
 * Asha Subira Bahadur Campana, wife of King Dario Campana of Antiva. She was also the Gana of Ayesleigh and known as the "Queen Mother of Thedas" as she wed her children and grandchildren to many noble and royal houses throughout the continent. She lived during the Black Age.
 * First Enchanter Rivella, deceased.

Trivia

 * Rivain is loosely based off of Spain in that Spain was the point of entry for the Moors to enter Europe, and its culture was changed a great deal by the Moorish presence.
 * Rivain religion, which is centered around Seers, has similarities with voodoo. Also, in Rivain piercings show social status, just like some African tribes.
 * In the old BioWare forums, David Gaider stated that Dalish in Rivain have a semi-permanent settlement in the city of Llomerryn. However, a party banter during Act 2 in Dragon Age II between Isabela and Merrill reveals that the Dalish have not yet reached Llomerryn.