The Blight

The Chantry teaches that it is the hubris of men that brought the darkspawn into Thedas. Mages sought to usurp Heaven, but were cast out, twisted by their own corruption, only to return as monsters, the first of the darkspawn. They plague the underground caverns and tunnels once inhabited by the dwarven kingdoms. When they discover one of the Old Gods, ancient dragons slumbering in the depths of the earth, it rises as an archdemon to lead the darkspawn as they spread like locusts across the surface of the lands, destroying all in their path, a Blight. It has been four centuries since the last Blight, but the darkspawn are amassing once again.