Templar Order

"Magic exists to serve mankind, and never to rule over him."



The Templar Order is a military order of the Chantry that hunts apostates and maleficars and watches over the mages from the Circle of Magi. One of their most important tasks occurs during a mage's Harrowing. During this, a templar watches over the body of the mage, ready to kill him or her if demonic possession occurs. To help them control mages, templars have the ability to dispel magic and to inhibit spellcasting. A group of templars is led by a Knight-Commander and each Circle and the majority of chantries in Thedas are assigned one.

As they see it, they protect the innocents of the outside world from magic… but they also protect mages from the outside world, a world that fears them for very good reasons. It is a templar’s place to watch their charges for signs of weakness or corruption, and should they find it to act without hesitation for the good of all. That this occasionally leads to charges of tyranny and abuse is, according to the Chantry, a price that must be paid for the security the templars offer.

Some are saying, however, that this needs to change. They remind the world that mages are not controlled by templars everywhere in Thedas: not among the Rivaini witches, the Dalish keepers or the Tevinter magisters… and those societies are, arguably, no worse off. The Templar Order, however, is nothing if not certain of its role. From the glittering White Spire in Val Royeaux the Knight-Vigilant commands the templars to serve the Maker’s will and keep the peace. By the common folk they are seen as self-sacrificing men and women, vigilant warriors that form the first line of defense between humanity and the chaos that once ruled the land during the old Imperium. To the mages they are often seen as oppressors, even well-meaning ones, and the gap between them is growing larger with each passing year.

Templars also have access to the Right of Annulment. The Right of Annulment gives the Templars the right to "pacify" or kill all mages in the tower. This would be used in the event that total chaos was unleashed by the mages and there is no chance that they could be saved.

The History of The Order
Most people don’t remember the Templar Order as it once was. In the days when the Chantry was still young, templars were known as the “Inquisition” and combed the land in search of all dangers to humanity—whether they came in the form of blood mages, abominations, cultists or heretics. It was a dark and terrifying time in the history of Thedas, and one that only ended when the Chantry convinced the Inquisition to unite under the banner of their common faith. The name of their order changed, and their purpose because that of guardian and warden rather than hunter.