Mage-Templar War

The Mage-Templar War broke out in 9:37 Dragon between the mages and the templars and escalated after the decision of the Fraternities conclave to separate the Circle of Magi from the Chantry in 9:40 following the revolt at the White Spire in Val Royeaux. Contributing earlier events include the 9:37 rebellion in Kirkwall, a city state in the southern Free Marches, and the dissolution of the College of Enchanters in 9:38 after the rejected motion to abolish the Circles.

Background
Following the deaths of Viscount Marlowe Dumar and his son during the First Battle of Kirkwall in 9:34, Meredith Stannard, the knight-commander of Kirkwall's templars, assumed control of the city, inciting discontent amongst both the citizenry and the mages. Meredith's sanctions against the latter became increasingly harsh over the succeeding years, while members of the nobility began to object to her rule of the city, many wishing for Hawke, the city's Champion, to become Viscount.

Meredith's sanctions against the mages were strongly opposed by First Enchanter Orsino, who publicly declaimed the knight-commander and believed Meredith was losing her mind, seeing maleficarum where none existed. Grand Cleric Elthina attempted to moderate the clashes between the two and refused to pick a side in the conflict. The Divine took notice of the growing tensions and the Resolutionist presence in the city. She sent an agent to assess the danger and warn Elthina to leave Kirkwall, though the Grand Cleric was unwilling to abandon her flock.

Tensions reached a peak, and exploded into violence due to the actions of the apostate Anders in 9:37. During another confrontation between Meredith and Orsino in Lowtown, Anders declared that he would no longer allow the templars to persecute mages and caused an explosion that destroyed the Kirkwall Chantry and killed all those inside, the Grand Cleric included, thus removing the possibility of compromise. Claiming that the people would demand blood, Meredith immediately invoked the Right of Annulment and the Champion was forced to pick a side in the conflict. The city erupted into chaos as mages and templars clashed, some of the former resorting to blood magic, becoming abominations and unleashing demons onto the streets. The violence culminated in a confrontation at the Gallows, the city's Circle of Magi, ending with most of Kirkwall's Circle, including First Enchanter Orsino, dead. Meredith's Knight-Captain and the rest of her templars turned on her when she attempted to execute the Champion, revealing the extent of her instability as she accused them all of being blood mage thralls. Ultimately she became petrified when she attempted to draw too much power from her Red Lyrium sword.

While Templar reinforcements arrived at Kirkwall to suppress further resistance, news from escaping mages of what had occurred spread to other Circles. Outraged that the templars of Kirkwall would invoke the Right of Annulment to justify the extermination of an entire Circle for the crimes of one apostate, some Circles revolted, while others were close to doing so. In response, the Templar Order cracked down, further restricting mage freedoms in an attempt to quell further disturbance.

Despite this, the College of Enchanters, meeting for the last time in Cumberland before being disbanded in 9:38, voted against secession from the Chantry at the urging of Senior Enchanter Wynne, in opposition to the motion tendered by its newly elected Grand Enchanter Fiona. Nonetheless, many of the Libertarian faction, who wished for independence, continued to encourage mages to rebel.

Fearing the possibility of a mage-templar conflict igniting within Orlais, Empress Celene I appealed to the Divine to take action and end the war before it began before she would be forced to utilize her own military to fight the conflict within her own empire.

Among the White Spire Circle in Val Royeaux, tensions continued to mount throughout the following year. The Divine, Justinia V, sought to use her position to reform the Circle of Magi and thereby bring an end to the troubles, but was hindered by both the templars and the mages, culminating with Jeannot, one of the White Spire's senior enchanters, attempting to assassinate her in 9:39 Dragon, despite her mage-sympathetic views. In response, Lord Seeker Lambert took control of the White Spire Circle and its templar contingent in order to attempt to bring matters under control.

Revolt at the White Spire
Archmage Wynne, acting on Justinia V's personal orders, took her estranged son Rhys, a senior enchanter of the White Spire; his friend Adrian and the templar Knight-Captain Evangeline to the Adamant Fortress in order to save her friend, Pharamond, a Tranquil who had become an abomination. In freeing Pharamond, he told the party that he had managed to find a way to reverse the Rite of Tranquility.

Presenting this information before Justinia V, it having already been sent to each of the fifteen Circles, and against strong objections from Lord Seeker Lambert, the Divine concluded that a conclave of first enchanters must meet, ostensibly to hear from Pharamond and to discuss the findings. Eleven of the fifteen first enchanters who could make the meeting in time arrived, along with the Grand Enchanter Fiona and Wynne, Rhys and Adrian. Watched by the templars, the Grand Enchanter nonetheless sought another vote to separate the Circle from the Chantry. Before the vote could be taken, the meeting was disrupted by Lord Seeker Lambert, who on presenting news that Pharamond had been murdered and the bloodstained knife found in the quarters of Rhys, attempted to disband the Conclave. Unknown to everyone, the murder was committed by Adrian, who knew that Wynne would've convinced the Circle to vote against independence once again, thus forcing Wynne to abandon her position of compromise for the sake of her son. Suspecting that Rhys was being framed, the mages refused to stand down, including Wynne, and the Lord Seeker ordered his templars to attack.

At first the mages fought in defense, but when a templar killed a mage who tried to surrender, they attacked in fury and killed several templars. Several of the first enchanters were slain, most were imprisoned, including Rhys, and only Wynne and Knight-Captain Evangeline managed to escape. They returned to White Spire to rescue those imprisoned with the assistance of the golem, Shale, and Leliana, an agent of the Divine. The Divine herself ordered Lord Seeker Lambert and a number of his templars to meet with her, a ruse to try and ensure the rescue succeeded.

Evangeline, Wynne and Shale succeeded in destroying those phylacteries contained in the White Spire vault, including those of the surviving first enchanters, while Leliana led those imprisoned to safety. In an echo of the rebellion of the Kirkwall Circle, other mages of White Spire rose up and fought their templar jailers. By the time Lord Seeker Lambert returned to the White Spire, most of the templars had been slaughtered.

Retreat to Andoral's Reach
The surviving first enchanters, the Grand Enchanter among them, retreated to the fortress of Andoral's Reach. Most of the fifteen Circles rose against the templars, with thousands of mages gathering at Andoral's Reach in the following months. It is predicted that with hundreds of mages manning the battlements, they could fend off an army ten times their size.

About a month after the Battle of White Spire, a vote for independence was once again proposed by the Grand Enchanter. As several first enchanters were either killed or absent, the mages were represented in the conclave by their fraternities, while they vowed to whichever decision they were going to take, they were all going to abide by it, be it submission or rebellion. The Loyalists insisted on submitting to the Chantry, arguing that they cannot defeat the templars, an argument most of the smaller fraternities chose to side with. The larger fraternities, the Liberitarians and the Aequitarians, voted to fight, winning the vote, arguing that submission would impose harsher conditions for all Circle mages.

While the vote passed, it did so by a very slim margin. The other half of the mages who voted against secession were soon forced to fight the rebel mages, and united under First Enchanter Vivienne de Fer of the Montsimmard Circle. They identified themselves as "Loyalist" mages, wishing to reinstate the Circles and end the war. Meanwhile, the "Isolationist" mages, true to their name, chose to go into hiding rather than fight.

Templars and Seekers rebel
In 9:40 Dragon, in response to Justinia V's interference at the White Spire, Lord Seeker Lambert declared the Nevarran Accord, which had led to the Seekers and the Templars submitting to the Divine and establishing the Circle of Magi, to be null and void. The Seekers of Truth and the Templar Order they commanded would no longer be under the authority of the Chantry. At the time of this declaration, a large Templar host was about three days march from Andoral's Reach. The Lord Seeker predicted that once the mage rebellion was defeated, the Chantry would be forced to replace the Divine and reach a new agreement with the Seekers and Templars. Lambert vanished shortly after annulling the accord without a trace. Many templars assumed he had been assassinated by the mage rebellion in retaliation.

Following the disappearance of Lambert van Reeves, Lucius Corin succeeded him as Lord Seeker and led the Templar Order in the Mage-Templar War.

With neither side under the authority and regulations of the Chantry, the Circle of Magi and the Templar Order along with the Seekers prepared for all out war with each other.

Dairsmuid
In Rivain, at the capital city of Dairsmuid, the Right of Annulment was invoked on the Circle of Dairsmuid with the Seekers citing that the mages freely interact with their families and training females mages as seers. First Enchanter Rivella led the defense, using the skills she learned from her father, Captain Revaud of the Felicisima Armada. The templars and Seekers slew all mages inside, but not without suffering heavy casualties.

Chantry Mediation
By 9:40 Dragon, the Andrastian Chantry is crumbling, with over nine hundred years of relative stability shattered. All the Circles of Magi have separated from the Chantry. While some of the Seekers are known to remain loyal to the Chantry and the reigning Divine, others, as well as many of the Templars, have rebelled and left Chantry oversight to hunt and fight mages on their own terms. Some such as the loyalist mages and templars of Hasmal elect to maintain a refuge from the war instead of partaking in it.

The Ferelden Monarchy offered the rebel mages sanctuary in the Arling of Redcliffe. The mages gratefully accepted the offer however the Templar host pursued them across the border. Skirmishes between rebel mages and templars sparked through out the Hinterlands.



The Divine desperately seeks to put an end to the conflict, and assigned those Seekers remaining loyal to her to track down the only two people in all Thedas who might have the power and influence to put an end to the conflict and lead the Inquisition. One of her agents, Leliana, was sent to track down one of them, the Warden-Commander of Ferelden.

Meanwhile a Seeker still loyal to the Chantry, Cassandra Pentaghast was also sent to find Hawke, the Champion of Kirkwall. She captured one of Hawke's companions, the dwarf Varric Tethras and brought him back to Kirkwall, interrogating him in the old Hawke Estate in an attempt to discover the Champion's current whereabouts and the true origins of the war. Varric said he knew nothing of the Champion's fate, but said he highly doubts that Hawke is dead. Satisfied, Cassandra then took her contingent of Seekers and departed Kirkwall.

Rebirth of the Inquisition
Three days later, the survivor regained consciousness and was accused by the Hands of the Divine to be the perpetrator behind the Breach. Though Chancellor Roderick wanted the survivor to be taken back to Val Royeaux for trial and execution, Cassandra gave the survivor a chance to prove their innocence by using the mark to seal the Breach. The attempt almost succeeded, stopping the Breach from growing, but not sealing it.

In the intervening three days, the people of Haven begin to hear of a mysterious woman seen in the rift from which the survivor emerged, and thus assumed the figure was the prophet Andraste, and labeled the survivor her Herald. When the Herald awoke, Roderick was still convinced of their guilt, but Cassandra believed the Herald was sent by the Maker. She and Leliana then involve the late Justinia's writ to restore the Inquisition, independent of Chantry control, for the purpose of finding the true perpetrators behind the Breach. In response, Roderick used his influence in the Chantry to denounce the Inquisition, claiming them heretics for harbouring the Herald, which the surviving clerics declared blasphemy.

The renewed Inquisition seeks allies to help in sealing the Breach. Its high echelon are conflicted about seeking help from the mage rebellion or the Templar Order.

Renewed Conflict
With the best attempt at a peaceful resolution destroyed at the Temple of Sacred Ashes in the breach, the war continues to rage across Thedas. The Hinterlands region particularly became a site of fierce conflict with heavy collateral damage caused by both sides. Deserters from both sides actively fight each other in the Hinterlands, attacking anything that moves until the Inquisition purged the extremists.