The Circulum Infinitus is an ancient artifact powered by blood magic.
Background[]
The Circulum was created by Magister Amelia Pavus. It was her last and greatest work. The artifact was crafted in a vault beneath the Summer Palace in the city of Nessum. A spirit of Wisdom witnessed its creation.
It is said the Circulum has the capability of bringing the dead back to life—just as they were before.[1] However, the ritual to do so requires the blood of the dead's close genetic relative.[2]
Involvement[]
Dragon Age: Absolution[]
Before the Inquisition was disbanded, Cassandra Pentaghast and Leliana gave Hira and Fairbanks one last mission: to steal the Circulum Infinitus from the Tevinter Imperium. To complete their mission, the two recruited a band of specialist mercenaries (comprising of Miriam, Roland, Lacklon, and Qwydion) to aid in the theft. Unbeknownst to the group, Hira was disillusioned with the Inquisition when they refused to fight Tevinter, which has been a safe haven for the Venatori. Thus she became an ally of the Crimson Knight, who had no qualms about waging war with Tevinter. Together, Hira and the Crimson Knight made a plan to turn the Templars against Tevinter, even the ones inside it. However, the two needed the Circulum to enact their plan.
Magister Rezaren Ammosine coaxed the Imperial Divine to let him study the Circulum Infinitus at the Summer Palace, under the pretense that he could discover a way to modify it and use its resurrection powers without the use of blood magic. In truth, his ulterior motive was to ressurect his "brother" Neb (who is an undead animated by his spirit binding) back to life. Rezaren had an optimistic view of his relationship with his slaves, Neb and Miriam, whom he considered his loving "siblings". Neb and his mother, Enrichetta Ammosine, were murdered by Miriam during Rezaren's botched Harrowing and Rezaren told Miriam to flee while covering up her involvement in their deaths. Years later he dedicated himself to becoming a Magister and using the Circulum to resurrect Neb back to life, of which he required Miriam's blood to complete the ritual. After resurrecting Neb, Rezaren expected the twins to be grateful to him and aid him in his aspirations of becoming Imperial Divine and changing Tevinter for the better. He would offer the twins status, purpose, and security as his top agents and members of his "happy" family. To this end, Rezaren made a deal with Hira to let her steal the Circulum and scuttle any investigations that could connect Hira to the theft in return for her delivering Miriam to him and allowing him to use her in his ritual to resurrect Neb.
During the heist of the Circulum, Fairbanks deduced that Hira was a traitor and fought her for possession of the Circulum. Fairbanks is mortally wounded by Hira but manages to escape the vault with the Circulum and passes it to Miriam before he succumbs to his grievous wounds. Hira—in an attempt to keep the Circulum within her reach—activates the Summer Palace's security system which unleashes hordes of undead, demons, and other dangerous creatures to rampage throughout the palace. Miriam and her group managed to escape the palace and bring the Circulum to their safe house. Hira however, was captured by Tevinter forces.
In an effort to negotiate the return of the Circulum, Rezaren reveals to Miriam his plan to resurrect Neb and his aspirations for them. Rezaren is confounded when Miriam rejects to participate in his plans and just wishes to be left alone. In truth, Miriam and Neb were abused by his mother, often for Rezaren's benefit, and Miriam saw returning to his service as becoming his exploitable slave again. Miriam would do everything in her power to prevent that from happening, even die. Rezaren becomes so obsessed with forcing Miriam into the role of his supportive "sister", that he resorts to using coercion. He holds Hira, Miriam's lover, hostage and threatens to kill her if she does not return the Circulum to him.
Miriam and her friends infiltrate the Summer Palace once again and frees its dragon so that it can rampage throughout the palace and create the distraction needed for them to free Hira. Hira took advantage of the chaos to free herself and head back to the safe house in order to steal the Circulum. Meanwhile, Miriam's resistance makes Rezaren more unhinged and tyrannical; to the point that he resorts to using blood magic, human sacrifices, and demon summoning to acquire enough power to get Miriam to submit to him.
Ultimately Miriam and the group discover Hira's betrayal. Rezaren mind-controls a dragon and together with Neb, attacks Miriam's group and coerces Miriam to participate in his resurrection ritual. Rezaren's attempt to resurrect Neb ends terribly and in the chaos, the group manages to kill Rezaren and free the dragon. In the aftermath of the battle, Hira puts the entire group to sleep and steals the Circulum. Hira is last seen riding to Kirkwall to deliver the Circulum to the Crimson Knight, while Miriam and her friends resolve to foil Hira's plans and destroy the Circulum.
Trivia[]
- The Circulum is a variant ouroboros, consisting of two serpents biting each other's tails. In this, it is similar to another Tevinter blood magic artifact, the Magrallen, which features a more classical single tail-biting serpent.
References[]
- ↑ Dragon Age: Absolution, episode 2
- ↑ Dragon Age: Absolution, episode 4