Codex text
An excerpt from Toh Vashoth: A Guide for Qunari Leaving the Qun, written by Seer Rowan, with notes from Shathann. Translated from Qunlat.
As you learn of the world outside the Qun, you will hear people speak of the Maker and the Chantry. In some ways, these are like the Qun under which you grew up.
The Chantry is not like the whole of the Qun. It is instead like our priests and scholars. Outside the Qun, the military is controlled by a ruler like the king of Rivain, while building and farming are controlled by merchants.
S: If this strikes you as inefficient, you understand it correctly. Imagine an athlok worker and an asala priest arguing over how to build a library with no Triumvirate to settle their disputes fairly.
The Chant of Light teaches that the world was created by the Maker, a divine figure who then left the world to dwell in the Fade. "By the Maker!" means that something surprising has happened, while "Maker willing" is hoping for good fortune.
S: The Maker is not a spirit or a demon. Suggesting this might be the case makes Chantry priests very unhappy.
Andraste was a warrior and scholar who received visions of the Chant of Light, much like Koslun understanding the principles of the Qun. She spread the Chant across the South.
The core principles of the Chantry are to be kind to one another, to spread word of the Chant of Light much like the Qun was meant to be spread, and to not let mages rule over others. This is interpreted differently in different countries. In the South, mages were kept in captivity, restricted almost like our saarebas. In Rivain, mages simply must renounce any claim to rule as a noble. In Tevinter, Chantry priests say that the Chant of Light only restricts mages from ruling for evil, and mages are free to rule. This has led to a split between the Chantry there and in other places.
S: It is reassuring to see that the Qun is not the only way of life broken by institutional corruption.