Codex text
The attack on Vyrantium marked a pivotal turn in the overall Antaam invasion. As one of the largest cities in the Tevinter Imperium, Vyrantium was a key shipping and trading port and a cultural center second only to Minrathous. Capturing it would let the Antaam cut off Minrathous from the rest of the empire and, with the help of a naval blockade, starve the city into submission.
Reports state that the Antaam were initially greeted with celebration by slaves harvesting crops outside the city. They knew that the magisters feared the Qunari and saw in the Antaam a chance for liberation from oppression, as the Qunari at Kirkwall had done for the elves. But the Antaam warlord leading the attack, a kithshok called Staffbreaker, punished soldiers who tried to treat with the slaves. He ordered that all bas be cut down, to shake the resolve of Vyrantiumls defenders.
Had Staffbreaker welcomed the slaves, he might have guaranteed supplies for his army and gained converts from those who had suffered under Tevinter's cruelty. Instead, he accomplished what was once thought impossible: making the magisters of Tevinter seem the lesser of two evils. From slave to magister, every hand supported Vyrantium, and battles between gaatlok cannons and mage staves left everything east of the city a charred wasteland.
As of this writing in 9:52 Dragon, Vyrantium remains besieged, under bombardment from both land and city, but the Antaam have pushed no farther.
—Excerpt from Marloqun: The Loss of Reason by Seer Rowan of Dairsmud