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Codex text

For most good folk, the details of our calendar have little purpose. It is useful only for telling them when the Summerday festival will be held, when the snows are expected to begin, and when the harvest must be complete. The naming of the years are a matter for historians and taxmen, and few if pressed could even tell you the reason that our current Age is named after dragons.

It is 9:30 Dragon Age, the thirtieth year of the ninth Age since the crowning of the Chantry's first Divine.

Each Age is exactly 100 years, with the next Age's name chosen in the 99th year. The scholars in Val Royeaux advise the Chantry of portents seen in that 99th year, and Chantry authorities pore over the research for months before the Divine announces the name of the imminent Age. The name is said to be an omen of what is to come, of what the people of Thedas will face for the next hundred years.

The current Age was not meant to be the Dragon Age. Throughout the last months of the Blessed Age, the Chantry was preparing to declare the Sun Age, named for the symbol of the Orlesian Empire, which at that time sprawled over much of the south of Thedas and controlled both Ferelden and what is now Nevarra. It was to be a celebration of Orlesian imperial glory.

But as the rebellion in Ferelden reached a head and the Battle of River Dane was about to begin, a peculiar event occurred: a rampage, the rising of a dreaded high dragon. Dragons had been thought practically extinct since the days of the Nevarran dragon hunts, and they say that to see this great beast rise from the Frostbacks was both majestic and terrifying. As the rampage began and the high dragon decimated the countryside in its search for food, the elderly Divine Faustine II abruptly declared the Dragon Age.

Some say the Divine was declaring support for Orlais in the battle against Ferelden, since the dragon is an element of the Dufayel family heraldry of King Meghren, the so-called Usurper King of Ferelden. Be that as it may, the high dragon's rampage turned towards the Orlesian side of the Frostback Mountains, killing hundreds and sending thousands more fleeing to the northern coast. The Fereldan rebels won the Battle of River Dane, ultimately securing their independence.

Many thus think that the Dragon Age will come to represent a time of violent and dramatic change for all of Thedas. It remains to be seen.

—From The Studious Theologian, by Brother Genitivi, Chantry scholar, 9:25 Dragon

Trivia

  • It is somewhat peculiar that this text, purporting to be from a text published in 9:25 Dragon, claims it is currently 9:30 Dragon. This is presumably an inconsistency that made it through testing, but it is the case that the "present day" at the start of Dragon Age: Origins is intended to be around 9:30 Dragon.
  • Asunder seems to contradict information established in this codex. In Asunder, it's claimed that Divine Beatrix III reigned for 50 years, yet Divine Faustine II reigned in 8:99 Blessed. This would mean that Beatrix III could have only reigned for 35 years at most, depending on when she took the seat of the Divine.

Bugs

  • There is a typo in this Codex entry. In the fifth paragraph it says "... and they say that to see this great beast rise form the Frostbacks was both majestic and terrifying." This should be "from the Frostbacks".
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