The Mage-Templar War broke out in 9:37 Dragon Age, in Kirkwall, a city state in the southern Free Marches. The war erupted following the Second Battle of Kirkwall, when Circles across Thedas rose up in rebellion against Chantry control. The war is ongoing as of 9:40 Dragon and is being fought between the mages and templars.
Background
Following the Second Qunari Invasion of Kirkwall, Hawke, a Ferelden refugee, was appointed Champion of Kirkwall for helping to evict the Qunari presence. Following the death of Marlowe Dumar and his only heir, Saemus, Meredith Stannard, who was the knight-commander of the city's templars, assumed the position of viscount in all but name, which caused tensions amongst both the citizenry and the mages. Meredith's sanctions against the latter became increasingly harsh, while the nobility began to object to a templar ruling the city, many wishing for the Champion to become viscount.
Meredith's sanctions against the mages were strongly opposed by First Enchanter Orsino, who believed that Meredith was losing her mind, seeing maleficarum where there were none. Tensions reached a peak, and exploded into violence due to the actions of the apostate Anders.
Overview
- Main article: Second Battle of Kirkwall
At the request of the Chantry, Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard became steward of Kirkwall following the death of Marlowe Dumar at the hands of the Qunari. She prevented a new Viscount being elected, and transformed Kirkwall into a templar-run police state. This worried both the nobility and the mages, who began to look to the Champion of Kirkwall for aid. Orsino, the first enchanter of the Kirkwall Circle of Magi, also appealed to Hawke, as he believed Meredith had lost her mind. Even some of her own templars shared the view Meredith was seeing enemies where none existed.
The mages saw Meredith's new powers as unacceptable, and a string of small revolts took place. Peace was only kept by the city's Grand Cleric, Elthina, though both factions now vied for her support. She refused to take sides, remaining neutral, but it also made her a target. Divine Justinia V dispatched a trusted agent in the city, in a desperate attempt to convince the Grand Cleric to flee to Val Royeaux, the heart of the Chantry, and to investigate the possibility of a rebellion spurred on by outside groups. The Champion attempted to convince Elthina to flee, but she refused, staying with her flock.
The Divine's agent assassinates maleficarum.
Within the templar ranks, one of the Order, Thrask, believed in the vision that both mages and templars should work together and been gathering a rebellion for the past six years to unseat Meredith. But his activities were noticed and the Champion was sent to investigate. Thrask's rebellion ended before it began when one of his allies turned on him and killed him in a futile attempt to get revenge on the Champion. The survivors of the conspiracy were rounded up and brutally dealt with by Meredith.
It was common knowledge to both the citizens of Kirkwall, and the Knight-Commander, that the Champion kept the company of a revolutionary apostate, an ex-Grey Warden named Anders. Despite three years of inaction, Meredith issued an arrest warrant for Anders, and ordered a raid on the Gallows in an attempt to find evidence of blood magic. Orsino refused to allow the raid, which led to a furious confrontation in Lowtown between the knight-commander and first enchanter.
The confrontation.
The Champion arrived at the scene just as Orsino declared that he would go to the Grand Cleric for help. Meredith rebuked him, as Anders arrived. Seconds later, the Kirkwall Chantry exploded, killing Grand Cleric Elthina and everybody else within. It transpired that this was the work of Anders, who had had enough of templar oppression and Chantry apathy, and so had removed the chance of compromise because to him there was no compromise, and in order to show the world that the Circle wasn't a solution to their problems. Furious, and viewing such an outrage as demanding retaliation, Meredith invoked the Right of Annulment, which was the tipping point. Both the Knight Commander and the First Enchanter petitioned for the Champion's aid; Orsino arguing that the Circle was innocent of any part in the Chantry's destruction, Meredith countering that the city would descend into anarchy if the people were not granted retribution for the Grand Cleric's death.
Orsino turns to the forbidden arts.
From the Champion's decision of which side would be supported, violence erupted, with the mages and templars now in open warfare across Kirkwall, and the Champion desperately trying to put an end to the conflict. The fighting stretched from Lowtown all the way to the Gallows, where Orsino attempted to compromise in an effort for the Right of Annulment to be revoked. But Meredith, claiming to be acting in the peoples' interests, was beyond reason. Meredith led a full scale attack on the Gallows that saw many on both sides slain, to which First Enchanter Orsino retaliated by resorting to blood magic, transforming into a monstrous construct. The Champion was forced to slay the first enchanter.
"You're all weak, allowing the mages to control your minds, to turn you against me! But I don't need any of you! I will protect this city myself!"
Following this, the Champion arrived in the Gallows Courtyard, where Meredith was waiting with a contingent of templars. It soon became apparent that Orsino was correct, and she had indeed gone mad. This was due to the lyrium idol that was salvaged from the Primeval Thaig, which Meredith had forged into a sword; the corrupting influence of the artifact had played on her paranoia, both against mages and the Champion, whom Meredith had come to believe was behind the entire incident. Meredith ordered her templars to kill the Champion, but they refused, believing she had finally gone too far. When her knight-captain ordered Meredith to stand down, Meredith angrily accused her men of being enthralled by blood magic, and attacked all present. Meredith battled against the Champion, their allies and her own templars, the accursed sword in her hand granting her superhuman abilities.
She was eventually defeated after the sword exploded, and the lyrium sank into her skin, petrifying her. Inspired by the mages of Kirkwall, Circles throughout Thedas rose up in rebellion, proving that the mighty templars could be defied.
Present day
As of 9:40 Dragon, the Andrastian Chantry is crumbling, with over nine hundred years of relative stability shattered. While many templars and the secret military branch known as the Seekers remain loyal to the Chantry, some templars have defected, either to hunt apostates independently, aid the mages' efforts or secure lyrium to feed the addiction forced on them by the Chantry.
The Seeker agents, Leliana and Cassandra.
The Divine sought an end to the conflict, and used the enigmatic Seekers to track down the only two people in all Thedas who could possibly put an end to the conflict. One of her agents, Leliana, was sent to track down one of the people, the Warden of Ferelden.
Cassandra Pentaghast was also sent to find Hawke, the Champion of Kirkwall. She captured one of Hawke's companions, the dwarf Varric Tethras in an attempt to discover the Champion's whereabouts. Tethras knew nothing, but said he very much doubted Hawke was dead.