The Tevinter Imperium is a nation in Thedas once ruled by a powerful magocracy. The leaders of the Imperium were called “Magisters” and were led by the Imperial Archon. The Tevinter Imperium worshipped the Old Gods, and supposedly the Old Gods taught the Magisters their magic. According to the Chantry, it was at their beckoning that the Magisters attempted to usurp the Maker's throne by entering the Golden City of the Maker, which corrupted it and led to the First Blight. The Tevinter Imperium suffered the brunt of the first Blight and subsequently was toppled; it is now only a shadow of its former self in size and power.
Previous to the first Blight, the Imperium conquered Elvhenan, the elven homeland, and enslaved its people. It is still legal for elves to be sold into slavery in Tevinter and many elves choose to sell themselves into slavery to provide for their families. This results in many Tevinter elves who are not slaves being better off than elves in other areas, even if elven slaves fare far worse.
Its capital is Minrathous. The Imperium has its own version of the Chantry led by a male Divine. His authority and indeed the existence of the Imperial Chantry is not recognized by the Chantry in Orlais. Likewise, the Chantry calendar is in use everywhere except the Imperium.
The qunari are in a state of constant war with the Imperium as they both struggle for dominance of the North.
In the past, primarily during the Black Age, the Tevinter Imperium have had several Exalted Marches declared against it.
Imperialist language
Arcanum, the official language of the Imperium, was designed to be a potential distant ancestor to English.
Phrases in Imperialist with translation
- Ei vento nai mordoi deid. -- I don't want to kill you.
Detailed translation
Tir-ev-e ei-l-ud degit-ud.
The |-l| is the genitive, or possessive, marker. |-ud| is an accusative, or direct object, marker. There are 2 allomorphs: |-d| and |-ud| based upon epenthesis to avoid consonant clusters. Stacking of these affixes is an attested pattern in some languages.The suffix |-ev| is an imperative, or command, marker.
The suffix |-e| is a second-person agreement marker. English has a sort of 'vestigial' agreement system, especially in the stronger old forms of high-frequency verbs like 'be'. Consider: I 'am' but you 'are' and he 'is'. Or in some dialects of course: I 'be', you 'be', we 'be' etc. English word order has rendered ambiguity of role assignment almost a non-risk, so we don't really need agreement. The language above, however, has it; the |-e| tells you that the subject of the verb is 2nd person ('you').
FAQ
Trivia
Tevinter Mirror
- The Tevinter Mirror in the Dalish Elf Origin has a classic pointed arch, a characteristic of Gothic architecture.
- Writer David Gaider has stated that the present, weakened state of Tevinter Imperium is influenced by the real-world Byzantine Empire. [1]