“Serault's soil is loamed with sorcery. Hedge mages bloom here, and they are roses, not weeds—I'll not uproot them on the Chantry's say-so.”
The Shame of Serault was a former Marquis of Serault and is the great-grandfather of the current Marquis of Serault.
Background[]
His name now forgotten, he is now referred to only as the "Shame" or the "Shame of Serault".
Despite being an apostate mage, the Shame was also Marquis. He was described as brilliant, murderous, generous, romantic, and ruthless.
To form an alliance with the neighboring marquisate of Alyons, the Shame married the daughter of the then Marquis of Alyons, Chauvette (known as "the Lily of Alyons").
The Shame eventually became an abomination, and through various actions, brought shame to the marquisate. As punishment, the Divine reigning at the time had the Serault Chantry locked, and had the de Serault family's ancestral mask, the symbol of the nobility in Orlais, stripped from them. The mask has been kept by the Chantry for over a century.[1]
Involvement[]
Due to his many mistakes, Serault is now looked down upon. His great-grandchild, the current Marquis of Serault, is tasked with cleaning up his mess and changing Serault back into the respectable marquisate it once was.
It can also be discovered that the Shame had a daughter, who is also a mage. If the Marquis of Serault breaks into the locked Serault Chantry, they can meet her, and decide her fate. It seems that the Shame and his descendants all share the same distinctive eyes as this is referenced multiple times.
He also summoned the Horned Knight, but shortly after abandoned him. If the Marquis asks the Horned Knight for a gift, the Horned Knight will learn that the Shame was the previous mage who helped the Grey Wardens strengthen Corypheus' prison seals prior to Malcolm Hawke.
Prior to the Divine's visitation, the Marquis of Serault has a dream where they confront the Shame and are given an opportunity to voice their opinion on his legacy directly.“Inside is a bundle of the Shame's writings. Mold has eaten away at the scratchy, impatient letters, but parts remain whole. In one passage, he recounts a meeting with Grey Wardens: '...if it were directed toward something achievable, their commitment to self-destruction would be monstrous. But in the pursuit of their doomed cause it is romantic. They are the heroes of my childhood stories. A line of grey in the dark; fighting, failing, dying. I could not deny their request.' In the next he recounts a journey along roads under the earth. '...emerged somewhere in the Vimmark Mountains. The Wardens are stuffed with more secrets than I dreamed. Their company does not disappoint. ' In the last section he describes a ritual. He occludes the details, but can't resist tantalising the reader: '...bonds had weakened almost to breaking. Only blood could renew them. Fortunately, my blood is old and heady. The Wardens will find it a costly draft. Their prisoner is unique. An impossibility. The things he has seen! They refuse to speak of him, but they cannot perform this working themselves. They need me. And I will have answers.”
