Dragon Age 4 will likely take players to the human kingdom of the Tevinter Imperium for the first time in the franchises’ history. Despite not appearing directly in a game before, Tevinter has cast a long shadow over its neighbors, and has a long and storied history.
Dragon Age 4 may place players in the Tevinter Imperium as some of the underlying tensions resulting from its history begin to surface and bubble over. With some big choices to be made, understanding the kingdom’s past may be key to many players’ decisions for its future.
The Birth of the Imperium
Tevinter is the oldest human kingdom in Thedas that still exists by the time of the first Dragon Age game. The first humans arrived on Thedas around -3100 Ancient from the island of Par Vollen, to the north of the continent, though it is implied that this was part of a longer migration from further afield. The main human tribe at this time was known as the Neromenians. This tribe divided into four distinct kingdoms named Qarinus, Neromenian, Barindur, and Tevinter. Barindur would mysteriously disappear in -1610 Ancient, but the three remaining kingdoms would one day unite to form the Tevinter Imperium.
The Tevinter Imperium began in -1195 Ancient – a year also known as 0 TE - when the magisters fully established themselves as Tevinter’s aristocracy and Archon Darinius took power as the first Archon of the Imperium. The first Archon had formerly been the High King of Neromenian and a priest of Dumat, one of the Old Gods the people of Tevinter worshipped at this time. By the time of Dragon Age, these gods lie imprisoned deep beneath the earth, returning only as archdemons at the head of darkspawn Blights.
International Relations
By the time humans arrived on Thedas the Veil erected between the material realm and the Fade had already been created by Solas, the Dread Wolf. The elves lived in the Empire of Elvhenan which spanned the continent. However, this empire and its capital of Arlathan were conquered by the Tevinter Imperium. Many of the elves were enslaved, the city was destroyed and the Archon Thalsian used blood magic to sink it into the ground.
Tevinter’s relationship with the dwarves of Thedas has been, by contrast, a longstanding diplomatic success. Archon Darinius went and met with the dwarven king after his rise to power, even offering himself as a hostage until diplomatic ties were fully established. Dwarves who left their underground homes to visit Tevinter on diplomatic missions were given a form of immunity by the dwarves themselves, and would not be cast out as other dwarves who visited the surface were.
After the destruction of Arlathan many fleeing elves took refuge in an ancient dwarven settlement known as Cad’halash. The Kal’Sharok dwarves destroyed the settlement and the elves hiding in it to avoid a diplomatic incident with the humans of Tevinter.
The Creation of the Darkspawn
The creation of the darkspawn is a contentious event in the history of Thedas. The Chantry’s account, which is generally accepted by most humans in Thedas, claims that a group of Tevinter mages and High Priests of the Old Gods found a way to use blood magic to breach the Veil and enter the Maker’s Golden City. In doing so, their pride corrupted it, turning it into the Black City, and the Maker abandoned his creation. The Old Gods were imprisoned by the Maker as punishment for encouraging the seven magisters, and the magisters themselves were twisted into the first darkspawn, doomed to blight the world until the Chant of Light is sung from every corner of Thedas.
New lore from Dragon Age: Inquisition has drawn parts of this account into question, but the following events seem to have taken place. In 800 TE, 800 years after the nation’s founding, the Seven High Priests of the Old Gods, known as the Magisters Sidereal, entered the Fade. They used lyrium and slave sacrifices to perform a blood magic ritual to breach the Veil and enter the Golden City, which they believed to be the home of their Old Gods. According to Corypheus, one of the Magisters Sidereal who returned in Inquisition, they arrived to find the Maker’s throne empty and the city already corrupted.
Dumat, the Old God that the Imperium’s founder had been a High Priest of, became the first darkspawn Archdemon. The First Blight would do untold damage to the Tevinter Imperium, and lasted nearly 200 years before the first Grey Wardens killed Dumat.
The Rise of the Chantry and Modern Tevinter
The Imperium, weakened by the First Blight, then found new opposition from within. Ferelden, a Tevinter-occupied country to the south, saw the rise of the former slave the Prophet Andraste. In 1020 TE she led the first Exalted March north from Ferelden, attacking the Imperium and freeing elven slaves along the way. This led to further slave rebellions across the empire. However, Andraste’s husband,  Maferath, betrayed her. In 1025 TE Andraste was executed along with her generals by the then-Archon Hessarian.
However, ten years later to the day, Archon Hessarian himself converted to the Chant of Light. The Archon claimed that as Andraste was burned to death the Maker filled his heart with compassion, causing him to end her suffering. When his blade touched Andraste, Hessarian claimed that he heard the Maker’s voice. This began a period known as Transfiguration where Hassarian led a new coalition focused on the newly-righteous non-mage class while facing down the Magisters across the empire who refused to stop worshipping the Old Gods of Thedas.
Whether Hessarian truly heard the Maker of simply found it expedient to convert to a religion which was already sweeping the masses is unclear, though the ten-year gap between Andraste’s execution and his conversion is notable, as Andraste's death did little to stop the spread of her word. The formal creation of the Imperial Chantry as distinct from the Chantry established by Andraste herself is considered a heresy by the latter. The Imperial Chantry is far less strict in its interpretation of the place of mages in Dragon Age's society, particularly the teaching that “magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him," which under the Imperial Chantry does not forbid mages from participating in government.
The Imperial Chantry and the Chantry of Orlais would only work together again after the arrival of the Qunari. The Qunari, like the first humans on Thedas, first arrived from the north. They conquered Par Vollen in 6:30 Steel, and had conquered most of Tevinter just 10 years later. It would not be until 6:85 Steel that Tevinter uprisings pushed the Qunari back to Seheron and Rivain. In the fifty years following, the Imperial Chantry and the Chantry of Orlais led Exalted Marches to reclaim much of Thedas.
By the time of Dragon Age: Inquisition, Archon Radonis rules over Tevinter as it teeters on the cusp of all-out war with Nevarra to its south, and continues to struggle against the Qunari to the north. Though the place of mages in Tevinter's society has fluctuated over the centuries, the magisters are firmly the seat of political power once again. Whether the player will be able to change this in Dragon Age 4, however, remains to be seen.
Dragon Age 4Â is in development now.