"The Crystal was gifted to mankind that we might know lasting prosperity as the blessing from the Maker. The Crystal is the divine cornerstone of the Orlais. The Stone has a will of its own, and it channels its sacred power to the Holy Emperor, who is the protector of the Crystal. The Zos Drakon Lineage of Imperial House is Blessed by the Crystal and wields the power beyond any mortal could achieve..."
- Crowe Altius, Member of the Kingsglaive
***
Orlais had a significant population from the Tevinter Imperium.
The current population of Orlais was more than 300,000 people, according to the previous year's population count. Every person was properly documented and had something that his grandson called ID Cards.
Basically, identification documents that proved that the said person was a citizen of their kingdom. It significantly eased the work of the bureaucrats, and it had many uses all over the Kingdom.
From the overall population of the Orlais, approximately fifty thousand or so were from the Tevinter Imperium.
Several centuries ago... in a misguided attempt at Apotheosis, a group of magisters sacrificed hundreds of slaves and used up two-thirds of the Lyrium in the entire Empire to physically enter the Golden City in the Fade, returning as the first Darkspawn.
The Archdemon Dumat led the First Blight for nearly two hundred years, ravaging the Empire and shattering its power. With their vulnerabilities exposed to the world, the severely weakened Imperium became the target of the first Exalted March, led by the former slave Andraste and her husband Maferath.
Andraste's campaign inspired elven slave revolts in cities throughout the Imperium, compounding the threat of the encroaching Almarri armies.
Over the decades, Rivain waged war for its independence from the Imperium, which it won. And during that time, several big cities, like Kirkwall, Tantervale, and Starkhaven, also separated themselves from the Imperium as they founded Free Marches.
A coalition of the City-States.
One could say that right now, the national power of the Tevinter was rock bottom.
While the situation improved over the past years due to the spread of Adrasteanism, which severely condemned Mages and Magic, hundreds of Mages migrated to Tevinter with their entire families.
Greatly bolstering the fading power of the Imperium.
Fortunately, with the intervention of his grandson, a lot of these Mages were now migrating to the Orlais Kingdom.
Vanderin Drakon didn't believe in Gods.
In the first place, he had never seen one.
Drakons were one of the oldest lineages in Tevinter, even though their power had faded and their standing in the Magisterium before their leaving reached the lowest of the low.
Even the mighty so-called Gods of the Elven Pantheon, the Evanuris, were nothing more than powerful Mages that were worshipped as Gods in the ancient past.
Yet, despite that, even he had his doubts about whether the Gods really existed.
The scriptures of the Orange Fundamentalism Bible certainly pointed to the fact that the Maker was real.
A religious text that was spreading like wildfire across the southern regions of Thedas and directly clashing against Andrastianism. This Religion... that was being spread by his grandson, the Holy Fundamentalist Chantry, was something that was going against the direct tenets of the Adrastianism in many ways.
Though...
It was getting more and more popular because of how complete and logical it was.
The entire region was built on several core principles.
Called the Holy Fundamental Principles:
'Thou shalt not disfigure the soul.'
'Thou shalt rule the Magic, not Magic shalt rule the man.'
'Thou shalt do to man, what you wish man shalt do to you.'
'Beware the seeds you sow and the crops you reap. Do not curse God for the punishment you inflict upon yourself.'
Another clear distinction was that, according to the Orange Fundamentalism Bible, while most Cults of Andraste believe that Andraste was divine, and was taken up to stand beside the Maker when she died, the Holy Chantry maintains she was just a mortal prophet with considerable magical talent.
Furthermore, while the various Cults of Andraste blame mortal pride for the Second Sin, and the subsequent creation of the darkspawn and the start of the Blights, the Holy Fundamentalist Chantry believes that it was human arrogance that led to the spread of the Blight, and mankind should not blame the Gods for the punishment inflicted upon itself.
At the same time, the Holy Fundamentalist Chantry is open to all races and does not discriminate against them, unlike the rest of the Adrastianistic denominations across Thedas, which say that Elves and Dwarves have strayed further from the Maker, making them unsuitable for the priesthood.
Vanderin Drakon could see that Religion was a very powerful tool at hand, and more and more people were turning toward the Holy Chantry. It was clear that his grandson also intended to control the Religion in Thedas as well.
After he finished interrogating the captured Navigators, he decided to return to them at a later date... now that he was close to reaching the Supreme-Tier, he instead grew rather confident that he could possibly try extracting information from their minds.
Overall, they had four Navigators; three were basically akin to recently graduated Apprentices, and one of the four, the last one, was a full-fledged Navigator. Not only just any, but one of the senior ones, meaning he was more powerful than average Navigator and more skilled.
Vanderin's magical scans showed that the three younger ones had much weaker protections around their minds... most probably because the knowledge they held wasn't so advanced, or perhaps for another reason.
Nevertheless, after he reached the Supreme-Tier and stabilized his power, he would try to extract information from the mind of one of them. If successful, he would have enough material to examine and research to create a much better method of extraction.
With time, he could even extract information even from the mind of that senior Navigator.
For the Mages, advancement to the Supreme-Tier was the greatest achievement in their whole lives, and any bits of information on how to do it was a priceless treasure that would be guarded at any cost.
While the House Dragon produced some Supreme-Tier Mages in the past, unfortunately, not many managed to live past their second century, and not many passed down some of their notes.
Still, the elderly Mage was confident that he would be able to achieve the Supreme-Tier very soon, all things considered. In a few weeks, a very special event would take place at the heart of the Val Royeaux.
Coronation of the new Monarch of the Orlais.
Queen Castana would be relinquishing her crown ot her son, Prince Kordillus Drakon.
At the same time, during the coronation, it was planned that the newly crowned King would declare the start of the Great Crusade, aimed at unifying all Ciriane Tribes and Clans across the Heartlands, Dales, Western Approach, Fields of Ghislain, and Nahashin Marshes into the one, united Orlesian Empire.
It would be a really grand moment.
Not like it would change many things, because in fact, for the past three years, it was Prince Kordillus who was essentially running the kingdom and implementing the reforms and changes that were...
Literally out of this world.
Many foresaw this as proof of divine blessing on Kordillus Drakon by the Maker.
He had to admit that his son's talent in finding a good spouse, giving birth to a genius son, and also managing the Orlais Kingdom was rather supreme. Currently, his youngest son, Septimus Drakon, was acting as the High Chancellor of the State.
Practically, most of the important positions within the Kingdom were in the hands of the Drakon Family.
His son was already in his forties, but he looked much like Vanderin in his youth.
The governmental structure of Orlais was created primarily by Kordillus, who created a complicated governmental structure, but those who studied it closely and understood its implications realized that it was designed in such a way as to concentrate most of the power in the hands of the ruling monarch and the Royal Family.
"You look distressed."
Vanderin sat down in the office of the High Chancellor of the State, who was overseeing one of the Prime Estates of the Oralais, the State Governmental Office. The entire Government of the Orlais could be summed up as the Prime Estates, which were basically organizations and governmental organs that ran the entire Kingdom.
Right now, there were Five Prime Estates.
Royal Council, Holy Fundamentalism Chantry, State Governmental Office, Royal Military, and Council of Heralds. The Royal Council acted as the highest governing executive body, and it also had representatives of the other Prime Estates, and it decided the most important things in the kingdom.
The State Governmental Office was primarily responsible for matters such as finance, industry, domestic affairs, education, and more.
Council of Heralds, meanwhile, was a very special organ that was for the Noble Titles of the Sanctioned State Royal Aristocrats. Kordillus knew that having nobility in the Kingdom was basically not something that he could bypass or forbid due to the many millennia-long traditions of the world.
But...
He decided to create a system of the Sanctioned State Aristocrats where Nobles of the Orlais would obtain their title only through Merit. Be it military, magical, or otherwise, but they needed to contribute to the development of the nation.
At the same time, Orlesian Aristocrats were not directly managing their territories, and their Titles were technically not inheritable. Technically, it meant that if the subsequent generation failed the Examination of the Council of Heralds, the person wouldn't be able to claim a Noble Title.
There were also Inheritable Noble Titles, but for that, only people with special circumstances were eligible, like the powerful Lineages of Mages or Knights...
"What is happening again?"
Problems in the Orlais were nothing new... especially when many of the Ciriane Clans and Tribes realized what was happening and what would soon happen.
The establishment of the Royal Army and its staggering expansion was something that gave dread to many chieftains.
"We are having riots on the outskirts of Val Foret. Mostly due to the followers of the Cult of Andraste."
Now it was understandable that his son had a headache because of this. People at these ends were either followers of the Adrastianism or the Holy Fundamentalism Order.
"Send in suppression force, we cannot allow any riots and problems before the start of the Great Crusade."
Compared to Septimus Drakon, Vanderin Drakon was more rigid and didn't tolerate any kind of riots, and knew very well how to deal with them. Obviously, while Septimus was pondering how to deal with the riots and wanted to use violence as one of the last solutions, his father went for violence as the first choice.
Vanderin Drakon was a typical Tevinterean Mage Lord.
If there was a rebellion, just kill every single rebel till the last one.
It was a sentiment that his youngest son didn't really share.
But his grandson shared the sentiment, and he didn't have a shred of tolerance for the insubordination and rebellion.
"There would be a lot of civilian casualties, father, if we do this..."
Vanderin scoffed when he heard his son.
"Stupid thing. Once your son starts the Great Crusade, it will be the bloodiest war since the ancient wars between the Tevinter Imperium and the ancient Elves."
The oldest Drakon knew that the religious war would be brutal, and his grandson was hellbent on spreading the teachings of the Holy Fundamentalism Order to every corner of the Thedas.
He also proclaimed that the Cult of Andraste was heresy and wanted to eradicate it completely.
Something that Vanderin Drakon agreed on because the Adrastianism was heavily aimed at Mages, and many radical elements of the Adrastianism wanted to eradicate all Mages from the face of Thedas.
For Mages, Adrastianism was a matter of life and death.
If the Cult of Andraste was allowed to take root, then it would either annihilate all Mages and their Lienages or it would reduce them to nothing more than slaves.