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thedinanshiral · 4 years

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Magical devices of Thedas -part II-

In part I i went over some of the better known magical devices, many of which can be traced back to the ancient elves. But what about the mages empire, Tevinter? Even if we haven’t seen Tevinter first-hand (yet), we’ve seen a thing or two from them. First, a couple more elven items that couldn’t make it into part I, and then we’re tackling Tevinter.

(Warning: possibly spoilers for all games and comics)

Mask of Fen’harel: A mask fashioned after a wolf’s face with some interesting carvings, originally in possession of a Dalish clan somewhere in the Free Marches. It appears in the miniseries Dragon Age: Redemption. While some basic lore details were overlooked and the Qun aspect of it clashes a bit with the Qun players know from the games, it was surprisingly consistent on this one item. The Dalish clan is not named but they were camping near Kirkwall. Doesn’t seem to be Merrill’s clan but i’m not sure on the timeline either so i’ll skip this bit.

In the series an escaped saarebas is after the mask and eventually acquires it, using it first on a wolf statue causing the mask to reveal the mouth part of it, and later at an altar in Sundermount.

Surprisingly enough what the mask does is open a green light portal on the Veil that opens in the sky (a la Breach from Inquisition, but less messy), and is activated by a blood sacrifice ( a messy one but still not as messy as the Divine’s). Eventually the mask is destroyed during the final fight. This series introduces a character we meet again in Dragon Age 2’s DLC Mark of the Assassin ( Tallis), so this is way before Dragon Age Inquisition, yet we have very similar elements here.

Red lyrium idol: Honorable mention on this list since I already covered this one extensively on an earlier post.

Tevinter artifacts:

Based on what we’ve seen in Inquisition and Jaws of Hakkon DLC, I dare say Tevinter has some form of technology that requires electricity or some other form of energy to function. Only in their case it’s most likely magic. Basically, i suspect Tevinter has magitek. So we get Tevinter objects that resemble machinery, with glowing bits and no idea what they’re used for, because for the most part these things are scattered in some areas as decor and very rarely acknowledged at all.

I’ll focus on three example areas where some can be found: a cave in the Western Approach, in the Frostback Basin from Jaws of Hakkon DLC, and in the Darvaarad from Trespasser as part of the Qunari magical artifacts research.

In a cave in the Western Approach we see what could easily be a small red lyrium mining site, with what could be a drill, connected to something that resembles an engine. Again, some parts glow. If Tevinters can do almost anything with (blood) magic, why wire a drill to an engine? Why not simply move the drill with magic alone? Things like this are what make me suspect magitek could be an actual thing in Tevinter.

Right after entering the cave we see a Tevinter metal chest with glowing pieces.

Then in the Forstback Basin we have the “trail markers”, a series of devices that connect to each other across the area with what seems to be electricity, leading up to a gate mechanism. It’s similar in a way to how the Astrarium caves are opened. When activated with the lever at the back, these markers shoot a beam of power to the next marker, and so on until reaching the one located outside the gate.

Finally, in the Darvaraad tower there are some cells occupied with a collection of random items, some of which are clearly Tevinter, machine-like, and have glowing parts. What could they be used for, I have no idea but they’re there and the Qunari considered them worthy of research.

The engine-like device seen in that cell is seen too at Suledin Keep in Emprise du Lion,

I suspect the insect-like object is a lamp or heater, there’s one on each table and seems to have a handle in the back to carry it around. The object next to it looks like an orrery, an astronomical model and if it is then colour me intrigued about all its elements! I recently found out Thedas is supposed to have two moons, the main one so far unnamed and the secondary one named Satina, even if in game we only ever see one, but this model seems to confirm this ( yes, not necessarily a magical artifact, but for all we know it could be!)

Also in Emprise du Lion we find another special chest and this one practically looks alien:

Claws of Dumat:

Not to be confused with Dumat’s Claw (a dagger from DAO Awakening), it’s this big structure we find in the Fade in DAI but also in other places like the Frostback Basin and somewhere in the Deep Roads. Refered to as “an altar (…) hungry for blood” by one of Corypheus’ servants, it seems it was a necessary item to perform the blood magic ritual of the Magister Sideral to enter the Fade . “There are shackles across the top of the great altar, and pools lined with runes beneath the claws”. Sounds like it was an over the top blood extraction device.

Magrallen:

Speaking of over the top blood extraction devices...Not much is known about this strange piece. It makes an appearance in the Alistair comics, and seems it’s used to in some way harness the magical power of special blood like the one King Maric has thanks to one of his ancestors who may or may have not mixed his own blood with that of a great dragon. It’s a big device that drains the person’s blood to be used for magic; in the comics a magister is draining Maric dry to use the power of his blood to take over the Fade, as Magisters do. So there we have it again, as it was with the Magisters Sidereal and their many sacrificed elven slaves, as seen with the Mask of Fen’ Harel and Corypheus’ actions at the Conclave: blood magic grants access to the Fade. *suspicions that Solas used blood magic to create the Veil increase*

The Sarcophagus:

Most likely of elvhen origin, it’s the device Danarius uses to mark Fenris with lyrium. Seen in the recent comic Blue Wraith, it seems to work coupled with a sword that may have bits of lyrium in it as well. In the comic Danarius has Fenris go inside the Sarcophagus and once it closes on him, uses a sword to lock it, which glows blue and causes the device to brand Fenris with his lyrium markings. I always thought the markings were done like actual tattoos but using lyrium instead of ink, so I was surprised to see it’s the work of a golden Tevinter/Elvhen spikeless iron maiden.

Considering vallaslin are “blood writings” and were originally used to brand slaves, and seeing this device works with lyrium which is titan blood, it’s possible Danarius’ method resembles more closely what the ancient elvhen used than what the Dalish could remember.

Astrariums:

These are devices scattered throughout the map that allow the viewing of constellations of stars.

Possibly vestiges from a Tevinter cult, primarily located in frontier areas, of magisters who believed in the destruction of the Magisterium, wishing to return to an era of Dreamers (Somniari) rule. It’s unclear (and unlikely) if they were Dreamers themselves, or just mages who disapproved of the institution of the Magisterium and how it appointed the Magister title to some and not to others. The Astrariums found are part of a locking system for caves holding secret cashes of this cult, found all over Thedas as in pre Andrastian times the Tevinter Imperium expanded over much of the continent. Only those with the knowledge (i.e. the cult members) would be able to unlock them, considering ancient astronomy was not en vogue at the time.

Later some Andrastian cults sought out and destroyed many of the Astrariums as remnants of Tevinter presence in Thedas. The Order of the Fiery Promise, for instance, believed the Astrariums held together the Veil so destroying them would bring it down resulting in the destruction of the world (something they aimed at, as they believed the world must be destroyed so it can be reborn again as a paradise). It is unknown why the Order had such an idea, until the Breach there was nothing to indicate the Veil is sustained in place by earthly devices of any kind, let alone that the barrier that has only been forced open by means of gruesome and powerful magic can be easily destroyed by non-mages taking down these artifacts. There seems to be a misunderstanding on their part, maybe they confused the Astrariums with the elven artifacts (see part I).

Message crystals:

Last but not least we have message crystals, as seen in DAI if you sided with the Templars and go after Calpernia. Dorian refers to it as “a dwarven relic for storing memories” and mentions they’re extremely rare. We see mention of one again in the epilogue of Trespasser, that Dorian uses to communicate with the Inquisitor when he goes back to Tevinter.

According to Dagna these crystals “preserve voices or a likeness, memories”. However, she proposes splitting it in two may allow for it to transmit from one piece to the other in real time. They may be very rare, but now Thedas has its own version of mobile phones.

And that’s all i can think of for now! I’m super intrigued about Tevinter, Tevinter Nights was great but doesn’t really stop to discuss Tevinter magical gadgets and that’s one part of what i’m most curious about: how they live their daiyly lives in the part of that world that allows magic to go high and beyond. We’ve heard of the excesses but how do they manage on a day to day basis? Surely they have slaves and servants, but that’s the Magisters and Altus. What of the Laetans? How do they do their laundry? How do they bake a cake? How is it living in a city that uses magic to have street lights on at night? Do they use a magical AC to stay cool in the sumer? That sort of thing. I’m currently doing some research for another discussion topic i haven’t seen explored before (two, actually) and i’m so amazed by how much i keep finding in these games after years of playing and reading, and love to share it all.

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading.

#dragon age #thedas #magic #tevinter #spoilers #lore #dragon age 4

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