Dragon Age: Dark Fortress (Comic)

The problem with that argument is if that was why they were doing it, they wouldn’t have spared the child. We all know children can be possessed by demons too, and even their current Arishok saw that with Redcliffe, so why think the kid is safe while their father wasn’t. Same with DA2, since that Arishok had to have known about the mages loose in Kirkwall thus everyone could be a risk and yet they didn’t slaughter everyone.

No, I think it’s more just a sign of Patrick being in charge. They clearly hate the Qun, after all they has on numerous times admonished those who chose the dreadnought over the Chargers as being wrong and bad even going so far as saying they’ll never be friends with people like that. So instead of going with two factions having pros and cons, they is making one so utterly evil that everyone can stomach working with slave owning, raping, human sacrificing monsters like the Magisters. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of that is ignored, or just the bad ones do that like Dorian suddenly not defending slavery. It’s like the listened to the feedback from the Mage-Templar issues, and decided not to fix them but make them even worse.

Whatever he may have said about that decision, the fact is that it seems Patrick's idea to suggest the schism in the Qun, with the Antaam being the brutal force fighting there way across Tevinter, whilst the rest of the Qun allegedly have a more benign attitude and are opposed to the action. It was even suggested in Three Trees to Midnight that there are different strengths of qamek and so if the person is given a lesser dose of the stuff, then potentially it is reversible. That is in direct contradiction to everything we have previously been told. As Necrowaif points out, if anything he seemed to be trying to soften the outlook of the mainstream Qun.

In the past it was made clear that the Qun are about conquest. Once they have subdued the local population, they may then see fit to convert the prisoners but they do not tolerate resistance. Back in DA2 initially the Arishok held fire on things whilst he was trying to find the tome. However, when he finally cracked his troops didn't hold back and many people were killed in the initial assault. Those who tamely surrendered, survived and were then rounded up ready for re-education, which in the absence of any of the priesthood would have been brutal and merciless because that is not really the role of soldiers. It seems a similar situation currently in Tevinter.

As for sparing the child, maybe children are considered capable of being saved, no matter how bad their previous influences have been, provided they don't show obvious signs of possession. I still don't understand how, if Tractus was their prisoner, he was able to survive the encounter if they knew he was a mage. I'm surprised they would even trust the word of a Bas Saarebas, with nothing else to recommend them and so there would be no point in keeping them alive without instantly dosing them with qamek. However, I refer you back to what was said in Three Trees to Midnight and how their attitude would seem to have been altered on this issue.

I don't think the current outlook of the Qunari's action in the other media is necessarily related to the way they're going to be portrayed in DA4, for one reason: the game wasn't planned to be a normal DA game, but a live service game. I wouldn't be sure that on the previous concept, we'd have necessarily allied with the Imperium over the Qunari. It might've worked in a different way.

Now, in the new view of the game, as a fully SP game, I do think we might get to 'ally' with one faction over the other, 'forcefully'. It's not my favourite idea, but given the magnitude of this alliance, I can see why they'd make it sort of a forced one.

My personal view is that both the Imperium and the Qun have LOTS of flaw and negative points to begin with, so I don't necessarily mind if they'd make the latter the antagonist for the protagonist in DA4, although I do hope that we'll have the option to go against the Imperium's dogmas and maybe support a reform/revolutionary faction.

Well there were hints of such a faction in both Tevinter Nights and that short story with the Viper. So I think it more likely that our attitude towards Tevinter and the Qun is going to impact more on our choice of followers or their interactions with one another, rather than being asked to side with Tevinter or the Qun. The suggestion of a schism between the Antaam and the rest of the Qun, with the Ben'Hassrath not being involved directly with the Antaam's war effort but rather the hunt for Solas, makes me think that we are more likely going to be dealing with the Ben'Hassrath and Tevinter Sicaari rather than with the Magisterium or Triuverate.

I think a lot of that may come down to how they characterize Archon Radonis.

My impression of him from Magekiller is that he’s mostly concerned with Tevinter’s survival and stability.

What is the Antaam? The Qunari military organization, the ground forces front line warriors who are meant to conquer and protect the Qun from any external threats. A very blunt and external organization to whom every nail needs a hammer. This is further exemplified by how the Arishock in DA 2 apparently went off the rails in his assault on the city to the point that the other two branches basically had to disavow the situation and ignore it entirely.

What is te Ben Hasrath? The 'secret police'. The spies. The covert ops. Those who protect the Qunari from all enemies foreign and domestic and tend to do so behind the scenes. This is an organization who, as recently as DAI, had one of their agents essentially lie by omission about his purpose with the organization (Bull), and engaged in a plot to assassinate the entire political leadership in the South...Tresspasser meanwhile was written by Patrick Weekes. And then in Tevinter Nights this same organization still had people out hunting for agents of the Inquisition, taking them prisoner, and generally engaging in their own activities...I'll have to re read it to be sure but the events of Eight Little Talons also certainly sounds like aBen Hasrath operation.

In short the only real difference between the two is a matter of tactics, perspective, and maybe objective. Though I do get the feeling that in part the Antaam was inspired to invade Tevinter because of what Solas is up to the Ben Hasrath, generally, prefer operating behind the scenes. "The Gentle path versus the way of swords" or whatever the Vidisaala had to say. No real attempts to 'soften' the Qunari have been made. They are still quite an evil organization which is hell bent on conquest and submission of all those who oppose them.

Now there is a possibility of a 'Qunari reform organization', while there is little actual evidence that such an movement is actually happening considering every other major organization in Thedas is going through similar it would not surprise me. You're going to have to quote the exact passage because I specifically remember very direct references to the usual mind rape when it came to mages with the Qun and the typical stuff that the Qun usually does.

“I thought you killed all the mages in Ventus,” the Huntmaster said, “even those who surrendered and did not fight.” The words held an edge.

“Without the Ben-Hassrath to interrogate the mages and discern which ones could be trusted, we had no choice but to administer qamek to all of them.” Bas-taar smiled. That at least was a benefit of the Antaam acting alone. No Ben-Hassrath to say that No, this mage should live, do not hurt them more than necessary.

That’s on page 9-10. This implies that the Qunari might have typically spared some mages whereas previously-established lore holds that all bas mages must be killed or have their minds erased. The saarebas can be leashed because they were raised in the Qun, but bas saarebas are likely to be corrupted by demons.

i think you answred your own question. Mind erasure.

I missed this passage with my earlier quote but suggesting that the Ben-Hassrath differentiate between which mages can be trusted and which can't does not suggest simple mind erasure for them all. Clearly it is implied that those the Ben-Hassrath deem trustworthy are going to be spared the qamek and that does fly in the face of everything we have previously been told.

All I can think is that the Ben-Hassrath differentiating between the trustworthiness of Bas mages is a new idea they have developed in recent years, whereas the lore we were previously given was based on earlier conflicts where all mages were treated the same. This is backed up by what Myrion had been told by his tutors. He expressed no surprise at what they had done to his fellow mages because he had been warned about how the Qun treat foreign mages, hence him doing his best to conceal his ability from them.

It is possible the reason they are now sparing enemy mages is to do with their magical research into how to strengthen the Veil.   Now they have the added incentive of recruiting magical expertise to deal with Solas.   So it is probably just short term expediency at play rather than the Qun truly altering the stance on Bas mages.

Never trust any Qunari. That does double, nay triple for Ben-Hassrath. They think Thedas is in Star Trek, but it is really in Star Wars.

Honest to a fault? They allied with the Inquisition and then used that partnership to infiltrate the organization and carry out the Dragon’s Breath operation.

They also signed the Llomerryn Accords knowing full well that they would one day break the truce.

The Qunari think nothing of lying to bas because the end goal is all that matters.



They actually are kinda like Romulans, albeit with more of a religious motivation. The Ben-Hassrath are not unlike the Tal Shiar.

I wonder if the ritual they are doing to make the Idol into a weapon will alert Solas?



Or maybe the ritual will go awry and might be the catalyst of the red lyrium vines we see growing in some of the latest DA4 concept arts/teasers?