today I'm thinking about the DWARF BRANCH OF THE TEVINTER GOVERNMENT that the world of thedas casually mentions. come back here and elaborate on that. who can I bribe to privately send me the internal bioware lore docs on the dwarf branch of the tevinter government, I promise I can be trusted
"The difference between the dwarves of Tevinter and the dwarves of every other surface nation is that those in Tevinter have their own branch of government.
The Ambassadoria is the dwarven body of representatives elected by the dwarves to advise the Archon and the Magisterium."
Like, what. Come back here and tell me more about that? The dwarves have their own elections for their own branch of Tevinter government?
Who is running these elections? Is orzammar running these elections? They're probably caste-based? Even if they're technically more of a lobbyist group codified into Tevinter parliament, wouldn't they have quite a bit of power as a group that's probably representing powerful families in the lyrium trade, the thing Tevinter relies on? Are these positions sought after, or are they considered pity elections for ambitious dwarves who aren't up to par in internal orzammar politics?
u know, the alliance the first Archon formed with Endrin Stonehammer pre-empire that gave him the resources to take over Qarinus, established permanent dwarven embassies described as big enough for generations of families to live and die there in most major Tevinter cities, designed subterranean proving grounds so dwarves could attend provings in Minrathous, and gave them their own branch of Tevinter government.
They were betting on Tevinter when Tevinter barely existed! A lot of Tevinter architecture looks kind of like dwarven architecture, presumably because it imitates the styles of the earliest grand structures that the dwarves and Tevinter made together. And that alliance never faded, even after the fall of most of the Thaigs. They brought each other untold power and profit.
It really haunts me. None of the dragon age games ever did anything with this, but you do get this great item description on a pair of rings you can find in Origins
