Thoughts on the circles / chantry? Any thoughts on how to improve or even demolish it completely?
nine paragraphs we did it kids.
Faith has no place in politics, and no one has any right to lock anyone away unless a crime has been committed. Mages existing is not a crime, and that they are at risk of becoming an Abomination is not a valid enough cause. For all the Apostates there are, there don’t seem to be that many Abominations. It’s almost as if people are using a worst case scenario to justify horrific abuse and stripping an entire group of people of their rights.
Aria’s not surprised by any of this, being Dalish and knowing what horrors the Chantry is capable of, but it still disturbs her. More than that, she wonders how humans are not just as concerned – the majority not caring for the abuse of Elves is nothing new, but even humans are liable to be locked away under the rules surrounding Mages. The Chantry at some point expanded its cruelties to lash out against even pious Humans who do not fit a specific mold – how long until the faithful come for anyone for far pettier, less justifiable reasons?
Being Dalish also colors her thoughts about mages in other ways. Her people embrace their mages without punishment. They make leaders out of their mages, and the only threat she ever saw in her youth came from humanity, not her keeper’s affinity for whatever power the gods gave Marethari. Finding out her own father was a mage has also influenced Aria as an adult, the idea that Mages bring only ruin a horrific slap against her own identity as the daughter of a Keeper.
Then again, the Dalish could be a perfect society and the Chantry would still make them out to be bloodthirsty savages who use their allegedly unproblematic magic to sacrifice human virgins to their wolf god and mind control Elf-friendly societies. The Dalish are never going to win until they start fighting, and Aria acknowledges this. So for now, they’re still on that ages old losing streak.
Anyway, Aria sees no reason that a house of worship like the Chantry is supposed to be should have the power to launch Exalted Marches or run the Templars. This is terrifying. She doesn’t understand how other people don’t see this, and she herself opposes the Chantry on the grounds the Maker is not her god and thus she is exempt from whatever power they hold over much of Ferelden. Many people probably find this infuriating. She will let them know when she has a fuck to give them.
The Chantry does not need to be destroyed, though. She would never wish the loss of such a religious epicenter on anyone, even those who hurt her and the other Dalish. Her own people are still struggling to remember their own gods and the old ways to worship them, and for all she hopes payback awards the Chantry and those who support it, she will never wish for the worship of the Maker to be lost, or for all that Andraste did to be forgotten. People need their gods. The thing is, while she would never call for the Chantry to be disbanded, it must change, and hard.
As stated, she wants them stripped of political power. They might be allowed to advise, rather than be given the ability to control. She wants to take whatever fighting force they have and break it over her knee. Only then can things ever hope to improve, and not just within the Chantry itself. It could change the face of society as well. She lives for a world where people do not live under the wagging finger of the Chantry and its many demands that spit in the face of what she takes as the messages and actions of Andraste.
Also, canonize Shartan you fucking cowards. Andraste didn’t die so her lover could be muted by a gaggle of hateful clods. Admit Andraste fought arm in arm with Elves and undoubtedly took Shartan to bed. You dishonor your Lady of Sorrows by putting the same race she so cared for down. You must present more than a Human narrative when discussing history that involved other races.
The Circles should be razed to the ground so they can never be used again, and she invites Mages to dance in the blood and ash that remains of their former prisons. The Circle does not need to be re-invented, it must be destroyed. Mages deserve choice and freedom as any other creature in the world, and schools of magic should be established for them if they choose to pursue such education. If you really mean to educate these people and show them how to keep from being manipulated by demons, you can do that just as easily through reaching out to communities rather than rounding up children and shoving them into a cage. Those in power must never have the tools to be so cruel again, even if that means tearing out each Circle at its foundations.
