Dragon Age II Coterie, Raiders, Guards, and Templars Detailed

Chris Priestly is on a roll of lore updates at the BioWare Blog, and we now receive a lore update for four factions the player will encounter in Dragon Age II: the Coterie, the City Guards, the Raiders of the Waking Sea, and the Templars.

Most people don’t remember the Templar Order as it once was. In the days when the Chantry was still young, templars were known as the (Inquisition) and combed the land in search of all dangers to humanity whether they came in the form of blood mages, abominations, cultists or heretics. It was a dark and terrifying time in the history of Thedas, and one that only ended when the Chantry convinced the Inquisition to unite under the banner of their common faith. The name of their order changed, and their purpose because that of guardian and warden rather than hunter. As they see it, they protect the innocents of the outside world from magic. but they also protect mages from the outside world, a world that fears them for very good reasons. It is a templar’s place to watch their charges for signs of weakness or corruption, and should they find it to act without hesitation for the good of all. That this occasionally leads to charges of tyranny and abuse is, according to the Chantry, a price that must be paid for the security the templars offer.

Some are saying, however, that this needs to change. They remind the world that mages are not controlled by templars everywhere in Thedas: not among the Rivaini witches, the Dalish keepers or the Tevinter magisters. and those societies are, arguably, no worse off. The Templar Order, however, is nothing if not certain of its role. From the glittering White Spire in Val Royeaux the Knight-Vigilant commands the templars to serve the Maker’s will and keep the peace. By the common folk they are seen as self-sacrificing men and women, vigilant warriors that form the first line of defense between humanity and the chaos that once ruled the land during the old Imperium. To the mages they are often seen as oppressors, even well-meaning ones, and the gap between them is growing larger with each passing year.