#I find it extremely interesting that they chose those exact typical conservative lines for him to say during a templar supportive ending

[silver-horse]

Yeah. Certainly video game mechanics played a role, they want to make sure that companions can stay with the player regardless of what choices we make. But usually they still express their opinion and you need high approval or pass persuasion checks. That is what shows us their real personality, their real values and what they stand for. For example Zevran speaking up against killing the mages is his “true position” so to speak. We lose some approval but then we can give gifts and companions forget, the story moves on and they still love the warden. We understand that this is just the video game mechanics.

Varric however is a different matter. He is written in a way where all of this makes sense for his character as OP explained. However I would like to add that not only is Varric just as starry-eyed about an evil Hawke, he is actually more starry-eyed! Just like the other companions, Varric expresses an opinion. His position is simply less set in stone, he doesn’t need to be persuaded. But in the end Varric does speak up! and he mildly objects if we support the mages! Meanwhile he expresses his approval if we kill the mages.

He says this to an apostate Hawke who has maxed out friendship with him:

He says to his friend “I’m not sure, maybe you should commit genocide against your own people. Eh. But I’m with you bestie.”

Meanwhile he is very supportive of killing all the mages:

“Defending innocent people, preserving our way of life? This is worth doing.”

“Preserving our way of life” is a line straight up from every conservative politician’s mouth.

Basically Varric’s “true (or original) position” is pro-templar, anti mage revolution, anti mage freedom. His approval in Inquisition suggests that a mage supportive Hawke has shifted his view, still that is a less comfortable world state for Varric.

I think Varric is a very realistic portrayal of the type of guy who has friends who are minorities or friends who have been mistreated in some way in society. However he doesn’t understand their struggles.Those individuals might be his friends, but... well, he is callous to their experiences. And when it comes down to it, he may or may not throw his friends under the bus because their pesky rights are an inconvenience. He doesn’t understand why everyone can’t just get along. That’s what he wants. And he sees this conflict as equal squabbling on both sides. Because he grew up in a world where the status quo has been comfortable for him and therefore “preserving our way of life” is good. To the point where even horrible inhuman acts are not only justified but it’s the right thing to do. As long as that is the “normal thing”, the way it has always been done. Anything else is the strange unknown and causes conflict which he doesn’t want.

(“Defending innocents” (cough cough protecting the children) is a worthy cause because otherwise it’s “helping dangerous people run amok”. Notice that these innocents who need defending from the circle mages during The Last Straw do not exist... the templars are the ones attacking the mages and therefore the mages try to run for their lives, away from the circle. In Varric’s view the innocents who need defending are not the people who are under attack, but future imaginary potential victims who might be harmed if the mages are simply allowed to be free.)  Varric just wants everyone to know their place and play card games together. He doesn’t want anything to change. He goes along with a revolution only out of loyalty towards a good Hawke. That loyalty overrides everything, however he did have an opinion to begin with and that was actually anti-mage freedom. (Contrast that with Isabela who also goes along with whatever Hawke decides out of loyalty because Hawke didn’t hand her over to the arishok. But actually she expresses disgust when attacking the mages “crushing the rebels? how dare they wish for freedom” Her “true position” is pro-mage freedom.)

Honestly something that really affected my view of Varric (and again, I say this with great love for the character) was playing my Terrible Hawke, Emilia, who ends the game an absolute anti-mage fanatic who believes that magic is a curse and it was a blessing that the Maker called Bethany back to His side before she could fall to demons. She is a Hawke who is mainly diplomatic, well-spoken, respected, and absolutely unhinged in her views on magic. She is the Viscount of Kirkwall, and by the time she comes to the Inquisition she's also taken Chantry vows and become an actual templar (after having practiced the discipline off the books for years). She singlehanded kept Kirkwall under Chantry control after Meredith's death. She slaughtered every mage to a one, even the ones who surrendered.

She's Varric's best friend. And he's just as starry-eyed about her in Inquisition as he is about any other Hawke. I love what a deeply unsettling side of Varric that is to see.

She's the best. She's a hero. She saved his city.

[paladin-andric]

Matters of Faith: Conflict and Acceptance

Two ways to view the world So similar at times Two ways to rule the world To justify their crimes

(Lyrics from Sabaton’s “A Lifetime of War”)

Deaco is a continent that lives in relative harmony...when it comes to faith, at least. Sure, armies do battle, bands of marauders attack travelers, and mighty dragons kill and subjugate, but these events are hardly ever religiously motivated. Wars, banditry and draconic tyranny are typically born from imperialist malevolence, selfishness, and draconic pride and greed respectively. One’s personal desires for land, power, wealth and status are hardly intertwined with faith.

This isn’t to say these types of clashes never happen however. With such strong influence on state and culture, religion inevitably gets caught up in arguments and debate. These are generally relegated to casual arguments between two common folk over the exact meaning of a passage or quote, but there is occasional, real conflict.

Disputes, Slights, and Offenses

Not everyone is perfectly content or accepting of everything and everyone. Occasionally differing ideas and thoughts will leave people feeling isolated, conflicted or dismissive. Someone who does not understand the similarities between a follower of The Order of God and The Shining Lord might see the other as an “outsider”, and feel a dislike for this strange, different faith and custom.

In this short list, we’ll go over a few things that cause strife, disunity and discord among followers of faith. These will be listed in order from least serious, something that might cause a misunderstanding or general confusion, to most serious, something that would cause fierce anger or hated between groups.

Following Another Faith

“My opponents would have you think the koutu are madmen that cross the border to kidnap children to sacrifice them to demons. It is precisely this outrageous, fundamental misunderstanding of the faith that I have spent these last years combating. I must reiterate this same point yet again; our dogmas are one. If you were to visit a church of the Shining Lord, the only difference you would be able to notice would be that of architecture.”

-Abbot Manuel’s address during the Third Summit Debate

Sometimes called heresy, there are those who still see followers of another faith as just that; an “other”.

The three main faiths following God are intrinsically tied closely to one another, as from what most theologians can work out, they all worship the same God. These would be The Order of God, followers of The Shining Lord, and adherents to God and His Prophet.

The Shining Lord is simply what the koutu call God, and their faith follows the humans’ Order closely. The chief difference however are their “saints”. The koutu had their own pantheon of gods before they adopted the humans’ faith. Instead of discarding their ancient gods and traditions, they decided to reconcile it with their new faith. After some debate, they decided their gods were not true gods, but champions chosen by God for ascension. Tales and lore were altered to mention God, and he was described as all-knowing, all-powerful, and enigmatic, even to the old gods, who were now more of a family of demi-gods given their powers by the Shining Lord.

There are occasional arguments over all of this, but the nature of spirited and open debate has made most of the people of Deaco aware that these differences are very slight. To some, they are one and the same, merely two churches of the same religion that evolved differently over time through difference in land and culture.

The saliks, the lizardfolk to the desert down south, are also a part of this trio of faith. Their religion appeared to be created entirely separately, with a slave who never had any knowledge of the humans’ God receiving revelations independent of outside influence. With that in mind, many do see this faith as its own.

After much time spent studying the words and teachings of the Prophet however, theologians were quick to note the extreme similarities in teachings, morals, and virtues of their God and the God of the humans and koutu. The dogma is eerily similar, just with a focus on combating slavery, something that was pandemic in the lands the Prophet originated from at the time.

With these similar writings and morals in mind, many see the Prophet as simply the latest in a line of prophets and saints of God, whose benevolent guidance has spread across all of Deaco. While more conservative thinkers of the Prophet reject this, many are open to the idea, using it to further strengthen the bonds of friendship between the humans and reptilians.

The pona do not have an organized faith. Many are irreligious or simply spiritual, though some follow animist teachings. They feel the spirits of the dead watch over them, their ancestors always offering a nudge in the right direction. The world itself is pulsing with life, and one could tell if only they focus. Because of this, meditation is widespread in the Federation, the turtles often taking time out of their day to find a secluded grove to try and obtain a deeper understanding of the world and themselves.

Their neighbors are content with this. Some are interested in foreign faiths, those that move to Geralthin often impressed by The Order’s charity. With their nature as a calm and peaceful people, they only tend to reciprocate anothers interest in their way of life, not pushing it on others.

The dacuni are a people of paganism, following different ancient gods of war and other specifics. Their harsh ways have left many dismissive of their faith, though it is very varied in both dogma and philosophy. Not many even know of or consider their faith, simply afraid or hostile to the wolfmen themselves.

The Cult of Spuini is infamous for its bizarre dedication to hedonism, which does little to win foreign faiths over, who almost universally see temperance, diligence and chastity as a virtue. This is only one of many cults however, as each god the wolfmen worship have their own dedicated cult. Those in the know would see the cults of Baba and Asvarnin share many morals with traditional faiths of the south, that of diligence, modesty and acting without malice or sin. All in all, most people regard the strange northern pantheon with bemused tolerance. They gawk at a distance, but do little to actively inspect or insult it. Some wolfmen runaways bring these cults to Geralthin and the Koutu Kingdom, while some adopt the faith of the lands. These foreign cults are generally very small and try their hardest not to cause a fuss, seeing as they’ve been graciously allowed to continue practicing their faith in lands not home to them.

Agnosticism

“The pona are a stubborn people, and their outlandish refusal at peaceful cooperation has left us to resort to this final measure.”

-Mayor Candice of Liberty Point, on the implementation of the Proselytizer’s Edict

There aren’t many who chose no god to follow. With clerics and priests using divine magic and gifts from the heavens themselves known to all, there are hardly any non-believers. There are those skeptical of churches and cults however, or those who simply have no desire to dedicate themselves to a god. With a strong undertone of faith in most places of society, these people aren’t viewed in an especially good light.

There are those who are simply cynical or have other things on their mind, which are generally accepted. Those who make a big deal however are viewed with some disdain. People do not appreciate having their faith insulted or mocked, and will shun these people in kind.

Sometimes the religious will attempt to sway these people into accepting the faith, though the results and approaches vary. From forced proselytizing, to a debate on the merits and truth of the scriptures, the choice is sometimes difficult, and the fallout from refusal differing in severity.

Occasionally these people will find themselves among the faithful, and with a general understanding of one another, things can become relaxed. As is known to the followers of God, all peoples are his creation, and are loved equally by him. Because of this, it’s generally considered rude to disrespect another based on custom, race or faith, and even those without a faith can find themselves welcomed by the faithful.

A common example is the yearly feast conducted by The Order of God. It is religious, though its motives are to bring happiness to all. Because of this, none are excluded. From the koutu adherents to the Shining Lord, to the wolfman cults, to the faithless, all are welcomed to partake in the free food and drink.

There may be arguments, debates, and misunderstandings, but at the end, when all is said and done, we are more alike than we are different.

Heretical Thought

“It is more important that we keep our own church stable, clean and united, rather than focus on pushing our faith outward, as this debacle brings our lands to ruin. The false shepherds must be kept from the flock, at any cost.”

-Patriarch Gregory, at the First Summit Debate

The churches of the different faiths have had little internal strife, but when these conflicts arise, it is met with resistance across the board. The different faiths know that their friendships and understandings are kept in a close-knit, but fragile balance from the truths of their teachings. Any differing thought could put their longstanding peaceful, tolerant approach to one another in jeopardy. Thus, they work together against breakaway sects to preserve their longstanding traditions of unity and friendship.

Heresies are few and far between, with the three monotheistic faiths vigilant in stomping out these new teachings.

The standard approach is theological debate, undermining the opponent’s legitimacy and new thought with evidence from the scriptures. This approach is very successful, with heretical preachers finding themselves without a listener base.

One such heresy was the Felen Idea, a breakaway from the Order of God. This heretical order made several distressing proclamations, such as their head, Bishop Felen, declaring God had told him that the other nations must be brought to heel and forced to follow their faith, by force if necessary. To them, the similar religions of the koutu and saliks weren’t enough. The counterargument from The Order, a truly massive treatise on the similarities of the three churches, and the consequences on warring against those who served the same God as them, was wildly successful in shutting this heresy down.

Another example was the Cult of Understanding, a group of the Shining Lord who proposed that the “missing wife” of Albic never existed. They proclaimed he had his three children with his sister Sila, using partially lost sources that mentioned them alone while the children were being raised as evidence that this was true. This was considered so damaging to the faith that the church labeled it heresy, something they had never done before. Eventually, an expedition found the lost texts of said sources, and found that the story mentioned the wife, and even included a passage where the wife and Sila had a conversion about Albic. This quickly shut down the heretical sect, and all ran smoothly since.

The saliks had a brief schism over whether their crusade against slavery applied to non-reptilians, but eventually decided that due to the context of God’s hatred of slavery being universal, that all would be free under their rule.

Religious Persecution

“It was not by the Great Dragon’s will that the Jungi Cult were slaughtered for their faith. Indeed, the Dragon warned us of the plot, and our priests were working alongside the guards in restoring order. They pulled the persecuted from the city, carried them to safety, and comforted the broken and terrified in those frightening moments. These dangerous extremists acted not in the benevolent one’s wishes, and he gave us the ability to intervene. Despite this, we could not save them all, and when he heard of the atrocities committed in his name, the Great Dragon wept.”

-Qin Preacher Tiangzin, on the Baolo Genocide

The most extreme of all offenses, disenfranchising, oppressing, or harming another for difference in faith is considered an atrocity in most respects. This happens rarely, but when it does, the entire continent is set aflame.

There are only a few instances of this ever happening, but they usually result in war of some kind. When Queen Abigail was executed by the wolfmen for refusing to renounce her faith, the Kingdom of Geralthin went into such a mad frenzy that the southern Dacush Tribes were depopulated for over a century after they rampaged through it.

In the early days of the revolution, the slaves who accepted the Prophet’s teachings began to be executed, to suppress the voices clamoring for liberty. This backfired however, showing how corrupt and oppressive the old regime was, and the reptilians emerged followers of the Prophet shortly afterwards.

The people of the far eastern lands, sharing characteristics of the strange, wingless dragons of their lands, follow the Great Dragon. Dragons are abundant in their lands, but the Great One is much larger, much wiser, and much more powerful than the rest of his kin. Even the other dragons seem to serve him faithfully, and so the small ones quickly followed. He sits curled around a massive mountain in the heart of the Qins’ homeland, silently observing. His church came into conflict with a heretical sect who didn’t see the Great Dragon of the Mountain as their lord. A sect of fierce devotees descended on one of their temples, slaughtering the people within. Other adherents to the Great Dragon were given visions of this event, and tried their hardest to put a stop to it. The Great Dragon himself was reportedly heartbroken at what had happened, having not enough time to warn the faithful, and being preoccupied with closing a portal to the underworld at the time.

Thankfully, history is rarely subjected to these atrocities. When they occur, they light a fire in the hearts of the people, those differing in land, race, faith and lifestyle coming together in these dark hours to work against the wrongdoing of others.

Thanks to a longstanding history of friendship, understanding, peace and solidarity, the wide array of species and faiths are relaxed, friendly, and even welcoming to one another. Faith is a sacred thing, and as this truth is known, the religious are careful to treat differing religions with respect, just as they would wish their own faith to be respected.

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