The Circle of Magi :

History :
According to Sister Petrine, a Chantry scholar, the mages weren't always locked away in towers,
they were actually living among the rest of the humans. The Chantry of the Divine Age had found
suitable tasks for them, such as for eam!le kindle the eternal flame that burns in every chantries
across Thedas with their magic or also dusting of rafters and eaves. "ut of course, the mages did
not acce!t that their !owers served for such menial tasks. The mages of #al $oyeau were the first
to act and decided to etinguish the Cathedral's sacred flames but also to barricade themselves in
there in !rotest. Divine Ambrosia %% was furious and outraged by the mages !rotest &and to be
honest, she was the only one' and even went as far as to oder an (alted )arch to !unish them.
The tem!lars clearly not thrilled about her decision decided to instead, negociate with the mages. %t
is said that shouting could be heard from both sides, each trying to negociate with the other. After
*+ days of shouting, the mages !leasantly went to an eiled fortress where they would be ke!t
under the Tem!lar's watch but had a council of their own. This was the first time that the mages
were se!arated from !eo!le and the Chantry, they formed their own society, the Circle.
Organization :
)uch time !assed since the first Circle was created and this institution is now considered to be a
!lace of training for the mages but also a !rison by some, controled and observed by the Chantry.
Any child can be taken to a Circle of )agi if he or she shows signs of magic. %t does not matter if
the child was born in a noble or royal family, the rules a!!ly to every children between si and
twelve. The Circle then takes care of their education and when the young a!!rentices reach
adulthood, they must either undergo the ,arrowing or be made Tran-uil.
The ,arrowing is a test in which the a!!rentice has to go in the .ade and resist a demon that will
try to take !ossession of the a!!rentice's body. Those who fail are killed by the tem!lars who are
standing by so that the a!!rentice will not become an abomination. Since the ,arrowing re-uires
a significant amount of lyrium, only the most !romising a!!rentices can attem!t it. Those who are
not great enough are either / im!risoned, eecuted or made Tran-uil. The $ite of Tran-uility can be
forced u!on or chosen by an a!!rentice. 0nly the 1night2Commander of the Circle can decide
whether an a!!rentice is to be made Tran-uil and then, the .irst (nchanter can either give
a!!roval or not. %n theory this is how it goes and the Chantry will not have anything to say about it
unless the mage shows an inca!acity to control his3her !owers or if the said mage is unwilling to
control them. The truth is, the !ractice differs from Circle to Circle. %f the .irst (nchanter seems to
be weaker than the 1night2Commander then his word will not matter, it is a balance of !owers. The
Tran-uils are cut off from the .ade, hence to any link they had with magic, losing their emotions in
the !rocess. Said to be an act of mercy, the $ite is su!!osed to sto! a Tran-uil from becoming an
abomination but sadly, it could still ha!!en.
The Circles are located in isolated !laces &such as in the middle of 4ake Calenhad for 1inloch ,old
for eam!le' but some Circles are situated in ma5or cities for trade !ur!ose &es!ecially com!osed
of .ormaris who use their talents to create items such as enchantments'. The Circle is neutral, if
they were to be involved in conflicts too often, the Chantry would have to take actions. Though, the
"light seems to be the only event that brings all the mages together since it is not rare to see two
mages from different Circles serving different sides of a battle. (ach Circle of )agi &ece!t for
Tevinter' throughout Thedas is re!resented at the College of )agi &that takes !lace in
Cumberland' by first enchanters, those at the head of the Circles.
,ere's a chart re!resenting each Circle of Thedas /
Nation Location Chantry Known First Enchanters
Anderfels Hossberg Andrastian Briaus
Antiva N/A Andrastrian Astebadi
Ferelden Jainen Andrastian N/A
Ferelden Lae Calenhad Andrastian !rving "or #$
Free %arches Ansburg Andrastian Luidweg "#$
Free %arches Kirwall Andrastian &rsino "well'''$
Free %arches %arha( Andrastian N/A
Free %arches &stwic Andrastian N/A
Free %arches )tarhaven Andrastian *addic
Nevarra Cu(berland Andrastian +wenael
&rlais %ontsi((ard Andrastian !llana "#$
&rlais ,al *oyeau- Andrastian Ed(onde "#$ then Adrian
*ivain .airs(uid Andrastian *ivella "#$
/evinter %inrathous !(0erial None1 !(0eriu(2s seat of
0ower
Hierarchy :
(ach Circle follows a si2tier hierarchy which seems to reunite everyone ece!t for the Tran-uils. %t
is com!osed of the 6rand (nchanter, advisor to the Divine and Circle's re!resentant to the
Chantry, elected by the College of )agi in Cumberland, as of 7/8727/9: Dragon, .iona was chosen
as 6rand (nchanter. Then comes the first enchanter, head of the Circle. ;e then have the senior
enchanters, a small community of the most e!erienced mages of each Circle. Then the
enchanters, those who teach. And finally, the mages and the a!!rentices, the mages are residents
who have !assed their ,arrowing whereas the a!!rentices are training for it but haven't undergone
it yet.
Fraternities of Enchanters :
Similar to !olitical !arties, the .raternities are grou!s of enchanters who share the same
view!oints. The determine the !olicy of a given Circle. A fraternity can count members from
different Circles but one has to be an enchanter before he or she can 5oin any fraternity. There are
five known fraternities /
Ae-uitarians / the dominant faction in the College of )agi. They are moderate and think that
mages should use their !owers in a res!onsible manner regardless of the Chantry. They believe
that mages should hel! !eo!le and follow a set of ideals but also rules. %rving, $hys, ;ynne,
Sweeney and Torrin are known Ae-uitarians. They are re!resented at the College of )agi by $hys
by 7/9: Dragon.
%solationists / a small grou! of mages, they wish to se!arate themselves from the tem!lars, the
Chantry and !retty much want to live like hermits and go where no one would find them, where
they could !ractice magic with causing any trouble. Though <iall sym!athi=ed with them, he did
not consider himself as !art of that fraternity.
4ibertarians / they want autonomy without the Chantry interfering in any way with the Circle, they
want to be free. ;hile many desire to achieve this autonomy through !eaceful ways, at least one
subgrou!, the $esolutionists are willing to use force and violence to get what they want. >ldred
and Adrian are known 4ibertarians, Adrian is actually the one to re!resent the fraternity at the
College of )agi.
4oyalists / they don't want anything to change and follow the Chantry's word as it is written. They
are often called ? Chantry a!ologists @ for acce!ting the Chantry's rules and the tem!lars
observing them. 1eili could be an eam!le for this fraternity though she is not an enchanter, 5ust an
a!!rentice.
4ucrosians / few in number, they only care about accumulating money but they also wish to gain
!olitical influence.
Different Heraldries :
A This one is the most used to
re!resent the Circle of )agi.
0!!osed to this one in which we
can see the four different schools of
)agic /
S!irit in blue, Primal in orange,
Creation in green and (ntro!y in
red. B