Grey Wardens

Grey Wardens are an organization that features in Dragon Age.

History

The Grey Wardens were a group of humans that formed to fight the threat of the Darkspawn that emerged on Thedas. Around 90 years ago, the lands were afflicted with the rise of the first Blight. During these years, a group of soldiers from the Tevinter Imperium met at the Weisshaupt fortress in the desolate Anderfels. These seasoned veterans had known nothing but hopeless war and during the meeting had renounced their oaths to the Imperium. Thus, they pledged to defeat the threat by any means necessary leading to the group of Humans, Elves and Dwarves gathering together to form the Grey Wardens that set upon their new task as they left the fortress. They began an aggressive campaign against the Blight where they struck back against the Darkspawn and reclaimed lands that were lost. Though far from defeated, their victories brought notice to the fledgling order who began to receive aid from every nation on Thedas. The Grey Wardens then rode into battle as they participated in the First Blight where they fought against the Archdemon Dumat with the conflict being held as a great victory that was spoken of by many afterwards. The band of warriors and their allies fought against their foe for the next century where they lost or gained ground but never backed away as they continued the battle whilst recruiting more to their cause. The fight ultimately culminated in the Battle of Silent Plains where they successfully managed to fell Dumat thus bringing the First Blight to an end.

After the First Blight in -191 Ancient, the Wardens came to encounter an unusual breed of Darkspawn that had the capacity for thought, speech and the ability to wield magic. Some were even shown to be capable of leading Darkspawn hordes without an Archdemon present among them. Their investigation led to an encounter with a powerful Darkspawn creature by the name of Corypheus that was the source of the change among the creatures. To stop it, the Wardens sought to entrap the entity and looked to do so in a prison constructed within the Vimmark Mountains. Warden-Commander Farele dispatched Sashamiri for this task with the trap being sprung in -189 Ancient. Sashamiri used the blood of the Old God Dumat as a lure but hid the nature of the magic by destroying the entity's remains with Corypheus falling for the trap. A first, they looked to use Corypheus as a weapon against the Darkspawn but all attempts at interrogation failed as any Warden fell under the influence of the being. Ultimately, it was decided that any attempt at control or even killing Corypheus was impossible with Warden-Commander Daneken deciding to steal the Darkspawn creature behind seals and to be imprisoned forever.

In 1:5 Divine, the Archdemon Zazikel arose thus ushering in the Second Blight leading to the destruction of the entire city of Nordbotten before any defense could be organized against it. The Tevinter Imperium withdrew from the Anderfels thus abandoning it in an attempt to protect central Tevinter. As a result, the Anderfels region was hit hard with even the Grey Warden headquarters in Weisshaupt coming under siege by the Darkspawn. Salvation came from the armies of the recently founded Orlesian Empire under the command of Emperor Kordillus Drakon I who proved himself both motivated and capable of standing up to the Blight. After several victories against the Darkspawn, Drakon's army lifted the siege of Weisshaupt in 1:33 Divine and proceeded to save the rest of the Anderfels together with the Wardens. This led to the Anderfels joining the Orlesian Empire and the Grey Wardens converting to the faith of the Chantry. In the following decades, the Blight was slowly pushed back and the Grey Wardens took command of the war eventually leading to the Archdemon Zazikel being confronted and slain by the Grey Warden Corin in 1:95 Divine at Starkhaven in the Free Marches.

Corypheus came to enthral the Grey Wardens where a group of them attended the Divine Conclave and aided the Darkspawn magister in sacrificing Divine Justinia V to power the Orb of Destruction. However, the ritual came to be interrupted by the Herald of Andraste thus causing the Breach. During this time, Corypheus looked to further corrupt the Wardens to his control and thus had the demon Nightmare simulate the effects of the Calling on their minds. This caused the Wardens to believe that they would become Darkspawn and in desperation they sought allies to slay the creatures before they perished. As a result, they began summoning all the southern Grey Wardens to Orlais thus preventing them from aiding the Inquisition. Around this time, a Venatori magister named Lord Livius Erimond convinced Warden-Commander Clarel to use blood magic techniques to summon a demon army to be used in invading the Deep Roads. With this force, they intended to kill the Old Gods before they awoke thus preventing another Blight. However, unknown to them, Erimond's demon binding rituals taught to the Warden's mages were actually being enslaved to Corypheus who intended to use them as part of his army to conquer Thedas.

Overview

Though their ability to detect Darkspawn was a crucial talent, this could also be a hindrance as the tainted creatures were likewise able to sense the presence of a Grey Warden. Older Wardens were also able to understand the Archdemon as it communicated with their horde.

Recruitment was open to members of any race, gender, nation or background with them known for ignoring a recruit's racial, social, national, and even criminal background if they deemed them valuable in terms of character, ability or skill.. Thus, the Wardens offered formal invitations for anyone to join their ranks as long as they were fit for joining the Order. It was seen by some as a great honor with many families claiming that one of their own had joined the Grey Wardens though few desired heir firstborns to follow this path. Criminals were even recruited with them given a chance to redeem themselves by pledging their lives for a good cause. In addition, volunteers were accepted with elves being particularly eager to join as their social standing did not affect their chances of joining and service in the Order was seen as an honour to many. To many, it was believed that joining the Wardens meant that the person had to truly hate the Darkspawn in order to become a Warden but the majority of recruits did so due to a strong sense of will. In fact, most Grey Wardens only encounter their first Darkspawn only after becoming initiates within the Order. To veteran Wardens, personal hatred of Darkspawn was seen as a detrimental quality that can lead to the recruit making rash and irrational decisions.

A critical element of becoming a member of the Wardens was a ritual known as the Joining. This was a secret kept within their order and not known to outsiders or even newly taken recruits. This was a brief ritual though one that required a small element of preparation before the initiation could begin for the prospective recruit. It involved the selected candidates journeying into Darkspawn ravaged territory in order to slay the creatures and bring a vial of their blood. A number of vials needed to be collected with these numbering the number of recruits selected by the Grey Wardens. Upon completion of their task, the prospective recruits returned to their base where they were required to drink the tainted blood that was mixed with other compounds such as Iyrium. Following ingestion, the recruit would either die quickly from the taint of the Darkspawn blood or be able to hear their hive mind and become partially immune to the taint. Death was a high possibility for the recruits as some of them could not survive the process. Refusal was not an option and those that resisted the Joining were slain by the Wardens. Those that survived were formally welcomed into the ranks of their organization. Initially, they did not experience the dreams normally associated with Grey Wardens nor were they detectable by Darkspawn.

The hierarchy of the Wardens included the:

• First Warden : leader of the order of the Grey Wardens who commanded from their headquarters at Weisshaupt Fortress.
• Chamberlain of the Grey : senior archivist at Weisshaupt to whom Warden-Commanders send yearly reports with the position technically outranking the Warden-Commanders.
• Commander of the Grey : the Warden-Commander was the national leader of Grey Wardens.
• Field-Commander :
• Constable of the Grey :
• Senior Warden :
• Archivist :
• Warden-Ensign :
• Acolyte :
• Warden-Recruit :

Leadership of the order was held by the First Warden who was based in Weisshaupt with a system in place whereby national branches were semi-autonomous whereby each was led by a local commander. A hierarchy was present with this largely taking the form of seniority within the ranks of the Wardens. In times long ago, the Wardens made use of winged Griffons as their steads with them being adopted by their order as part of their emblem. Grey Wardens that were responsible for the beasts were known as Roostmasters but in time the creatures eventually became extinct.

Wardens typically acted on the frontline presence during a Blight. In times free of the Blight, the Grey Wardens often investigated rumours regarding the Darkspawn. Any that attempted to abandon their duty could see the rest of the order dragging them back into the Grey Wardens. In some cases, the deserting Grey Warden could suffer from the Calling leading to their connection to the Darkspawn bringing the creatures to them.

The headquarters of the Order was located at Weisshaupt Fortress that was situated on the edge of the Broken Tooth in southern Anderfels.

Situated in the Free Marches, the Grey Wardens had constructed a special prison more than a thousand years ago in the Vimmark Mountains. It had been maintained through the centuries with the original method of construction being lost to history and was concealed in a great rift in the mountains. The prison was located far from easily-travelled mountain passes and the Wardens had spread rumours of the presence of bandits as well as beasts in order to dissuade travellers from this path. In appearance, the prison itself consisted of a central tower built into the rift with magically-maintained bridges allowing access to the various levels. Each level was sealed by a blood magic ritual whereby a mage of untainted blood utilised their own life essence to create a magical barrier that was permeable from the outside yet impenetrable from the inside. This created a one-way method of access had resulted in intruders being confined within the prison and unable to escape which meant trespassers that managed to enter never were able to escape.

Members

• Farele :
• Sashamiri :
• Daneken :
• Larius :
• Alistair :
• Anders :
• Duncan :
• Sophia Dryden :
• Stroud :
• Clarel :
• Corin : a Tevinter Grey Warden who was responsible for slaying the Archdemon Zazikel thus bringing an end to the Second Blight.

Notes

• The Grey Wardens were created by BioWare where they featured in the setting of Dragon Age.

Appearances

• Dragon Age: Origins:
• Dragon Age II:
• Dragon Age: Inquisition:

External Links

• Dragon Age Wiki Entry

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