Dragon Age 4 is on the way, taking players the ancient northern empire of Tevinter, as the forces of the Dread Wolf plot to tear down the Veil between Thedas and the Fade. In the backstory, the "Dragon Age" is one of nine century-long “ages” since the founding of the Chantry, Thedas’ most widely worshipped religion. It is an age prophesized to bring turmoil and great change to the land.

While all of the Dragon Age games have taken place in the first half of that century so far, BioWare has fleshed out the events of the preceding 800 years in great detail, with influences from famous fantasy series like A Song of Ice and Fire to real historical events. Before the Dragon Age came the Blessed Age, a century that would supposedly bring peace and prosperity to Thedas. To understand the unique position of Tevinter in Dragon Age 4, however, it is vital to understand the events of the seventh era - the Storm Age.

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Each of Thedas’ ages are named by the reigning Divine of the Chantry. At the turn of every century, the Divine is expected to make a prediction about the coming years and what they will bring to Thedas. When the Emperor of Orlais had twin sons, averting anxieties of a civil war, the following age was named the “Blessed Age.” When a High Dragon was sighted for the first time in centuries towards the end of the Blessed Age, the next century was declared the Dragon Age.

The ages use a date system which can seem complicated at first, but is actually relatively straight forward. The events of Dragon Age: Origins begin in “9:30 Dragon.” This means they took place in the ninth age, thirty years in, with Dragon simply referring to the age’s name as dictated by the Chantry. 

The Storm Age followed the Steel Age, a century dominated by the First Qunari War. In 6:30 Steel, the Qunari conquered Par Vollen, an island off the northern coast of Tevinter which remains their home during the Dragon Age. From there, the Qunari took over much of Tevinter, Antiva, and Rivain, forcing conversions along the way. A resistance was able to form, but the Qunari still held much of Thedas. The Divine Hortensia the Third predicted that the next age would bring a “storm” of violence and bloodshed to the continent. 

The first major conflict of the Storm Age would not be with the Qunari, however. In 7:5 Storm the king of Ferelden died without an heir. Two main rivals arose, cousins Sophia Dryden and Arland Theirin. When Arland was chosen, Arlessa Sophia continued to push her claim, believing that her cousin had been picked because his youth made him easy to manipulate. 

When she restated her claim, however, it became quickly apparent that Arland was a force to reckoned with all of his own. He had Sophia imprisoned, sparing her life on the condition that she join the Grey Wardens, where she rose to the ranks of Warden-Commander of Ferelden. Arland became a tyrant, and when some of the Banns approached Sophia to lead a coup, she accepted. Arland’s forces put the Wardens under siege at Soldier’s Peak, Sophia was killed, and the Wardens were expelled from Ferelden.

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Despite the events in Ferelden, the Qunari had been pushed back to Rivain and Seheron by 7:23 Storm. In a rare moment of unity, the Imperial Chantry and the Andrastian Chantry joined forces in 7:25 Storm to declare a New Exalted March against the Qunari which would last until 7:85 Storm. In 7:28 Storm one of the few dragons to survive the Steel Age was killed in the Free Marches. In 7:34 Storm, a new Archon was elected in Tevinter. An enchanter himself, he allowed mages to partake in Tevinter politics. From 7:44 Storm, women were allowed to become knights of Orlais.

The second New Exalted March ended when the Qunari captured Antiva in 7:52 Storm, following a disastrous defeat for the resistance. Two years later, the Qunari also captured the valuable island of Estwatch, which they used to house their fleet. However, in 7:55, the tide turned against them when a pirate fleet known as the Felicisima Armada was formed to repel the Qunari. Following this victory, a third Exalted March was declared, though the Armada would not retake Estwatch until 7:78 Storm.

In 7:56 Storm, the Qunari managed to take Kirkwall, the setting of Dragon Age 2. It was held for four years, until it was liberated by Orlesian chevalier Ser Michel Lafaille, who was then made Kirkwall’s first Viscount, a position now held by fan-favorite companion Varric Tethras. 

After decades of fighting the Qunari forces began to wear thin. By 7:84 Storm, the Qunari held just one city in Thedas, Kont-aar, a port-city in Rivain. Instead of trying to push for total victory over their conquerors, many of the human nations of Thedas decided that they had seen enough bloodshed. Perhaps more importantly, had expended enough resources. A peace treaty known as the Llomerryn Accord was signed between the Qunari envoys and all of Thedas’ human nations, aside from Tevinter, which refuses to accept the loss of Par Vollen as part of the deal. 

The peace treaty was almost immediately broken in Kont-aar, however. The Qunari converts in Rivain refused to go to Par Vollen, and the Chantry then attempted to execute them. To prevent the war igniting once again the Qunari leaders of Kont-aar did not inform Par Vollen. Though peace was never established between the Qunari and the Tevinter Imperium, most encounters by the Dragon Age are only skirmishes, with neither side having much appetite for war after 150 years of Exalted Marches. 

A few minor events mark the end of the century. In 7:88 Storm the Chantry declared the long-dead first king of Ferelden, Calenhad Theirin, as “Anointed” for bringing the worship of Andraste to his newly united nation. In Kirkwall, the popular apostate Ceridweth of the Spiral Eye was made tranquil in 7:90 Storm. In 7:99 Storm the birth of the Orlesian Emperor’s twin sons combined with the end of the Qunari conflicts led the Divine to declare the next century the Blessed Age. 

Dragon Age 4 is in development.

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