[ oh boy oh boy oh boy he gets to give a mage rights rant ]
The Circle is our prison. Chantry law says that Mages are to be taken to the Circle as soon as our magic appears. One day you’re a child in a ratspit village in the middle of nowhere, and the next you are arrested and clapped in irons by the Templars, and dragged away from your family to a tower to be locked away. You have your blood taken so if you try to run they can always find you. They demand obedience at the end of a Templar sword, you are to study magic to enrich the Chantry, heal their sick and entertain their guests, but nothing beyond what they approve. You cannot love anyone, and if you make the mistake of doing it anyway and it ends with a child, they will take that child the moment it is born and send it to a Chantry Orphanage.
If you try to run, if you step a foot out of line, they track you down and drag you back and beat you senseless or throw you in a cage. Sometimes both, for fun. Your options as you grow up are the Harrowing or Tranquility. You either face a demon in the Fade - where you will either emerge victorious and terrified, or die. Or you can submit to the lyrium brand, where they burn out all your magic, your emotions, your desires, your free will, and leave you an empty husk.
If you do manage to escape, through luck or bravery, you’re labeled apostate. Or maleficar. They’ll hang you if only to make a point, or brand you to make you a walking, breathing example of obedience. The mage underground was our way of helping others escape - for however long they could manage on their own. When you’re raised in a Circle, you don’t know what life is like outside of its walls. You don’t know how to use money, or feed yourself, even running is a skill you need to learn. We do our best.
no subject
The Circle is our prison. Chantry law says that Mages are to be taken to the Circle as soon as our magic appears. One day you’re a child in a ratspit village in the middle of nowhere, and the next you are arrested and clapped in irons by the Templars, and dragged away from your family to a tower to be locked away. You have your blood taken so if you try to run they can always find you. They demand obedience at the end of a Templar sword, you are to study magic to enrich the Chantry, heal their sick and entertain their guests, but nothing beyond what they approve. You cannot love anyone, and if you make the mistake of doing it anyway and it ends with a child, they will take that child the moment it is born and send it to a Chantry Orphanage.
If you try to run, if you step a foot out of line, they track you down and drag you back and beat you senseless or throw you in a cage. Sometimes both, for fun. Your options as you grow up are the Harrowing or Tranquility. You either face a demon in the Fade - where you will either emerge victorious and terrified, or die. Or you can submit to the lyrium brand, where they burn out all your magic, your emotions, your desires, your free will, and leave you an empty husk.
If you do manage to escape, through luck or bravery, you’re labeled apostate. Or maleficar. They’ll hang you if only to make a point, or brand you to make you a walking, breathing example of obedience. The mage underground was our way of helping others escape - for however long they could manage on their own. When you’re raised in a Circle, you don’t know what life is like outside of its walls. You don’t know how to use money, or feed yourself, even running is a skill you need to learn. We do our best.