New Exalted Marches

The New Exalted Marches were part of the Qunari Wars, the armed conflicts that engulfed the majority of Thedas across the Steel and Storm Age.
== The First Qunari War ==
In 6:30 Steel, the Qunari, a race of white-haired, bronze-skinned giants previously unknown to Thedosians, landed on the shores of Par Vollen, which loosely belonged to the Tevinter Imperium at the time. With their heavily armored and trained warriors and powerful cannons, the Qunari quickly and decisively conquered the native people of the region. The Qunari reeducated many of the survivors to their philosophy, the Qun, in "learning camps" while those who refused to cooperate disappeared into mines or construction camps.Codex entry: Par Vollen: The Occupied North
Word of the Qunari invasion didn't reach the rest of Thedas until their ships massed on the coasts of Seheron and Rivain in 6:32 Steel. The conflict became known as the First Qunari War, the first of many to follow.
== Conquest of the north ==
Within two years, the invaders spread to Antiva, capturing Treviso in 6:35 Steel.Codex entry: A Vessel of Tears By 6:42 Steel they had conquered much of the Tevinter Imperium, Rivain, and Antiva and began to assault the Free Marches far to the south of the Imperium. Only Minrathous itself remained besieged but unconquered in the north.Dragon Age: Origins: Prima Official Game Guide
The invading Qunari did not kill their prisoners, but instead converted the defeated to their rigoristic Qun. All the successful converts became Qunari and fueled their ranks.
== Liberation of the north ==
By 6:85 Steel, 55 years after the Qunari had been first seen in Thedas, the human nations had organized themselves and pushed the Qunari back. Humans rebelled from Qunari captivity all over the Tevinter Imperium, and the Qunari's hold began to loosen.
The war continued for the rest of the century, and into the next one. After nearly a quarter of a century, in 7:23 Storm, the Qunari were pushed back to Seheron and Rivain, but still held on to those regions tightly.
The Battle of the Nocen Sea was the largest naval engagement in history and resulted in a stalemate and the destruction of many ships on both sides. With both sides exhausted, an impasse began.
== The Three Exalted Marches ==
In the year 7:25 Storm, the Andrastian Chantry and Imperial Chantry were desperate enough to work together for the first time since the schism to take down the threat to both organizations. They declared the New Exalted Marches against the Qunari – to retake Rivain for the Chantry, and Seheron and Qarinus for Tevinter.
The first New Exalted March in 7:25 Storm proved successful. The Circle of Magi proved to be a great boon for the Chantry-led forces as they were able to effectively counter the Qunari's technology with their magic. Year by year, the Chantry was able to push further and further into the Qunari lines, although local converts to the Qun proved difficult to return to Andraste's teachings. Many Qunari artifacts were plundered at this time, including the Tome of Koslun, which was taken by Orlais as a spoil of war.
However, the second New Exalted March that took place 27 years later in 7:52 Storm was a disaster. The Qunari countered by recapturing much of Antiva. During the same year, Treviso was burned by the liberating armies of the White and Black Divines.Codex entry: A Vessel of Tears A female Ben-Hassrath enforcer known only as "the Hawk" emerged as a legend throughout the course of these conflicts, and is credited with over a hundred kills with only a bow.Bow of the Beresaad
In 7:55 Storm, a third and final Exalted March was called. 
The nations of Thedas found themselves in dire need of every ship they could muster against the massive power of the Qunari dreadnaughts. The Llomerryn pirates were faced with a hard decision: band together under one flag and fight with those they had previously preyed upon or face conversion and annihilation by the Qunari. They chose to unite under the banner of the Felicisima Armada in 7:55 Storm.
In 7:56 Storm, the Qunari landed near Ostwick and launched assaults against Starkhaven and Kirkwall. Starkhaven prevailed, but Kirkwall fell due to the magic of the Saarebas. The city remained under Qunari power until Orlesian chevalier Ser Michel Lafaille liberated Kirkwall in 7:60 Storm. He found that most of the population had converted to the Qun. Kirkwall was incorporated into the Orlesian Empire, and Lafaille became the ruler of the city, named Viscount by the Orlesian emperor.Codex entry: History of Kirkwall: Chapter 3
The Battle of Afsaana took place in 7:75 Storm. During the battle, Vidathiss, a Qunari "re-educator" with a (possibly unfounded) reputation for crushing the heads of captured knights was killed by an Orlesian knight, who then claimed her famous mace as a trophy.Per the item description of Vidathiss.
Meanwhile, the Felicisima Armada had been using their stealth and trickery to plague Qunari supply lines. They had even launched several seaborne invasions against the Qunari coast. In 7:78 Storm, the raiders managed to defeat the Qunari in a massive naval battle and then took Estwatch from them, an island with strategic importance.
The Third Exalted March was the most brutal of all. By this time, the war had drained the resources of every nation in Thedas, leaving most on the brink of collapse. For the giants, it did not appear to be the damage to their armada or the loss of their soldiers, but the terrible toll upon the Rivaini population that prompted their retreat. The Third New Exalted March had all but massacred the people of Kont-aar, the last remaining Qunari stronghold left on the continent, without even chipping the Qunari occupying force. For the sake of Kont-aar, the giants finally agreed to withdraw.Codex entry: The Llomerryn Accords
The Exalted March ended in 7:84 Storm. A meeting between envoys of all the human lands (except for Tevinter) and the Qunari in Llomerryn resulted in the signing of the Llomerryn Accord and a declaration of peace. The Qunari agreed to end all hostilities with all nations under the accord and returned to Par Vollen, which had been ceded to them in the accords.
== Peace treaty ==
By then, rebuilding all the destruction caused was considered more important than trying to dislodge the Qunari from Kont-aar once again. The Llomeryn Accords dictated that the Qunari would receive the northern archipelago in exchange for cessation of hostilities against all the nations on the accord. Only Tevinter refused to sign, and so the war continues to rage in the Imperium to the present day. Seheron in particular remains a place of constant conflict between the Qunari and Tevinter, but skirmishes were few while the Qunari pulled back to Par Vollen and regrouped.
It's worth noting, however, that the Kingdom of Rivain immediately violated the treaty. Twice. Once, when the humans of northern Rivain—nearly all practitioners of the Qun and therefore by definition, "Qunari"—refused to leave their homes and go in exile to the islands. And again, when the Rivaini Chantry and nationalist forces, unable to convert its people back to the worship of the Maker, tried a purge by the sword, slaughtering countless unarmed people and burying them in mass graves. For whatever reason, the leaders in Kont-aar did not alert their allies in the Northern Passage of these attacks.
== References ==
Category:Qunari lore