Mortalitasi

The Mortalitasi are a group of mages in Nevarra who wield considerable political power and influence. Popularly referred to as "Death Mages", they are responsible for the mummification of the bodies of the Nevarran elite.
== Background ==
The order was founded by a Tevinter mage named Vitus Fabria, who was a personal adviser of Caspar Pentaghast. 
The Mortalitasi are linked to the royal family by blood, and it is common for Nevarran nobility to employ members of this order as advisers. Even though Mortalitasi are well-respected within the kingdom, mages outside Nevarra fear them and there are beliefs that they are actually a death cult performing macabre rituals in the Grand Necropolis.
Markus Pentaghast, the current ruler of Nevarra, is an aged man of weak health and uncertain sanity. His rule has been condemned by those who claim his Mortalitasi advisers are ruling through him, much as Ionas, whom the Pentaghast family deposed, did long ago.
== Beliefs and practices ==
The Mortalitasi believe that when a soul of the dead crosses the Fade, it displaces a spirit. In exchange, they invite those spirits to house themselves in the empty bodies left behind.Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights, Down Among the Dead Men They believe that mummified corpses provide a safe host for these displaced Fade spirits. This school of thought is prominent in modern-day Nevarra, but viewed as barbaric by other nations in Thedas. Less commonly known is the fact that more vigorous spirits may become emmeshed in their host's unfinished business.
There are differing beliefs within the order as well. Some Mortalitasi believe that the "higher dead," more complete entities, hold fast to their mortal souls, while others believe that it is impossible.
The order studies death extensively, and its members are known to experiment with necromancy. Some Mortalitasi keep animated skeletons as assistants or use skeletal horses as a means of transportation. Such beings also serve as guardians of the Grand Necropolis. Drawing wisps across the Veil is also a Mortalitasi practice.According to Solas in a dialogue about the Necromancer specialization.
== Organization ==
There are different orders amongst the Mortalitasi who attend to certain tasks within the Grand Necropolis. There are the Guides of the Path who shepherd the corpses and the fraternity of the Mourn Watch.Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights, The Dread Wolf Take You The Mourn Watch serve as the elite guardians and keepers of the Grand Necropolis and its sacred repository of the dead. They also deal with magic that has gone awry, especially as related to Nevarran funerary rights and corpse possession. The Mourn Watchers have absolute authority over funerary dead.
In the formative years of the Nevarran fascination with death, there was a Mortalitasi sect known as "The First" whose motto was "Ever forward, ever deathward."Deathward
== Involvement ==
=== Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights ===
== Known Mortalitasi ==
* AntoniaDragon Age: Tevinter Nights, Murder by Death Mages
* Prelate Davidus – author of "Our Honored Dead: A Guide to the Mortalitasi Order"
* Earnest Artelli – prelate of the Order of Mortalitasi in 7:45 StormAccording to the description of Earnest Reprisal.
* Professor Emmrich Volkarin – a Mourn Watcher
* Johanna Hezenkoss – a Mourn WatcherShort Story: The Eternal Flame
* Lord Henrik
* Myrna – a Mourn Watcher
* Rodomonte van Heigl – senior member of the MortalitasiCodex entry: Spellbinder
* Rook – a Mourn Watcher (conditional, if chosen at character creation)
* Vestalus Pentaghast – prelate of the Mortalitasi (9:12 Dragon), uncle to Anthony & Cassandra Pentaghast
* Viuus Anaxas – a trainer of the Necromancer specialization available to the Inquisitor
== Mortalitasi affiliates ==
* Sidony – a mage raised in secret by a Mortalitasi mage and trained in their arcane techniques but not a member herself
== Codex entries ==
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== See also ==
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== References ==
Category:Groups
Category:Nevarra
Category:Magi
Category:Circle of Magi members
Category:Specialization lore