A Comprehensive Account of the Kirkwall Rebellion

### Foreword

This account will seek to document the battle and aftermath of the mage uprising in Kirkwall. (For the background to the uprising, please read “The City-State of Kirkwall” By Provisional Viscount Bran)

### Prelude

...The last straw came when Knight Commander Meredith accused First Enchanter Orsino of harbouring blood mages, demanding a full search of the Gallows to root them out; Orsino refused to allow it and stormed off, intending to bring the matter to the Grand Cleric's attention. Things come to a head when Anders, an apostate healer, ex-Grey Warden, and rumored lover of the Champion of Kirkwall, interfered to say that the friction between the Circle and templars and the Chantry's apathy towards the abuses of its own military arm had gone on for too long.

Seconds later, the bomb Anders planted inside the Kirkwall chantry exploded, killing Grand Cleric Elthina and everybody else inside. As the explosion was not contained, deadly debris from Anders' blast also rained over half of Kirkwall. Anders stated that he destroyed the Chantry and thus removed the chance of compromise because there was no real chance of compromise, and in order to show Thedas that the Circles of Magi weren't a solution.

Immediately after the chantry explosion, the knight commander invoked the Right of Annulment - calling on the templars to execute every mage in the Kirkwall Circle - despite the Circle of Magi having nothing to do with the Chantry explosion.

First Enchanter Orsino rallied the Circle together to fight the templars in turn. Both factions petitioned for the Champion's assistance: Orsino arguing the Circle was innocent of any involvement in Anders' crime, while Meredith countered that Kirkwall would descend into anarchy if the people were not granted retribution for Elthina's murder.

### The Battle

Violence erupted shortly after the Champion's decision to support the mages, with the mages and templars now in open warfare across Kirkwall. A skirmish erupted after a templar recruit charged the champions party, killing Anders. Eventually the two sides broke off from each other, both sides heading to the gallows.

The city was in chaos - the mayhem exacerbated by some of the mages resorting to blood magic, becoming abominations and unleashing demons onto the streets. The fighting stretched from Lowtown all the way to the Gallows, where Orsino attempted to bargain with Meredith in order to persuade her to revoke the Right of Annulment. But Meredith claimed that no amount of compromise could sate Kirkwall's desire for vengeance. After a temporary ceasefire was called, Meredith led a full-scale attack on the Gallows that saw many on both sides slain, to which First Enchanter Orsino retaliated by resorting to blood magic, transforming into a monstrous fleshly construct. The Champion was forced to intervene by slaying the monstrosity Orsino had become.

Following this, the Champion arrived in the Gallows Courtyard, where Meredith was waiting with a contingent of templars. It soon became apparent that Orsino was correct, and she had indeed gone mad. Meredith ordered her templars to kill the Champion, but they refused, believing she had finally gone too far. When Knight-Captain Cullen ordered Meredith to stand down and declared her relieved of command, Meredith angrily accused her templars of being enthralled by blood magic. Meredith battled against the Champion and her companions, their allies, and some of her own templars, with the accursed sword in her hand granting her superhuman abilities and the ability to animate the statues in the Gallows courtyard.

When it became apparent that the Champion would prevail, Meredith refused to accept defeat and attempted to draw more power from the sword. Instead, the sword exploded, and the lyrium sank into her skin, petrifying her. Granted de facto command, Cullen silently ordered the remaining templars to cease hostilities against the Champion.

### Aftermath

News of the slaughter of Kirkwall's Circle spread far beyond the city's borders. The Champion's name became a rallying cry as a symbol of Mage resistance. This in turn incited the Circles in other nations to rise up against the templars and the Chantry, bringing Thedas to the brink of a war between the mages and templars on a worldwide scale.

As for the state of Kirkwall, more templars arrived to serve under Cullen's command to restore order to the city. As recognition for his service, Knight Captain Cullen was promoted to Commander in Merediths stead and the recruit who defeated Anders was promoted to Knight Captain to replace Cullen.

*--From A Comprehensive Account of the Kirkwall Rebellion, by Runecrafter Worthy 9.37 Dragon*