He said that now, but Anders still felt like he was setting himself up for heartbreak by confessing this. "Before all this happened, I was in Kirkwall. It was home to one of the largest Circles in Thedas, and it was well known for being atrocious even by Circle standards. The mages there were suffering, dying, and the Chantry was completely apathetic to it all."
Finally he looked back at Altair's mask, focusing on the eyeholes. "Grand Cleric Elthina claimed she couldn't take sides, that she couldn't get involved, and that the mages and Templars just needed to sort things out for themselves. She was content to sit on her hands in her gilded castle of a Chantry, ignoring everything the allowing the Templars to abuse and murder mages."
After a certain point, refusing to take action was as good as helping Meredith. Elthina's apathy had allowed so many mages to die.
"Then I found out that Knight-Commander Meredith had sent for the Right of Annulment, and I knew that the mages were running out of time. She was going to slaughter every single mage in the Circle, even after the Grand Cleric said no. Meredith was going to go over her head, carry out mass murder, and Elthina would have made a show of being sad, all while claiming that there was nothing she could have done."
She would appear to be the benevolent Grand Cleric who tried to stop the slaughter and keep the peace, when in reality she'd have plausible deniability and could claim innocence in the slaughter. She had to have known that Meredith would go to the Divine herself, given that she'd broken Chantry law more than once.
"I knew that if the mages were going to survive, something had to happen. Something radical. Something that would show the world how unjust the situation was and give mages everywhere a reason to rise up and rebel."
The moment of truth. The moment that he just knew that Altair would pull his hand away.
"I made a bomb, planted it in the Chantry, and detonated it that night. I killed the Grand Cleric, along with a handful of Templars and Revered Mothers." He'd made extra sure that the Chantry hadn't suddenly decided to take in orphans and refugees before doing so. "Meredith called for the Right of Annulment right then and there, despite the fact that I'm an apostate and the Circle had nothing to do with it. After that, it was open rebellion. The mages fought back, with my friends and I defending them. The surviving mages fled Kirkwall, and we've all been on the run ever since."
no subject
Finally he looked back at Altair's mask, focusing on the eyeholes. "Grand Cleric Elthina claimed she couldn't take sides, that she couldn't get involved, and that the mages and Templars just needed to sort things out for themselves. She was content to sit on her hands in her gilded castle of a Chantry, ignoring everything the allowing the Templars to abuse and murder mages."
After a certain point, refusing to take action was as good as helping Meredith. Elthina's apathy had allowed so many mages to die.
"Then I found out that Knight-Commander Meredith had sent for the Right of Annulment, and I knew that the mages were running out of time. She was going to slaughter every single mage in the Circle, even after the Grand Cleric said no. Meredith was going to go over her head, carry out mass murder, and Elthina would have made a show of being sad, all while claiming that there was nothing she could have done."
She would appear to be the benevolent Grand Cleric who tried to stop the slaughter and keep the peace, when in reality she'd have plausible deniability and could claim innocence in the slaughter. She had to have known that Meredith would go to the Divine herself, given that she'd broken Chantry law more than once.
"I knew that if the mages were going to survive, something had to happen. Something radical. Something that would show the world how unjust the situation was and give mages everywhere a reason to rise up and rebel."
The moment of truth. The moment that he just knew that Altair would pull his hand away.
"I made a bomb, planted it in the Chantry, and detonated it that night. I killed the Grand Cleric, along with a handful of Templars and Revered Mothers." He'd made extra sure that the Chantry hadn't suddenly decided to take in orphans and refugees before doing so. "Meredith called for the Right of Annulment right then and there, despite the fact that I'm an apostate and the Circle had nothing to do with it. After that, it was open rebellion. The mages fought back, with my friends and I defending them. The surviving mages fled Kirkwall, and we've all been on the run ever since."
He braced himself for Altair's reaction.