The Chant of Light: The Blight

No matter their power, their triumphs,/The mage-lords of Tevinter were men/And doomed to die./Then a voice whispered within their hearts,/Shall you surrender your power/To time like the beasts of the fields?/You are the Lords of the earth!/Go forth to claim the empty throne/Of Heaven and be gods. / In secret they worked/Magic upon magic/All their power and all their vanity/They turned against the Veil/Until at last, it gave way. / Above them, a river of Light,/Before them the throne of Heaven, waiting,/Beneath their feet/The footprints of the Maker,/And all around them echoed a vast/Silence. / But when they took a single step/Toward the empty throne/A great voice cried out/Shaking the very foundations/Of Heaven and earth: / And So is the Golden City blackened/With each step you take in my Hall./Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting./You have brought Sin to Heaven/And doom upon all the world. / Violently were they cast down,/For no mortal may walk bodily/In the realm of dreams,/Bearing the mark of their Crime:/Bodies so maimed/And distorted that none should see them/And know them for men. / Deep into the earth they fled,/Away from the Light./In Darkness eternal they searched/For those who had goaded them on,/Until at last they found their prize, /Their god, their betrayer:/The sleeping dragon Dumat. Their taint /Twisted even the false-god, and the whisperer /Awoke at last, in pain and horror, and led /Them to wreak havoc upon all the nations of the world:/The first Blight. / –From Threnodies 8.

Location(s):

• Castle Cousland – Received from book on bookshelf in chapel during Human Noble origin story
• Circle Tower (Senior Mage Quarters) – Received upon inspection of bookcase during Magi origin story
• Denerim Elven Alienage – Received during conversation with Duncan during City Elf origin story
• Ostagar – Received from scroll lying on bench