"When Lord Vanderin Drakon married his youngest son, Septimus, to Castana, the daughter of a prominent Ciriane chieftain, no one in Tevinter thought anything of it. A declining family simply wished to rid itself of an unwanted, non-mage child.
Their son, Kordillus Drakon, was born soon after. He was raised knowing that his mother's throne would only be his if he had the strength to claim it. Contrary to expectations, Kordillus Drakon was born as an exceptionally powerful Mage, especially in the Fire Element, where his Pyromancy outclassed all Elemental Mages of his generation and beyond.
The Drakon Family of Tevinter migrated to the Val Royeaux, greatly bolstering the forces of the Prince Drakon and commencing the reunification of the Ciriane Drakons and Tevinterian Drakons into the Royal House Drakon.
At the age of eighteen, Prince Drakon began the Great Crusade that aimed to subjugate the squabbling tribes of Ciriane completely. At the time, each clan had its own variety
of the cult of Andraste, its own rituals, traditions, and versions of Andraste's words. Young Drakon unified them by the sword.
Kordillus's version of Andrastianism was very similar to that of the various cults of Andraste around Thedas, with a major difference: it was centered around the belief that Kordillus Drakon was the anointed coming of the Prophet of Maker, due to the Mark of the Prophet that he was born with.
Not long after the start of the Great Crusade, he married three women who became his Empresses.
The first one was apparently someone whom he knew from his childhood, named Cirilla Fiona Elen Rianon, a mighty Mage of great powers and ancient elven heritage who became his 1st Empress and who managed to facilitate entering the Evles as Imperial Citizens.
The second was Marika Valmont, one of the daughters of the Lord of Val Chevin. This sealed alliance between the Orlais Kingdom and one of the lastest Ciriane Tribes. Empress Marika Valmont was noted to be both an unequaled politician and a shrewd tactician-the perfect person to stand at Drakon's side.
The 3rd Empress was another extremely powerful Mage by the name Yavana, also known as the Witch of the Wilds and keeper of the High Dragons. She was one of the Archmages in the world and one of the most powerful that existed.
Together with his Empresses, in a few years, they transformed from a few squabbling
clans controlling their own city-states into an empire. Hand in hand, they conquered well into the depths of the Arbor Wilds, Frostback Mountains, and Hunterhorn Mountains, where many dwarven Clans became Imperial Citizens.
In the current year, the Year 7,603, Imperial Legions of the Holy Orlais Empire are congregating themselves on the borders between the Empire and Almarri Tribes as the tensions between the Orlais and Almarri Tribes remain very high, the tribemen attacked the 3rd Empress."
- On The Orleisian Unification War, Year 7,603 FA
***
Val Royeaux, Year 7,590 FA
It has been almost eighteen years since he was reincarnated into the new world...
The world of Dragon Age.
The continent of Thedas.
The fact was, he had been reincarnated during the Ancient Age as Kordillus Drakon, the founding Emperor of the Orlsesian Empire. Fortunately, he had something akin to a System on his side and enough foreknowledge of the future.
Contrary to the canon, when he was reborn, he was born as a Mage and an extremely powerful one at that. He was basically an extremely powerful Pyromancer like the ones in Dark Souls, which was giving him a much easier time.
Unfortunately, there was little knowledge about the Ancient Age or the years that followed, so he was in the dark. During the past eighteen years, Kordillus has done everything that he could to create his own denomination of the faith of Andrastianism.
He remembered that according to the canon, the Chantry would be founded by Kordiullus Drakon, who would become the first emperor of Orlais, unify them by the sword, and formalize them into the Chantry in -3 Ancient.
Drakon would establish Andrastianism as the national religion. The Chantry from the canon was strongly against Magic, Mages and Non-Humans.
Obviously, as a Mage, he couldn't support something like that; thus, like any other person of his age, he created his own denomination that he called Makerism, which focused primarily on the Maker, not on Adraste, and there were many differences to the teachings as well.
He drew inspiration from the religions of his past life, primarily Christianity and Islam, which he combined with Adrastianism to create a new religion and establish his Chantry.
The Holy Chantry.
In which he was the Prophet as he bore the Mark of the Maker on his right hand.
Obviously, countless Cults of Andraste that previously hoped to use him to recognize their denomination as the primary one, like in the canon, proclaimed Kordillus as a Heretic and started a series of conflicts.
Not like he cared, as the conflicts would start one way or another.
[Congratulations! Host has reached Silver-Tier Complete.]
Currently, Kordillus was sitting in his personal chambers within the Royal Palace of Val Royeaux, the capital of the fledgling Orlesian Kingdom, which was being established by the current Prince Kordillus Drakon.
The Kordillus himself was a handsome young man with short blonde hair and royal purple eyes, and even though he was a Mage, his physique was well-toned, and he had a warrior-like physique as he often trained his body.
Contrary to the canon, this world has a certain sort of power Hierarchy that was very reminiscent of the webnovel by the name Soul of Searing Steel.
At the bottom of the order was the Mortal-Tier. This was Tier for practically everyone who wasn't trained in the military or underwent any kind of formal training. Though from what he was able to notice, even the most ordinary humans here were much stronger than the ones in his past life.
He attributed it to the Magic in the enviroment, which was making everyone much stronger than they would be if not for the Magic in the enviroment.
After the Mortal-Ranl, there was the Steel-Tier. If one received training and served in the army, they would reach the level of steel. Their strength was significantly stronger than that of an ordinary person in Thedas, at least two or three times.
The Soul needed to go through [Revelation] to get itself and its natural strength in control or else it would not be able to get to Steel-Tier. The enlightenment of awakening into a Steel-Tier resembled that of a person mastering the basics of extraordinary strength.
Above the Steel-Tier was the Silver-Tier, which was also his current Tier. Silver-Tier beings were beings that exceeded the limit of men. They were basically walking cannons. Fully equipped with armor, these Silver-Tier knights could be considered as humanoid tanks, and Silver-Tier Mages could kill hundreds with their strongest Spells.
One could run for days without rest and they were limits of the "Ordinary". An elite Soldier or an Officer would be Silver-Tier.
The real Extraordinary, though, started with the Gold-Tier. A Tier that separated the strong and the weak. Their destructive power would be comparable to that of unlimited payloads detonating after being released from a bomber plane traveling at the speed of sound.
Above the Gold-Tier was the Supreme-Tier, which was the realm of the true experts and powerhouses across the Thedas. These beings have the ability to shift the sky and hurl waves from the sea. It is not a difficult task to call for the winds and rains if they ever wanted to do that.
The Supreme tier suggested that a person has exceeded his or her own limit, as he or she has become an extraordinary living being. Engaging in battles is the easiest way for a person to reach his or her own limit and break through that barrier that restrains a person from reaching greater heights in terms of strength and power.
Kordillus's grandfather, Vanderin Drakon, was someone who was only one step away from achieving the Supreme-Tier, as the Supremes were very rare in modern times. Right now, only the Tevinter Imperium had Supreme-Tier Mages, while the Gray Wardens had Supreme-Tier Knights.
Apparently, there were plenty of them, thousands of years ago, and there were even beings above the Supreme-Tier powerhouses, the Legendaries. Nowadays, that was just a myth and legend, and even reaching the Supreme-Tier was already considered the pinnacle of Thedas.
"Well... I could try to reach Gold-Tier before initiating the Great Crusade."
The fledgling Orlesian Kingdom had already consolidated its power under the rule of its mother, Castana, and Kordillus wanted to initiate the unification wars of the Ciriane Clans and beyond. He wouldn't stop with the original borders of Orlais, but sought to spread far and beyond..
He knew that with his foreknowledge, power, and planning, it wouldn't be out of the question to unify Thedas under a single banner.
His own one.
He certainly had the capital to do so.
Over the past eighteen years, the Orlais Kingdom has managed to attract a large number of Mages, Knights, and wanderers through the policies enacted within the Kingdom. Kordillus's policies were very good toward the commoners, and with the obligatory military service in the Royal Army, the military might of the Kingdom was huge.
Mages and Knights played a significant role in that, and with the Orthodox Andrasteanism condemning Magic and Mages over the past decades all over the Thedas, right now, there are only two safe havens for the Mages.
Tevinter Imperium and Val Royeaux.
Kordillus was aware that Mages were powerful, and the one who had a lot of them on their side would have an advantage in the battle, especially when they started casting War Magic...
And this was partly preparation for the Second Blight that would happen in a decade or two. Mages would be absolutely needed to turn the endless tides of the Darkspawns, and what the Orthodox Chantry was doing was plainly stupid.
Kordillus himself was a prodigious mage, and under the tutelage of his grandfather, his magical foundation was very good. Not to mention, when he was reincarnated, he also got one item.
Grimoire of the Izalith Pyromancy.
The book of Lore that contained the Flame Sorceries created and used by the Witch of Izalith and her daughters from the Dark Souls.
The Witch and her daughters used flame sorcery to challenge the ancient dragons, casting it from catalysts just as soul sorceries were. In the wake of her attempt to recreate the First Flame, the Witch of Izalith and some of her daughters were engulfed in the newly formed Bed of Chaos.
The witches mastered the power of the Flame of Chaos and gave birth to Pyromancy, and all knowledge of flame sorcery has since vanished.
Kordillus was a powerful Mage, and he was also trained in swordsmanship and to attain better physical capabilities. His grandfather always told him that truly powerful Mages must have powerful bodies that are capable of withstanding the might of their Magic.
Right now, after the rounds of the last consolidation of power, the Royal Army was finally established together with the very first Royal Magic Corps, which consisted of mages who were either trained or recruited by the Drakon Family.
Kordillus's grandfather, Vanderin Drakon, was in charge of training the Royal Magic Corps that would be making its debut in the attack on the Hearthalands. The power of Magic would pave the way for the Orlais as their armies conquered everything from the Arbor Wilds to the Hunterhorn Mountains and the Donarks Jungles.
Anderfels Kingdom was tremendously weakened from the First Blight, and the dwarven underground kingdoms were standing on their last legs.
Kordillus was sure that the dwarves would be convinced relatively easily if the Kingdom helped them to clean out the Deep Roads, while the Anderfels would soon enough lack the power to oppose him.
Ferelden wasn't even established, Tevinter suffered significant losses, and the other kingdoms on Thedas were not really the problem either. Currently, he focuses more on establishing the Empire and conquering all free lands that can be subdued.
Afterwards, once he finished the consolidation of his power, he could proceed to the next phase of his plan.