When the people in BioWare's Dragon Age universe speak of the Tevinter Imperium, it is often with awe, fear and trepidation. The oldest nation in Thedas, the borders of Tevinter spanned nearly the entire continent in ancient times, and though their size and power is somewhat diminished during the Age of Dragons, they are still a force to be reckoned with.
Founded by a human people called Tevinters, they arrived on the continent and quickly set up their city around the port of Minrathous. Originally a dynasty ruled by kings, when mages began forming circles to study and learn magic, their governmental system drastically changed.
The mages created the Court of Magisters, a council formed by the most gifted among them. In 1195 Ancient, the first Imperial Archon Darinius seized political power and created the Imperium. From that day forward, Tevinter became a magocracy -- an aristocracy of magic users -- and the Altus (also known as magisters) ruled with a lightning fist.
An early magister named Archon Thalsian claimed that he contacted the Old God, Dumat, who taught him blood magic. This powerful form of magic requires blood, often in the form of a sacrifice, in order for the mage to achieve his goal. While the parts of Thedas who adhere to Chantry propaganda see blood magic as a sin and a crime, the magisters of Tevinter do not view it as taboo.
Even as the world continued to evolve and progress, Tevinter went on practicing blood magic, making it a regular part of day to day magical rituals. Thalsian raised temples throughout the Imperium to encourage the worship of dragons -- or Old Gods -- and established the Altus. Those who followed and studied under him became the nobility of the Imperium, and they ruled for more than a thousand years.
As Tevinter spread their rule across the continent, they devoured lands as far south as Ferelden and Rivain to the east. However, nothing eluded and perturbed them more than the elven empire of Arlathan. The Imperium's ongoing battle against the elves drew their focus away from other lands, allowing the tribesman of those regions to plant firmer footholds that would evolve into the nations they eventually become. The eventual fall of Arlathan led to the enslavement of thousands of elves by the Imperium.
One of the most notorious acts of the Tevinter Magisters, however, was a horrific attempt to physically enter the Fade. After sacrificing hundreds of slaves and using nearly all the lyrium in the empire, a band of magisters used intense blood magic to enter the Fade in search of the Golden City. According to Chantry many years later, their actions displeased the Maker so severely that he turned those magisters into the first Darkspawn as punishment. They corrupted and blackened the Golden City, returning to the temporal world and bringing with them the First Blight.
Their hubris exposed the Imperium's weakness to the rest of the world, and as the First Blight rampaged across the continent, Tevinter found itself truly vulnerable for the first time since its establishment. Andraste's Exalted March against the Imperium (and the eventual formation of the Chantry) further weakened the once powerful empire, as mages found themselves drawn into Chantry-sanctioned and regulated circles.
In time, the Imperium broke away from the Chantry, forming their own branch the Imperial Chantry and creating rules and laws to ease restrictions on mages and continue the use of blood magic. They blasphemously chose a male priest as their Divine, naming him the Black Divine in mockery of the original Chantry's purity. Over the centuries, the two Chantries came to blows on numerous occasions, with the White Divine calling for multiple Exalted Marches against the Imperium. Tensions grew so high that by the time the Fourth Blight threatened the rest of the world, Tevinter withdrew and refused to send aid to the rest of the continent.
The Steel Age saw the first Qunari attacks on the Imperium, and the battles that followed resulted in heavy losses of land and position for the Tevinters. With the Qunari holding strong to Imperial lands, the Imperial Chantry had no choice but to band together with the Orlesian Chantry in an Exalted March against the Qunari that granted them back some of their position. The Imperium still wars heavily with the Qunari, however, and in modern times, they battle regularly over the island of Seheron.
Interaction with Tevinter is sparse through Dragon Age: Origins. In Dragon Age 2, they become more of a presence with the introduction of Hawke's companion, Fenris, an escaped elven slave of a Tevinter Magister named Danarius. Dragon Age: Inquisition, however, brought Tevinter and its Magisters to the fore.
Not only does Inquistition provide Tevinter mage Dorian Pavus as a potential companion and romance option for a male Inquisitor, but the Inquisition regularly battles a group of cultists from the Imperium called the Venatori. Corypheus, the game's main antagonist, is also said to have been one of the Magisters responsible for breaching the Fade and unleashing Darkspawn on Thedas.
March 202o saw the release of a companion book for the franchise called Tevinter Nights. This collection of short stories provides fans with an opportunity to more deeply explore the mysterious and powerful nation ruled by magic itself. Rumors also suggest players will head to Tevinter in the upcoming Dragon Age 4, so there's a good chance fans will learn even more about this powerful empire in the future.