Chapter Text
THE CONTROVERSIAL CLANS OF THE FREE MARCHES
Clan Lavellan and allied clans wander the borders of the Free Marches, using the animosity between the city-states as a shield in order to avoid attacks. The Lavellans were a subject of controversy to its non-Marcher Dalish peers. The Keeper, Eryon Lavellan, was an outspoken lore enthusiast who quarrelled with other Keepers during Arlathvhens, and he often proposed unorthodox interpretations of ancient scriptures and folklore.
His unarranged marriage to an equally outspoken Rivaini Dalish mage by the name of Deshanna of clan Istimaethoriel only increased this tension. It was considered wasteful to marry two mages to each other, as mages were in demand and mage-blood had to be spread as much as possible in order to maximise the possibility of mages being born.
After wedding his newly appointed First, Clan Lavellan and many other allied clans discussed the possibility of trading freely with humans. These clans would come to meet together with Rivaini traders and struck an agreement. This contract, known as the ‘Sugar-Spice Contract’, had terms outlined thus: Clan Lavellan and five other clans would coordinate their movements so as to provide safe passage through the Green Dales for Rivaini traders. In exchange, they enjoyed discounts, luxury items, and contact with far-off elven groups in Rivain.
Suddenly, the villagers along the wandering routes experienced prosperity they had never before seen. The Rivaini traders also experienced fewer losses due to bandits and profits soared. Surrounding clans that were previously at odds with Clan Lavellan and its allies were placated only by this new availability of products, as they too gained access to goods without having to directly interact with humans.
Gerrid, if you or your men spot any of those wild elves near the north road stalls, watch them carefully but leave them be otherwise. They fancy themselves traders and have actual goods for sale there. They’re even selling some of them fancy forest berries that you can only get in Cloudreach.
I’d say burn their wooden ships and take what you can get, but you might damage one of the Rivaini stalls that have set up right next to them, and you will not piss any of them off if you value your head. We’ve enough problems getting goods over here as it is.
I don’t like having any kind of elves around, but their prices are fair and they won’t cause trouble if they know what’s good for them.
-Corespondence between a local landlord and the village guard
Clan Lavellan and their ilk also absorbed several city elves into their ranks. Many Dalish have prejudices against outsider elves, describing them as ‘flat ears’, unable to be saved. However, low populations in the Free Marches meant that drastic measures to improve numbers had to be undertaken. These Marcher clans accepted several escaped slaves and former alienage residents as new members. This increased further during the Mage Rebellion, when many much-desired apostates were used to replenish their low supply of mages.
Amera,
You told me to come back if I ever escaped the Circle. I said I couldn’t make any promises.
I escaped the fighting at Kirkwall. I’m alive, and it looks like I’ll stay that way for a long time. Five months ago, I was dying in the wilds. The human mages we were with had expelled the ‘knife ears’ the first chance they got. There were only fifteen of us elves in my group, four of them Tranquil. Six of us died on the journey alone. None of us knew how to camp or survive. We had no map and no idea where we were or how to feed ourselves.
A Dalish clan found us. Remember the stories of savage elven blood mages that ate children? Complete druffalo shit. We were welcome at their campfires and they fed us as they fed their own. Their healers tended to our sick and injured. We were given warm blankets and they offered to escort us to any of the main roads we wanted.
Their Hahren, the one they call their ‘Keeper’, offered to let us stay if we wanted to be members. Said that they needed mages and we’d be welcome as long as we got the tattoos and honoured their rules. Even the Tranquil are able to stay.
I said yes. I know what you’d say, but you cannot change my mind. Amera, you know I’d be dead if I went back to the alienage. You know what the human lords would do to us if they found out you were harbouring mages.
But here, it’s different. A mage in one of these clans could live without fear of mobs or lords. We’re treated just like any other elf. We have simple duties and we live off the land. It’s beautiful, Am. No more beatings, no more starving, no more terror. After all the horrors in the Circle, I can sit under the stars and just exist.
Andraste never helped me the way Sylaise and Mythal did. To Andraste and the Maker, I’m filth. To the elven gods, I’m one of their children, and I belong.
If you ever want to contact me for any reason, then send word to one of the Antivan merchants in Greyfields. The one with the three arrows on their banners. Ask for me by my new name.
You can join me here, or you can stay in the alienage. Do whatever you need to do. Just know that I love you.
Dareth shiral,
Tiris of Clan Lavellan.
-An apostate’s letter to his older sister, 9:39 Dragon
Clan Lavellan came to fame when one of its members, Inquisitor Adhlea Lavellan, stepped into Thedas’ political sphere, along with her Inquisition. Currently, they continue to wander the wilds of the Free Marches, unaware of the change that their former member is fostering in the South and beyond.