The Thedas Calendar

From Dragon Age Wiki

“For most good folk, the details of our calendar have little purpose. It is useful only for telling them when the Summerday Festival will be held, when the snows are expected to begin and when the best time to harvest will be. The naming of the years are a matter for historians and taxmen, and few could even tell you if pressed the reason that our current Age is named after dragons.

It is 9:30 Dragon Age, the thirtieth year of the ninth Age since the first began with the crowning of the Chantry’s first Divine.

Each Age is exactly 100 years, with the next Age being named on the 99th year of the previous. It is said that the scholars in Val Royeaux advise the Chantry of portents that have been sighted on that 99th year, portents that are sorted and pored over for months by the Chantry authorities until finally the Divine announces the name of the Age to come. The name is said to be an omen of what is to come, of what the people of Thedas will face for the next 100 years.

It is interesting to note that the current Age was not originally meant to be the Dragon Age. Throughout the last months of the Blessed Age the Chantry was, in fact, fully preparing to declare the Sun Age, named after the symbol of the Orlesian Empire that at that time sprawled over much of the south of Thedas and controlled both Ferelden and what is today Nevarra. It was to be a celebration of Orlesian imperial glory.

As the rebellion in Ferelden reached a head and the decisive Battle of River Dane was about to begin, however, a peculiar event occurred: a Rampage, the rising of a dreaded high dragon occurred. The dragons had been thought practically extinct since the days of the Nevarran dragon hunts, and to see this great beast rise form the Frostbacks was said to be both a majestic and terrifying sight. As the Rampage began and the high dragon began decimating the countryside in its search for food, the elderly Divine Faustine II abruptly declared the Dragon Age.

Some say that the Divine did this to declare support for Orlais in the coming battle against Ferelden, the dragon being found in the Dufayel family heraldry belonging to King Meghren of Ferelden, the so-called “Usurper King”. Be that as it may, the high dragon’s Rampage turned towards the Orlesian side of the Frostback Mountains, killing hundreds and sending thousands fleeing to the northern coast, and the Fereldan rebels won the Battle of River Dane, ultimately securing their independence.

It is thus thought by many that the Dragon Age may, in fact, come to represent a time of violent and dramatic change for all of Thedas. It remains to be seen whether this will be so.”

-- an excerpt from “The Studious Theologian” by Brother Genitivi, Chantry Scholar.

Read more History

Return to Main Page