War Against The Elder One

The War Against The Elder One was a war between The Inquisition and The Elder One, a powerful darkspawn magister who wielded ancient elven magic and corrupted lyrium at his disposal. It coalesced in 9:41 Dragon amidst the chaos of the Mage-Templar War and the War of the Lions as the Elder One manipulated the Mage Rebellion, the Templar Order, the Grey Wardens of Orlais, and several members of the Orlesian nobility to serve his purposes, threatening the whole of Thedas.

The Conflict

Prelude

Sometime between 9:31 and 9:37 Dragon, the darkspawn and former magister Corypheus was freed from a Grey Warden prison in the Vimmark Mountains that had held him for centuries. Unable to escape the prison due to blood magic seals forged by Malcolm Hawke, Corypheus influenced his Grey Warden jailers through the taint and eventually, senior Warden Janeka became convinced she could control him. Under Corypheus' influence, Janeka enlisted the aid of Carta dwarves and forced them to drink darkspawn blood. When Garrett Hawke and Marian Hawke, two of Malcolm's children, arrived in nearby Kirkwall, Janeka used the Carta to lure them to the prison in order to break the seals. Corypheus was freed and promptly killed by the Hawke Twins, but the magister had the regenerative capabilities of an Archdemon and was able to escape by possessing Janeka. 
Corypheus spent the subsequent years preparing a plan to both restore the Tevinter Imperium to its ancient glory and return to the Black City so he could claim the throne of The Maker and become the new god of the world. Fortuitously, Corypheus acquired the Orb of Destruction, a powerful magical artifact, from the elf Solas, giving him the power necessary to bring his plan to fruition.
As the Mage-Templar War and the Orlesian Civil War raged in the background, Corypheus began to assemble an army with the intention of conquering southern Thedas. Allying with The Venatori, a group of Tevinter supremacists, the magister used his powers to deceive the Grey Wardens of Orlais into believing they were experiencing the Calling and were about to die. Desperate to find a way to kill the remaining two Old Gods before a new Blight could erupt, Warden-Commander Clarel de Chanson accepted the offer of Livius Erimond, a Venatori magister, to use a blood magic ritual that would create a demon army, thus bringing the Grey Wardens under Corypheus' control.

Deployment

Hostilities effectively began in 9:41 Dragon, during Divine Justinia V's conclave at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, a Chantry-led attempt to negotiate an end to the Mage-TEmplar War. Corypheus and a number of Grey Wardens interrupted the proceedings. Justinia V was sacrificed to unlock the Orb of Destruction's power, and in that moment, the Breach was created, rending The Veil between Thedas and the Fade. Merai Lavellan, sent by the Keeper of her clan to the Conclave, came into contact with the orb and was branded with a magical mark called the Anchor, which could open and close the Breach and the numerous smaller Rifts scattered across the land. This would prove to be a major setback to Corypheus' plans, as he had intended to gain the Anchor for himself to physically enter the Fade.
Merai was the lone survivor of the Breach. Suffering from memory loss and the Anchor's own debilitating effects, she was recovered from the ruins of the Temple of Sacred Ashes and brought to the nearby village of Haven to recuperate for questioning by Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast and Leliana, the Right and Left Hands of the late Divine. Upon waking, Merai was led to the Breach in the hope that she could use the Anchor to seal it. While she lacked the power to seal it completely, she managed to calm it and stop it from spreading. Afterwards, she was hailed as the "Herald of Andraste" and became one of the founding members of The Inquisition, which Cassandra proclaimed in accordance with a writ issued by Justinia V before the Conclave. 
The events surrounding the Breach had far-reaching implications. The Divine and most of the Chantry's leadership were dead, leaving the Chantry leaderless and floundering. The leaders of the Mage Rebellion and Templar Order had also perished, thus reigniting the Mage-Templar War. Countless demons began emerging through the Rifts, terrorizing civilians throughout the land. Lastly, the Inquisition had been reformed with the goal of sealing the Breach and bringing whoever had caused it to justice.

Battlefield

Redcliffe and Therinfal

Despite losing the Anchor, Corypheus continued building up his army and planted the seeds of corruption within the Mage Rebellion and Templar Order. The surviving mages who attended the conclave retreated to the village of Redcliffe with the permission of King Alistair Theirin. The Venatori magister Gereon Alexius was dispatched to bring the mages into the fold; using time-altering magic, Alexius ostensibly rescued the mages just before they were attacked by a group of Templars and offered an alliance. Desperate, Grand Enchanter Fiona accepted, indenturing herself and her fellow mages to the Venatori.
Meanwhile, Lord Seeker Lucius Corin, leader of the surviving Templars, was replaced with an Envy Demon loyal to Corypheus. As Corin, the demon widened the split between the Order and the Chantry by openly spurning Revered Mother Hevara at Val Royeaux, then regrouped the Templars at Therinfal Redoubt. There, the Templar officers were introduced to red lyrium and twisted to serve Corypheus as the Red Templar Order.
At Haven, Merai Lavellan and her advisers, Leliana, Josephine Montilyet, and Cullen Rutherford, began to flex the muscles of the fledgling Inquisition by gathering allies and working to restore order. The Breach yet loomed in the sky, however, and soon it became evident that the assistance of the mages and Templars would be necessary to fully seal it. Lavellan was presented with a choice: negotiate first with Magister Alexius at Redcliffe to gain an alliance with the mages, or approach Lord Seeker Lucius and the Templars at Therinfal. Both options held risks, as Alexius's requested audience with the Herald was obviously a trap, and Lucius's recent behavior and self-imposed isolation made him unpredictable.
The Inquisition allied with the mages in Redcliffe first, depriving Corypheus of his forces. However, contact with the Templars was lost, as all of the Templars at Therinfal became members of the Red Templar Order. The Inquisition learned of Corypheus' involvement, though knew the magister only as a mysterious individual called "The Elder One."

Siege of Haven

Returning to the Temple of Sacred Ashes, the Herald finally sealed the Breach with the aid of the mages or Templars. Although many Rifts remained and the Elder One was at large, the Inquisition believed the main threat was over. Together with the winding down of the Mage-Templar War, the Inquisition celebrated the end of weeks of strife and uncertainty.
However, their celebrations were short-lived, as that very night, Corypheus led the bulk of his army, comprised of Red Templars led by General Raleigh Samson, in a surprise assault on Haven and the Inquisition to take back the Anchor from the Herald and destroy the nascent Inquisition before its power grew any greater. The Herald rallied her forces and fought off the initial wave before using a trebuchet to trigger an avalanche that wiped out the bulk of the enemy host. Corypheus countered by unleashing his high dragon, which effortlessly broke and scattered the Inquisition defenses, allowing the second wave of Corypheus' army to press the attack, driving through Haven's defenses into the village itself. The Inquisition and people of Haven fled to Haven's Chantry for shelter, but with what appeared to be an Archdemon on his side, Corypheus' victory was all but certain. Hope was restored by Grand Chancellor Roderick, who divulged the existence of a hidden trail from Haven that could be used as an escape route. Upon learning that Corypheus sought the Herald personally, Merai Lavellan decided to try and distract the magister long enough for everyone else to flee to safety.
As Merai fought another wave of enemies, the dragon attacked once more. Corypheus, revealing himself as the Elder One, arrived and attempted to remove the Anchor using the Orb of Destruction, but to no avail; the Anchor was permanently bound to the Herald. Frustrated, Corypheus decided to kill the Herald and start over, but Merai triggered the trebuchet and started another avalanche, this one directed at Haven. Corypheus escaped with his dragon, while Merai managed to reach the old tunnels beneath Haven as the avalanche hit. Making her way through the tunnels, she eventually caught up with the surviving Inquisition forces in the Frostback Mountains.
The Inquisition had been dealt a serious blow and was in disarray. They were demoralized, had lost their base of operations, and feared the outbreak of a new Blight, a danger implied by Corypheus' Archdemon-like dragon. Encouraged to take the lead by Revered Mother Giselle and the apostate elf Solas, Merai guided the Inquisition through the mountains to the abandoned fortress of Skyhold, which became the organization's new headquarters. For her contributions, Merai Lavellan was formally honored with the title of Inquisitor, the leader of the Inquisition. 

Investigating the Grey Wardens

As the Inquisition recovered, the Inquisitor's attention turned to the whereabouts of the Grey Wardens of Orlais and Ferelden, who had vanished without trace some months earlier. Brought into contact with one of the Champions of Kirkwall, Garrett Hawke, the Inquisitor was informed that Corypheus had the power to manipulate Grey Wardens and imitate the calling. Fearing that Corypheus had already done so, the Inquisitor followed Hawke to meet a Grey Warden, Jean-Marc Stroud, in Crestwood, who explained his fellow Wardens were indeed hearing the Calling and had committed to a blood magic ritual designed to prevent future Blights.
The Inquisitor, Hawke, and Stroud traveled to the Western Approach, where the other Wardens were carrying out their ritual under the direction of Magister Livius Erimond. The ritual involved sacrificing Wardens to fuel blood magic to summon and bind demons into an army that could fight through the Deep Roads to reach and kill the two remaining Old Gods before the darkspawn could find them and corrupt them into archdemons, thereby -in the minds of the Wardens - preventing the outbreak of the Sixth and Seventh Blights before they succumbed to the Calling. Unbeknownst to the Wardens, the ritual bound the demons created by the Wardens' sacrifices to Corypheus, not themselves; Erimond had deceived them as part of his master's plan. Erimond then attempted to control the Inquisitor through magical manipulation of the Anchor, only for his foe to counter and send him fleeing for Adamant Fortress.

Siege of Adamant Fortress

The Inquisition laid siege to Adamant Fortress to preoccupy the Wardens while the Inquisitor proceeded inside the fortress to find Erimond. Arriving as the Wardens were in the midst of summoning a Nightmare Demon, the Inquisitor exposed Erimond, bringing Warden-Commander Clarel de Chanson and others to their senses, and they turned against the Venatori. Erimond then summoned Corypheus' dragon to attack. In the middle of the battle, a dying Clarel struck the dragon's underbelly, accidentally destroying a portion of the fortress, causing the Inquisitor, Garrett Hawke, and Warden Stroud to fall as the Anchor accidentally opened a rift, sending them into the Fade. They managed to return to the physical world through the rift at Adamant; however, Garrett stayed behind to fend off the Nightmare, insisting that the Wardens would need Stroud if they were to survive. 
Upon arriving back at Adamant, the Inquisitor sealed the rift, banishing all the demons from the area. With the battle over, the Inquisitor allied with the remaining Grey Wardens, now under the command of Stroud. Erimond, who survived the battle, was taken captive in the fighting's aftermath and handed over to face justice at the Inquisitor's pleasure.

Intrigue at Halamshiral

With another of Corypheus' plans foiled, the Inquisitor next had to deal with an assassination plot against Empress Celene Valmont I of Orlais. The Inquisition attempted to send a warning to the Empress about the danger to her, but the messages were intercepted. However, as Celene was hosting peace talks in the form of a grand ball at the Winter Palace in Halamshiral, the Inquisitor attended the ball as a guest of Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons, who was contending with Celene over the throne. Ambassador Briala, leader of Orlais' rebel elves, was also invited in a bid for Celene to ally with the rebels.  All three parties began currying for the Inquisition's support.
During the ball, the Inquisitor investigated strange goings-on at the Winter Palace, from the murder of Briala's agents to the body of a Council of Heralds emissary with a Chalons crest on the murder knife. Eventually, the Inquisitor discovered that the assassin was Grand Duchess Florianne, Gaspard's sister, who was allied with Corypheus, having been promised all of Thedas to rule once she assassinated Celene.   The Inquisitor thwarted Florianne's plan to assassinate Celene and brokered a peace between Celene, Gaspard, and Briala - at least for the moment. 

March on the Arbor Wilds

With his plans foiled, Corypheus uprooted his strongholds and concentrated his remaining forces on scouring the Arbor Wilds for elven artifacts. Morrigan, Celene's arcane advisor and newly-appointed liaison to the Inquisition, suspected that Corypheus was seeking an eluvian, an elven mirror that could allow him to enter the Fade without need of the Anchor, allowing him to achieve through magic what political deceit and military might had failed to deliver. 
With the support of the Orlesian armies, the Inquisition marched on the Arbor Wilds and engaged Corypheus' forces. However, the invasion had awoken ancient elven sentinels, who were the protectors of the Temple of Mythal. The Inquisitor fought through the blockades, managing to catch up with Corypheus as the darkspawn was in the midst of confronting a group of sentinels. Corypheus was then seemingly destroyed by a magical barrier, only to be reborn in the body of a nearby Warden. The Inquisitor's party quickly took refuge inside the temple as Corypheus summoned his dragon to attack. 
The Inquisitor's party then navigated the temple before confronting and besting Corypheus' general, Samson. The Inquisitor then drank from the Well of Sorrows, which was the key to the resident eluvian, to render it useless. At the same time, Corypheus managed to storm his way into the temple. The Inquisitor's party used the eluvian to return to Skyhold as a mysterious entity arose from the Well, which blocked Corypheus and smashed into the eluvian, destroying it.
As Corypheus and his dragon fled the field, the Inquisition was able to route the darkspawn's army.

Final Confrontation

In a last desperate attempt to enter the Fade, Corypheus returned to the Temple of Sacred Ashes to reopen the Breach with the Orb of Destruction. With a small group of Inquisition as his audience, he proclaimed that the Maker was false and he would be the new god and demanded their fealty. When the soldiers defiantly refused, Corypheus responded with a blast of energy before unleashing a pair of terror demons against them.
The Inquisitor quickly arrived on the scene. Corypheus then levitated the temple into the sky to ensure that his nemesis couldn't escape. His dragon then attempted to attack, only to be tackled out of the way by another dragon, a Guardian of Mythal. Eventually, Corypheus' dragon was able to down its opponent, only to be killed by the Inquisitor soon after, causing Corypheus' ability to leap into other tainted bodies to be disrupted, rendering him vulnerable. Enraged by this, Corypheus proclaimed himself willing to destroy Thedas if he couldn't rule it, but the Inquisitor proved too strong an opponent. With his defeat certain, Corypheus futilely called out to his Old Gods for aid, only for the Inquisitor to rip the Orb from his hand with the Anchor and use it to seal the Breach. The Inquisitor then used the Anchor to open a rift, hurling Corypheus into the Fade and destroying his physical body in the process, ending his threat once and for all.

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

9:41 Dragon

Ending Date

9:42 Dragon

Location

Thedas