Religion

Thedas was a world that was pulled into religion and faith just as many others. It was essentially the outcome where fear and desperation of humanity lead to one belief.

They started putting faith in the supernatural. Or in this case, the so-called Maker.

But Nero had enough experience with "gods" that he knew there is always a reason for an existence coming so close to omnipotence that it was referred to as such.

That there is so much magic surrounding this world, and everything being reachable as long as one was sacrificing enough, made it even less impressive in Nero's eyes.

Normal people, may it be human or elf. It didn't matter. As long as they are gifted with magic, they could become powerful enough to be remembered as gods. But that made them only false gods in the end.

It was true in middle earth, and it is also true in this world.

The only real power that deemed some of Nero's respect, was the one that brought him here. He could deny it however he wanted but it was none the truer.

And because of that Nero also felt angry at the being. For it played games with his soul in just a whimsical matter of seconds.

Ironic, really. Considering he is in a world known to others through a game.

If Nero would be placed between the choice of becoming a god or something else. He would always take the other path.

And if he would be told to follow God, he would not do so. It was not different before and it won't be different now.

Nero had already entered the city of Highever through one of the three gates in its outer walls by now. To be precise, he came in from the west gate.

The city immediately came to life through the people that inhabited it.

The crowd became denser the further one came to the heart of the city that was the market place. People were walking and enjoying life there. The sound of music from bards. The loud shouts from merchants selling their wares. It all came together into a beating heart of civilization.

Nero had a smile on his face watching all the different shops doing trade and people filling this city with life. And it was not only people from Highever but also from afar. One could see a few glimpses of rich people and merchants from Orlais strolling around the place.

He had a lot of pride in his work. And truly. All the hard work put into cultivating this city was worth it. A metropolis that soon would become the pride of Ferelden just like Val Royeaux in Orlais.

Maybe it could even become the capital? Not all capitals were also the seat of the royal families after all.

He slowly rode on the rather broad cobblestone road towards the castle at the far back of the city on an elevated hillside. It was rather close to the harbor on the west side.

The city, in general, was placed right on a hill and the further one went to the center, the higher one came up the hill.

If he passed the inner walls and came to the castle, he could look back and take a beatiful look at the whole city spreading out. On the south side near the wall, there was even a humongous tree that was used for a certain festive day in winter.

It was actually a holy tree that was planted by the elves that have migrated into the city. Unlike in Denerim and other cities where Alienages were created to separate and discriminate the elves, Highever's guards did not discriminate at all.

They always judged by sort of crime and severity. No matter if noble or citizen, all were judged fairly.

It of course helped that the guards were actually people that Nero selected and inspected thoroughly by him on their characters.

The legal system was adjusted so that nobles remained empowered enough to have "privileges" but were not totally immune to abusing their powers. So if someone thought they could just go and harm someone because they had blue blood then they had something coming. Assaulting someone in minor harm resulted in prison for two weeks.

It had to be said that modern ways of dealing with criminals became rather refreshing towards corruption. It lessened to some degree.

But in Nero's eyes, it was already enough since dealing with all corruption was neigh impossible. Keeping it low and to the point where it didn't hurt the economy nor the people too much was fine.

What worried him at first was that Nero thought it was a bad idea to separate the city into different sections through the circular walls. It bred social discrimination and prejudice.

But seeing the threat from the Darkspawn and coming into contact with the endless war in middle earth, it was a small sacrifice if the city as a whole could be protected and be sustained even during a war.

Yes, coming to that topic. There were even pig farms and other such agricultural means present inside the walls. The city could easily support its own consumption of food for a long period of time without really suffering much.

The only real outer food that was taken from outside was wheat. And even that was organized and kept locked inside storage spaces as rations if it was currently not used or repurposed to make ingredients for other products.

In general, Nero probably pushed the era of technology up a few centuries. Not that it was hard with some things being used already. Just not in an effective way.

In actuality, if he could openly use magic, there could be a golden era started by him. Something akin to an everlasting legacy. Like Roman architecture. Just the mere thought enticed him.

But such things obviously brought hate to him as well.

Currently, he was probably the wealthiest merchant of ale in the whole Kingdom of Ferelden. No, probably even one of the most powerful merchants in whole Thedas.

What wonders small golden coins can do to people.

The nobles were of mixed feelings. Some hated his influence on his father and brother. And others loved it and would prefer him to become the actual heir.

A second-born child directing the future of a duchy was just unheard of. The heir to the title was Aulus. But many knew he was more battle oriented and less talented in stewardship.

Therefore some Bannern already consider voting for Nero since the system in Ferelden was a combination of hereditary rights and voting. Meaning even a woman could inherit the title.

Nero was quite surprised how progressive this world was in view of women. There was some obvious differentiation when male and female individuals performed in tournaments since males were just biologically stronger but otherwise, women had the same rights nearly everywhere.

And that was just one aspect of the push at him. If he would not become heir, it would not matter much if he was able to bring this age to a golden era. He would just not have enough authority to change things on a greater stage.

But that was not really a matter he was concerned about. He was actually happier to give his older brother the reign since he had his hands full with his mercenary group anyway.

The most resistance to fulfill his golden era though would also simply be one organization. The chantry. Or to be more precise the Templar Order and the Seeker of the Truth that were the Chantry tools.

The church of the Maker's religion. Zealots of Andraste. A woman crested holy. The sheep guided blindly by a mage long gone.

That is at least how Nero judged those people. And it was well known that he himself was a non-believer. Being atheist was not that bad matter per-se, but it brought some trouble nonetheless.

The Chantry just hated magic that was not under their direct control. They hunted every mage that was not in the Tower of Magi.

And for that purpose, they utilize magic themselves. The Templar Order to be precise. A group of Lyrium addicts using their own magical aptitude to hunt down mages. Ironic, really.

And why was he now mentioning the Chantry?

Simple, the people he saw standing guard in front of the gate to Highever Castle who also had stopped him now from entering inside were the reason.

"No entry to the castle! Move back, knight.", said one of the guarding knights in front of the gates leading inside the castle.

Nero looked down at him from atop his horse. His eyes looked over the armors of the five men that clearly showed the templar symbol on their plated chest piece.

An upside-down sword with flaming wings was the symbol. Everyone knew what it meant. Just like the silver skeletal hand that was the sigil of his mercenary group.

The armor they wore was very reminiscent of the armor worn by the crusaders from his old world. Some things just don't seem to change much.

Syllia already move forward a little with her own steed at the side and wanted to clear up things but Nero just raised a hand to stop her from speaking.

"And with what authority do you stop me from entering the castle?", asked Nero back.

"The castle is under the chantries jurisdiction now. From your tone, I guess you are some noble. But you know better than no noble has the right to hinder us from our duties.", snorted the same person that talked before.

"I see...Then you better move before I remove you myself. I do not care about your order's privilege. We Couslands have already warned you to keep your demands to yourselves. You may spread your religion here since the people and some of my family are members of it, but do not expect to undermine our authority as the ruling party of this Teyrnir." Nero stated back solemnly and also gave the guard an ultimatum that if he did not move, he would just take that as a hostile action against himself. For he did not know what exactly these lunatics were doing inside the castle right now.

"And make sure that our own guards return to their guard duty...I do not like strangers in front of these gates...", he added and then rode on past the templar looking up to one of his family's guards on the gate.

The castle guard nodded and signaled to some other people on the other side to open the gate. "Open the gate. The second young lord is back!"

"Wait! You can't just open the gate like that. What if the apostate escapes!?", screamed the templar now.

Nero actually stopped and looked back at the fool. "Then you better do your job and catch the individual? What do I care?" With those last words, Nero entered the castle.

"I will report that!" The templar shouted and gave the other foursome orders and went walking himself inside the castle.

Nero went over to a stable where a stable boy took the reigns from his horse. He paid the kid with a smile and a silver coin and then went together with Syllia to the main hall.

"What exactly could have happened that the chantry sends so many templars here?", asked the green-haired beauty now. Syllia truly had developed nicely as a woman.

Nero sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "From my father's letter, it has something to do with my sister."

"Do you mean..." She looked at him and then lowered her voice. "That she has awakened her magic?"

"Possible. I had the feeling that she was magically gifted when I saw her move objects by sheer will when she was angry at times...The question is. Who is the little rat that informed the chantry?"

He growled a little when he sighed. "That I still haven't purged everyone disloyal from the castle irks me madly..." Nero was angry now and his mood was even worse seeing the nearly 50 templars in count rummaging through the hallways and searching the rooms and other places for so-called evidence of harboring an apostate.

Damn magical police probably also got some information about the Lyrium. Good thing he already transferred it away from the castle.