영웅 아닌 자들: 다양성의 죽음

제국을 막아내려면 무엇이 필요할까? 또 다른 제국이다. 테빈터인들을 막기 위해서는 그들과 맞먹는 자들이 필요하다. 장남 아이소라스가 아비인 마페라스를 저버린 이유가, 그 아비가 저질렀던 비밀스러운 배신으로 인해 이미 구제할 도리가 없어서 였을 경우를 고려해보자. 또한, 아이소라스가 마페라스와의 연을 끊고 과거보다 미래를 내다보라는 조언을 받았을 거란 경우도 함께 생각해 보자. 그렇다면 그의 행동을 어떻게 보아야 하는 걸까?

아이소라스는 지리멸렬히 흩어져 연합체를 이루는 부족들의 영토를 받았다. 이에 대한 그의 해결책은 거대한 통일 국가를 만드는 것이었다. 그는 교역 체계를 전면적으로 개혁하고, 토착 세력에 대한 백성의 충성을 끊기 위해 재배치를 단행했는데, 이 모든 조치는 무역과 권력을 중앙에 집중시키기 위한 것이었다. 그의 치하에서 도시들은 신생 국가의 강력하고 영향력 높은 새로운 수도의 확장을 위해 파괴되었는데, 그 수도가 바로 올레이의 발 르와요다. 이 모든 것은 죽은 안드라스테를 위해서가 아니라, 테빈터의 마수를 견제하기 위함에 가까운 것이다.

이렇게 권력은 통합할 수 있었지만, 문화는 그렇지 못했다. 새로운 올레이에 모든 이를 끌어들인 것은 계층화를 심화시켰고, 그 통치를 받는 페렐던엔 비통함이 퍼져나갔다. 아이소라스는 아버지의 허물을 피할 수 있었다. 그 역시 피해자로 여겨졌기 때문이었다. 그러나 그가 알라마리라는 사실은 변함이 없었다. 소중한 독자 여러분, 만약 이 나라를 통일로 이끈 마지막 요소가 우연도, 아이소라스의 신중한 행동도 아닌, 당대 사람들의 공통된 증오에 기인한 것이었다면 어떠했겠는가? 마페라스의 아들들은 자기 자신을 제물로 삼아 테빈터와 동등하게 맞설 수 있는 국가를 만든 셈이다.

—음유시인! 필리엄 채록, 영웅 아닌 자들의 역사: 추악한 변화의 심장부의 문헌들에서 발췌

 

What could hold back an empire? Another. What could hold back so defined a people as Tevinter? Another. Let us consider if eldest Isorath was not meant to honor Maferath, for the father's fate was already condemned by hidden betrayal. Let us consider that Isorath was told to turn from ties to Maferath, to look forward, not back. What of his actions then?

 

Isorath was granted a land of tribes, of scattered alliance. His answer was the grand unification, which most condemn as arrogance. Sweeping changes in trade, relocations to break local allegiances, all to favor centralized trade and power. Cities were leveled to expand a new capital, a powerful and influential city of a new nation: Val Royeaux of Orlais. And all in the name of not lost Andraste, but of holding back looming Tevinter.

 

Power was united, but cultures less so. Investing everyone in the new Orlais stratified the classes, and through it all spread a bitterness that a Fereldan ruled. Isorath avoided the stain of his father, for he was seen as victim, too, but he was still Alamarri. What if, dear readers, the final unifying element came not from accident, or even the deliberate actions of Isorath, but from a common hatred, and not the common hatred of the day? The sons of Maferath would succeed at creating a peer for Tevinter, but only at the cost of themselves.

 

—Excerpted from A History Not of Heroes: Readings in the Ugly Heart of Change, collected by Philliam, a Bard!