The Old Gods were a set of seven dragon deities worshiped by the majority of humans in Thedas prior to the rise of the Chantry. Worship of the Old Gods first gained popularity in the ancient Tevinter Imperium. As the Imperium's influence spread across Thedas, so too did worship of these dragons. Many elves enslaved by the Imperium were forced to worship them instead of their own gods.
Two main factors contributed to the decline of the Old God worship: the rise of Blights, blamed on the Old Gods that awakened as blighted Archdemons, and the spread of the Chantry, which taught that the Old Gods were spirits that betrayed the Maker. Archdemons are said to be the physical form of the Old Gods.
Before there were magisters or a unified Imperium, there were the Dreamers. The first Dreamers emerged from the tribes of the Neromenian people. They claimed to have visions of a Realm of the Gods, and as proof of their visions demonstrated miraculous powers.
The legendary Thalsain was the first Dreamer. It was said he communicated with and learned blood magic from the Old God Dumat after encountering him in visions in what is now assumed to be the Fade. The Neromenian tribes, who had worshipped fallen heroes reborn as dragons, adopted Dreamers as their leaders, and began to instead worship the Dreamers gods, also as dragons. By the time the Imperium unified under the Dreamer Darinius, the first Archon, worship of the Old Gods was ubiquitous. Darinius established the magisterium from the priesthood of these seven gods. Thalsain was posthumously named an honorary Archon.
Worship of the seven Old Gods was the religion of the Imperium for hundreds of years. Great temples were built in their honor, with each Old God depicted as a great dragon.
The organized worship of the Old Gods was at its highest prior to the First Blight, when it was written that Dumat himself rose from his prison as the first Archdemon. While the Chantry insists the darkspawn created the first Archdemon, some ancient lore says that Dumat created the first darkspawn and led them against Thedas. Either way, Old God faithful were betrayed to discover one of their deities could turn against them. Worship of the Old Gods continued to wane, especially with the creation of the Imperial Chantry under Hessarian. By the time the Second Blight ended, spots of worship persisted only in isolated pockets. The Chantry was through in stamping out, razing temples, and driving out congregants underground. The temples that survived were converted to Circles of the Imperium.
A rare few cults are still devoted to those two Old Gods that have not arisen as Archdemons. The dragon still remains Tevinter's most prominent symbol-even if its true significance has been largely forgotten.
Andoral: Dragon of Slaves
Dumat: Dragon of Silence
Lusacan: Dragon of Night
Razikale: Dragon of Mystery
Toth: Dragon of Fire
Urthemiel: Dragon of Beauty
Zazikel: Dragon of Freedom
Following Andraste's execution in Minrathous, the prophet's barbarian hordes dispersed. But the influence of her teachings remained. Ten years to the day after Andraste's execution, Archon Hessarian publicly announced he heard the Maker's voice when put his sword through Andraste. Hessarian declared himself a disciple of Andraste and admitted that the prophet was betrayed by her husband Maferath.
Hessarian declared the Maker the one true god, and Andrastianism the religion the Imperium. The priests of the Seven Temples were given a choice: convert or die.
Most of the high-ranking clergy, including nearly all of the ruling Altus magisters, refused to give up their Old Gods. Many of the underclass Laetan mages also refused to a god that maligned magic. But the common people of the non-mage Soporati overwhelmingly supported Hessarian, and gleefully participated in casting down their magisters. Bloodshed followed in a violent overthrowing of the magisters in a period known as the Transfiguration. The Imperium became the first Exalted State, more than a hundred years before Orlais.
To this day, Hessarian is a hero to the common class and considered a great reformer of the Imperium.
In the bloodbath, some mages came forward and converted. Many who converted claimed to have encountered Andraste's spirit in the Fade, and this meeting forever changed them.
When the High Priests dead, Hessarian repurposed the Old Gods temples, even authorizing the reconstruction of the ruined Temple of Dumat. They became centers of study and education for mages, in essence the first Circles of Magi. The Maker's greatest commandment was that magic must serve man, so it was Hessarian's intention that mages of the Imperium must be properly prepared for a lifetime of public service to Tevinter.
Under Hessarian's dual leadership as Archon and head of the Chantry, Soporati were admitted to the clergy of a Tevinter religion for the first time in the Imperium history. For a hundred years, the highest-ranking clerics in the Imperium were non-mages and actually held seats in the Magisterium, but this gradually shifted back as the Altus who survived the Transfiguration converted and joined the new priesthood. The long standing association in Tevinter culture between the Altus and spiritual authority restored mages to roles of prominence in the Chantry within a few generations.
One hundred and ten years after the Transfiguration, Orlesian emperor Kordillus Drakon decreed Divine Justinia I heard of the Andrastian religion. This greatly upset the people of Tevinter, who had organized the religion while Orlais was still fragmented land of warring tribes. The Tevinter considered their country the Holy Land, as Andraste had lived and died there. What was Orlais? Relations between the Tevinter Chantry and Drakon's Orlesian Chantry were strained form the onset. In an effort to appease the Orlesian, the Archon's role in the Chantry was reduced to a ceremonial position, and authority over the faith was transferred to the grand clerics.
The grand clerics of Tevinter repeatedly petitioned for recognition by the Orlesian Chantry, and were refused on the grounds that the Imperial Chantry admitted men into the priesthood. At the time, the Orlesian Chantry was unaware that mages were also members of the Tevinter clergy as well.
In 2:80 Glory, the Orlesian called an Exalted March on Starkhaven to free the Marcher city-state from Tevinter rule. They did so to prevent Tevinter from once again gaining ground in the important region. After the Third Blight, the Chantry in Orlais promoted the story that it was the ancient magisters of Tevinter who brought the Blights on the world through their heresy. Anti-Tevinter and anti-mage sentiment grew along with the divide between the two powerful nations.
It was ultimately the interpretation of the Maker's second commandment, "Magic must serve man, not rule over him," that split the Imperial and Orlesian Chantries. The Tevinters claimed that the commandment only meant that magic should not be used to control the minds of others. They said the best way for magic to serve man was to serve as the rulers of men. When the clerics of Tevinter altered the Chant of Light to reflect this interpretation of the commandment, the Divine in Val Royeaux ordered the clerics to revert to the original Chant. The Tevinter temples refused, claiming corruption in Val Royeaux.
When the Divine declared the entire Tevinter clergy heretics, the Archon responded by appointing the Grand Cleric Valhail (who also happened to be one of the most prominete members of the Tevinter Circle) as Divine of the Tevinter Chantry. This magic user, dubbed the "Black Divine" by the Orlesian, was reviled outside of Tevinter, and his existence was a slap in the face to the Chantry in Val Royeaux.
After four successive Exalted Marches failed to force the "heretics" into submission, the Imperium Chantry solidified as a distinct body outside the Chantry proper.
While most aspects of the Imperial Chantry's teachings are the same, all issues against magic have been dropped and male priests are quite prevalent. All the revered mothers and fathers and grand clerics are members of one of the Circles, as it is virtually impossible for a mage to rise in prominent position in Tevinter without belonging to one. It is also difficult for Soporati to rise high in the Chantry, an extension of Tevinter's ingrained class system.
Both men and women serve in all levels of the Tevinter clergy, though the majority of Divines have been men. Nearly all priests in the Imperium marry , and work in the clergy tends to run in families, as with most professions in Tevinter.
The grand clerics and the Imperium Divine all occupy seats in the Magisterium, giving the Imperial Chantry more direct power over the state than the Orlesian Chantry. They elect a new Devine by simple majority, but in the event of a tie, the Archon cast the deciding vote. As with the Orlesian Chantry, Divines are traditionally elected from the ranks of the grand clerics.
Although all chantries in Thedas have an Eternal Flame which is lit and kept burning by magic, in the Imperium a religious holiday and ceremony mark the day a spell is cast to renew the flame. Indeed, magic is openly performed in the Imperial Chantry during all services.
The anniversary of the death of Archon Hessarian is also treated as a religious holiday in Tevinter, and there is an additional feast day for the "Visitations" celebrating the appearance of Adraste in dreams to many mages she crossed the Fade.
The Imperial Chantry's version of the Chant of Light contains several additional Canticles that the Orlesian Chantry does not recognize. Archon Hessarian, in essence the Imperial Chantry's founder, is considered the most important of Andrate's disciples, and is treated with considerably more reverence in the Imperium than elsewhere Thedas.