Dragon Age - Thedas

The Joining Room, located on the lower level of the Grey Warden outpost in Denerim’s Market District, is a sacred and secretive chamber where recruits undergo the perilous ritual of the Joining. The room features a central altar with a silver chalice, dim lighting, and an atmosphere of reverence and dread. The lethal ritual involves drinking a mixture of darkspawn blood, Archdemon blood, lyrium, and herbs, testing recruits' physical and spiritual fortitude. Most do not survive, but those who do are forever changed, gaining the ability to sense darkspawn at the cost of decreased fertility and shortened lifespans.