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Cadmus Laenas arrived in Anderfels along with his fellow Tevinter wardens in high spirits. For a few months, since the Venatori exiled them from Tevinter, they had scattered to the winds. It was decided by the Warden-Commander that the Tevinter wardens split up to bolster the ranks of Grey Wardens in various nations. Cadmus had been part of the wardens who had been sent to Orlais, as they had need of more experienced warden mages, still had not fully recovered from many experienced mages among their ranks who ended up dead or became abominations after the reckless blood magic ritual they attempted back in 9:41 Dragon under Corypheus' influence. Needless to say, mages were reluctant to join the Orlesian Grey Warden after the entire fiasco. Of course, in turn, the Orlesian wardens were also reluctant to trust the Tevinter wardens, which led to a less-than-stellar experience that soured the mood of the Tevinter wardens further.

It was, to Cadmus, a perfect exemplification of how backwater the Southerners were. Truly, to think that many still thought of the Imperium as a monolith, and not just any monolith, but a monolith of whom the template was the Venatori. Had they not realized they were exiled by the Venatori? No, of course, not rather than trusting and giving the benefit of the doubt to their fellow wardens, much easier to believe in the baseless conspiracy of the Venatori exiling the Tevinter wardens as a plot to corrupt the wardens from the inside as they join other Grey Warden chapters.

Absurd. Completely absurd. Within the Grey Wardens, no one hated the Venatori more than the Tevinter wardens, having been unceremoniously exiled from their home. Though Cadmus in particular was more disappointed in the Tevinter ruling class. The Venatori acting delusional and stupid was to be expected, it was the Venatori, no sane lot among those people, Cadmus reckoned. But the ruling class who folded to the Venatori? Cadmus' expectations of them were already low in the first place, but he supposed there was no limit to the stupidity of those in power in Tevinter. The Qun was a threat, but was having the Venatori delusional philosophy the best the Imperium could do?

Cadmus understood that the Qunari was a threat, a big threat, Cadmus would rather support just about everyone over the Qunari. Heck, if the rumour of intelligent Darkspawns that was spread by his fellow wardens were true, and he had to choose between them and the Qun, Cadmus have to think about it. But accepting the Venatori in lieu of the Imperium's military failures during the Antaam rebellion was ridiculous. For one, for all their bluster had they ever done anything at all without the presence of the ancient Magister-turned-Darkspawn Corypheus? No, they had not. Not a shred of accomplishment to their name without the anomaly that was Corypheus, no proof of their competence whatsoever. Second, the Imperium had spent years trying to warn the rest of Thedas of the danger the Qun posed in the hope they could join together to put an end to them once and for all, finishing the job of the Exalted Marches against the Qunari. From a pragmatic standpoint, did we want to burn bridges by embracing Tevinter Supremacist now? Exactly when we were losing against the Qunari?

The Tevinter wardens, including Cadmus, when seeing the Venatori rising to power once more, thought it nothing more than some political manoeuvre. Surely, they were just a tool being used by the opposition to the Magister Pavus-backed reformist faction, the Lucerni. Surely, the Archon was still in control. But no, it turned out they were not in control. Perhaps that was how it started but it ended with the Venatori subverting that entire conservative faction among the Magisterium, with many among its members actually believing in the Venatori delusion to the point the Lucerni faction was struggling just to maintain some semblance of power.

It was the height of lunacy. An absurd marriage between peak idiocy and delusional nationalism.

And so, when the news came that the First Warden and the rest of Anderfel wardens overthrew the King of Hossberg and assumed control, it was news welcomed by the Tevinter wardens, including Cadmus. To them, who had been screwed over by corrupt rulers of the nation they were based in, what happened in Anderfel felt cathartic, many even hoped for the Tevinter rulership that was now under the Venatori's influence to be the next one toppled. Of course, Cadmus was realistic enough to know that it was unlikely that would happen, considering the political fallout and the amount of force needed to topple the Imperium. Not unless it was absolutely necessary. Anderfels was the home base of the Grey Warden, and thus, Cadmus could see how the First Warden came to the conclusion that it needed to be done. Tevinter Imperium, while a major player in Thedas was not heavily tied to the wardens or their duty for the most part, and until that change, Cadmus saw no chance of the First Warden taking the fight to the Imperium, nor would Cadmus advocate for it. 

Still...the fact that the wardens now assumed leadership meant that, contrary to tradition, possibly the wardens were about to take a more active role in Thedas' politics. Directly taking the fight to the Imperium was out of the question, but exerting political pressure for their exile of the wardens? Very feasible. Cadmus had always thought that the wardens should take a more active role in politics because whether they liked it or not, they held some influence. An influence that those in the upper echelon of political elites would attempt to either mitigate or use for their own means. Look no further than the politically motivated opposition to Grey Warden forces by Ferelden during the Fifth Blight. Therefore, if politics were coming to them anyway, might as well be a player rather than a pawn. And so, like the rest of the Tevinter wardens, Cadmus answered the call to Weisshaupt gladly, seeing it as a promising new direction for the wardens. A sentiment that seemed to be proven correct, as upon arrival, they were greeted with the sight of Griffons, flying up high, the gleaming jewel of the reforms made by the First Warden.

Once settled, like many warden mages, Cadmus was invited to the workshop for a demonstration of new magic developed by the wardens to counteract the effect of the Blight. Cadmus had heard rumours of the development of such magic to mitigate the Darkspawn taint through the grapevine, but since he had only joined 4 years ago, he had not been able to offer his—that he thought to be, at least—valuable expertise. Nevertheless, when Cadmus saw the demonstration made on a blighted plant, he had to admit he was impressed. It was clearly still quite early in its development, or at least that was the extent they were showing, but Cadmus was sure that this was a very promising avenue to be pursued. The applications were numerous if they were able to remove the taint from a plant, what about animals? And most of all, what about humans? The Darkspawn taint was incurable except for the joining...was the conventional wisdom, until now. Even outside the Blight, Darkspawn taint still posed a danger, and the fact that the wardens might be the ones who had the cure—one that did not involve joining—could make for a decent leverage. Especially for the Dwarves who now might be able to more aggressively retook the Deep Roads with less fear of dying from the taint. 

But furthermore, what it represented for the wardens themselves was massive. Cadmus was sure that the elephant in the room was 'Can the Calling be forestalled or even cured?'. While the Darkspawn taint was a valuable tool as a warden, it came with the daunting reality of the Calling, but with this new magic...would it be possible, then, to have the taint be removed from Wardens whose body could no longer endure it? To simply retire instead of going to the Deep Roads to die? If it was possible, then Cadmus was of the opinion that it should definitely be pursued. While having the inevitability of the Calling looming over the wardens was not without merit, resulting in soldiers who were more willing to sacrifice themselves in the line of duty, such fatalism also came with its demerit, namely wardens being too susceptible to reckless self-sacrificing schemes in a massive waste of resources. Again, Cadmus would point to the entire Orlesian Warden debacle under Corypheus. Not to mention several other issues such as poor recruitment prospects and whatnot. To Cadmus, the demerit outweighed the merits, and so if that tradition could be eradicated, it would be for the better.

As the demonstration finally ended, Cadmus refrained himself from simply giving his own remark of what he thought was faulty or could do with some improvement. He might not be able to resist when he was younger, but with age, came wisdom. Namely, the wisdom that generally, no one liked to be lectured in their own lecture. So it would be best to save his critique and remarks later on private where they might be more receptive. And so, Cadmus clapped politely and congratulated the mage giving the demonstration before leaving the room. He would seek an audience later, with permission from the senior wardens here. For now, he had an address from the High Constable to attend in the courtyard.

While Cadmus was walking to the courtyard, admiring the historied halls of Weisshaupt Fortress, his mind turned to the meetings he had heard the First Warden was holding with diplomats from various nations. He was nowhere near the position of those who would be privy to the content of said meeting, but he could surmise a guess. No doubt it was about the Grey Warden assuming leadership of Anderfels. There had been a precedent in Ferelden's Amaranthine, but that was that and this was this. It was one thing to give land to a celebrated hero who ended a blight, it was another thing to let the Grey Warden control an entire nation. He hoped the First Warden could navigate the political landmines gracefully and not rush for short-term gain. While Cadmus thought that taking a hard stance and acquiescing little to none of their demands was possible, he did not think that was ideal in the long term. It would make too many enemies. And, as someone who also had rushed too quickly and made too many enemies in his own political career, Cadmus could speak from first-hand experience that such an approach was unsustainable and would backfire.

[i][color=0072bc]'I hope the First Warden is wise enough to tread lightly here,'[/color][/i] Cadmus thought as he joined the rest of the wardens in the courtyard to hear what the High Constable had to say.