Cailan's Shiny New Title
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.
Note: I'll admit it: I'm a Loghain fan. That said, I honestly thought that his insistence that the letter from Eamon and the two letters from Celene found during RtO meant that Cailan was going to divorce Anora and marry Celene was overly paranoid of him. According to DG's podcast yesterday…no, no it wasn't. That was EXACTLY what Cailan was planning.
Loghain Mac Tir had never before found himself cursing his trusting nature. As someone who had started to suspect that the Orlesians would be back again to try and retake Ferelden before the nation had even been freed and had not wavered in that belief in the three decades afterwards when they had shown little sign of doing this, many even found him paranoid. But now…now he could only wish that it had been simple paranoia on his part or that he had been even more mistrustful.
None of this ever would have happened if Cailan had died at Ostagar like Loghain had resigned himself to the moment the King had insisted on fighting on the front lines. Against all odds, however, the beacon had been lit in more than enough time and while the battle could not have been called a victory by any means, the darkspawn had left before completely decimating the Ferelden army and Cailan himself remained among the living.
Loghain had even been quietly pleased that Cailan had survived as, fool though he may have been, he was still Maric's son. This would make his plans to confront Cailan about his Orlesian ties more complicated but he didn't actually have time to put it into action before Cailan had welcomed into the country four legions of the men who had raped, pillaged, and overall terrorized Ferelden for more than two generations.
By the time that they were in the country, it was a little late to try to force Cailan to see reason regarding the lack of need for them and once they were there and likely intent on subjugating them again they might as well try and salvage something by throwing the Orlesians at the darkspawn and hoping that the two groups would just completely kill each other off or, more practically, that one group would kill the other off and be left so severely weakened as to not be a problem for the Ferelden forces who did not have to face either foe just yet.
Unfortunately, it hadn't quite worked out that way. Whenever the Orlesians started taking heavy losses, the Empress Celene had graciously sent more. Furthermore, the nobles – how easy it was to forget that he was technically one of them – were all so pathetically pleased that they did not have to lose their own men against the darkspawn. Loghain had supposed that leaving the Ferelden army in good condition would be useful for dealing with the Orlesians once the darkspawn incursion was over by Celene's dedication and commitment to sending as many reinforcements as needed was very, very worrying. And to make matters worse, it turned out that it actually had been a Blight (although no matter what that witch had said Loghain did not see how he had betrayed Maric in the slightest save not being able to stop his son from amiably welcoming their former Orlesian overlords back into the country) and Duncan of all people had become one of the few legendary heroes to end it. At least he had managed to die in the process.
That's when things took a turn for the worse. Cailan, flushed with success at being a King like in the tales, had used his sudden boost in popularity (and the Orlesian troops that had, as he had predicted, not left) to announce that he was, for the sake of producing an heir and to create a more permanent alliance with the Orlesian Empire, going to set aside Anora and marry Celene. How the Landsmeet had agreed to this, Loghain had no idea. It would seem that they were even bigger fools than he had thought and, all things considered, that was really saying something.
That was why Loghain had locked himself in a rumor with his soon-to-be former son-in-law. Cailan was doing something drastic and it was taking every ounce of self-control that Loghain had ever possessed to stop himself from pulling out a sword and responding in an equally drastic manner.
"Oh, not this old argument again," Cailan said tiredly. "Loghain, I have heard your position on Orlais. Many, many times. I know you're not happy about their very existence let alone the fact that they want to mend fences with us. It's not your decision, though, and so you're just going to have to respect what I've decided."
"I never thought that even you would be so foolish as to completely spit on the sacrifices made by your mother and father, by your grandmother and grandfather, so that you could call yourself an Emperor," Loghain said darkly.
"Enough with the ancient history!" Cailan said firmly. "Celene was not the one who took Ferelden, she wasn't the one who held it, and she wasn't even the one to lose it. My father lived through the occupation and was important to the rebellion just as you did and yet he had no problem reopening communications with Orlais once Celene took power."
"Different people, same goal," Loghain insisted. "They could not keep Ferelden militarily and so now they've decided that they would rather buy it from you for the price of a shiny new title for yourself."
"You're not thinking clearly," Cailan told him. "This is about Orlais and so you will never be able to think clearly. And Anora is being set aside for this but it's not like she can't still inherit the teynir from you! Not to mention that her failure to bear an heir means that she would need to be set aside regardless of whether or not Celene and I were planning to wed."
"Do not presume to tell me that I am not thinking clearly," Loghain said coldly. "I am not pleased with how you are treating my daughter, true, but do you really think I would be so opposed to this if you were choosing anyone but the Empress of Orlais as her replacement? Does no one in Ferelden have a noble enough pedigree for you now? To you, Cailan, all of the atrocities committed during the occupation are mere stories and you would so easily dismiss our past with Orlais as 'ancient history'. What you fail to notice is that Orlais is an Empire with expansionist tendencies. They want more land. They do not yet have us though they once did. How can you not see what she's doing? What you're doing?"
"You make it sound like I'm ceding control of Ferelden back to Orlais," Cailan said irritably.
"Aren't you?" Loghain challenged.
"No!" Cailan exclaimed. "Far from it. We are going to have a marriage alliance, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that things will be the same as they were and as this is a voluntarily alliance and not a hostile takeover then I don't see how they could be."
Loghain closed his eyes. "Orlais is a large Empire," he said slowly as if he were explaining something simple to a particularly thick child. "And Ferelden is a much smaller nation. How do you suppose that any kind of merger wouldn't end with Orlais dominating Ferelden and all of our traditions and values would become lost in the wake of theirs? Once we agree to become part of them they won't let us back out."
"Why are you assuming that the two nations will inevitably merge?" Cailan demanded. "Why can't you even entertain the notion that I will be her Emperor as she is my Queen and our nations will stay separate?"
"Because it is a foolish one," Loghain said bluntly. "If the Empress had no designs on us then why would she be putting this much effort into this scheme of hers?"
"I suppose she can't just like me, either," Cailan muttered.
Loghain didn't even dignify that with a response.
"And say you're right and eventually Ferelden does become a part of the Orlesian Empire…" Cailan trailed off. "Would that really be so bad?"
Loghain glared daggers at the boy he could honestly not see anything of Rowan or Maric in at the moment. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't ask me that."
Cailan shook his head. "No seriously. Obviously, if they come in and subjugate us again – which is totally unnecessary given our voluntary alliance – then that would be very bad but what if they don't? Our economy would improve for being tied to theirs, we'd be able to face threats such as the Blight much better, and our culture wouldn't fade away unless we let it."
"Maybe, maybe we could hold onto our culture for a generation or two," Loghain allowed. "But sooner or later those born under Orlesian rule wouldn't understand what we were fighting to preserve and allow it to fade away in favor of the 'sophistication' that they can bring."
"You're too pessimistic, Loghain," Cailan said with a sigh.
"And you're not thinking of the long-term consequences!" Loghain accused. "We could have handled the Blight just fine on our own and even if the presence of the Orlesians did make it go quicker that doesn't mean that we need to become part of them! Why are you so eager to hand them Ferelden on a silver platter?"
"There are more important things than worrying about our independence, Loghain," Cailan asserted. "I really feel like the benefits we could gain from this far outweigh the possible risks and even if we do become dependent on them or a part of the Empire that doesn't mean that we have to conform to their culture and actually become Orlesian!"
Loghain stared at him for a long moment before striding to the door. "There is nothing more important than maintaining our independence but I can see that there is no convincing you, so secure are you in your naivety. You are no Celene and you cannot outmaneuver her. Mark my words, Cailan, this marriage will not happen. Ferelden has gone through far too much to kick those bastards out to just sit back and watch as you surrender everything we've worked for for a century!"
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