I do not own Dragon Age and make no profit from this work.

This began as a fill for a prompt on the Dragon Age kink meme. The original prompt:

Let's say that a long time ago, the Chantry/Templars/Circles realized their ways of doing things wasn't quite working. Getting mages to behave was always a struggle, and added to the fact was that they wanted strong mages around when they needed them. So they start a program to breed strong, tractable mages.

The Chantry/Templars evaluate and breed mages, working their way through the generations to develop strong, docile mages. They don't allow the formations of families, per se, but parents do know who their children are in order to force compliance. Mages who are agreeable to this get extra benefits, helping keep the mages brought in to the towers in line as well.

Would love to see all the mages from both games: Amell, Surana, Wynne, Anders, the Hawkes (Malcolm, M or F!Hawke, Bethany).

Bonus:

- If the Hawke family was brought in when they were in Ferelden. Malcolm, Hawke and Bethany are in the program, Carver is sent to be a Templar (under the theory that mundane children of mages make better templars), and Leandra is allowed to stay to help out around the tower to keep the other Hawkes from doing anything stupid.

- If Anders is still pretty much the same, defiant, always trying to escape. The punishment for each escape is solitary and the only time he's allowed to interact with other person is during breedings. He reluctantly comes to crave those sessions to keep from going crazy, and hates himself for participating in the Templars' sick plans and for enjoying it.

- If some of the mages still plot to escape, and succeed, maybe taking their kids with them.

Chapter One:

It was cold, nearly intolerably so, and the backs of Anders thighs had long since gone numb from sitting on the even colder stone floor. Not only was the air frigid, but it was dark and he could only make out faint shadows and the sound of his own breathing. The silence had been maddening. The only change to his situation came when he was fed his meals. He almost welcomed the clatter of templar armor just so he could have one of his senses.

Anders rubbed at his legs with cold hands, trying to find some sort of warmth in the friction. It was his own fault, admittedly. He had attempted to escape again before the matching ceremony, but failed miserably. Now, he was confined to solitary quarters in the cold holding rooms far beneath the inhabitable floors of Kinloch Hold.

He just couldn't face it. The Matching Ceremony, which takes place every year, was tomorrow. He had managed to escape each year for long enough that he wouldn't have to participate, but this time around the matching was inevitable. He only hoped that there weren't enough women for the men or they would deem him unfit for breeding. Matches were permanent. Anders didn't like the thought if being tied to one person and rebelled.

Traditionally, the ceremony involved only new Enchanters, those who had passed their Harrowing within the past year. He would be a few years senior to the women- no, girls- to be paired with. He mentally listed those who had been Harrowed in the past year. Bethany Hawke, 14, recently brought to the Circle along with her elder brother and father who would also be participating in the match. Elaine Turbois, a frail Orlesian girl, only 16 but decent with elemental magic. Addien Amell, barely 16 but a favorite of the First Enchanter, chubby and a bit of a bookworm but incredibly talented in healing magic and potions. At 23, Anders was nervous to pair with one of these young girls to create a child.

Of course, Anders was no stranger to sex. Forbidden couplings in dark corridors, supply closets, empty classrooms, and with men and women alike. But they were men and women, not girls. Not young virgins. Fear that they would be unwilling, afraid, in pain all flashed through his mind, but not close to the fear he felt for them if no one was paired with them. They would be at the templar's mercy until the next matching unless they were found with child before then.

And he knew first hand how brutal templars could be.

If he was matched, he knew they would be abused mentally and emotionally every day. Raped by the templars, just not in a physical sense, until they were broken shells of people like most of the senior enchanters.

A door slammed and Anders was snapped from his thoughts. A tray was slid underneath the door through a hinged slot. The slot stayed open, giving him light enough to eat, until he slid the tray back.

"Preparations for the Match begin at dawn," a metallic voice echoed.

Anders gulped.

. . .

Anders sat in his smalls on a covered cot. Wynne, a senior enchanter, was performing exams on the Match candidates to ensure maximum fertility. He gripped the covering a she drew a small bit of blood into a vial.

"Didn't elude the templars this time, I see," she commented. Anders just grunted in response. "Its not a bad as you might think," she said, clutching his hand in hers. "They can ensure it will be a mage now. It will stay within the Circle. You can still be a parent to the child."

"I . . . its not that. I want the choice! To be with a woman or a man that I choose! Not just to make a child. Not because the templars made that choice. They choose-"

"That's enough," Wynne hushed him. "If they hear, if they know you're reluctant it will only be harder."

The tests continued in tense silence. They both knew what would happen if one of the partners were reluctant. Not only would the templars be present during their first coupling, but they would assist, using any means necessary to get the girl with child.

"Wynne. . ." Anders began. The woman turned to him. "Why don't you. . . you know?"

She sighed and shook her head. She handed him a small vial, uncorking it as it passed hands. "I did not have a match the first year. By the second, I was with child, and the third. . . the child had taken such a toll on my body that I was deemed unfit."

"And the child?"

"It was before they could assure the babes to be mages. He was raised by the Chantry," she said, voice tinted with sadness. "Now, drink. And follow instructions, always. It will be much easier for both of you."

The ceremony itself was a public affair. The men and women were lined up in the mess hall in front of previously Matched couples and a small army of templars. Anders tensed. There were more men than women. To his right stood the Hawke men, Garrett and Malcolm. So Malcolm, though already a father and fathering one of the candidates was not exempt from the Match, Anders thought. To his left stood Dredick Surana, a tanned elven lad of 17 summers. The two meet glances, knowing one of them would be paired with the young Hawke girl, the youngest candidate the circle had seen in some time.

"The Matching was designed to ensure the birth of well rounded, talented mages with the ability to resist even the strongest of demons," Gregior began. "The candidates have been tried and tested, and the match shall ensure the magic grows stronger."

Anders gulped. He noticed the women shifting uncomfortably opposite them. Bethany was shaking, Elaine had her eyes trained to the floor, andAddien bit her lip with such force a small dot of blood spotted the edge.

"For the first time in over a decade, the gentleman outnumber the ladies. As tradition follows, a woman will be shared by two men until the next Matching ceremony," Gregior continued.

Anders stomach plummeted to the ground. Fear decorated the ladies faces.

"In the matter of Enchanter Elaine, she will couple with Enchanters Dredick and Garrett," he began. Elaine began openly weeping across from him as she was pulled seedy from the podium. The two men followed, flanked by templars. Anders' stomach plummeted further. He would be paired with the young Hawke girl. Knowing, she looked to him with pleading eyes.

The Match continued. "In the matter of Enchanter Addien, she will be coupled with Enchanter Anders."

The unrest in the room was audible. The templars must be mad! That left young Bethany to pair with her own father!

Anders tried to resist when the guards pulled him from the podium, but he knew it was useless. The match was binding. He feared less for himself than he did for the other pair.

"This can't be!" he shouted when the door closed behind him, leaving him alone with Addien.

" Sorry to disappoint you," she mumbled, sitting on the edge of the bed, the only furniture in the cramped room.

"No, not that!" he insisted, moving closer to her. "Bethany. The only man left is her father! They can't do this! Its not right!"

"We shouldn't worry about others. It is not our place," she stated softly.

Anders groaned. "Do you always do what is expected? What is ordered of you? That man is about to conceive a child with his daughter!" he hissed.

"It is not a concern of ours," she whispered. Her hands trembled in her lap.

"Doesn't it bother you?" he nearly shouted at her. "Or are you too afraid to lose your position of Irvings favorite?"

"Of course it bothers me!" she spat back. "But we can't change anything!"