《龙之纪元起源》部分Codex翻译之四（文化与历史篇）

Codex Entry 115: A brief explanation of Fereldan culture

The Fereldans are a puzzle. As a people, they are one bad day away from reverting to barbarism. They repelled invasions from Tevinter during the height of the Imperium with nothing but dogs and their own obstinate disposition. They are the coarse, willful, dirty, disorganized people who somehow gave rise to our prophet, ushered in an era of enlightenment, and toppled the greatest empire in history.

There are few things you can assume safely in dealing with these people: First, they value loyalty above all things, beyond wealth, beyond power, beyond reason. Second, although they have nothing in their entire country which you are likely to think at all remarkable, they are extremely proud of their accomplishments. Third, if you insult their dogs, they are likely to Declare war. And finally, the surest sign that you have underestimated the Fereldans is that you think you have come to understand them.

--Empress Celene I of Orlais, in a letter to her newly appointed ambassador to Denerim

第一百一十五卷：Fereldan文化的一小段解释

Fereldan的人民一直是个谜。作为一名人类，他们距离野蛮人的程度只有一日之遥。他们只用战犬与他们顽固的天性，便击退了来自帝国最强盛的时期的Tevinter侵略者。他们是粗鲁，任性，肮脏，无组织的人群，但却不知如何地孕育了我们的先知，引领了启明时代的到来，并且打败了有史以来最强大的帝国。

在你和这些人们打交道为了安全起见应该首先记住几点：首先，他们把忠诚凌驾于其他一切之上，超越了财富，权力，理性。其次，虽然你可能认为他们的国家中没有任何值得引以自豪的事物，而他们却对他们自己的所作所为感到无比的骄傲与自豪。第三，如果你污辱他们的狗，他们可能会对你发动战争。最后一点，你最可能低估Fereldan人的一点就是你可能自认为你已经理解了他们。

---Orlais女皇Celene一世在一封给他在Denerim的大使的信中说到。

Codex Entry 116: On the role of dogs in Fereldan society

I am frequently asked, during my travels in other lands, to explain the dogs omnipresent in Ferelden. Inevitably, I tell my foreign questioners that there are no more dogs in my homeland than in their own. In every civilized corner of Thedas, an astute observer will notice dogs employed in hunting game, keeping barns and storehouses free of vermin, herding livestock, guarding homes, and even used as beasts of burden in the mountains. It is simply that Fereldans show appreciation for the work that our dogs do. And perhaps the reason for that is tangled up in mythology.

Hafter, the first man to be named teyrn, the hero who united our Alamarri ancestors to drive back the darkspawn of the second Blight, was reputed to be the son of a werewolf. Now, perhaps this was meant to be some comment on his temperament, or simply a way of making a great man even larger than life. But more than half the noble families of Ferelden claim to be descendants of Hafter, and consequently, many of our people believe they have some distant kinship with wolves. It is only good manners to be polite to ones kin.

--From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of A Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi

第一百一十六卷：Fereldan社会中狗的角色

在我旅行到其他土地上的时候，总是被无数次地追问，并被要求解释在Ferelden无处不在的狗。每次我都不可避免地告诉这些外国的提问者，他们国家所拥有的狗其实和我们国家的一样多。一名机敏的观察者会发现，在Thedas的每一个文明角落狗都被广泛使用在诸如打猎，保护仓库不受害虫侵害，照料牲畜，保护家园，甚至在山脉地区还会被用来背负重物。Fereldan的人们只是对它们的所做表示出了一点感激而已。而也许这些原因中有一部分混在了神话原因之中。

Hafter是第一位被命名为领主的人，第一位联合了我们那Alamarri的祖先们并击退了第二次天灾中黑暗大军的人，他被认为是一位狼人的孩子。而如今看来，这样做的原因也许只是为了形容他的脾气，或者只是为了让一位凡人的生命看起来更伟大一些而已。但是Ferelden超过半数的贵族家族都声称是Hafter的后裔，于是便导致了我们中的许多人都认为他们与狼的血统有某种程度上的关联。而对于与他们同血统的生物客气一点，完全是出于礼貌的原因而已。

--源自“追寻知识：一位教会学者的旅行”，作者是Genitivi修士

Codex Entry 117: On the geography of Ferelden

The kingdom of Ferelden is the southernmost civilized nation in Thedas--although some scholars dispute that claim to civilization. It is perhaps the most physically isolated of all the kingdoms of Thedas: To the east is the Amaranthine Ocean, to the north the Waking Sea, and to the south the Korcari Wilds, which in the summer months are a vast peat bog, and in the winter become a treacherous labyrinth of iced-over waterways. The Frostback Mountains guard the western border, and only a narrow plain between the mountains and the sea allows travel between Ferelden and Orlais.

Most of the land in the central portion of the kingdom, called the Bannorn, is open plains. These are crossed by the remnants of an ancient Tevinter highway that once connected Val Royeaux with Ostagar, on the edge of the Korcari Wilds. The western part of Ferelden is dominated by Lake Calenhad, a huge caldera filled by the runoff of glaciers from nearby mountains. Lake Calenhad is home to the famed fortress of Redcliffe, as well as the Circle Tower, which houses Fereldens Circle of Magi.

In the east is the vast Brecilian Forest, which the superstitious locals profess to be haunted, and from which rises the Dragons Peak, a solitary mountain that guards the capital city of Denerim.

--From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of A Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi

第一百一十七卷：Ferelden的地理

Ferelden的王国是Thedas南方最发达的国家---尽管有些学者质疑它是否算是文明。它也许是Thedas大陆中地理位置最隔绝的一个王国了：它的东边是Amaranthine海洋，北边是觉醒之海，南边是Korcari荒野，那儿在夏天的时候是一片炙热的泥潭，而到了冬天则变成了冰冻溪流的迷宫。Frostback山脉守护着西边的边界，且在山脉之间只有一片狭窄的平原能够连通Ferelden与Orlais之间的旅行。

在王国中央部分的大多数领土叫做Bannorn，是一片开阔的平原，这里纵横交错着原本连接着Ostagar与Val Royeaux的古老Tevinter交通要道，位于Korcari荒野的边缘。Ferelden西边的部分主要在Calenhad湖泊的掌控之下，这个湖原本是一个巨大的火山口，被由附近山脉上融化的冰川之水汇聚填满而成。Calenhad就是著名的Redcliffe城堡的家乡，同样也是议会之塔的家乡，那里居住着Ferelden的法师议会。

在东边是广阔的Brecilian森林，迷信的当地人认为森林里经常闹鬼，而在那里崛起了巨龙之崖----一座孤独挺立且守望着Denerim城的山峰。

--源自“追寻知识：一位教会学者的旅行”，作者是Genitivi修士

Codex Entry 118: An account of the Free Marches

The Free Marches are not a kingdom, nor even a nation in the most basic sense. People from that region dislike even being lumped together as "Marchers." Rather, they are a collection of independent city-states united only when it suits them; in this respect, they resemble the Bannorn before the arrival of King Calenhad. Because of this, the Free Marches have no capital, and what passes for a central government exists only sporadically, a sort of Landsmeet that convenes only during times of crisis.

I arrived in time for the Grand Tourney while it was on in Tantervale--a remarkable sight indeed. I saw Avvar hillsmen test their mettle against Orlesian Chevaliers, riders from the Anderfels buying Nevarran cavalry horses, Antivan craftsmen selling their wares to Tevinter mages. All of Thedas was on display.

--From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of A Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi

第一百一十八卷：Free Maches的记载

Free Marches并不是一个王国，甚至从更加基本的意义上来说都不算一个国家。从那个国家里来的人们被统称为“Marchers”。其实，他们只是一群为了各自的利益联合起来的城市联邦而已，谈们在Calenhad国王出现之前就率先统一了Bannorn。而正因如此，Free Marches没有首都，因而也就没有一个实质上的中央政府，而领主会议只有在国家面临危机的时候才会召开。

我在“大旅行”恰好在Tantervale举行的时候到达了那里----那确实是一副壮观的景象。我看到来自Awar的山岭人在Orlesian侠义骑士的面前比较他们的胆量，来自Anderfels的骑手从Nevarran人手里购买战马，Antivan的手工艺人将他们的货物卖给Tevinter的魔法师。各种Thedas的人都可以在那里看到。

---源自“追寻知识：一位教会学者的旅行”，作者Genitivi教士

Codex Entry 119: An explanation of Fereldan politics

To our neighbors, Ferelden seems utterly chaotic. Unlike other monarchies, power does not descend from our throne. Rather, it rises from the support of the freeholders.

Each freehold chooses the bann or arl to whom it pays allegiance. Typically, this choice is based on proximity of the freehold to the lords castle, as its worthless to pay for the upkeep of soldiers who will arrive at your land too late to defend it. For the most part, each generation of freeholders casts its lot with the same bann as their fathers did, but things can and do change. No formal oaths are sworn, and it is not unheard of, especially in the prickly central Bannorn, for banns to court freeholders away from their neighbors--a practice which inevitably begets feuds that last for ages.

Teyrns arose from amongst the banns, warleaders who, in antiquity, had grown powerful enough to move other banns to swear fealty to them. There were many teyrns in the days before King Calenhad, but he succeeded in whittling them down to only two: Gwaren in the south, Highever in the north. These teyrns still hold the oaths of banns and arls who they may call upon in the event of war or disaster, and similarly, the teyrns still hold responsibility for defending those sworn to them.

The arls were established by the teyrns, given command of strategic fortresses that could not be overseen by the teyrns themselves. Unlike the teyrns, the arls have no banns sworn to them, and are simply somewhat more prestigious banns.

The king is, in essence, the most powerful of the teyrns. Although Denerim was originally the teyrnir of the king, it has since been reduced to an arling, as the kings domain is now all of Ferelden. But even the kings power must come from the banns.

Nowhere is this more evident than during the Landsmeet, an annual council for which all the nobles of Ferelden gather, held for almost three thousand years except odd interruptions during Blights and invasions. The sight of a king asking for--and working to win--the support of "lesser" men is a source of constant wonder to foreign ambassadors.

--From Ferelden: Folklore and History, by Sister Petrine, Chantry scholar

第一百一十九卷：Fereldan政治的一种解释

对于我们的邻居来说，Ferelden看起来十分的混乱。不像其他由君主统治国家，权力并不是代代继承下来的。而是通过各个自由地区支持选出来的。

每一个自由的地区都会选出一位男爵或者伯爵作为他们的首领与代表。自然的，这种领主的支持者们都是生活在他城堡附近的居民，因为谁也不会花钱养活那些关键时刻因道远而无法及时拯救他们的士兵。在大多数的地方，每一代的人民一般会选择支持他们父亲曾经支持的家族作为领主，但有些时候情况也会改变。人们不会正式宣誓向谁效忠，这并不奇怪，尤其是在Bannorn那多事的中心地带尤为如此，在那里男爵们必须统领他们领地以外的一些人民---这一举动便导致了该地区长期地发生械斗。

领主则是从男爵中选出来的，自古以来一般都由是强大到足以让其他男爵对其宣誓效忠的军事将领所担当。在Calenhad国王出现之前有过很多位领主出现，但是他成功地将他们最终削减成只剩下两位：来自南方Gwaren的一位，和来自北方Highever的一位。这些领主们仍然拥有在战争或灾难时期召唤男爵与伯爵们进行援助的权，类似地，领主们也有着保卫向他宣誓效忠之人的责任。

公爵是由领主选出来的，让他们负责看管那些领主们无法亲自看管的重要堡垒要塞。不像其他的领主，公爵们没有向他效忠的男爵，他们只是一些更优秀的男爵而已。

国王则是，名义上最强大的领主。尽管Denerim最初是一个郡的称呼，但如今已经减为了一个城的名字，因为如今国王的领土已经覆盖了整个Ferelden。但是即使是国王的权力也离不开男爵的支持。

这点在领主会议上体现得再明显不过了，这是一个全Ferelden贵族们集合的会议，除了偶尔被侵略或者天灾打断，这一传统已经持续了近三千年。而这种国王们请求---以及设法赢取---弱势群体的支持在一些外国大使的眼中显得是那么不可思议。

---源自“Ferelden：乡间传奇和历史，作者教会学者，Petrine修女”