#tevinter mage inquisitor

[the-northern-continent]

To me it 100% makes sense that the Inquisitor and Rook aren’t interested in blood magic.

When someone who grew up in Ferelden imagines a blood mage, they’re picturing their burnout cousin who brews moonshine and has punched a cop.

Northern Marchers, or anyone else who grew up within spitting distance of Tevinter, are picturing Mitch McConnell.

[therookandthecrow]

My first playthrough of Veilguard is expressly pro-Solas, because the Inquisitor I am going to use supported him, and he was his best friend. Aedanthir was his best bro. My Rook Aloisius enters the picture, and he's like "No way, I support Solas too. Let's help him."

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Indulging myself today by thinking about the fact that Solas was going to admit his identity and involvement with Corypheus and the orb, but chickened out at the last minute and told a romanced Lavellan about the vallaslin instead, and so I am considering the world where he does admit All Of That to Ena and sets aside his plan to tear down the Veil. And this is mostly a setup for jokes so once they work through All Of That and Corypheus is defeated and the worst of the chaotic aftermath is dealt with, at some point Ena is going to want to take a brief trip to Wycome and check in with her clan in person. And also introduce Solas to them.

Ena has a multi-step plan for slowly easing everyone into the idea of “everything we know is wrong” where she’s worked out what she first wants to tell the clan about the Temple of Mythal and the ancient elves there, and then once they’ve digested that she’s figured her next rounds of information to feed them, so that eventually she can build the way up to dropping “the gods sucked and Fen’Harel was trying his best” on their heads. Because she knows she can’t lead with that.

“And what if they do not believe you, no matter how slowly you introduce them to the truth?” Solas asks her.

Ena shrugs. “I think they will. They would have no reason to deny what I saw and heard from Abelas at the Temple, and even that will be enough to raise many questions that we can’t answer ourselves. And that’s where we’ll start to lead into your answers. If you haven’t already started arguing with my mother by then. She likes to argue with the other Keepers every Arlathvhen.”

So they go visit Clan Lavellan and it takes about half an hour for Keeper Deshanna to start arguing with Solas and Ena catches up with the rest of the clan and meets some of the elves from Wycome’s alienage while her mom and her boyfriend argue for the next four hours. Esti listens for a while to what Solas is saying and then she goes to Ena like “what kind of weird cult did you find this guy in?”

“It was called the Inquisition,” Ena says. “I thought you would have heard of it.”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Esti says.

“I know,” Ena says.

[iniziare]

Tag drop: Dorian Pavus

[calico-callista]

Old sketches of Rhea’s past as a Tevinter slave and magister’s apprentice when I was first designing her

[feykrorovaan]

Mother Giselle:"You actually were telling the truth."

Dorian:"I do that quite a lot, yet people are always surprised."

[mysticwiki]

it took me about 8 years, since this is my first time playing the game, but i now understand why all my mutuals who love da:i also hate it..... there is so much to unpack here, but i am also enjoying myself SO much but WOW some of the writing??? the narrative choices????

[crows-of-buckets]

I need to make a drawing of all my dragon age OCS for my main world state that's just that one meme that's like "you're feelings matter! Murder is okay!" Thing except it's just Aviae Lucio and Revari going "fuck the chantry" while Selene I just "you're feelings matter!"

[magebutts]

also maybe this is just me really wanting this specific thing, but i just feel like if the inquisitor is in the game, we might see other companions or possibly their partner, and i cannot stress how much i want cullen to be in the game even for the briefest moment just for the sake of recasting him i think it'd be so funny and good

[ladyofc]

Something that always makes me point at screen about Solas saying walking through a world of tranquil, is that the comparison isn't a one to one and he even admits that he was wrong for it.

But it makes me think about all the spirit theories when it comes to an unveiled world. How everyone is basically severed from themselves in a sense. Everyone used to have a connection to their spirit and therefore everyone could do magic. The reason why elves (modern) produce less and less mages is because the more you reproduce the more you become physical.

Solas talks and talks in a romance about seeing Lavellan's spirit, we don't know exactly what that is but they have given us a lot of hints about it. Specifically with the one person you wouldn't think, Varric.

When talking about being the Herald and what the people see, he says on some effect of

"The only Hope they have is you."

----

I mean what else other than a Hope spirit would get religious people to sing after their holy town was destroyed.

Hope would be able to stop Leliana from killing a man that might be valuable later, Hope would get her to move on from Justina.

Hope would be able to help Cassandra rebuild the Seekers, help her see the path as divine.

Hope would make it possible for Dorian to reconcile with his father AND inspire him to go back to Tevinter with the ideals of the Inquisitor.

Hope would be able to forgive Thom and help him redeem himself because we saw the hints of how good he tried to be.

---

And to really nail in the point, Hope would be able to show an Ancient Pride spirit that the world is real. That no, this isn't a world of tranquil and that a romance and hell even a friendship almost made him completely drop everything because he loved his friends.

And as Cole says about the Inquisitor:

"You're too bright. Like counting birds against the sun. The mark makes you more. But past it... [the part that changes due to origin] And past that, the weight of all on you. All the hopes you carry, fears you fight. You are theirs.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard info compilation Post 4

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [another post]

Post is under a cut due to length.

There is a lot of information coming out right now about DA:TV from many different sources. This post is just an effort to compile as much as I can in one place, in case that helps anyone. Sources for where the information came from have been included. Where I am linking to a social media user’s post, the person is either a dev, a Dragon Age community council member or other person who has had a sneak peek at and played the game. nb, this post is more of a ‘info that came out in snippets from articles and social media posts’ collection rather than a ‘regurgitating the information on the official website or writing out what happened in the trailer/gameplay reveal’ post. The post is broken down into headings on various topics. A few points are repeated under multiple headings where relevant. Where I am speculating without a source, I have clearly demarcated this. if you notice any mistakes in this post, please tell me.

Character Creation

BioWare confirmed that even if you make your Rook a short king, the team has done work to ensure animations fit any character build [source]

"Dragon Age's character creator has seen a massive glow-up" [source]. "The volume of choices you get here are frankly insane. As Epler noted, “you could spend forever here,” and he’s not kidding." [source] The art and graphics teams spent a lot of time trying to make hair look amazing [source: the Discord]

In CC we can customise our "bulge size" [source]

Some more detail on the new lighting options to see how Rook looks like in CC when you make them: you can view them in "blazing forest sunshine versus the glare of an underground temple" [source]

"newly mobile, extra-hairy hair" [source]

Faction choice has statistical boons. For example, Shadow Dragon Rook deals extra damage to Venatori blood cultists [source]

Faction choice basically determines why Rook has been called to help in the fight against Solas [source]

All pre-determined character models in CC can be adjusted [source]

You can make a really tall dwarf if you want [source]

"Setting your previous world state is fully integrated into the character creator for Veilguard" [source: the Discord]

Inquisitor appearance will be re-created, there is no way to carry their appearance from DA:I into the game [source: the Discord]

Classes for Rook are not restricted in the sense that you can play any almost class, lineage and faction combination that you want. For example, a mage Rook can be a Crow [source: the Discord] (Fel note: it sounded like Rook cannot be a magic-wielding dwarf, even though the exception of Harding now exists) (Fel note: there is a mage Crow in one of the books)

Story and lore

Here is another article which refers to Rook as "the Rook" [source]

The story is set "9-10 years from DA:I and about 8 years from Trespasser" [source: the Discord]

They have been tracking Solas for "a while. Something else you’re gonna learn about…" [source]

The game does not use the Keep [source]

Shadow Dragon is the faction background with the most in-game reactivity (e.g. from other characters' dialogue) during the prologue section of the game, due to the fact that the prologue is in Minrathous and the Shadow Dragons are a Tevinter-based faction [source]

"I also saw a big moment after the gameplay trailer ends that I can't talk about" [source]

During the more narrative-heavy dialogue choices, "the game will also give a bit of context on what you're about to choose, but doesn't go as far as explaining the exact consequences or precisely what will happen thereafter" [source] "the game shows you how you’ll go about the choice, but it doesn’t tell you the consequence of that choice". [source]

"The game is bringing back Dragon Age 2s dialogue system, which was tone-based and resulted in its protagonist Hawke falling into one of three different personality states. You have three general tones in a conversation: kind, humorous, or aggressive, with slight variations depending on the situation" [source]

"Venatori blood cultists" [source]

"The whole game has the makings of another Suicide Mission [ME2], given that you are up against a god with the ability to collapse dimensions" [source]

"Choices and consequences". "Now, it seems you can see the effects of your choices like never before, and this time, they marry that choice with incredible visuals" [source]

In the bar when you're trying to get information in the opening, if you choose to fight it out and the barbrawl ensues, you then have to run from the pursuers in the bar [source]

A key concern of the developers when creating the environments was to make “a world worth saving" [source]

The prologue is quite linear but there are additional paths you can follow to find additional loot [source]

In the opening section of the game there is a dock which has been attacked and the soldiers that were there have been killed, "but rather than seeing this passively, we walked through the aftermath and had to interact with the scene to piece it all together" [source]

The tone of the gameplay video is a good indicator of the tone of the rest of the game [source]. On the tone: "dark fantasy" [source]. horror & gore is back along with DA's classic dark elements [source]

Tevinter Nights is a better tone indicator for the game than the original reveal/character trailer. Ghil Dirthalen: "Tevinter Nights has felt the most 'DAV' to me" [source]. The gameplay reveal video is the best indicator for the tone of the game (vs the character one) [source]. there is still messy dark shit in the game [source]

Tonally the game is closest to Tevinter Nights and DA:O [source]

Ghil Dirthalen: "[as] one of those unfortunate souls who has latched onto a media world so hard: This game is for me. For the hardcore DA lore nerds, I've been secretly screaming about things I saw for MONTHS now" [source]

The game is true to the DA stories we know and love [source]

Characters, companions, romance

You can choose to engage in companions' own storylines as you progress or ignore them entirely [source]

You will often have to make dialogue choices that will affect how your various companions treat you [source]

Neve is quick-witted [source], measured and elegant [source]

In the opening, you interact with the companions as you move through Minrathous. "your choices during these interactions will determine who goes on portions of the mission with you, along with how “pleased” they are with the answers." [source]

On Varric and Harding: "Instantly the two felt like they’d never been away and avoided the trap of being parodies or fanfiction versions of themselves" [source]

Solas' eyes were always purple hh [source] (yes!)

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc

Some enemies have additional shields that are weak to ranged attacks [source]

When asked about if the war table from DA:I returned, John Epler said "There is a table. Now, whether it works the same way as the table in the previous game..." [source]

Once you get passed a certain point in the game, it opens up dramatically, however it is not an openworld game and they wanted to make sure that all the content mattered and was a more structured, sculpted experience for the player. There is some exploration, some opportunities to get off the beaten path, and some spaces that are fairly wide [source]

The button to press to bring up the skill wheel is RB or R1 (depending on what controller you're using) [source]

"You'll also have access to two skills or spells for each of your two companions that you can command. For a more seamless, uninterrupted combat experience, you can also assign these skills to shortcuts (such as holding the left trigger and hitting the X button) to quickly use them" [source]

"The game is bringing back Dragon Age 2s dialogue system, which was tone-based and resulted in its protagonist Hawke falling into one of three different personality states. You have three general tones in a conversation: kind, humorous, or aggressive, with slight variations depending on the situation" [source]

"booting Fade demons into pits" [source]

"BioWare have revised Dragon Age's art direction to make character models a little more consistent with the series' lovely Tarot-inspired menu art. Flesh is ruddy to the point of painterly; facial features and bodily proportions are thicker and more striking, as though the characters had been cut from clay" [source]

The 3 specs for Warrior are Reaper (has lifesteal/stealing health from enemies, and other freaky powers, does big damage), Slayer (can wield the biggest blade, big swords, big damage) or Champion, which is tanky, shield-using and Paladin like [source] [source]

There are quick-recover prompts [source]

You can roll through puddles of incoming AOE [source]

There are ziplines between some levels levels [source] (Fel note: just like in As We Fly... )

There are also slidey hills to slide down between some sections [source]

There are still some Hinterland-type areas designed for exploration [source]

We can do some home base management to our home base [source] (Fel note: this refers to The Lighthouse, detail in a previous post)

Camera placement is quite zoomed out [source]

Where Rogues have 'momentum', Warriors have 'rage' and Mages 'mana'. When a warrior spends rage in the ability wheel it triggers more powerful attacks. this has been referred to as a build-and-spend mechanic. this system resource gates your use of more powerful skills and is built by getting stuck in [source]. Momentum for Rogues is built by landing hits without taking any [source]

There are big glowing environmental cues for picking up loot or replenishing health potions [source]

"Epler noted that The Veilguard will not be an open-world experience like Inquisition, and instead will have large spaces to explore with quests littered throughout. This allayed my early concerns that they would course correct too hard from the oft-maligned open areas of Inquisition" [source]

Melee and ranged attacks can be charged up [source]

It sounds like there is an option to have greater guidance on when enemies are attacking [source]

The community council gave a lot of notes on the game's art direction to BioWare (gave feedback to the devs) that they were told and shown were changed from the first reveal/character trailer, these made it into the gameplay trailer [source]

The community council asked about having an arachnophobia mode, though they can't guarantee this was implemented [source]

"You’re encouraged to explore and grind for stronger weapons and gear, so your stats and cosmetics improve the further you get into the game" (in the sense that you’ll be rewarded for hard work) [source, two]

Follower information such as cooldowns and health will be visible on the HUD [source: the Discord]

There is a "quick cast" option if you prefer not to use the wheel, should be a chorded action using a controller [source: the Discord]

On PC you can play with keyboard and mouse or controller [source: the Discord]

An accessibility option is the ability to make auto-targeting stronger or weaker depending on your preference [source: the Discord]

The game will have DLSS support at launch [source: the Discord]

Re: hard drives, the game can be played using an HDD, they would recommend an SSD though for the optimal experience [source: the Discord]

There are lots of different interface options you can play with, e.g. combat text size, opacity, when to display health bars [source: the Discord]

Other

The leak from last year or whenever it was (the one that leaked screenshots and a gif from the game) was mainly a lot of outdated stuff and didn't really represent even the early version some community council members had played [source, two]. It was not leaked by a member of the community council, but by a member of another focus group [source]

The community council were given the chance to play the game twice, once in Fall 2022 and a year later in 2023 [source]

There is no information as yet regarding when pre-orders will be open [source: the Discord]

BioWare are hoping to at the very least have the very "best of" the Discord dev Q&A featured on social media and potentially in a blog [source: the Discord]

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

[therookandthecrow]

My Rook Aloisius definitely rode the bull somewhere in the time that has passed between Inquisition and Veilguard.

Dorian is married to my Inquisitor, Aedanthir in the world-state that I am planning to use, so he and Bull never got together.

[abyssal-ilk]

A thing that people always forget when chastising vivienne for being so apathetic to cole is the fact that she is a circle mage. People whom are forced to learn that you should not trust demons nor spirits or else they’ll put you down AS A RITE OF PASSAGE. Think back to what Mouse says in DAO. “Keep your wits about you, mage; true challenges never end.” She knows that for the rest of her life, demons will tempt her and try to possess her. She has seen mages turn into abominations, knows how they get them- of course she will support templars who have the skills to subdue them. And now to have a spirit scurrying around without supervision what is the last bastion against a Tevinter Sidereal… I too would be worried as hell if i were a circle mage.

EXACTLY!

not only is vivienne a circle mage, but there are also a few other factors that play into it that make cole so untrustworthy to her. vivienne underwent her harrowing when she was young– in fact, she was the youngest mage to have ever gone through a harrowing and survived it. we don't get to learn much about what she went through during her harrowing, but we DO have this banter between her and cole:

harrowings on their own are already traumatic enough, and with the added insistence from the circles that all spirits and demons are dangerous (which we see vivienne repeat above, "all it can do is harm."), it makes complete sense on why vivienne would be so put-off by cole! especially given how kind he is! she thinks that kindness is a ploy, and why wouldn't she if her harrowing was anything like the warden's in DAO?

and then that's not even acknowledging the fact that cole isn't just ANY spirit. he's the ghost of the spire. he's killed mages before and admits to doing so. and even though he was wrong to do so and realizes that what he did was wrong, that does not mean that vivienne automatically has to suddenly be okay with what cole did. of course vivienne takes cole being the ghost of the spire harder than everyone else in the inner circle. she is the only circle mage there. it is entirely plausible that she sees cole as a threat and views herself as being the person most able to recognize that threat because of what she was taught. it's why she struggles so much to empathize with cole on any level.

ive already talked about this briefly on another post, but cole is also fairly antagonistic to vivienne as well. it's easy to look at their dynamic and think that, well, cole is just trying to help vivienne but he... isn't? his version of helping her is prying into her thoughts without permission and continuing to do so even after she has shown clear discomfort with it.

cole drags her worst memories and thoughts out publicly in front of not just vivienne, but the rest of the party and anyone else who may happen to be standing near them. it's DANGEROUS, what he does, because vivienne is a player of the game. her position at court is a precarious one, and to have someone like cole who can just pick into her brain whenever he wants with no repercussions? it's scary! it's scary because vivienne has no defense against it, especially if the player supports cole and downplays the harm he does. and what can vivienne do about it? she's an ally of the inquisitor, and that makes her cole's ally by proxy. telling cole to stop doesn't work, insulting him doesn't work, trying to get the inquisitor to intervine doesn't work– nothing seems to deter cole.

which is why THIS piece of dialogue is so important to me:

despite everything i've said above, vivienne still cannot help but care about cole. no matter how dangerous he is, no matter what she was raised to believe, she still cares about him and worries for him. their dynamic is SO interesting to me and i really wish people dug into it a bit more rather than just dismiss it as vivienne being needlessly cruel to cole. it's so much more than that.

[dalishious]

can you remember exactly what Solas says about Blood Magic making it more difficult to connect to the Fade? I know there was a shift between DA2 and Inquisition in terms of the whole blood magic/demons thing, but I can't remember the exact wording

Inquisitor: You said that the censure against blood magic was a superstition… Solas: I did. It's fortunate Cassandra is not within earshot. Solas: Most modern cultures forbid blood magic. Publicly, even Tevinter disapproves of it. Solas: But as I said, magic is magic. It matters only in how it is used.

Inquisitor: I'd be interested in learning more about blood magic. Solas: I would teach you, if I knew it. Unfortunately, using blood magic seems to make it more difficult to enter the Fade. Solas: You understand why I have never bothered to learn it. A shame, as it is extremely powerful.

Inquisitor: Every time I've seen blood magic used, it has been for some evil purpose. Solas: I once saw a woman stabbed in the stomach with a dagger. She died slowly, in agony. it was repulsive. Solas: If the Chantry outlawed daggers, would that stop people from using them? Of course not. Solas: Some would use daggers in secret, ashamed, and some would find rebellion titillating, a step down the path of depravity. Inquisitor: You don't need to sacrifice a slave's life to make a dagger. Solas: I suppose it depends upon the dagger. Solas: How many men have you killed while fighting for the Inquisition? How many more will you kill out of necessity? Solas: And if blood magic could help you? Well, it matters little to me. I do not use it, but I do not think it evil. Inquisitor: So we should allow blood magic to be used freely? It works so well for he Imperium! Solas: Tevinter's foundation stones are in the bones of ancient elves with slave-blood for the mortar. Solas: It is an example of nothing more than gilded savagery. Pitiable, in a way. Inquisitor: It doesn't matter how they arrived there. Most blood mages use their power for the wrong reasons. Solas: Yes, but not all. I once saw a blood mage healer who would shed her own blood to close a patient's wounds. Solas: Although, admittedly, you are unlikely to find her here.

Inquisitor: To be honest, I don't see it as different from any other magic. It's a means to an end. Solas: Indeed. The problem is that, under the Chantry, blood magic is forbidden, so only criminals practice it. Solas: While in Tevinter, magisters compete with each other instead of keeping their volatile friends in check. Solas: They always succeed through power, so they have never had the chance to learn another way.

[vigilskeep]

a couple fairly spoiler-free notes, in no particular order, on neve gallus in her short story, the streets of minrathous, in tevinter nights

the story is by brianne battye, who wrote cullen for dai. we don’t have confirmation yet on who wrote neve for veilguard, but battye isn’t spoken for. lucanis’ writer didn’t write his tevinter nights story, but emmrich’s writer did write the one emmrich appears in. could go either way

it’s written in first-person, and there’s a lot of neve’s apparent sharp, no-nonsense personality in the blunt, fast-paced writing style. she’s got a fair few sarcastic retorts in the classic way of a private eye, but she’s also capable of holding them back when the situation calls for it. she’s a very archetypical detective in a lot of ways, working on her own, answering to no-one, and relying on street contacts for information

neve’s narration briefly refers to the herald as “the “glorious” inquisitor”, with those quotation marks on glorious. while she’s clearly opposed to the venatori and all they stand for, she might not exactly see the inquisition and our previous hero with rose-tinted glasses

she can summon mist for stealth purposes. she can’t truly stop serious bleeding from a deadly injury, but she can numb pain from it and later manages a smaller one of her own: “i’m not a healer, but i can patch up a wound well enough. i slowed the blood flow, tore off the sleeve of my blouse, and wrapped the wound as best i could.” she can hold people in place with air or pin them with ice. she can create ice crystals in the air and throw them. she can slow the air around someone as they move to throw off their momentum. she can blast someone off their feet with a gust of wind. she can use a frost slick to topple people. she’s not bad in a straight up fistfight

a rich man is not the usual crowd she takes jobs from, and she lives in a very different part of town to his manor, instead renting a room from a “third-rate bookseller”. at a house belonging to an ancient mage lineage, she says, “my family has more templars than mages. i’m sure that says a lot about me. the point is, i’m not from an old family and i felt as at home in [a wealthy mage’s house] as jahvis looked.”

neve finds tevinter’s templars, who in the story mostly fulfil the role of a police force, a “usual annoyance” in her life. she used to take jobs assisting them, but avoids it now she can get other work on her own, even though the templars pay better. she says that this is not because they have too many rules for her, though she does repeatedly express irritation at those, but because there are some templars who really do want to “try”, yet “too many times out of ten, it’s the wrong coin in the right hands that makes [them] stop”

she wants to go home and sleep for basically the entire story, but she repeatedly ignores it because far more than that, she wants to finish anything she starts and find closure to a mystery, even if she’s no longer being employed by anyone and she’s being actively told to keep out of it from now on. she goes out of her way for no reward to bring that closure, as much as she can find, to the person who is no longer employing her

fried fish from a specific market stall—“salty, piping hot, and perfect as always”—is a very regular favourite of hers, with the gruff stall owner convinced she’d starve otherwise. she seems somewhat more distressed by losing her fish dinner than when she witnessed a murder

her prosthetic leg is especially survivable because it’s dwarven crafted

[anneapocalypse]

On blood magic and the Inquisitor.

I think there is a lot to be said about how Inquisition handles the topic of blood magic, with regard to the Inquisitor and Hawke and the mage rebellion, and there are valid criticisms with regard to narrative framing and role-playing limitations.

However I also think that any discussion of blood magic in Inquisition and the available specializations for a mage Inquisitor is very incomplete without acknowledging that necromancy is considered blood magic in the south.

Tevinter, so far as we can tell from what we know, just straight up doesn't consider it blood magic (hence Dorian seeing no contradiction in practicing it while vocally opposing blood magic), and Nevarra seems to get away with not considering it blood magic, despite being nominally under the southern Chantry, for political reasons (and probably also geographic reasons). But anywhere south of that? Necromancy is blood magic. The first two games, set in Ferelden and Kirkwall, strongly associate animating corpses with blood magic. From the southern point of view, this is and has always been blood magic.

A necromancer Inquisitor is a blood mage. Mary Kirby agrees. Companions and advisors react accordingly. Here's a compilation if you're interested in seeing them all, but Josephine's reaction is especially telling. Keeping in mind that Josephine is a seasoned diplomat who is well-traveled, has a multicultural education, and understands the nuances of this situation better than most, she says this:

Outside Nevarra, most people think the Mortalitasi practice death rituals… and sacrifices…

To my ear, it's pretty clear what Josie means here. Because she is a diplomat, she is not coming right out and accusing the Inquisitor of being a blood mage, but let's be real, in this context what else could she possible mean by that ominous "and sacrifices..." She is making it clear to the Inquisitor that they are creating a PR nightmare for her, and goes on to say that she'll be keeping this as quiet as possible.

On the other end of the spectrum we have the reactions from Sera and Blackwall, the most common of your companions. Blackwell openly disapproves of the whole practice. Sera is clearly unnerved personally, but she also says:

It's scary to anyone smart enough to think for a second. You shouldn't be scary. You're the Inquisitor.

As someone who's vocal about the interests of little people, she's also pretty clearly trying to warn the Inquisitor that this is a practice that will alienate common people who are already frightened of magic generally.

From what I could find, it seems Cullen doesn't have a reaction to this specialization, which seems like a real dropped ball! I think that his reaction out of anyone could have really cemented how this practice is viewed in the south. (Edited to add: Cullen does have a line in a war table op where he says, "I can accept that necromancy is not blood magic," with seeming reluctance, but still strongly disapproves of the practice being used on fallen Inquisition soldiers.)

As for why there are no meaningful consequences for this, and why no one says the quiet part out loud, well, I think this comes back to the fact that everyone needs the Inquisitor whether they like them or not, and whatever shady shit they might be doing, not closing the rifts is undoubtedly worse. Not only that, the Inquisition has some major allies among northerners, so while it wouldn't do for the Inquisitor to be known as a blood mage in the south, it also wouldn't do to insult those allies by openly condemning necromancy.

In some ways, it is a shame that this aspect of the Inquisitor's character constrains other characters' reactions to them, to a degree. I think it would be fun to get more heated reactions from your companions for this specialization. But I can see why it's limited by the game's basic premise, as are many things, which is itself a whole other discussion beyond the scope of this post.

Anyway, the Inquisitor can be a blood mage, of a sort! Just a sort where nobody calls them that to their face.