In Dragon Age, Orlais is the biggest nation in Thedas and is known for serving as the seat for the Chantry's Divine. It has been both mentioned and highly explored in the games, books, and even the series' movie. The nation was founded by humans, particularly those of the Ciriane tribe. In modern-day Orlais, the nation has mostly forgotten the culture of its founders.
The founders were originally nomadic and fought side by side with Grey Wardens and Tevinters during the First Blight. In -165 Ancient, Avvarian leader of the Alamarri tribes (and known betrayer of Andraste), Maferath, gave the land that would be Orlais to his son, Isorath. Isorath married Jeshavis, a Ciriane woman. What happened next sealed the fate of Orlais forever, as Jeshavis plotted the murder of her Alamarri husband by manipulating his younger brother into killing him. Then, through her machinations, she had the younger brother killed as well after he took over Orlais and married her. She then ruled for 42 years, becoming known as the "Mother of Orlais" and the inventor of the Grand Game.
Rise Of The Chantry
Jeshavis could not rule forever, and after she passed away, tribes would fight each other for the next ruler of Orlais. In -36 Ancient, a woman by the name of Castana was named queen. She was the daughter of an important chieftain and wife of Septimus Draken of Tevinter. At this time, Orlais was quite small and nothing in comparison to its size in the Dragon Age.
The queen had a son, Kordillus Drakon, and that son believed Andraste had tasked him with redeeming the world to the Maker. At just 16-years-old, Drakon led battles against cults and conquered more land. He married a talented archer named Area Montaures, and together they pushed out any belief in local deities or the Old Gods. In -15 Ancient, Drakon destroyed a Ciriane fortress that was once lived in by Jeshavis and replaced it with a temple to the Maker. After its completion, Drakon was crowned the new ruler of Orlais. His very first action as ruler was to make the Chantry the empire's official religion. The first Divine was chosen four years later, a woman who was a general in the army of Drakon. Magic was then declared illegal unless operated by those who work for the Chantry.
The Exalted Marches
In the Glory Age, the Dales and Orlais fell into an open war when the Divine at the time, Divine Renata, declared an Exalted March against the elves. By 2:20 Glory, the elves were crushed and Halamshiral was conquered by the Orlesians. The Dales also became a part of the Orlesian empire. The Divine then declared that only elves who would convert to worshipping the Maker and would stop believing in their old gods, like Andruil and Mythal, would be able to live in human cities. This led up to the creation of alienages.
A second Exalted March happened in the Glory Age, which pushed Tevinter out of Starkhaven. Skipping the Towers Age to the Black and Exalted Age, Orlais then had four more Exalted Marches against Tevinter's Black Divine. All four of these Exalted Marches ended in failure. The Qunari were the next target of Exalted Marches in the Storm Age. Three were called against them, and through those battles, Orlais managed to steal the Tome of Koslun from the Qunari.
Wars Against Other Nations
In the Black Age, the empire invaded Ferelden for the first time. This invasion only lasted three years before they had to retreat. It was in the Blessed Age that Orlais successfully occupied Ferelden, under the rule of Emperor Reville. While this occurred, Nevarra declared war on the nation of Orlais. They took a number of cities before and permanently took the city of Perendale.
The loss of Perendale began a series of losses for Orlais. Emperor Reville became unpopular, and in the Blessed Age, he had the entire family of his brother assassinated. The Emperor then locked himself in his room for a year and died. In this same Age, prince Maric Theirin began to lead a Ferelden Rebellion against Orlais' occupation. By the Dragon Age, Ferelden won its freedom.
Kirkwall also had its fights against Orlais. In the early Dragon Age, Viscount Perrin Threnhold increased the fees of Orlesian ships that came to his city. The Orlesian Emperor at the time, Emperor Florian, pressured the Divine to get the Templar Order to overthrow the viscount. The battle was won and Kirkwall, while it has a new viscount, became a place where the templars had all the power.
Emperor Florian's death eased some tensions between Ferelden and Orlais. In 9:20 Dragon, Florian's niece, Celene Valmont, became the new Empress of Orlais. Celene, like the Mother of Orlais, was a major player of the Grand Game. She played a role in Florian's death, and she gained her title after outwitting her cousin, Gaspard de Chalons.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is available on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.