"It might as well be for the majority of Tevinter," Krem said softly. He checked the project again, decided it was neatly complete, and hung it back up so that he could grab the next piece and start in on it. This one needed more details, a closer match to the existing embroidery. His fingers were slower, more methodical.

"The soporati, the lowest free class in Tevinter, they range anywhere from barely scraping the edges of slavery all the way up to being nearly as wealthy as the greatest altus. But, none of us are mages. So, especially second sons in less affluent families, turn to the military. It pays well. It gives great prestige, if you live long enough for it. The two best honors in the military are station, and death."

He was quiet, picking small details into the finery. "Women are allowed very few positions in the military. Secretaries. Couriers. Scribes, if they were from a family affluent enough to know how to write. Healers, if they're a mage. Company women for the frontier or the front lines. I paid every sovereign my mother and I had for a piece of paper to make sure I had a sword in my hand."