The Qunari, hulking masses of muscle with grey or bronze skin and typically have horns... Followers of the Qun... Formerly the Kossith before the Ashkari Koslun founded the Sun and then a sect fled their homeland to follow in his footsteps.
None know what the Kossith looked like or what they were like, that people has been lost thanks to time. All that is definitively known is that the Qunari don't look like them...
But is that all we know?
No, thanks to evidence from Inquisition and tin foil-y nonsense, I have a theory that I feel is canon.
The Kossith were... Elves!
I know, strange isn't it? But here is my proof:
We know that the Tamasarans control Qunari breeding, choosing who can and with whom. The Ben-Hasrath, according to Iron Bull, believe that the Kossith were mixed with dragons, maybe drinking it like reavers, maybe magic, it depends on the member. We know fron Cassandra that those who become reavers can grow slitted eyes, scales, horns, increased strength and hostility and that after prolonged exposure lose their memories. Sound familiar?
Both the Qunari and Elves have pointed ears, while not exactly definitive proof, it is interesting that they are the only races who do.
The elves also lost their culture, thanks to human being enslaving their ancestors. It is well known that Magisters in the Imperium practice forbidden arts and new types of magic in order to gain an advantage against others in the Magisterium. Using dragon blood in blood rituals on slaves, a constant supply of test tubes, that if they were considered "failures" would just be disposed of? Sounds like a plausible source...
What I believe happened is Ashkari Koslun was an Elven slave who escaped the Imperium and traveled far and wide. His views on the world from his experiences colored how he felt the world should be a place where there are no poor, there are no hungry, there are none who control others without need to... A place with total order and everyone is equal. And thus he created the Qun.
The Kossith that either survived the rituals or then copied them to become better and more suited for tasks than followed to Par Vollen and took the land for their own. It would explain how they seemingly came from nowhere with no source of ever existing... Cause they themselves didn't really exist until after they left.
Is this true? Well, only time (or the devs) will tell if what I'm saying is correct. What do you all think on the theory though?
I really like this theory, an elven slave race with dragon blood sounds awesome!
It's such a shame that playing a Qunari in DA:I was so disappointing. Being forced to play a Vashoth, not even a Tal-Vashoth takes away all the really cool and unique things about playing that race. I get they had to do it to make the role of Inquisitor fit but they should have found a way to make it possible to at least roleplay a member of the Qun, or at least a Tal-Vashoth.
Iron Bull was part of the Qun and he worked, not sure why it wouldn't have worked for the Inquisitor. The most interesting thing about the Qunari is their alien culture, if you take that way it makes them boring. Its like playing an Orc in Skyrim but not being able to be from a stronghold, or worship Malacath or follow his codes or wear oricalcum armor. In the ends whats the point?
DA Origins had a codex somewhere or a discussion with Sten, if my memory serve me, where they say that qunari had to fled from their homeland because some undescribed beings keep slaughtering them. Not mass genocide, but something they were ill equiped to defeat, for some reason. I had, then, the impression there are at least 2 types of ``qunari``, but got entangled in other games and forgot to check.