Rite of Annulment

The History Of The Rite Of Annulment
In the 83rd year of the Glory Age, one of the mages of the Nevarran Circle was found practicing forbidden magic. The templars executed him swiftly, but this brewed discontent among the Nevarra Circle. The mages made several magical attacks against the templars, vengeance for the executed mage, but the knight-commander was unable to track down which were responsible.

Three months later, the mages summoned a demon and turned it loose against their templar watchers. Demons, however, are not easily controlled. After killing the first wave of templars who tried to contain it, the demon took possession of one of its summoners. The resulting abomination slaughtered Templars and mages both before escaping into the countryside.

The grand cleric sent a legion of templars to hunt the fugitive. They killed the abomination a year later, but by that time it had slain 70 people.

Divine Galatea, responding to the catastrophe in Nevarra and hoping to prevent further incidents, granted all the Grand Clerics of the Chantry the power to purge a Circle entirely if they rule it irredeemable.

Recent changes to the Rite
Before 937 this Rite of Annulment had been performed 17 times in the previous 700 years.

In the ten years of the Mage Rebellion it was performed more than ten times. The exact number of Annulments is not yet known, but it is something that still pains and angers mages to this day. Many of them are refugees from the slaughter and join the Hand of Justice so they can exact their revenge.

One of the conditions of the Weisshaupt Accord between the Templars and Libertarians was that the Rite of Annulment was not to be performed by Templars on Libertarian Circles. This was to be revoked, something that the Sword faction of the Templar Order were not willing to give up. Why they signed the Accord is still a mystery to many and some believe that they will not hold to this agreement.