Stories of Qunari occupation vary greatly. It is said they dismantled families and sent captives to “learning camps” for indoctrination into their religion. Those who refused to cooperate disappeared to mines or construction camps.

For every tale of suffering, however, there is another of enlightenment deriving from something called the “Qun.” This is either a philosophical code or a written text that governs all aspects of Qunari life, perhaps both. One converted Seheran reported pity for those who refused to embrace the Qun, as if the conquerors had led him to a sort of self-discovery. “For all my life, I followed the Maker wherever his path led me,” he wrote, “but in the Qun I have found the means to travel my own path.”