rederiswrites:

Right, so, I 100% love all the art people make of their inquisitors and others in masks for Halamshiral, and I have a lot of sympathy for the attitude that we got robbed with our plain-ass matching pseudo-military uniforms (which, notably, had stylistically nothing whatsoever to do with any other costumes shown in the game, which bothers me too).  Please keep it up!  But there was a logic behind the lack of masks, and I thought people would be interested, so here’s a passage from David Gaider’s Asunder that explains:

To be without a mask in Orlais, then, was a statement.  It said you were either a peasant not even useful enough to be part of a noble house, or that you considered yourself above the Game.  To the elite, however, nobody was above the Game.  You were either a player or a pawn, nothing else.

Justinia V, Divine of the Chantry and the guest of honor at the evening’s festivities, was not masked.  Nor were the flock of priests attending her.  The priesthood wasn’t above the Game, precisely, but an exception to it, and any nobleman was expected to maintain an unimpeachable veneer of respect when speaking to a priest regardless of what they wore.

So in sending everyone barefaced, the Inquisition is making a pretty clear, bold statement.  Obviously, we’re actually there to play the Game and everyone takes that for granted.  But those bare faces are saying “We are above the Game”, and at the same time they’re sending the message that the Inquisition considers the Herald of Andraste as being due the same deference owed the Divine and her priesthood.