mages.
Society hardly evolves in a void. The attitudes are systemic and the ease of demon possession and blood magic are built into the environment itself. It attracts the damaged and the extreme, who are then heavy-handed with those who have less power, and then the less powerful take more and more measures to protect themselves.
Kirkwall is Tevinter's legacy. Not to absolve anyone directly involved of responsibility for the Tranquil Solution, but to divorce it from our history is just naive.