Jr

I play an Antivan Crow but I still picked Minrathous out of a purely costs vs benefits view. Treviso was already under the control of the Antaam when you first go there and is an active occupation zone. Losing Treviso might affect trade for Antiva but it's not even the capital city, and you could argue that its occupation has already cut it off from the rest of Antiva already, since Antiva has no standing army aside from the Crows.

Losing Minrathous is way more costly politically. If you let Minrathous fall, the Venatori will capitalize on the chaos and seize power in Tevinter and essentially legitimize their cause and it's possible you will have a future of a Tevinter that is now run by Tevinter supremacists and cultists that could do way more damage to the politics of Thedas than the Antaam ever wish they could. Tevinter also has a battle-hardened army from fighting the Qunari constantly for the better part of 2 centuries so giving the Venatori control of that army could be way more costly long-term and that is not something I would want to see.

On that note, the fact that you have to make this decision makes no sense to me lore-wise. Why would Tevinter, the country who has a powerful army, and is run by powerful mages, need any assistance in putting down a dragon from one group of 3 individuals? How does that make any sense for a city like Minrathous? It's the capital of the empire, and thusly should have been sufficiently occupied by a significant amount of the army, navy and their powerful mages, even if they are actively fighting the Qunari at that point. It makes no sense that only Neve and the Shadow Dragons plus your Rook should make any difference in the city fighting off the dragon. Antiva at least has no standing army so choosing them would at least make sense, but the Shadow Dragons plus your team being the only line of defense for Minrathous makes absolutely no sense and feels like lazy writing without respecting the lore.