User:Questorion/Dark Times: The Confederacy of Malkuth

Dark Times: The Confederacy of Malkuth
Dark Times: The Confederacy of Malkuth is a series of fan made expansion packs, or modules, for the PC Version of Dragon Age Origins, the award wining role-playing video game developed by BioWare's Edmonton studio and published by Electronic Arts.

Set in the mythical world of Thedas during a period of civil strife, the player assumes the role of a warrior, mage or rogue who travels to the Confederacy of Malkuth searching for an artifact known as the Everful Cup.

Act I - The Gift of Time
Dark Times: The Confederacy of Malkuth Act I is It is the first release in the Dark Times Malkuth franchise. The game was released and made available for free download on October 31st 2010 on the Bioware Social Network

Synopsis
BioWare has described Dragon Age: Origins as being a "dark heroic fantasy" story told on an epic scale with mature themes.

Myrdo
Myrdo (voiced by Deacon X)is an Ash Warrior who found his wife dead one day and his mabari covered in blood beside her. Jumping to the wrong conclusions, and in a fit of rage, Myrdo killed his mabari, Baldur. He later came to learn that the blood on his mabari was not his wife's, but her attacker's. The hound had jumped to the defence of the woman although he failed to keep her safe.

Myrdo consumed by guilt now journeys to find the answers he seeks so that he may return his dog to life. He knows that if he succeeds, his dog may not come back the way he was, and so does not wish to risk the beauty of his wife to the devastation of evil.

Thazulok
Thazulok (voiced by Questorion)is an elven maleficar.

The Lethe
The Lethe (voiced by Lucy_Glitter) The Lethe is a creature of the fade, an immortal ethereal entity given physical form in the earliest days of the Tevinter Imperium by the archmage Xuan-te. She exists to bring the blissful peace of utter annihilation to the demonic adversaries of the master she has been bonded to.

Xuan-te was the first in a long line of mages that she has served. Previous owners include Shale's former master, Wilhelm.

The Lethe joins the player's party early on in the module if the player chooses to complete the dark ritual required to bind her to their will. She is a possible romance option for both male and female players. The Lethe is quick to show her disapproval of actions taken against the one she calls Master. She tends to take a more destructive approach to life and thus favors more 'evil' options.

The Lethe's personal quest involves a trip to the Fade, where the player is tasked with the reliving the events that led to her arrival in the Confederacy of Malkuth.

Development
The developers have cited that many of the aspects of the narrative have been influenced by the study of political science, sociology, race relations and recent world events. There were 35 contributors. More to come.

Dark Times Chronicle
On August 19th 2010 Dark Time’s Team Z, lead by Mysteri, released the first issue of the Dark Times Chronicle online. The Chronicle acts as an extension of the Malkuthian setting, consisting of a series of fictitious articles that tie into the established lore of the mod. The articles in each issue range from accounts of the day to day happenings within the fictional Confederacy of Malkuth to interviews with members of the Dark Times Team.

Since its creation two more issues have been released, on September 3rd and December 13th of 2010 respectively. Additional holiday themed articles were released on the 24th of December to tie in with the real world Christmas holidays.