The prologue of the Dragon Age: Origins video-game. The prologue sets up the world of Thedas, and how the Grey Wardens serve as its protectors from the darkspawn Blight.
Duncan's Opening Narration
An opening prologue is narrated by a human named Duncan, which he details a history of the continent of Thedas from 1000 years ago. That according to the scriptures of Thedas' central religion, the Chantry, sorcerer-lords from the ancient Tevinter Imperium tried to conquer the Golden City, the heavenly seat of the Maker, and claim the power of God for themselves. Instead, their corruption and hubris irrevocably poisoned Heaven, and for their crime, they were cast back to earth, twisted and mutated into the first of a race of monsters called the darkspawn. The darkspawn multiplied into a horde that swarmed up from the underground Deep Roads, which resulted in the fall of the dwarven kingdoms. They then ravaged across the surface world of Thedas, destroying everything in their path and threatening every race on the continent with extermination. That is until an order of warriors called the Grey Wardens, a mixture of any race and combat class that they could recruit, arose to combat the darkspawn and prevailed.
Over the next few centuries, the darkspawn have tried to destroy the world four different times in immense invasions called 'Blights,' and each time, it was the Grey Wardens who stood on the battlefield to defeated them. However, it's been 400 years since the last Blight, and the need of the Grey Wardens has been forgotten about. The number of Grey Wardens that remain are now few in number, and their warnings of the lingering darkspawn threat have gone ignored. However, under the leadership of Warden-Commander Duncan, the remaining Grey Wardens within Thedas' southern kingdom of Ferelden continue to keep a watchful eye on the lands, which is starting to show signs that the Fifth Blight is finally here.
