BioWare's upcoming spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series, Dragon Age: Origins, will not only offer multiple endings, but also multiple beginnings. The game will allow players to choose from six unique origin stories that will each provide several hours of gameplay. The details of these origin stories have just been released.

• Dalish Elf

  As one of the last "true elves", you were content to spend your life wandering with your clan... until a chance encounter with a relic of your people's past threatens to tear you away from everything you've known.

• City Elf

  You have always lived under the heavy thumb of your human overlords, but when a local lord claiming his “privilege” with the bride shatters your wedding day, the simmering racial tensions explode in a rain of vengeance.

• Dwarf Commoner

  Born casteless in a land where rank is everything, bound as the lackey and thug of a local crime lord, you have spent your life invisible... until chance thrusts you into the spotlight, where you can finally prove whether you will be defined by your actions or your birth.

• Dwarf Noble

  The favored child of the dwarven king, you proudly take up your first military command... only to learn that the deadly intrigues of dwarven politics pose an even greater danger than that faced on the battlefield.

• Mage

  Gifted with a power considered a dangerous curse by most, you have spent most of your life secluded in the remote tower of the Circle of Magi to be trained and watched closely by the dreaded templars. Now your final test is upon you -- succeed and prove your strength, fail and you will perish.

• Human Noble

  Born to wealth and power second only to royalty, you find your training in both diplomacy and war put to the test when your father's castle is betrayed from within on the very night your elder brother is to lead the family's forces to war.

Choices made in these origin stories will influence future story elements, dialogue options, and even entire plot branches. Dragon Age: Origins is currently expected to release on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in Q4 2009.