Elissa settled back in her chair, looking distant for a moment, as if there was a sudden weight on her shoulders. In reality, she was only wondering how to begin.

"We were fighting monsters. Darkspawn, creatures that were once human and changed irreparably by the Maker." She shrugged. "That's how the legend goes. But their blood is tainted. If you come into contact with it...it's very likely that you'll die. They destroy and kill all they come into contact with. Their very presence can bring famine and pestilence to the land and it can take decades for it to be the same again. Animals die, crops dry up, people get sick...all long before they actually come to the surface. Until a Blight happens, they remain below ground. A Blight isn't in full effect until there's an Archdemon." She settled her chin back on her hand. "An Old God infected with the Taint. It rallies the darkspawn into battle."

Elissa briefly shook her head. "The entire world would be in danger. But it began in Ferelden, my home, and it fell to my friend Alistair and I to try and rally the different groups of Ferelden to take them to war before the Blight spread beyond our borders. I needed to gain the allegiance of the mages, the Dalish, the dwarves, and the nobility. I did it in less than a year."