Massive multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic takes place 300 years after the Knights of the Old Republic games and several thousand years before the first film - a relatively unknown period in Star Wars history. To set the stage, BioWare has released the first in a series of videos explaining the events leading up to the game.

The video (available here) is narrated by Master Gnost-Dural, Keeper of the Jedi Archives. The voice might sound familiar - it's Lance Henriksen, the film actor who also played Admiral Hackett in Mass Effect. This particular video describes the Treaty of Coruscant, a truce that the Republic was forced to sign with the Sith Empire.

The galactic timeline video series is only one of many ways that BioWare is doling out information about their new game. They've also released a web comic series and video documentaries.