Dragon Age: Inquisition's latest party member has been revealed as Dorian, a mage who is developer BioWare's first "fully gay" male party member ever.

Speaking about creating the character, writer David Gaider explained that while he is aware some may see the character controversial, his own sexuality meant creating Dorian was "a very personal experience"."Dorian is gay—he is, in fact, the first fully gay character I've had the opportunity to write," Gaider explained. "It added an interesting dimension to his back story, considering he comes from a place where "perfection" is the face that every mage puts on and anything that smacks of deviancy is shameful and meant to be hidden. Dorian's refusal to play along with that façade is seen as stubborn and pointless by his family, which has contributed to his status as a pariah."I suppose this aspect of Dorian will make him controversial in some corners, but I was glad to include it. It made writing Dorian a very personal experience for me, and I'm hopeful that will make him seem like a fully realized character to fans in the end."Dorian is an outcast—by choice, but only insofar as he chose not to live according to the expectations of his society. There are a lot of aspects to that which I enjoyed exploring, and which I haven't had to chance to do with other characters."Though gay and bisexual characters have appeared in BioWare games before, Dorian is set to take the stage as the first gay male party member. Though Mass Effect 3 feature both Samantha Traynor and Steve Cortez as gay characters, neither was playable, while Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's Juhani was a lesbian (though a coding bug initially made her bisexual).Earlier this year Gaider took the opportunity to talk about gay protagonists in games , explaining that despite resistance from some parties it wasn't much to include, and was surely worth it so those who feel alone and don't see anyone like them represented in games can feel supported.When we recently dissected why we need more gay characters in games , one of the key points we brought up was that while we see more lesbians, gay males remain absent from many video games for a multitude of reasons. Dorian's reveal hopefully marks a turning point.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter