Assassin's Creed 3's first major DLC The Tyranny of King George Washington might seem like a completely irrelevant tangent, but Ubisoft says we should be paying attention to the story. Apparently, this alternate reality will bear some weight in the series' overarching storyline, somehow.

As the story goes, Connor wakes up one day to find the world has gone completely bonkers. George Washington went on a power trip and declared himself king, people who had died (like his mother) are suddenly alive, and his tribe can now grant superpowers through herbal tea. Oh, and Connor's cool new animal-themed outfit also lets him do crazy things, like turn invisible or do some crazy flying attack.

Game director Marc-Alexis Côté commented:

"By the end of the last episode you will see how this relates to Connor and the real George Washington. This experience is canon."

Guess that's not too weird, when you consider the flying Pope from Assassin's Creed II and all the other crazy sh*t we've seen so far.

Not that the player will be the only one confused. In fact, Connor won't understand any of this either. The first episode of the three-part DLC will actually open with a brief video that, of course, is completely undecipherable. That is, until you go through the game and uncover all the memory artifacts to unlock the full two-minute version.

"Right from the start, Connor is questioning that things aren't right. He's asking 'Why is my mother alive?' You understand that this is all related to Connor but you don't know how or why it is canon. But, by the end, you will understand - and it's a great, clear-cut end to the story."

As for all the wacky supernatural stuff, it could've been a whole lot wackier, if Ubisoft's native consultant hadn't found it so offensive. Côté explained:

"The way we originally had Connor access the sky world was by him visiting spiritual stones with the symbol of a specific animal on it. He would touch the stone, pass out and go on your spirit journey.

"But when we showed this to our native consultant he found it to be quite insulting for his culture. It's something that we've been really sensitive to throughout the development of the game, respecting the culture of the people we portray."

So now, powers come from drinking a hallucinogenic tea made from red willow bark. Seems legit, if you ask me.

The first Tyranny of King George Washington episode, "The Infamy", will be released next week on February 19. The rest will follow all the way through April.