Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag marks the continuation of what Ubisoft has internally begun to call the 'Haytham Family Saga.' The story that began with Haytham and Connor in Assassin's Creed 3 takes a step back to the past in Black Flag, thanks to the power of the Animus. Players now embody Connor's grandfather, adventurous pirate Edward Kenway, as he decides whether to pledge his allegiance to the heroic Assassins or the villainous Templars.

That decision will play a key role in early parts of the game's story, Ubisoft's San Diego Comic-Con panel for the game revealed over the weekend. The panel, which consisted of lead writer Darby McDevitt, voice actor Matt Ryan, comics writer Brendan Fletcher and famous toys and figures creator Todd McFarlane, focused mostly on the marketing and media outside of the game, but also revealed that Edward as players find him in the beginning of Black Flag will be a conflicted character out more for his own glory and fame than for the greater good. This provides him the room to change and grow as a character, much like series favorite Ezio.

The panel quickly turned to how the Assassin's Creed franchise will continue to grow outside of the realm of gaming. A new comic, 'Assassin's Creed Brahmin,' will take players to India with a new protagonist, a new story, and a new set of villains. These stories will carry over into the games in small, subtle ways that will reward the hardcore fans with extra tidbits of story and context.

This lead into McFarlane's new series of toys, which will highlight popular characters from the games. Again, Ubisoft and McFarlane are making an active attempt to make outside media like figurines and action figures tie more deeply into the game. With this in mind, McFarlane announced that exclusive codes would be included with each of the figures that will unlock in-game DLC.

Figures of Blackbeard, Connor, Edward and more will be available. They will come along with codes that unlock exclusive treasure maps, costumes, sails for the Jackdaw, and even a unique pair of swords with boosted stats (don't worry - McFarlane clarified that they won't be the strongest swords in the game.) 

McFarlane's company is also working on a 15" tall statue of Edward, and showed off the unfinished bust for the first time at Comic-Con. It was definitely massive, although it didn't have its coat of paint on it just yet.