Humans are the most numerous, yet also the most contentious of all the intelligent races of Thedas. Only four times have they ever united beneath a single banner, the last being centuries ago. The monotheistic faith of the Chantry plays a major role in human society.
In Dragon Age: Origins, humans are able to play all three classes, warrior, rogue and mage, and a human Warden can select either the Human Noble or Mage origin.
Racial benefits of Humans: +1 strength, +1 dexterity, +1 magic, +1 cunning
Background
Human concept from Dragon Age: Inquisition
The most numerous, yet the most divided of all the races. Only four times have they ever united under a single cause, and it has been many centuries since the last. Religion and the Chantry play a large part in human society. It distinguishes them culturally from elves and dwarves more than anything else. While the other races dwindle, humanity has thrived and continues to spread.
Humans in the lands of Tevinter had times past worshipped a draconic pantheon of Old Gods, dragonlords that supposedly once ruled over Thedas and now slumber beneath the earth. But the people would come to suffer instead under the yoke of the Tevinter Imperium, a vast empire famously ruled by lords of dark magic, the magisters. Eventually, the Imperium was challenged from the south by a barbarian uprising, the armies led by Maferath and his wife, the prophet Andraste.
Andraste brought the teachings of a new god, the Maker, and her word spread quickly. The oppressed masses of the Imperium rose up in rebellion to support the invading barbarians and eventually most of the south fell to their might. Andraste was not stopped in her Exalted March until she was betrayed by her husband: jealous of her power, Maferath turned Andraste over to the Tevinter archon and she was burned at the stake. The Chant of Light would say that the Maker turned his back on humanity when she died. He would only return and make the world into a paradise when the Chant of Light was sung from all corners of the world, and so the Chantry began to spread. The clerics of the Chantry were oppressed until the legendary emperor Drakon of Orlais converted and took up their cause, spreading the Chantry throughout all the lands that he conquered in its name. In modern times, the Chantry has spread throughout the known world, its power unquestioned even as it begins to give way to internal strife.
Major human kingdoms and regions in Thedas
Female and Male Human
Major human organizations in Thedas
The Chantry
The major religious organization of Thedas is one whose theology revolves around the central place of humanity in the universe and the eyes of its divine Maker. The senior members of the Chantry's ecclesiastical hierarchy are human. The Chantry would be delighted, though, if the dwarves and elves converted to the faith. (They believe in ancestor worship and polytheism, respectively.)
Trivia
- The voices of humans adhere to class stereotypes of England, where regional accents of the working class contrast with "Received Pronunciation", also known as Queen's (or King's) English, region-less, or "posh" accent of the upper classes.