Yog Sothoth said
I have played d&d like roleplays like the 13th age so would that be similar to dragon age?
Neh, not really. Let me give you a run down starting with the races.
Humans: Bogstandard as usual. Most numerous race on the planet, lots of variety but usually if there's a problem you can trace it back to them.
Elves: Most live as either second-class citizen in human cities or roaming nomads in the forest. Formerly a dominate species, but humans nearly drove them to extinction. Also notably, they are incapable of giving birth to "Half-Elves"; if there's matting between a human and elf, it will always be human. It sort of hurts the human/elf relations.
Dwarves: Dwellers of the deep with a highly strict caste system (Divided mostly between the Warrior, Noble, Merchant, Servant, and the Casteless). They only have one major city, as the rest of their underground empire have been overrun by the Darkspawn.
Darkspawn: Your go-to race for evil horde monsters. Think orcs. The most numerous race, greater in number than even the humans. A constant threat, though usually all their infighting at least keeps them underground and makes them the dwarve's problem. Unless there's an Archdemon.
Qunari: A fairly new race to show their face, most of them are large horned humanoids. The Qunari actually refer to people who follow a certain religion. Most of them are "Kossith", the huge horned humanoids. Qunari are one of the more technologically advanced races, with access to gunpowder. Most have a burning hatred of magic.
Mages: Worth getting their own race deception since only certain people can become mages. It's usually hereditary, but there no way one can "Become" a mage, they are simply born as one. They can be Human, Elves, or Qunari. Dwarves don't seem to be able to use magic powers due to living close to Lyrium, which in it's unrefined state absorbs magic energy. Or something. Mages are often subjected to living under constant surveillance and prejudice around the world, even with it's one nation where mages are more accepted are still hated due to their reputation of being power-hungry and all too willing to resort to using their magic to harm those who think differently from them. Individuals differ of course.
There are also certain factions you might want to know about.
Chantry: The dominate religion in most nations where are are humans. They preach the Chant of Light which is about the Maker (The suppose creator of the world) and hold a certain disdain towards magic, mostly about how it needs to be controlled and regulated for the safety of the world. The Chantry has different branches that handles different problems, like the Seekers and the Templars.
Templars watch over the mages. Or rather, they are there to make sure if any mages fall out of line, they are quickly put back into line or killed. Templars have a nasty reputation for being very "Anti-Magic", and it's true, if only because it's part of the job description. Their job really is to fight and combat mages in the event that the mages ever decide to band together and fight for whatever reason.
Seekers are like the spies of the Chantry. They serve as informants and agents for the Chantry when sending Templars are a bit too much. They don't quite share the Templar's hardline attitude towards mages, some might not even have much faith in the Chantry at all, but baring a few traitors their loyalty lies with them anyways.
Grey Wardens: An order of powerful fighters who's purpose is the fight the Darkspawn. They accept anyone into their ranks regardless of race, occupation, or history. Elite warriors and peerless strategist, but also politically neutral. The only thing they're concerned with is fighting the Dark Spawn; anything else is none of their business, and they would prefer it to stay that way.
Mage Circle: Sanctioned by the Chantry, these are your mages who work with the Chantry in order to ensure that other mages under their watch are treated well and with respect. Lead by the First Enchanter, they ensure that mages are properly taught and trained to use their powers responsibly, though not all mage circles share the same ideals.
Apostates: Not so much an organization as much as a label, these are mages who operate outside of the Chantry. The Chantry would have you believe that Apostates are evil-mages who make contracts with demons and use blood magic for their own means, and to be fair, there are a lot of Apostates like that. But in it's simplest form Apostates are just mages who don't work for the Chantry. They'll still be persecuted by the Templars, though some Apostates who don't succumb to the siren call of demons are usually sympathetic.
And that's just what I'm going to bother to explain. Here's a TvTrope page to it's first game if you want more detail.
