Alistair is a young Grey Warden recruited by Duncan less than six months before the Blight began. Alistair's mother died long ago in childbirth, and after being raised in Redcliffe castle he was turned over to the Chantry for religious instruction. He began the martial training necessary to become a templar - the Chantry's military order that watches over the Circle of Magi and hunts down dangerous apostates.

He was found to be ill-suited to a life of religious devotion, however… Alistair is irreverent at the best of times, and his wry sense of humor often put him at odds with his more serious-minded teachers. When Duncan of the Grey Wardens found him, Alistair had not yet taken his vows and was desperately unhappy. Sensing that he had a good and loyal heart, Duncan used the Right of Conscription to force the Chantry to hand Alistair over to the Grey Wardens… and Alistair has never looked back since.​

"Sten" prefers not to give his true name, not to a member of an infidel race that his people have twice attempted to conquer now. The qunari reached the shores of Thedas four centuries ago, possessed of an alien philosophy and an iron determination to bring enlightenment to lesser cultures whether they liked it or not. The fact that they have failed to conquer Thedas has only forced them to study their human foes more carefully.

After the last truce, the qunari began sending missionaries and explorers into the southern lands, and Sten may in fact be one of those. He refuses to say for certain, just as he refuses to clarify why it is he has failed his mission and was encountered rotting in a human cell. The infidel ways are not his, and if he needs forgiveness for his crimes it is a matter of qunari honor and not of human law.​