Humans

The Humans are a race in the Dark Souls series, and one of the four primary races in the lore. All playable characters are humans afflicted with the Undead Curse.

Description
Like the Gods, the race of Men varies in size and physical appearance, but are almost consistently the shortest of the races. It seems that size is naturally varied and has been for all time, as the Ringed Knights are towering figures, while the Pygmy Lords are slightly shorter than modern man. They also have a much more consistent anatomy though each individual, as opposed to the Gods. Various bit of information imply that the original Humans were immortal, or at least very long lived, had impressive strength, which allowed the use of massive weapons, and could see without the aid of light.

All human beings are made Human by a fragment of the Dark Soul, known as their Humanity, which looks like a black sprite with blank white eyes. Humans can manipulate this sprite using emotions to fuel it, and grant the resulting mass of darkness a tinge of their own willpower, forcing it to behave in a certain way. For example, programming one of your newly generated sprites with a fleeting sense of love or envy will cause it to chase down its target, much like a lovesick of envious human pursues the object of obsession. Humans are also capable of withstanding the Abyss, provided that they have not become untuned to it, and even find a sort of comfort in it.

A Human does not pass any specific concept of Dark unto their children, as the Gods do, but each human inherits a basic template of the Dark Soul. This becomes their Humanity, and by the time of that human's death, their Humanity could be in any number of states. Emotion seems to make Humanity stronger, but also unstable, and the human body can be mutated by its own essence if control is lost. Despite this, it should be noted that primeval humans maintain some degree of control over their Humanity, while modern humans and other races are simply left as maddened brutes.

Age of Ancients
The Humans were created by the Furtive Pygmy, a forgotten Lord from the dawn of Fire, who claimed a small spark known as the Dark Soul. With this soul, the Pygmy raised up the Human race, rooting their essence into the "Abyss ." When the other Lords prepared to battle the Dragons, they came to the Humans, and conscripted them into their ranks. To this, Humans began to forge quasi-living arms and armor in the Abyss, which drew upon the power of a dark flame. Gwyn, Lord of Light, and his children, the Gods, looked down upon the "pygmies" as they called them, and cast a seal of fire upon them. So it was that the Human army, who were dubbed the Ringed Knights, set out with the Lords and their armies to eradicate the Everlasting Dragons, but due to their status, nobody bothered to record their role .After the war, Gwyn "gifted" the Humans a place called the Ringed City, which sits far away at the end of the very world. He also gifted them his youngest daughter, the goddess Filianore, promising her that he would come back for her. The Humans that remained loyal to their roots took the bargain, and retreated to their isolated prison at world's end, taking the true Dark Soul with them. Those that did not take the deal became the servants of the Lords, or were buried with their secrets, and the truth of Human history was suppressed.

Age of Gods
In the Ringed City, the true Dark Soul was spread out amidst several individuals, who became the Pygmy Lords. With the Dark Soul, they were ageless, and they and their descendants isolated themselves from the rest of the city. The city's inhabitants put on a show of reverence for the Gods, but in truth they despised Gwyn and his progeny, taking to subtle mannerisms of spite and defiance .A spell was placed on Filianore, and as long as she remained asleep, time had no influence on the city or its inhabitants. By the decree of an ill-described "King," a covenant was formed to protect Filianore from disturbance, most of its members being survivors of failed attempts to steal the Dark Soul. The last person, for much of history, to willingly become a member of this covenant was a missionary named Halflight. Victims of the Abyss' corruption were resurrected from the Abyss, to help protect the city streets.

Despite the fact that all of this was for the sake of the Human race, some were opposed to the loyalty to Gwyn, who even went so far as to raise a young Dragon named Midir to combat the abyssal entities of the Ringed City. A few secretly wished for the sleeping princess Filianore to be awoken, and ruin cast upon the city, but such individuals are apparently few and far between in terms of open admittance. A race of beings called the White-faced Locust was risen from the Abyss to give sermons on the Dark, as they were kindred to Humans, but most were gluttonous and sought to eat people instead. Meanwhile in a place called Oolacile, the land of golden sorceries, God-loyal humans were convinced by the Darkwraith leader named Kaathe, a primordial serpent loyal to the Pygmy, to raise up a primeval man who had been buried there. Due to a combination of possible reasons, such as the fear of darkness that the Gods breed into their subjects, the sorcerers of Oolacile captured the man and put him through literal torture to study him, even breaking a pendant that held special meaning to him. He went mad, and his Humanity bubbled over from his uncontrollable rage, mutating him into a dark monster. His Humanity overflowed and consumed the very world around him, generating another Abyss, and corrupting the citizens of Oolacile. Knight Artorias, one of the four knights of Gwyn, would be corrupted by the Abyss.

Kaathe also brought the Darkwraith covenant to New Londo, where he enticed the Four Kings with the art of Lifedrain, which ancient Humans used to steal Humanity from others. Even they were corrupted, and New Londo was flooded, to contain the Abyss that generated there. But despite these failures, Kaathe kept searching for a human who could become the Dark Lord, and usher in the Age of Man.

At the close of the Age of Gods, Gwyn realized that the power of the Dark Soul would wax to its upmost maximum, while the power of the other Lord Souls would fade. Fearing that "his" world would be ruled by the Humans, Gwyn cast himself into the First Flame, artificially extending the Age of Fire for another thousand years. The Gods shepherded the Human race, who became afflicted with the curse of the Darksign, which could revive its victims whenever they died. A vile plan was made to prolong the rule of Gods indefinitely, where these "Undead" humans were hunted and gathered to await the end of the world, so that one among them could restart the Age of Fire when it began to end again.

And the plan worked, time and time again, and the fabric of reality suffered each time nature was denied its rightful course.

Final Age of Fire
Dozens of thousands of years have gone by, or even more than that, and the linking of the Fire has become a staple in the world. Finally, when the new "Lord of Cinder" Prince Lothric was destined to sacrifice himself to the Flame, he refused and opted to watch the Age of Dark settle. To save the Age of Gods, four previous Lords of Cinder are resurrected as Undead, but three of them either seek the Age of Dark, or no longer care either way. One last contingency plan exists, to awaken the Unkindled, who failed to prolong the Age of Fire with their sacrifices. Kaathe's will is currently being honored by the Sable Church of Londor, who aim for a slightly different Age of Dark, ruled by a Lord of Hollows.

On their quest, the Ashen One encounters the Painted World of Ariandel, and a little girl whose duty it is to become the new Painter, and replace it with a fresh, unrotted version. To do this, she reveals that she needs the blood of the bearer of the Dark Soul, and that her guardian Gael has gone to find it. Just as the flames are reduced to embers and sparks, the entire world has collapsed in on itself, surrounding the ageless Ringed City. Gael travels to this heap of reality to find the Dark Soul, with the Ashen One following suit, eventually slaying Argo, the leader of the Spears of the Church.

Upon doing so, they come across Filianore and awaken her, breaking the spell on the Ringed City. Time catches up to the city, and reduces it and the world around it to a barren desert, with only the remains of once mighty architecture decorating the landscape. By the time Gael comes across the Pygmy Lords, the broken spell has dried up their blood, though the Dark Soul keeps their decrepit remains alive. Desperate despite knowing he shall likely die, Gael kills and drinks the blood of the Pygmy Lords, becoming the new bearer of the Dark Soul. In his maddened state he fights the Ashen One, eventually discovering that he now bleeds the very blood that he once sought, and draws strength from the Dark Soul. Once he is vanquished, the Ashen One gives his blood to the Painter, who names the new painting int their honor. In what can be theorized as the "true" ending to the series, the Ashen One slays the Soul of Cinder, an embodiment of Gwyn and the Lords of Cinder. They call upon the Firekeeper, whose new eyes have revealed the true course of the world, and she holds the tiny flames in her hands as they fade. She mentions that one day, the First Flame will be reborn, and the cycle of light and dark can now return to its course. Darkness begins to settle across the world, and the Age of Dark finally commences, though the Firekeeper makes note to the Ashen One about how neither of them can see.

Trivia

 * The size of the Ringed Knights implies that early Humans were not that much smaller than Gwyn was.
 * A statue in the Ringed City depicts a shriveled being squatting before Gwyn, who gifts it a crown and a glowing essence (in the game, this is a Chloranthy Ring).
 * This crown appears similar to both his own and the crown of the Pygmy King.