The Castle of Caer Oswin, Duke Bastien De Ghislain's estate, Grand Duke Gaspard's trophy room all have one thing in common they each have a stuffed and mounted krogan head on the walls.

Donovan Hock has a statue of a Darkspawn ogre.
               
It used to be the Council was the governing body of interstellar relations but following the unified effort to build the Crucible during the Reaper War and the sheer destruction caused by the Reapers the Council grew in power until it officially became the sole governing body. Each species maintained their own Council to oversee the day to day affairs of their species from the Council one was elected to become a member of the Prime Council.

Both versions of the Normandy proved to be so vital in protecting the universe it became a standard ship design in the United Council Alliance fleet. The Normandy Class was put into production and the first one to be named was the UCA Shepard.

The Crew of the UCA Shepard was on a reconaissance mission when their ship was blind sided by batarian pirates. Before they crashed into an unknown planet they were able to destroy the batarian pirates.

The Shepard crashed into the ocean. A good portion of the crew died on impact with the water or drowned. Some were eaten by sea creatures. The few survivors swam to shore. Shortly after a huge plume of water shot up out of the ocean signifying the captain had succeeded in her mission to destroy the ship to ensure the technology didn't up in the hands of the Council's enemies.

And how does Dragon Age come into it?

In reply to Sith_Happens (msg # 2):

The crew of the Shepard crashed on a planet. The people of Thedas are incapable of space travel. You should be able to figure it out from there.