Where does it state that we died before the last stand? I know that Guardians were defending the survivors whilst the City was built. But like I said, that took centuries. So at least 200 years has passed since the beginning of the City and the start of the game. Which means your character could have died 100 years ago and have been dead a long time, as the Ghost says. Meaning your character can be any of the races. I'll admit there are obvious aspects of the dialogue in parts of the game which point to a story reshuffle; as if each race may have had unique dialogue but it was cut, for whatever reason.