Called Humans, Colonials, members of the Twelve Worlds or simply the Tribes of Man.
The Colonials are human in all physical and biological respects, although depending on what colony they were brought up on may give them slight physical variations in skin colour or build.
The maximum typical Colonial lifespan is around 200 yahrens.
The family unit is very important to the Colonials. It is very common for children to follow in their parents footsteps, and in the military, it is very common for family units to serve in the same ship or at least, the same squadron.
Colonials do not use surnames much and having a second name does not imply that a person is more important than someone without one.
In addition to the planet that a Colonial was born on, a Colonial also comes from one of the Twelve Tribes of man. Usually the planet and Tribe are the same, but not always. As well as these, some people can also trace their bloodline back to one of the Houses of Kobol. Again, knowing your bloodline does not in itself confer any advantages to ones station, but mentioning it in the right circles can make you noticed. Some bloodlines are supposed to infer qualities on the members of that line - such as the pure bloodline of House of Kobol which is supposed to be wise gifted - but like much of the Colonial religions and origins, this is mere myth to most people.
The Colonials have nobility, and this can be hereditary as well as a reward. Noble males are referred to as Sire, while female nobles are Siress. They can amass great wealth and power, and some can become very decadent too. It should be noted that if the noble gets sealed, then their partner also becomes a noble with the title of sire or siress. However, their name changes to that of their partner. So, for example if Sire Uri gets sealed, then their partner will be known as Siress Uri.
The Colonials are a very religious and mythical people. They all have legends about Kobol and Earth and what like was like for their fore fathers. They look back a lot and try to emulate the greatness that was Kobol.
In a sense, their mythology is their religion. The Colonials do not follow gods much, instead they follow the original human leaders - The Lords of Kobol. When people are sealed, the Lords of Kobol are called upon to bless the union. The Lords of Kobol are also called upon in greetings and exclamations.
There are two main 'holy' books - the Book of the Word and the Book of the Lords of Kobol, although access to the later one is generally restricted to a certain group of people, which includes the Quorum of Twelve.
Obviously not everyone follows the same path, and some worlds have differing traditions and beliefs, but the Lords of Kobol feature in all of them. Some people chant more, some have greater emphasis on legend.
There is a small group of Colonials who have special talents - that of the powers of the mind. The most well known are the rare painters of Scorpio who use their powers to create special pictures with special paints, however there are others with differing powers, like those of telepathy and telekinesis. Psionics are not shunned in the Colonies and a few places (like Scorpio and the Military Academies on Caprica) even try to encourage people to develop their talents. Unfortunately, these people are rare.
The family unit is very important to the Colonials, and for the most part, families usually stay together for a long time. It is not uncommon for children to stay with their parents until they are sired. It is also not uncommon for children to take up the jobs their families did. It seems that the more important the family in the noble and politician lines, the more this is so. Indeed, the more important the family, the more likely it is to stay together, and in the military it is not uncommon for these families to stay together on a single ship.
An interesting aspect of Colonial society, is that it is very stable. While individuals may not have such stability in their day-to-day lives, the culture overall has not changed much for many hundreds of yahrens. Architecture, clothing, weapons are all similar to those introduced a long time ago. Change does not happen overnight in the Colonial society. It is possible that, did the Colonials not engage in war with the Cylons, that their society might have continued in this trend for many more yahrens. Some might call this stagnation, but in actual fact, the society has simply reached a point where it meets the needs of its people, is stable and has no real need to move on. This is very similar to the ancient civilisations on Earth, where some - like the Ancient Egyptians - continued on for hundreds, if not thousands of years, with no actual changes in how they did things. This is even reflected in the military. While technology does progress, ships - especially capital ships - have been around for hundreds of yahrens, and simply repaired and updated when needed.
Whilst everyone would like you to believe that the Colonials are always united, that is far from the truth. The Quorum of Twelve are constantly bickering amongst themselves for better deals for their worlds and themselves, and the Colonies themselves have their own colonies, which have stronger ties with their homeworld rather than the Colonies as a whole. While this does not break out into violence or hostility at all, there can be a distant rivally amongst worlds, ships mainly of one tribe, and the like. Competition runs high.
While the Colonials have many punishments, they do not execute anyone, no matter what their crime.
For other aspects of Colonial Life, click here.
For examples of Colonial Architecture, click here.