Imagine Dragon Age Imperium

An apocalypse (Ancient Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apokálypsis, from ἀπό and καλύπτω meaning "uncovering"), translated literally from Greek, is 'through the concealed', meaning a disclosure of knowledge, i.e., a lifting of the veil or revelation. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something hidden, “a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities".[1]

The following is a potential DA4 concept with duel protagonists I'm toying with, both a new PC and the Inquisitor. I'm going to be vague about plot details, like, very vague after the prologue and not very good, I'm mostly trying to get across my idea of how to have both playable characters. I'm also thinking DA4 will include more linear mission levels than Inquisition.

Now, as the game opens the Qunari have already invaded Tevinter and the war is just now reaching the new protagonist.

New PC #1, Storm Front: The story will open in the Tevinter city of Neromenian as it prepares for a Qunari fleet expected to arrive after nightfall, creating our new protagonist. There will be two paths to this introductory level, a "high class" and "low class" path. The "high class" path will be followed by the human Altus and dwarven Ambassadoria. This path will deal more with the politics of the city, as some noble families try to leave and others muster the defenses to defend their city and their holdings. The "low class" path will be followed by the qunari slave and elven liberati. This path will explore more of the underclass that is being pressed into service in defense of the city. Both paths will involve brushes with a suspicious elven character (not Solas, but someone working for him) making plans to sneak into the estate of the human Altus character's family. The two paths intersect with nightfall, where we get an awesome scene of the Qunari dreadnoughts raking the shore with cannon fire, the response of Tevinter's mages, and a beach landing scene. The two paths might start the battle in different places, but the qunari advance into the city and the new PC ends up in the Altus estate to see a group of elves fighting Ben-Hassrath. They then team up with Lace Harding, who is there for the Inquisition and recover the artifact both forces were seeking. The new PC or one of their other companions then uses the artifact as leverage for Harding to help them escape the city.

The opening is structured this way to level the playing field. The "high class" paths lose their familial power base. The slave's master is dead and both the slave and the liberati will receive a boost in status from Dorian's patronage once he recruits them. Thus they will all be able to follow more or less the same story from there as they work with Dorian.

Inquisitor #1, Val Royeaux: Now we jump back south to Val Royeaux, where we will take control of the Inquisitor for the first time. As I envision it, most of the total gameplay will be spent playing the new PC. They will be the "main game", while the Inquisitor's missions will be self contained and linear, triggered by the new PC's completion of main plot missions. They will also have no combat, being mostly composed of dialogue, puzzles, and stealth, perhaps a war table for Tevinter operations that will affect the new PC's gameplay. Each mission will open with Dorian reporting recent events to the Inquisitor.

At any rate, the Inquisitor is attending an event in the White Spire, a meeting between the Grand Enchanter, the College of Enchanters and Divine Victoria regarding the new Circle system. In reality, the Inquisitor is there investigating a Mage they believe is an agent of Fen'Harel. This leads to a race through the bowels of the tower for the artifact (the same elven relic from the new PC's story) the agent is looking for (Puzzle opportunity!), and ultimately a chase down to the port. Sera cameo may or may not occur. Mission ends with the Inquisitor boarding a ship.

New PC #2, Minrathous: So we wake up in Dorian's estate, where the fantastic mustache himself recruits the new PC for the fight against Solas, explaining that the artifact and accompanying documents belonged to an ancient magister obsessed with studying the Fade and were probably originally captured from the elves. Dorian also offers his protection and patronage to the new PC. With that, we're set loose on our first large explorable area with a couple leads: Minrathous. Minrathous would be structured somewhat like Kirkwall, divided into several regions, though hopefully larger than Kirkwall's regions. So much potential in this city, I want to participate in the Grand Proving arena, see their Circle of magi. There's an opportunity for race specific quests, especially for the human character.

Anyway, the Qunari invasion is mostly in the background at this point, but it should be evident that the city is on war footing. The leads the New PC tracks down will open up new DAI style regions to explore in the rest of Tevinter, like the Hundred Pillars for example. Plot points within these regions would lead to more linear main plot missions. Plots off the top of my head include: Investigating the abandoned village of Solas, thus uncovering an elven ruin and an eluvian that will give insight into the Dread Wolf's plan; investigating what remains of the Venatori to uncover their knowledge + artifacts (A good excuse to set a mission in another Tevinter city); Returning to Qunari occupied Neromenian to explore an old temple of the Old Gods, uncovering a secretive cult dedicated to Razikale; Journeying to the front lines of the war and taking part in a battle with the invading qunari while trying to recruit a knowledgable ally; etc.

There may be anywhere between two and four main plot missions here, but each completion triggers the following Inquisitor missions in this order:

Inquisitor #2, Kirkwall: Does anyone else want to see what Kirkwall would look like in the Frostbite engine? Well, I do. This may or may not feature Hawke, they could be dead and even if not throwing in three character creator screens in the game seems like a bit much.

This mission opens with the Inquisitor having recently arrived in Kirkwall, where they have an estate and a title courtesy of Varric. This mission will be very dialogue heavy, as the city nobility are in the midst of sending a force of mercenaries north to help repulse the qunari. The Inquisitor will be gathering intelligence from various operatives in their estate and making decision to prepare for the journey northward, as it becomes clear that Solas' plans center on Tevinter. There might be an opportunity for a stealth section if breaking into a dissident noble's mansion can be made relevant to the plot. Or maybe some puzzles. There could be a plot here regarding a conspiracy of elven servants, or what to do with the Gallows. Maybe a side activity that has us playing detective with Aveline (Does anyone else remember that quest on Dantooine in KoTOR where we listened to the testimony of two murder suspects and had to figure out what happened? Maybe we could have something like that)

Inquisitor #3, Imperial Highway: At the end of the previous mission, the Inquisitor would have either volunteered to lead the mercenary company north or followed incognito. The former makes this mission more dialogue heavy while the latter involves more sneaking. At this point the mercenary company has traveled northwest into Nevarra to follow the Imperial Highway north into Tevinter and meet up with other Marcher forces taking the same route. As the company is encamped by the Highway, Knights representing the Nevarran crown have appeared to challenge their passage through the country despite previous permission from the king.

This mission will involve some side activities in the mercenary camp and focus on resolving the conflict with the Knights whether through direct diplomacy or subterfuge. Ultimately it will be revealed that the Knights were tricked by agents of Fen'Harel to delay the Inquisitor's arrival. Solas appears and, after a dialogue, takes the artifact the Inquisitor took from Val Royeaux.

**

Inquisitor #4, Border: At this point the mercenary forces have swelled with contingents from the northern Free Marches and a force of Nevarrans with Mortalitasi. They coalesce around a Tevinter border fort while the commanders decide where to go from here. The Inquisitor meets up with an agent sent by Dorian to meet them to prepare a trap for a ring of Fen'Harel's spies. The mission will revolve around setting this trap and other interesting activities that might be found in a Tevinter fort surrounded by a foreign encampment.

Upon capture, the ringleader is interrogated and reveals that the last artifact Solas is seeking is located on Seheron. Just as this happens, the fort received reports of a massive qunari force landing near Minrathous.

New PC #3+, Seheron: After completing all the primary missions and uncovering Solas plan, the New PC returns to Minrathous to find the city preparing for a siege. Dorian quickly sends them to the last open world region of the game, a big chunk of Seheron, before the qunari blockade makes that impossible.

Once on Seheron, the new PC will find the region divided between the last Tevinter holdouts, a qunari settlement that is a staging area for the invasion, and the Fog Warriors in the jungle. Trying to get to the artifact first fails, but witnessing the artifact's power impresses the threat Solas represents upon both the Tevinter forces and the Qunari Arishok. From this point, the new PC's actions will determine which of the three factions will gain the advantage on Seheron and whether the Qunari or Tevinter will send a force to attack the Dread Wolf's revealed base of operations, hidden deep in the Arlathan Forest.

If you help the Fog Warriors, Tevinter will tell you to f**k off and the Qunari will still help you, but with more annoyance and nobody will be calling you Basalitan any time soon.

Inquisitor #5, Siege: The Inquisitor and the southern forces arrive to break the siege of Minrathous. The Inquisitor and their entourage are prepared to wait for the mercenary forces to clear the way to the city, but Dorian uses the sending stone to tell them that his estate is under attack be agents of Fen'Harel. Thus leading to stealth section infiltrating the city as the battle rages.

When they get inside, the attack on Dorian's estate is already over and the artifact they recovered at the start has been taken. This is an opportunity for the Inquisitor to do some quests in Minrathous. In investigating the theft, they will find that the thieves were sloppy in covering their trail and track them to an eluvian. Passing through the eluvian with some household guards, the Inquisitor and Dorian find themselves in Arlathan Forest, where the guards are killed and they are immediately captured by Solas.

New PC Finale, Arlathan: The new PC's assault takes them through the forest, the Dread Wolf's surface base and ultimately an eluvian takes them deep underground to the ruins of sunken Arlathan itself. There we might fight anything from Varterrel to darkspawn as we make our way to the center of the city, where Solas enacts his plan.

At this point we'll probably see a cut-away to the Inquisitor as Solas holds them prisoner for one last conversation between them. Mostly for the sake of Lavellan closure

Solas power is drained as he puts the spell in motion (Or something, maybe one of the early plots involved finding a way to depower him, doesn't matter at the moment), and then the New PC fights him in a multi-stage boss fight culminating in a fight as a giant wolf. As Solas lies dying, the Inquisitor is released and can comfort him in his last moments... Or twist the knife a bit.

You may notice that I was exceptionally vague as to the specifics of the new character's story and Solas' plan. That's because, as I said, I was just trying to explore how the Inquisitor and the New PC could work in the same narrative. I worked with the assumption that the main focus of the plot will be on Solas and the Qunari invasion will be more of a backdrop that will lack resolution until DA5 (In my mind, a pirate game focused on Antiva, Rivain and Llomeryn). Though there remains room for more political plots involving the Lucerni and Tevinter power games.

**Random DLC Idea
Necropolis
While heading north, the Inquisitor receives a message from Dagna, who is working in Nevarra city. When they get there, they find that Dagna has been working on a prosthetic arm possessed by a spirit with a mortalitasi mage. While visiting, the lab they work in is attacked by undead and vampires. In the commotion, the arm bonds to the Inquisitor who fights off the creatures, but not before Dagna is kidnapped. Nevarran guards take the Inquisitor before King Markus, who reveals that there have been a series of grizzly murders traced to the Grand Necropolis, where several Mortalitasi have gone missing. A Nevarran knight and Dagna's mortalitasi friend (+one other) help the Inquisitor investigate. Ultimately they uncover an ambitious mortalitasi that has become possessed and seeks to create an army of the dead. The spirit animating the prosthetic arm ultimately proves to be erratic and difficult to control, the abomination also reveals that trapping a spirit in an inanimate object is terribly cruel. When dagna is freed, the arm is broken and the Inquisitor can encourage Dagna to make another as they leave or tell her not to try again.