DA4 - Beginnings, Backgrounds and Origins

You bring up some really good points. I agree that a good introduction to your character is what is missing from DA2 and DAI, I just never thought about it before.
It feels like you wake up with a green hand AND amnesia in DAI. You didn't just forget what happened at the conclave, but your entire life is missing too.
Hawke is already on the run when you start playing, and when companions start asking questions like "will you ever go back" you have no idea where "back" is or what it was like.
In DAO you had at least a few moments of a normal life before everything went downhill.

I like your "Partial Origin / Varying Introductions" version. Keeping the inquisitor would do the trick too I guess, but they won't do that.

I didn't mind DA2/DAI jumping in after the Lothering/Conclave event but i wouldn't be completely opposed to jumping in before especially if it's to witness the disemboweling of the inquisitor.
You'd probably encounter making the player feel completely powerless(based on Lothering/Conclave) if its that sort of event but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I can see the benefit of a single scenario without the divergence of potential partial origins.
I'd prefer the focus to be on providing potential variance during journey for any origins provided. Clearly that also comes with costs & degrees of feasibility.

I assume it will be like DA3, different lines of dialogue here and there. They did an absolutely astounding job in SWTOR, and if I could get either class or racial story like that in their other games folded into the main games events, I'd be happy, because every new character has his or her own story to follow. If they can't afford it, the gender-class-race specific dialogues once in a while are alright with me.

I don't see why the Inquisitor losing their hand means they can't be a hero anymore. Patrick Weekes when asked about that even said that wasn't the reason they lost their hand since "there are many amputee heroes". They could always just give the Inquisitor a prosthetic limb, even work that into the story with the Inquisitor dealing with that and even serves as a perfect excuse to start back at Level 1 since they need to learn how to fight again from scratch. 

Prosthetic limbs existed in our own medieval times, and we didn't have dwarves, qunari, or magic. Plus Bioware has already considered the prospect between The Iron Bull almost having a prosthetic arm to the prosthetic you get if you become a Red Jenny so it wouldn't be a leap at all. 
Maybe they'll change their minds, especially if enough people like the idea. 

I love OP's post and also wish to add that for me having various introductions has greatly increased the replay value in Origins since I wanted to experience all backgrounds. Having these backstories has also influenced how my characters reacted to the world without forcing it or stretching my imagination. Each experience felt slightly different due to my character's outlook on the world and the game each time felt different even if I was doing the same story line once they got merged into main plot.

Perhaps the game can start with the Inquisitor and those who we start the game with are crossing the border into Tevinter, either sneaking across or in an official capacity. As you travel, there can be a NPC filling the Inquisitor in on what they've learned so far and the Inquisitor can say and ask a few things. The topics can involve what Solas has been up to since Trespasser, the current situation in Tevinter, and even more personal stuff like perhaps how the Inquisitor's prosthetic arm is doing. That way it sets the stuff up for the new player while still creating a good intro for those returning since stuff will have happened between Trespasser and then. Then of course something happens getting us into combat and the game begins. 

That's just one guess of course. They could do other stuff. Like maybe they are at Dorian's place in Minrathous already and they have the set up there and then things go down or something. 

I think it would work best if the starting point was as a slave as that would allow you to be any race or class. I know people have argued that dwarves are not slaves in the Imperium but that seems stupid to me considering they have casteless in their own culture who are effectively no better than slaves and in fact are arguably a lot worse off. So there is no reason why a casteless dwarf wouldn't be a slave in Tevinter, may be even selling themselves into slavery for a better life. As Calpernia's story shows, you can still be a mage and a slave.

I'd really like the human protagonist for once to be from the lower ranks of society. The human origin in DAO had them as the second most powerful noble family in Ferelden and the human mage was an Amell, so nobility. Even Hawke turned out to be from a noble background and once they had bought back their estate were treated as equals by the rest of the nobles, even snooty Orlesians like Duke Prosper. Trevellyan came from a noble background as well and was even distantly related to Dorian's family. So I'd really like to see the humans start off at the bottom just like everyone else.

There could be slight variations according to your race as to why you were a slave in the first place, or may be they could let you choose the reason for yourself, but it would allow for there to be a bit of an origin type introduction into the world but without the expenditure on resources that having completely different ones would entail.

It works both ways. Tevinter is probably Orzammar's best client, so they would likely turn a blind eye to casteless dwarf slaves or even surface dwellers. After all in the eyes of Orzammar they no longer exist.

Also Kal Sharok would probably be only too willing to supply any deficit and they are much closer to Tevinter, so Orzammar really needs to keep Tevinter on side.

The slave rising from nothing to leader is something I've seen time and time again. Spartacus's story is well known and I don't want a rehash of it.

The player character, first and foremost should fit the theme of the story. In Mass Effect, we had many themes: "It's up to you (and your allies)" "You can't save everyone", and "You always need to think three steps ahead, particularly when dealing with galaxy crushing horrors."

What would be the theme of DA4? If the theme is something like "Anyone can save the world if they try hard enough" then the protagonist could really be anyone at all. A random schmuck, similar to the Inquisitor at the start of the game. If the theme is more like "If you want to save the world, you'll need to navigate powerful friends to your advantage" then you're going to need someone who would curry respect among the power players.

Personally, my idea of a great theme is: "Among the chaos of the world, a strong leader can restore order and destroy his enemies. But saving a nation takes more than that." Which would require the protagonist to be someone of forceful personality, a frontline generalissimo type similar to Emperor Aurelian, Belisarius, or Marius. The NPCs would need to be people powerful enough in their own right, but also complement the protagonists's skills.

Here's my thing on that side of the equation; I'm kind of sick and tired of restoring order.

Granted, really, only Inquisition was about that. Origins was more, doing whatever you had to do to save the world, damn the consequences. DA2's theme was more about deconstructing the notion of the Big Bad by showing that it's more about a perfect storm of combustible elements than any sinister plot that causes shit to hit the fan and the individuals involved that seem important in hindsight were just kind of there.

But Inquisition was all about restoring and maintaining order to the point of heavy-handedness, and that more than anything is what soured me on the game. Doesn't matter what you think of the Chantry and the damage it's done; it's the only thing that holds all these nations together and is too important of a stabilizing element to allow to fall. Doesn't matter what you think about the Orlesian Empire, letting it fall to chaos is gonna cause too many problems for you so you have to play by their rules to save it. Only situation where you don't have to maintain the status quo in some form is with the Wardens because Bioware seem dead set on turning us against them for some reason.

Cullen, Josephine, Cassandra, Varric, Sera, and Vivienne are all about restoring the world to the way it was with minor changes. Bull, who belongs to a nation dedicated to changing and replacing the established order, is exceedingly apprehensive about actually implementing that change and prefers things stay the way they are. Cole & Blackwall are more about personal reasons; general doing good and redemption. Leliana is in favor of maintaining the existing power structures with sweeping reform, but her being capable of that comes off as less an endorsement of those reforms and more a side effect of Leliana being a creator's pet. Dorian is the only Andrastian companion who endorses getting rid of the Chantry all together, and while the Inquisitor can personally agree with the sentiment, it isn't an ideal that you can actually implement and act on.

And while Solas of course is in favor of the most wide spread, fundamental change out of everyone, 1) he's the bad guy, and 2) his idea of change is just re-instituting a previous status quo and restoring something that doesn't exist, something the game hammered home was pointless and futile with Corypheus, who had near identical motives. And all three of Corypheus' chief minions, Calpernia, Florianne, and Samson, are ultimately motivated by being in favor of massive political and social change and upheaval. Granted for Florianne this is a purely selfish power-grab, but Calpernia and Samson genuinely both want to change the world for the better as they see it and are framed as monsters - however tragic - for it. 

So, yeah. Inquisition is all about maintaining and restoring order and I kind of really want to go in another direction. The last two years have done nothing but make me more anti-establishment in my world view so I'm really hoping that instead of telling us about how all these deeply corrupt, outdated systems and organizations are ultimately to everyone's benefit and the right thing to do is to work for slow, gradual, incremental change from the inside, we instead get to take a sledge hammer and a blowtorch to the whole thing.

And that is a massive part of the reason of why I do not want the Inquisitor to make a return as the playable character. Because ultimately, whatever stated opinions they have, they are agents of order, stability, and protecting the establishment and status quo. And that is not something I have any desire to do again.