DA4 - Beginnings, Backgrounds and Origins

Previous games have always given the protagonist a fixed surname based on their race and/or class. NPCs can just refer to the protag by that.

A slave origin is cliche. Plus, we know very little about Tevinter, you can't assume people are avid consumers of the expanded universe. And, given that it tends to be a pattern, obviously, the protag comes from Orlais.

DA2 hero was set in the Marches and originated from the previous game (Ferelden)
DAI hero was set in Orlais and originated from the previous game (Marches)

In neither case did the fact they were from that area really affect the way you played the game from a lore point of view.  In DA2 you didn't have to know much about Lothering, even though we went there in DAO and there was very little reference to anywhere else in Ferelden that showed prior knowledge.

As for the DAI PC coming from the Freemarches, the lore states that it is not really a unified country but just a collection of city states, each with their own character, history and way of doing things. So the fact that we were in Kirkwall the previous game was irrelevant to our character's background since we didn't come from there.

The idea that we would come from Orlais is awful, particularly if that meant forcing that accent on us. However, the main objection is what are they doing up north? I thought it was pushing it somewhat to justify anybody but a human noble background being at the Conclave. There is even less reason from someone from Orlais to be knocking around in Tevinter, particularly now it is a war zone.

same logic applies. Its what the investigative options, codex entries, and exposition are for.

Been musing on this for awhile now off and on and wondering if this is even worth posting (lol) but thinking about the possible Origins we could get either for a set Protagonist or if they do end up giving us organization based origins to play around with. And, as I do, I have been ranking the relative options from most to least likely combined with those I want to play versus those I do not want to play.

1. Antivan Crow:

At least from a multiple organization perspective being a Crow instantly leaps to the top of my list. Tevinter Nights did a good job establishing the organizations cred in my eyes while they had some of the best stories in the collection and gave us a good look into them that deepened my understanding, and even appreciation of them. Based on Zevran's story and others throughout the series we know that their recruitment methods border on kinda slavery...so a base Crow will be powerless. They are involved in clandestine activities which is where I want to see the next game go and some of the marketing indicates we could go in that direction. And while the organization does have a kind of infamy the specifics of the organization does seem to have little in the way of specific knowledge...hence the majority of Thedas will 'never see them coming.'

I can't really think of too many negatives to them other than the negatives with the whole idea...which I will get into.

2. Inquisition Agent.

Can be any race. Any class. Any background. And a wide variety of options. Plus while previous DA games have given us protagonists from the country of the last game I do not think that would work and I think instead they could give us an agent of the Inquisition. This would solve the exposition problem as they would be well aware of Solas's plan though the caveat would be they would have to make a point of recruiting them after Tresspasser. And given the events of Tresspasser such an agent is sort of powerless in the grand scheme of things. Representing a possibly defunct 'shadow' organization.

Biggest problem I could see is more meta then anything. The obvious criticism is 'if we're getting to play as an agent, why not the Inquisitor'. If for no other reason this might give Bio pause to do it just to save me the headache (and them.)

3. Lord of Fortune.

Not someone I want to play exactly but there is benefits to them...clandestine...seems to be able to accomodate a wide variety of backgrounds...good RP possibility. And from a meta perspective a lot of video game heroes of late have been falling into this same mercenary/ treassure hunter trope...Nathan Drake, Geralt, Kassandra/ Alexios. Plus this is not exactly a perspective BioWare has explored before and being some random mercenary is very powerless.

The biggest negative is the organization is still very unknown to us so we do not know the exact extent of things like recruitment...that and while I would prefer them over others and while I do not mind playing mercenary/ treasure hunter characters there is just so many other orgs within Thedas I would rather play.

4. Tevinter Sicari

The exact opposite problem from the Lord of Fortune thing. Its one I highly wanting to play, perhaps my favorite of all the theories I have heard in preference, but it has a big downside. On my personal preference I have always been wanting BioWare to take a crack at proper Special Forces/ black ops/ covert ops story telling... Shepard does not count given their media presence. But I always think that such stories and characters would make a great fodder for good Role Playing from several different perspectives. Such people often have to make, at least in the fictional sense, plenty of different moral choices during their jobs and given the nature of them could be set up for some interesting end games...you could play an entirely selfish bastard, a selfless agent of change, someone interested in advancing the interests of the Empire. The skies the limit. Plus their background would be conducive to any race/ class, and given their position they are quite powerless, etc.

The biggest downside, is they could easily end up being an antagonist faction in the game enforcing the will of the Imperium and...much like the Ben-hasrath could be an organization we end up fighting. From a moral perspective I could also see a lot of issues with this set up. People are skeevy enough about having a slave background in general but could you just imagine if one of the quests might involve putting down a slave rebellion? BioWare should offer RP choices for such a thing but I know a lot of people could have issue with it.

5. Tevinter Magister/ Tevinter reform movement.

More of a catch all but with us going to Tevinter this would seem like an obvious option. On the Magister route could be fun, and the reform movement opens it up to the popular 'slave' background...and everything in between.

6. Grey Wardens:

Given the recent mentioning of them in multiple stories in TVN and just in general plus the media seeming to show a lot of Warden iconography off...the possibility of us going to the Anderfels...the prevelance of the Blight/ Red Lyrium in the media we have seen this would seem like a natural option for inclusion here.

But we have definitley been there done that,given the treaties Wardens may be some of the most powerful people in the setting, they are relatively well known and indeed in such a heroic position usually that them saving the world from a plot which could involve the Blight would be expected at this point. So maybe an option but I would be shocked if it were THE option.

7. Mortalitassi/ Mourn Watch.

Given their recent usage in TVN and given we might be visiting Nevarra again can't discount them entirely out of hand...plus it would be nice for a mage background in general.

However this might be by far the most limiting choice on the list. Only humans, only mages.

8. Executors:

Bit of a dark horse and there greatest boon is their greatest flaw. The lack of information about them. We have never truly seen one for one hundred percent sure. They could be literally anyone from anywhere...and given that Thedas remains largely unaware of their presence they would also quite literally come out of nowhere. Plus given they are not from Thedas they could easily fullfill the role of a good RP protagonist because they could be ignorant about the specifics of Theodasian society as any new comer.

But...we know next to nothing about them. Just that they are vague, powerful, and don't seem to like Solas...and he does not seem to like them much either. But that could easily mean they'll just end up being a worse threat.

9. Spirits:

The most maleable given the existance of Cole and some of the theories on the Elves/ Elven it could be the least bit possible that our protagonist could be a similar situation...which gives BioWare a tremendous amount of flexibility when crafting their narrative in terms of class and knowledge base.

The biggest problem is this feels a bit esoteric...and out there. It has great possibility but I am nsure if BioWare will risk it.

So...in general though the biggest flaw facing all of this is the limits that some of these options provide either in terms of role playing....or what race/ class combinations there could be for them. Its...rare at least...that we have ever seen Dwarven Crows for instance.

On the flip side I have been wanting a system such as this to replace the traditional classes. Either these will be new classes, or just a background that will give us starting talents and attributes then we can take the character whereever we wantfrom there. Within some reason anyways. Some of them will be limited based on keeping things appropriate to Lore, for instance.

yeah for the Sicari if this was an 'organization i have the most desire to play' i feel they would be at the top of the list. Though i feel thats a very me position and i doubt many people share those sensibilities. Also, technically we know even less about them then we do the Executors.

We know a fair bit now after Tevinter Nights. Also finding out more would not really spoil the attraction of the organisation since we know they work for the Imperium and thus there is no doubt about the fact they would be from the races and classes we already know. Whereas the whole interest in the Executors is the fact that they are so mysterious. Just a few cryptic notes in a War Table mission and the character described in TN, which still told us very little but left a great deal of mystery about them. At present they may not even be of a race we know (although they do recruit people from other races) and we know nothing about their country of origin or its character, apart from the fact it lies over the sea. The moment you remove the mask, which you would do if your protagonist is one, the air of mystery is gone.

A group no one's keeping an eye on would be the underground Minrathous group from the DA day short story Minrathous Shadows.
"The Tevinter you [corrupt magisters] forgot."
We know little about this faction save that they are featured in this short story, exposing someone who used the black market slave trade to trade with Venatori and disrupting her magic. Current known members: Tarquin the Tevinter Templar and Viper, in the story masquerading as a card dealer, thought to be just a tale he blocks magic (probably the same way southern Templars do, through access to lyrium, but perhaps he is something new).
They may be connected to the group that runs the secret tunnels in Vyrantium and helped Lucanis get to his Venatori targets, or that may be yet another faction, as we don't know if either group is on a national scale or just local to their respective cities.

And the City Elf spent their whole life in the Alienage, so it’s not like they know much about Ferelden outside that district.
As for human noble, they’re the hardest but it makes it seem like they were sheltered compared to their older brother so might not know as much.

Not meaning to get off-topic of where the DA4 protag should come from, but I wonder if there might be a way to achieve some of the goals of the origins (which I loved from when they were announced) without the overhead that seems too pricey for a game today. Reaching back into the bag of tricks form older games, I'm reminded of Ultima 4 and the tarot cards the player used to select a class by selecting from competing 'virtues' like Honor, Compassion, Justice, Honesty, etc. I wouldn't go so far as to make your race and/or class dependent on selecting the cards. It would be more of a quickie way to establish a character's past and values kind of like we do with the Keep. The Tarot cards would even be a neat little callback to DA:I for whatever continuity is worth. Lighter on the resources than the mini-games, still allows a distilled version of player agency that remains inside the writers' control, and you can even have a default pre-set for the players who don't want to play that game. Just a thought.

Sorry, no, that's dumb. Are you honestly trying to tell me that it is totally reasonable and not incongruous at all for any of these characters to be unfamiliar with basic concepts of the setting like the dominant religion of the known world? The thing that is literally entirely responsible for their subjugation?

It cannot be of any serious concern to anyone posting here that the protagonist of DA4 hypothetically being from Tevinter would somehow create a gulf of knowledge between the player and the protagonist that would wreck the game. That gulf has always existed in every fantasy and science fiction game that ever existed (and novels and movies). It's a total non-issue.

I still think we’ll start the game as a Lord of Fortune, but it’s possible we could get an ME style “career” choices.

We could select the highlights of our past career as a Lord of Fortune and perhaps see some reactivity to that. And maybe an origin selection from some unified backgrounds.