This sounds like the makings of trouble anyway. Our DM of 5 years started our
4E campaign with a ton of houserules - and we left him shortly afterwards.
Handicapping your characters at lvl -1 sounds like the doings someone who has no full understanding of the balance of the ruleset. Technically if you have no powers, you are incapable of making even basic attacks - as it is a power.
And also - you say that you have read all the rogue stuff and martial mastery - do you mean the martial powers sourcebook ? This book should not be read by someone who does not know the PHB. I would strongly suggest your group read and play by the rules outlined in the PHB first - get to know the rules outlined therein by playing skirmishes and skill challenges (as this is a vastly different game than the older sets) and then decide if there are rules to change before you start your real wildnerness campaign.
Does your DM feel that 1st level PC's have too many perks when they begin and he wants to begin play with less-heroic characters ? That is certainly do-able in the ruleset, but I might get bored before I got 2,900 xp that way. On the bright side, no matter how much xp you are back, the system figures 10 encounters/level. Depending if you go from -1 to 0, You should be at 1st level than 7 sessions from now (assuming you get 3 encounters/session and he follows that guideline).
If you wanted to play something off the bat without reading the entire PHB, I would strongly suggest at least knowing the quick-start rules guide from Keep On The Shadowfell.
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