Insignia: An Idea Stuck in Development Hell

[Interdimensional Observer]

I've on-off returned to this one idea for some time for an FE-styled fanfiction (which I named "Insignia"- a synonym for emblem). And I kinda want to flesh it out more than any other fanfict idea I've done, but I keep stumbling on it.

I want to center things on the main character, Leona. Leona's basic story, which has remained consistent across my changes, is she is a 18 (or 22) year old daughter and heir of a dead "warlord" (feudal lord in a chaotic time) who I've named Antoine. Leona loves her late father, and has issues with her mother Melusine (40s). Her hair color is a shade of brown on the darker side, of length undecided. Her preferred weapon is the spear, but she gets an inferior sword rank to back it up, and she can also mount a horse.

In my original version, Leona is fights other warlords to defend her realm of Marseia, as is par for the course in the European Dark Ages setting. Making things more difficult is that Melusine and Leona's stepfather, a more barbaric warlord, force her to do their bidding. In my revised version, Leona (~14), under the protection of Godwin, her Jagen, flees Marseia after her mother's betrayal when Antoine is on the verge of losing to a rival warlord. She, Godwin, and some other Antoine loyalists flee end up becoming roaming knights, mercenaries who become vassals and who shortly before the game's start, establishes her own little fiefdom removed from Marseia with the help of a Baroness Lorelei.

Beyond Leona and Melusine, there is only one character I've kept on the whole time, and that is Aniel. Aniel is defined as a priest, well more an acolyte on the verge of taking his vows. Gentle and courteous of course, versed in esoteric theology and preaching to the masses alike. I've decided to abandon a fragile/feminine appearance, and actually make him a rather handsome young man you could see as being an athletic lady getter if things had gone differently. Aniel has always been Leona's spiritual aide and general servant, but I've evolved him into also being her secret paternal half-brother. (Had Antoine known about this, he would have heartily loved Aniel, for he never put his full love in Leona, because she was female and only raised her as his heir due to not having a viable son- but she doesn't know this either). Aniel is ultimately only as important to Leona's story as Mist is to Ike's, or Lyn's to Eliwood's and Hector's; a supporting player who doubles in gameplay as the first healer.

My most recent version has some playable characters outlined beyond this (namely a cursed boy named Pollux and his big sister/mother figure and rescuer Vivian), but otherwise is incomplete. One thing I am dead set on is leaving out an evil empire or dark cult of the dark god/dragon. No world-saving from a big bad, Leona's quest, despite any historical significance it may have, is ultimately personal.

My most recent progress has been made solely by virtue of cutting out some of my ideas. No more Hekati (pagan) and Monist (Christian) struggle which Leona is caught in, complete with a division in both camps- the former into Germanic and Viking, the latter into Western/Catholic and Eastern/Orthodox. No more al-Andalus imitation with its Hadi. No more three-way route split towards the end. Keep things simpler, and relegate much of the above to the background.

But despite this, I still haven't been able to put together a good story outline. The absence of a clear singular antagonist is one problem. Another is that Leona, though in her heart desiring to reclaim Marseia, isn't solely driven by the desire to take it. She realizes that she may never reclaim it, and works realistically towards expanding her new realm, whilst keeping her eyes open towards any opportunity that may inch her closer to Marseia. Furthermore, I don't want to end the game with the reclamation of Marseia and the final confrontation with Melusine, I want to continue beyond that. I want roughly 2/3s of the story battles to precede Marseia's reclamation, with the final 1/3 being what Leona does immediately afterwards. (And then maybe I can throw in a post-story scenario as well.)

Some of my issues originate from lacking a good in-depth knowledge of the geopolitics of the Dark Ages. Others from not having Berwick Saga translated yet, which means I don't know exactly how the game's plot and characters work out. But on just the very surface, BS's 17 Chapter plot with loads of side battles appears to be a fascinating way to approach FE storytelling and world building. I'm a little infatuated with the game for its radicalism, though cognizant of it too having clear errors or questionable aspects.

Also here is an outline I wrote for the aforementioned side characters Pollux and Vivian:

Spoiler

I really liked the idea of EX chapters and drafted one for Pollux and Vivian- where after having pursued his twisted twin brother Castor since pre-recruitment, and having seen him or traces of his work in 2-3 prior chapters (plus events at Leona's inter-battle base) Pollux finally chases him down and with Vivian confront him. Here, Pollux learns the truth of his past, that his father Zamuel conceived and raised him and his twin brother for the sole sake of sacrificing them both to the demon Arioch in exchange for great dark power and Arioch's blade the Storm Bringer. Arioch tried to kill Zamuel just as he was about to sacrifice his sons to take his soul as well, but Zamuel when Zamuel saw this, he turned against Arioch and tried to kill him. While Zamuel and Arioch fought, the young (no older than 10) Pollux broke from the bonds that held him down as he was about to be sacrificed, and ran away with his life, leaving his brother bound still to the sacrificial altar. Zamuel noticed this, and Arioch then took advantage of the situation to terribly injure Zamuel. Zamuel chased after his fleeing son, and Arioch turned his attention to the child left behind, turning him into his possessed puppet doing his bidding collecting souls in this world. Zamuel found Pollux, and using his mastery of the occult, buried his soul in Pollux to survive. Pollux was thus physically cursed to the bone and endowed with dark magic. Pollux was shortly thereafter found by Vivian in a forest whilst he slept after his father's soul transfer. Vivian was a Vanquisher- one who by order of the Church roams the world destroying the occult- and heard of rumors of strange things happening on a mountain near the village she had been passing through. Finding Pollux covered in blood (from father's injuries- his body had dissolved into darkness and left no corpse behind by the time Vivian arrived), Vivian knew something was up with the child and took him in. Traumatized and initially unable to speak, Vivian rehabilitated Pollux. Pollux had a constant aura of darkness about him, and no exorcism seemed capable of expelling it, so she was unable to find anyone who would take the boy in. She instead kept Pollux besides her on her travels. Pollux as he adapted to normal life wanted to help Vivian, despite her protestations, and took up both the sword, and more ominously, but which Vivian got the Church to permit, the dark magic that was inside him. As he helped her, bits of his old memories returned, and they eventually discovered Castor still alive, but were unable to get answers from him. They then made it a personal quest to find Castor, and seeing he was doing evil, they had reason as Vanquishers to pursue him. Unbeknownst to Castor, the influence of his father inside him is partly to blame for why he took up blade, darkness, and the pursuit of Castor.

The EX Chapter itself begins with Vivian, Pollux, and those of Leona's crew the player picks out, trying to stop Castor as he is about to perform some ritual to summon his master. Completion of the Part 1 of this battle results in Castor being killed by Pollux, but Arioch appears and KOs Pollux. Vivian tries to stop Arioch, but her barrier magic (her gameplay gimmick) is easily shattered by the demon. This begins Part 2 (same map, same units, but everyone is forced to relocate to a new starting area and the player is at least allowed to preview the changed circumstances before beginning the battle- but no saving or returning to base), where Arioch and his army of undead soldiers, plus a couple other demons (who buff the stats of/spawn more undead), must be defeated. On the enemy phase of turn 1, Arioch moves to extract Pollux's soul from his body, but as soon as he approaches Pollux's body, it jumps back to life and strikes at him. Though Pollux was spiritually paralyzed by Arioch's opening move, Zamuel wasn't and in Pollux's body fights as vengeance against Arioch. After two or three turns, Zamuel manages to slay Arioch, subsuming his power and the Storm Bringer for himself. Zamuel then gives an expose dump to Vivian (basically much of what I said in the first paragraph), and moves to kill everyone. The new objective becomes "defeat Zamuel", but otherwise the map is unchanged. Killing Zamuel or having Vivian engage him shift the fight into one last bit, no return to the preparations screen however for this one- its a continuation of part 2- where Zamuel takes a demon-humanoid form and summons a couple more devils and some undead a little removed from his prior location on the map. The point to this final bit is because otherwise you don't really fight Zamuel himself if you engage him with Vivian, as she casts a new and stronger reflection barrier on herself just as Zamuel casts a Hel (reduces HP to 1) spell on her, the spell bounces back and hits Zamuel. Vivian then puts her heart into exorcising Zamuel from Pollux's body, and it works.

What happens to Pollux is up in the air. If you kill human Zamuel, Pollux dies for his body is destroyed. If Vivian expels Zamuel, though Pollux lives, but I originally had the idea of tying what happens to him afterwards to his kill count and dark rank. If Pollux has too high a dark rank and kills too many enemies prior to this fight, he is permanently crippled by the darkness, Vivian nurses him for the rest of her life whilst defending a monastery/convent, and she still permanently joins Leona (in the vein of BS making it so most characters won't usable in the final fights if certain conditions aren't met). If Pollux has a high dark rank or kill count, but not both, he survives the battle still very much cursed and promotes from Accursed to Fellblade with the Storm Bringer obtained and more and stronger dark magic. He joins Vivian as a Vanquisher after their obligations to Leona are finished. Pollux realizes in the ending he is permanently cursed and now undead- making him immortal. Vivian says she still loves him, and Pollux says he fears he will outlive her, to which she responds (I can't decide whether to make it happier or less) either not to fear that, or that she will join him and embrace a cursed existence when the time comes. If Pollux has a low kill count and low dark rank, it turns out he it now freed from darkness completely, and promotes to Holy Swordsman, gaining the Storm Bringer and losing his Dark Magic in exchange for gaining Light. He and Vivian then spend the rest of their lives together as Vanquishers.

I'm thinking of scrapping the four possible outcomes, and reducing it to just the Pollux dies and Fellblade ones (the Holy Swordsman ending seems too happy and possibly means creating another class just for Pollux, and there is then little point to the cripple one, which is not any different from a gameplay perspective from the dead one). With the more bittersweet outcome of Vivian accepting a natural death rather than joining Pollux as an undead.

 

[Dragoncat]

Go to springhole.net, it's a gold mine for stuff like this. Generators, guides, you name it. There's even a good amount of guides for medieval fantasy. I'm sure you'll find it helpful, good luck! 

Your idea sounds solid enough, not entirely unique, but solid. Leaving out the "dark god/evil dragon wants to destroy humanity" thing that's become a cliche lately is a smart move.

[SoulWeaver]

Here's an option: Make the last third be about the rival warlords, angry at Leona for breaking some old tradition - let's say not taking a husband immediately upon gaining the throne for the sake of this thread, though you could choose one of a million things - assaulting her in an attempt to remove the plague on their fair land, and she must fight them off. Another alternative is her small fiefdom then comes under attack, and she must purge the invaders attempting to subjugate the people who she once knew as brothers and sisters. A third option is of course the disgruntled advisor making a move to take over the kingdom(either her old one or the fiefdom, either way works) who must be stopped for the people's sake.

Sounds like a good idea, I'd love to see it as it progresses further.