FE8 - Sacred Stones, Alternate Protagonists & Villains?

[Prince Blueblood]

Say, after re-reading the entirety of Sacred Stones Saga (and magvel lores, whatever few exists), as well as reading some discussions of why Lyon (esp in Eirika's route) is a tragic figure worthy of Greek Tragedy, in a sense that his actions destroy the very thing he try to save in the first place (saving Grado from devastating earthquake and such by using Grado's Black Stone who contains the soul of Formortis)

But as I admit I'm also a fan of alternate scenario "what if", so, what if the story has the same characters (while OCs can be used to fill un-important units and bosses as such), but taking a different Protagonist (Hero), and Villain?

So well, either the Earthquake disaster foretold to hit another nation that isn't Grado (or Carcino because they're republic), and the villain try to avert this by successfully stolen Grado's Stones (and still predictably get possessed by the Demon King). OR the disaster isn't foretold, but already happened before Lyon even get corrupted, resulting in weakened Grado, and in exploiting the weakness of the biggest nation, someone who corrupted by the Demon King decides to invade other nations to sow Chaos for return of Demons and Monsters?

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Yeah, I have an idea about a kind of "What If Scenario", with Heroic Dark-Magic using Lord, Prince Lyon's journey to recover Grado's Sacred Stones before the Demon King is released... and since the only magic-using prince/princess in Magvel is... L'Arachel *cough* *cough*... she could be the one who get a vision that Rausten will engulfed in total disaster, so she try to avert this by using sacred stones' power, but her uncle dies before he could even giving her proper counsel over this. And in this scenario, the real Point of Divergence begin when Riev, of all people, is not excommunicated from Rausten, but managed to worm his way up to Rausten's top clergy, and end up as second in command under the Divine Emperor Mansel.

And since Rausten apparently control most of the Religious groups in Magvel, the corrupted Church managed to worm their way in every other nations, as well as secretly using "light magic" to raise people from the dead (but with secret switch so they're fully under Demon King's control without nobody else knowing). So basically, they managed to form a large army rivalling even Grado...

Grado's sacred stones was stolen by clergy (and replaced by fake stones)

And they invade their sister nation of Jehanna,.. declaring a "Holy War" to conquer all of Magvel. Grado and Renais tried to help, but found themselves overwhelmed by the religious fanatics, formed largely from their own citizens...

And uh, well... since Prince Lyon is a Dark Magic user... bonus points if the Holy War in question was aimed to "Eradicate All Dark Magic" and making him a prime target...

And since no other prince/princess other than protagonist comes as Lord, maybe Ephraim will be Paladin this time... and Eirika could be a myrmidon, because Lyon will be a Lord, and Dark Magic using Lord, who get promoted into "Dark Lord".

And, uh, well... there could be some other side plots too... like what if the "Demon King" instead summoning clear monstrous beings, actually summons his own monsters that "traditionally" viewed as a good magical beings (like elves, angels, treants, etc) and their reanimated 'zombies' is mostly indistinguishable from normal human, but still having some kind of obvious clue (like glowing golden eyes like Nergal's morphs). While Grado's "Dark" Sorcerers tried to salvage the situations but founding themselves overwhelmed by sheer amount of light magic using people (hey, light beats dark magic)

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Of course, another villain (as long as it wasn't Lyon), and another protagonist (not from Renais) is good to go...

Any other suggestions? And yes, I think this as a start of a plan for alt-universe romhack, with bonus points of not needing a lot of custom sprites and portraits (since we'll re-use or modify a little of the original contents afterall)

Edited January 5, 2015 by Prince Blueblood

[Prince Blueblood]

And if you choose an antagonist, keep in mind that he/she must have the potential to be a full continental threat once they invade:

- The canon Grado is the largest nation, and the strongest militarily, so it's pretty much doable...

And the possible continental level threats :

1) My own pick of Rausten is a theocracy that technically controls all the Clergy and such stuffs. Holy War that end up weakening all other nations from within are possible. Add in the religious nature of blind faith (as per Knoll-Natasha supports, the light magic pretty much depends on faith) and you have a horde of fanatical zealots willing to do your bidding with some nudges by "miracles"...

2) Jenhenna is nation full of mercenaries and sellswords, plus they're lacking in natural resources. Experienced group of men + desperation from lack of resources could also be a huge threat if Joshua go evil. In addition he didn't even need to pull his entire nations to do it, just having him listen to Ceallach and co, and decides to upsurp his mom so he can get entire continent for himself... Formortis could be just a plus points. Basically a bit similar with what Black Fang pulls in FE7, just in much larger scale...

And that leaves Renais and Frelia...

3) Renais, ok, I'm joking about this, but if they somehow get access to Seth-clones, even a handful of them, alongside with Lute-clones for magic attacks and led by evil - evil Ephraim, they're the biggest threat of all. But seriously, they're probably relying on small numbers of highly trained army, so, maybe they could realistically invade Grado pre-emptively if they're led by evil Ephraim + Seth... so eh?

4) Frelia... oh, evil Innes and his face already looks evil... but still, pegasus knights, right? and armor knights? but what about their numbers?

[Integrity]

there is a forum for precisely these kinds of concept threads ;o

moving

[super45]

I think that Joshua would make an interesting protagonist. He's a wayward prince, the heir to a kingdom, plying his trade as a common mercenary. His homecoming and inheritance of the title and the responsibilities which go with it would be an excellent setting for a game. Alternatively, a sort of prequel could be made when Joshua is a mercenary away from Jehanna, before the events of Sacred Stones. He could start at the bottom, and work his way up to the co-leader, learning valuable lessons along the way of command and battle. Caellach could either be a minor antagonist at first who makes Joshua his second after he sees him fight, the prepromote or a friend who joins at a similar time.

[Prince Blueblood]

there is a forum for precisely these kinds of concept threads ;o

moving

Ok thanks for the correction

I think that Joshua would make an interesting protagonist. He's a wayward prince, the heir to a kingdom, plying his trade as a common mercenary. His homecoming and inheritance of the title and the responsibilities which go with it would be an excellent setting for a game. Alternatively, a sort of prequel could be made when Joshua is a mercenary away from Jehanna, before the events of Sacred Stones. He could start at the bottom, and work his way up to the co-leader, learning valuable lessons along the way of command and battle. Caellach could either be a minor antagonist at first who makes Joshua his second after he sees him fight, the prepromote or a friend who joins at a similar time.

Of course, Joshua's alternate story as protagonist could be modelled roughly from Ike and co ; and yes, Caellach and co could end up as either ally or rivals... and gameplay wise, he will be a sword-locked version of Lyn with critical bonuses...

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and that said, I'm surprised about how the pool (up to this time) turned out to pick Innes, of all people as villain. While it could be an interesting concept all of itself, may I ask on how Frelia, of all nations, could end up as a continental threat?

Sure, just let the earthquake disaster actually knocking out Grado much earlier, and thus, negating the continent's largest military, but then, when Frelian knights is acting funny and start the invasion, I could bet Renais will actually end up sufficient to hold them up (they are implied to have good to the point of naively trusting relations with Grado, and thus was caught unprepared, if Frelia is the one who start acting funny, they won't hesitate to counter invade Frelia, ESPECIALLY, if Frelia is actually attacking the severely weakened Grado)

Umm, unless they're using monsters and such from the start, but still, any creative ideas on how Frelia could end up as continental threat? (I'm not talking about Speedwings and Talisman on lvl 20/20 Gilliam, and if that's the case, Seth with Armorslayer AND Heavy Spear will make short work of him)

Edited January 6, 2015 by Prince Blueblood

[Prince Blueblood]

Ok, today's vote counts... Joshua as main character is... easy to imagine, actually...

the real problem is for some reasons, the voters mostly pick Innes as the villain... so... while bow-locked penultimate boss should be really interesting (make him actively hunt you like Denning, and with special bow who could attack from 2-3 spaces afar, WITH high accuracy and really respectable might (legendary longbow?)) the real questions is how to write him (and Frelia) as viable invaders in continental scale, especially if I must get Joshua, of all people, for main lord...

and yeah, his portraits and characters does seem smug enough to be used for villain, but still Frelia... isn't a likely nation to go conquering Magvel all over...

And that means I could write Prince Lyon as "Shaman / Summoner" unit...

[Lamia]

the real problem is for some reasons, the voters mostly pick Innes as the villain

the problem might be that there's very little a selection, and additionally, a custom hack can create a custom villain for this purpose

one could say, involve the sacred stones as part of the story, making the different factions fight against one another (but this is just a random idea)

Edited January 6, 2015 by Lamia

[Prince Blueblood]

the problem might be that there's very little a selection, and additionally, a custom hack can create a custom villain for this purpose

one could say, involve the sacred stones as part of the story, making the different factions fight against one another (but this is just a random idea)

Yeah, I know. But the idea of this plan is using the existing characters and backstories in a "alternate history / what-if" scenario, that gives us a different villain and protagonist.

In original SS canon, Lyon is portayed as kind-hearted Prince, good friend of Eirika and Ephraim. And even in Eirika's route, where he was revealed to be just another victim of Formortis, Eirika actually said "Lyon, give me strength" before going to defeat the Demon King's body.

So, yeah, while the Demon King and his demonic crews may change characters and several events could be chronologically shuffled, the main characters of this story aimed to use already existing characters. And with a minor, but end up significant point of divergence in history (such as Riev end up not excommunicated, or run into different kingdom - he's the one first serving the Demon King afterall)

And imagine this kind of side stories. If we use Joshua as main lord, I can see Caellach as his greedy friend, but he stays at his side because after defeating the Demon King, he will got hefty pension. Valter (of all people) could be written as a far creepier version of Sain (since he bumping to Joshua when he was fired from Grado army, and end up fighting as mercenary in Joshua's side). And even we could write Orson as a genuinely good guy, if the story occured a year before the canon Grado invasion (since no Riev excommunication), and a horde of demonic creatures attacking Orson's home and end up killing his (already ill) wife, so instead of serving the villain because they revived his wife, he end up as death seeker seeking to destroy as many monsters as possible (before bumping into Joshua's group).

And yeah... The question is the villain part, I'll think something on how to write Innes (and Frelia) as competent continental level threat, and after that, start working on the hack. Thanks.

[Ansem]

I had an idea for something like this years ago, got the inspiration from the Genealogy hacks by the FEBinary people. I thought of replacing Eirika with Tana and Ephraim with Innes. As for the invading Kingdom, I thought of replacing Grado with Jehenna, so instead of Joshua you'd receive Lyon, and Vigarde would be replaced by Ismaire. I also thought of multiple character re-locations, like Syrene being replaced with Seth. Bosses would be altered, so units like Gerik and Marrisa would be fought, but Grado units Selena would be recruit-able. I abandoned the idea because it was tedious and I'm a lazy bastard, but I can type up more stuff about who I was planning to swap unit places with if you're interested.

[Prince Blueblood]

I had an idea for something like this years ago, got the inspiration from the Genealogy hacks by the FEBinary people. I thought of replacing Eirika with Tana and Ephraim with Innes. As for the invading Kingdom, I thought of replacing Grado with Jehenna, so instead of Joshua you'd receive Lyon, and Vigarde would be replaced by Ismaire. I also thought of multiple character re-locations, like Syrene being replaced with Seth. Bosses would be altered, so units like Gerik and Marrisa would be fought, but Grado units Selena would be recruit-able. I abandoned the idea because it was tedious and I'm a lazy bastard, but I can type up more stuff about who I was planning to swap unit places with if you're interested.

Yeah, kinda like that too, but instead of merely replacing characters, I actually think to write a more possible plot as well.

Kinda hard though to make Frelia a dangerous continent-level threat...

oh wait, Innes and L'Arachel have support... why not have them BOTH as villains?

[SonPancham]

I have a suggestion! Who ever thought Tana would be the evil one? First of all, Innes is obvious in a rivalry with Ephraim, but becomes obsessed with beating him. Pushed over the edge by Tana this rivalry becomes a full scale war. With the support of L'Arachel, who fell in love with him at the last royals congregation, Innes, manipulated by Tana fight Renais. Renais allied with Grado are now fighting Rausten and Frelia. Joshua the protagonist, doesn't know which side Jehanna should fight, flips a coin and ultimately sides with Renais. Tana however, is working behind the scenes, both tricking Ephraim and Innes having both men think she is on their side. Tana has some shifty backstory making her part of a cult to revive the lord possibly majoring in ancient history and becoming obsessed with power or something. Maybe, the dark lord tries to posses her, or even L'Arachel who may resist due to Latona's blood. For characters, the baddies are characters like Gilliam and Syrene, whilst we have characters like Selena and Glen playable. Valter can be good and a just warrior, never picking up the cursed lance of Dussels. Caelach can be the Jagen character but later betrays for a large sum of money and the throne to Renais. Just some suggestions.

[Prince Blueblood]

Alright, will start by sorting up sprites, and trying to do the rough storyline draft for this romhack really soon.

Since Joshua and Lyon vote result is close, I decides that they both will end up as protagonist lords, meet somewhere, and have them part away mid game (just like Ephraim and Eirika's routes)

Choice of Villains... Innes will end up as the obvious villain now, but with L'Arachel and Ephraim (wut) tied in the second (with 4 votes but still...), I start to re-read the ASOIAF books to formulate how Innes (and Fomortiis) can manipulate those two, or three to turn the odds at the start even higher for the evil team.

But the most important part is the Grado earthquake, instead of occuring in year 804 (roughly a year after canon Sacred Stones events), the Grado Earthquake occured in 802 (a year before canon SS starting date) and with no forewarning (so no corrupted Lyon). The Earthquake totally ravage Grado's society and diminish their military strength, but at least, due to better construction conditions (and such), Lyon and Emperor Vingrade initially survives the event, and before long, thinking that this was just a natural disaster and trying to focus on rebuilding (with some help offered from Renais (Fado).

But well, while the Grado strength focused to help the victims of the Earthquake, led by your good ol Emperor Vingrade, an upsurge of Monsters and Evil Creatures start overruning Grado. While the initial monster infestations repelled thanks for the Heroic efforts of Emperor Vingrade and the three Generals (Glen, Selena, and Duessel), at the same time, out of nowhere, Archbishop Riev of Rausten declare the real source of Grado's monsters are Prince Lyon, who are widely known as Dark Magic Practitioner (And I took a liberty to inject some Canas' Characteristics into Prince Lyon, such as he always insist that it wasn't "Dark" magic, but "Elder" magic)

And Joshua? Oh well, Rausten's call of holy war against Grado is accepted by Frelia and Carcino, while Jenhenna and Renais try to defuse the situations diplomatically at first, but end up invaded because the two aren't prepare for war, and located coveniently in the way to Grado. And Grado can't help much due to getting hamstrung by earthquake, and internal religious unrest due to the "reveal" that Prince Lyon is a dark magic Practicioner. And speaking of which, in mercenary tradition, Joshua is at Grado, working as paid security contractor with Caellach and Aias...

And the prologue, A Bishop/Monk boss, along with a group of dissafected Grado soldiers and "Dark-Magic haters", who potentially is Natasha's direct superior, led a surprise attack to Prince Lyon's really small entourage (who just finished a "humanitarian visitation" to the affected Grado countryside). No, Joshua is not here yet...

So yeah, should Prince Lyon only has one other person to help him against the sudden ambush, a village recruit-girl who just volunteered as his guide for this royal visit (yeah yeah, Amelia is the new Ross here). Or should I get the Jagen early (I wonder about turning Knoll into druid, or summoner... Or use Selena instead)

[RandomSwordmaster]

I'm looking foward to seeing how this hack will turn out! :D

[jjl2357]

FE8 hack + Dark magic protagonist + Amelia with good availability+ "other side" AU + playable Lyon? I like : ]

[Prince Blueblood]

Alright, listing the possible playable characters so far (so I can start to tweak with their placements and dialogues, I know giving placeholder text like "yada yada yada..." are good enough for gameplay hack, but since I want this to be story driven AU instead of ragefest...). Note that the starting year is 802 after the sealing of Fomortis (so 1 year earlier than Canon SS, so some background stories are modified as well)

Note : Not listed in Chronological order, this is character brainstorming I've done...

Lyon (Lord / Dark Lord or Sorcerer Lord)

Basically his necromancer sprite will be his "Dark Lord" promotion, his Lord is kinda his thinner, less bulky self doing some kind of Shaman / Mage animation. Lyon's Lord class can only use Dark Magic, and to differentiate him from just another Summoner or Druid, his "Dark Lord" Promotion have very different things, have him capable to wield both Dark, Staffs, and Light Magic (instead of Anima, since he's technically not evil at all in this AU).

Joshua (Lord / Blade Lord)

Starting as Ike-like mercenary leading his even wackier band of ruthless money grabbing mercs and deserters (you betcha). Alright, I'm a bit lazy here, so I just copypasting his hat on his myrmidon / swordsmaster self for the sprite. And yeah, despite having Lyn's promoted Lord class, he's still sword-locked, but he have even higher innate crit compared to swordsmaster, so it should pay off.

Amelia (Trainee)

Nuff said, she's the first unit you got aside of Lyon. Maybe I'll boost her defense and HP growth a bit, still have the same choices of promotions. Duessel gave her knight crest early on as a gift, so don't worry about getting her promotion item.

Knoll (Summoner)

Your good ol' Jagen for this AU, still has bad defense and luck, but well, he should keep himself useful as healer will start with respectable staff ranks (either B or even A) so he can use Physic as soon as you could obtain it as well as use several effect inducing B-ranked staffs to compensate his obvious weakness in luck and defense (still a glass cannon)

Caellach (Fighter)

"Your sword and my axe", so before getting promoted to Hero, Caellach must be a fighter instead of mercenary, so he's the fighter that you get with Joshua's band. Still ruthless and love money and lofty retirement prospect, so to recruit him (plus Aias and Valter) you will definitely need to spend a rather outragerous amount of money: basically taking almost all of Lyon's rather ridiculous amount of starting money - hey it's for story's sake, and you aren't forced to pay for those three... if you want to save money and go with poor physical fighters and no fliers at all, but hey, you saved a very large sums of money.

Valter (Wyvern Rider)

Deserter or fired from Grado's army and end up joining Joshua's (or rather Caellach's) band of mercenary out of necessity, will be a far more creepier version of Sain (lol) that end up hitting on almost every female being you meet with. But yeah, to recruit him, you need to blast a large amount of money...

Aias (Cavalier)

Still an arrogant one, and Caellach's underling, but at least he won't be killed here (by the player or end up betrayed by Caellach), your only possible cavalier (second if you promote Amelia as cavalier) in early part of the game. Oh well, a large amount of money is needed...

Neimi (Archer)

Oh well, Colm and Neimi's village are ransacked by bandits again in this AU, but at least they meet another group of Lords again as well... oh dang, this is just an excuse to get an archer and thief yes?

Colm (Thief)

Same here with Neimi. You need to get a thief...

Ross (Journeyman)

Instead of living with his daddy, Ross still lives with his mother (daddy still have job as Hero in Renais so) and yeah, their village is ravaged by Religious fanatics and his mom is killed (instead of dying of sickness). You must save him from legitimate life-or-death situation here (instead of having his dad taking care of everything near him), and I planned so it's quite impossible to save him unless you hire Valter (yeah, your only flier for early game, duh, mirroring canon events much?).

Orson (Paladin)

The second prepromo you get, instead of death by sickness, the already sick (so she can't coveniently escape from her house) Monica meet her unfortunate death at the hands of Religious fanatics or monsters. Due to Innes having less tact and persuassive skills than Lyon, Orson actually get insulted when he got the offer to revive her, and run from Renais military to fight his own personal war against the bad guys, You can recruit him... if he survives being surrounded by horseslayers... so you must think your way to get him.

Ephraim (Paladin)

A late, and rather good prepromo, and he is brainwashed (by L'Arachel) into serving the bad guys (and holding Eirika hostage), you can kill him (Good luck because he will have S in Lances, near capped Str, Spd, Skl, and having Killer Lance and Spear or even Sigemund), still working on the plot... For extra irony point you can snap him out of his brainwashing by letting Orson (of all people) talk some sense into him...

Eirika (Myrmidon)

Will start as level 1 myrmidon, in Late game... and yeah, shes the Est here... so...

need more posible input on playable Characters though...

And... the bosses... (aside of obvious Riev and Innes...)

Seth (Paladin)

Oh lol, getting good ol badass Seth into this role, yeah, kinda like Eagler from Lyn's story, he was forced to do the bad guys' bidding by brainwashed Ephraim (for maximum guilt value), that holding Eirika hostage (of all people)... And since Seth is capable to solo his way out of SS Canon, you can expect him to solo all your party as well... Let me say that he's one ragefest boss I deliberately insert (late) in this story, but to be fair, you can spare him (by not fighting him, like Vaida), and you can recruit Eirika after you spare Seth (but not if you kill him)

Gilliam (General)

Obvious, he's serving Innes afterall...

Dozla (Berserker)

Also obvious choice...

Edited January 18, 2015 by Prince Blueblood

[Fateborn]

You should change Seth's class to something more terrifying than Paladin :v

[Prince Blueblood]

You should change Seth's class to something more terrifying than Paladin :v

it would be terrifying enough because he should already lv 20 Paladin with all his stats capped, when your group is lucky if you have two or three guys just getting promoted, and will definitely one round everyone that isn't Orson... And more, he's a moving boss (that aimed to Kill Lyon ASAP), forcing you to wall his advances with phantoms and such...

And if Orson accidentally kills him, or you finally Luna his ass off with Lyon and Knoll, you won't get Eirika after you snap the brainwash out of Ephraim... (Basically Eirika's recruitment check if both Seth and Ephraim is alive, all for measly level 1 Myrmidon, that's for story purpose and possible paired ending with Lyon)

And oh, add Garcia to playable list too, not properly setting him yet, but plan to have him start as NPC and recruitable by either Ross or Orson...

Still a bit conflicted to get Franz in here, but well, we'll see if I could plan something in Ephraim's corruption storyline, or even earlier... And if Franz is here, either Forde is killed as background event (to get him mad), or having Forde recruitable as well, still brainstorming here (but Kyle won't be here, coz he's Seth's man)

Edited January 18, 2015 by Prince Blueblood

[Prince Blueblood]

poking around with several items and remembered that the legendary items should be more personally tailored...

getting audhulama locked into Joshua for this AU is obvious

it's Lyon who has no obvious personal weapon and or late game sacred magic... since Gleipnir is the official sacred twin but Naglfar is more powerful, lighter, and has infinite uses (although the later can be remedied). Should I simply giving Gleipnir Naglfar's stats, and weakening Naglfar so it will be Lyon's prf dark tome, or do something else.

No rapier though due technically Joshua has Eirika's Lord class... (temporarily)

[SilverHairedFreak25]

it's Lyon who has no obvious personal weapon and or late game sacred magic... since Gleipnir is the official sacred twin but Naglfar is more powerful, lighter, and has infinite uses (although the later can be remedied). Should I simply giving Gleipnir Naglfar's stats, and weakening Naglfar so it will be Lyon's prf dark tome, or do something else.

I would agree on that, yes.

Also, as far as sidequests goes, I have an idea of who would be responsible for all the monster outbreaks on the map. They are Scylla and Charybdis, two necromancers under the employ of Riev, who disguise themselves as humble priests. Now complete with concept art! (http://i.imgur.com/ZihooPu.jpg)

Scylla- Beauty is Ferocity (top-left corner)

"Light-magic users are hypocrites. Dark-magic users are maniacs. Solution? Eliminate them both."

Scylla is a cynical, impatient woman. However, she keeps this personality trait under wraps quite well when she is in Rausten. She appears to be a simple nun who cares for the members of her church. However, on the battlefield, she wields terrifying Anima magic and keeps a Great Deathgoyle by her side. She tends to summon less monsters, but makes her army stronger in the process.

Class- Druid

Charybdis- Destruction Incarnate (lower right corner)

"I can cope with the voices inside my head, but the ones outside drive me CRAZY! BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Unlike his partner, subtlety isn't his strong suit. He is, without a doubt, a lunatic. On the battlefield, he wields powerful dark magic and prefers his monster hordes to do the fighting for him. He prefers to summon weaker monsters, but overwhelm his opponents with sheer numbers. However, he is no slouch when it comes to getting his hands dirty.

Class- Druid

[MCProductions]

This sounds really interesting but if you want too really make Innes look like a jerk, use his paired with Eirika ending, reveal it was all polictical, have Ephraim forced to aid Freila due to Innes holding his polictical wife hostage, and La'Rachel supports Freila because it makes more sense to Rausten than aiding a weakened Grado and a Princeless Jehanna. The Demon King corrupts Rausten as mentioned before and eventually the Dark Prince Lyon is fighting a world war in order to save Eirika.

If you just want to have Lyon swap roles with Eirika you could even(if certain criteria isn't fulfilled) have Eirika get possessed by the Demon King for a Bad ending.

Also, If you want hacking help I can't offer much but I would like to help make this project a reality if possible.

Lyon is my favorite FE villian, and I considered a similar project until I found this thread and saw someone else doing it.