User:HungryPaperweight/Project Quintessence

Golden Sun: Project Quintessence is a fanfiction I've been wanting to make for a long time, and may actually begin soon. I have an overactive imagination and get dozens of ideas; PQ is one of the ideas I think is actually good enough to share, so I hope you like it!

Project Quintessence was originally my idea for a GS3, long before the official one was announced. There's bound to be continuity issues, so just think of PQ as an alternate timeline, diverging after TLA. I already had most of the plot planned out (big-picture, not all the little details) before the DS game was announced, but I might incorporate some elements from the official third game into PQ. For the most part, though, it's an original story...well, as original as fanfics get, anyways ^_^;

This page used to contain a "sneak preview" of Project Quintessence, that way the story wouldn't die with me if I never got around to writing it. If I'm finally going to release PQ, though, I wouldn't want to give everything away ahead of time, so now this page will act more like a summary of the adventure so far. Well, minus a lot of the big plot points, otherwise you might not want to read the story itself. This page will probably be a chapter behind at its most recent, and I probably won't do much updating after the halfway point. (Oh, and if you're reading this before the story begins, the info here is either intentionally vague or stuff that's revealed early on.)

Fifth element
As the name suggests, the plot revolves around a kind of "fifth element." Since it's so central to the story, I can't reveal much about it until it's brought up in the fic itself. I will say, though, that I put a lot of though into this, so it's not like I just said "I want a fifth element in the story!" In fact, there originally wasn't going to be one. "Project Quintessence" was just a code name at first, but it gave me fifth-element ideas that changed the entire course of the story! Oh, and as odd as it might sound, the name is here to stay.

Characters
Project Quintessence focuses heavily on new characters, but old ones will be returning, too. I'll say now that, like the true GS3, PQ is set in the future, so some returning characters will be older. Others won't have aged at all (ahh, the miracles of Lemurian medicine). For now, though, let's introduce you to some of the new guys:

Protagonists
Project Quintessence is primarily the story of a new group of Adepts, five in total:
 * Karin: The team's Venus Adept, making her the unofficial leader, not to mention the quiet type (not the silent protagonist, though).
 * Michael: A Mars Adept. A bit hotheaded, and often bumps heads with Karin. Still, he's a nice guy, once you get to know him.
 * Ryan: Element is Jupiter, and of course the youngest member of the team. He's known in his hometown for being extremely unlucky.
 * Stevan: Mercury Adept, and the peacemaker of the group. As far as Psynergy is concerned, though, he's more of a fighter than a healer.
 * Suzuki: A bit of an enigma, not helped by being the latecomer to the team.

Aside from Suzuki, these children (okay, Stevan's technically an adult, but just barely) travel together from the beginning of the story. Each has their own reasons for joining the team, but they all have a common goal (more on that in the story section). During their journey, the team makes some friends, the most notable of whom (among my original characters) are based on the three class-changing items introduced in TLA:


 * Juan: Pierrot-class. Juan is an entertainer, and an expert in illusion. He uses his unusual Psynergy as a street performer, and in battle he prefers to lure his opponents into traps rather than fight them directly.
 * Tammy: Tamer-class. Tammy travels Weyard simply for the chance to meet the many monsters that inhabit the world. She doesn't like the term "monster," though, as she feels that implies they don't have thoughts or feelings (she's a Jupiter Adept by nature, so she knows they do). There are even a couple of beasts that travel with her regularly (more on them as they're introduced).
 * Damien: Dark Mage-class. He's Kibombo's new witch doctor (I don't know what happened to Akafubu). Some details about him are revealed early on (he was originally going to be the last one introduced), but I don't want to say anything yet.

These three make minor appearances early on, but actually play important roles later.

Antagonists
In keeping with Golden Sun tradition, there is a male-female Proxian duo causing trouble for the heroes...
 * Okay, I need to take a time-out here and explain something. At first I only chose to have two Proxians involved because it was a tradition I didn't want to break (kinda fanboyish, huh?). As the plot developed, though, I actually found a reason for them to come from Prox, as well as a reason why there should be two of them. As for why they're opposite genders...well, why not? Everything else matches up with tradition!

Now, where was I? Oh yes! These two fire Adepts serve as the initial enemies, but a bigger baddie will surface later on. In the meantime, the Proxians have three companions, one of each non-Mars element. Each has their own reason for traveling with the Proxians, so each could qualify as a stand-alone villain.

There's also a few other recurring enemies, but I can't say much about them now. I will say, though, that they're like Damien and the others: they only play minor roles early on, but become important later.

And, as mentioned above, there's a villain (a new one) that dwarfs the Proxians in importance, but I obviously can't say too much. He has a couple of cameos early on, though, so it's not like I just pull him out of thin air.

I'll admit, I plan on having a multi-headed dragon as the "final boss." Like the Proxian duo, this was originally just me maintaining "tradition," but now I actually have a legitimate reason for this.

Returning characters
First of all, Isaac, Felix, and the others will return in the later stages of the story (Kraden, too). Alex will also return, but as for what he's going to do...well, you'll see. The Wise One will, of course, return, as will all the superbosses. Deadbeard has a fairly minor role, but Dullahan and the other TLA optional bosses will be recurring characters. There will also be expanded roles for Djinn and the summons, probably with a few new guys mixed in (more new Djinn than new summons, but some of both).

Other returning characters that are worth mentioning (not in order of appearance): Hydros, Conservato, Puelle, Hama, Maha, the Great Gabomba, Tret and Laurel, Feizhi and Hsu, the mayor of Alhafra (yes, that's right, him), Eoleo, Takeru, and...that's all I can remember right now ^_^;

Returning characters that don't really play an important role but that I want to mention anyways: Justin and Megan, Iodem, Faran, Sean and Ouranos, Uzume, Susa and/or Kushinada (probably), Okuni, and Lunpa. Dodonpa is also likely to return, but I don't know for sure just yet.

Story
I can't tell you everything about the plot, otherwise you won't have any reason to read the story itself. Still, I'll add some things here as they're revealed, just so long as they aren't major plot twists. As I stated above, I probably won't go much further than the halfway point.

In my mind, the story is split into multiple parts, which will be represented here:

Part 1 - Convergence

 * Convergence is a tentative name, but I have yet to think of anything better so I'll probably stick with this.

As I mentioned above, Project Quintessence is set some time in the future. By this time, Psynergy is fairly commonplace. More details to come as the story develops

The first part of the story revolves around a tournament. The tourney was made in honor of the "great heroes" (a.k.a. Isaac, Felix, etc.) who strove to restore Alchemy. Basically it follows the general course of the first two games: teams form in Vale, consisting of one Adept per element. These teams then travel to the four Elemental Lighthouses (usually in the same order as the games, since it's the most logical order). At the Aerie of each lighthouse is a proctor who gives teams powerless replicas of the Elemental Stars. The first team to collect all four "Stars" and return to Vale is the winner. Oh, and boats are provided in Madra for teams that don't have one of their own.