Golden Sun Themed RPG (PC)

[Awec]

I'm currently coding an RPG using visual basic that I'm basing on Golden Sun.
If I feel it's good enough I might include a link here.
Primarily, I'm asking for ideas (although offers of help are nice too.)

My main aim is to make it as canonical as possible. (Yes, this means no playing as Dullahan and his team of Giant Chestbeaters wreaking havoc through Weyard.)
My first idea for a storyline was the backstory around Saturos and Menardi - specifically, the short period of time that led to the Mt. Aleph Boulder being released and the simultaneous storm.
I have a couple of problems however;
A) I really wanted to make Alex a playable character but according to Golden Sun wiki, he only joined up AFTER the first raid.
B) Other than Saturos & Menardi, up to 2 player-named characters and Alex, I've had no ideas for party members. (Especially since very little information in the games is given about that time.)

So basically, if anyone knows something major about this time period and/or has good ideas for party members, please speak up.

[Aile~♥]

Saturos and Menardi's first raid was accompanied by a squad of Proxian warriors. So there's an idea for party members. And after the first raid, you have Alex and Felix.

[leaf]

Felix was intentionally kept out of battle, though, as stated atop venus lighthouse.

[Aile~♥]

He had to get from level 1 to level 5 somehow. And so did Jenna and Sheba, although it's possible that Sheba was level 5 when they captured her.

[leaf]

So they beat up some gansters that tried to attack them. That still doesn't give an excuse to put them in full combat, especially when they can only go to level 5.

[Awec]

I thought a team of Proxians wouldn't be desirable (after all, can you imagine attempting to play the normal games as pure Mars adepts?)
I was actually thinking of diverting from the canon slightly where it could be more ambiguous - for instance, having Saturos & Menardi investigate the lighthouses BEFORE the first raid on Mt. Aleph and similarly having Alex join before the raid.
I rather figured that had Alex been part of the first raid he would have warped in to the elemental chamber once Saturos and Menardi reached it, similarly to in the game (although it's never explained how he can do that... did he climb the mountain and then warp in from outside?) and this way would have avoided being caught in the trap.
I was also tempted to have Felix as a character; after all, despite Isaac's father and Felix's parents being adepts, it was only him who travelled with Saturos & Menardi. Might it be possible that they had already met him (and persuaded him to join their cause) and this was the real reason why they pulled him out of the river?

Again, apart from that I'm lost for ideas. Does anyone know any parts of Weyard where I could get an extra Venus and 2 Jupiter adepts? (excluding, of course, adepts made from being 'bonked on the head' by psynergy stones after the eruption... cause that would just be dumb.)

Thinking about it, I might have Master Hama as a character... maybe she encountered Saturos & co. on her way to Angara and joined forces with them?
After all, they passed by her temple for no reason. Seriously, watch Alex's warp and tell me he couldn't have warped them all over the broken bridge, saving them a bucketload of time and staying well ahead of Isaac's party. Perhaps they had another motive for going the long way round?

[Menaus]

Very interesting, maybe you could start them at Prox, with Saturos, Menardi, and another Mars adept. And they find a wind adept frozen in the water at the north pole, so they break him out, and they get a wind adept. Or you could have Saturos and Menardi look at the lighthouses before they get the elemental stars, and they find a wind adept at the Jupiter Lighthouse.

[Atrius (He/Him)]

I'm sure they had to do some adventuring before they even learned that the elemental stars were at Mt. Aleph.

Also, I could have sworn, canonically, aside from Weyard being destroyed and needing to light the lighthouses, Felix was traveling with Saturos & Menardi because they had rescued him & his parents from the river, and were keeping the latter as "hostages" at Prox.

[Awec]

However, why did they choose Felix. Surely since his parents were older and (presumably) more experienced, they would have been better choices to help the quest, and Felix could have been held as the hostage.

Also, the idea of finding a lost wind adept seems good, but why do they need another Mars adept?
I know that it's never stated who was sent to Vale to ask for the Elemental stars and that when Saturos and Menardi did go, they were accompanied by a the best warriors, but they don't exactly need to be in the party.
I was really thinking about just having 2 adepts of each type.
Also, I thought maybe a Mercury adept left Lemuria and went to Prox to warn them that the world was shrinking. After all, it's never stated exactly how fast the shrinking is, so if it was slow enough it might not even be noticeable because by the time it had got significantly closer no one would be alive from the time period when it had been further away (if that makes sense, which I'm not sure it does entirely).
But anyway, I'm hoping this will explain a few mysteries.