This is a brief post about a Fire Emblem if (Fates) design document from December 2012 that was used as a framework for the entire game then on. I provide the translated image below, but the original/raw scan can be found here. The transcript is at the end of the post. See below for some commentary.

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Enjoy!

Just some things of note here:

• Hoshido/Nohr (Byakuya[White Night] Anya [Dark Night]) were the Kingdoms of Light and Dark respectively. (Hikari and Yami).
• Three paths were emphasized from the beginning, rather than the third coming in later.
• They got to work on this game soon after Awakening’s Japan release (April 2012). Most of the framework remained, meaning that Fates got the groundwork laid out just seven months later.
• The word “Prince (王子)” is specified, so perhaps gender was not selectable/customizable at first. However it can be read as “royal child” too, I suppose. But the word often used for female Kamui/Corrin (Princess 王女) is not used.

Transcript:

正義のために、家族を倒すのか！？もしもあの時、別の道を選んでいたら

あなたの決断から生まれる３つの物語！

闇の国の王子として、兄弟と仲良く暮らしていたあなた。が、実はあなたは、幼い頃誘拐された光の王子だった。

父である邪悪な闇の国王は、光の濃くへ侵略戦争を起こす。「家族か故郷か！あなたは正義のために選択を迫られる」

ＩＦの企画書
２０１２年１２月の企画書で、主人公のビジュアルイメージもかたまりつつある段階のもの。白夜王国、暗夜王国は「光の国」「闇の国」と表現されているが、骨格はに出来ている。

Will you be able to defeat your own family for the sake of justice?! Or would you choose another path when faced with that choice?

From your choice comes three different stories!

You were raised as a prince among the Dark Kingdom’s royalty. However, in truth, you are the prince of Light Kingdom who was kidnapped at birth.

Your father, the wicked King of the Dark Kingdom, invades the Kingdom of Light. “Family or Birthplace?! The time to choose which one you think is right draws near”

Fates Proposal
A plan proposal from December 2012. A lot of things including the visual image of the protagonist were still in the process of being finalized. The White Night Kingdom [Hoshido] and Black Night Kingdom [Nohr] were introduced as the “Kingdom of Light” and “Kingdom of Darkness” respectively. However, this was just the initial framework that was to be expanded upon.