Well, the Lethe/Cydonian war has been covered countless times - most notably in Pale.
Your second idea sounds somewhat more promising, but it needs polish.
However, you have greater issues to deal with.
First off, have you ever made a plugin? It ain't easy. These projects sound rather grand and a bit formidable for the first-timer. Tackle something simple first, like a plugin that adds only a few missions, ships, and weapons.
Furthermore, making graphics for EV is a complex project at best; one doesn't simple 'draw' them. If this is your first time, I'd reccomend you go with freely available graphics. Good sources are (url="http://"http://www.meowx.com")Meowx Design(/url) and (url="http://"http://www.grand-novice.com")Grand Novice Software(/url). If you feel up to actually creating your own graphics, good, cheap programs are the free version of Strata3D and the shareware Mechanisto. Commercial ones include programs like Bryce, Infini-D (used for EV's and EVO's graphics), Carrara, and Lightwave (which was used for EV3's graphics).
The developer's board is probably a good place for advice. I reccomend you ask around there and read the plugin FAQs.
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