This actually fits the character I was wanting to create even better than the old premise does. I love it.

I feel like noting that I'm planning a chaotic neutral character - someone who's not going to go out of her way to bother other "good" factions, but someone who won't hesitate to mess with them if she feels like she can handle things better.

I'm not sure about the genocide thing, though. The fact that I'm planning on playing a Heliolisk aside, I can't see a logical reason for it. Normal-types aren't overly weak (so social darwinists wouldn't go for their throats) or overly strong (not a threat to the current power). I would possibly consider making the Plates stronger or implementing Shards so that teams could gather more power, though command of ordinance, weapons, mercenaries, etc could also serve that purpose. Also, I'm still not sure where the team rivalries would come up - unless everyone has a very different worldview it feels like this kind of thing could actually encourage cooperation over confrontation.