I've become somewhat consumed with Aoskar recently for a project I'm working on. Information on him is sporadic at best. I found a good writeup right here on this very site, as well as several other Wiki articles of varying degrees of usefulness. I'd love to know much, much more about Aoskar - I mean every little bit of fluff available, down to rituals and holy days of his (ex)followers.
Of particular interest to me at the moment is Aola - his proxy. On this site's writeup is the following: "Recently, the cult of Aoskar has returned to existence outside of Sigil thanks to Aola's escape from the Mazes.". I see in the game Planescape:Torment, Aola is the high priest of Aoskar - is this supposed to be before or after this escape?
Is there any info on Aola outside of PS:T? I'll have to go load up my old game (how many years ago was that......) and see if I can glean anything from that encounter. Is any of this canon? Does Aola appear in any sourcebooks, Dragon articles, adventure modules? I'd love to know something about him - race, history, planet of origin - as well as some more crunchy statblock type stuff.
Here's to hoping some of the amazing cutters on this site can point me in the right direction.
You're quoting from an article by Charles Phipps. It might be useful to know that it's fanon; a lot of it is stuff that Charles made up based on almost no research. It's certainly not the way I would have done it.
I think Aoskar really ought to have two faces or heads, like the Roman god Janus, or like the Aoskan hounds that are named after him. That's not really official either, though.
You won't find much official detail on him, unfortunately. He's thoroughly dead in the standard continuity. There's not much to know other than what's detailed here. From On Hallowed Ground we know he was a greater deity, his portfolio was "portals," and he was true neutral (not chaotic good) in alignment. In the Cage said Aoskar's title was the Keeper of Doorways and portfolio included portals, doorways, and opportunity. "Every creature who passed through a doorway could utter his name as a prayer, and each use of a gate key became emeshed in his rituals." Alchemists seek out the dead god's blood, which is said to act as a universal portal key.
Aola is indeed in Planescape: Torment, but nowhere else. IGN's Guide to Planescape: Torment has the following account of the encounter:
I handed it to him, then watched, fascinated as he set it within a pyramid-shaped structure and said a prayer to Aoskar. A portal soon materialized and filled in all sides of the pyramid. Aola then casually reached in and opened Moridor's Box.
Not expecting this I attempted to stop him, but I was too late. Immediately the box disintegrated as a putrid smoke poured out of it, filling the pyramid. An intense feeling of dread filled the room. It took all that I had to remain where I stood. As my mind tried to leave I watched the tendrils of smoke disappear into the vortex formed by the portals. As the last wisp of smoke vanished so did the feeling of dread. Aola smiled and said witness the power of Aoskar, the Keeper of Gateways.
I pointed out that a fiend of such power would no doubt find its way back here and that it would be looking for him. He said that he had taken that into consideration. Each side of the pyramid was a portal to a different plane. In effect he had scattered the fiend's essence across the multiverse. Then he sifted through the remains of the box to retrieve the ruby. He told me he would keep the ruby as payment for his services. I agreed and left the temple. Once outside the thought struck me that I needed that ruby to give to the mage in Ragpicker's Square so I went back inside and asked if I could purchase the gem. He wanted 300 coppers so I gave it to him.
That's all there is. Aola isn't in the Mazes at this point, so his escape (if he ever is mazed, and if he ever does escape) would have to happen later. Again, the whole business with Aola reviving Aoskar's cult is unofficial.
I mean, nothing against unofficial things; they're the lifeblood of RPGs. But it's nice to know what they are when you go looking for more detail.