PSCS Module Project: The Illuminated Eye

With Clueless' permission, I've begun working on my own module that I was curious if anyone wanted to help out on. Basically, it's going to be a sequel in the series of modules that are being founded in Shattered Dreams and basically doing what it's doing with the Athar to the
Mind's Eye.

I started this idea with a lot of ideas that were unusable in the Shattered Dreams module and will be re-tooling them here for a different plot line. I'm a huge Godsman's fan and always felt that the Sign of One could also use some work to become more playable.

My vision is that it's meant to be about six scenarios that more or less function independently of one another except for the last that takes the player characters to the revealed climatic plot of our off-stage antagonists

(I hesitate to use the word villains).

The Chief Goals of this Project will be...

* The Illuminated Eye adventure itself that is meant to be fun and emphasize role-playing over combat.

* Detailed Personalities that will make politics and interaction with the Mind's Eye amusing.

* Details for their new headquarters in the Outlands as well as the one in Tir'Na'Nog. I'd also like to explain what happened to both the Senate Hall and the Foundry.

* A Factol's Manifesto entry being done by me (with help from everyone else) on the Mind's Eye as part of the Appendix, done in the style of the Author of said book.
This will detail the Mind's Eye post the events of the adventure.

* Detail a resurgent Church of Aoskar that will form the crux of this particular storyline.

I'm open for anything else that people want to contribute to this work but I'm inclined to think that this covers most of what I'm interested in getting
from the module in question.

Premise

Unknown to the Mind's Eye, one of the last remaining disciples of Aoskar has managed to escape the Mazes and is responsible for Factol Darius' plot to attempt to raise the god from the dead with the power of the belief of the Sign of One. He's one of the few Signers that was grateful to get out of Sigil since he was terrified of being flayed or mazed again.

Aola is the party actually responsible for the razing of the Shattered Temple as he wanted to see the capture of the Bois Verdurous sacred tree that contains the last remnants of his deity's essence in the world.

Aola Brethren of Aoskar are composed of legitimate Signers who just want to prove the awesome power of their belief, Godsmen who believe a God they ressurrect will show them how to ascend to godhood, and power-hungry individuals that believe they will be amply rewarded for their aiding the God of Portal's return.

What seperates Aola from your average Priest hoping to ressurect an ancient god is that he's ridiculously powerful enough, possibly a former Proxy, to actually be able to pull it off thanks to all the favors he owes from the gods. I'd really like to imply Aola is possessed of "Secret Knowledge" possessed by the Signers that makes the strange and ridiculous possible.

Also, Aola isn't a villain per say but just genuinely wants his god back and is going about it in an exceptionally underhanded manner.

Ombidias the new Factol of the Godsmen is aware of the Aoskar Cult and wants to stomp it out but he's also troubled by the fact that it's not his only problem in the Faction that contains Signers and Godsmen who don't want to incorporate the philosophers of the other plus other factions being born from iconoclastic Signers (as detailed in the Planescape 3E campaign setting).

My idea is that he brings the player characters in as investigators to the strange goings on that are happening in the place. While the player characters he hopes will help stamp out the divergent elements, it's entirely possible they may become sympathetic to certain ones as they each do their own plots while Davani manipulates events from behind to acquire the various things that he thinks he needs to resurrect Aoskar.

Adventure Hooks

These are some of the basic adventure premises that I was toying around with on the way for creating The Illuminated Eye.

Adventure 1: The Fruit of Knowledge

Athar belonging to Hobard's cabal are interested in the fact that there's some indication that the Bois Verdurous was transplanted from the Shattered Temple before it was raised. There's some indication that some Godsmen and Signers were involved but the trail has gone cold because of a series of murders.

In a "Red Herring"/Parlor Room Murder Mystery bordering on farce scenario, there's Multiple killers attempting to conduct both idealogical purges and setting their own personal disputes. In truth, the Brethren of Aoskar have been covering their tracks through non-violent means.

Adventure 2: The Ascension of Umbra

The Zactar Faction from the Dungeon adventure "Umbra" merged with the Mind's Eye during the Faction War and are pretty much have continued their cult-like veneration of the Alu-Fiend.

[The Zactars, basically, are a Mini-Faction that believe a Alu-Fiend will one day become the Supreme Being. They believe Umbra is her because of a peculiar birthmark that she sports].

Recently, Umbra was kidnapped and the Zactars are raising Hell over it. Little do they suspect she ran away on her own accord and the PCs must choose what they want to do about it.

The Aoksar Connection is the Skeleton Keys of Aoskar that she uses to escape, effectively a Minor Artifact that turns any portal into a portion to some place else. They're a former major belonging of the Priesthood.

Adventure 3 Mazes and Minotaurs

Impersonators of the late Factols have started appearing in avatar form and more or less demanding that the Factions split up. This is causing no end of trouble for the Faction as Ombidias is quite sure that both Factols were mazed rather than genuinely ascended.
The PCs must track down proof at the old headquarters of the Factol's last whereabouts. There they encounter hardliners from both Factions annoyed at the transformation of their former holdings.

The avatars are actually the result of some clever Gnomish Illusions and a Fallen Deva hired to disrupt things so the Cult can do some good natured looting. At some point, the PCs should be either able to communicate with one Factol or perhaps even find a way to rescue one (but probably not both).

Adventure 4: Trial of the Eternity or "Have you seen my Deity?"

A deity has disappeared in the cosmos. The deity, in question, was a minor one that no one would really miss. At least, except for the deities followers. Coming to Sigil to investigate the matter, they are investigating the Mind's Eye due to the fact that a substantial number of their members were looking up information on the god in question before he vanished. Then the Mind's Eye made an absolutely shocking claim, they WILLED him out of power.

They will, furthermore, be submitting the bound and captured deity to a Fraternity of Order judge for sentencing after the god's mortal form came to them in revenge and killed several. It's a scandal all over Sigil that's the equivalent of OJ. Most doubt that it's remotely true.

Of course, the Mind's Eye isn't REALLY responsible. Aola managed to gain a favor from one of Aoskar's old lovers in a goddess of Magic (probably Istar) and stole away the minor god's divine spark. Aola intends to use it to bring his god back.

Adventure 5

No Clue.

Adventure 6

Instead of a Astral Plane visit, I had the idea of an original way to ressurect a god. The Cult will use their gathered powers to pierce the Veil of Time rather than something more prosaic. Instead, they journey back to the time when the Cult of Aoskar was strong in Sigil before the Factions.

They intend to retrieve a piece of Aoskar and then use their power to bring him back to life through that. The PCs are probably clued into this and all the threads leading up to it by someone they met earlier in the adventure.

Aftermath

Aoskar won't be resurrected in canon Planescape and my idea is that it should probably be clearly impossible to everyone but Aola. Ultimately, the "best" ending is to help the Priest of Aoskar come to terms with his gods death and either ascend as a New God of Portals (based out of the Outlands or Ethereal) or allow him to join his God in Death at the Lady of Pain's hands.

Fundamentally, the PCs actions will help determine if the Mind's Eye splits up into three very weak minor-groups or forges itself into a powerful new faction.

So, thoughts?