Vestiges in PS

I don't own Tome of Magic but have read through it a bit about vestiges, so take the following comments with that grain of salt...

1.) I wouldn't like making them Far Realms entities, because it's now possible -- albeit with difficulty -- for Far Realms entities to manifest in our worlds. That removes the reason for vestiges to offer their services to binders, since the reason they do it is to experience existence once more. There's also the fact that Far Realms entities are universally described to see us in a fashion as alien as we see them; yet vestiges were once beings of this reality, and understand it completely.

It's a possibility, and I can see where the logic comes from. However, it would have some pretty serious ramifications for the setting. Vestiges are supposedly in some kind of a null place.

2.) Doesn't making a pact involve bringing the vestige, or part of it, into the binder's body? Clerics can do some magics in Sigil, but they can't summon creatures in; the Lady controls entrance into the city. On the other hand, if it's simply something more like scrying, in that the vestige casts in a fraction of its senses, maybe that would function. However, one can imagine a "high-level binding" that brings the vestige very fully into the binder's body, which is almost like summoning the vestige itself. That would strike me as a no-no.

3.) I agree that the Anarchists would probably love Pact Magic. The Bleak Cabal, Xaositects and Doomguard, as well -- the existence of vestiges is all about the laws of the multiverse getting cracked, and things falling through the holes. The Guvners... maybe. Vestiges do very much represent loopholes in reality. Hmm, yeah. Some of them. On the other hand, many of the vestiges got that way because they broke laws, not just bent them. So it could be a personality thing. The Sensates could certainly understand the desires of a creature that just wants to experience the world again, and perhaps pity vestiges. Indeps would probably hate the notion of giving over part of your self-control. Harmonium, Mercykillers, no. Vestiges have fled justice. Godsmen, no (offensive to gods). Athar? Depends on how they view the binding process, I suppose. The vestige is pretty open about what it wants from the deal, unlike gods, so the Athar would say. Ciphers? No. Binding interrupts your rhythm. Sign of One... nah. Ditto Fated. Neither would like the possibility of giving up self-control very much. And Dustmen... nah. Vestiges have detoured from the path to True Death.

4.) For new Vestiges, I'm blank. :^)

Oooh. I just got an idea that would make a good post-FW campaign idea.

Now, while I'm not that sure about how FW played out since it's one of the few modules I don't have, I do understand that the majority of the Factols were mazed. I also seem to remember from somewhere that Skall of the Dustmen is still managing to send his image out for communication.

Just suppose that he begins to support an increase in the study of binding in the Dustmen as a "study of those who have begun to ascend" or somesuch. Skall is trying to warp himself into a vestige, then eventually overpower the binder in order to escape the Lady's maze.

I really don't know where things would go from there, but it's got me thinking. . .

Dustmen
Creatures that have died and gone on to a higher state of being? Beings that exist outside of the multiverse as we know it? Sounds like the Dustmen would be all over this. Vestiges are the ultimate signs of their faction's power. They're the ones who have died and moved on to some higher existence. Vestiges have passed beyond False Life, and represent the only way of contacting beings that have done so. By binding a soul from this existence to the powers of that existence, a binder comes as close to transcending into True Death as is possible to do short of dying.

Flavor
When dealing with vestiges in Planescape, I think it's important to consider how you treat the assumed heretical nature of pact magic, as presented in the Tome of Magic. In that book, witch hunts track down and burn binders, and practically all religions oppose its practice. Planescape, of course, is a lot more cosmopolitan than that. I see two paradigms:

1. "So, you contact unfathomable beings from beyond reality, make dire bargains with them via bizarre rituals, and then merge your soul with the likes of fallen angels, murdered spirits, or splintered god-minds. So what? You want a medal or something?"
Nowhere are folks more proud of their cosmopolitan attitude than Sigil. If a berk's daily life includes an armanite tanar'ri taking a regular table at the local tavern, he can't be too fazed by strange and obscure rituals. After all, the Cage is full of spellslingers, and it's too tough to tell 'em all apart to start discriminating against some minority of them. Sure, maybe some stuck-up folks might think that, just because they're from Elysium, they know better than you what kind of magic is good and what kind is bad. Sure, maybe fancy-to-do lords will turn up their noses if you show up at their mansion in The Lady's Ward with the horns of What's-His-Name sprouting from the top of your head because you made a bad pact. But this is Sigil, berk. It's got everything.

2. Come up with ways to include anti-binder suspicions in this non-traditional setting. Do the factions see binders as a threat? A secretive society living among the populace, gaining power by the beliefs of other bashers? How's a body supposed to figure out what he believes if he spends his days with some other being riding around in his bone-box? The Fated might think that it's weak to have special powers handed to you by some dead sod. It's pathetic, they say, to bow and scrape to some decaying sodder who couldn't even keep himself this side of the Dead Book. Maybe the Doomguard see binders as enemies of the 'faith,' as it were, who revere those who have been rightfully claimed by Entropy. They try to bring things back not just from the dead, but from full-on oblivion.

Gith
Maybe there is a vestige which claims to be Gith, and has attracted a growing body of revering servants who do its will. And maybe that vestige is Gith, and maybe it's not. It's much more in the spirit of the setting never to tell. The rulers of the races have officially stated that the spirit is a dangerous unknown, to be treated with caution at best, and at worst a vile pretender, doubtlessly seeking harm to the giths by masquerading as their warrior-queen. Actually, come to think of it, a cult of githzerai binders with mysterious motives who channel the powers of a vestige proclaiming to be Gith would make for a great adventure. What is the true identity? Some baernaloth?

Someone get on that.