Does anyone else think an adventure path revolving around Iomedae's faithful leading a crusade against the cybernetically enhanced forces of Hell (who are attempting to finally invade and conqueror the Pact Worlds) would be a nice addition to Starfinder?
So, basically a version of Attack of the Swarm as forces aligned with Iomedae instead of a planetary military against a more overt/militaristic version of Signal of Screams by devils instead of velstracs?
I doubt Paizo will either repeat themselves or try to cover a wide-scale, multi-planetary conflict over something more focused in an AP. If there is such a sprawling conflict, then I suspect that there will be different APs for related, smaller scale struggles.
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It sounded like they wanted to leave The Pact Worlds out of major lore shifting conflicts. The upcoming war between the Veskarium and the Azlanti Star Empire sounds like it will be the big war AP for SF2e. My guess is most of this will happen in Azlanti space since it hasn't received a book yet like how the Veskarium was covered in Near Space.
Drift Crashers had a brief trip to Hell and some time travel. If you add some time travel to your idea, Iomedae's faithful leading a crusade against the cybernetically enhanced forces of Hell could also be used as an idea in PF2e for Iron Gods from Hell, or even as a PF2e/SF2e crossover AP but I don't think Paizo would do anything like that until Starfinder has had time to establish itself as it's own game.
This brings up a question I was wondering.
Embroi was invaded by devils from Hell and conquered. And it seems (from the Starfinder wiki) that armies of heavenly beings aren't fighting to save it. But it seems other planets have not been invaded by planar outsiders. My question is, what stops them from doing it everywhere?
In D&D 2e, the Outer Planes are infinite and there are infinite fiends, celestials, slaadi, and modrons. But they can't turn the Material Plane into an eternal battlefield because some magic or inherent thing in their outsider nature prevents them from sending infinite armies to the Prime Material without being summoned by cultists.
So, does Starfinder and/or Pathfinder have some kind of lore reason that infinite demons and devils don't conquer everything, or wage giant angel-demon wars on every planet? Did someone in fact summon or invite the devils to Embroi, or open an unusually large and stable portal to Hell?
I'm specifically not asking for spoilers of published adventures, though. Just... pondering.
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Embroi was invaded pre-Gap, but in-setting, most people don't know that. Whatever the invasion looked like, it was secretive enough that it went largely unnoticed.
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Yeah, if I remember correctly, Embroi actually being a thrall-planet of Hell is pretty secret knowledge. Most embri don't even know that, at the top of their leadership, is a bunch of devils:
Few residents, and even fewer visitors from the Pact Worlds, realize that Embroi is a fiefdom of Hell. The diabolical population exists only in the planet’s shadows, and overt infernal influences remain minimal. Knowledge of the world’s vast network of underground thoroughfares has been erased from Embroi’s histories. This nether realm is now the domain of quiet levaloch armies; burning portals to Malebolge, the sixth layer of Hell; and scab-encrusted sacrifice machines. Over it all watches the victorious malebranche Occhiorasoi, who conquered Embroi before the onset of the Gap. Now she waits, as she has for eons, ever prepared for her world to contribute to Asmodeus’s unknown immortal designs.
For me, a big "Hell Invades!" AP would require a good motivation. Who is invading, and why? To take on something as big and powerful as the Pact Worlds, you'd need more than just, I dunno, some loser fiefdom of Hell; you'd need a massive force, probably commanded by a true archfiend or other fiendish divinity. And for someone at that power level to get involved - why? Is Asmodeus involved, or at least, tacitly approving?
Loads of deities, not least of which is, as OP says, Iomedae, have a vested interest in the Pact Worlds, so any assault on the Pact Worlds could provoke a huge response. There'd have to be a pretty big reward, to risk the wrath(s) of Iomedae, Abadar (the Corporate HQ is the Golden Vault on Absalom Station), Cayden Cailean, Hylax, Triune, and who knows how many species deities (Angradd, Calistria & the elven pantheon, draconic deities from Triaxus, and so on.) If this takes places after the 2e setting stuff has happened, the Pact Worlds could even include Pulonis in some capacity, so who knows - there could even be some kind of Pahtra Auxilliaries kicking ass, too!
I'm not saying it couldn't be done, it's just that there's some questions to answer, first. I mean, Dawn of Flame is proof that you can do a good "extra-planar invasion!" storyline in the Pact Worlds! Sounds more like a Home Campaign kind of idea, rather than a published AP, though.