Great questions!

A lot of this is seen much more clearly in Doom's Day. There is no problem with priests linking from the Abyss to someone appropriate on the material planes etc.

The problem is in "having a link to the right person." Priests have links to avatars, typically saints, but sometimes archons (although official routings are to go priest->saint->archon, there is nothing stopping a direct connection to an archon if both parties allow). So if an avatar were on the material planes at the same time as a priest linked to him/her was in the Abyss, they could form a link (automatically) and in fact a bridge all the way through to the Outer Planes.

The problem for the Inferno was that none of the priests on the Inferno had established links with any of the saints/avatars that were either in Astlan or Nysegard.

In Book III, the majority of avatars on material planes were from Nysegard, and none of the priests on the Inferno were from Nysegard and so had no connections.

Of Tiernon's Astlanian avatars, you basically just had Hilda, and unfortunately, she's not that major of a saint. She did have a few adherents in the Rod, such a Danyel and there were others, but they were all soldiers not priests. She was their 'patron saint' but that link isn't as strong as a priestly link. I.e. he can't draw power on it, but he can pray to her, although it's likely this connection runs through her HALO (which would be in the Outer Planes and so not connected---but maybe it would fall back to her)

We can assume, since no one noticed their link to her come alive, none of the priests on the Inferno were priests linked to Hilda, otherwise they'd have had their full mana stream and they definitely would have noticed that and alerted people.

But yes, if a deity wanted to invade the Abyss, they could definitely station avatars on the material planes and route power to priests in the Abyss, or other avatars that way.

It is very doable and being done, and being done by people we all know in the books. The Outpost of the Nyjyr Ennead in The Abyss has links back to the Astlanian moon Uropia where their base is and then back to their remaining locations in the Outer Planes where their god pools are.

Thus Bess and her pantheon can have full access to their divine powers in The Abyss. But you did not hear this from me.

One reason that Sentir and Aodh meet with Lilith in Etterdam is because of this reason. They will go and have been there, but they really don't want to 1) they don't want anyone on material planes tracing them to the Abyss and 2) they can't draw on the full resources of their gods without someone doing a relay on the material, and that would be very obvious. So, they prefer to meet on more neutral ground where everyone has their full powers and it's far less suspicious.

And yes, the Doomalogue gates are very tightly warded against such activities. Specifically, the "World/Star/Doom Gates" which are little wormholes between realities scramble/break links.

When Tom connects to Doom through the Nysegard Doomalogue, he is not using the Doomgate. Rather he is using the other private connections between the Doomaluges that are highly encrypted links accessible only to Orcus and those linked to him. These "other links" are the same ones that were used to 'trickle charge' the Doom of Nysegard so that it could be restarted remotely.

The Inferno can and is about to leave the Abyss using and "Abyssal Gateway" (which is typically a spell/discipline rather than a permanent device/artifact) It's the circular ring of fire that rips a hole in reality that Tom likes to use to take material objects physically into the Abyss. That is how they got there, and while the ship was damaged, most of that damage was to the gravitational drive system, it was not quite as bad for the Abyssal Gateway Projector (there are 2, one in each of the two conning like towers at each end of the ship and links to the main power source--it was these links that were damaged to both projectors), however they had plenty of time to repair the broken links before they were ready to leave at the end of AoD.

Fortunately for them, the Oorstemothians tend to prepare for every possible situation, so they had plenty of repair materials, at least for the first round of battle. We shall see about the next, you can only pack so many spare parts in the ship.

Hmm,

If she didn't have something setup, that would definitely be the case. She is shut off from direct contact with her god pool and would need a relay. Not sure if they have automatic relays or not, I'm just speaking from my own experience in saying that they could have full access, if they have someone or something relaying for them. Given that they have some pretty advanced magineering tech on that moon of theirs, I'd have assumed they had relay devices, but if not, then she'd need someone there to relay for her, and, in fact someone powerful enough to give her full power.

My guess is that for her, it was short notice, for Bastet who stays down there all the time, I would assume she's made provisions.

As we saw in all the books, the Concord of Conciliation gets violated all the time. But for the tribunal to do anything about it, it has to be reported. By and large, the various deities tell their avatars not to go there without director orders because they don't want someone going there and getting in trouble they aren't prepared to deal with.

It's basically like hostile powers sending spies or provocations into the other territories. If you get caught there can be problems/issues.

Note that Sentir Fallon was sneaking down there to see Lilith. So if she complains about Sekmeth, then Orcus complains about Sentir and yada yada.

Of course, there is Orcus, grandson of Zeus, who's been camped out down there for about a 100,000 years now, and lots of visits and long stays before that. And Phaestus....so the Concord etc is really just a political treaty. You don't come into my space, I won't come into yours sort of thing.

I should note that while many play fast and loose, they still get nervous about it. This is why Stainsberry makes some people nervous, he's seen as an agent of the Tribunal and who knows what incursions he might report to them. He's sort of like a UN Inspector/Peace Keeper.

All of this is, of course, eventually coming up in excruciating detail (for some people) as we go forward after Doom's Day to "The Atheist God" etc.

Tizzy

Well. You are not "wrong" Not in spirit (and I mean that as literally as possible)...

The Doomalogues are all in Midgard, the material plane--but...

Hear! Hear!

Or as the full saying goes: “Hear, all ye good people, hear what this brilliant and eloquent speaker has to say!

Not as far along as I want!

T-A-G seems to be taking his own sweet time!

Also, I have, on occasion, found him sneaking off to write on OOA:TBD which he knows is a no no, since he owes Tantor Doom's Day and COA:ITW before OOA:*

He says he's gotta go where the muse strikes him....

...and I say, if he needs someone to strike him, I got 4 some ones that can strike him as soon as I put my pipe down! Plus four more kicks in the pants!