What bothers me most about the cameos is that ... the story didn't need them. At least not for some time at least. Up until the Solstice this was a story that took place entirely on Marquet. Orchestrated largely by a Marquesian Cult/Mercenary company in conjunction with what was originally a major Fey Court. Then diluted to just a "Rogue Faction", and then not even that apparently? The ONLY link to VM in all of this was Orym's very plot-device backstory that almost garaunteed VM would get involved in any prolongued campaign. Without him, the closest thing to an NPC we've ever had in a PC, there would be no VM. Laudna's links to C1 were too distant, and the last people Delilah would want knowing she survived in ANY form would be VM. D was effectively turned a C2 Artagan on all functional levels.

As for M9, the only reason they got involved was because of Faux-Ludinus. A character who outside of the name is nearly unrecognizable to his C2 portrayal. And it truly IS just Ludinus, not the CA, because somehow the Head of Homeland Security in the Empire is slumming it exclusively with a bunch of braindead mercenaries and a few psychics in a desert. Do I think C2 Ludinus was capable of doing something like the Solstice? Absolutely. Do I think C2 Ludi would have ever been the type to feel the need to justify himself to a woman he just met; villain monologue and laugh maniacally; or "spare his James Bond enemies so they can watch him succeed"? NO! C2 Ludinus came off as the type of person who if he thought himself so right he'd change the foundation of the world, he'd just do it and let the results speak for him.

Without Orym, VM would not have been involved in this story. At least not for quite some time, if they were to come in. Without Ludinus there to pad out the stakes, M9 also would not be involved. The past two PC parties are only involved because of those two very "convenient" connections. C3 would be BHs vs one Marquesian Cult & a Fey Court looking to exploit the Apogee Solstice, and it turning out to be far larger in consequences then anyone thought. That would still be a tough fight for a lvl 8-9 party. And had we instead had a bunch of Marquet Locals instead of Tourists, then we (and the party) might actually have personal and emotional stakes in these events. Instead of what we have. Imogen, 6 optional PCs, and "a Death of the Gods storyline where nobody seems to give a shit about the Gods".