History:
This unknown age has several large moons in close orbit to the planet which causes frequent eclipses. These eclipses have become very important part of the ceremonies for the tribes over the millennia. Several artifacts have been restored from this age among them was a large group of tribal masks used during the ceremonies most anticipated event when all the moons align causing a solar eclipse. On this day (which we think happens every 125 years) an ancestor would wake taking possession of the mask. A priest or priestess wears the mask and looks for visions of the future which they believe they can see through their ancestors eyes. We are not sure how old these masks really are or why they only glow during the eclipse other than I suspect its something to due with the pigment they use only reacts under very specific light conditions of it's white dwarfs sun.
After several days mucking around with different building methods I came across the Bezier draw tool and things picked up quickly. I remember the tool from my Illustrator days. The face of the mask is giving me problems which currently has a ...chocolate covered beatle feel but everthing else went fairly quickly. Next week I'm going to work out a color solution, texture and lighting. I'll probably modify the textures in photoshop CS3 (which I don't know how to do yet) and hope I come up with something that is close to my idea. 