PLOT ENGAGEMENT

[larkers]

> PLOT ENGAGEMENT

What is Plot Engagement and how does it work within Meadowlark? This is the page where players can come discuss with us how to facilitate plots within the setting. However, there will be occasions where a plot doesn't work within Meadowlark's world, and we'll suggest alternative routes. For small worldbuilding or gameplay details, please direct your question to the FAQ. If you're ever not sure if you're at the right page, don't worry—we'll help you get it sorted out. We know we have a load of info!

In addition, you do not need to have a complete plot in mind when you come to us. We aim for plot engagement to be more of a conversation between us and our players. If we propose a plot angle and it's not to your liking, we're more than happy to work with you to come up with something more to your tastes.

WHEN WILL YOU HEAR BACK?

◉ All Plot Engagement answers go out on Sunday, except during events.
◉ The deadline to submit a question and ensure you'll hear back from us on Sunday is 11:59 PM UTC on Saturday.

PLOT ENGAGEMENT INCLUDES

◉ Player plots! If you'd like your character to become a mafia boss, this is your place to start. Typically, this involves anything that could impact the setting or other player characters.
◉ Character career advancement that gives the character additional power or status within the setting.
◉ Metaplot exploration and information! We plan all events to give characters something to explore after the event ends. This is the place to do it!

SUBMISSION TIPS

◉ Specify what your character is looking for when they're investigating. What questions are they asking and what angle are they trying to explore?
◉ If you have a specific goal in mind but don't know how to reach it, please let us know.
◉ If you link a thread to us, please summarize it! That helps us process the plot in question.
◉ Don't worry about not knowing the setting like the back of your hand before you submit the plot—that's up to us! We're here to help you with any adjustments to get you on the right track.
◉ Plot engagement is meant to help with IC play so that characters can continue to interact. If you're not sure how to loop in others, let us know so that we can work with you on it! While this page is meant to be a conversation between players and mods, we know that the fun part of a plot is how it can change character arcs, spice up CR, and more.

NOTES & THINGS THAT YOU CAN HANDWAVE

◉ Characters always start out in entry level positions. Characters can update their skill sets to the 2512 standard through paid apprenticeships or internships.

◈ If a character is advancing within a major corporation (as noted on the Setting or Locations page) or one of its subsidiaries, we will need to approve this advancement.
◈ If a character becomes a supervisor at a local bar or other small business, we do not need to approve this advancement.

◉ Joining the police force within a city requires three months of IC training (six months OOC). There will be instances where this changes, and we'll keep you looped in on that.
◉ We'll approve whether someone has social media fame, but we will not be providing social media follower counts. Once you have a plot for how to use those followers, that's where we step in!
◉ All Morningstar business goes on our Morningstar page. Please feel free to discuss specific plots here (including joining), and go there for signups and anything else.
◉ Characters getting jobs, finding apartments, participating in the fighting rings, getting married, making workplace friends, the creation of minor NPCs, etc. do not need to be run by us. Please let us know if these expand into player plots or other plot bits!

QUICK LINKS

◉ Archived Plot Engagement: Previous Plot Engagement.
◉ FAQ: For small worldbuilding or gameplay details.
◉ Setting: Our setting page! We'll update as needed.
◉ Jobs: A reference for who's working where!
◉ Locations: Both major and minor locations within New Amsterdam, as well as outlines for other megacities.
◉ Mod Contact: For wider game concerns.
◉ The Story So Far: Gamewide plot events up to current (your CTRL+F best friend!).
◉ NPC page: Includes NPC blurbs and inboxes.
.

> NAVIGATION

Comments

[dickism]

Hey guys!

I'd like to have Dick become an officer with the NAPD, if possible! I know there's a training period, which he'd absolutely be up for. Basically, he wants to join to get the Displaced an in with the police and keep an eye on what's going on with them from the inside, but also just to help out. He'll be trying to keep his identity as one of the Displaced under wraps from them for now if he can manage it.

Also, if he could maybe make a cop buddy that would be awesome.

[larkers]

Hey Jenny,

That sounds fine! There will be a period of 3 months IC (6 months OOC) that he'll have to train, though Dick's experience means that he can get done in half the time due to the NAPD's desperation for new officers in the field. Feel free to make up a cop buddy for him and let us know what you'd like to name them. Or, if you'd rather, we could name them, too!

Let us know if there are any questions!

[cognitivus]

Re: the Special Investigation Task Force for Research and Criminal Investigation

Would this new sudden demand breed peripheral jobs that aren't outright related to the task force itself? Like I'm sure they'll need office workers, trainers, counselors, HR reps, etc. Are there any openings for teaching the basics of criminal psychology that Will could slip into?

To be clear, he wouldn't be contributing to or aiding the task force in itself in any way, just monopolizing on the sudden demand in this field & teaching the basic fundamentals to people going into careers in basically any branch of law enforcement.

[larkers]

Hi Em,

There won't be much available in the way of anything tangential to the task force because the UNA is being very tight with who they hire, and are reusing many of the personnel that are already employed with them.

However, the NAPD might be a good option for Will, as his talents would definitely be noted there and they have a shortened training program at the moment because they're strapped for personnel/resources right now. If you're interested in getting the Displaced an in with the police department, that might be worth looking into, but let us know if you have other ideas! We're also down with him being noticed early as he goes through the motions. Otherwise -- private investigator, maybe?

[forcevisions]

on account of all the business talk and because it seems like a good way for people to get their own plots going on building stuff:

rey has worked as a pretty well-paid engineer at one of the big corporations for a long while now and i'm wondering if she could effectively set up a hackerspace in new beijing. an open-use workshop full of the essential tools for lots of woodworking, machining, and computing, where people can donate to help with the running of it and the displaced can come work on whatever long-term projects courtesy of free auto-memberships.

[larkers]

Hey Tifa!

This is absolutely possible. As a note, woodworking wouldn't be an option, because wood isn't really used anymore. However, 3D printing is incredibly advanced and complex, so 3D modelling/scanning/printing would fill in that gap. These printers can use a wide variety of materials—metal, resins, wax, ceramics, etc. Another good idea would be including areas for sewing. Because the world is so focused on sustainability, many fabric goods are made to last and be mended rather than just tossed when damaged. This ranges for everything from clothes to bedding to curtains, and might help some of the Displaced with their interior design dreams.

She might need to start a bit smaller, depending on how much money she has saved up. Certain things will be very accessible price wise, such as some machines (3D printers, power tools, sewing machines, etc.) whereas larger items would be pricier (like CNC routers). Getting a loan for the space and equipment is definitely an option here, which is something El could help her get started with, especially since she's a long-standing member of Morningstar. Feel free to hit up El's inbox to get started! However, getting the actual loan will be similar to how it works today—she'll need a business plan and proof that she'll be able to pay the money back with interest.

And, of course, we'll need to know where she'll be opening the workshop! Will she be renting a space or did you have another idea in mind?

[righteously]

Ayooo about opening up that bar. Basically, see yonder scene about his bar ownership feelies. Instead of Rocky's, I'm thinking in a fit of nostalgia it'll be The Bunker.

Godric left Dean a pretty decent chunk of change, which I figure could be used as seed money to lease a decent place in this tanked prices real estate market and make repairs, stock it, etc. I figure he'd go for somewhere sizable but maybe that will require a lot of work, because he's not intimidated by the manual labor necessary to fix it up. Preferably with a basement that may or may not be used as a monster cage.

This may be the place to put his sizable social media following to use to get an initial customer base going & get off the ground, a little local marketing. To figure out his follower count I googled American Idol contestants and picked the most random non-popular non-finalist one I could find: DeAndre Brackensick, who tf is that, I don't know. But I figured between the dumb singing contest and the sexily dying in the aerie, it might be a decent ballpark.

Cas will be coming on as an employee, and once established he'll let go of his auto-body job to work there full time (and absurd overtime bc of who he is as a person).

[larkers]

Hi Em,

This sounds great to us! Like with any business venture, he'll likely need to get El's help with taking out a loan (which is something we can either handwave or you can send Dean to zeir inbox if you want to thread it). It sounds like he'll be able to put down a hefty down payment thanks to Godric's donation, but he'll still need to present a basic business plan to the bank to prove that he'll be able to pay back what he borrows with interest. Since he does have the social media following to leverage, this probably won't be a big deal for him!

Since you're going for a fixer-upper, let's go ahead and say that it takes about a month in-game (two months OOC) for him to get it into decent enough shape for him to open it to the public, if that works for you? Call in some free and/or cheap labor from your fellow Displaced in getting things up to snuff, Dean! (If you want to go that route, anyway.)

Along with the name, once you're ready feel free to drop a location description over at the appropriate page with any other details about the bar, including the general area of New Amsterdam where you see it being located, and whatever else you have in mind.

Happy bartending!

[withmeinparadise]

Hey there! Long time listener, first time caller. I'm not entirely sure what to put here, but I've got a vague idea that I've been kicking around and would like to do something with:

So Sam's noticed, as you do, that his brother's supply of stolen notebooks is finite, and he's been around long enough to realize that there isn't exactly a new legal source for replacements. Which sucks for Nate, but also sucks for anyone who might want to use paper goods to curry favour with new Displaced--like, say, Nate's big brother. So for someone like Sam Drake, this looks like an obvious moneymaking opportunity.

I'd like to see about him getting into either:
1. Manufacturing and selling ~artisan paper goods~ and writing implements made from hemp and other sustainable materials
or
2. Finding a way to replicate the sketchbooks Nathan still has using powers somehow - not his, obviously, but possibly someone else's - and then selling them

In a world where everything can be done electronically, this would obviously be a boutique product rather than something being sold in every corner store, but that's part of the appeal - he can charge absurd prices, create artificial scarcity along the lines of the real-world diamond industry (or, tbh, the real-world luxury pen industry, though his products would be rare without being diamond-encrusted), and generally try to use this to build up some cash to fund other, future plans. (What are they? Don't worry about it, it's fine.) Plus, make sure that Nathan never runs out of sketchbooks. You know, like a good brother who definitely didn't get his only family killed.

Is this something he could do? If so, what would my next steps be? Thanks!

[larkers]

Hey Dove,

We're open to this idea, though we're not sure it would be the most lucrative of endeavors for reasons we'll set out below. We'll lay out the various steps/obstacles and see what you think and how Sam might spin things.

One of the first things would be finding the materials and also the way to actually refine them into paper. How would he be finding hemp or whatever else he might use to make these paper products? He'd definitely need some space for it. This might also involve some not-so-legal trips beyond the wall to do some gathering. Second would be the actual act of paper pressing / binding / etc. Many of the more modern methods no longer exist since there's no demand for it, and thus tools for paper refining, whether artisan or mass production, are no longer are being made. That doesn't have to stop him, of course, it just means that he'll be producing more rustic paper goods. Let us know what you think he would do to streamline this process.

Second would be trying to find buyers, or at least create a market to drum up interest in this kind of product. The people who live in this world don't usually see much reason for paper as it's never been something they needed in their lives, so he would have to be creative and a bit business savvy to drum up a desire for these sketchbooks among the natives of this world. It might be hard to charge exorbitant prices for them, even if they would be a bit of a novelty, but let us know what thoughts you have here!

Of course, he could just rely on other Displaced being like Nate and wanting these, and selling specifically to them, though that would be a much smaller buyer's pool.

Those are our initial thoughts and impressions, so let us know what you think!

[realists]

okay okay i have gotten my shit together for a monster plot engagement.

jyn has a contact at riverstone now (remy pierre) thanks to priya's connection post break in and jyn would have a number of questions for them finally!! she would also like to find one of the scientists from the antarctica expedition to ask the same questions, both for a second opinion and because she doesn't super trust the information flow from riverstone.

she knows the dna from the animals outside the wall was degrading and is curious if that is the same from the creatures that emerged during the event and the creatures from the original event.

are there any unique markers in the dna that distinguishes the creatures from one another? why some induce the rage sickness and some don't?

is there any indication that the plant life in new amsterdam has a restorative effect on the animals and their dna?

also is there anything present in the plant life that sets it apart from any other random petunia? same for the soil in new amsterdam since that is where the plants are growing so wildly.

is the rage sickness a type of venom? an allergic reaction? is there any way to tell what way the body metabolises it that affects emotion instead of an immune response?

in addition to her endless questions, jyn is determined to get samples from all the different types of animals. she thinks there are four:

1. the animals from outside the wall and the creatures from the original event, both of which induced the rage sickness,

2. the creatures from grey's labs outside of new amsterdam and new magellan,

3. the animals at the gates, and

4. the creatures that came after antarctica.

riverstone has some samples, namely the ones jyn can't access anymore (the original event creatures and the antarctica event creatures,) but she would like to collect samples of the rest. she'd rope in people better than her at hunting to grab some of the animals that have ventured in over the wall and to snag one or two of the smaller animals from the gates (maybe rio as they seemed incredibly underfed and because both cassian and clarke would veto her collecting a buffalion to be her noble steed), but admittedly the carcasses from new magellan would be.... charred.

obviously jyn is not an expert she is just working with what she has at her disposable and an inexhaustible well of curiosity but i'm hoping at least some of this will be feasible to accomplish.

also can jyn work at the department of wildlife protection and services?

[larkers]

Hey Emma,

Is there any way that she'd go about finding a contact from Antarctica? A majority of those who went on the expedition died in the earthquake, and others might not be so forthcoming due to a lot of the leaks that came out following the expedition that tanked their careers. For now, she's going to have to take the Riverstone information she gets with a grain of salt. However, since she's interested in joining the Department of Wildlife Protection and Services, she'll have more resources to run these for herself soon! You can say that she'll have that job within the next week, if that's something she'd be interested in.

Remy will run these tests for her, but when he gives her the results, he'll mention something offhand about how senior management had to clear the tests since they were so date-specific and resource intensive. He'll ask her how she knows what samples should be compared by what date, since it seems to have piqued the interest of senior management. Riverstone will be pivoting some of their research around Jyn's questions, and it will accelerate their research department. He has his own suspicions in this regard, but he'll be curious about her answer.

For the first round of questions:

1. The creatures currently are not degrading, but evolving quickly.
2. There is not a unique indicator, no.
3. No, there is not.
4. There also is not! However, Remy will say that the plants have an extraordinary ability to turn specific gene markers on and off according to the hazards that they come in contact with in their direct environment (lack of water, sunlight, etc).
5. This one is interesting, since Remy will note that they didn't even think of those different avenues during their own research. There's no immune reaction, but there is the post-effect of certain neurotransmitter responses.

To make it clear, there are now only two kinds of samples that Jyn will be able to get ahold of. Those would be 1) the current animals populating New Amsterdam and outside the wall, which would include any animals in Antarctica, or at any of the other gates, and 2) Johann Grey's abominations. That said, she wouldn't be able to collect samples from prior events unless she has a source of collecting them. She'd be able to nab them, but she'd have to be very careful getting them into the city according to New Amsterdam's current laws. If she did this under the guise of her new job, that would be easier, but it would take a little bit before she'd be able to do it! We're giving it two IC weeks (a month OOC) for her to collect those samples. Keep in mind that some of her colleagues would be suspicious if she was able to utilize the gates to get these samples more quickly.

Let us know how you'd like to follow up! Thanks!

[rehandle]

Hey mods!

So, a couple of things as I try to launch myself back into existence on the earthly plane:

1. In line with the new appearance of Cardinal-adjacent spiritual fan accounts and the inevitable burgeoning of Stephen's already pretty hefty social media presence and real-world recognisability, I was interested in maybe having a fun thing start happening around his changed appearance, specifically his lightning scar.

Post-Aerie he's gone quiet on his social media and will be concentrating on doing any menial and admin tasks that can keep him back of house at Red Wings to minimise any public-facing engagement where possible, BUT he has still been walking around town where everybody's eyeballs function as cameras, so I'd like to play with candids starting to go up on these Cardinal fan blogs and around Cooltalk and discussion starting up specifically around the new scar, and perhaps by extension his seemingly healed hands (though the nature of the discussion around this second part would depend on whether natives also kept any physical changes from the Aerie or just the Displaced, so could you let me know so I can factor that in? You may have already said but I'm perpetually tired and reading comprehension is hard.)

Basically I'd like to start up a following that uses the new scar as symbolism and spills off of the internet. Perhaps in defiance of the regularly shut down cooltalk pages, indie makers and creatives start making little pendants and other jewellery items such as this combining the scar and blue god glow elements to bring the discussion into the real world and sell them to other people in the scene (as well as pre-aerie stephen fans and people who stumble across their pages through pure chance a la the etsy tiktok advertising boom and end up getting overly invested) and the following starts to expand that way. The bulk of it at this level being a benign movement where the wearing of these symbols is a show of support for and/or belief in Stephen Strange.

I'll want to come back to expand on this further in future if it gets the go ahead so wanted to check if this brewing little cult following was alright as a first step.

2. I'd like to know what the reception would be if Stephen tried to reach out (as a citizen, not in any attempted Official Capacity As Red Wing) to Joseph Lynch. Now that Lynch has made it very clear that he's going to continue to side with the Displaced in spite of the UN's investigation and the Aerie has further cemented that he's pro The People/in support of rebel orgs that oppose the Villainous Establishment, with Stephen being both an official face of (the) Red Wings and a Morningstar agent it seems like a good time to begin to develop a relationship.

For now this is literally just a "would he agree to meet with him." If yes, Stephen's angling for an informal unofficial meeting to give Lynch a chance to scope him out and vice-versa. Is there any likelihood of this going ahead?

[larkers]

Hi Gee!

1. We are totally down with all of this! Along with being eager to see what Stephen's reaction will be to seeing a jewelry support movement pop up around him. To answer your question about the natives, some of them did also keep physical changes from the Aerie!

2. Even if they've met before, Stephen will still need an in for contact! Both Akechi and Yennefer are in contact with Lynch, but Yennefer is a little shaky right now. While Lynch has spoken out in support of the Displaced, he will be wary of any members of the Displaced who were Cardinals in the Aerie, mainly because he'll be wondering if their "role" within the Aerie is a hint to something true to their nature. So, at least for now while Lynch feels that out, he'll have his office issue a response about him being unable to meet at this time due to having a packed schedule. There's a lot going on in the city, after all!

[batricide]

HELLO FRIENDS i am very late to this party and here with many things

stock market & investing! damian is looking to pull a little wolf of wallstreet here and make red wings some decent money, as well as start giving himself a decent amount of money on the side. i know very little about it, he knows very much, so i can't be a ton of help as to what he'd invest in, but he'd be looking into both short and long term gains.

warehouse i'd like to have damian start to properly fit the warehouse he's working on with some security equipment and set up a proper training room - mostly relying on custom vr simulations run off the neural implant so as not to rely too heavily on weaponry. so roughly half the space is going to be a training area. how long would it take for him to get it into working shape?

weapons forge with a b-side to this. how difficult would it be for him to start crafting weaponry for people?

maeda husband damian would like to start putting eyes on the last surviving member of the maeda family as he doesn't imagine the loss of his wife and son has gone over very well. would he find anything by monitoring his social media and such?

he may or may not be trying to get his arm back as a point of pride.

nightwing finally! damian will be running around as nightwing - using the armor he got from an item regain and a custom scrambler mask he built himself - though probably not using that name now that dick grayson is here and he's all awkward about it. saving cats from trees, helping little old ladies cross the streets, using his fire powers to burn down some of the vines and help literally clean the streets up.

with that being done, he intends to start sussing out the connections between the NA elite and the crime in the poorer areas, as well as look into the drug production. i imagine he'll be sniffing around the previous things he was investigating - the maeda family's connection to the fighting rings, and gangs and how they tie into politics. he's not looking to break any faces yet, he's aiming for information and recon.

once he has a lead and a fair amount of good will with the civilians, he plans to formally reach out and create a team.

[larkers]

Hi Shikki,

We'll address this section by section as you did!

Stock market and investing. This sounds like something that could maybe serve as a larger plot with additional characters pitching in in some way. While none of us really want to study up on this stuff nor do we expect any nitty-gritty details, we will say that Damian can probably do some reading up on forums to figure out where he should invest. Naturally, the big corporations are a large part of this. Another resource would be Nirvana, who's in the current log, as she does have connections to one of said corporations!

Warehouse. As far as security goes, El could likely help out with this, if Damian were to reach out to them. For the VR simulations, who would be writing/coding these and developing them? Does Damian have the capability to do that, or would he be pulling in other Displaced?

Weapons forge. Just to be sure, we're wondering if you're referring to what was discussed here? We just want to make sure that we're clear on the logistics of how he's going about this, amassing resources, etc. Along with what types of weapons you had in mind, since the previous thread refers to gadgets.

Maeda husband. We're thinking that he remarried (yes, already—gotta get a new heir in this oligarchical nightmare and all) and has just been throwing himself into his work, but we also more or less figured this plot was closed and done. We can tell you that the arm has been disposed of, so there's nothing for him to reclaim, but if you want to send him down the path of figuring that out for himself, let us know. We just want confirmation on you that you want the plot to continue since we figured it was mainly resolved.

Nightwing. Hey, look at that! Birdman is back. There will definitely be some social media buzz about this, primarily with people speculating on why this vigilante figure fell off the map for a bit. Was he ill? Did he go on vacation? What's the deal? People are sort of perplexed by his existence since vigilantism isn't really a thing in most cases, and some will wonder if he's a Displaced.

Investigation. We're thinking the Maeda family doesn't have much connection to the fighting rings anymore. It wasn't a family connection, more of Aoi specifically. It's probably kinda gone with the wind at this point, in the way someone on the internet would be like "old news." That aside, if there were other leads you wanted Damian to poke into, let us know! What are his goals here?

Making a team. Can we get more details here? Would this be a team pulling from civilian contacts, and if so, how would he go about that? Or is this a team made up of other Displaced that want to get in on the vigilante thing? Let us know if there are any specific resources you need from us!

[reneger]

heeeey mods

remember how jason used to have a nice gang that used to be two gangs that he shoved together in a terrible takeover?

what's going on with the outlaws these days? because jason's gotta figure out where he plays into all this again now that new amsterdam is slowly pulling itself back together

[larkers]

Hey Jessi!

The gangs are structured as they were back in the November Calendar, and that includes the Outlaws still being under Durcell since Jason left.

There are a few added notes here that Jason can easily find if he does a little bit of digging.

• Durcell died in the Aerie, and is really shaken up about it.
• On that note, there is definitely some Aerie trauma that's gone through the Outlaws.
• During the Aerie, the space colonies were left to fend for themselves, and are thus budding their own independence. Due to Cassius and El's interference, Durcell has lost control of the rebellion on Mars. That means that Durcell is a little frantic in trying to keep their control.

Those are the basics! Let us know if there's anything you'd like to expand upon here.

[wrend]

And hello again!

Aidan here has worked with wetware back in his own side of the universe, and while he's not going to be fucking with his own chip (yet), he is going to be doing some research into upgrades/additional implants/how to possibly forge an ID and shove it over his currently existing one to use as a cover when needed. These are all long term goals and definitely aren't going to be happening immediately, but given his own experience doesn't really translate well into IDs El can fake (and, the whole, being Demi Tomato thing) he's going to start searching the underground for resources/tools/spare bits and parts, and I wanted to check in with you guys regarding what resources he'd be able to scrounge up + who he'd have to get in good with in order to get what he's looking for.

[larkers]

Hey Jessi again,

There are a few pathways here depending on what you'd like to do! Not much is going to be available from a "parts" perspective due to the nature of how neural implants have been established in this world. There's not much to upgrade that wouldn't require some pretty intense surgery. Getting that on the blackmarket is possible, but difficult and very, very sketchy. We don't want you to be dead-ended here, so let us know what you're interested in!

He's bound to find out some of the following:

• The implants formerly used for the UNA have more processing power as well as a few other cool perks (night vision, heat vision, more processing power, etc.). There are still some of those around. Jack, Gabe and Jyn all have experience with them. Gabe has one in his head!

• The Hi-Jacks have an illegal neural implant trade. Those implants are mostly taken from dead people, and their identities hacked and repurposed in some sketchy illegal brain surgery. Roy has an in here, or Aidan could do something similar to Roy in getting their attention. In this instance Roy hacked a few news feeds and replaced them with a crazy chicken-esque side-scrolling platformer.

• In the future, and to note, both Jimmy and Johann could be resources here. Jimmy helped pin the technology for Giles Bell, and Johann has conducted brain surgery on the Displaced in the past. Both of them are able to manipulate identities and technical resources beyond normal means.

Let us know if there's anything you'd like to expand on.

[wittingly]

Ayyy boys inspired by this thread with Lance, Ian is going to try and improve safehouse quality of life. Essentially he'd be renovating the room with all the beds just chilling out in the open, and segmenting it into more private sleep spaces. On one wall he'd do a sleep pod wall for maximum population capacity, and for the more claustrophobic people the opposite wall will have (fewer, because of the vertical space reduction) shitty, cheaper and less fancy sleepboxes. The vertical space usage from the sleep pod side should offset the slight square footage reduction with the implementation of walls on the sleepbox side.

I figure he could do kind of a doable, passable V1 in a few hours what with the matter bending so the new guys have a scrappy band-aid to get by with, but may work to actually improve them so they're more sophisticated (lights, polished up, glass windows, improved temperature regulation via airflow or fans etc.) over the next several days/weeks. A lot of the bigger metal material would be salvaged from abandoned or structurally fucked up buildings around the city, but he'd spend his own money for the more specific stuff you can't find through salvage (insulation, electrical components).

Pretty much just trying to solve for the "i have to sleep out in the open with a bunch of strangers and I have nowhere to retreat to in order to have my own space and privacy" problem. Is this doable?

[lifetothefullest]

Sliding in here with an addendum that since this is super short notice (since I both OOC and IC lost track of time oops) we're gonna explain away IC that like, due to all the supply weirdness from the Aerie and the repairs that need to be done due to plant overgrowth, there aren't supplies available for this right now! Therefore no need to worry about continuity for threads, making people aware of changes, etc etc.

So instead same question, but just for next group of arrivals instead of this one!

[selfimage]

Hey other mods!

Now that Loki's effectively canned from Pulsar/etc., I was thinking that he'd go forward to publish a pseudo-fantasy based memoir/fiction-ish of his time in the Aerie called Confessions of a Cardinal. Due to his character arc and time in game, he wants to take control of the narrative of how the Cardinals were portrayed. He'll have a few goals:

1. Humanize the Cardinals.
   
2. Being to wrangle the narrative back from the corporations/government.
   
3. Connect the dots in how the Aerie relates to the current state of the world.

Here's kind of what I'm looking at in regards to content:

• Names would be changed.
  
• Loki will also preface that he's been canned from Pulsar, and link it to being a Cardinal from the Aerie.
  
• It'll focus a lot on the interpersonal conflict and drama between the Cardinals to hook people and humanize the Cardinals.
  
• It wouldn't put anyone in the spotlight, and would essentially draw a lot of real world parallels between the current state of the world and the Aerie while exploring the nuance of cultural cause and effect.

He's been writing it since the return from the Aerie, but it most likely still needs to be edited! I'm thinking about a month? Since he already has a publisher, would this be something feasible to release? I'm also curious if it would hit his goals, and how it'd go over?

Oh! A small note, he'll also be amping up the amount of erotic novels sold under his surname.

[larkers]

Hey Veronica!

This would absolutely be possible! It would definitely start out garnering a mixed reception—some will love it, and some will view it as tasteless and inappropriate. It'll drum up some controversy on social media, but that controversy will also spark genuine discussions, which will help along his goals! Because he's putting so much cultural context into his work, that will give people more to dig into than your usual bodice ripper, so while it won't cause an instant change in opinion overnight, it will create a slow and steady shift.

Of course, that means attention will also be on Loki, so the question is, what will he do with it? Give interviews? Stoke the discussions on social media?

[myfavoritemurder]

Re: this; I'M SORRY THIS IS SO LATE

So Callisto may or may not notice the tailing, depending on how discreetly it's done! On the one hand, she has experience being both predator and prey and is very practiced at being aware of her surroundings; on the other hand, the world she's most used to is literal millennia behind this one (she wouldn't think to try to avoid things like recording devices and electronic surveillance, for example), and she also... doesn't... care a ton about her own personal safety, so even though she's capable of being careful and and keeping an eye out for danger, it's not something she always does. Generally caution and subtlety are things she'll do in short bursts if they're necessary to accomplish an immediate, short-term goal, but aren't anything she'll stick with in the long run.

Additionally, I did recently mention in a thread that she's noticed people following her, but even though she's ICly assuming it's related to the soldier murders, I OOCly meant it to be more of a callback to the Special Investigation Task Force prompt in that log.

Things her surveilleurs might notice:

- She's on the move a lot, spending much more time outside than in; she even sleeps outside, and not always in the same place.
- She sometimes hunts/fishes food (complete with straight-up building small outdoor campfires to cook over), and sometimes gets it from stores/Red Wings/the newbie safehouse.
- Red Wings, the safehouse, and most recently, the underground fighting rings are frequent haunts (though the arm she broke during her fight with the soldiers is still healing, and so she's not jumping into the rings herself yet).
- Literally the only things she's purchased besides food are a sleeping bag, a titanium bat (which she absolutely used as a weapon against the soldiers during their fight), and a few extra clothing items; she uses the duffle that the sleeping bag came in as a general hold-all and she carries it with her everywhere.
- She crafted a rudimentary fishing spear at one point (likely ruining the blade of an eating knife in the process, lmao oops), which she later discarded in favor of a better option, because...
- ... Hook gave her a sword that he'd scavenged while the city was still largely deserted. She'll fight tooth and nail to keep it (and the bat, to a lesser extent), but OOCly I'm 100% fine with it (and/or the bat) being confiscated.

[larkers]

Hi Iddy!

This is great and gives us a lot to work with. Overall, our goal is to use the Investigation Force to build a case against the Displaced. A lot of this is incremental: she's breaking laws, she's doing whatever she wants, and she has an illegal weapon (the sword) that they can use against her. It's a matter of Callisto helping them create a story. We'll be working with other players to add to this case as the months go on.

As for an immediate response, they will be reaching out to the NAPD and reporting her activities. While homelessness is an epidemic in Meadowlark's world, the way she's surviving despite that homelessness will catch their eye. The UN Task Force will call in the local police to provide sanctions for her fishing (we're assuming she didn't apply for a license) and hunting (this has now been made illegal within city limits as of our February calendar). We're assuming that Callisto doesn't give a damn and doesn't pay attention to such things and intends to continue on whichever way she prefers, but feel free to correct us if that's not the case!

The NAPD will provide tickets for the following:

Carrying an illegal weapon. They will be confiscating the sword. Sorry, Callisto!

Building fires without a permit.

Fishing without a license.

Hunting.

All of these will come with a hefty amount of credits owed. We also assume Callisto won't be interested in paying them, but please let us know.

As a note: the NAPD are not likely to approach her with force or violence. As a force, they're trained to utilize pacifying techniques to help defuse a situation. If she attacks, they'll defend themselves—but officers don't carry weapons on calls like these. Either way, Callisto's response will be catalogued by their cameras and filed away for later.

One thing we'll say is that if the NAPD keeps having to be called out against her, it'll be met with diminishing returns on their end. They aren't fans of the Investigation Task Force, especially since the Displaced have, by and large, done right by their hometown. They know that the UN has a vendetta, and the NAPD has already been used as local flunkies in the past for their nonsense. As a result, we'd love to have a defined relationship between Callisto and the officers usually called onto the scene to "deal" with her. Of course, a lot of this depends upon what she does in that first meeting, but we're very interested to see where things go from there.

now on the correct page OTL

[ishotyouuu]

Hello mods!

Wade's getting a little bored of his Red Wings job and wants to look into more "off the books" type work. I saw on one of the aftermath posts that mercenary jobs would be more accessible due to the sudden downturn of public opinion of the Displaced (I can't find the specific log now, so apologies if I've gotten this completely wrong), so I was wondering how Wade would go about finding a lead to his potential new occupation. Would he have to do something special to catch the attention of a specific person? Or could he just contact an NPC directly with his intentions? I'm open to plotting out anything!

[larkers]

Hi Kaiya!

We're thinking that the best angle that Wade would have to get an in with mercenary groups would likely be by using his Aerie background and clout, given that he was a repeat victor in the Quarry there. If he's willing to make use of some assumed contacts from that other life, we would be open to him being able to find someone he interacted with in the Aerie who either is a merc or has some sort of connection to them. They would know that Wade had the abilities and the skill set necessary to become a merc himself, given what he was capable of during the Quarry, so he wouldn't need to really pass any tests in that sense.

If you think this is an angle that he would use, or have any sort of idea about who this NPC could be (who they were in the Aerie vs. who they are in the real world), please let us know! We don't want to make the decisions for you if you have any ideas that come to mind, though we're also willing to help out if you're unsure.

Let us know!

[evasives]

whoo ok... here i am, finally, with some north america stuff

1. setting out/making land!
my question about this is more focused on timing - tagging/rping for a long time solely on a boat will get tedious so i am highkey interested in what will take the least amount of time to get there.

thinking about starting points, we think setting out from the east coast of russia/siberia (whatever the eastern most city in russia is??) towards the western coast of north america/alaska could be the fastest? the bering straight is hella small 👀 this idea would come from jyn.

2. gates!
a handful of displaced will have relics with which to make gates upon landing, but i am not sure about transport and movement across the continent once they're there because we don't know what the continent is like yet, but they can plan on making multiple gates as quentin led people to get a bunch of relics prior. he will be leading this effort, but there are other people who have made a gate before joining (like kyna and jyn).

is it possible to bring transport of their own on the boat* to travel inland? do they need to?

3. boat plans!
cassian will not be advocating theft of boat as the displaced don't have a great rep at the moment, so the boat can be rented or built or charmed/borrowed out of some locals? not sure which is the most feasible.

many of the displaced going on this trip have a variety of powers that could help keep the boat safe from detection, or improve speed, etc. for example:
jyn: hydrokinesis & aerokinesis - gestures at water and air
killian jones: wind manipulation - speedy boat??
john conner: detecting electromagnetic fields - useful for literally sensing surveillance
ellie: invisibility - maybe can combine with another power to hide boat??
idk there could be more, i am going off what cassian and/or jyn know, or what people revealed in the network post about it.

cassian will stress that evading the surveillance is more important than destroying it, as it's better to be totally undetectable.

that's all i got for now.

[larkers]

Hi Tomato!

We're going to factor all of this into the event plotting (going up SOON) and eventual log! One adjustment we're making is that while they'll be setting out from the same location—that works for us!—they'll be heading further down the coast to take a small river through the US until they hit the Mississippi. Since we're aware that you don't exactly have a map of the location (and neither do the characters), we know that they might not realize the opportunity available to them! It's also because a lot of what we've planned in North America along the way does involve the heart of the US itself.

We've also made up a way to help them traverse the US, and that's been factored into the plotting post.

Thanks for doing the legwork for us! That helps a lot.

[vitiate]

Hi Mods!

As per Jason's Callout Post, Jay has to start working on taking down everything he's ever worked for. Jason thinks this is CR, but really, it's my chance to fuck up the gangs plot.

I'd like to start with a small thing, to see how quickly he could get an ID masker. If it means working odd jobs to get the money, that's fine. Jason's not above doing that.

But mainly, I'd like for him 1) to start tracking down the various ways to get something to mask his identity, and then 2) start following the gangs to figure out the right faction to focus on for challenging for a leadership role. he's gonna slow walk his way as necessary.

Thanks!

[larkers]

Hey Raina!

When it comes to masking identity, he'll need to get one of the Morningstar scrambler masks (since it's proprietary Morningstar technology). This does mean he'll need to get in with either El, Gaby, or other agents of Morningstar and go from there, and either earn their trust or find some other means of convincing them. A possibility is that El could have Jason do some jobs to sort of prove himself and thereby earn access to the tech. If you're interested in that, you could always send Jason to El's inbox to see how that plays out.

As for the gang stuff, we would say check out what we gave to Jessi over here. Jason may be able to exploit Durcell's hold over the gangs, possibly by getting in with them and then making use of that connection and relationship. Let us know what you think his approach might be based off of that information, or if anything in particular stands out to you that he would seize on.

[coalitions]

Hi mods! In this conversation, Cassian approached Lexa after he and Jack realized that they both had their Kestrel tattoos and had the dreams you gave us. The three of them (Cassian, Jack, and Lexa) contacted other Kestrels IC and were told the info from all six dreams listed on this plot engagement page! Because of that, they decided to investigate the elements they pieced together.

Here's a general idea: Cassian and Jyn are going to New Moscow to investigate where the fancier spots are with good steak if there are any. Lexa and Cassian are going to be researching online to see if there's a restaurant or business called The Four Horsemen. We were wondering what will they find out if they do this? This is something Tomato and I talked out OOC before I posted this so we're on the same page. Thanks!

[larkers]

Hey Dee!

There's no need to hit up New Moscow directly for the information on fancier steak spots, a lot of the information that they need can be found on the internet: There is, indeed, a restaurant called The Four Horsemen, and that restaurant is distinctly known for its steak!

Of course, Cassian and Jyn can hit New Moscow, and The Four Horsemen, up if they'd like, but they'd need a reservation in advance to even get in the door. Even then, there's a dress code and a certain prestige to the establishment, they'd most likely be turned away without a second thought.

Let us know what you guys think, or if you have any plans from there! But you've certainly hit the mark.

[baltimores]

Hello mods!

Just checking in that both Amos and Naomi are gonna be interested in the space colonies plot. Naomi's currently on hiatus buuuut once she's back we should be good to go on getting a start there!

[tekimetexeng]

Seconding our interest!! I should have my laptop back towards the end of the month, and Naomi will be the one to organize ICly.

[wittingly]

hey guys! could you ballpark me the square footage we're looking at for the garage upstairs and then the bunker downstairs?

[larkers]

Hey Em!

For the garage, we ended up using a warehouse interior for all of our images of the hoverbike garage, so let's say that El scooped up a deal on a warehouse that someone foreclosed on ages ago because they thought their hoverbike garage would make them serious credits. With that in mind, this link gives some "modern" (in our time) square footage. We'll say that's accurate to 2512, too, but on the lower end of the 25K-50K square footage because of the limited space available in megacities.

For the bunker, we drew up a map of how we picture the safehouse for Discord, haha, so that's here. We're flexible on this, though, and whether Ian would widen it and manage the electrical wiring and trickiness there (or if he already started during his previous renovations).

[malta]

hello fronds,

i was thinking that with the rise of hmmm new religions, joe would ask the gallery if he could do an exhibit on past religious works in order to reintroduce the religions of old to their little small section of society. he'd focus on the similarity in art of creation myths and the aniconism of many religions, because that feels reflected in the sacred geometry.

idk if this is really for plot engagement but i think it could be a fun immersive exhibit for the citizens of new amsterdam? SHRUGS EXPANSIVELY IDK CHUMS

[larkers]

Hey Emma!

The gallery would be all for an exhibit like this, and would give Joe a bit of free rein to design the exhibit. We're looking to put this on the next calendar, so we'd like a bit more detail to start!

1. Are there any cultures/religions/artists Joe would focus on specifically? Any certain art movements?

2. How will the exhibition itself be presented? Will it be more like a traditional (though VR) gallery, or will it lean more on interaction, such as VR walkthroughs of worship spaces?

3. How will the religions/myths themselves be presented? Since religion is a thing of the past in Meadowlark, most exhibitions and documentaries of this nature talk about all of them from a purely academic standpoint, much like the study of the classics in our world. Will Joe be treating the stories in these works more like myths, or like modern religious practices?