larkers | PLOT ENGAGEMENT

PLOT ENGAGEMENT

> 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

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Hello again, mods!

Thank you for reassessing and coming up with some (frankly baller) stuff here. Point by point:

1. I love the idea of things going very well up until the point they dont't. This would not be the first time Nate has had to earn the trust of someone terrifying and powerful and it's fun for him to have to walk that tightrope, keeps him on his toes, et cet. I'd be very down for unintentionally working into a position of trust only for things to go horribly sideways in that regard.

2. Wicked into this, let's do it. Let me know what kind of stuff goes into gaining trust over time/working up the ladder just so I know how to communicate this effectively in game threads as behind-the-scenes progress.

3. & 4. It's good tech, and good insider intel for Morningstar to have on the mob. In a little time I think this is worth pursuing! Playing the side to see how it shakes out while getting to potentially collaborate would be awesome, and it would be interesting to see what comes up! I can reach out to Em and we can keep this on the backburner for future stuff!!

5. Fortunately I don't think Nate wants anyone to kill the guy on his behalf, but a little intimidation might go a long way in getting him to back off. Normally he deals with his problems himself so the show of investment would certainly cement things.

Nate likes helping people out and leading (in less savory and legal activities) when able, so setting up a small organized web is something I think he could accomplish given his background and experience, that way we could more easily incorporate more players into this avenue if it's something that interests them!

This all sounds really great and I'm looking forward to it!

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?

I'm good with that three month thing! If you have any neat ideas already floating around about standing out to recruiters I'm all for it, sounds fun. If not, I'm cool rollin along with the normal route.

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:

Humanize the Cardinals.
Being to wrangle the narrative back from the corporations/government.
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.

Edited 2021-02-14 16:38 (UTC)

Hey Ami,

A few things to remember as you continue to hash out ideas for the safehouse! For the first round of questions:

• As far as equipment goes, it's very different from our world, the cops don't have guns during their normal duties (or the ability to kill citizens), but they are available to them in times of crisis. For example, if there's a monster attack or a gang war, they'll need to equip themselves properly, but there are certain levels of permissions to go through. They have stun guns or batons on a regular basis, both of which are meant to pacify a situation peacefully rather than violently. They're less inclined to act to resolve a situation with their weapons, but rather other parts of their training, which would include negotiation.

Police are able to scan all neural implants, as well as having all access to available surveillance and data logs (who and where a person entered a door, for example). This information would be available per dispatch for anyone who takes a call, which makes the police force incredibly thorough when they need to address particular situations.

Structure is similar to our world: there's a commissioner, detectives, etc. However, the NAPD is understaffed, which is also widely known! They're also under pressure from the UN, and there's some friction there. It'd take some time or well-placed opportunity, but there's a wedge that could be made here if Lance plays his cards right.

• On that note, even if there are Displaced in the NAPD, it doesn't mean that they won't eventually disappear due to game mechanics. It would need to be something more long-lasting. Since it's still an IC consequence, whatever solution will need to not hinge on the presence of a Displaced in the NAPD. Will and Dick Grayson are joining the NAPD, and could be a resource, but it would be more about building relationships within the department.

• The NAPD and the Task Force are separate entities! The NAPD is New Amsterdam-specific (under the Governor and the current police commissioner), and the Task Force is overseen by the UN, which means they'll have different resources. That said, everything in Arrival #030 would be the information that's publicly known about them.

• The Riverside mob's authority avoidance is not based on technology. Instead, they rely on training in knowing the city as well as the dark spaces in surveillance (which is subject to change based on what pops up where). That said, they have inside people who work at the NAPD that wouldn't currently be available to either Lance, Nate, or Sam. While this plot is still in development and may change that course, it would still come in either Nate or Sam's favor with the mob. On that note, not much of that would be helpful in this situation. The training is based on people who are familiar with the city, rather than newcomers who are compliance drugged. There are other avenues that may be taken here, but there isn't a way to train the new people coming in.

As for the Task Force questions:

A network post could probably start that off that volunteer group! However, even if Lance may recognize a few of them, keep in mind that many Shrikes kept their identity a secret. He may also find benefit in recruiting former Cardinals and Rooks, who may have more information on some of the Shrikes being recruited. After seeing who's interested, and what direction is taken, we can start working out the rest. Identification of former Shrikes from the Aerie could be in the second step after they initially work out the first.

If there are any questions on moving forward with this, let us know! Hopefully this gives Lance a little direction in a few areas.

Hey again, Tifa!

That all sounds good! Salvaging something historic would work, although it would take more effort to spruce up, and there would be rules about how they could restore the space (as in, no destroying any original fixtures, that sort of thing). Just to keep that in mind! Either way, let us know what you have in mind and feel free to drop some information under a New Beijing heading at the Locations post once you're ready.

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!

Hey Emma!

Congrats on your new job, Jyn! Enjoy wrangling unruly wildlife.

As far as Remy goes, the suggestion will alert Riverstone enough that they will start pivoting their research along to Jyn's line of questioning, looking at specific dates. So, while Remy may buy that, the Riverstone upper management will not.

Let us know if there's any additional information that you'd like here as it comes up. With Jyn's new occupation, she's going to have a few more resources. That said, that doesn't mean that she might not be watched more closely!

(Also sorry about not realizing that Remy was a woman! That's my bad [Veronica], I should've gone back to check other previous threads about this.)

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!

Hey Em!

Now that the deal is struck and production is started, you can assume that he'd get a bonus for his work! It would be enough to buy a coffee plant.

After that, he may have other perks such as profit sharing and company stock that were signed over during his initial contract when he handed over the intellectual property.

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.

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.

😍 a coffee plant

(remy is they, so it was probably my b for not being clear, you're good)

lol @ riverstone shifting their research because of this nosy birch. i will come back with questions because there are more lmao i just have not compiled them yet

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!

Awesome, though I'm gonna apologize in advance here for these upcoming questions.

So, because I'm a fancy scientist and all that, I'm gonna get obnoxious here with the tech questions. I feel like I should also mention for the record that despite being extremely bright and that he could probably pick up on basics, Lance is definitely not an engineer; therefore this is more asking for generalized plot angles to go at, which would probably have to actually happen through characters that have more of a real idea of what they're doing.

That said, how do the implants themselves work? The brain-connected side I get (assuming it works in the 'traditional' way), since that's all electrical signals and such, but in order to communicate with other devices, other people, etc it presumably goes through a network. The networks we have nowadays are all based in electromagnetic waves (like radio), but is that the case here, and if not what's the situation?

For the data logs, easier question and not super relevant at the moment but may be useful later: where is that data stored? Is it in like, a chip in the door, or is there a sensor that then transmits to a log somewhere else (like a building's security server or something.) Relatedly, are there still normal computer-like servers for information a person wouldn't want to be storing on an implant?

Also, less technically, are there ever failures in the implants, like one just being unreadable for reasons other than a situation like the Displaced are in, such as just a simple tech failure or even an injury? If so, how do the police handle those sorts of issues, if that's information that'd be in a news story or otherwise available?

Re: Police; awesome thank you! Definitely interested in that politicking strife angle there, though I'm not sure just yet how to actually icly get into (or really find out about) that, but maybe one of the Displaced joining up will provide an opportunity. Speaking of, noted about Displaced disappearing; it makes sense that any solution based on someone working there and being able to provide info would only work while they're in game, though is there any reason why something like that couldn't work as a temporary solution at the time but then have to be abandoned if they left?

Re: The mob stuff; got it! Could definitely be interesting stuff for more experienced Displaced regarding activities down the line, so I'll just kind of put a pin in that as we see how Nate's plot develops.

Re: Task force; this is definitely what I think he's gonna be best suited to dealing with. Noted about not knowing that many Shrikes (he probably wouldn't have even without the secrecy thing, since he probably avoided a lot of them anyway, especially when he started to play double agent) and this potentially being something useful that Cardinals, Rooks, etc might be able to help with. Starting off with a post about trying to pay attention to notice the people following them seems like an easy place to start, but I have a quick clarity question about this that I'm gonna pop onto the intro log questions thread real quick so it isn't lost in all the rest of this.

I THINK that's everything I meant to cover but I'll edit in stuff if I remember anything else.

hi mods! sorry for the long delay, work and lunar new year killed me but i'm here to give a mini update: shinobu's network post about the committee is here! if there's enough interest, i'll come back here with another update on the group and what system will be put in place between arrival logs. i was planning on having her get in touch with El with the names so that they can be reached that way. thanks again for your time!

Hi Ami! We couldn't factor this into the log because we didn't know it was a thing until after the log was posted. We'll get back to Em next Sunday since she came in after our weekly deadline.

Yeah no worries, I forgot about it until the log happened and then realized oocly it would be a mess on the admin side of things to do anything in the midst of it, so SORRY ABOUT THAT. ♥

Hey Em!

Nothing that's coming to us outright! Feel free to roll with it and let us know if you have any ideas along those lines.

fingerguns

Hey Ami!

For the first half of your question (before the Re: Police), we wanted to know if you wanted to reframe this into a plot or something actionable to Lance? We weren't sure if you were curious about the answers or if you had something specific you were looking for in these types of questions, and wanted to clarify direction since we assumed the bulk of the questions had to do with helping newcomers bypass police attention. We're not sure these answers will help illuminate a new direction for that plot, and we're working on alternative solutions for more enjoyable playability (moving arrivals around town again, for example, while helping with a new incarnation of the Welcome Committee). We're concerned that incoming players will have to devour and understand a wealth of new information if all of this is executed into a plot, and want to try some different methods of engagement before we add even more information. Don't worry – this isn't something we'd expect you to think about, but we wanted to be transparent about where we were coming from.

We definitely don't want to stall you, so if it's just curiosity, or a matter of Lance realizing and accepting the state of the world, that's great! We just wanted to be sure we were on the same page. We're not fancy scientists, but we'll indulge you with the sci-fi explanations we have.

We'll get back to the rest of this on Sunday!

A little of both! Basically, from what I'm understanding OOC, the big issue with new arrivals with unregistered implants is the police observation thing, so there's two main ways to go about avoiding that problem: evading police, or preventing the blank implant from being noticed.

So although ICly Lance has mostly switched to pursuing the former solution for now since it's something he's better with and seems more accessible, OOC I was asking about the latter a bit more mostly because although other players might have characters with the IC knowledge to work on solutions, but they may not OOCly know what to ask about or where to start. Therefore I was kind of just looking into some potential angles from a more strictly OOC perspective, to be able to bring up potential solutions that could then actually happen IC (if anyone was interested) by other players with characters that would know what they're doing (which is certainly not Lance, who got a B in college statistics and is still mad about it a decade later.)

I definitely get not wanting to overload people, so no worries, this is all just much more a behind-the-scenes sort of technical curiosity with the goal being coming up with other ways to go with plotting, both on this subject and in general.

Hi Ami!

Thanks for clearing that up! We're going to add a bullet point or two under the Neural Implants part of the Setting, and cover the rest with regards to the Police angle on our next Plot Engagement drop.

Sounds great, thank you! <3

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 7 of 10

PLOT ENGAGEMENT

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject