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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.
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We talked about sorting out some potential consequences for the paper theft with its relation to event aftermath stuff, so I'm posting here so that we can hash that out!
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So, this is what we've cooked up. Let us know how this sounds to you and if these options seem fun to play with, but we're figuring that Nate stole from a wealthy stock-holder / member of the board of Giles Bell, a man by the name of Connor Langley. He was aware of Nate's original theft and was curious about him as a result, but didn't have all of the details. Now, after the AU wherein Nate was something of a public figure, Connor Langley has pinpointed who he is and put together that he's likely a Displaced.
Basically, he doesn't really see Nate's action as anything other than unacceptable theft. As a member of the rich and powerful elite, he doesn't take kindly to people taking his things, figuring that he's earned all of it through his own hard work and pulling himself up by his bootstraps. Whether this is actually true, it's hard to say. Likely not, because Meadowlark's corporate world is all about nepotism and corruption. But he would view his own actions in hunting down this thief as the just and correct thing to do.
We went for Giles Bell because we know Nate has a plot there and thought this could tie in somehow. He'll likely end up being tailed by some of Connor Langley's hired hands, and this could overlap with Nate's interaction with the mob as well. Maybe his role there gets found out, for instance.
Let us know if this setup works for you so far and we can keep going with it if so!
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• Is it common for people in the upper class to execute their own variety of vigilante justice, or was this sort of a one-off? Do they usually contact police forces over things like this or take matters into their own hands? There isn't much under the Justice heading in the setting outside of mentions of rehabilitation through labor for crimes so I'm really interested in how crime is actually handled on a justice system level of arrest/trials/conviction/et cetera.
• Nate's interest in Giles-Bell largely stemmed from his theory about someone at the top of a big corporation (which turned out to be Jimmy) utilizing mercenaries to do the grunt work of keeping an eye on the Displaced, as though they were some sort of investment. He has confirmation on this now, so I suppose with that in mind his role working for Riverside is mostly Professional Gambler for the House (TM) now, since he no longer has a serious need to follow mercenary leads. I don't think Nate was ever super duplicitous about his intentions at Riverside, since he agreed to work for them for their monetary gain and (on the side) see what he could learn about their beef with the mega-corps, so I am slightly confused about [Maybe his role there gets found out, for instance] as in, who is doing the finding? Riverside? Langley? Or other Displaced (this seems less likely because a number of them know he already works there)?
What sort of repercussions would happen from Langley knowing he works part-time for the mob? What sort of repercussions would happen from Riverside knowing Nate led some rich guy's goons to their door?
• He's super visible now (thanks, Aerie) so I'm incredibly down with a rich guy trying to locate Nate (how on-brand), though I am also curious as to what he intends to do with him once he finds him! Interrogating him? Intimidation?? Run him out of the city??? Murder????? Employment??????
Sorry for all the questions lmao I've had like 2+ months to ruminate on things, this sounds like a good direction!
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No problem, these questions help us to flesh out some potential directions with this too, as we're working it out as we go ourselves!
For your first question, the long and short of it is that rich people at the level that Langley is at can kind of do whatever they want. Some might go through the regular police force to get things done, but others have their own personal private eyes / mercenaries / etc. that can handle their business for them. In Langley's case, he's got enough of an ego that he views the act of bringing Nate in as a patriotic one. Stealing is wrong, it doesn't matter why it was done or that what was taken was serving no real purpose. Yeah, that kind of asshole.
(Sidenote, but we also did want to make a quick note that there is more that can be uncovered or leveraged with the mercenary group angle, if that's something that you're interested in! We don't want you to think that's now become a dead end after the revelations re: Jimmy, as Jimmy was not responsible for the Gates kidnappings that initially led Nate down this path.)
If Langley found out about Nate's link to the mob, there would probably be some pushback from the Riverside group because yeah, they don't really want to be perceived by anyone with the amount of resources and power that Langley has. (On the other hand, the mob is always wondering how they can play something to their advantage.)
What we're thinking is that this Langley guy, like so many others, has his own trauma that he's dealing with post-Aerie, and tracking down Nate is how he's working through it, in that it will allow him to feel like he can regain some level of power and control. This means his plan isn't that well-formed, honestly, but currying favor with the UN is part of it. His first goal is going to be tracking Nate down so that he can have a talk with him, because he will be genuinely curious about what the heck Nate's deal is and why he broke into his place of all places and what he wanted with some dusty sketchbooks to begin with, so let's start there!
And, naturally, let us know if any ideas/questions/etc occur to you.
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2.) What does Riverside stand to gain from an arrangement like that? What would they be exploiting, exactly? This is more curiosity than anything because I legitimately have no idea how they'd leverage that and Nate would be fine with it, he likes working for them because a.) he doesn't have to murder anyone and b.) he makes good money, so.
3.) Logistics-wise, I guess what I'm asking here is about the process? As in ideally, what does this guy's timeline of events look like?
- have goons follow Nate
- capture him/take him hostage/something something
- confrontation/conversation
- ultimately turn him into the UN to engender some kind of trust/loyalty because they don't like the Displaced?
- PROFIT???
I can pretty much guarantee that if Nate got cornered somewhere by a bunch of strangers he wouldn't go down without a fight. Any confrontation that follows with Langley would be...very on-brand for Nate, by which I mean, extremely rife with disrespect and incredulity.
Or something in that vein? He doesn't have a lot of sympathy for the ruling class in general, less so if their form of self-care is a manhunt. If this confrontation happens (which I'm fine with, honestly, Nate would think it's wildly funny why do you THINK he stole sketchbooks, man), I mostly just want to know if he's going to be allowed to escape this situation, experience a shift in employment opportunities, or if I should be planning for a prison break out of the 26th century gulags.
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To be clear, we're sort of figuring this out as we go along. We don't have a timeline or anything figured out, and we're basically making it up on the fly based on what you think would be most fun/interesting to play with. We don't have something specific in mind beyond creating the character/scenario for you to play with, so we're basically just tossing things out there to see what interests you!
To that point, what would you be most interested in? We would never force a character to get thrown in prison unless a player wanted that or thought it would be fun. Nate getting tossed behind bars and having to figure a way out feels very on-brand (some sort of dramatic breakout plot seems fun, and could lead to some involvement from Jimmy and Cassius), but it's ultimately up to what you think would be the most fun set of consequences for you as a player and Nate as a character.
So, if there's a direction you'd like things to go in terms of what happens, how this affects things with Riverside (and what you want out of the employment opportunity in general), etc., please let us know and we can finetune from there!
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I want to re-emphasize that I'm very down for an engaging in the possibility of finagling a higher-up position in the mob with this, or having to escape the clutches of a vengeful rich guy and making a powerful enemy, or working for said powerful enemy, or having to break out of future-jail with his newfound metal-bending and some assistance and getting some kind of insane rep for that, or something else entirely, but I don't entirely know which of these are allowed within the parameters of the world, and to what extent. I also don't know which one of those would ultimately have a severely negative effect on how he is perceived, which is what makes me hesitant to pick one at random and go for it.
He's already kind of a social pariah by virtue of people having a negative view of repeat Quarry participants even though he was effectively blackmailed into it, and while being off the grid is Nate's oeuvre, that really doesn't feel fun to me in the long-term. Existing in the day-to-day is going to be difficult enough for him with the excess attention and notoriety.
If there's a way to leverage consequences to give him some better social/public cred so he won't need to wear a hoodie for the next ninety years, I am all ears. I just don't really have a framework without the kind of information you guys can provide, and I can't ask for what I don't know what to ask for.
no subject
So, take two! We have a revised scenario for you. Let us know what you think!
Under our altered scenario, Langley will still be going after Nate because he feels as if it's his right within the new world order after the Aerie, and that he needs to do what he can to restore stability as a good UN citizen. Obviously, this is a load of crap. More than that, Langley isn't the most intimidating person, and "this guy stole my notebook" will be a mark against Nate, but won't be the huge smoking gun that the new UN task force would want. They could use it in propaganda to demonize the Displaced and Nate, but it's going to look silly. Anti-establishment and anti-capitalist sentiments are running rampant right now, and the last thing the UN wants is for them to look like they're promoting the ideas of someone like Connor Langley.
Since you were curious, theft would never land someone in prison. It would definitely fall under a working rehabilitation scheme, so Nate would typically be assigned community service. But since Langley is also going to bypass the NAPD, going straight to reporting Nate to the new UN task force, there won't be any risk of this. The idea here is that Langley thinks he deserves to be heard. He's out of touch with reality.
Thinking he needs to get a smoking gun to convict Nate as a favor to the government, Langley will start hounding him and find out that he works at a Riverside Mob casino. Even if it'll be a loose connection, Langley will start telling people there that Nate is a thief, that he can't be trusted, etc. Normally? This might get Nate in trouble, but given his survival instincts and skill in the arena in the Aerie, the Riverside Mob head (Rose Mancetti) will be curious about paying Nate some additional attention.
Here are some ideas that we're spitballing from there, though keep in mind that these are all loose:
• We set up a plot where it ultimately comes out that Nate's actions in the Aerie revealed Rose's identity to the world. In the process, we'd set up some additional ties between the Mancettis and a major NA corporation, though they would have been severed a couple centuries prior. This would be a major grudge, one that would hold until the 26th century.
Our criminal organizations are floundering because they're desperate for power. They originally had a scheme to influence the colonies, but that has to take a backburner now. The mobs are anti-capitalist in the way that they're mad that they don't have power, and they feel entitled to it.
The reason why any of this would matter is that grudges hold, and Nate could learn about that grudge and do what he can to hide his involvement (albeit AU). Another fun avenue would be Nate earning Rose's trust over time, and then it comes out that Nate was responsible for the reveal of her identity in the Aerie.
• Nate becomes a Riverside Mob thief (or even The Thief, though that would come with him building trust with the organization). He'll get special tips for how to dodge surveillance in Meadowlark's world, though they'll be flawed thanks to the neural implants. Nate will get a sense that neural implants really annoy the mob. For obvious reasons.
• Nate is eventually sent after the Morningstar technology that helps scramble identities with the goal of giving it to the Riverside Mob. Or: he's assigned to do that, at any rate. They know the Displaced have ties to Morningstar. More than that, it seems like people are getting their hands on that tech who aren't Morningstar (see: Jason/Harley/Hook's Pulsar tip explosion). Not wanting to be outdone, Rose decides that the mob needs this tech at any cost.
• Another idea we have is that Nate and Ian could try to replicate the Morningstar technology thanks to Ian's knowledge from his own face-hologram gig. It's something that would take more digging, but it's something that's occurred to us.
• Somewhere in there, Riverside would send people after Langley to keep this scrawny rich dude off Nate's ass. What they do to him would be up to you. They could kill him, beat him within an inch of his life, or just scare him with a bloody nose. It would be their way of showing they're investing in Nate.
Overall, these are ideas that we're just spitballing! We hope that shifting the focus off Langley's actions to what the mob does in response will lean more into what you were hoping for, but please let us know! Our major concern is how this might loop in other characters, but Nate could create a little thief's guild within Riverside. They are ultimately against the world's corrupt systems, they'd just also be aiding and abetting a super sketchy organization that selfishly resents it all.
Once again, let us know what you think! We're making this up on the fly, and we hope this is closer to what you were hoping for.
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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!
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Glad to hear this is more what you were looking for!
1. Since you're down with this idea, we're thinking that the corporation that the Mancetti family once had ties with some centuries ago was Giles Bell, particularly because of the Jimmy connection (since Nate will have a direct tie to him starting in March). That is, part of the reason the mob got forced out is because of Jimmy not approving of their methods back then. Now it's nothing but bad blood between Riverside and Giles Bell, it seems. In the process of earning Rose's trust, Nate could eventually learn about some of the specifics of this grudge and its history. As for how it comes out that Nate was responsible for revealing Rose's identity, we figure that can happen later down the line.
2. The setup with his thieving work for the mob would be that once it was brought to their attention (via Langley) that he'd managed to sneak into the home of someone that rich and powerful and steal something, they'd decide that was the sort of skill set they could put to some actual good use. They would run him through the basics of how to get around the surveillance systems of this world (which isn't foolproof, but they've mapped out a good chunk of the surveillance in the city to know where the blind spots are), and then start to send him on jobs to test him. Nothing too difficult at first, but he'd be primarily sent out to steal black market goods, such as illegal prosthetics, then eventually drugs, weapons, etc. A lot of this would also be about them testing his loyalty to the organization as well. Eventually, once he's really trusted, they might assign him to steal things from Giles Bell itself, because they really do want to stick it to them however they can. But that won't be until later on.
3 & 4. That sounds good to us! For now Nate can work on earning Mancetti's trust, along with the rest of Riverside, and we can circle back to this whenever it seems to make sense.
5. Roughing up Langley and intimidating him to get him to back off and realize that he's trying to pick a fight with the wrong criminal works for us! We can leave it at that and always bring him back in as an element if it makes sense for any future plots here.
Definitely feel free to have Nate start to bring other Displaced in on this, as would make sense! We're totally down for it and imagine these plots will be more fun to engage with if other PCs are involved.
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• Roughly how many runs would he make on a weekly/monthly basis for Riverside? At what point is he considered "trustworthy" (or trustworthy enough, as organized crime systems tend to function less on a merit-based internal economy and more on an effectiveness in following orders)?
• To whom does he regularly report? What kind of dynamic is that? Does he see Rose with any regularity or on occasion to check in?
• If it's black market goods (prosthetics, drugs, weapons) that's more of a smuggling job than outright theft, unless they are also having him acquire items from legitimate businesses for them to replicate. Is that sort of where y'all were leaning with that assertion? Checking for clarification.
• What sort of internal help would they provide him beyond their documentation on urban surveillance and security? Equipment? A weapon?
• At what point would they be amenable to taking his recommendations on other thieves to incorporate into a small web?
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First off: we're fleshing this out on the go, so if any of this doesn't work for you, let us know and we can adjust it to make it more fun. We're focusing on Nate still training, and that training will both be learning how to duck surveillance, but also knowing how to view the infrastructure of the Riverside Mob itself.
1. In terms of "runs," he would still likely be undergoing training and learning the ropes of how the Riverside infrastructure works at this stage. While he's been with them for a while via the casino, he'd start to learn a lot of the backend stuff. However, it would be from a distance. He would see how they get their weapons, who their enemies are (these are more likely to be the corporations rather than the Petrov Family, the "rival" New Amsterdam mob), as well as what kind of work they need him doing. He'll also learn which gangs they do and don't support. For example: Jason's gang, the Outlaws, was causing problems for them before Jason disappeared, but now they seem to be in disarray. On the other side, the Hi-Jacks are a universally respected gang in New Amsterdam because of their technical know-how. They'll never be as big as the mob, but they have carved out a place for themselves in the city.
Beyond that, he would be helping out with smuggling runs: getting things onto trains undetected, getting into buildings and ducking surveillance to pick up things that were agreed upon, and similar activities. This would also prove to be a test on how good he is for the higher ups.
Right now, we'll say that they're more interested in how good he is and how well he can pull things off without screwing them over. It's less merit-based, and more that they're making sure they're right to invest in him. They are, however, interested in hearing any feedback on how they can do better. Oddly enough, they're going to be pretty open to that—as long as it doesn't backfire.
2. He'll be reporting to an underling of Johnny Sperling (we just made him up, so don't worry about not recognizing the name), who's in charge of the smuggling operations. Johnny handles a lot of the infrastructure related to these operations, and handles sales, deals, etc. His underling, Kasumi Watanabe (also just made up!), has been with the mob since she joined up ten years ago. She was recruited for her talents in smuggling as a part of a smaller gang, and that gang is now long defunct. Kasumi is bright and methodical—she's slight in build, but she definitely can handle herself.
Both Johnny and Kasumi report to Micaela Yavuz, the Head of Security for Riverstone, and Rose's right hand. We have a bit about Micaela here, in addition to what came out during the Aerie.
At this stage, we'll say that Mic, Johnny, and Kasumi are all evaluating Nate to make sure that Rose made the right decision, but they're also doing it because Rose asked. He'll be reporting directly to Rose and taking on special projects soon, but these are the people assigned to make sure he's ready. The fact of the matter is that they're still a direct line to her, and that will be known to everyone involved (so, that does include Nate!).
In addition, given what you said about him leading operations, this is where Nate could start showing some of the other lower mob members that he's innovative enough and willing to take charge. Johnny and Kasumi are going to give him the rope to do that so he can prove himself. They are preparing him to be someone important to their operation, but they can't expedite the process lest they make people mad (and they want Nate's integration to go smoothly).
3. It's definitely smuggling right now, but that's a part of the training. In time, we'll say we're envisioning it as one part thievery (stealing prototypes) and one part spywork so that they can make deals by showing they have the knowledge about what's coming on the market. With that knowledge, they can also blackmail contacts within various corporate subsidiaries to give them a cut.
This is what we'll use to build up into the Morningstar technology.
4. He would be given equipment and a weapon, but nothing is on the level of the Morningstar identity-masking tech. Since so much data and surveillance is held on off-site cloud servers, they have to be careful about what they use because they can't just tamper with the evidence. This is where crime is really difficult to pull off in Meadowlark's world, and it's part of what makes the mobs so tetchy.
5. In terms of recruitment, we'll say it's once he's past the training and evaluation period. This would likely be in late April to early May OOC, if that's all right! We have an event in there too we know has mustered some interest.