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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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no subject
1. let's start with lynch! and i'm going to be upfront and say i have absolutely no idea where to look for information on him that might already be known, or who might have some connections already. i know he had connections to giles bell, i think? what was the nature of that connection? how long has he been a public figure and what was his general trajectory before becoming governor? what does his family look like? cassian has made a few connections at giles bell that he could utilize but he's also very much mastered the meadowlark world google by now too.
on the riverstone front, he's got a whole bunch of new angles to look at now, though cassian is pretty much always digging into riverstone. he's even more concerned about the displaced tests pre aerie, given it's clear riverstone knows about the gods in some capacity. i'm not sure which riverstone angle to pursue there first? does lynch have any notable connections to riverstone? (or any of the other corporations besides giles bell?) anything further related to spinetail seems like it would be deeply buried, but i am interested in cassian seeking out riverstone's motivation for joining the project and what they've been doing since. can this be accomplished via old contacts, or new ones? i just don't know where to start looking for that, is what it comes down to.
i like the chase but sometimes i do struggle figuring out where to go next, usually when i go radio silent on plot for a while lmao.
no rush on jimmy! i literally just wanted to note it as an area i wanted to go in the future, whenever the jimmy stuff gets going again! i think it would be good closure for at least the spinal aspect of cassian's sprawling plot.
2. working elsewhere on the north america stuff for now but does this part of my previous comment have an answer? where (if anywhere) was the xelkov corporation headquartered before it was dismantled (aka absorbed into all the other corps)? where (if any) do current status updates about north america come from? is the latter half the UN since they monitor the coastline? but still curious about xelkov.
2a. he is assuming the system is simply the nature of power between the corporations and the UN and the stranglehold they have on the earth, but this connection between all of them is something he is going to continue to look at, especially with the god stuff + corporate knowledge coming to light.
3. nope, i didn't notice anything! i wanted to check in that i hadn't missed anything on the seismic front, like other earthquakes etc!
4. a new question, re the real world kestrels: i am assuming they are all also aerie kestrels, so would it be possible to say cassian was/is familiar with some of them?
no subject
1. All right, first: a quick Lynch rundown! Joseph Lynch was the head of PR at Ibis (yep, that's a bird), which is one of the Giles Bell subsidiaries. It's one of their oldest and most well-known ones because it's the subsidiary that was responsible for spearheading and perfecting the medi-unit. We imagine that Cassian would be pretty familiar with Ibis given all of his spine research at this point, so feel free to factor it in as if he's known about it for a while.
While Lynch was the head of PR, many people saw him as the head of the company itself. Part of this is because Ibis has a strong foothold in the world. What they do is indispensable to the world as a whole, and they'll always have a market to deliver to. It was on Lynch to make sure they kept delivering to that market. He was the face of the subsidiary for a long, long time, especially since he's one of our older NPCs.
Here's what we wrote about Lynch before (with a few edits to account for changes and adjustments since then):Other places he's been seen are:
• As a promoter of Caroline's charity auction.
• This plot tidbit
• This plot tidbit. This latter one was released sometime in one of our recent events, though we can't recall which one off the top of our heads.
In terms of getting close to Lynch, Akechi works nearby, and Jyn will likely be taking up a job with the wildlife department. Both of these give Cassian some tangential access to Lynch. We'd like for you to work that angle for Cassian to find out about Lynch's connections to Riverstone. The Silena plot tidbit shows a connection to a major UN member.
As for Riverstone more directly, we think that the next step would be Cassian trying to get close to Montague Finnley, though this will understandably be harder to do in the wake of the Not-Really-a-Heist that Ren and friends pulled off. His current connections should begin to pave the way, but he'll have to be careful not to try to go too fast or some alarm bells will go off.
2. Sorry sorry, we got caught up in the North American stuff, and definitely dropped the ball elsewhere!
Before we begin, we want to say that Xelkov's location has nothing to do with its ultimate dismantling. The issues with AI are strictly philosophical, so gutting Xelkov had nothing to do with North America. Honestly, we kind of wish it did—since we can kind of see what you were getting at! Anyway, Xelkov was HQed out of Seoul, South Korea before everything went to hell for them in the late 21st century.
As for North America updates, we think this would be a good place for him to ask Cassius! As long as he hasn't asked already. Though we'll add that depending on the line of questioning, Cassius may get cagey.
2a/3. THUMBS UP
4. Right now, yep! Though they are going to start rapidly expanding their corps because, while angry and violent, they're still decidedly perceived as the good guys. Let us know if you intend to work that angle with Cassian!