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.
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> NAVIGATION

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Ay fellas! In light of the recent celebrity status of some of the displaced, Ian's got an idea for his next project & I wanted to run it past ya'll first.

Basically it's using the same tech that projects sporting events or tv or whatever to people's implants, except it's a personal use future-mask that projects a different face over top of your face. It obviously wouldn't hold up to touch or intense scrutiny, and if people know it exists they could turn it off in their own implant the same way they turn off Implant TV or whatever we call it. Something temporary and scrappy for them to use to navigate through a crowd without getting swarmed on the sidewalk.

What's the word bird

Hello! Before the event Laura reached out to Cassius and ended up asking his help to start unfucking her Judas fuckup, and he said he'd get back to her about it after his move.

The thread is here for context, checking in so we can start digging down this road when the time is right!

Hi mods,

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!

Murphy's going to take the first opportunity to get back in touch with Riverstone, just to kind of see where they're at. Do they have an assignment for him? Can he butter them up at all? Is he in big trouble since he was a Cardinal?

Quentin talked to Dick about tapping into the worshippers to help in New Tokyo, and you mentioned in the plot breakdown that they did! Was he someone who helped connect that? Also going forward he would continue to talk to them. He's interested in finding out who their current leader is, and also requests if they get more information about the gods/other groups if they'd share it with him. He will be working right beside them in the Preserve stuff. He'll let them know that he is interested in learning more about all of the gods.

I'd like him to continue to be a point person with them if that's cool, basically, and make it known that he's as interested in the gods as they are, albeit not worshipping them really.

I wanted to ask here too, I planned on eventually Quentin bringing up that they might be able to create gates and/or be gates all over the place not awakened yet. He is interested in potentially exploring cities that are not unlocked yet in the future to set up gates. He knows how and generally has the pieces. Should he get a few people together on this? How hard is it to get around and/or where are the nearest areas? Should they not venture forth?

Hello hello I'm interested in hearing about these Kestrel dreams!

kai has a blood supply problem that he needs sorted asap. would there be a brochure or web search that he can do on his own to find out about blood manufacturing available in the city? or would this be something he'll have to ask el directly about? because he kind of doesn't want to

also! kai is interested in using his infamous snipe rep and well-established criminal background in the aerie to access the crime world now that he's back on the outside. he sort of ran his own jack of all trade / information brokering / shady dealings type business and formed connections via it, so i wanna see what routes can open up for him in this area. he plans to take full advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves to him.

make some waves, have some fun, you know the drill.

Hi Lexa is going to still have her Kestrel tattoo so visions pleeeease.

Also I wanted to check in. She is still interested in training civilians. They had been looking into like a warehouse not on Red Wings property for it, but has all of that fallen through or will fall through post-event? Also considering she in the end became very public as a Kestrel, literal woman made of fire after the bombs, what will that mean for her going forward and will that also work against the training, or will people be more inclined to work with her? <3

for gene: since he had a full-on medical doctorate in the aerie he is absolutely going to try and organize shit at the hospital once he gets back from new tokyo (which will probably happen icly after this round's batch of applicants are safely back in New Amsterdam, and if he feels there are enough people back in NT to leave things in the hands of the PRESERVE agency there). i'm cool to work with other pcs on this too, if anyone is remotely interested in this option!! or i can use it as a chance to bring other people onboard in this direction also.

he was a rook/kestrel if it matters, but he was very, very on the downlow about the latter, and as the former he mostly did doctory related stuff, helped out a lot of low income families/etc if you need to gauge public reaction to his doing this. caveat: he's going to try anyway whether said public opinion is good or bad.

for jai: he's going to be distancing himself from a lot of the displaced (including not going to red wings, generally trying to steer clear of them, not using his power (once he knows what it is) visibly/etc at all) and he's probably going to try to help out with one of the small bands of UNA soldiers roving around. He absolutely can't save or help anyone, after all, but he's going to take a special interest in one group (that i'll build/name/use as casual background npcs) of, say, 5-8 people and try to be An Leader. look, he's done superhero team-ups before, he's got this. if you guys are cool with that then i'm going to see about using them as group security to protect others, doing organized city clean-up, etc. general Law and Order things.

also cool with him working on other people with this, maybe with the goal of appealing to the former UNA soldiers at large somewhere down the line. or staying small, i'm not fussy and i do not require much plot pie.

for joel: absolutely nothing, this man is going to drink beer and gnaw on deer jerky for the foreseeable future.

Hi Dee!

For your first question, can you bring that by our questions thread? We'd like to clarify, but we'd like it in a place where people are likely to be looking for that answer!

For your second plot, we want to clarify because we made this more apparent on the setting, but didn't outright announce it: the only gates available are the ones that the Displaced know about. There were previous gates in history, but many got removed or destroyed with time. That means that Quentin's plot would be centered around creating new gates, and expanding the Displaced outreach in the world. If you have any alterations you'd like to make with your request, let us know!

Hi Dee!

Two things we'd love to have clarified:

1. Is Lexa working with Castiel and Glimmer on this? We're not up to date on where this plot is, so we'd love for you to touch base with Jay and Emmy and let us know where this stands. That would help us a lot.

2. Along those same lines, do you, Jay, or Emmy want there to be roadblocks and consequences here? Given New Amsterdam, the populace is much warmer to Displaced intervention than the rest of the world, so we're able to be more flexible.

Thanks, and let us know if you have any other questions.

Hi Roy!

We have a couple follow up questions!

1. Can you head over to this thread and belatedly add Gene's Rook information? We'd also like to know what power he had as a Rook (making it so that he had two powers). We know there was some confusion in the sign up process, and we're using this post as a point of reference for ourselves, too.

2. Can you let us know the type of people you envision Jai recruiting, and how he'd be going about it? That will help us a lot in providing you with a response!

Thanks!

I will reach out to them and get right back to you!

HI okay I went and read that section! Just to make sure I understand, since they were moving people from New Tokyo directly to Amsterdam, that would require eight relics, four in Amsterdam, four in New Tokyo, and they'd have to permanently stay there in order to keep that particular gate open for good? So if they want to permanently keep more gates open, they have to leave relics there.

Follow up to this if so: There are people who got relics in the event but have since dropped. Is there any way we can IC have those relics found/having been brought to Red Wings at some point so there's more on hand? Quentin has a few in part because people who have been dropped 'willed' them somewhat to him lol. I just want in my brain to wonder if there's a way we collect ones that aren't currently owned too.

NEXT PART: How can they get their hands on more if they aren't already here? Are they sold somewhere? Museum? Can Quentin just go back to each location and sift around in the ruins until he finds more?

ANYWAY yes he would like to create new gates. I don't think I ever got specifications on how they made the gate when they were escaping that last attack, and we were talking about moon stuff, can they do it just by creating the geometric shapes or is it something about the Displaced that it's easier for them to create new ones? Just want to make sure I have it down for if/when he's allowed to start creating them!

Hi Dee!

There is already a gate in New Tokyo, so there is no need to create a new gate there! No one needs to stay somewhere permanently to keep a gate open - after all, that would create a bit of a problem. The gates are something that can be held somewhere permanently, though it can be deactivated by removing a relic. Our clarification regarding gates only had to do with any extent gates that might be missing in the wild (there aren't any secret gates, basically - everything needs to be made!).

As for the rest, we'll cover it in our reply next weekend!

1) replied!! +edited!!!

2) probably some sad disillusioned teenagers around his age, i was thinking it would be a group that splintered off from a bigger cohort maybe because they disagreed with their methods with some newfound free will post-aerie. i see this as a long term thing that requires winning their trust and not like. overnight obvs. here is where i touched a bit on what i started doing with it. mostly dumb kids doing informal fight club over rations because it's a learned behaviour but at a stage where it can go any which way bc obvs input first.

Oh yeah I know New Tokyo has one and doesn't need to create one! I was specifically asking about the relics that have opened the New Tokyo gate, do they have to permanently stay there? Not people having to stay permanently, but the relics themselves. Which would feed into having to create new gates, looking forward will that mean every one needs four relics to permanently keep them open if that's what people want.

In short, yes! We envision there being platforms that were made in some ancient, undefined era in each of the cities where people turn up. During the monster plot, Yennefer went around and pulled relics to redirect/protect cities, having someone stay behind to reinsert the relic once it was time to go.

In terms of getting more relics for a plot like this, we'll cover it in the future - but our idea for this plot has never been to remove current gates, if that helps at all.

Oh, and you just need four relics per new open gateway, which would then open up to other locations, too. So, you wouldn't need four new relics for each city.

Edited 2021-01-16 22:16 (UTC)

Yes Quentin was one of the people who helped her with the gates! I just wanted to make sure I had it straight.

No worries! We'll add a line about how we envision the gate platforms in each city to the Setting soon.

That would be AMAZINGGGGG!

Hey fellow mods!

Laws and I cooked up an idea that Sam and Kai would be working at a dive bar with ties to the criminal underground in New Amsterdam. We're not thinking a major watering hole for these types, but maybe a place that has a gambling room in the back, as well as one that can house criminal elements and deals when they're going down. Our name for it is one that would be treated as ironic: Buzzed Outlaw Club.

Now, I know in the past that working for criminal elements typically takes a bit of loyalty testing. For Sam, he's going to know that he could get a job with any of the major corporations, but he's not going to appreciate being treated poorly and like he just needs to be a contracted worker. He's a progressive dude, and therefore pretty against major corporations anyway. The Winchesters in canon aren't known for being on the up and up when it comes to the law, so Sam wouldn't be against criminal elements and would primarily be seeking out a resource. He obviously wouldn't present that outright, and in applying for this job, he wouldn't be asking to be anything more than a barback or line cook in the back, knowing that he can't make any demands on his place in society.

All this is to say: is this (the bar being connected to criminal elements, as well as Sam's role in it all) ok? I figure that Kai would have more of an in than Sam given his Snipehood in the Aerie, while Sam would know to keep his head down and start proving that he can be discrete from day one.

Thanks!

Hi Mods! Just had a few questions:

1) I know on the event wrap up there's been an abundance of animals cropping up, as well as those that have been extinct, but would you be able to provide some general info on the new plant life and insects? Since Shinobu is a pharmacist and created her own plant-based poisons, she'll be interested in seeing if she can do the same here—not for any specific purpose aside just to see how she can go about it in this new place, though since her weapons have been taken away, she's eager to have another means of protecting herself.

2) She's currently starting off as a lab tech and I know that she won't be able to become a doctor, but if say, she wanted to try and get the certification to become a nurse or even work for a pharmacist, how would she go about it icly? She's also 18, even if she acts and carries herself like she's in her twenties, but would there be an age limit? She's kind of technologically illiterate at the moment, but she's a fast learner and picks things up quickly, if that improves her chances any.

Edited 2021-01-18 07:11 (UTC)

between the american idol bullshit and romantically sacrificing himself for gay love while being attractive, can Dean have a ridiculous new thirst!following on CoolTalk? if so can you ballpark me a number

Hi Em!

We don't give social media numbers here, per our notes above:

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!

This is primarily because it's really hard for us to have realistic expectations on what a count should be, and it's hard on us to guess.

We'll get back to you about the general approval next Sunday!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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PLOT ENGAGEMENT

moved per that nice PM

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do you hate me yet v2909^8

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