PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

[larkers]

> PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

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!

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.

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).
◉ 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

◉ 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

Comments

[revlon]

Okay, understood!

Thank you so much for all of this, mods. The post will mostly be about getting names and gauging interest then and we'll work with you/leave it up to you to see where it goes from there! It'll be up in the OOC comm asap so it catches the event planning post, too.

As always, you're the coolest mod team ever. 🙌🏼

edit: the OOC planning post is here and will be linked in the event post as well!

[retravel]

Hi mods!

As briefly discussed in a thread with Gaby, Fitz has been working on dismantling and reworking the Morningstar anonymising masks since roughly 16 September 2511 at Sniper's behest. He had two to work with, one from Sniper and one from Jason, so there’s been a bit of wiggle room on trial and error.

The aim here to build a new mask that serves the same purpose to anonymise and block surveillance, but with tweaks to the code so it doesn’t read Morningstar as plainly. In service of this, Fitz enlisted Catherine for assistance around 6 October and is reaching out to to the other engineers like Prompto for further tweaking (with en masse geek recruitment on the horizon for taking the redesign to further stages... like maybe! disguises!). The present endgame of the re-design is that in lieu of the shifting gel that hurts the eyes, the front of the mask showcases a clear design, even something as simple as a painfully bright sheen of blue.

Basically, what I’m asking: Would he be able to pick up more stock from Gaby? What level of re-design can be accomplished at this stage? Also, can Fitz adapt the scrambling tech to be integrated with other items, like jewellery, or is the coverage of the implant at the head essential?

[rehandle]

Hey mods, just a quick one.

Is there any information you could give us about the stadium the shut down sports bar safehouse option is under? What kind of sport is it the home to and how many months of the year does the sport season last? Does the stadium run anything else, such as music/other live events? Are there periods of the year where the stadium stands unused for large stretches of time?

Thank you!

[larkers]

Hey Gee!

We actually covered this for Leigh a few months ago here. Let us know if you have any additional questions!

[rehandle]

Perfect, thanks for the speedy answer! I'll go and check it out.

[saviorexe]

I’m finally back with a decision! Thanks for your patience with this, mods.

After giving some time for the community to vote here, it looks like Markus and Stephen will be going with the sports bar location as the business front, and choosing the hoverbike repair shop as an ancillary second location for now!

Some notes/questions:

—It’s understood that they’ll be looking into a small business loan to get things started, pending approval. It’s stated that they’d need to pitch a thorough convincing business plan in order to be approved, and while they can’t do anything about their line of credit or employment history (unless Morningstar is willing to help tweak their backgrounds a little to aid in this), Markus and Stephen have had approximately one IC month to research and come up with a singular business plan. It would outline their financial goals, how they wish to attain them, and the timeframe in which they would be achieved; it would be presented accordingly. In other words, they would approach a bank very prepared to answer questions and sell themselves as responsible individuals who have given thought to their hopeful endeavor, ready and willing to do what it takes to get a fledgling business off the ground. They’re both capable of being very professional and articulate to gain confidence, and Markus will even crank up the charisma to eleven if needed.

—Thus far, it appears that this site won’t be exclusively utilized as a sports bar. Though they would be located close to the stadium, and therefore would be remiss to not host large watch parties/promotional events when they do happen, it might not be financially viable to cater specifically to only the sports crowd — especially when most people consume this entertainment through their implant, unable to afford tickets to the stadium itself. Markus and Stephen would be sure to ask Gaby’s opinion on the matter before deciding on this, however. They’d be curious as to the reasons why the previously location closed their doors, too, since they’d want to avoid any similar missteps.

—As per Gaby’s request, the section beneath the sports bar will be outfitted to act as a working safehouse, regardless of the business front up top. They’ll be relying on volunteers among the displaced to aid with the initial set-up, with the understanding that it’ll be perpetual group effort to keep everything running smoothly for the foreseeable future. The second safehouse, the hoverbike mechanic shop location, will also be given attention; the focus for this site is to function only as a safehouse for now, avoiding the same level of foot traffic that the bar would perpetuate. They would want to get both functional ASAP, but if forced to prioritize, likely focus on the bar first.

—The bar would need a name! Was there already one in mind, or do Markus and Stephen get to pick?

—FINALLY, I realize this is hot on the heels of the dream event, and I think it would be neat to iron out any “difficulties” with the business (getting a loan, getting the safehouse organized, bringing in customers, etc.) via the dreams! This is not something that has to happen, but might be simultaneously fun to explore and helpful if they stumble across a particularly troublesome hurdle in this on-going process.

[shorelined]

Fab, thank you!

[isherarmor]

Thank you so much, this is super useful and I will definitely report back with any developments pertaining to her clothing pursuits!

Once shown such a thing, she is very interested in a collapsible blade and would be ...willing to negotiate a payment plan, though it would definitely impact her ability to pay rent/find a better living space (and/or save up to buy her brother some new hair jk jk ok not really). How long of a payment plan are we talking because I think she's in! (And what kind of clothing would need to be worn to conceal that kind of blade?)

[forcevisions]

Working on putting together is anyone else is interested in following up on the agents involved in the bus crash, so I'm gonna follow-up on that at another date (possibly post-event, if that's alright), but for now I want to register:

Rey's gonna want to approach Gaby about getting Morningstar to pass supplies around in New Tokyo tents post-damage (which is dovetailing into Peggy's PRESERVE thing to be clear) and in the same conversation also touch on the possibility of recirculating the footage of the displaced fighting the monster to New Tokyo social media to promote hope and general morale -- giving the impression these things are beatable, etc., and not to be disheartened. You know, Jedi/Resistance stuff because that's how she processes Morningstar's role.

[reneger]

Thanks!!

I was super stoked to get to do some gang fleshing out. Thank you for giving me some leeway! If anything doesn't work, let me know:

The Warlocks are compromised of numerous different "sets". So while the gang as a whole is referred to as the Warlocks, there are smaller subgroups within the Warlocks themselves which also helps in maintaining their status as a gang within a world which such high surveillance. There is no main leader of the Warlocks themselves, but a bit of a built hierarchy based off of the reputation of the gang members themselves. Generally, more senior members have their own branches, and there are some smaller branches within those branches, too. While they have their own colors and identifying marks, not every branch carries the same identifiers. However, while there is always some infighting, they don't specifically target each other--but any other gang that does try to infringe on their territory.

ie, one of the sets mainly involved in the fight ring called the "DOZZERS" is led by Senda "Sen" Graves, a woman in her early twenties who is rumored to have taken out a small group of UNA soldiers. The rumors surrounding "how" and "why" are all different depending on which person you ask: some say they targeted her specifically for an unknown reason. Some say it was one soldier, some say it was dozens and she bombed an area in the outskirts of town where they were gathering to take in her younger brother. The DOZZERS do focus heavily on the fight ring gambling, but do deal within the fight rings, too. They keep careful eye on fighters, recruiting those who catch Sen's eyes into their ranks. This is also where Jason himself came to join them.

There's also more technical set-- "THAUMATURGE" is among them. One of the groups of chemists that work to create the hallucinogens and performance enhancers that the Warlocks deal in. Those that show they have some talent in labs tend to be transferred over to either THAUMATURGE itself, or one of it's subsets. They move their labs on sporadic schedules--never keeping one open long enough to get caught, and carefully monitor NAPD's schedules in case of any changes with patrols. Kyrie "K" Davis is one of the heads of THAUMATURGE--late teens, hair color always influx and no one has much definite knowledge on who K is or what they get up to.

"SIRENS" is another main set--although it's fairly shrouded in mystery. They're known as the information runners, their members aren't known outside of more senior members. This is to keep info from leaking outside the Warlocks--since the SIRENS tend to know a lot of shit, one has to be fairly high up the food-chain to get access to their contact lists. Carmelo "Mel" Hayes (17) had been a member of the SIRENS, pulled in when his older brother "Ray" initiated him in. Mel was found dead in one of the crappier areas of New Amsterdam, implant torn out of the back of his head and crushed against the pavement. A good warning not to give your ID outside the select few you're supposed to if you're in the SIRENS, and a message not to pry too deep. Mel's story and the name of them is the only thing one would be able to hear about them. SIRENS tend to be part of a different set, recruited by their ~~mystery leader~~ to pass info around.

"SUCCOR" is a newer set. They're primarily very young members (ages 14-19) and handle lower level needs. ie, running messages between sets, gathering monster bits from dumpsters, delivering packages. While most sets have their own area, SUCCOR runs through numerous bits of New Amsterdam. Like SIRENS, they mingle in and out with other sets, although they're all very obviously part of this specific faction. Each member of SUCCOR has the same old constellation(seven 'stars', three down, four across shaped like a bow) sewn onto the inside of their jackets--subtley, sometimes even just painted on with washable paint, but it's there. Aging out of SUCCOR is fairly normal--but some individuals stay into their mid to late twenties.

While each set has it's own specialty, they're all self-reliant. If a good portion of THAUMATURGE was taken down, the DOZZERS do have their own labs albeit a little less equipped. If SUCCOR was taken down, every other set have their own messengers and lower level lackeys. There aren't too many members above the age of 30, but there are still some. Given surveillance levels, being into shady business often means getting caught or killed--but it's very, very rare for someone to be able to just step out of the Warlocks without bad shit happening. There's a particularly high rate of disappearances within SUCCOR, given how they work.

--

and I just bullshitted near all of that, so if it doesn't fit within the setting, let me know and I can adjust it!

For Jason's part: he's personable enough to get in close with the leader of his own set, but he definitely isn't close to being trusted just yet. Sen has a younger brother with a bit of a drug problem that Jason's working on connecting to by working with him. He deals to some of the fighters, won't deal outside the ring itself and notably avoids the younger fighters. Mainly, he fights himself, recruits a few new fighters (Cain, of the PCs--and Kaldur for the occasional match) as well as dabbles in stolen car parts--which isn't the Warlocks' area of expertise, but good parts are good parts.

[reneger]

and a really quick question:

does the drug going around the fight rings have the same burning effect that the drug that got out during the fire did?

ie, would jason be able to connect the two and also to the drug going around the vip tents?

[saviorexe]

Hi mods! In case you need a handy-dandy “official” list of who will be heading to New Tokyo as part of the relief effort, I thought I’d provide! ICly, the following members of the displaced have decided to volunteer after reaching out to Markus about it; OOCly, the sign-up list is here for reference.

These characters include:

KALDUR’AHM

KYLO REN

BILLY KAPLAN

X’RHUN TIA

ARDYN IZUNIA

DAMIAN WAYNE

TOMMY MAGNUS

OJIRO SNIPER

SORA

PROMPTO ARGENTUM

PEGGY CARTER

RIKU

KEITH

NILL

ARYA GASTAURKNAN

DAISY JOHNSON

POE DAMERON

ILLYA KURYAKIN

PETER B. PARKER

MAX GUEVARA

JYN ERSO

CASSIAN ANDOR

Thanks!

[larkers]

Hello Pax! Thanks for getting started on this!

With social media being pretty equal-opportunity, it's somewhat difficult to get a foothold on fame. Morningstar doesn't have any connections in show business due to the risk, so Wei Wuxian would be mostly on his own, and competition for attention is fierce. To better answer this question, we need a little bit more information about how Wei Wuxian would distinguish himself from the competition, both short-term and long-term.

[larkers]

Hi Veronica! Thanks for the questions.

1. It's certainly not difficult to self-publish and self-promote. Actual publishers have shifted focus more towards being distributors of specific content to niche audiences. Getting a book in with one of these would be difficult as you would expect these days, with more reputable publishers being quite difficult, but not impossible. To gain notoriety, Loki would need some kind of edge, so we would ask that you provide some more information about how he would distinguish himself from other authors, either through content or promotion.

2. Releasing a book under a pseudonym is possible, but these are very easy to track back to a real ID for the dedicated fan. Not to mention Loki wouldn't be able to self-promote since all social media ties to Implant ID. Another benefit of a publisher is increased identity protection for authors, and they also take care of promoting the work.

[larkers]

Hi Laura!

A complete redesign is possible at this stage, though Gaby would point out that they would need to find a way to distinguish themselves from previous Morningstar agents, since they've acted with the previous masks while utilizing their powers. You could even create a plot where it's a Morningstar splinter group, seemingly removed from the overall organization. Obviously this isn't something that would be real in all actuality, but it may help them if they want to differentiate themselves - or they can go another route.

That said, he wouldn't be able to integrate it with other tech at this stage! That's something that he might be able to accomplish through trial and error down the line. At this point, Fitz would have to have a pretty thorough understanding of how the neural implant interacts with brain chemistry to make it so that they can't see or make out someone else's face. The current design helps get around that. We do recommend that Fitz draw on Doctor Strange's help to pull this off!

[larkers]

Hi Susan! Thanks for bringing this plot to us!

1a. Professional, if a little like the typical politician who doesn't have a lot of conviction. That said, the recent months have been very hard on Gill-Jade. Her past work was a little more straightforward, but thanks to all the chaos, she's had to be a lot more hands on rather than just trying to keep the status quo.

1b. Gill-Jade is known for being invested in a few different charities, and can be found at these events sporadically. Sniper has been volunteering with one of these charities, focused on getting low-income children into STEM. In terms of rallies and fundraising, it isn't near the end of her term, so there would be no immediate need for this at the moment. There will be the sense that she's complacent in where she is.

As for any information on funding her campaigns, that's all publicly available. It will be apparent that a lot of people with big names in corporations in the city fund her campaign, and likely find ways to add additional support when necessary.

2. We have a couple of additional notes to add that should help with your plot! Primarily: a lot of the social media presence involving the Displaced has been erased because of fear of a rising vigilante sentiment. It's all a part of trying to keep people from feeling like they can take the law into their own hands (and a lot of the PC activity has been related to that). We've provided some information on social media here. The NAPD has a lot of influence in getting things removed.

The incident with the nurse is different. Unfortunately, so is the matter with Jake and Hei - but there's no way for anyone to learn about that now. You could try to recreate that situation to see what happens, however!

Overall, we do think that the PCs would have to do something bigger rather than piecemeal to get noticed - and for it to stay live. Of course, there's the threat of the UNA noticing people displaying similar abilities and powers to what got in their way on the night of the Morningstar abductions. We've seeded some possible conclusions that the UNA might make about Morningstar through Gaby!

Otherwise, plotting a way to get the word out there and having it go well isn't a bad way to go. You could even use the dream event to do this, assuming you have an idea in mind! But since this will impact everyone else, we do request that you put up an OOC post for planning this!

[larkers]

Hi Jen! Hopefully we cover everything. Please let us know if anything was missed!

re: business loans: El would be able to finesse some recent credit history to make it obvious that they're ready to handle a business loan themselves. Again, Morningstar would be happy to provide some extra financial help to make it seem as if this loan would be more of a supplement to their income. In terms of explaining why they'd like to open a bar to any kind of loan officer, we feel that Markus would have a more compelling explanation given his line of work and interaction with the upper echelon.

re: the sports bar's closure: There is still a lot of money to be made in holding watch parties. Even if everyone is viewing their favorite events on the neural implant, there's still a sense of camaraderie in enjoying it with strangers. The reason why the bar closed a few years ago was mostly mismanagement: bad food, unsafe working conditions, mistreating employees according to city regulations and things like that.

re: setting up the safehouses: Gaby will be calling in Morningstar-affiliated contractors from another city to come in and help set up a lot of the actual safehouse and their needed technology. This includes any needed surveillance and masking. The masking itself will be attuned to the IDs of the Displaced and set up during the four-day grace period. This is an alternative to the masking that's in place now that's more generalized.

re: the namere: the dreams: We agree that this is a great idea, and also set up the log in such a way to already draw on this.

[larkers]

Hi again, Aeri!

A lot of it would depend on how much money she's putting toward it! It would probably take a month and a half's worth of wages, but if she's still living at a safehouse instead of out on her own, this may be easier to accomplish. If she has a roommate, it'd be easier.

As for hiding it, we'd say the inside of a jacket or under a skirt, using a hilt that's sewed in to both. Again, she'd need to be cautious about where she brings this. Some locations do have metal detectors that would still be able to tell that this is a dagger. Anywhere high end, for instance, would be alerted, while lower end businesses would likely find that kind of security to be costly.

[larkers]

Hi Tifa!

Following up later is definitely all right!

Gaby would tell Rey about the efforts to go to New Tokyo and would encourage her to go. Getting that footage would be nearly impossible, however - El has some footage saved, but it would obviously be from security cameras rather than anyone's neural implant and social media feed. She'd point out that the sentiment is a great one, but there's a reason why Morningstar doesn't engage in propaganda (and it's largely that it would go Very Poorly for anyone seen supporting them). However, if she makes it about the Displaced and what they can accomplish, it may work better.

Gaby would point out the other issue, however: that it would be like what happened in New Amsterdam after people filmed footage of the Displaced taking down the monster in our August event. The NAPD would be reluctant to allow people to feel like they can attack monsters themselves, especially after such a devastating event. This would be primarily done in an effort to keep people feeling as if they can be heroes or vigilantes out to save the day. If this circulated, it might be deleted before long.

That said, all of this would be put on hold because of the current dream event! We encourage you to use the dream event to do similar things to what Rey has in mind here, and even be encouraged to do it there since the real world isn't going to be as pliant or flexible about this approach.

[larkers]

Hi Jessi! All of this sounds fantastic, and can now be considered game canon! We're glad you enjoyed fleshing it all out.

As for the drug, to clarify a quick point: it didn't get out of the fire. The general sickness and effects from the fire have been universally traced to the monster parts themselves, so that's what the gangs are utilizing to experiment with the effects themselves.

He would be able to connect the stronger/more permanent effects of the fire to the milder version displayed in these drugs. Some of the effects themselves are different thanks to the combination of hallucinatory drugs with the monster bits,

[larkers]

Hi Jen! Just to let you know, we'll get back to you about this after the event ends. We know some players were wondering how long they'd be expecting to take! It's around half a day thanks to it being a futuristic train that's also non-stop.

[saviorexe]

Thank you for the info! Was there by any chance information regarding the name of the sports bar? I think might’ve accidentally been skipped over at the beginning of the “re: the dreams” portion of the answer!

[larkers]

No, our HTML just broke. 😭

re: the name: Go wild!

re: the dreams: We agree that this is a great idea, and also set up the log in such a way to already draw on this.

[laozu]

Hey mods, thanks for the response! ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

I got to brainstorming a bit with some of the other players - especially regarding this as a short/long term plot. In the short term, Wei Wuxian is thinking of using the dreamscape event to affect a nice little corner of the worldstate in order to set himself apart from the competition... by skipping the immediate work he'd have to do as a new arrival. Meaning, so far: Prompto is going to help him build a portfolio/body of work with pictures and videos of performances, and he's going to have a "rivalry" with Billy K. to help promote the both of them as influencers. He plans to insinuate this social presence into the world's history as a foundation to build upon!

To further answer the question, he can distinguish himself from the competition by being a very talented Renaissance man, with multiple musical talents, the ability to combine dance and martial arts into agile feats of elegance and combat. Should my event schemes work out, the presence ( namely, his music! ) he'll fill social media with maaaay be laced with a subliminal "pay attention to me, i'm amazing!" message via his hypnotic music power. I want to make sure this is played out for your reference FIRST and FOREMOST.

In the long-term, he's a wild, energetic young man with the ability to think outside the box, off the cuff and if show business wants to take a risk, he's VERY much the type of wildcard to take that risk on because he'll take on any challenge with a smile - the way an idol should! Long term goals include getting businesses lots and lots of money, okay!

[deicider]

Hello!

1. Sniper has been working at their brothel going on four months now, and they've also been doing some self-marketing. namely:

1. Working with Loki to make people think they're the proprietor of the Insomniac's Ball
2. Cosplaying at NAEXPO. I meant to have them enter the compotetion, but I never got around to submitting a plot engagement for it, so I don't know if this counts.
3. Doing a dramatic public fencing match with Alucard where they declared they were a sex worker and mentioned where they worked. This was at the Beer festival, and was preceded by Sniper winning several matches consecutively.

They've also been active on the VR fencing scene, doing all the necessary social media, and have kept up their volunteering at the kids and STEM charity.

At this juncture, they want to start looking for private clients. They'll aim for athletes, since they tend to come from well-to-do families and have a lot of money. Particularly, they will be looking for athletes with political connections. If it matters, I've been playing it that their current place of employment specializes in roleplay.

How successful would they be in gaining clients at this stage? Will they need to do some in-person marketing? If so, are there known places where athletes tend to congregate, or would they be likely to visit a brothel on their own?

2. Are there any particular consequences for the fencing match? The thread is here.
It's incomplete, but basically Alucard and Sniper are playing up hinting at an old rivalry to get some interest going.