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.
.

> NAVIGATION

Comments

[preceded]

Thank you! Now that I have more specific things to look into, I'm back again!

1. Is there any way at all to follow up with cases determined to be related to the UNA and under their jurisdiction? Is there any frustrated grumblings along this line that anyone in the precinct is pretty sure this sort of process is how they had their hands so effectively tied during the MS agent shakedown?

2. Fitz asked Dick to look into a few cases here. For organizational purposes I'll break this up a little bit!

2a. The first thing he wants to be looking at are the murder cases of Francis Chopin and Hassan Spencer, given the MS' operations order to stun the UNA soldiers, not kill them. This sort of makes these two cases an anomaly. Is there any way he can look at the case files himself at this point, without penalization? Is there anyone who might be willing to spill the beans about it, if he were to subtly try to feel any of the officers out about it?

2b. While he wasn't here for the nurse's death, or any of the ensuing initial investigations into it, he's been brought up to date! While the displaced are aware that the files have been scrubbed, Fitz is curious if anyone's willing to talk about how frustrated they are to Dick, who's (I assume due to his personality) would have made himself a very friendly, sympathetic ear- especially as someone currently buried under the extreme scale of tedious busy work, and seemingly happy to do it- and whine about the potential for the UNA to have had a hand in it. Them being tight lipped would be telling in and of itself.

2c. He'd have wanted to note any deaths or strange disappearances (however short) as they were coming in and he'd been reviewing and sorting case files. I'm wondering how many, if any, were coming through since he started.

2d. LAST BUT NOT LEAST- he was asked to see what anyone knew about the Hei and Jake situation, especially since they've since left the game. Would anyone be privy to the details of the deal Riko made with them and willing to share it? What if any information about their escape and bitterness of that happening when their lack of ID's was such an anomaly might exist?

3. What is the relationship between the NAPD/NAFD? How closely do they work together, and how often is it like a regular cop show where the investigating detective gets called to the morgue to talk over the findings above the dead corpse? etc.

4. I'm wondering if- there's limitations to finding out in the real world, would it be possible in any capacity to look into it in the dream event? If he could access the files or talk more candidly to the fellow officers at the in-dream precinct, or if he could find a way to snoop into where any evidence is kept after hours and try to glean what he can from that himself?

[selfimage]

Hi mods! Just an fyi to let you know I haven't forgotten about this, Jen and I are going to wait until post-dream event to follow-up, since we have something in store there with the murals too.

Thanks!!!

[larkers]

Hi Gaia! Thanks for following up.

1. If they're related to the UNA, they would typically verify it with the men in charge of that agency, and the case would be passed off. As far as the NAPD is concerned, they wouldn't be able to move forward on that. The case would be marked classified, and otherwise removed from the system.

If this doesn't answer your question, please let us know!

2a. This wouldn't be the first time Morningstar operatives killed someone. These cases would be marked as Morningstar-related because of the usage of the masks. As a note, the stun-only request came from Gaby specifically. That's not a standard Morningstar protocol. It's just that none of the PCs were agents so they wouldn't be aware of that.

2b. There wouldn't be any information on the nurse, mostly because the NAPD wouldn't be aware of him. A number of people died in that fire, after all.

If you're referring to a different sort of nudge nudge, let us know!

2c. There would be a few disappearances that could be traced back to the Displaced themselves! This would be PCs who have dropped. Their employers would eventually call in after they didn't show up at work, especially if they were diligent about it. Otherwise, they're still weighing which disappearances had to do with the UNA.

2d. This, too, would be a point of frustration because it would be found to not be in the NAPD's jurisdiction. The thing is, they know it happened - as well as the fact that it's never happened before. They might be more keen to act in favor of themselves in the future. Most of the information regarding the deal was kept between Riko and her boss, so none of the other officers would be privy to it, least of all anyone connected to a trainee like Dick.

In terms of Hei and Jake getting out of jail, a few people would have been privy to it because it was when they were all sitting ducks during the UNA raid. All of the officers agree there was a mysterious third party that was very official looking - they had actual official "papers" to support their claimed position with the New Beijing government - but many will assume the incident had to do with corporation politics more than the United Nations.

As for the arrangement, Doctor Strange is aware of it, and so is Gaby, given her relationship with Riko.

3. They work together as the situation permits and requires it! Most of the morgue involvement is the same as you've mentioned, though there are a lot of cases where they "film" it, translate it to a VR environment, and send it over to the NAPD. Not everyone wants to deal with a cadaver head on.

Keep in mind that the medi-units are available to the world at large, so someone dying without a known time of death would be a unique case in and of itself!

4. While Dick wouldn't be able to find precise information, he can certainly use the dreamscape to accelerate his training, butter up some of his fellow cops or even plant some ideas about the UNA in their heads! It's up to you what he's able to do and how he's able to accomplish it.

[larkers]

Hi Leigh! Thanks for bringing this to us.

1. We feel that Sniper's done the necessary work to go private, so we've set up a list of the types of athletes they can court for their services. There are a few types of athletes that Sniper can look into for their clientele:

Type One: The first type of athlete is the well-off type who's not as politically savvy, but donates a lot of money to a politician that seems like a "safe bet." These are the ones who were raised to be athletes, given the proper facilities, and generally allowed to excel in the world from day one. They're well trained to look a certain way to the public eye, though they don't tend to get married. After all, they're dedicated to their job, and they're a little boring. This means that some of them will have a kinkier side, one that they'd be keen to play out in private - though they haven't had many opportunities to do that just yet. None of them would risk going to a brothel, but they would be interested in working with someone like Sniper in private. They're not bad when it comes to the bedroom, but a little boring and paranoid. What kinks they're into would be something they mostly know in theory, rather than practice. Overall, these are the "good" types - careful about their image, and likely embodying that a little too much. They're not as easy to influence because of how boring they are, and they were shaped into who they are already.

Getting in touch with them would be a matter of networking. Sniper letting their current clientele know that they're starting out a private venture would lead to their information being passed on to those who need it. In this case, it would be a matter of them coming to Sniper because they're known for their discretion regarding these matters.

Type Two: The second type of athlete would be raised in a similar manner, but would have begun to "lash out" once fame got to their head. Known for being brusque in the public eye, they would have a series of sexual partners throughout their lives. These are the types who would have been found in the celebrity tents at Oktoberfest, living it up and trying out the dangerous drugs. They would be frequent guests at Sniper's brothel, albeit while making jokes about sex roleplay and why it's ridiculous. Yet they'd keep coming back. These celebrities are known for being free advertisement for the brothel, so they're always welcomed back.

These athletes have a lot of money to throw around and no cause to throw it at. They would be harder to manipulate, but not impossible. If convinced that going against the public opinion would make them more badass, they could do it. But there's an obvious risk involved there.

Sniper likely already has a few of these as their clientele at the brothel, but they would know to be wary about offering services in private. While Sniper knows discretion, they don't, so that would always be a factor. Getting them to be discrete would be a talent in and of itself, and Sniper's charm power may be able to pull it off. That said, Sniper's showy attitude means that they could add to their reckless image, and that may be more free advertisement for their private services.

Type Three: On the surface, Type Three and Type One are very similar, with one exception: Type Three is outspoken, politically active, and seems to be preparing themselves for their next steps in life. They're often known as the captains of their teams, and many people talk behind closed doors about how they'll likely have a majority stake in one of the teams in the future. They're intensely private about their own affairs, but they frequent social media to talk about their world views. Some of them are more conservative, but most are progressive, often donating money to causes like PRESERVE to help the world as a whole. How sincere they are is up for debate.

These are the types to typically get married and apply for a child. They're the picture of stability, so they would get approval.

To get these types, Sniper would have to build up a clientele with the upper echelon from the major businesses in town. Once they prove their discretion to them, they'd find their "card" handed over.

Type Four: These are the types of athletes preyed upon and offered a better life. The other side of the coin from the UNA, these stars ended up having to leave their families for the opportunity of a better life. They lived in poor conditions, and never had access to the same training facilities. But they persevered regardless, and for some of the lower class, they're both a walking advertisement for why this predatory behavior is fine and a point of inspiration that their lives can be better. Knowing full well that it's never as simple as that, these athletes would use their fame and power to try to better the world.

Within reason, they would be cautious about who they support politically, throw their money behind lesser known organization and they'd used their resources to help fund food banks and shelter for the homeless. They wouldn't be keen to brush elbows with the rich, and would know that any wrong move could end their career. Being blacklisted as an athlete isn't fun, and the people they could piss off could permanently ruin their lives.

They would also be the hardest to reach for a number of reasons. These athletes are the smallest in number. They don't tend to take advice or look for help from the people that would frequent Sniper's brothel. They would also think less of Sniper's career choice, in part because Sniper is athletic and could have been self-made, and this is the direction they've taken? It would show that they aren't entirely self aware, regardless of how hard they try to be otherwise.

To reach them, Sniper would likely need to partake in similar charitable activities. Their current work would be a good start, but they would need to expand that. Getting Type Four athletes as their clients would feel less like a business arrangement and more like them trying to court a suitor.

2. Among the VR fencing community, there would be some curiosity. Where did this mysterious rival come from for Sniper? They would also be puzzled about the showmanship of it all, since fencing is still a sport. For the fans who like a good soap opera and story, there would be requests sent to Sniper for more information about Alucard. Who is he? Why don't they know his fencing history? Did they fence in real life, away from the public eye?

And … there will be shippers, too.

[larkers]

Hi again!

This sounds like a good start! Working with Billy and using the event will help, but getting the initial traction is the hardest part, even using the dreamscape. Once the details of your dream event plots are ironed out, reply back here with the details (and don't forget to submit to the world changes comment) and we will give you a better idea of how all this would begin to play out!

In general, there are a lot of talented musicians jockeying for influence on social media, but with the combat/dance aspect Wei Wuxian would have a chance to distinguish from the rest and make his own brand. Wei Wuxian will probably notice that among other musicians, wood instruments are rare due to being quite expensive, and most musicians use synthetic instruments. If Wei Wuxian is able to get wood instruments, that would give him some additional allure.

Wei Wuxian's hypnotic music isn't at the level where it can affect someone through social media, but you are welcome to steer his power in that direction!

[retravel]

Hey mods! It's Laura and Ellie here to talk Rebuilding (New) Morningstar!

Off the back of our initial plotting and in line with their open network post for recruitment (and the IC feedback received there), Peggy and Fitz intend to take the first steps to rebuilding a Morningstar branch in New Amsterdam. Although they began their efforts with support in mind, the PCs asking them for guidance on their efforts to help MS and execute independent missions (and being won over by the concept of an organisation with familiar faces at the front) means they’ll elevate their efforts to lead actively. They’ll discuss this with Gaby and El, workshopping the extent of their remit and how to work with Morningstar’s remaining local agents and NPCs in need of assistance — with both Peggy and Fitz willing to do whatever needs to be done, however it needs to be done.

With Peggy’s training with the SOE and work with resistance groups in Nazi-occupied Europe during WWII, she intends to structure New Morningstar and its fledgeling information network similarly. She will also train less experienced recruits in the art of fieldwork, self-defense/combat, and espionage should they require or request it. (She has already begun to do this with some PCs.) Similarly, Fitz’s work with SHIELD for the last decade has led him to become a nudgy nudger before now, helping others identify the occupations in New Amsterdam that suit their skillset and serve the needs of the displaced community, which he’ll continue to do, with the new aim to establish a network that serves Morningstar’s (and, y’know, the planet’s) present needs. He’s also been coaching various PCs in scientific and technological endeavours alongside the old school espionage work, so he’ll continue to open that to recruits.

Their proposed plan for rebuilding MS operations is as follows, with three key strands: Relief, Information, and Resistance.

— In RELIEF, any character can assist with the ongoing efforts to help recover from New Amsterdam’s various unnatural and natural disasters.
— Within this strand, Sansa Stark and Nill presented the idea for donations and clothing repairs, updating their network post with this information. Going forward, Peggy and Fitz intend to maintain this, with a specific focus on preparing for the upcoming shifts in weather to the rainy season and working on more permanent infrastructure to help anyone “displaced,” not just by the multiverse but by the ongoing political and economical struggles in New Amsterdam.
— In INFORMATION, both willing contacts and active agents can contribute to Morningstar’s need to understand he ever-shifting environment and work to acquire intelligence to the benefit of the organisation as a whole (with information-gathering a never-ending operation, when they hope to anticipate corporate and government moves before they occur; as well as the active effort to identify and dismantle corruption across sectors).

- INFORMATION will include passive intel-gathering and targeted operations to solve mysteries and get deets on corporate and government targets, gang. To this end, they have compiled a network of active agents (who have explicitly said they wish to help Morningstar as needed and believe in its ideals, which is roughly 10 PCs at present) and contacts (those who haven’t fully signed on to work for Morningstar but are interested in aiding specific projects or acting as informants; roughly 12 PCs at present) and made a note of their strengths and skills. OOCly, we hope to make a post for official sign-ups to ensure that everyone’s characters are where they wish for PC Morningstar ventures going forward, if that works for you mods.
- Peggy plans to liaise with the New Tokyo branch of Morningstar while in the city for relief work. Specifically to coordinate efforts, gather intel, and maintain outside communications, if possible. Most importantly, it’s to ensure Morningstar knows New Amsterdam has not gone dark. (This will adjust to the dream event aftermath if necessary.)
- QUESTIONS: We know that local agents are wary of collaborating with the displaced from our last plot engagement comment. Will Peggy and Fitz be able to work with the local MS agents that survived the raids? Can you elaborate on the professional relationship there? Peggy and Fitz are happy to work from nothing and begin forming connections with individuals to liaise with them in future. They’re not asking for anything from the locals/pre-existing agents besides how best to help them, if they can.

— In RESISTANCE, once they have a pool of recruits and (hopefully) firmer links to Morningstar as a whole, Peggy and Fitz are keen to do their spy thing and support the rebellion with field missions. This is further off, but something they’d express interest in now! OOCly, we also love spy shenanigans, so this is the Dream Goal.

Finally, RE: MORNINGSTAR SAFEHOUSE. In response to, “Gaby will say that while the displaced set up their own safehouse, another new one will be needed for other people. Any of the three locations not used will likely need to be set up for NPCs who need assistance in the future.”

— Will the unused third location need to be prepped for NPC use, as indicated above? We’re happy to workshop how to do this IC and OOC.
— We know the safehouse plot is still underway and that it’s looking like two locations of the three will be used by PCs going forward, so we were wondering if we could propose an alternative space. We’ve been thinking about fun spaces to play around with in game and base spy operations at, and have a new location idea we’d love to run past you mods, if you’re open to it! Whether the new location already exists for NPC Morningstar agents or is one Peggy uses her government position to locate would be flexible ICly, as this could be in place of or in addition to the space leftover by the PC plot.
— Whatever the case, this location would serve as Morningstar HQ and be strictly relegated to related business as a matter of safety and mission confidentiality. This is in line with Morningstar’s previously established procedure of segmenting information to protect the whole organisation from becoming compromised.

As a note, Peggy and Fitz would have brought this to Gaby and El before Peggy left for New Tokyo with the relief group (and therefore prior to the dreamscape event). We're flexible and open on everything, as per, so hit us with what ya got, mods!

[forcevisions]

Rey and Sora are out here trying to galaxy brain the bridge dream in backdated land; would Rey be able to find on Meadowlark Google any weird blue glowing bridges that exist on Earth as it is today, or in its history?

[stabilis]

hi mods!! Please help us sound like smart hackers re: this.

Namely,

a) Do Daisy and Johnny have any chance of accessing UN public records? For their soldiers, or for anyone in the general public.
b) If yes, is it the kind of access that they could either find evidence of algorithms that are checking citizens for suspicious patterns of behavior (related to Morningstar), OR
c) Failing that, could they get enough access to personal records to try to predict things the UN might flag? Not sure if they'd do this bc it's basically setting up their own digital witch hunt, but could be an attempt at predictive defense.

And to pitch some specifics, this could either be just direct hacking (more likely to see if the UN has set up flags), or cobbling together data through more mundane personal data logging (insurance companies that track health, social apps that track purchases/travel, personal networks, etc), or looking for any extra suspicious behavior on those sorts of app (like what is and isn't being funneled into UN databases). OR, if they can determine some sources of data collection that might be easier to access, trying to piggyback on those less secure apps and plant a backdoor of some kind further up the line (tl;dr if they can't hack the UN directly can they hack facebook, who is clearly shilling out info 2 the government).

For reference, Johnny is ofc a big plot device genius nerd and has been absorbing what he can as a techie at Vyonation for about 2 months, using the access he's got to snoop on higher level programs/jobs without pushing his luck too much, and studying up on any hacker circles he can (probably not the really good ones, if they're visible). Daisy is also a ~*~master hacker~*~ and has been at Vyonation for about 2.5 months, practicing back end access on small businesses and working her way up to higher security targets (she tried hitting a tax collector's office a month+ ago, which was a close call, but has been working on leveling up since).

Thank you!

[girlcorrupted]

Hi mods!

I'm hoping to get Angel some work in the fields she's best at, and was thinking she could do something along the lines of IT work at Vyonation, infobroker for Morningstar and affiliates by night. With her history and parentage she knows the corporate world well, and could easily be a woman on the inside for the rebels.

[theseuschip]

hello mods!!

what I want is..... a museum (so Simon can work in it, but also maybe homesick time travelers can hang out there).

What kind of history would the people of New Amsterdam be into (history of technology, maybe?? anthropology??) and what would be kept there? What eras of human history have been well preserved after the shakeups that have culminated in 26th century Earth being what it is.... like would there be 21st century stuff in a museum? Like would there be paper books and Nokias held reverently in glass displays?

[replicates]

Hi mods! Just some quick questions (first time here, please bear with me!):

1) Since the replica (I'm just going to refer to him as Repliku for ease from now on) has sort of got the idea that his status as a replica/clone of Riku isn't something that's commonplace, and also because Riku has been here longer and he doesn't want more identity confusion, he's going to want to make some changes to his appearance as soon as possible. Specifically, is there anything he's limited to, i.e.: hair dye, color contacts, etc.?
2) If he wanted to start participating in the fight rings, how would he go about it icly?

[rehandle]

Heya! A really belated follow-up on question 2: how much of what what was detailed in the relevant event log might she have talked to him about? ie the security cam footage/any word of mouth accounts of their collection from the station? Or was all of that already public knowledge?

Excuse the massive time lapse here, it's about to crop up in a thread haha so I just want to make sure of what he knows and what he doesn't

[larkers]

Hi Gee!

She would have mentioned the four door sedan showing up, mostly because whoever cut surveillance wouldn't have had access to the Morningstar security cameras. She wouldn't have had exact information about them posing as if they were from New Beijing, as prying for that would have been suspicious (and she would've told Stephen as much). Otherwise, she actually provided more information about Riko's interaction with these men than what is publicly known.

We hope this answers your question!

[rehandle]

That perfectly bridges the little gap I wasn't sure about, thank you mods!

[covertness]

hi mods!

clarke and bobbi have been talking about working on a vaccine to the anger flu/something to counteract the effects of monster bits. they've got bits of a monster carcass to analyse, they've got the analyses of blood samples from various displaced both affected and not, they're hoping to take samples of people while engaging in the empathy bond and not, etc.

i think they might also see about getting their hands on some of the drugs circulating that make people particularly angry.

i realise this is a broad question, but could they make some steps towards developing a counter agent/cure/vaccine or even do it? and if not, is there any direction you could point us in?

[realists]

upon returning to n.a. jyn will want to sign up officially with morningstar and she would mention to gaby/el that she has experience in forgeries, specifically identification, travel clearance docs, invitations attached to specific identities, misc documents and news articles, many many imperial documents, and also credits. these forgeries are good enough that she's never been caught.

(the one time she was caught was because she was set up by an imperial officer who extorted her and used her as a scapegoat.)

she's been trying to do the same thing here, handicapped by learning a new interface to do so, but she would want to try to create a separate id to practice all of this stuff on and i don't know if that is possible or feasible or if she could have any success on those endeavors.

[larkers]

Hi Ellie and Laura!

Thank you for taking this on. This is incredible! Gaby in particular will be grateful. Although she would have wanted to be able to do this herself, she's not exactly equipped to do work beyond relief efforts and helping people. In that way, they can both feel free to assume that being nudged into this role was partly of her own making. She didn't want New Amsterdam to go dark. El will be far more nonchalant about it, but grateful since his role as an IT guy means he can't be the "face" of anything.

One of the prevailing notes throughout this will be that there was still a framework in place in New Amsterdam that could be picked up. The reason why they didn't do it was because most of the trusted connections there were swept out of the city in a rather noisy manner, and it would potentially compromise Morningstar activities elsewhere. One of the key things about Morningstar isn't just their agents or contacts - both of which were compromised - but anyone who might be a part of their "network." In producing this plan, El would pass over a file with potential/past contacts with people around New Amsterdam who have helped out before, even if they had no idea that it was a Morningstar mission. This file would be encrypted to Fitz and Peggy. Some of these people are restaurant owners, some are members of the gangs and mob families, and some are in corporations (though there are understandably fewer here). There are no contacts in the government - given the sensitivity of their activities, they would have needed a fully committed member there in order to keep them safe (and it would be hard to hide why they were getting information). Some of this information involves pieces of blackmail and bribes to get someone to do something - and some of these bribes are still in place, so new Morningstar agents can slip in, reference it, and take over if needed.

Our primary OOC aim is to give the PCs opportunities to setup a network around the city. They can call upon these old contacts, or even choose to dismiss them and set up a new one. We're not putting any hard limits on these except that they can't be in the government (Peggy would now fill that role) and we believe there are enough PCs in roles at the corporations to fulfill those ties. Otherwise, the sky's the limit - and we feel this would be a fun place for people to make up NPCs. Sometimes these connections could just get them into a building to get into another building - it doesn't need to be directly tied to Morningstar efforts.

The key thing is that trust will need to be built. We won't be tracking that ourselves, and we'd prefer for this to be more of a plotting opportunity for characters who have joined Morningstar. They don't need to go through you two, either - that would expect way too much work! If you want to copy and paste this swath of information, please feel free!

Now, to specific points!

RELIEF: Gaby will be able to assist with these efforts, and this all sounds great. Gaby will know about some contacts herself, but the supplementary file will help fill in the rest of the gaps. She knows a lot of the good paths through the city, and in helping someone get out. One thing that will be abundantly clear is that no one knows where Morningstar brings people after they leave the city. If someone needs to go - and they try to de-escalate things before they get to that point - it's left unknown. Even Gaby doesn't have a clue, and she's helped multiple people get out throughout the years.

Much of the work with relief involves making sure that people who are squatting get food. There are several "hot spots" around the city that need help. Morningstar going dark means that Gaby is taking on some of this herself. She's asked Caroline to use her vampire speed to help out, but that's obviously not possible while everyone is in New Tokyo. She's taken it back up while everyone is on their unintended vacation.

There is the other part of relief efforts, however: helping people move out of the city. Some people piss off the wrong gang, corporation, mob family, or even just their neighbor with connections. These people need protection as they leave their homes and temporarily settle down in a safehouse. Peggy's connections in the government will be able to smooth over these transitions to help people get out. However, they still need to move through the city safely in the meantime, so trained individuals will be needed.

Training for those who help people get out typically involves firearm training, as well as hand to hand. They can do some limited "lock picking" - IE breaking circuit boards to get inside, or tapping in and letting IT do the rest of the work. While Gaby in particular is reluctant to actually pull her gun, she'll do it if needed - but never shoot at someone. She knows there are others who took this job who were far more willing.

INFORMATION: Aside from the large file they'll have up front, they'll have to follow up on this constantly. We know that Fitz and Peggy already have people in positions to do this! We don't know if these PCs will be helping Morningstar, but we know you have a head start.

They will be able to reach out to the contacts who are underground near New Amsterdam. Their location is tentative, and Peggy and Fitz won't be able to interact with them face to face. This is for their safety - as well as Peggy and Fitz's, as it could compromise the Displaced's safety, as well. Most of these contacts are lab techs for Pulsar and Giles Bell who weren't called on as often for assistance, but they can fill in the gaps for any scientific know-how that the PCs won't be able to fill. Reaching out to them will be difficult - and it'll only be possible through El. Basically, it'll be a game of telephone. They stuck around because they want to help - and some of them want to know what the Displaced even are, so there's some intellectual curiosity at play. Some of these agents will have liaised with some of the contacts from the file that El will provide - though we'll leave it up to you as to whether or not this is useful or could cause problems! These agents are here to help the PCs! So, this can be called upon whenever!

There are also Morningstar contractors in neighboring cities who will come in and do construction work. Once they get back from New Tokyo, they'll get the contact information for a set of contractors from New Budapest and New Prague (there were two separate contractor groups at work) in case they need further work done.

Most of the cooler sentiments toward the PCs was because they were blamed for the major upheaval in New Amsterdam - and recent information pointing elsewhere has definitely changed things. While each chapter of Morningstar in each megacity largely works independently, they can reach out and help one another with minor crises. In Peggy and Fitz's cases, they'll need to go through El for those occasions. They'll be encouraged to set up a network that covers all of these occasions in New Amsterdam proper.

As a note - there is a chapter of Morningstar in every city! That's why they could go dark on New Amsterdam. It wasn't an easily made decision, but they wanted to cut things off.

Otherwise, liaising with New Tokyo and getting the word out that they're (tenuously) starting things up again will help. Some chapters will take a "wait and see" approach - New Tokyo will have to be among them in part because they need to take care of their own city, and they're pretty far from New Amsterdam (for 2511, anyway).

RESISTANCE: All of this sounds fantastic! Again, we would never ask you to set up missions, but we're very interested in having players bring missions to us. These can begin with the networking ventures, or people can go big and break into Gill-Jade's office right away. Obviously, actions have consequences, but we're just as interested to see this at work. We recommend these being player organized and according to their own player plots. We love expanding on the world according to PC actions, and are eager to keep at it!

SAFEHOUSE: They would need to find a location that works and can be subtly picked up and bought, since Morningstar does buy these properties through a series of dummy companies (though it's less that Fitz and Peggy would know this, and more that it's safe to assume that's what's happening). OOCly, we don't mind at all - feel free to pitch it! We're not married to the coffee shop being that safehouse, and we want you to feel free to do what you need. There isn't a lot of existing infrastructure like what you've suggested because most of Morningstar's communication is done through heavily encrypted networks. However, Fitz and Peggy will know most of their immediate agents.

If you need any further assistance from us, please let us know! If we need to expand on anything so you don't have to write it up yourselves, we're also definitely happy to do that.

[larkers]

Hi Tifa!

Unfortunately, there wouldn't be anything that she could search with regards to this! We do have plans to follow up with this in the future.

[larkers]

Hi Melissa and Jenna!

We're going to answer this more generally rather than in order!

In order to find this information, we would recommend that Daisy and Johnny start with one of the known Morningstar agents from our January event. By starting there, they'll be able to find additional information about how the UN would have confirmed the information they received about these individuals. Of course, it would be difficult to find anything. As we've told Jenna before, these people have been scrubbed. However, by working backwards, they can find existing flags that were set up to confirm connections - however tenuous - between agents. However, they will find a lot of evidence of false positives - as if these were created along the way, forced to put up flags. It's like someone was trying to prevent this information from getting out before it happened.

Since someone else is out there doing something similar, it's safe to assume they could do that themselves. Whoever else is out there doing this, they're doing it to try to hide various Morningstar agents. For instance, Nico - a rare Morningstar agent whose name is actually Nico and not an alias - wouldn't have any flags raised around her despite her association with things like PRESERVE (which houses several Morningstar members, and some of those were people marked in the January event). As a note, most of these algorithms focus on social media usage, community involvement, purchases, and similar behaviors - primarily to develop trends.

Now, if they look to the "Report a Morningstar agent" form itself, they can see that information from the form is being filtered and being fed elsewhere. The encryption around this transfer of information will be far and beyond anything they've ever seen before - even at Vyonation. Whoever set this encryption up is a genius - and has a fairly competent system to ensure that no actual Morningstar agents are reported, or at least ones who may be able to be reported according to the other algorithms and flags in place. The coding behind this will be complicated to the degree that Johnny and Daisy will have to spend a good amount of time cracking it - and they may not succeed!

All that said, they won't be able to get into any UN records themselves, especially not anything with the UNA. In that way, they'll be able to see places where there are flags set up to direct information to an undisclosed server - but they won't be able to see the end results. As for the UNA, that information may not even be readily available online. The UN treats its soldiers like they're proprietary secrets.

They can piggyback on the work of the other hacker, or even try to figure out who they are.

Please let us know if you have any follow up questions - and we admit we're winging some of the technical know-how here!

[larkers]

Hi there, Tam! Welcome to our plot engagement page.

Like with everyone else, Angel will need to start in an entry level position with Vyonation. You can feel free to assume that El got her credentials set up so that when she gets to New Amsterdam, she can get hired.

As for the Morningstar, she can reach out to Peggy and Fitz about that part of things. Having active hackers in such a highly digital world will help them. However, Angel will need to catch up, and we outlined most of the process for a character from a similarly advanced background here.

In terms of being an infobroker, we would recommend this as a long-term possibility for her! Angel needs to have information to offer. Having someone on the side of Morningstar who can find out that information by hacking into E-Mails, text messages, and more will help, especially as they go around the city and try to set up new arrangements with people. She needs to be able to grasp the world and work on the context. While she knows corporations, she doesn't know these corporations - or how this world functions as a whole. It's a lot less chaotic than her world, so she'll need some time to adjust and do her homework. Thankfully, pretty much everything she'd need to know to get started is online! Once she has her ID, she can get to work.

[larkers]

Hi Pip!

Most anthropological history is heavily monetized and used so that people can spend money and give back to the economy (or so the major corporations say). That said, there is a heavy focus on human ingenuity and technological progress, so there is definitely a museum in New Amsterdam that focuses on that! Simon can get a job there as a security guard, a janitor, or a floor monitor who keeps people from deciding to put their hands through glass. There aren't any tours that happen in these museums, as they're all pre-programmed and set up through the neural implant when someone arrives.

The museum largely tracks human technological progress from the mid-19th century until 2511. There are a lot of replicas of early cars that have been rebuilt - since many of them didn't make it to 2511 - as well as early planes. Imagine an entire section dedicated to the early automobile specialists, the Industrial Revolution, and eventually the first computers in the 20th century. Yes, that means they track the quick advancement of technology during the 21st century, and that there is an iPhone where someone can interface with a "surprisingly advanced" program by the name of Siri. None of the records refer to Siri as a "weak AI" like we might today, instead treating it as evidence of early human progress with complicated software.

In fact, aside from referring to AI as the enemies during the Xelkoven War, it seems as if this museum doesn't track human development of AIs at all. At this point, there would be a definite deviation leading up to the Xelkoven War, which started in 2095. Because human beings weren't satisfied with the level of intelligence that a "program like Siri" would provide, they went too far, and eventually found themselves on the bad end of this decision. Most of this part of the museum would focus on the heroes of the Xelkoven War: the men and women who fought on the front lines against the AI, as well as the individual who found a way to EMP all of the AI and end their assault on the world. This is partly just propaganda, but it is what the world of Meadowlark genuinely believes about AI.

Another section of the museum would be focused on the neural implants. The neural implants were actually developed before the Xelkoven War. They were first developed in 2030, but it was considered a risky venture, and scientists didn't yet know how to keep the brain safe. By 2035, many people were outfitted with neural implants in childhood, showing the rapid advancement and hope for improving human life in a rapidly evolving technological world. At this time, neural implants were still considered risky by some, and there were people who opted out of getting the surgery done. By 2040, most of these concerns were either null and void, or most people who didn't have them fell off the grid.

This risk was considered fair, especially considering the Xelkoven War and how the AI attacked neural implants. They figured out how to implant viruses, disconnect humans from the world around them, and even set off EMPs from a safe distance that could render a human braindead. The next advancement of the neural implant involved EMP protection so that they could EMP all of the AI and finally put a stop to their reign of terror. Every human being had to undergo new surgery to have this new, safer wetwear installed.

From there, neural implants continued to progress rapidly. The processors became more and more advanced, as well as the amount of space. They could interface with VR, different AR displays, and more on the fly. Now they're considered a standard of life.

Most other parts of the museum would cover the trajectory of hover cars and why they're limited to cities. They cover the maglev trains that traverse the planet in place of the highly toxic airplanes that used to bring people from one place to another, ensuring that people are safe. They also cover the first of the megacities and how they rose up to provide a new place for humans to survive, designed around the idea of scaling up instead of out. Based on this idea, man-made cities like New Tokyo were born.

Most of the displays at these museums are either digital/VR in nature, showing off large displays of information depending on what the user decides to interact with there. There are some display cases that show early hover car engines, the first neural implants and a long history of how they advanced - though there are no current neural implants there - as well as other display cases holding early 21st century video game systems to remark on their technological evolution to the ubiquitous VR arcades of the "modern" world.

[larkers]

Hi Ame! Welcome to our plot engagement page! We're glad to see that you're getting started.

1. Repliku can do whatever he needs to look different. Once he has his ID set up with his neural implant, he can use contacts, hair dye, fashionable glasses, tattoos, or anything else. You can also decide to have him go by a name other than Riku on the network and in the real world - we'd be willing to make that change for you at this stage, since it's very early on (and technically still within the OOC range of him not having his ID made)!

2. Here's a bit on fighting rings, which we're linking more for sake of ease than an expectation that you should have found it in advance! If you have any additional questions about them, please let us know!

[larkers]

Hi Tona and Alison!

First off, we'll be up front here and let you know that they can't develop a cure due to the unique nature of the empathy bond and how it cures it. No matter what research they put into it, they won't be able to come down to that particular end goal.

That said, there's still a lot to mine here in terms of information if Clarke and Bobbi want to chase it. We can say that blood analyses of the infected will lead to the same traces of the monster, and that these traces will seem to be broken down and diluted in the drug (making it so that the effects aren't permanent once it's inhaled and metabolized in the system). The exact traces in the drug are always a small amount, and they'll be able to find a pattern to the amount assuming they can get their hands on multiple samples. There are also numerous versions of the drug, with some being more experimental than others. We have some more information on it here. To get their hands on the drug, Bobbi and Clarke would likely need to touch base with people in the fighting rings, and then find out that there are numerous different versions in the process. The interesting part is that some of these drugmakers are clearly doing some experiments to figure out what does and doesn't work - there may be people out there who inhaled too much monster smoke and they haven't turned back.

As for the empathy bond, it does not change someone's body chemistry in any way. Some people's body chemistry will change if they utilize their in-game power - that's specifically people whose bodies would change as a result of their power. Clarke's power is one that would change. Peggy, Damian, Johnny, Jiang Cheng and Keith are other examples of this off the top of our heads. There are other questions that they can ask, too.

Overall, we encourage this as more of a general scientific inquiry into what they are and what happened to them since a cure/vaccine won't be something that they'll be able to put together.

[larkers]

Hi Emma!

First off: joining Morningstar is going to be handled through Fitz and Peggy for the foreseeable future. Any skills that Jyn has will have to be run by them. We've just gotten back to them about some of their plans, so we believe there will be more information on that in the future!

That said, El would tell Jyn that forgeries don't really occur anymore in the way that Jyn understands it. The highly digitized world of Meadowlark means that a lot of activity is tracked because of the extreme reliance on neural implants in daily lives. It's easier for El to help create new identities because ze is well aware of the inner workings of the world and can create a new person to slip them in, but it's impossible to help someone pass as someone new.

However, if Jyn wants to do something similar, she could take up hacking. While she would need to learn the ropes, this would open up similar avenues for her in game. We have some information on how she can get started on that route here. Daisy Johnson has been working on it for a while, and as Jyn's new roommate, she could show Jyn the ropes.

[blyat]

Hello, mods!

I was curious, is there some kind of futuristic "dating app" in New Amsterdam? If so, what is it called/how would it function? Asking important plot questions here.