larkers | PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

> 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

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

ty 😭 you guys are very good to me.

the former! intimidation and blackmail (and potentially exploitation/coercion?? i'm not too certain about that yet) would be the main go-to with the suggestion that killing them is not necessarily off the table, should they continue/get worse. for the most part, however, it would involve a lot of snot-beating, broken knee caps, and tears.

Hi Eliana!

Thanks!

We'll assume that she got started on some of this before Zerzura, especially since we assume she'd dive in and start making connections right away. Upon returning to Meadowlark's proper Earth and picking up where she left off, Octavia would likely be able to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time, so long as she's able to show proof (easily done in a world where she can take photography/videos with her eyeballs) that she's making good on her word. The fact that she isn't just recruiting but is also immediately following up to make good on her promises will be huge to them—and is frankly a lot more than people do once making a gang of their own. Usually they make promises of protection and do nothing to follow it up.

There will be some who will wonder if they can use this to their advantage, and will begin to plot to take down other enemies while using their fearless leader as a weapon. This won't be true of everyone, though, and she'll likely be able to easily develop an inner circle that's loyal to her quite quickly who will root them out. Her inner circle won't know about this intention just yet, however. The people that Octavia would be sent after would be dressed up as bad people, but either through observation, research, or simply ruthlessly approaching them, it's possible for her to learn differently. By which we mean, her new recruits are sending her after good people to try to keep them out of their way for their own personal goals.If she does, it may give off the signal that she's desperate, violent, and easily manipulated. If she doesn't—well, it depends on how she doesn't get tricked!

She won't have accrued much of a reputation among the bigger gangs yet, and this could be a determining factor. Given her interests in recruiting those who need someone to look out for them and are easily swayed, she might catch Jason's eye in the process of this, if that will help the two of you facilitate CR!

Let us know how she'd go about the challenge of someone trying to manipulate her into doing their bidding, and how she would follow up on that either way. We're leaving that aspect open ended for you to decide upon.

this is terrible and ic for octavia and i love it.

with that said! octavia is likely to get half-tricked, given her current state of impulsive violence — and by partially tricked, i mean she'll likely find out these good people aren't trash by ruthlessly approaching them, and then backpedaling to do proper observation/research to affirm her suspicions (though said proper observation/research will likely be delegated to her inner circle, as much a show of trust as it will be a test on octavia's end to see if they come through; i imagine she would give them each the task separately without letting the others know she has, just to see if they come back with the same information so she can weed out those that are deceptive.)

once that's done, octavia will. uh. depose of any traitors herself, bloodily, if possible. this will include killing most of them and leaving others as an example of what happens as a consequence of mutiny and betrayal.

ok update:

rey tried to get some help for daisy in trouble-shooting a way to make the pipes more resistant to being bored through, but it's outside the purview of daisy's power. so instead, she'll be using her upgraded and recently discovered chlorokinesis to try and encourage the roots to grow around the pipes where she can instead of through the pipes.

obviously this is a big project since her chlorokinesis tires her out a lot and there are lots of trees and lots of city! she'll be setting about it with a goal on long term rather than exhausting herself in the immediate. for the record: she'll try to be discreet (thick clothes to hide the glow) but it's entirely possible she could get spotted glowing around the city doing it, particularly because of the fatigue component.

OKAY IT IS TIME. TIME FOR:

a lot of questions revolving around dreams before we can start this ball really rolling. so:

1. Can they cultivate in their dreams? In MDZS, cores permit the individual the ability to modify and manipulate their qi. Their qi can be used for purposes from the mundane (such as regulating their body temperature) to the mystifying (such controlling their own weaponry remotely). The latter would require the formation of a golden core, which in turn permits them to build a “base” toward their terminal goal of immortality. If you want to think of it another way, think of it as an internal philosopher’s stone; a golden core permits the use of magic (spiritual energy) and arcane methods, but also extends life (if done properly) indefinitely. This is not to say, of course, they are invulnerable! Conditional immortality until ascension is a good way to put it.

a. As this will only be within the dream (and not outside the dream), what exterior impact could it potentially have with enough training? Could they achieve better control of their own given powers, focus their empathy, or “charge” other individuals? These are just possible examples or suggestions!

b. What will this training allow them to do within dreams? Is there a potential energy (literal or figurative) that they could harness? Is there a deeper unconsciousness that they can reach? Is there recurrent imagery that occurs that is separated from the Displaced’s individual dreaming that they can dig up with enough time and effort? Can we do a sort of Inception with permission and focus?

2. Is there something within dreams that they can “commune” with? For example, besides just the individuals they dream walk to, is there something else they can get a glimpse of?

3. Given these dreams, can they manipulate the flow of time within them? For example, is it possible to live an entire life in a dream? Or would this have an impact on the physical body?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE, we'll follow up with more questions if we come up with them!

Hi Tomato!

1. Do you think Cassian is likely to head out to New Beijing during our upcoming plot? That is where Riverstone's headquarters is located. Heading out there doesn't mean that he'll be helping Cassius in any way - he may even be going to prevent his fellow Displaced from doing something monumentally stupid. He could also just be using the free trip to check out Riverstone while he's there.

By the way, Riverstone does have some work coming out of New Oslo, but it's definitely not anything significant in nature.

Imagine the number of times we need to backspace either Cassius or Cassian to put the correct dude's name in there. Just imagine that as you read on!

3. A recent theory is that the government is trying to stage the end of the world to cause an influx of able-bodied workers out on the colonies. This theory is supplemented by the recent attack on New Amsterdam, and they posit that DAWN is not … really an AI, but a government plant to hide their overall goals. With this, they've been purposely causing seismic activity all over the globe, but that this could potentially destroy the planet itself.

Another theory is that the AI really do live, and they've been stealing government secrets and letting them loose. That's where the seismic activity comes from: hacking and screwing with government powers. The AI have also been developing monster-like creatures to attack and destroy the planet bit by bit. The "golden eyes" on many of these monsters is - in a very complicated way - proven to be the work of a malicious set of elite AI that specialized in torturing and killing humans back during the Xelkoven War. Needless to say, this one is flimsy and involves many, many leaps of logic.

3b. Nope! While the fault lines have developed from our time to 500 years from now in our hypothetical future, none of them would support the public theory. However, it won't seem like a cover up. Many seismologists are still working to explain what the heck happened out there.

5. Yep, that's fine! Do you want him to be at the stage where he's getting records yet?

6. Once Cassian begins digging, he'll start realizing how utterly … well, incestuous these companies are (at least on a business level). Board members from companies tend to be married to one another. Some people are brought in from other cities to take a job on the board, even if they were brought up in a corporation elsewhere. The corporations of Meadowlark's world are hideously oligarchical in how they practice business.

Yes, there is some competition between them. For instance, Vyonation feels as if they lack power compared to Giles Bell and Pulsar in New Amsterdam and they're seeking to have a larger part of the pot, but most of this seems to be based in greed. Most of the conflicts themselves are based in greed. There are occasions where employees have been poached to help another company get out ahead, but the end result won't immediately be apparent. Typically, this means it got dead ended in the records because it resulted in a government contract or something similar. If Cassian keeps going, he'll find that some of these individuals eventually do become political figures.

Digging far enough back, Cassian will also be able to see how Xelkoven was once one of the world's biggest corporations. While they output a lot of AIs and robotics, they also specialized in a hundred other areas. And then, following the AI war, they were sent into obscurity and ended. It seems as if they weren't just bought out, but … deleted, not unlike the AI themselves. It's as if the wealth and technology they had was unnecessary. Or, perhaps, it was already in the hands of other companies? Yes, given the way these things work, that's likely the case.

Basically, it's a capitalistic nightmare, and there seems to be an undocumented shift of power that happens among the world's corporations. They do seem to respect the territory claimed by other corporations in other cities, with Riverstone allowed the most freedom in where they might be able to set up. There is very little oversight, and there are many surnames that appear on the boards for many generations.

The push and pull of power won't be entirely clear, though. What are they aiming for when they're given so little oversight? What's motivating them? Is it really just greed and making the world rely on them? Well, that's definitely possible. They do seem to have had a major influence in how this specific version of Earth came about, especially with the territorial claims and understanding of those specific boundaries.

6a. This is still under Giles Bell's purview, though it is an exceedingly rare circumstance. Much of that is because most genetic modification happens upon conception, as the people of Meadowlark's world want to avoid potential birth defects. (If you've seen Gattaca, it's almost on that level.) The scientists of the world do a pretty decent job in avoiding them, but they aren't wizards. In addition, children conceived without the guidance of a doctor can still receive modification in the womb, but it may come with higher risks.

In some cases, these cybernetics are temporary. They can act as an organ while one is grown, giving a child a chance at life before they're ready for the transplant. Other times, they're with the child throughout their life, with very little stigma involved.

Finally, these numbers are public! Cassian would find them largely featured in articles and documents covering the risks of genetic modification, as well as what the scientists/doctors are seeking to avoid by helping the child pre-conception and eventually in the womb itself.

Hi Eliana!

One final question: how is she killing the traitors and what does she do with the bodies afterward? Otherwise, we'll provide an update on this for the November calendar!

Hi Tifa!

As far as the success, we'll cover that on November's calendar. Keep an eye out for it!

As for the rest, her fatigue will eventually reveal what she's doing to her fellow Riverstone colleagues. However, they won't respond negatively. On the contrary, Rey will be given a raise and support in trying to hide her powers, as well as assistance in helping her overcome any long periods of fatigue so she can keep working. Overall, everyone will be very supportive.

Hi Din!

1. We're going to say that unless we state otherwise, no characters will have access to their previous powers or capabilities in dreams. This includes the MDZS bunch. The dreams in our March/April event were extraordinary in nature, and unlikely to be matched on any level.

1a. Characters can use the dreams to discover, develop, and explore their in-game powers! If a character can find enough stability in a dream, they can use it to practice their abilities in a safe space. None of these powers will present as more powerful than how they are in a waking state. However, the dreams can help someone discover their new power if they haven't done so just yet.

1b. This is something you guys can definitely work toward! When it comes to energy, there is nothing in particular to harness. It seems like the capability is there all along, since many of the characters experienced it in the dreamscape event. However, achieving even a fragment of that control and power will take time! So: this is a tentative yes, but we'd need it posed as a player plot for people to aim for!

As for recurrent imagery, there will be a lot of dreams that eventually involve a body of water of some kind. An ocean, a lake, a river. Even manmade versions of these are likely to show up. They may be bodies of water from someone's actual life - and thus, unlikely to stand out - or added or included when they were otherwise not there.

2. Not right now! If this changes, we'll let you know. For example, the closest thing we can think of would be the spear from the dreamscape event that later featured in Zerzura. For likely obvious reasons, the spear is unlikely to feature again.

3. Not to the degree that you're describing. For example, Zerzura was the side effect of actions within the dreamscape, creating a whole other reality for the characters to eventually invade and interact with over time. Multiple characters influenced the creation of Zerzura and how it was meant to be "dealt with." What you're describing comes close to being a lot like it - creating a liminal space for the characters to live out their lives away from reality. While we like the idea - obviously, as we used a version of it in an event! - we can't monitor it on the scale you're describing, and it would become difficult to moderate on our end.

That said, characters can do this on a micro level. They can keep a dream from skipping ahead, ensuring that they can take time to train while resting their physical bodies. But they won't be able to live out their lives beyond that.

this is so soft

bless you

hey mods! i have a question for future reference about a long-term career goal.

if tomoe wanted to bring a slice of japan to new amsterdam's red light district -- i.e. a modern geisha house -- how difficult would it be to get the new business on its feet? i'd be delighted to work up to it slowly; for instance, tomoe as a bartender or something elsewhere => getting someone interested in actually starting the business => working as an employee in the business itself => building enough support among fellow workers and customers to get control of the business himself. the timescale is less of a concern than the feasibility of 1) getting started and 2) the advancement.

his end goal would be basically to establish it as a high class, ritzy entertainment business that functions as a little spy network for him -- the geisha coax secrets out of their wealthy patron and report back to him -- but really that's secondary, he mostly just wants something that feels familiar.

hi mods,

i have a slightly wild question to ask but bear with me: given that kylo has been involved in the gaming community at least as far back as anime naexpo, and has built up a sizeable following, including some recent invitations to smaller gaming tournaments, would it be possible for him to use his platform to speak about the mars situation, and if so what kind of blowback would he be looking at potentially?

Hi Isa!

There are two directions you can feel free to take with this. One is where he does get a job as a bartender in a similar style of establishment, albeit with a modern understanding that would be completely off the mark. Within this establishment, however, he could eventually begin to save up and look into buying a part of the ownership so that he can change things. This would be easier in the long term.

The other is to work in an establishment and begin to develop a reputation as someone who cares for the sex workers, and even drop information here and there that he would like to open an establishment of his own, one with a certain model where the sex workers have a great deal of power. Through this, he could eventually find investors through the workers themselves, who would be able to see a profitable outcome in a business like that.

In terms of the spy portion of it, he would need to be able to prove that he can and would protect his own. Being able to do that could be an individual plot, but he could also work to improve the reputation of the Displaced in game, making it so that he stands out as a specific type of individual who's got the power to help sex workers. Much of that would need to be proved with his reputation.

Overall: very doable! A lot of it comes down to funds and investing, as well as being able to prove that he can capably run an establishment like that.

/rolls in here a million years late~ SORRY!

Hope activated her werewolf gene in canon, so while she can't transform into a wolf due to the nerfing effects happening in game, she does have improved strength, stamina, speed and senses. They aren't quite on Caroline's level as a vampire, but still far superior to being human.

She's happy to give them a demonstration if they'd like one. ;)

quick & dirty plot engagement:

before offering an engagement (see what i did there) ring to daisy, illya had it outfitted with a gps-style "bug". his experience as a soviet spy has taught him how to manufacture such devices (he placed an audio-bug in his former fake fiancee's engagement ring, for example, which was undetectable to anyone looking at it) and his exposure to modern technology via daisy and the world at large has taught him new methodology to take advantage of.

as far as rationale, he put the tracker in the ring because he remembers her disappearing once and coming back and having no idea where she was, and how impossibly useless he felt as a result. so, he thinks the tracker might be able to pinpoint where she went if she didn't go home for a visit like the others. he's also an overprotective dickhead who wants to know where she is if she gets kidnapped or something since she likes to put herself in the line of fire. (thanks, trace.)

we'd like to compare/contrast her disappearing via physical means (a gang plot i need to still do the writeup for) and ~supernatural~ means (daisy's canon updating, again, i still need to do the writeup for it) — but wanted to give you the heads up on this development now.

if there's anything we need to know about this technology (registration requirements, whether it's tech you can buy at the futuristic radioshack or stuff illya would have to learn how to find via his petrov contacts or "on the job", etc) please let us know!

thanks as always, y'all are the best. ♥

aaaaa that latter option sounds great. thanks so much for the response!! ♥

hi mods! i'm going to come back to all the other stuff in a bit but i wanted to answer the new beijing/riverstone stuff quick bc of the event timing!

i think yes, cassian would be very interested in getting to new beijing! even outside his curiosity over riverstone, he's very keen on seeing more of the world, but since he's already looking into riverstone he would use the free trip to check things out on their homefront. should i move this specifically to the event planning ooc post?

Hi Tomato!

Yes, please do!

As a head's up, we're wrapping up the bugs information on our end now that Veronica's off vacation. We'll be getting that to you once we have all the little bits of juicy details sorted out.

Hi Ashley and Jenna!

Thanks for the clarification. We'll get back to you about what Hope can do once we discuss it on our ends!

Responded here.

so the whole "protecting the crops" thing was a byproduct of my reading comprehension shitting the bed as i was under the impression that all the farmland was outside the wall because i am a dumb.

she would lean into basic scientific curiosity (it's weird! she is curious!) to assuage suspicion. she is just a fellow nerd.

if she found someone in the biology dept willing to test her samples would conversation about how weird it is that these animals are coming to the city maybe lead her to the idea of animal behavior specialists?

Hi there Tomato,

No problem! And sorry for the delay on our end. Getting the event up meant a delay here, and we're very sorry for that! Some of the more sensitive ones were most likely swept sooner than later to ensure the integrity of Vynoation's operations and partnership with Cassian. We want to stress that there's going to be a lot of noise to sift through on all ends – so he's going to need to listen thoroughly, and most likely for hours at a time to get anything juicy.

Here's some of the information he'd get:

• Vyonation has set pace to begin to raise corporate defenses, though it's unclear in what they're planning in that regard. While they're aware that they're the underdog of the Big Three in New Amsterdam, several of the board members seem to have different ways of wanting to play their wins and loses: by exploiting recent tragedies in New Amsterdam to their benefit, by changing their backing for the governorship to fully support Joseph Lynch instead (because of his charitable work and they want to "look good"), or by creating a hole in the securities of these other corporations' products when they work together. The general idea and hope is that they can generate some negative press for Pulsar and Giles Bell.

• Gill-Jade's office is a lot of careful dodging (and a whole lot of silence because no one's in until after the bugs are swept), but her apartment is not. There will be some tense conversations that may reflect upon her time in office, and how she felt "squeezed" out of politics. Several visitors show up to ask when she'll be returning to public service, demanding that she finish her time in office even if she's ill-prepared. Her daughter is always out for the day for these meetings, as if she's afraid of her experiencing these occasions first hand.

• Jovavich talks a lot. There will be little information about her candidacy handled in office, as she keeps a fairly strict work-life balance that has extended to work-life-candidacy at this time. Jyn's name will come up at one point because of her E-Mails requesting the trees, and there will be a sense that Jovavich went along with it to seem like a "good coworker." She doesn't want to seem as if Pulsar employees can take advantage of her for their vote, and Jyn's request is harmless (compared to others on the table but not outright stated).

She takes a lot of calls and makes a lot of arrangements from her office. Almost all of these conversations are referring to Pulsar's space exploration, with some requesting data on any recent maintenance on the Mars colony (always referred to as UNC2). There are a few people who come up a lot if Cassian is keeping count: Marianna, Larkin, Johann, and Soto. Typically, she needs to consult with one of them.

• Giles Bell is releasing a new drug on trial despite some hazy scientific findings. They've got their hands on a rather large subsidy from the UN to move forward despite possible health risks.

• Despite the sometimes ruthless nature of companies, Pulsar board members are focusing on trying to release new environmental stability technology. They're discussing diverting marketing resources away from the government subsidies for the colonies, but all of this remains up in the air for the time being. No one is in agreement, and some of the board members are against risking a flow of workers to the UN colonies.

Let us know if there are any questions!

Hi Ashley and Jenna!

Caroline would still be pressing her luck entirely too much to getting Hope in. While a demonstration would make them more willing to accept Hope into their ranks, they would force Caroline to rescind many of her demands in order to get her friend a job. Basically: Caroline is an asset they want, but they don't like her thinking that she can do (and get) whatever she wants. How this goes from here would likely be a negotiation process, and we're eager to discuss this with the both of you!

Hi Emma!

Most likely not, simply because she wouldn't be able to find anyone willing to take the time out to dedicate their resources to helping her. She may need to work up to developing a relationship with the biology department, and that won't be easily accomplished. There is very little overlap between her lab and theirs.

However, she could do some poking around online for what she needs, especially with the animal behavior specialists. This is something that Dany is looking into in particular, so maybe it will come up more easily once these plots coincide.

jyn will do the googling and i will look out for an opening to touch at dany's plot/cr!

thanks mods!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 35 of 57

PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject