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

[larkers]

Hi Emma!

1. She would be aware, but it would be less important to the terraforming group. It feels like foregone conclusions to anyone on her team, and it doesn't seem as if any of the experiments are looking for certain readings. So, why is Jovavich looking into these readings? Why are they taking new ones?

2. Thanks for the clarification. Since Jyn would be bringing plants into an office in New Amsterdam, they would grow in excessive ways, but it wouldn't help with terraforming. If anything, there may be talks of moving this aspect of terraforming to another city because everything in New Amsterdam is so damn weird.

[larkers]

Hey there!

You can feel free to have Jason figure out a path from outside into the locked room. However, keep in mind that this room doesn't have a whole lot going on. It's actually Maeda's bedroom. All of her super sketchy stuff is digital - and therefore, in her head! Let us know if there's something else that he'd be looking for.

[larkers]

Hi Emma!

1. Outside of rumors about her background - of which there are few - these records are locked away!

2. As of right now, we'll say that Jyn will need to find a way to access and "plug in" to the implant, ala the setup to install the program in the UNA HQ. Wetware clinics could be a way of doing this, but we'll need to know how Jyn got in!

3. Something like this is definitely possible, but keep in mind that they would need to be careful about where the QR code is placed. This would be a great plot to bring to El's inbox!

4. Unfortunately, we don't believe that Jyn would have the funding available to do this! Advertisements around the city are extremely expensive and monitored. We will say that other characters are working with Ball to bring information to the Displaced and have contacts with him (Quentin and Loki), so we suggest plotting out a way to put Jyn in touch with them about this. Their most recent threads are still in-progress, so we suspect the details from them will be released once they come to a close.

5. Nope! She will be able to see a connection between the swiftlet and spinetail, however. That is, the birds themselves.

[larkers]

Hi Dee!

We didn't have anything specific in mind for this, so you're welcome to go ahead and look at the themes in the New Cairo section of the Gates log and make something up that fits in with all of that, if you'd like. Feel free to run it by us if you want, but that should be fine!

[realists]

1. would anyone in the higher levels of the terraforming division have been dismissed recently? just checking to see if johann was talking out of his ass about the recipients' careers being on the line.

2. experiment 2: if she brought one of the plants of new beijing to give to one of her friends there, will it grow as wildly?

[angerberg]

opening by acknowledging that any follow-through on any of this will have to wait until we're out of the sim, obviously.

but yennefer will have started her research prior to going in, so i want to sort of declare it and see if there's anything interesting she might have found. primarily, she's going to be looking into the history of the megacities and the ruins.

when she leaves the safehouse, yennefer will be asking el to set her up with the credentials to work as a museum assistant curator and an acquisitions specialist for art. this is obviously a specialty position, but it will be one that involves a great deal of networking, and one that she can easily use the implant to supplement her knowledge on. her skill base will help her smooth the ruffles. she knows how to sound like she knows what she's talking about, and she's brusque enough to write off the rest.

i'd like to say that she got museum employment right before the sim hit at a modest university-linked museum, which will give her a network of professionals and experts who she can chat with about their niche interests, and also open her up to gradually networking her way to being an art acquisitions specialist for some rich folks (over time).

ALL THIS TO SET UP that she will plant the seed with her colleagues and follow-up later with inquiries about a few specific time periods:

- how was construction of the megacities handled? how were the cities chosen? what was done to make them the last bastions of human society vs how the cities had existed prior?
- the temple that was found on everest, who built it (culture/religion/nationality), when was it built, was this pre- or post- megacities, what was it made to worship, etc.
- the pyramids in giza and who built them etc. (feel free to just be like this is ... the same ... if there's nothing of note to find here lmao)

assuming she can easily discover some of the artifacts from the ruins were sold at the charity auction, she'd also be interested to hear if they knew where any of those were being displayed or if they're in private collections (she wants to confirm they're not glowing and see who was interested in them).

she'd also like to set them looking for representations of strange lights and weird icons that seem to emphasize the chest, or objects in the chest, etc.; she will claim it's for an exhibit she's interested in with regards to the murals that have been all over new amsterdam in hopes to draw more people into the museum. themed/topical exhibits are great for getting people interested in history!

[realists]

quick q before i come back to the rest of this: what is a wetware clinic?

[larkers]

It's a clinic where they install the neural implants, also known as wetware!

[larkers]

Hey again!

1. No! We checked our wording in the summary, and want to clarify that Johann was referring to both his and Jovavich's jobs.

2. It would not! It seems that the unique quality belongs to New Amsterdam alone.

[realists]

as people flee new amsterdam, can jyn move up the ranks at pulsar? say from lab tech ii to lab scientist

takes advantage of turmoil again :)

[angerberg]

just expanding this with notes that she'll try to ... take advantage of her new connections to the lynch family (via simulation supply runs)) and of the exodus out of new amsterdam to get a higher position if possible in one of new amsterdam's better museums, possibly with an offer to host fundraisers/etc. for lynch's continued political ambitions at said museum.

[reneger]

re: Aoi Maeda and gangstuff post event:

Jason is going to try and get at Aoi Maeda as soon as the sim ends! He's going to try and kill her, and at this point doesn't really care how it's done as long as she's dead. He will be bringing in a nondescript knife and will make it quick. No torture necessary, he's assuming Damian already did that enough. Also Jason would 100% cut into her head and remove her implant and smash it to remove any possibility of the memory of him murdering her leaking.

Also! With New Amsterdam a mess, Jason's going to try and fortify the gangs with the connections he has. He'll be renaming The Kings+Warlocks to Outlaws and fully combining them instead of the mess they had been before. This will be done quickly and quietly through a few of his higher ups within both gangs, and their resources will be merged. Jason will also be arming a few of his underlings that he trusts the most with the guns received through previous events but modified enough to erase their origin signature.

Additionally, he'll be approaching Durcell about this particular plot as Red Hood.

[filloryfanatic]

Hello Tifa and I were chatting about Rey and Quentin, and how both of them cared a lot about Ball/the worshippers/learning more about what he knew. We were wondering if there would be any option in the future that they could become figure heads or parts of the worshipper group, and what would happen if they told them/showed them they were the blue glow people. In part because they want to look out for them, and part because they want to see if there's a stash/info within the group about how and what Ball knew, EQUAL CURIOSITY.

Added: They already know about Rey/the glow but Q would want to get involved too and they're not interested in becoming cult leaders, but more like be among them, be allied, but make sure they don't get taken advantage of/break apart.

[wittingly]

From over yonder, ya boi would like to start up an engineering apprenticeship! He's super solid with 21st century engineering, but he has some work to do to get caught up with the changes over the last... you know... five hundo years.

[filloryfanatic]

I'm back with another one, I thought maybe as it's something different to make a different comment I hope that's okay.

I am only in the early stages of thoughts on this but Q's love of history and interest in combating propaganda, especially with all the facts that have been out lately, might lead him to make something like a Historical Reformation Project where they find out what people thought was historically accurate and then 'correct' it. He knows a lot about history and how the victors write the endings, so maybe it's like a revolution of thoughts rather than a physical one. Could this be a thing???

[purrsistence]

So, with the aftermath of the Simulation and the power vacuum the UNA is leaving behind, and with (what I assume will be) most of the Displaced trying to either set up rival/anti UNA factions or abolish the UNA completely, I want to suggest something a little different for Catra!

I've been lightly running across the precipice of a villain arc with Catra in ML since she got in but never really committing to it-- more than anything she's just kind of made a nuisance of herself at points for people but never really gotten to be outright villainous. In fact, inside the Sim she mostly got to be downright heroic, due to her interests being aligned with everyone else's! Catra also hated the UNA! Because they were in her way!

Buuut with the UNA discharging all the soldiers and the power vacuum etc, Catra ... isn't going to have a problem with the UNA anymore. So, rather than running an anti-UNA faction, I think Catra would look at all the infrastructure the UNA already has set up and... want to take charge of it. Basically, Catra will take the position that it's a horrible waste to just... discharge everyone and dismantle the UNA completely! All those people without jobs! Depending on the state! Draining resources! And all that training, gone to waste! Why throw the whole lot out when they can just take over the top? Get rid of the top brass and take power for themselves, reinstating the UNA with the Displaced (or a good figurehead for them-- Catra knows the value of a good figurehead) at their head instead.

Basically, instead of FIGHTING the UNA, why not make THEM work for US?

Catra I'm assuming probably has a large amount of good will in her favour now with the general populace of NA (albeit not with the Displaced themselves, lol), not just because of being a member of the Displaced after the Sim ended, but also because she would have Been Seen by the general population in the caves helping to plan the rescue mission, helping to bust people out in the work camps on the last day, etc. You can bet she 100% made herself as visible as possible.

I want to imagine she can go about capitalizing on that good will now, basically-- talking to people about the Displaced, convincing them that they're great leaders, but also talking about her military experience with ex-UNA soldiers if she finds any and sympathizing with them, telling them all about the coup she led inside the Sim and how she bets they all totally would've been right there helping out too if they'd been there! Because soldiers fight the good fight, right? Wow, can't believe the top brass all just abandoned you all like that after the years of service you gave them, you were all supposed to be loyal to one another but it turns out they were happy to dispose of you guys when they saw fit, huh? Etc, etc.

She'd also be looking for a backer, some kind of native she could sniff out with good connections who looks respectable but will do what she says, but if she can't find one, she'll do it herself or recruit another (older, more human) Displaced to her side. (Kay and Mal have both expressed interest!)

In combination with her in-game Power of making people pay attention to her/her words, I HOPE this would make for a dangerous combination, and could get pretty far towards building a faction of people on her side and even instigating some kind of coup within the UNA power structure.

To be clear, I don't actually expect for this to succeed, but I think it could provide some interesting player conflict rather than having everyone on the same anti-UNA side, so let me know how feasible you guys think this is and if you like it, how you think we can best facilitate it!

[dragonwarder]

Hello, coming off the back of Aftermath stuff. I couldn't brain an angle that made sense for the sim to approach quite so directly at this angle, so I stuck with the "Dany is sneaking all of her friends extra rations" angle and left it at that for social score points.

THAT BEING SAID, Daenerys and Jon opted to stay behind in New Magellan for a hot minute to dig around for information relating to ownership of the facility, or to see if it was possible to find a link/list/map to any other research stations on Earth. Dany is fireproof as long as she's got dragon scales activated (so she's not like, trying to dig for info while being a giant dragon), so the main challenge would probably be...finding a terminal that has power.

She'd also pick up on the proximity to the port of Antarctica, and would probably do some investigating to see what she'd be up against if she tried to adventure in that direction. The idea there would be that she'd reach out to some other Displaced (the two Rens in particular) to accompany her for a more in depth expedition at a later date once she had a better sense of...whether or not they'd be walking into hostile territory.

[larkers]

Hi Tifa!

There are a few things to cover, so please bear with us as we give you the rundown.

re: Museum curator position
This is not a job that any person can get without the credentials, training, and experience required to be considered qualified. In addition, most museums are much smaller in the year 2512 and less likely to be tied to any academic institution. El would not be able to get her in at an institution to begin this research that you're angling toward, and her relationship with the Lynches is unlikely to help her in this arena, as well. We'll say that this isn't going to be a route that's ultimately fruitful to Yennefer's research, but if you'd like to have her work with art, please note the following paragraph!

One alternate route that she can take is to work with a gallery (like Diana!) or for a private collector that may give her access to older pieces of technology from around the world. This will allow her to move much more freely, rather than being tied down by a specific museum group. This is where the Lynch assistance can come into play: as they can recommend her to someone and help her get an "in" with little trouble. That said, Yennfer's limited knowledge of the world might undercut her recommendation from the Lynches, so she'll need to be careful and approach it from an angle that may be within her own experience and resources.

re: the research project
As for her actual research interests, we do feel that she doesn't need to be in a curator position to begin her research. The creation of the megacities is public knowledge: they were developed as an answer to isolating humanity from the rest of the world so that it could continue to "heal" from the devastating wars in the 21st century. The idea was that these cities would allow humanity to grow up and down within the chosen areas.

Of course, there is the issue with how they're all revolving around the gates, right?

Well, that won't be public knowledge, and Yennefer can feel free to assume that there's something suspicious going on. As far as the world is concerned, there is no need to censor or conceal the construction of the megacities (though there is a bit of "the United Nations came up with this ambitious idea, yada yada" propaganda that she'll find throughout). The megacities were developed around the idea of ensuring that there would be able to be a maglev train moving throughout the world, allowing people to travel between locations while not polluting the atmosphere. They were also dictated by climate change and rising sea levels. As such, the megacities were developed around this well-known transportation system—as far as the public knows, anyway!

As for the temple on Mt. Everest and the pyramids, they're built very similarly to how they were in our world (at least according to the public record). There won't be any acknowledgement of the secret valley or hidden compartment in them.

The true mystery here is how the heck the transportation system aligns so cleanly with the gates themselves. Who had the power to enforce this and make this happen? We will say that the art route is unlikely to be very fruitful for her in learning about this!

re: the relics
Thanks to the Lynches' involvement in the auctions, Yennefer will be able to find several people who bought relics there. She'll be able to confirm that these relics do not glow in their households (while apart from any of the Displaced). Of course, these could simply be relics that don't glow. However, she may need a story prepared for why she's interested in these relics (since the curator position is a no go, and the Lynches will personally know anyone who's taken her on privately).

Where to go from here?
With all this in mind, where should she go next? The question that she has to ask herself is this: who had the power to influence the creation of the megacities in the 21st century? Who made sure that they were built this way over the following few centuries? After all, they weren't all developed in the 21st century. Someone had to keep them on this path! We'll add that her answers aren't likely to be found prior to the 21st century.

[larkers]

Hi Emma!

While people are moving from New Amsterdam, most of them are staying on as employees, just working in branches of other cities or simply working remotely if their positions allow for it, so there wouldn't actually be a spot for her to fill at the moment. However, we will say that her remaining within New Amsterdam in her current role would be seen as some kind of loyalty and might earn her some points with her superiors!

If she is aiming for a promotion, she'll need to be able to prove that she can do the work that a Lab Scientist is expected to perform, so we can also suggest she do some studying up or get working on a certification if you're interested in that change!

[larkers]

Hey Jessi!

Regarding Maeda, she'll be as good as dead. While he'll have smashed her implant (and any other means of GPS connected to her), he'll still have to dispose of the body without anyone finding out. The Maeda family will be in a tizzy looking for Aoi, as she's been declared a missing person post-simulation, and her husband will be sparing no expense on private detectives trying to locate her. Jason will have to navigate this well, as for the next two weeks, evidence and footage will be in review to find where she's gone by both private detectives and the NAPD. If he's not careful, it could even have a negative effect on those around him, even places like Red Wings.

Regarding the Kings and the Warlocks, renaming them to the Outlaws is fine. Good job there, nerd.

When it comes to Durcell, could you give us a few more details on what he'd be doing to approach them?

[larkers]

Hi Dee!

Since Ball's death, the worshippers will be a bit wary of entertaining anyone about him. However, since they have a pre-established relationship with Rey, they'll be likely to warm up to her and Quentin faster than anyone else, and they won't need to show off the blue glow in their chests. There is a definite possibility here for them to learn more about the worshippers and their current circumstances.

If you guys could come up with a plan of how you'd like to go about it from here, please let us know. There won't be any chance of securing a leadership or figurehead position to be perfectly clear, so no worries there! They also won't be able to join them; however, we think that there's a lot of potential here that may be fun to play with! They'll still be hesitant to be approached with anything regarding Ball, as there's still a lot of mystery around his death. In approaching that, Quentin and Rey can work through it simply by showing their tenacity in helping them. The best place they can start is to learn about them and their current structure and methods, perhaps working with them, and it may lend some insight to how they work as a group, and where Rey and Quentin should look next.

Let us know some specific goals that they'd have in looking out for the worshippers, or what they'd like to do with their newfound connection! We can help navigate from there.

[larkers]

Hey Emmy!

Ian can definitely snag an internship, but this would function a bit more like a real world apprenticeship. He would be working very closely with an experienced engineer on projects. It would be less metaphorical paper pushing grunt work like internships he might be used to back home, and more hands on/learn as you go.

You can feel free to come up with the NPC who Ian would be learning from to refer to in threads, etc! It doesn't have to be anything too involved, but we want you to know that you have that freedom.

Since Ian's not familiar with the complexities of engineering in this world, he might want to do some research or tinkering on his own to get a better idea of how things work. While no one will expect him to be a genius right out of the gate, there are certain concepts that are so widely known that it would look odd if he didn't have a basic knowledge of them.

[larkers]

Hey Dee!

This is an interesting idea, but would be a very complex one, and likely not something Quentin could accomplish solo. Could you give us a better idea of how he'd be trying to do this, what he would be trying to "correct" specifically, and to what ends?

[larkers]

Hi Emiri!

We'd like to start off with what we feel is an important point of clarification:

The UNA itself hasn't been dismantled. These soldiers were discharged because they were compromised by Judas' technology, making it so that they could no longer be "useful" in the field. All of the infrastructure by and large belongs to the United Nations. That includes all of the bases, the weaponry, and any other technology that might be linked to them. There won't be a means of trying to take over the UNA and putting a figurehead in place, not unless they overthrow the United Nations altogether. While we do have the roots in place for that, it's not possible at this point.

That said, we do feel like you have something with the disenfranchised soldiers. The majority of them do not have skills to exist in the real world. While some will be returning to the police forces where they were originally recruited, these make up only a minority of the soldiers that were released out into the world. However, they would not be "the" UNA, and would likely make up a force of trained soldiers otherwise.

At this point, we would recommend that she looks at this as creating her own mercenary force. Keep in mind that these soldiers were heavily dependent upon a piece of software (ALIGN) that helped them work as a unit. Without it, it'll be like they're missing a sixth sense that helped them function as soldiers to the point of dependency. They'll also be without armor (which made them nigh invincible) and weaponry (which was top of the line and highly advanced). In that way, they'll both be reckless but not … indestructible, as they were before.

Keep in mind that if she goes the mercenary route, she will have rival organizations (already secretly backed by corporations!) trying to swoop in. She'll have to prove to any backers that she's the right person to bet on. So, she'll want to focus her interest in New Amsterdam and potentially pick out a wealthy patron (of sorts) to help her out. Keep in mind that a mercenary group can eventually recoup power and be taken rather seriously, especially if Catra does well to gather a lot of disenfranchised soldiers at her side.

One other thing we'd like to point out is that Catra's fame in New Amsterdam won't have any effect on the soldiers. They weren't in the simulation. In addition, these soldiers will already be trained and predisposed to have a problem with people who have "the glow," so to speak—so that's a hurdle she's going to have to work through.

With all these notes in mind, we'd like to see a revised plan from you because this does seem like it'd be a lot of fun! In terms of finding a patron/backer, you can feel free to create an NPC that lives within New Amsterdam and was in the work camps when Catra went there! They'd likely work for one of the big three corporations. Please get back to us with what you come up with on that front, so that we can approve it, and we'll go from there!

[larkers]

Hi Kay!

While there won't be much to find at the facility in New Magellan itself, due to the fact that the power was pulled and there isn't a server on-site that houses the kind of information that she may be looking for, Daenerys will have enough to work toward a future expedition plan. Cassius told them that the lab belongs to Johann (and will be able to provide confirmation of that when they're able to speak to him again). She'll also be able to clue in to the fact that it's positioned near Antarctica, as you mentioned.

We have plans to make Cassius contactable through an inbox in the near future, so we'd suggest that Dany start off by speaking with him, which can solidify the expedition plan and any other questions she may have about the research facilities. We have definitely wanted some characters to go check out Antartica for a while and think it will be a fun plot, so thanks for bringing this to us!