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]

Hey Kay! One day later - we wanted to let you know that we're willing to help you get this up in time to "parallel" the intro log. Feel free to also C&P any of the information we provided, as well. We realized we didn't check with you on what timing would be good, so we don't want there to be any additional pressure on your end because of that.

Thanks!

[dragonwarder]

Hi mods! I'm gonna try and get this up this evening, but its the first week of the quarter at my job (and the end of the fiscal year /mouthbreathes), so if it needs to be up before friday, I may need some more direct assistance to make sure it gets up.

Sorry!

[larkers]

No worries - let us know!

[realists]

back again with another job related query, this one re: the adelaide island mission!

would jyn be able to parlay that through her own work at pulsar? argue the mission as a work related trip so she isn't written off as missing work. she would be fine with bringing back her own geological samples in addition to helping with the actual mission work itself.

[larkers]

Hi Jenny!

We'll start off with saying that Kyna isn't going to find very many leads (at first), but hopefully what we set up here will give you some direction.

1&2. So, first off, Kyna will need to expand her reach beyond the blue glow itself. In the ruins - especially the New Oslo ones - there were other colors, as well. They were depicted similarly to what is on the shrines around New Amsterdam. Through that, she might be able to determine that blue isn't the only color in play here. That will help expand her reach and give her more chances to find evidence!

We suggest that Kyna begins to draw some conclusions about the figures that were there. King Herald was depicted at New Oslo's gate, but his historicity is up for debate (and we're fine with Kyna knowing this!). On the other hand, St. Olaf is also pictured. It's possible that she's already done this work, and that's fine.

The tricky part is where she'll be moving from there. A lot of these stories will ring true to the experiences of the Displaced, but she can also see how the Displaced are becoming mythological in their own rights at the moment. How do people explain the unexplained? The issue here is that Kyna will begin to see stories that align with what she knows, but she'll need to be able to get her hands on manuscripts. A lot of these fell into private collections, and are not easy to find transcribed. Being able to see images may be a better clue than text, she'll just need to figure out how to get there!

3. The stories are, nominally, the same with some wiggle room to be expected of different universes. For example, King Herald's story is similar to the Wikipedia entry. But it's through digging deeper that she may be able to find further clues and how these people may have been treated on the "ground level" and away from centralized religion and kings.

4. Not immediately. However, by digging into more regional religions, she may be able to find some clues. This is where we're going to toss some medieval historian jargon at you. While the Pope during the medieval period had a lot of control over how noblemen and women experienced religion, people outside of that reach (typically peasants) were another story altogether. In more extreme cases, this led to things like the Cathars rising up within remote communities. In less extreme cases, it would lead to a woman within the town having various remedies and superstitions. Much of it would be vague, unnamed, and not immediately traceable.

For this, how this would be perceived would probably be more readily found within these peasant communities. That doesn't mean that there weren't important figures that likely received notoriety because of their relation to the glowing glowy stuff—it's more that any practice of faith or religion like Ball's would be more on a community level (and therefore difficult to unearth thanks to the dearth of records coming out of peasantry).

Here's a decent overview on popular religion in medieval Europe: Popular Religion in the Middle Ages: 1000-1300. + A decent article, as well.

[larkers]

Hi Alex!

It sounds plausible that he could go into a casino and use his power, but there's a few things to keep in mind: He's going to glow each time that he uses his power and that might be enough to draw attention. Roulette wheels are mostly still manned (due to distrust in AI algorithms), and he'd still have some human contact while playing certain casino games. While he may be able to cover up the glow in his chest, he may draw a different type of suspicion. Let us know what the circumstances are here so we can help you better flesh this one out in terms of consequences!

The mobs affiliated with casinos are either the Riverside mob or the Petrov family, and you're free to pick either/or for this instance, just let us know! If either of the affiliated mobs have a suspicion that he's cheating in some way, he'll be escorted from premises. The winning streak won't be enough to get him pinpointed as dangerous, but it will be an annoyance to either one of those mobs. He'll find himself banned, and from there it's how tenacious he decides to be.

Of course, this may all go differently if he's glowing! Let us know what details you decide to go with.

[larkers]

Hi Ami!

This is somewhat dependent on what Alex decides to do with Nathan. If people around the area catch wind of his chest glowing while he uses his power, there will definitely start to be some murmuring and gossip going on regarding the Displaced. There's a lot of conspiracy theories about them, some more farfetched than others, but suffice to say that the general populace is curious and interested in the Displaced and their deal.

Other than that, there wouldn't be any juicy secrets getting talked about within earshot, but he might hear some hushed conversation about the UNA's disarmament and how that might open doors for the less legal forces within the city.

[larkers]

Hi Emma!

Yes, that sounds fine! Pulsar will give her a break so she doesn't have to take time off (if that's what she'd like), but they'd like to see their share of the results. Let us know what samples she intends to bring back!

Thanks!

[realists]

mostly rock samples, because the island was part of the volcanic arc, so lots of volcaniclastic samples (basalts, andesite, rhyolite, sideromelane) and hyaloclastites, that she can use for experiments regarding io, triton, and enceladus, which also have volcanic activity. (and one has water!) also probably a great deal of soil samples to continue testing how the different levels of elements affect the growth of plant life.

it's definitely all related to her actual work within terraforming/geology and hopefully will also benefit her future certifications lmao

[nonscriptum]

Thank you for the details on the casino inner workings!! Gonna go with the Riverside mob for the purposes of this venture, since their black market dealings are of particular interest.

Having discussed and debated how much of a dumbass Nate would be with regards to his attire we have concluded that since Nate is under the impression he doesn't have a power, he'll probably wear his usual low-collar number, thereby making it fairly obvious that he's glowing (even if unknowingly using his power). The first time he might think it's just a weird fluke, the second time around he'll really start to wonder why or how he activated it. Connecting the dots between a successful hand of Blackjack and his glowing will not come easily to him though he will obviously be very concerned about attracting attention.

[lifetothefullest]

Awesome; that all sounds great, thank you!

[larkers]

Sounds good! Feel free to bring this up when it comes to Jyn's career development going forward.

[slavophile]

HELLO MODS, ME

With the findings in Antarctica, William is interested in publishing what couldn't be. Is this doable? Hacking is one thing, but releasing is obviously something else!

[larkers]

Hey Brandon! So we can help provide you a fuller answer tomorrow, did you have somewhere in mind where he planned to publish all of these findings? We'd like to know what your plans were so that we can approach it from that angle. Keep in mind that pseudonyms and false identities are extremely hard to pull off, so he'd likely be putting anything out there under his name.

That's not to say this is impossible, and perhaps William wouldn't care! We'd just like to know what you had in mind.

Thanks!

[slavophile]

William would definitely care if he realized that his name would be directly attached. But, these kinds of findings do belong out in the world. So barring any efforts to hack the information into a scientific journal or public study, he'd have to go more general and leak documents to the network at large. Could he send documents, information, pictures, or findings, possibly, to a local news source. Obviously, he couldn't hide it's from him, but maybe he could send the information to a third party who could release it themselves?

His aim would be getting the information out, yes, but not putting himself at risk in the process, unless he has no other choice in that.

So, his aim would be sending the information to a third party. Barring that, releasing it himself online.

[larkers]

Hey Alex!

The Riverside mob it is.

While Nate is being obvious with his power, it'll take more than just a few goons to drag him out. The talk of his presence will head up the food chain to the resident capo, who will escort him outside with a few underlings. It's up to you how much Nate would start a skirmish, but the capo won't be happy! He'll want to know exactly what Nate was doing in the casino, paying particularly close attention to his glowing chest. This will be enough for Nate to be in their sights! From here on it depends on how he's going to play it. If he wants to get recruited, we suggest that he negotiate from here! If he wants to create a little tiff, let us know how you'd like that to go down, and the Riverside mob can nail him as dangerous (possibly along with other Displaced, depending).

As a note, Blackjack is all digital, as there are no longer decks of cards!

[larkers]

Hi Brandon!

There are three factors we'd like to bring up!

First: the scientists all wanted to have their names attached to the articles so that they could further their careers. Although academia is even more exclusive in 2512 than it is now because of the emphasis on learning trades over science for the sake of science, these credentials could land them jobs with major corporations, especially once they landed on their resume. Right now, these scientists are sitting with their work unpublished. William would have likely met some of them while he was there, so he'd be putting their careers at risk.

Secondly, because of this, William will look like he was hired to "expose" this research. This simple act could diminish any credibility these scientists have, and may cost Daenerys' connections and job opportunities, as well. We'll add that these articles have been tabled because of censorship from the government for whatever reason, and William would not have been able to find out about them otherwise (as everyone at the lab would be very sore about it). Moving forward, we do suggest that you work with Kay on whatever you decide!

As for the third thing: following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the region, some of these—if not all!—scientists are likely dead. This means that William may be doing an insensitive thing, so we'd like to factor that in.

That said: we're really into this plot. Our proposal is that after William is rejected by both local and global news sources, he begins to look into other outlets—or even a blog—to try to get this information out there. In that time, the monster attack is going to happen. Following that attack, after having previously rejected him, these outlets are going to be far more interested in what William had to offer, and will even be eager to pay him. What William said hadn't been published would obviously be the UN's fault in some way, and it might lead to the UN once again failing to protect their citizens (on a global scale). Some of the same complications come into play (publishing without their permission, potentially causing consequences for Daenerys, publishing on behalf of the dead), so it's up to you to decide how William would deal with that.

Some questions we'd like to have answered would be:

1. Would William rush to get the articles out there via blog before the event hit? There is a different set of consequences that may come with this (the same problem of disrespecting the scientists' wishes, but also William himself being directly linked to it). Obviously, publishing them himself would be a case where the scientists would know who stole their research, so he might need to expect retaliation. Unfortunately, there's also the chance that William wouldn't get any traction because he hasn't built up an online presence, but we're assuming he'd do the legwork to get some clicks on what he put out there online. We're also assuming that he's looking to publish this for the entire world rather than just the Displaced—we weren't sure with your usage of the word "network."

2. Would William touch base with Daenerys about what he found and what he plans to do? We suggest you touch base with Kay regardless of what William does IC.

3a. Would he check to see if all the scientists got out alive before he published their work?

3b. If he checked in, would he get their permission?

Feel free to reach out to us with any questions or if we failed to consider an angle for you! We're hoping that we added some fun consequences and friction to this plot to make it an ongoing thing for you.

[slavophile]

pre1. Looking to go with your proposal completely. I love how that plays out and both Kay and I are ready for consequences. I love how it's to be fleshed out and all the avenues this might move into, especially political U.N. ramifications.

1. While William isn't rushing, no matter what Dany says when he does clue her into his plans won't stop him from releasing the information. He'd do enough legwork to get the world's eyeballs on what he publishes himself - and he's willing to pay for the consequences therein. In this, he'd first reach out to bigger networks, etc, publish himself and hopefully follow your proposal.

2. William is going to clue Dany in but her thoughts won't keep him from going through this the release. Still speaking to Kay and working through Dany's response, but we're handwaving they did have discussions in Antarctica and William is going to bring his ideas to her before the big monster mash. We're playing out William bringing her his ideas now. They also mentioned that Dany can't exactly protest because she'll be a dragon for most of the event and she's open to Dany taking the consequences after.

3a. He'd do a cursory search to see if there's a public record of any of the scientists still alive.

3b. He will not do the courtesy of getting permission.

A few post release post-monster event questions..

With certain outlets suddenly being interested in what William has (and the money offered) could there also be job opportunities, whether they are legit/back channeled.

Is this making a name for himself as a whistleblower to the government (as negatively as it might be taken) but also is it grabbing the eyeballs of anybody out there that might try and cash in on William's skill.

Would his entry level position at Vyonation be in jeopardy?

He'd want to parlay what news sources want from him for real resources. Money and then some.

On top of that, is there a way for him to also connect and release more discoveries/depending on if he, Ian, and Kyna come up with anything actually during the event.

He will have a first hand account of being possessed by a slug as well. William is used to being in the spotlight and being the person articles are written about, so he'll have no problem being the center of this.

Is it possible to erase an electronic trail for where he lives? With money, he'd want to move out of the safe house, especially if he gets notoriety/if there are consequences. But he wouldn't want to be easily found personally. Obviously, his electronic signature is on everything - there is no way to erase who he is - but is there a way to make it harder to find where he actually lives. While he lived the public life back home, he also liked being private (where he lived, if he dated, the personal things...) Please let me know if you need any clarification. I'm trying to use clear language (such as 'the world' vs network.)

[larkers]

Hi Brandon! Just a quick note since you asked a lot of questions - we won't be able to get back to you due to our policy of not answering questions while an event is on, and we wanted to let you know.

In the meantime, can you have Kay check in once you're done talking to them? We want to make sure everyone is on the same page so we can plot that fallout with them moving forward.

Thanks!

[slavophile]

You're welcome!

Commenting to say I reached out to them and let them know to contact you, the mods!

And, an amendment. William did try to see if there was any trace of surviving scientists post Antarctica. But, he passes on the information to Dany. She wanted to take the responsibility.

[dragonwarder]

Hullo mods — I am just commenting here to keep the info in one place. We discussed! The thread is ongoing, but I have enough to reply here.

Dany carries a pretty hefty amount of guilt for having to leave the scientists behind SO. Once discovering his intentions, she would have made good faith to at least ping the contacts she DID have (via social media, or through Aramis, regardless of whether or not they would see the messages while trapped in Antarctica...or while dead) with the information that William had stolen their findings while in Antarctica and was going to make attempts to publish them.

Because of the way William framed his intentions (as in, planning to publish no matter what anyone says), she would frame these messages in such a way that suggests that he acted without her knowledge or blessing (even though that is...perhaps only half true).

But she is obviously going to be occupied w/ the event and also going to end up a dragon half way through the plot so she will likely be unable to follow up after those initial attempts to warn/contact/communicate with them. RIP employment.

[slavophile]

I also want to add that, if someone would listen, William would make it clear he wasn't hired and he's releasing all of this because he believes it should be done. Obviously, what he says might be taken with a grain of salt. That's all! Off to bed!

[nonscriptum]

re: gambling mechanics, noted!

He's definitely conscious enough of the way the Displaced are viewed to not want to start a brawl that could get nasty, get out and get publicized, so as much of a Fighty Boi as he is, he'd go quietly. Unsurprisingly this would not be the first time Nate has been ushered away by well-armed, very unhappy people, so if there's some minor roughing up that's to be expected.

One of his backburner interests has been figuring out what sort of circles the mercenary groups run in, so Nate would most likely fly by the seat of his pants and aim for recruitment, let them think this was an attempt to get noticed on-purpose because he can bring some value to their enterprise.

I don't know how much the mob knows about Those People With Glowing Blue Chests, but Nate would bank on them thinking he has some kind of special ability that can be of use to them.

[overrate]

Hi guys!

So, a thing I'd love feedback on, since Jason's gonna go off on his own for a bit:

1. If he starts following some of the weapons trafficking that was going on with former UNA gear, any things he might pick up? Namely, looking at big groups and potentially where the biggest flows are heading? Basically, he wants to start seeing who is filling this power vacuum, if anyone.

2. Say he decides to start liberating some of the smaller deals of their weapons and building his own stash... how is that gonna go down?

[chaire]

FOLLOWING UP AGAIN WITH A QUESTION FOR KASS THIS TIME...

So, as part of this quest, I would actually like Kassandra to start rebuilding her crew/the Daughters of Artemis!

Could she start doing that with some of the bands of UNA soldiers? She would actively go out of her way to assist them-- and offer helpful advice for holding the line. You know, the kind of stuff that Sparta was good at. I figure this would be a good opportunity for her to immediately establish herself as a credible warrior.

I'd like to eventually transition this to a play at taking some sort of stance on world politics, but it's easier if Kass has support behind her.

Updating this:

Removing the mercenary part, but would like a follow-on answer on if she could start building up something similar to the Daughters of Artemis following the events that just happened, and given that she would have started trying to rally these soldiers then.

Thank you!