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

(frozen comment)

[angerberg]

Yennefer will be voting for Lynch.

(frozen comment)

[championofsnark]

Hawke is voting for Joseph Lynch.

(frozen comment)

[wittingly]

Ian has decent political awareness and will actually vote for: Amabel Delafield-Chapin
The other two kanye shrug until they die.

(frozen comment)

[lifetothefullest]

Lance is not voting for various reasons, but I wanted to OOCly throw in that I'm interested in seeing what happens if Amabel Delafield-Chapin is elected.

(frozen comment)

[selfimage]

ooc vote's for lynch.

(loki will be voting for durcell.)

(frozen comment)

[rehandle]

Stephen won't be voting but OOC vote is for Lynch!

(frozen comment) Re: GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION

[sparklequeen]

Glimmer will be voting for Amabel Delafield-Chapin

(frozen comment)

[unwings]

Cas will not be voting

Roy's voting for Delafield-Chapin

(frozen comment)

[bivariant]

Cheris is voting for Joseph Lynch!

[bivariant]

hi mods wow it's been a while since i turned up

Cheris (and Akechi and Ren) have been throwing around the idea of approaching Amabel Delafield-Chapin and likely are going to ask her to drop out of the race for the governorship!! Cheris is going to haul the resident fluffy phantom thief (Ren) along with her for the ride and he gets to make doe eyes.

her approach is largely to: approach Delafield-Chapin in one of her normal haunts and then ask her to step down because the Displaced (note: not the word she'll use! she'll probably call them just "the group we're part of") are not interested in/do not want this sort of representation and are also concerned she could end up hurt/her career could be tanked if she wins.

(frozen comment)

[plainsimple]

Garak will vote for Lynch.

[impede]

As a note, Akechi will not be physically present for this plan, but Ren will be!

[larkers]

Hi Trace!

Given that New Amsterdam is still in disarray following the monster attack, a shelter or soup kitchen for those who have lost their homes or livelihood would definitely be needed. There are also likely a lot of damaged structures that have been abandoned or condemned, so when it comes to getting his hands on a space he could convert for his needs, checking in with city hall might be the best bet.

If he receives some amount of aid from the city or PRESERVE, that might help cover the costs to get the building refurbished/repaired and then put into working order so whatever purpose he wants it to serve -- but he would definitely need to pay out a lot from his own pocket as well. It likely would not happen overnight, especially if he's low on manpower, but maybe he could recruit other Displaced to volunteer their time and manual labor to the cause?

The center would also need a steady stream of income if the idea is to provide food to people, so keep that in mind as well. Because rebuilding the city and recovering is such a priority and gaining so much attention, he might also be able to leverage some of that to get help through crowdsourcing, depending on how public he'd like to make his efforts.

[larkers]

Hey Alex!

If he mentions a background check to make sure he's not a cop, he'll get a good laugh from the capo. He'll earn the nickname "funny boy."

The mobs are inherently isolationist in nature, don't take well to Displaced interference now that there's enough information about them out in public about them. They work from low level up, and part of proof of loyalty is ensuring that whoever they recruit will be working in favor of the mob, itself. It's a unit. That means they won't take favorably to Nate recruiting from their ranks—or even outright saying he'll recruit from their ranks. He'd be seen as a usurper who'd be disrupting their business if he intends to use mob resources for personal reasons. While it's certainly possible for him to do so in the future (depending on how he works his way up), he'd need to first earn his keep and then approach that claim in a way that would benefit the Riverside mob.

If he does go ahead and say he wants to recruit from them, the capo will send the message up and not take kindly to the insinuation. The backlash may even hit Red Wings, as it'll be seen as the Displaced trying to infiltrate the Riverside mob. While we think this is interesting, we're also not certain that this is where you mean to go with this plot! So we'll leave it to you. If you want to change his response to what he wants, let us know, but if you want to move forward with it, please make sure to loop the Red Wings' gang (Gee and Alison) back into it so they know that what Nate does at the casino may potentially have some outreaching effects on the business!

As far as the mercenaries go, getting base information on them may not be terribly difficult, but it depends on what Nate's looking for! Even the low level goons at the casino will know that Simone Durcell is looking to tie the mob to the mercenaries, but with the current state of things, there's no way that they can afford them. There will be some gossip about Durcell's "big movement in the mob," but there won't be any solid details on who the mercenaries are or how that would move forward. It'll be up to Nate to take some direction there depending on what he wants.

His assignment will be pretty boring for now—working in the casino and making wins for the house two nights a week. He'll be able to keep 10% of his earnings, so the better he does the more money he'll make.

Let us know if there are any questions, or how you'd like to move forward!

[larkers]

Hi there Ami,

Since the answer we gave you in the previous comment here was considered before the monster plot, we'd need to make sure that it stays consistent! Moving it post-monster plot would change our response to Alex's Nate's plot as well. That said the response Lance is looking for would pretty much be the same. There are also some conspiracy theories floating around as well, via the Event #009 Aftermath:

There will be lots of conspiracy theories for who the Displaced are beyond this: Are they experimental soldiers who escaped the grasp of the UN to help the world? Are they mutants of some kind, given powers? Aliens? Is it possible that they're immortal heroes tired by the way the world has gone on unchanged? All of these theories—and more, feel free to think up anything hilarious!—will be floating around on conspiracy boards and social media.

These conspiracies started before Lance's time in game, but they would still be relevant following the monster attacks!

Let us know if you have any other questions!

[larkers]

Hey Court!

Jack might not be able to finagle his way onto a run, but he could act as a point of contact to organize one! Since he's been at the company for a while, he'd be trusted to act as a go between, ensuring that the runs that do happen go down safely and discreetly.

This would put him in contact with the mercenaries directly, but he may want to tread carefully here so as not to draw too much attention to his goals. How do you think he'd go about this? Would he lay low and try to gather information that way, or aim to build a relationship with the mercenary group himself?

[larkers]

Hi Veronica!

While the footage itself was understood to be released already (and thus, your approach needs to be revised a bit from this angle), Durcell will be able to tell that Loki and Jason are resourceful enough to serve their purposes. The fact that Jason took over two gangs is a big part of it, perhaps even more so than what Loki was able to accomplish (since by now, we can assume that Durcell knows the Displaced get into some interesting places as a group—after all, there was the infiltration and bomb stuff in New Beijing during the simulation that Durcell would've learned about after the fact).

Durcell would ask that Loki stay with Tempo to begin to rework their contracts to ensure that they don't end up back in the UN's hands. Given the UN's announcement that they would begin to recruit again for their army, there is a high likelihood that the UN would expect these weapons contractors to make good on what they've offered. Durcell will suggest that this is part of the UN's way of shoring up and maintaining power. They know the mercenaries became well known for fighting monsters recently. They also know that most mercenary groups are employed by corporations, as they're the ones with the funds to support them. Durcell's goal is to help these groups be more independent as a roving, dangerous force that acts in conflict with the UN's goals, almost to create and produce anarchy. (Not that they'd put it that way.)

Once Loki's proved that he's able to sell and move Tempo's contracts elsewhere—a feat that might take time, if only because this world is one that's determined to remain stuck in its ways—Durcell will ask that he start to do the same elsewhere within Pulsar, and will use their own connections to get Loki to move. Keep in mind that Loki can turn down these connections as Durcell is a good businessperson but also politically suspect. It's up to Loki if he wants to be associated or try to go on his own.

As for Jason, Durcell would want to try to take control of his gangs themselves, and this may raise some natural red flags. They want to ensure that the gangs are on a united front with the mob interests, at least in creating an independent New Amsterdam that doesn't see any oversight from the UN. This would involve sabotaging any UN recruitment, as well as doing recon and keeping tabs on the types of people being recruited by the UN (often out of the local NAPD precincts). The goal that Durcell has here is to create a power that can confront the UN, at least on a local level. They won't be revealing their hand and outright stating that this is for the mob. If anything, Jason and Loki are likely to get the implication that Durcell views the mob as pawns. And if so, what will they be to Durcell?

We understand if Jason and Loki have counter offers, but Durcell acts as if they have all the cards. So! Let us know how they'd respond to this first stage of negotiations. Some of them are simpler (like Loki staying at Tempo), while others obviously involve a lot of obfuscation from Durcell to promote themselves only.

[larkers]

Hi Ami! Thanks for bringing this to us.

First off, the Morningstar contacts and agents will be a touch disappointed that Lance isn't interested in getting to know them or their world. It wouldn't be the first time a Displaced approached them as "Morningstar" rather than themselves. He'd get the impression that Gaby would've assumed he would've curbed seeing them as organizational entities. That doesn't mean they won't talk to Lance. They'll just be openly disappointed.

That said, they will offer their stories. Many of them moved to New Amsterdam because they had worked with the Displaced elsewhere. Some had worked while the Displaced helped with relief efforts in New Tokyo, while others had met them after they saved a group of Morningstar agents from months of examination and torture under the hands of the UNA in a government laboratory. (This was the plot spearheaded by Rey, who will be named as a great member of the Displaced as a group.)

But that's not why they joined Morningstar. They came into the organization for different reasons. Some were recruited for their skills and talents (theft, hacking, even connections to relief organizations like the world-wide known PRESERVE that's supported by corporations and the UN alike). Others came because they saw people hurt and abused by moneyed interests while growing up. Not everyone is completely above-board, but they see the Displaced as willing to break a few eggs to do good. Their sincere distrust for the UN and hatred for a pro-capitalistic world that has fucked over many people is apparent. Some believe that the UN needs to be taken to task in a ruthless, vicious manner, while others believe that the good work needs to start where they can. There is a definite divide between ruthless activism and groundwork charity work to undermine people who think they're entitled to power. The more ruthless takes will be subtler, if only because these people hide these beliefs from Gaby, who has become a bit of a known figure in Morningstar (despite her frustration and disinterest in that) and is known as a hardcore pacifist. Previous agents have actively left her out of plans that would seem more ruthless and reckless in nature, and the current group would be aware of that.

As for opinions on the Displaced, they're mostly positive. Most of Morningstar's recent fame can be attributed to the Displaced releasing footage and speeches motivating people toward their cause. But Morningstar themselves are still doing most of the groundwork. There will be some grumblings that the Displaced sometimes act as if Morningstar should be working for their interests rather than the world's, which is a holdover from some older sentiments. In the past, some Displaced had saved Morningstar contacts/agents because they held information on the Displaced, rather than to save them just because their lives mattered. This current group is largely over it, but news of it spread enough so that they were aware. There are a few who also believe that while there was a lot of Displaced recruitment into Morningstar in the past, many of the members seemed to join primarily to support their own interests and take hold of Morningstar resources. Morningstar doesn't offer their resources for free to non-members, so they feel many Displaced joined just because they "could" so they could get their hands on certain resources. Thankfully (to the Morningstar agents), recruitment of the Displaced has gone down because they've accumulated enough resources on their own and the ones still involved actually care about Morningstar's missions and goals in this world.

For more general things, many of them know that the Displaced are a unique group that doesn't represent the interests of their world. Some have done good (Stephen, Rey, and Marcos, to name a few), while others (some past dropped characters) haven't. They don't understand the full scale of what this means, or even fully grasp that they aren't of this world, but they know that they don't represent the people of this world. Some of them heard stories in the simulation that backs this up.

Let us know if Lance would have any other questions! Gaby would've put him in contact with about 15 different people stationed in New Amsterdam (all of which transferred to the city a few months back), but she has some friends in New Beijing who can be contacted if Lance would like. Those people are far, far less interested in talking about the Displaced as a group, and Gaby would say as much!

[larkers]

Hi Gee!

Staying in New Amsterdam will likely be their best bet, especially if Stephen needs to be readily on hand for running Red Wings and the like! He would also need to buy property instead of renting it if he wanted free reign to alter the property to his specifications and not have to worry about a hovering landlord.

The good news is that property is on the cheap side at the moment given that so much of it has been damaged and so many people are down on their luck and therefore not in a position to buy in many cases. Given that Stephen has been in-game for as long as he has, it seems reasonable to assume that he has enough money to put down on a mortgage for a place, though it definitely wouldn't be anything fancy and would need a lot of fixing up.

Congrats on your home ownership!

[larkers]

Hi Pax!

If Ren and Cheris had enough lead time, they may have been able to succeed in getting her to back down. However, that won't be possible at this point. But due to Cheris' involvement/initiation of Operation Hope, Delafield-Chapin will be interested in maintaining contact with Ren and Cheris regardless of the outcome of the election. We'll be covering the election's outcome on the upcoming calendar, so keep an eye out for that!

[rehandle]

Exciting, thank you!

So I don't take too many liberties with the actual types of properties that exist in NA - are we looking at apartment spaces only or are there other options available (either is fine I'm just looking to get an accurate sense of what's available to generate some limits for ourselves before Laws and I start living our best home design lives), and is it okay to assume they can afford a decent amount of space owing to the damage reducing price and Stephen having been around for 84 years or is space still at a relative premium? What sorts of areas of the city are fair game?

Also are you happy for us to have them fix it up at what we consider to be a reasonable pace time and money-wise or do you need us to check in with specifics on that?

Sorry please forgive I'm just Detail Oriented 😂

[lifetothefullest]

Ooooooh awesome thank you; there's so much good stuff here! I love that this whole plot thing has sprung up; it's super interesting. c:

As far as the agents being disappointed, Lance is pretty empathetic and so them being upset would bother him a bit; he definitely didn't mean to make any of them feel that way, and so he'll just agree and tell them he understands why they're disappointed and that he appreciates that they're willing to talk to him anyway. If any of the agents want an actual explanation for why he didn't come to them first, he'll offer that he genuinely wasn't aware that was an option, and thought asking Displaced was the best place to start, which is true (though unless he's directly asked he'll avoid doing this so as not to sound like he's dismissing their concerns.)

During conversation about why they joined, he won't be pressing too much--he doesn't want to push his luck with potentially upsetting someone with feeling like they need to talk about a bad experience or something--but as much as they're willing to say he will be interested in more details about the sort of things the UN has done and why that's garnered such hatred for them, as well as wanting to know agents' beliefs as to why more people aren't a part of Morningstar. That's a curiosity thing rather than judgemental; he's trying to get a better sense of the social climate in general, and why native citizens might choose to act or not act.

The information about the Displaced and past interactions between them and Morningstar helps him a lot with context, and he'll make it clear that he appreciates that and is getting a better idea of why the situation might be a little complicated.

He'll probably stop for now with just the agents in New Amsterdam, both because that's a lot already and he wants to think it over before deciding what to do next, though he'll tell Gaby he might be interested in talking to the others in New Beijing in the future.

For questions (including some things I kind of mentioned above, just organized here to be easier):

• Would the Morningstar agents' views about Gaby being known as a pacifist be something they were upfront about in general?

• Any stories/beliefs on why the civilians would or wouldn't be interested in joining Morninstar?

• Although there are clearly different ideas on what methods to use to get there, he'd ask agents what their own ideal outcome would be; would it be that the UN was dismantled and something better takes its place, would they prefer a new government, no government at all, etc etc? It's pretty clear that they want people to have better lives in general, but beyond that, what are they hoping to happen?

• He'd also like to hear what they think their biggest obstacles are to achieving that goal; the UN itself, public sentiment, horrible monster attacks, something else?

As a last note, while talking to the agents he'll be genuinely friendly (if reserved) and will be trying to read their responses/the tone of the conversation and reacting to that, instead of directing it. He has zero interest in upsetting any of them, both out of his general sense of empathy and because he did assure Gaby he wouldn't cause any problems and he meant it. So if any of them decide they don't want to answer something, or even just seem hesitant, he won't pressure them (and will go along with any deflections or changes in subject.)

Relatedly, if they have any questions for him, he'd probably be willing to answer (to an extent since obviously some things should be offlimits) so if there's anything that would come up like that please just let me know!

[lifetothefullest]

Got it, thank you! I passed along the note about timing/what date this would happen to Alex, so I think she'll address that in her next reply.

Thanks again!

[nonscriptum]

A couple things:

- Wanted to make it clear/clarify that this casino thing definitely has not happened yet - we were waiting on the okay on details from y'all before committing, and in addition to that when I first posted in here I did not yet have a castmate-and-fraternal-conman.

- Totally understand that this kind of enterprise requires working your way up, so he's not expecting any helpful information immediately!

- Re: recruitment, there might have been a misunderstanding there. He's not recruiting (not that he's 'recruiting' at all) from the mob, but hoping the mob will have connections with independent mercenary organizations, as they might sometimes contract out for other work. Making a referral, as it were? So like...don't worry about upsetting the Displaced apple cart! That's not gonna happen. The criminal underbelly is a relatively small sphere, hence starting somewhere he knows he can probably get a foot in the door. By no means does he want to make it look as though the Displaced are trying to infiltrate, and would actively make an effort to avoid giving that impression.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, since none of this has happened yet (with the lack of event for September we wanted to do this in the upcoming month), I wanted to throw a tiny wrench in here and add one more person to the Thrilling Interrogation docket: Sam Drake. Two idiots for the price of one! Their explanation as to what they want from Riverside will still be the same (they're treasure hunters, they run jobs with scores they want to protect with mercs), but again: they're new in town, happy to work their way up, et cet. Heck, they could even lend their expertise in protecting Riverside investments. To catch a thief, and all that.

I am really sorry for this change in plans but I a.) was not anticipating getting an older brother when I first posted here in plot engagement and b.) the idea of them sitting at a table together while Sam says he "feels good about this" and Nate unintentionally gets lucky and they both glow is just. Really quite funny and par for the course.

If this is okay, please rest assured they will be (mostly) polite employees who are fine with whatever grunt work they're given until they move up.

[larkers]

Hi Alex!

A few quick follow up notes:

• Since even asking for resources before he has a chance to prove himself would be taken unkindly (because of the aforementioned isolationist nature of the mob), we'd like to know if Nate will be going ahead with that! We weren't clear from your response.

• Would the circumstances surrounding this change at all now that Sam's included in the scenario? They'll definitely be more keen to rough them up once they see their chests glowing and because of the following point.

• As this is happening following the monster attack and Red Wings being a whole headquarters thing, the mob will see the Displaced as a faction of their own. Sam and Nate showing up, glowing, and then trying to join their mob would be seen as them potentially infiltrating. They'd need to prove themselves, both by working in the casino and by taking on a few meager jobs. Otherwise, the mob would actually be interested in having a hand in that pie, even if they might doubt Sam and Nate's loyalties.

• Will Nate have some way to prove that he's a treasure hunter? Obviously he has his gates trips, but he might want something on hand to prove that he's done it, even if he doesn't have a point of reference. (This is to say, relics from the gates are fine proof for this purpose.)

Thanks!