![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.
.
no subject
Knowing that consuming golden-eyed animal meat results in anger sickness and seeing as the animals are roaming with increasing frequency, Daenerys would be interested in sharing this information (and the samples she has been holding onto from the previous research facility plot) with Aramis and their scientist friends.
If feasible, she'd also attempt to make a charisma roll and use this as leverage for a possible observation internship now that she's a more familiar face.
Also, I should have asked this WAY sooner, but is it immediately obvious who is funding all of this research? Because that's something Dany would want/would have wanted to look into.
no subject
Considering the fact that Daenerys is coming in with knowledge and information/samples to share, Aramis would be willing to vouch for her and get her the internship! So you can assume that starts now (though the upcoming event is clearly going to serve as a distraction for a while!).
As for the funding question, it won't be immediately obvious who, but the way that the researchers function makes it seem like it's a smaller funding group rather than a huge corporation calling the shots. There's not much of a corporate culture around it, and no big names are getting dropped.
Once she's settled into the internship, depending on how she plays her cards, she might start to learn more details. Feel free to use the event to try and push this angle as well if you want, as all New Amsterdam NPCs will be in the simulation as well.
no subject
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.
no subject
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!
no subject
She's going to make the effort to drum up and encourage interest in the research down on Adelaide Island with her colleagues in the New Amsterdam research facility. If pressed about her reasoning, she would be able to reproduce a copy of the misfire message that was originally sent to Octavia Blake (which I unfortunately cannot link, since the original post is now locked and hidden).
She would be willing to bring Aramis and a few of the other, more knowledgeable scientists with her on the trip.
I'd like to open this whole thing up to more of the game, but I'm having some challenges finding reasons for additional Displaced to follow her there. I'm open to guidance or ideas here.
One idea I had was having her ask for funding to bring a Displaced-specific field investigation team along for data collection. She plans to ask Cassius about how the folks funding the NA research feel about Displaced in the wake of all the simulation aftermath, and if they feel positively, she would then reach out on the network to invite them along.
I know its been a hot minute since Dany's main objectives here were discussed, but her personal goals are focused on finding the cause of the genetic anomalies in the world's various creatures, figuring out if they have any links to the kaiju that have popped up previously, and finding a way to study/communicate with them on her own (and possibly establish formal, ethical ways of studying their existence in the world on a larger scale).
/jurassic park theme intensifies
no subject
We want to let you know that we love this idea and that it will likely actually directly feed into our next event, so this is great!
If we're correct about the message you're referring to, then this was actually sent to James Holden, not Octavia. We were able to dig that message up and have reproduced it here for your reference, but it was shared back when these infodumps went out, so you can assume that Daenerys has a copy of it.
originally here
[ A deleted preliminary pitch dated October 14th, 2511, regarding research from July 5, 2511 for an article for a scientific journal that never made it past the initial planning stages due to a lack of sufficient scientific evidence reports on the discovery of numerous new reptilian species near Adelaide Island, close to the Antarctic continent. These warm-blooded reptiles contain spines over their back and a distorted exoskeleton that the researcher states is "biologically unsound."
Reply attempts will receive the normal message when anyone tries to contact an invalid address:
Message Delivery Subsystem NO VALID IDENTIFICATION.
Your message wasn't delivered because the address couldn't be found. ]
Seeing this, Aramis would definitely be intrigued and would convince one or two other researchers to back the expedition. They do, in fact, have positive feelings toward the Displaced following the simulation and would be willing to take along any of them who wished to go.
The rest of the details can likely be sorted out through your thread with Cassius and then that can lead to the network post, if that works for you! Once we know which Displaced will be coming along, we can provide you with more details about the trip, what they'd find, and so forth. We do ask that if possible, this is organized fairly soon so that everything can be ready to feed into the July event.
no subject
My bad, I was going off the story so far document and misread the layout.I'll throw up something tonight. Thanks!
no subject
(I tried to sort them by relevant experiences. If I get any updates between now and tomorrow, I will edit)
Daenerys - Field experience with Aramis and co, specific knowledge surrounding that
Catra - Experience with research missions
Kylo Ren - Tracking, hunting, previous research experience
Kyna Medina - Tracking
Riku - Reconnaissance, observation
Akechi - Ren handler, special detective eyes
Jon Snow - Cold weather survival, hunting, muscle for hauling/fighting
Rey - Cold weather survival, muscle for hauling/fighting
Jyn Erso - Cold weather survival
Gabriel Reyes - Bodyguard
Sora - Bodyguard
Tommy Shepard - Superhero (go fast bodyguard)
Marian Hawke - Bodyguard
Ren - ?
Traejen Lighrend - ?
Ian Fowler - Mechanical engineering and chemistry experience
William Clayton-Queen - Hacking
no subject
First off, due to the timing of the trip, we assume that it will be taking place around the same time as the Arrival Log that goes up next weekend (OOCly, of course). That means that anyone who goes on this trip will not be present for the Arrival Log. These logs will be coordinated to happen side by side, with a little bit of handwaving regarding time, of course! This is in large part because we'll also be using the Arrival Log to set up some aspects of the event.
As an additional note: the sign ups that you gave us are the final sign ups! We promise to anyone who missed out on this that there will be cool stuff in New Amsterdam.
Before we proceed, we recommend that some characters bring their glowing relics on this trip just in case, as they may need to make an impromptu gate to get the heck out of there. You'll see why near the bottom of this write-up!
GETTING TO ADELAIDE ISLAND
Getting to this island via boat is going to be treacherous for all of the characters on their way! While scientific enhancements in medication (High Quality Dramamine!) and boats will help, the characters will be taking The Drake Passage over to Adelaide. What does this mean for them? A miserable time ahead, all things considered. They'll have to battle nausea while dealing with terrible currents. This is the most unpleasant body of water in the world. Global warming caused things to change, but it won't be perfect.
Anyone taking the trip will be given dramamine to deal with the motion sickness, but it'll be up to them to take it. Even then, there's a high chance that it won't work. The people navigating the boat across The Passage will be used to their passengers getting violently ill. It's a part of the rite of passage for this kind of trip.
(For some extra info from our science consultant on The Drake Passage, go here!)
ARRIVAL/RESEARCH TIME
Needless to say, upon arrival it is very cold. Everyone will need to have specific cold weather gear, and anyone who seems ill-equipped to handle it will be kept indoors and forced to handle bagging and recording any samples. In addition, anyone who doesn't pick up on how to take and handle samples before they're brought indoors will also be relegated to that. There won't be a lot of need for muscle on this trip. Overall, it's largely going to be a peaceful endeavor, albeit with a lot of signs that things could have turned for the worse at some point.
As for research, characters will be working on both Adelaide Island and taking a short boat trip to Deception Island. The team there will explain that there used to be facilities located on Deception Island, but after they got destroyed several times over throughout the centuries, all samples from there are taken back to Adelaide Island for analysis. Field research time.
WILDLIFE AND SAMPLES
In this region, most of the more "common" creatures that have made it are the following:
Nototheniodei fish
Leopard seals
Antarctic octopuses with sub-zero venom
In addition, the surface area is very spiky and unusual, albeit lacking in any color. It's extremely monochrome.
This research trip will not be focused on these more typical creatures, albeit the researchers and Displaced could still take samples to see if any of them have evolved in unusual ways (especially given the unusual reptilian creatures found here before).
Other than these more common creatures, anything else the Displaced might find will be uniquely mummified due to the lack of humidity in the area (AKA it's extremely dry). Characters will be able to find the following (again, mummified):
• Reptilian creatures with exoskeletons like the one we referred to above (some of these are gator-like, while others are snake-like)
• Thick-furred walrus-like creatures, taking up massive amounts of real estate (so to speak) in the ice
• Featherless birds with retractable claws for talons
• Unusual mollusks with thick, spiky shells and legs that extend from them (these in particular are venomous, so they will need to be careful when extracting them—even breathing in their vicinity could be dangerous)
HACKING INTERLUDE
William's skill set will also be relegated to the indoors, but that means he'll be able to dig into the servers there via the local connection to see what's what. This particular research facility has been around for a long while, with some of its most unusual findings starting around 200 years ago. At the time, thanks to the large amount of ice that was melting, they found (equally mummified) bodies that were buried on Deception Island. Most of the clothing would be carbon-dated to the early 1800s. No one really knows how these people got here, but several of them had scarification and tattoos of various geometric symbols. Otherwise, these samples were passed off to labs elsewhere, as human remains aren't really in their wheelhouse. For what it's worth, none of these humans came up as unique in any way (in terms of biology) in the findings by those other labs.
Otherwise, William will learn that the laboratory is doing its best to publish its findings there, especially as they've found more and more unique creatures in the past year. Despite its best efforts, they've been running into roadblock after roadblock. There have been questions of integrity around their findings, and several attempts to pull funding from the area. None of these attempts seem as if they're intended to go through. On the contrary, they're clearly meant as scare tactics to keep the researchers there working but never getting any information out. They'll see this current expedition as an opportunity to bypass that process to get their news about these weird evolutionary formations out into the world.
TROUBLE LURKS (EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, VOLCANO?)
After a few days of research, the ground will begin to rumble right before a massive earthquake occurs, causing massive damage in the area and sending shocks through the world. Knowing about the risk of the volcanic activity, the researchers will advise everyone to get moving. While the volcano won't be erupting yet, there will be a risk of a tsunami on the horizon, so they will need to move. The Richter scale of this earthquake will be around an 8.2, causing a great deal of damage and likely costing the lives of a few valuable NPCs (as they won't make it back to a mediunit in time).
Elsewhere, this will have an impact on the megacities, as there will be rolling brownouts. We'll be detailing this in the Arrival Log, so please don't have anyone post about this earthquake until then!
no subject
Thanks!
no subject
Sorry!
no subject