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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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no subject
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!
god it's so hard to find an icon on this account that doesn't look somehow snarky
I'm happy to switch going the mercenary/ex-soldiers route here! Catra will probably try to appeal to them on the basis that she's a soldier/ex-soldier as well, was raised from birth in that system and has never known anything else, so she knows exactly where they're coming from better than anyone except maybe their own. So there's a double-whammy there of like "I have military experience, that's why we were able to successfully end the simulation, because of MY successful leadership" (even if that isn't actually entirely true and even if they weren't there to see it) combined with "I'm one of you guys and I get where you're coming from and I want to see you get justice."
Once she has a backer and finds out that they're missing their ALIGN tech and weapons/armor etc, she'll also probably try to further appeal to them by pledging to replace these things with something that's newer and better, something not controlled by the government that they can use to keep themselves "safe" and "connected," because that's also very appealing both to her and them, hey. (Whether she's actually able to do this or not is a different issue entirely, but it's something she'd pledge, and she'd definitely take a stab at genuinely trying it.)
As for patrons, Catra's probably going to take a two-pronged attack (because it's never good to put all your eggs in one basket) if she can! First focusing on a wealthy patron who isn't directly associated with any of the Big Three (I know all the Serious Money is in bed with all the corporations on some level anyway, but the important thing here is the ~appearance~ of being backed by someone "relatively" neutral, since she's coming at this from an anti-big-government angle, who won't interfere with her operations too much because of corporate interests or whatever, maybe because they BELIEVE IN THE CAUSE!!11) who she'll use as the public face of her operation/backing.
For the second prong, she'd probably like to more secretly target someone in Vyonation (or one of their subsidiaries) who is relatively high up but not satisfied with their current position ie someone she can flip, convincing them that if they work with her, they can overthrow the current leadership and take it for themselves. Because Catra knows the value of information technology, and Vyonation... has most of that, so that'll be her first port of call if they want to have any hope of fighting back against The Information Machine. (And especially if she wants to have any merits to her claims to develop new tech for the soldiers under her command later.)
ANYWAY let me know if that adequately covered all your points of concern and if everything I've suggested there is okay or needs to be modified further! Or if it's got the all-clear, lemme know and I'll work on crafting some NPCs!
no subject
A few things to keep in mind:
• The soldiers won't understand how she's an ex-soldier herself. Bear in mind that the only military force in this world since the end of World War III was the UNA, and these assignments last for life. All of them being discharged is a highly unlikely and unusual outcome, as there is no historical precedence. Catra will need to go back to the drawing board on this one, as it's unlikely that she's going to be able to convey that information easily to them. Even claiming that she's a mercenary herself who's cut ties with other groups may help!
• We'll add that Catra can already be armed with the knowledge that these soldiers will be without their gear. She's run into them already in the UNA HQ in New Beijing, and seen them at their strongest (while they were on their way out of the base at the end of the mission). Given that this technology is strongly identified as being a part of the UNA, she'll be able to piece together that they'll be without what makes them special. No extra legwork needed here!
• In terms of a backer, it may not hurt for her to see if she can get in with Simone Durcell. While Durcell does work with Pulsar, they have an anti-government stance and they're already building ties with Jason and Loki. We suggest that you hit up Jessi if you're interested in that angle. Otherwise, someone neutral is probably someone more suited to the criminal underground. Trying to get an in with one of the mobs may be a good bet for Catra, especially since they have the money to spend. We don't have a lot of the mafia leadership developed just yet, so there is a lot of developmental space you can use here. Keep in mind that Durcell does overlap with the mob in their motivations, but the mob is underhanded enough to two-time Durcell.
• We'd like to know how she intends to identify someone at Vyonation for this purpose! They aren't the only dealers in information in New Amsterdam. For example, Catra could try to buy the allegiances of the Hi-Jacks, who are a tech savvy hacker gang. She can also try to find someone who left the Hi-Jacks and get them on her side, though this will understandably be much more difficult.
Overall, we do think that a lot of your leads will lead you back to Jessi at this point, and we do think that you have an opportunity to work with her given Catra and Jason's close relationship. If you're not interested in that, that's perfectly fine, but Jason does hold a lot of information of interest to Catra.
Let us know if you have any other questions!
no subject
1) Sounds good, maybe can I get back to you on this point? I've been trying to think of alternate angles but really kind of drawing a blank atm!
2) Awesome!
3) I've run this by Jessi, but ultimately we both agreed that a) Jessi has enough on her plate and we both have enough balls in the air between our two characters CR-wise already without adding more, and b) Catra has already ICly identified Jason as someone who would be opposed to her goals and so would be reluctant to go through him directly (and dislikes Loki), so I'm probably trending more towards pursuing it from the second angle rather than the first! I'm happy enough to do some mafia/mob NPC write-ups if you'd like, but yeah considering I already have a lot of CR with Jessi, I'd like to use this an opportunity to do things with players I don't necessarily already have tight CR with! I get that this is also just making my life... harder for myself... but oh well sometimes it just Be Like That.
4) My original plan for the Vyonation angle was to have her go through Daisy since Catra knows she works there, but it's looking likely that isn't an option anymore, so! Unless that can be her Simulation Rescued NPC then yes would probably lean more towards the Hi-Jacks, since she doesn't have any other connections/ways to get an in with a large company like that, but she is familiar with how gangs operate ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
no subject
We're gonna renumber this because the former "2" isn't requiring an answer, so keep that in mind!
1. As a suggestion, if Catra goes the mob route, she can use their long history of loyalty and fidelity as a way to hook in the soldiers. You know who hasn't tossed their own onto the street? Who doesn't see their people as expendable? The mob.
2. Skipping to the Jessi note - we're fine with that! Catra can start getting people's attention at the fighting rings, especially since they're run by the mobs. Her plan for recruiting soldiers will make her an ideal candidate, especially if she gets the right ear.
3. Catra's Simulation Rescued NPC can be an underling of Xavier Tagore, the Chief Security Officer of Vyonation. They won't be very close to him in ranking, but will have a lot of permissions since they're one of his hand chosen. You can feel free to fill in the blanks on this person from here, if you'd like!
no subject
In that case I'll probably go the mob + fighting rings angle since that seems to be easiest and most IC!
As for Vyonation, a security underling sounds like the perfect person for Catra to target. I'll let you know when I've written up some details for him/her \o/