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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
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!
no subject
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!
no subject
1. They wouldn't state it outright, but it would be heavily implied that Gaby tends to represent the softer side of Morningstar.
2. They wouldn't entirely understand why he's asking about why people would or wouldn't join Morningstar. They'd answer, but it would be treated as something that should otherwise be a touch more obvious given the world itself.
Basically: it's a risk to join Morningstar. Before recent times, the UN had a staunch anti-Morningstar strategy. Speaking out for them could get someone arrested. Even being suspected as a member of Morningstar could lead to someone being disappeared, especially when sentiments would start to turn. Morningstar is the longest running rebel organization in recent history, but they aren't the first. Many others have been stamped out and stopped throughout the centuries since the UN took hold of the world.
Sentiments are changing. It's not that the world doesn't know that the UN is screwed up. It's that the oligarchical nature of the world means that the power structures couldn't be changed. Most people chose to duck their heads down and take care of themselves. Morningstar wasn't affecting change, even if they were helping people. They couldn't disrupt the structures of the world as a whole.
3&4. Morningstar is an anti-capitalist organization, so by and large, they want a world that actively supports its people and takes care of them without padding their own pockets. They just also believe that something like that will take time to deconstruct, even if things seem to be moving rapidly at the moment. They believe that will change over time.
Their goal is to eventually help create a world that governs itself, rather than is governed by money. They know that this is difficult to obtain, but they want to undo the UN's efforts that solidified during World War III and the human/AI war. Right now, this system is so entrenched, so impenetrable, that they know that the UN is already ramping up and developing ways to undo any of the current progress. What doesn't help is that the UN is very dangerous. Surveillance and money means that they can assert control where necessary, even if they can't keep eyes everywhere at all times. But if someone messes up? It means that the UN knows where to look.
Needless to say, public sentiment is that the UN "takes care of them"—for better or worse. The UN is powerful, and corporations help feed into them and train leaders to maintain this corrupt system. And monster attacks only show that the UN is powerless. It's where the UN is slipping up because they can't control that element (at least: "not yet").
5. In turn, some of the more ruthless of them would ask what Lance would do in their situation, given the hopelessness of it all. What would he expect them to do?
They'd also ask what Lance thinks Morningstar is out to do and what they hope to accomplish, basically to get a reading on what he thinks and feels. Does he trust them? Does he think they're dangerous?
Let us know how he'd follow up!
no subject
Going through questions in order:
In turn, some of the more ruthless of them would ask what Lance would do in their situation, given the hopelessness of it all. What would he expect them to do?
He'd tell them honestly that forming an organization to try to make a difference, exactly as they're doing, is what he'd expect them to do. It's the only real option for trying to make things better that's available to them, and so it makes sense for them to take it. He doesn't know what he'd do in their position because he isn't exactly in it (and he'd give some more info if it were known that the Displaced are from totally different worlds, but alas) but that he definitely can't say he wouldn't join Morningstar. It seems to be the only current option for people who want to do something to help others outside of the system that the UN controls and perpetuates.
They'd also ask what Lance thinks Morningstar is out to do and what they hope to accomplish, basically to get a reading on what he thinks and feels. Does he trust them? Does he think they're dangerous?
He'd consider lying here and presenting an answer they might want to hear, but then decide to just risk honesty again especially since he imagines a lot of the agents would be able to tell he wasn't telling the truth. So he'll say that he hasn't quite decided; he was definitely suspicious at first, but some of that has lessened after talking to the agents.
He'll also be clear that while he's inclined to trust individual agents and he believes most if not all of them genuinely have good motives and mean the best, he's undecided on whether the organization as a whole is trustworthy or not, because these sorts of things have a way of spiraling out of control (especially in desperate situations like they're in.) So he doesn't necessarily think Morningstar is inherently dangerous, but there's the potential to become dangerous, especially if 'ends justify the means' thinking goes too far.
As for what he thinks they're out to do and hope to accomplish, he'd tell them (again truthfully) that what he'd thought was exactly what agents told him; that they wanted to change the system to be more fair to people and help them have better lives, by lessening if not outright undoing the control that the UN has over them. He has no reason to believe the real answer is anything other than exactly what the agents have said.
no subject
The more ruthless are also the more realistic. They agree that it's impossible to trust the organization as a whole because they're allowed to operate independently, making it so that each city takes care of its own. The ones who moved to New Amsterdam did so because they knew they'd have to work with the Displaced, but it's uncommon for people to move to join another chapter. Sometimes they're called in for contracting jobs in another city, but it's mostly to help fortify or build things. Otherwise, they operate in different pockets to protect themselves.
That said, it won't sound like Morningstar has any goals that are beyond their pay grade. Since they work independently and may have different goals in each city, they can't launch a major assault. Their focuses are narrower.
Let us know if he'd like to talk to them again in the future, or backtrack and speak to Gaby. Thanks for doing this line of investigation with Lance! It was really fun for us to write.
no subject
Will do! On that note, he might actually message Gaby soon about something, though it's somewhat unrelated. And of course! I loved this; thank you too! <3