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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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So here's a quick rundown, as promised, on Monster-Related Things:
First Monster Sighting: The first big monster attack in game happened not long after it started (link / link). Think big kaiju with little monsters rolling off its back. The big thing about these monsters is that they had golden eyes.
This monster eventually led to a rage sickness in our second event (link / link) because people were hoarding away monster parts, and they got set on fire. The only cure to this sickness was the Displaced setting their hands on them.
Afterward, the gangs helped produce a berserking drug based on this. Heavily diluted, it would send people into a berserking rage. It wouldn't require a cure, but it was eventually found out that anyone on this could be cured. This drug is still on the market, and it's safe to say that the recent monster attacks will lead to a rise in product being available. Plus, there are new elements to the monsters, so the drugs will change based on that, as well!
A few of the Displaced dug up information on these monsters and had them genetically tested, only to find out that they were strange genetic chimeras. None of this information is publicly available to the world at large, but it's pretty commonly known to the Displaced themselves. This information matches what was found by the researchers out of Antarctica in the papers that William released following the event.
These first and second events set up our monster lore in game, though there are a lot of elements that haven't yet been discovered.
Before we proceed, we want to clear up that there are two types of monsters: naturally occurring and ones that were engineered by Johann. The engineered monsters were created utilizing the DNA from the naturally occurring monsters. We'll clarify which of these we're referring to below, but the first "kaiju" attack counts as a "naturally occurring" monster. However, we're aware that we may not have made this terribly clear; as a result, Cassius' involvement with Johann may be needed to clear things up.
So, where are there other monster sightings?
Dreams: First, there were two monster attacks on New Tokyo and New Johannesburg that eventually led to our Dreams event. In the dreams, there were monsters with golden eyes that, when killed, disappeared in a bunch of glowing sparkles. After the dreams, reality seemed to be rewritten with New Tokyo and New Johannesburg experiencing horrible storms instead of monster attacks. Since these are dreams, neither category of monster type applies, but it's safe to say that they were based on naturally occurring monsters (since that's all the Displaced had seen up to that point).
Both inside and outside of New Amsterdam's walls: There are yellow-eyed chimeric creatures that started springing up outside of New Amsterdam's walls, and Jyn, Clarke, and Prompto all found them there during the EMP event. Afterward, these creatures started coming into the city, and would survive, especially thanks to the excessive greenery around the city afterward. The big thing about these creatures is that they were naturally occurring in nature, seeming as if they were natural evolutions of chimeric animals.
These are naturally occurring monsters/creatures/animals!
Laboratories: There are two laboratories with yellow-eyed creatures. The first showed up in an Arrival Log, and the second were found in the laboratory in New Magellan.
The guy linked to the second laboratory (Johann Parsons Grey) also screwed with Caroline, making her enraged (link, CW body horror and experimentation). Jyn posted about this here. She could be cured the same way as the rage sickness plot we mentioned above.
The laboratory monsters are engineered by Johann.
We saw that Dean is looking into reaching out to Cassius for information on Johann, but we wanted to give you the head's up that Cassius won't be keen to talk to Dean because Dean was very aggressive toward Cassius during the simulation event. We are fine with Dean reaching out to him, but we suggest you have an OOC backup to reach out to Cassius lest Dean fails to sweet talk our sensitive sassy AI.
The gates: There were chimeric-type creatures inside of all of the gates during our gates activation event. It's safe to say that there are still some lurking around within the depths of the gates themselves, waiting to attack.
For the people kidnapped to New Rio and New Cairo, they had rations that were tampered with that caused a version of the rage sickness. It's safe to say that this isn't a coincidence.
Finally, the gates monsters are naturally occurring.
Antarctica: There was a rejected research paper out of Antarctica that, combined with the laboratory findings in New Magellan, propelled Daenerys' eventual expedition to Antarctica. William did some hacking and eventual whistleblowing and released the information he found from those labs (link). While William's gone, the information is still out there. The DNA samples here were naturally occurring.
Monster attacks: Obviously, you were here, but this is the next part of this! So, linking for posterity. That said, these are naturally occurring.
Where to go from here?
Right now, we don't think Dean's monster-killing fame will serve him much yet, but we can definitely see it coming up as he begins to pick a direction to investigate. It's ultimately up to you which angle he takes. These monsters are intrinsically linked to Meadowlark's mythology and supernatural lore, so there is a lot of digging left to do. We also have enough wiggle room for monsters to be found hidden in places, and for some new monsters to be developed for playing purposes. Just let us know! And feel free to ask us any questions. We're very familiar with the metaplot of the monsters, but if you need any help with getting Dean to the right conclusions but aren't sure what you're missing, we're happy to help you along.
A network post with him asking the rest of the Displaced about the history of the monsters and the monster attacks might be a good idea, as the Displaced themselves carry a lot of this information!
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aha
get it
And anyway if he fails he'll be hitting up Lance to hopefully more eloquently and politely take a turn at it, since they're yin and yanging the word making spectrum. See where to go from there, if that sounds good !
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Here you go!