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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're going to answer this more generally rather than in order!
In order to find this information, we would recommend that Daisy and Johnny start with one of the known Morningstar agents from our January event. By starting there, they'll be able to find additional information about how the UN would have confirmed the information they received about these individuals. Of course, it would be difficult to find anything. As we've told Jenna before, these people have been scrubbed. However, by working backwards, they can find existing flags that were set up to confirm connections - however tenuous - between agents. However, they will find a lot of evidence of false positives - as if these were created along the way, forced to put up flags. It's like someone was trying to prevent this information from getting out before it happened.
Since someone else is out there doing something similar, it's safe to assume they could do that themselves. Whoever else is out there doing this, they're doing it to try to hide various Morningstar agents. For instance, Nico - a rare Morningstar agent whose name is actually Nico and not an alias - wouldn't have any flags raised around her despite her association with things like PRESERVE (which houses several Morningstar members, and some of those were people marked in the January event). As a note, most of these algorithms focus on social media usage, community involvement, purchases, and similar behaviors - primarily to develop trends.
Now, if they look to the "Report a Morningstar agent" form itself, they can see that information from the form is being filtered and being fed elsewhere. The encryption around this transfer of information will be far and beyond anything they've ever seen before - even at Vyonation. Whoever set this encryption up is a genius - and has a fairly competent system to ensure that no actual Morningstar agents are reported, or at least ones who may be able to be reported according to the other algorithms and flags in place. The coding behind this will be complicated to the degree that Johnny and Daisy will have to spend a good amount of time cracking it - and they may not succeed!
All that said, they won't be able to get into any UN records themselves, especially not anything with the UNA. In that way, they'll be able to see places where there are flags set up to direct information to an undisclosed server - but they won't be able to see the end results. As for the UNA, that information may not even be readily available online. The UN treats its soldiers like they're proprietary secrets.
They can piggyback on the work of the other hacker, or even try to figure out who they are.
Please let us know if you have any follow up questions - and we admit we're winging some of the technical know-how here!
no subject
We'll assume it takes some time to figure this stuff out (re: the flags and the fact that someone has already been trying to cover for agents) and run with it for an IC week or two, probably!
Going forward, they'll invest some time into trying to crack the encryption. They'll be doing it more to figure out who wrote it than anything - it's helping MS agents so they won't want to mess it up/draw attention to it. Is it possible for them to crack one layer of the encryption, then hit some kind of alarm that kicks them out? Would that impact their chances of identifying the hacker?
And re: identifying the hacker, I'm assuming their two main approaches would be: straightforward hacker stuff, trying to find real info/trace it back somewhere and/or they could focus on stuff like: identifying flavor/signature things in the code, and pursuing social connections w/hacker circles to dig up info that way.
ALSO related to some other plot stuff! Just to be clear, since Peggy and Fitz are teaming up with Morningstar - would there be any info about a hacker officially working with MS that lines up with what Johnny and Daisy find, or is it a Mystery TM?
Thanks again!
no subject
They can definitely clear the first level of encryption before they have to go out and try to show off this style to anyone in the real world. We figure this would take a bit of time, but they would learn that the digital signature is completely unique, as if the person is a bit of a maestro at this. If you've ever seen Mr. Robot, it's kind of like seeing that level of encryption done, only the individual behind it is even better. Let us know once they look to hacking circles or even fellow coworkers at Vyonation and we'll give you some information about what these NPCs say. We figure that clearing the first level of encryption will take a bit of time!
Peggy and Fitz wouldn't know about this hacker, but they might - at first - assume that this individual is just one of the many high-skilled hackers on the IT team at Morningstar. That's what Gaby thinks, anyway. But - as you might expect - the mystery runs a bit deeper than that!
no subject
Have a good weekend!
no subject