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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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Cassian would soon learn that Giles Bell has been leading the industry in cybernetics for the past 200 years, having come up with the premiere way of ensuring that these cybernetics perfectly sync with the neural implant, while always being accepted by someone's biology. They worked with companies like Vyonation and Riverstone (which is based out of New Beijing). Once the medical procedure is done, medical professionals are able to utilize technology like the medi-units to finish the healing process, ensuring that someone returns to the streets rather quickly (as the healing would otherwise take a long time).
There are several surgeons in New Amsterdam who specialize in this work! They're typically aligned with the major hospitals in the city. If you want him to speak to a specialist, feel free to make up a NPC for this purpose (and add them to Cassian's network).
And yes, he would learn rather quickly that this kind of treatment is typically done in a medi-unit given the highly invasive nature of it. The assumption by most medical professionals would be that Cassian was unable to reach a medi-unit before the healing began, as someone does need to enter it within 24 hours. There is no reason for Cassian to believe that he would have been kept out of a medi-unit for that long (given the healing status of many of his Displaced comrades), so there is still a mystery to be solved!
Many of the public views with regards to cybernetics revolve around wanting to ensure that no one looks inhuman, so Cassian would find a lot of evidence of the cybernetics industry working closely with cosmetics companies to ensure that they look human.
Finally, we'll add that there was a small, small hint for your plot in the most recent event log! It ties in to the power loss and the medi-units! We think this will help shed some light on things.
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once cassian discovers how deeply intertwined the neural implants and the cyberkinetics are, he would think reach out to el, so i would like to throw him at el's inbox to chat about the implants sometime soon if that might lead to any kind of interesting conversations? since he knows el does a lot with the implants.
what kind of company is riverstone? cassian would also look into the basics of what they do and what other companies they might be connected with, if that information is on the neural network or through any of his contacts, even if it's just rumors to begin with.
can i ask if this was the hint?
Anyone in a hospital receiving care from a doctor or a medi-unit may find their life slipping away from them – and if someone's in a medi-unit when the EMP hits, they're almost sure to be dead or permanently injured, requiring different medical intervention.
if so i'd like him to make the connection there! or at least run with that as a theory. he would begin to look into some of the more recent history of new amsterdam, to see if there have been any significant power outages, even if it was for certain grids or areas of the city. he'd ask some of the people he knows if there had been any similar events as well as doing the new amsterdam google equivalent.
if not i will look over it again for more hints haha.
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Feel free to reach out to El's inbox whenever you'd like! Much of the connection is based around the idea that a cybernetic should work seamlessly with someone's body. That Cassian's does despite his otherwise blank neural implant would stand out! After all, his spine is now fairly incredible. (Insert spine of steel jokes right here.)
As for Riverstone: Riverstone started out as an entertainment company that eventually bankrolled a lot of early experiments with robotics and artificial intelligence. Rather than having a goal in AIs, they merely wanted to find a way to counteract them. They saw robotics - as well as technology around droids and drones - as a means of furthering humanity, instead of something that would live alongside it. This mission statement remains a part of their core belief system, especially in a world that widely denigrates AI.
Early on, Riverstone was behind some of the world's most beloved movies. These movies were family affairs, but they eventually started picking up steam, coming to own a lot of other entertainment companies. While they don't have a monopoly on the world's entertainment, they have a lot of control behind it. As they did, they started investing in a lot of various sciences - both environmental and biological - so that they could help improve the quality of life for the people of the world. Despite all their money, they were willing to do philanthropic work.
These days, Riverstone dabbles in a lot of things: they act as a rival car company for Pulsar, they develop applications for the neural implant and even ensured that the implants could handle any and all media sharing, and they're closely linked with the United Nations in New Beijing. As for what they did with cybernetics, they helped with the processing with the neural implants, as well as helped provide their cosmetic technology that they patented throughout the years of working in the entertainment industry to ensure that they looked real.
Most of the chatter online is about what their next blockbuster is going to be, as well as how they manage to remain environmentally sound while producing these otherwise bombastic films. Some people like to hate them for how many credits they can roll in, but they seem to be unstoppable. There are some minority groups that chatter about how they have a very sanitized message in all their movies, and they're unwilling to truly explore the uglier parts of humanity and the Earth's history (namely: despite bankrolling AI research, they don't touch any of the reasoning behind that in their films, and have notoriously turned down stories that breach that area).
The current CEO of Riverstone is Meredith Ling. The Ling family has been in charge of Riverstone for over half a millennia.
Finally, yes, that is the hint we mentioned! There was a significant power outage in September of 2510! An earthquake rocked the world at the same time. We covered a little bit about this here, so there will definitely be individuals who needed medical care from that time that he could possibly reach out to! Of course, HIPAA - or the 2511 equivalence of it - is in place, so he may have to do some digging to find someone who was in a medi-unit when this happened. We also have a plot in motion to send people to New Oslo, so he can jump on that if he'd like to widen his reach!
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the riverstone stuff is so interesting! does new amsterdam house any buildings connected or owned by riverstone? like, do they have any branches in the city?
thanks for the history info! i am definitely interested in having cassian make a visit to new oslo! should i be on the lookout for that, or do i need to talk to any pcs/npcs?
he would also definitely start digging more into the power outage in sept 2510 if more of that information is available, ie: what the public explanation is, versus how much damage it was against the latest EMP. how long were the power outages? what specific areas of the cities went without power? if only the new amsterdam info is accessible, he'd just focus on that.
the power outage stuff is especially interesting because cassian suspects it might give him a potential timeline for his surgery and recovery, running off the theory that he was in a medi unit during a power outage. even if it wasn't that september - just how long it could have feasibly taken for him to go through the whole process of medi-unit -> surgery -> medi unit again for it to be successful, that's his angle.
quick side note: how long would it usually take a medi unit to heal a broken back?
as for the patients, would it be possible to get into medical records at a hospital? he could get in the building through his maintenance job, and if necessary bring a hacker with him, unless it's more easily accessible as something he could do a search through on his own. he wouldn't immediately approach anyone he found, and if this method isn't possible, he would try something else! (which i will get back to you about lmao)
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In order!
1. Riverstone does have some limited production in New Amsterdam. They have subsidiaries dedicated to set production, special effects, and some cybernetic advancement (due to the local production and placement of Giles Bell). Rey will be taking a job with Riverstone's cybernetics group soon! Let us know if this doesn't work out as an in for you, and we'll see about giving you another way in.
2. We believe you've seen the New Oslo thing! This will be an open player plot for everyone to go, and from what we know, this will be the case for all of the four gate locations that were covered here. This will probably be handled in September when it's not an event month!
3. The worldwide explanation is there an earthquake along a fault line that had been inactive, but had been made active all at once on that date. The power outages lasted a few days, but it was definitely a direct result of the seismic activity. However, given the range of the cities, it may seem unlikely that a single fault line could be responsible for this massive disruption! Some conspiracy theory sites were quick to point this out, but they never got much traction with their theories.
4. It takes 24 hours to heal most injuries in a medi-unit, even something as life-changing as a spine injury!
5. In terms of getting medical records, he'll likely have more success in greasing the wheels with someone who works a desk at a hospital than hacking in himself. These workers would have permissions to access records both in New Amsterdam and in other cities, as records often need to be transferred between cities! Since all records are digital, this would prove easier in some ways - but a hacker could definitely get in! They would just need to identify where to hack and how to get onto those particular servers. Both of these would come with their own risks, so it's up to Cassian to decide which one works best for him.
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1. i would prefer a different way in! but he will be taking his time with riverstone and would investigate the company itself for a while before trying any kind of means to get inside. specifically, obviously, he is more interested in their cyberkinetics work and how closely they work with giles bell, and if there are any significant people/figures associated with riverstone cyberkinetics to start. also, do they have offices in any other significant cities? like, new oslo perhaps?
2. yes i have seen it! i'm excited to see where it all goes! :D
3. are there any more interesting wild conspiracy theories? even if it's not relevant, this is just me being curious, but also cassian would probably read them all haha.
3a. have the fault lines changed any from the current earth? if cassian looked into the actual scientific possibilities, would there be a pattern in the fault lines to back up the public explanation?
5. i think he would work on becoming friendly with some of the receptionists first, which is evidently turning into his MO in new amsterdam. i'd like to say this is what he was doing while i was on hiatus in august, starting pre the zerzura event!
6. new question! running off his conversation with el, cassian will be looking more closely into overlap between the big three corporations, such as significant business deals or public image of how they cooperate, and potential big blow ups/disagreements. this also ties into riverstone, he would look into what connections to any of the other big companies it has, or any joint projects.
6a. babies!! that is, el brought up cyberkinetics before implants in infants with birth defects, so cassian would look into how common this is, if there are public stats. but he is more interested in how much effort giles bell puts into it and if they work with any other companies and/or specific people who might be attached to this kind of technological development. what makes it different from regular cyberkinetics and who has their toes in that pool?
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1. Do you think Cassian is likely to head out to New Beijing during our upcoming plot? That is where Riverstone's headquarters is located. Heading out there doesn't mean that he'll be helping Cassius in any way - he may even be going to prevent his fellow Displaced from doing something monumentally stupid. He could also just be using the free trip to check out Riverstone while he's there.
By the way, Riverstone does have some work coming out of New Oslo, but it's definitely not anything significant in nature.
Imagine the number of times we need to backspace either Cassius or Cassian to put the correct dude's name in there. Just imagine that as you read on!
3. A recent theory is that the government is trying to stage the end of the world to cause an influx of able-bodied workers out on the colonies. This theory is supplemented by the recent attack on New Amsterdam, and they posit that DAWN is not … really an AI, but a government plant to hide their overall goals. With this, they've been purposely causing seismic activity all over the globe, but that this could potentially destroy the planet itself.
Another theory is that the AI really do live, and they've been stealing government secrets and letting them loose. That's where the seismic activity comes from: hacking and screwing with government powers. The AI have also been developing monster-like creatures to attack and destroy the planet bit by bit. The "golden eyes" on many of these monsters is - in a very complicated way - proven to be the work of a malicious set of elite AI that specialized in torturing and killing humans back during the Xelkoven War. Needless to say, this one is flimsy and involves many, many leaps of logic.
3b. Nope! While the fault lines have developed from our time to 500 years from now in our hypothetical future, none of them would support the public theory. However, it won't seem like a cover up. Many seismologists are still working to explain what the heck happened out there.
5. Yep, that's fine! Do you want him to be at the stage where he's getting records yet?
6. Once Cassian begins digging, he'll start realizing how utterly … well, incestuous these companies are (at least on a business level). Board members from companies tend to be married to one another. Some people are brought in from other cities to take a job on the board, even if they were brought up in a corporation elsewhere. The corporations of Meadowlark's world are hideously oligarchical in how they practice business.
Yes, there is some competition between them. For instance, Vyonation feels as if they lack power compared to Giles Bell and Pulsar in New Amsterdam and they're seeking to have a larger part of the pot, but most of this seems to be based in greed. Most of the conflicts themselves are based in greed. There are occasions where employees have been poached to help another company get out ahead, but the end result won't immediately be apparent. Typically, this means it got dead ended in the records because it resulted in a government contract or something similar. If Cassian keeps going, he'll find that some of these individuals eventually do become political figures.
Digging far enough back, Cassian will also be able to see how Xelkoven was once one of the world's biggest corporations. While they output a lot of AIs and robotics, they also specialized in a hundred other areas. And then, following the AI war, they were sent into obscurity and ended. It seems as if they weren't just bought out, but … deleted, not unlike the AI themselves. It's as if the wealth and technology they had was unnecessary. Or, perhaps, it was already in the hands of other companies? Yes, given the way these things work, that's likely the case.
Basically, it's a capitalistic nightmare, and there seems to be an undocumented shift of power that happens among the world's corporations. They do seem to respect the territory claimed by other corporations in other cities, with Riverstone allowed the most freedom in where they might be able to set up. There is very little oversight, and there are many surnames that appear on the boards for many generations.
The push and pull of power won't be entirely clear, though. What are they aiming for when they're given so little oversight? What's motivating them? Is it really just greed and making the world rely on them? Well, that's definitely possible. They do seem to have had a major influence in how this specific version of Earth came about, especially with the territorial claims and understanding of those specific boundaries.
6a. This is still under Giles Bell's purview, though it is an exceedingly rare circumstance. Much of that is because most genetic modification happens upon conception, as the people of Meadowlark's world want to avoid potential birth defects. (If you've seen Gattaca, it's almost on that level.) The scientists of the world do a pretty decent job in avoiding them, but they aren't wizards. In addition, children conceived without the guidance of a doctor can still receive modification in the womb, but it may come with higher risks.
In some cases, these cybernetics are temporary. They can act as an organ while one is grown, giving a child a chance at life before they're ready for the transplant. Other times, they're with the child throughout their life, with very little stigma involved.
Finally, these numbers are public! Cassian would find them largely featured in articles and documents covering the risks of genetic modification, as well as what the scientists/doctors are seeking to avoid by helping the child pre-conception and eventually in the womb itself.
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i think yes, cassian would be very interested in getting to new beijing! even outside his curiosity over riverstone, he's very keen on seeing more of the world, but since he's already looking into riverstone he would use the free trip to check things out on their homefront. should i move this specifically to the event planning ooc post?
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Yes, please do!
As a head's up, we're wrapping up the bugs information on our end now that Veronica's off vacation. We'll be getting that to you once we have all the little bits of juicy details sorted out.
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a quick clarification about the 2510 earthquakes, since i've learned new beijing was prepared for them too. i know new amsterdam, new oslo, and new venice were hit, but was this a worldwide power outage? if not, what other cities were hit by it? it seems to be global but i can't seem to find anything in any of the threads about the exact scale of the earthquake/outages.
5. yes re: the records, i would like to say he's gained access a little bit pre new beijing but definitely post!
also as a side note, i am definitely trying to compile things cassian has learned into a network post! my goal is to get it up before christmas.
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The power outage wasn't worldwide or expected on most levels. New Oslo, New Amsterdam, and New Venice certainly didn't know that it was coming. Some cities are better prepared against power outages because of the trouble the city itself might face. For instance, New Tokyo is generally built up to be prepared for seismic activity that might cause problems - since it's a city literally built on the ocean - but wasn't prepared for the type of extreme cold and blizzard that happened once the Displaced came out of the dreams. New Beijing (and Riverstone's scientists, to be more precise) were aware for some reason of the incoming seismic activity on that particular day!
We'll say now that you've figured it out that naming exact cities was actually a red herring! A lot of cities got hit. Some cities didn't - though in some cases, it was based entirely on luck! What can further be concluded is that it's weird that an earthquake would be predicted to impact New Beijing and New Oslo, even in this globally relocated world. Heck, that's true for New Amsterdam as well - which Cassian will now be able to physically put together, having taken a train from one to the other. How could an earthquake have such a large effect on the world? Hint: the answers are out there.
re: the records, that's fine! Let us know if you need anymore information beyond what we've already provided.
We're looking forward to a post from Cassian on this! As we've said before, we've enjoyed working with you on this, even we've laid a few red herrings and false leads along the way. As we said before, there's still a much bigger picture to solve, but it's been fun writing the puzzle pieces and detours for you along the way.
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is it possible for cassian to find the actual earthquake epicenter? like is there a map out on the big old internet? the outage wasn't global, but did the earthquake itself have ripple effects? or was it more several earthquakes at once?
re: new oslo, this is the first mention i've seen of them being prepared too! is that something he'd be able to find out more about once they make that trip to new oslo, or would he pick up hints on it through digging in the medical records?
i have been enjoying this a lot, mods! i'm excited to see where it goes and to take this angle a little more publicly.
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We'll hit you back with everything on our usual plot engagement day, we just wanted to clear this up since we know there are threads in progress!
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The reported epicenter is just off the coast of what was once the state of Washington. The details surrounding this earthquake are surprisingly vague, and the facility that reported the seismic activity at the time – based 100 miles east of New Omsk – closed down the month after the report was released due to retracted funding. If Cassian compares this report to other reports of seismic activity, he would find that the details are lacking. The report itself theorizes that the Juan de Fuca plate, located near what was once a populated part of the North American continent, collided with other tectonic plates surrounding it. However, there is little information confirming this, especially when seismologists are generally better at tracking these plates and helping with reports in advance. There were questions on this event that are left unanswered, though the report itself seems to go unquestioned.