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meadowlarkooc2020-06-06 01:55 pm
EVENT #009 WRAP UP
On May 3, 2512 around 4:55 PM, the black cloud hanging over New Amsterdam will peel away, having been a holographic illusion the entire time that was meant to cloud and disrupt surveillance around the world. All of the people in New Amsterdam "wake up"—regardless of whether or not they're Displaced. Behind the scenes, El works fast to wipe out Cassius' virus that he left in the system months ago. If Judas tries to step back in, the systems won't be there to welcome him.
Thanks to the Suspended Animation emulating hypothermic conditions, those coming out of the simulation will be mildly malnourished, but won't be in as bad of shape as they could have been. There are some exceptions to this, however: around 200 people around New Amsterdam will suffer from severe cardiac arrest upon waking up. Among these people will be Matek Kattan (also known to many as "Ball") and Katelin Jovavich. All of these people will be permanently dead.
Life in New Amsterdam will not be returning to normal. After a year's worth of tragedies, the world is tired. While many were caught inside of the simulation, people outside acted and used this circumstance to prove that the United Nations' long-promised stability has fallen by the wayside. Things are changing—for better or worse. Right now, it looks like it's been a long-needed change, but these things have a habit of not working out as planned.
As for the simulation? Well, it comes to a close because of Ian's technological know-how. While the others in the laboratory (presumably) watch his back, he finds a way to cut the power to the simulation itself. This is probably helped along by Tommy unplugging some things, too. Or getting in Ian's way while he handles things seriously. It's probably up for interpretation.
> POLITICS (UNITED NATIONS AND THE UNA)
◉ The United Nations will issue a world-wide ban on using the Morningstar insignia, putting out pro-Morningstar notices, and speaking out against the government. However, many police departments are understaffed and ill-prepared to carry out the United Nations' agenda. Numerous police precincts around the world go on strike following the end of the simulation and these heightened censorship rules.
◉ All of the United Nations colonies threaten to declare their independence from the United Nations, with the sole exception of Pluto. While these colonies know that they'll lose resources, they want to stand up in the wake of the United Nations' long-standing negligence and neglect of their people.
◉ All UNA soldiers are officially decommissioned and given honorable discharges. These people are left without jobs or a promise of a future. Many of them begin to return home, psychologically changed and forced to contend with life without that purpose. Most UNA weapons rely on tech made in tandem with Judas. While the government does not publicly declare that this is the reason behind the decommissioning, it's publicly assumed.
◉ This means that multiple corporations around the world with weapons contracts to the UNA are now signed up to provide weapons to forces that don't exist. Pulsar is one of these corporations, especially at their subsidiary Tempo.
◉ Where will these weapons go now? Well, there are some mercenaries out there ...
◉ World-wide approval ratings of the United Nations are at an all-time low. Only around 15% of all of the United Nations citizens approve of how the United Nations has handled the crisis, as well as helped the world maintain stability. Of those 15%, the vast majority are wealthy and make up the upper echelons of society.
◉ Worldwide censorship crackdowns will go into effect on May 16, 2512 (July 1, 2020 OOC). These crackdowns will target mentions of the UN or UNA on social media. That means that any positive mentions will also be removed as a side effect.
◉ Worldwide, news outlets continue to attempt to report on the United Nations, as well as release information gathered during the simulation itself (and at times before that). The United Nations threatens to shut down these news outlets if they fail to discontinue these reports, and many journalists will find themselves without a job in the upcoming weeks. Having dealt with strict and quietly reinforced censorship for much of their careers, these journalists will happily take the risk of losing their jobs if they can release the truth.
◉ One thing that can be said is that the United Nations' long-standing strict control of information and politics means that there are no alternatives in place should the UN be overthrown. If the UN is shut down, there will need to be something to take up its place.
> MORNINGSTAR (AND OFFSHOOTS?)
◉ Many of these same journalists will be reaching out and joining up with Morningstar. Knowing the world itself as well as they do, along with having intimate knowledge of the government's censorship protocols, means they'll be a great boon to Morningstar moving forward.
◉ Morningstar is now known as an alternative political party after the United Nations controlled the choices for candidates both in megacities and in the New Beijing capital for hundreds of years. While Morningstar members seem reluctant to agree with this characterization, the world does see it as a matter of Morningstar versus the United Nations.
◉ The world now knows that Kurt Fischer never died at the hands of suspected Morningstar agents during the November EMP that hit New Amsterdam. His confession has stirred up additional anti-UN and anti-UNA sentiments. These sentiments vary. Some believe that the people need to fight the UN now that they're weakened, while others are more pacifistic, pointing out that this world hasn't had a need for soldiers for centuries.
◉ Once a group only found on the margins of society, Morningstar's message has finally reached the ears of United Nations citizens thanks to the various propaganda efforts led by Cassian, Jyn, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, Loki, and Akechi. This will cause an influx of membership into Morningstar around the world.
◉ Cassian will be leading an active counter-propaganda movement against the United Nations and UNA following the event to ensure that they aren't able to frame any stories in a particular light. This will be an ongoing action for him to ensure that the fallout from this event doesn't fall by the wayside.
◉ However, there will also be a lot of room for alternative rebel organizations while the United Nations scrambles to recoup their image. Ever wanted to create your own anti-UN group? Now's your chance!
> NEW AMSTERDAM
◉ Governor Lydia Gill-Jade steps down as the governor of New Amsterdam five months ahead of the gubernatorial elections. Without much notice, her family leaves for New Honolulu as they had planned months before. Frankly, after all that Gill-Jade has been through, no one can blame her. While there were critics of her in the past, many New Amsterdam citizens are now far more understanding that she never asked for this level of tragedy left at her doorstep.
◉ There will not be anyone prepared to step into Gill-Jade's shoes to lead New Amsterdam following their most recent crisis. Gill-Jade did set up a foundation to help with crises like this one, but she never could have guessed that her city would be thrown into a simulation without very much property damage.
◉ Gubernatorial candidate Katelin Jovavich will be pronounced dead following her awakening from the simulation. There will be investigations into her death, including an autopsy, but most of the people who died leaving the simulation had health concerns. It seems fair to assume that Jovavich had the same underlying issues.
◉ It's finally happening: people who have the means to do so are getting the hell out of New Amsterdam. And who can blame them? Pulsar, Vyonation, and Giles Bell will happily help facilitate moves to other cities, and they will be looking for avenues to help set up new spaces (offices, warehouses, research laboratories) in other megacities that will have a large influx of new workers. By the end of the summer, over 10 million people will have moved from New Amsterdam. The good news is that rent prices will begin to plummet. The bad news is that New Amsterdam could be screwed over at any time because history has proven that it's likely to happen.
◉ The New Amsterdam gate is still out of order. For anyone looking to fast travel around the world, they will need to take a two hour train to New Prague and then fast travel from there. Alternatively, they can find four relics that have done the glowy thing and stick them into the four slots in New Amsterdam's gate.
◈ As a note, we meant for this to be an IC "how to" guide to use the relics to expand fast travel. We hope this helps!
◈ For newbies who are in need of relics, it's time to hook them up. Grab a buddy and get one for yourself!
◈ We've included a section for fixing up the gate in our aftermath log! You can feel free to assume that this has been fixed up by time our next arrival log goes live (June 13th).
◉ After finding out that their surveillance was on a loop for a long period of time, Pulsar will be seeking out information for who broke into their laboratories. They'll know that someone took the parts for an Iron Man suit, though they won't know that they went toward an Iron Man suit. They'll be starting their investigation internally during the month of May. This will begin on May 8th.
◉ Aoi Maeda wakes up in a locked up chamber without any way of getting out. It's likely up to El and Morningstar to figure out what to do here.
> THE DISPLACED
◉ Thanks to efforts on multiple fronts, along with the pattern of strange occurrences all around New Amsterdam, the Displaced are now publicly known to the world as a unique and separate group from Morningstar. This knowledge will naturally begin in New Amsterdam, but will spread throughout the world following the end of the simulation. Some people will know that the Displaced are affiliated with Morningstar, but won't see them as a part of their membership ranks. They won't be known as "the Displaced." They don't have a name for our band of relocated heroes yet, and that will be determined over the next few months in game.
◉ The things they know about the Displaced: their chests glow and they have unique powers, and they also have a lot of experience with both artificial intelligence and war. The things they aren't certain about are that they suspect that the Displaced are time travelers, that they can walk between dimensions, or that they're versions of god come back to help the people (anyone can guess where that one came from).
◉ There will be lots of conspiracy theories for who the Displaced are beyond this: Are they experimental soldiers who escaped the grasp of the UN to help the world? Are they mutants of some kind, given powers? Aliens? Is it possible that they're immortal heroes tired by the way the world has gone on unchanged? All of these theories—and more, feel free to think up anything hilarious!—will be floating around on conspiracy boards and social media.
◉ The people of New Amsterdam will know that the simulation ended because of the efforts of the Displaced. They won't know why or how exactly, but they will be pinning any heroic deeds on them.
◉ Thanks to the many employees from Red Wings doing great things within the simulation, business is going to be booming around the clock. People of New Amsterdam will be thrilled, and they'll want to make sure that Red Wing's business continues to grow and do well.
◉ For the Displaced who helped out within the simulation, they'll have multiple job opportunities available to them once they get out. Ever wanted to skip the mandatory training period to join the police? Want to be known as a badass bodyguard and you showed your stuff in the simulation? This is the place to get hired. Anyone who already has a job will have an opportunity to get a promotion.
> THE SHRINE BUILDERS
◉ The de facto leader of the shrine-building band of worshippers is now dead. That's right: Matek Kattan, also known as "Ball" to many of the Displaced, died from a heart attack upon his return from the simulation.
◉ There will be a large mural in memorial erected in the alleyway of the building that Ball died in. It will receive a lot of support—flowers, candles, and mural additions will be made around it by people who've come to pay their respects. Each time someone visits it, the memorial just seems to get bigger. For the Displaced that knew him, it might be proper to add something of their own.
◉ Unhappily, this means the Displaced may be without an ally in the world.
◉ More unhappily, the Insomniac's Ball is probably not happening next August …
◉ But there is a mystery here. What did Ball do to get killed? That's assuming, of course, that he did something at all. Perhaps his health was to blame?
◉ Are these shrine builders left without a leader, or will someone else step up to take Ball's place? Stay tuned!
> ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
◉ Yes, Cassius lives! After being rescued from Johann's laboratory and being stuffed into an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner, he's now living his best life as the appliance that's rolling around the floors of Red Wings after hours. El does have a plan to get Cassius setup on a similar server as zem, but it may take some time, effort, and a bit of a sidequest from Displaced.
◉ Speaking of that, vacuum-Cassius doesn't exactly have the resources to be of any help right now, nor drop that intel he seems to have. He'll need to be put somewhere to be of any use to anyone (aside from Red Wings' floors).
◉ Judas … also lives! For better or worse, Judas hasn't died at the end of the event. His hold over New Amsterdam is permanently undone, and there's no risk of him trying that again. The bad news? He's still in the hands of the dastardly Johann Grey.
◉ El's doing just fine, thank you.
◉ Thanks to the propaganda movement, the world firmly believes that there is only one AI out in the wild, and that AI was held and used by the UNA for 400 years. Thanks to the memos released by Cassian, there will be a lot of doubts raised about the UNA. Since this will be ongoing, Judas will be mentioned a lot in the news going forward. There will be a lot of stories of "Judas sightings," so to speak, claiming to know where he is and where he's interacting with human society.
◉ Operation Hope did have an impact on views of artificial intelligence in New Amsterdam, but not enough of one to change overall viewpoints. For the most part, it's helped people feel less afraid of AI as a whole, but people won't be going out and trying to get AI reintroduced into society anytime soon. It just means that the people who were inspired will be less afraid of Judas moving forward.
◉ Actually, as a side note, what was that laboratory that they saved Cassius from doing so close to the port heading down to Antarctica? Weird.
As a result of the actions of the Displaced, Meadowlark's world has radically changed. The United Nations will be acting to try to restabilize it through any means necessary. The UN will do whatever they can to ensure that there won't be a vacuum of power where anyone can slip in and take control of the world as anyone knows it. They do have protocols in place, but the majority of these protocols have always depended upon an armed force. Right now, and perhaps for a while, they'll be without that armed force. The United Nations also has a long history of presenting themselves as the heroes of various stories in order to reinforce their control over the world. Now is the time to prevent that from happening.
◉ Looking ahead, the revolution will depend upon character action. If people aren't actively working to help along the revolution, the United Nations will manage to restabilize the world in their favor. In doing so, it may become more of a hellish dystopian landscape than ever before. Up to this point, the United Nations has kept up a facade of allowing people to live peacefully. That may change if they reclaim control.
◉ In our setting information, we refer to an apocalypse. All of these changes seem ripe for one, don't they? The world will be steadily heading in that direction, but that will depend upon a lot of factors (political, environmental, and supernatural ones).
◉ We want this setting shift to offer opportunities for our players to have their characters raise a bit of hell. There is also an opportunity for our players to have their characters usurp power while helping the UN destabilize. This can come from any angle, and we're down for all types of conflict!
We'll probably keep an eye on things for the next couple OOC months to see where the game is headed, and do another metaplot engagement post for our playerbase. We don't have any quantification or qualification toward "stopping or starting" restabilization and will be playing it all by ear!
All of those plots should, however, come to our plot engagement post. We'll do the work of making sure that people are in touch with one another if they're working on similar plots!
Whether someone has been here from the beginning or just arrived last month, they are eligible for a power level up here.
There are two options available for a power up:
◉ They're causing a glitch within the simulation via empathy bond or utilizing their power.
◉They're using their powers outside of the simulation during the event itself.
Since some characters left the simulation, they will be eligible for either version (but not both).
The thread doesn't need to be 5 comments of them performing these activities, but it should be present for at least some of the thread itself. Threads must reach the 5 comments and be submitted here by July 1st.
To put in for your power level up, please comment with the form below.
After we have approved your level up, you will be able to submit it on the powers page to level up your character's power at any time.
We never expected our fictional world to parallel our real one in such a noticeable way. As a result, we want to offer opt outs to anyone who'd like to have their character avoid the circumstances happening in-character, especially leading up to the end of the simulation. You can assume that your character was knocked out for that final week, and perhaps they disappeared upon waking up. Whatever the reason, we totally understand why you may need a work around. Please feel free to hit us up on the mod contact post if you need any additional help with this.
We already have the seeds for our next plot ready, and it won't involve many of these same themes. However, many of these themes were already in place from the start of Meadowlark, and their prominence is because of multiple characters working toward that revolution for the last two years. We're happy to work with anyone who needs a personal plot for their character to keep their minds off the worldwide upheaval in game because things just got too real.
Thank you for your enthusiasm throughout this event! As always, your excitement motivated us the entire time, and we're happy to hear that many of you enjoyed yourselves. Given the wide reach of this event, we're certain that we missed something in our aftermath notes. If there's anything that comes to mind, please feel free to hit us up in our questions section below.
Our calendar for June is here. We have some changes announced on this calendar regarding our AC moving forward, and we've also reiterated that we're extending the application round by a couple days to give new applicants time to get in applications after we process AC.
Our aftermath log is here.
Acceptances for new players will go out on June 10th.
The Activity Check is here. AC will close on June 7 at 23:59.
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