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MINI-EVENT #001
"I made a mistake." These words were the beginning of this mini-event, but Meadowlark has been driving toward a large-scale confrontation with one of the major in-world corporations for some time. Whether this ends up as a confrontation or an amicable arrangement is yet to be seen, but it's likely to have massive, long-lasting consequences moving forward.
So, how did this happen?
◉ Back in July 2019/November 2511, the UNA abducted Rey after she called them out for some shady things on social media. The UNA experimented on her at length before her fellow Displaced came to her rescue. For a short time afterward, Rey went into hiding and emerged as Kira Solo. Rey, having been known as Kira for some time on the network, decided to return to her previous first name (now going by @rey.solo).
◉ Rey's new/old name caught the attention of the United Nations, who have been looking for ammo against the Displaced. Why? They consider the Displaced a rising and dangerous power in New Amsterdam. It doesn't help that these very same Displaced have a lot of ammo against the UN and have proved themselves pretty savvy in causing trouble.
◉ Typically, Rey's slip up would lead to her arrest, but a mysterious someone intervened, and she was allowed to go free. This isn't the first time this has happened. Three previous Displaced on two separate occasions had been arrested and released after someone's interference.
◉ Alerted to the conditions of her freedom, Riverstone called Rey into their offices to offer her a deal. After some negotiations, here's the deal as it stands: the Displaced will voluntarily sign up to be poked and prodded at by Riverstone scientists. These experiments would provide answers to both parties, as well as help them find the person who helped Rey go free this time.
◉ Riverstone has framed this person as enemy number one. This person is not only responsible for whatever happened to the Displaced, but also responsible for a major accident that occurred in the Mariana Trench in September 2510. This accident involved everyone on site dying, and an earthquake hitting the world at large.
◉ To add some spice to the mix, PM referenced Rey's mistake in the most recent arrival log. The favors referred to here reference a few incidents in the past, namely where newly arrived Displaced got arrested by the NAPD for a variety of charges (murder being one of them).
So, what now?
With that rundown given: characters who decided to sign up for Riverstone's experimental shindig can begin traveling to New Beijing on July 10, 2512. Any newcomers are free to join the fray, even if it might seem a little bit like trying to touch a burning hot stove.
Since this mini-event is heavily reliant on gathering information from the participants, we will have a turn in section that will be due by October 31, 2020.
This mini-event was designed to give players something to do during the month of October while we planned our next event, as well as help shed some light on a variety of metaplot pieces that are starting to come together. At the same time, we wanted to give players and characters a means to further examine their characters scientifically, especially since heavy turnover often means that the characters in game can't hold on to resources to do tests.
As for those plot threads:
◉ RIVERSTONE: Designed as Meadowlark's Disney expy, Riverstone is one of the most powerful corporations in the world. They also have a theme park with a cute otter mascot (Dream River) that's based out of the government's capital in New Beijing. In this very same capital, it's obvious that Riverstone controls basically everything: transportation, most of the hotels, delivery of food and goods, and more. Prior to the human/AI war that occurred at the end of the 21st century, Riverstone was adamantly against the production of AIs, and they led the assault on AIs to ensure that they were decommissioned. This action led to the AIs declaring war on humanity, and it resulted in six years of warfare, one billion human deaths, and the near-complete eradication of AI kind. The hero of this war was Ricky Ling, the handsome CEO of Riverstone before and after the war ended. Now in 2512, Meredith Ling keeps up the family name and oligarchical control of the corporation.
◉ PM: Safely presumed to be "Project Meadowlark"—the source of the Displaced—someone has been signing messages under this identity for a while now, and most recently has set up consistent drop offs for the Displaced. In the past, PM helped two men out of prison after they killed two party goers soon after their arrival. Both men were without identification and were literal unknowns to the world. Months later, PM helped a more innocent man out of jail, alerting Gaby in the process that they helped keep her from being detected during a New Amsterdam-wide sting operation against Morningstar by the UNA. PM also gave the Displaced concert tickets that are very, very hard to come by. Now, PM seems to be responsible for Rey's freedom from UN attention and arrest. But why? And why does Riverstone want them so badly?
◉ WHO KNOWS ABOUT THE DISPLACED?: We're leaving this more as an open-ended question, but many of Riverstone's admissions do point toward them knowing more than they're letting on. But if that's the case, what are they going to tell the Displaced, and do the Displaced have any power in this arrangement?
Participants in the experiment are of two breeds: the Displaced and the scientists. Riverstone has also agreed to allow the Displaced to bring third parties along, but if they don't participate in the experiments, they don't get the free ride. Here are the conditions for each group:
◉ THE SCIENTISTS: The scientists chosen to take blood and set up experiments will know nothing about the answers that Riverstone has in their back pocket, and seem to be chosen because they know nothing. For the most part, they will know about the Displaced by reputation, and will be given the rundown on the glowing. Otherwise, don't expect to be able to pry answers out of them: these poor folks Know Nothing.
◉ THE SUBJECTS: The subjects of the experiments are the Displaced themselves. Before the experiments begin, they'll be asked about a variety of their powers, and the experiments that follow will be based upon these. All subjects will have a contract with Riverstone that promises them the moon and more, and these contracts will seem to be fairly legitimate. The big catch? There is a very strict NDA involved, and violation of that will be considered a violation of the contract. But this goes both ways. Riverstone has to hold up their end of the agreement, too. All subjects will have free trips in New Beijing. All expenses will be paid, and they can consider it a nice vacation. You know, aside from the needles and fear that you'll never be allowed out of Riverstone's laboratories.
"Subjects" will also include people who claim to sign up for the experiments, but mostly do it just to get the free trip and get inside. Take that free trip from the corporation, Displaced!
◉ THE BODYGUARDS: So to speak, anyway! As a part of the agreement renegotiated with (comics) Tony Stark and Rey, there will be bodyguards present to make sure that Riverstone's scientists don't take advantage of the Displaced in any way. They will also need to sign the same NDA. The scientists will never ask the bodyguards to participate in an experiment, but if the bodyguards decide they would like to participate, they will be allowed to do so (and will need to authorize an addendum to their contract). All bodyguards will need to pay for their trips to New Beijing, as well as room and board.
At the beginning, Riverstone will only have a narrow set of experiments that they intend to do. These experiments are as follows:
◉ Taking blood while resting.
◉ Taking blood while their power is activated.
◉ Taking blood while the empathy bond is occurring. As a note, Riverstone does not know this is an empathy bond. They just know that the blue erupts when the Displaced touch one another, which many people saw in the simulation.
◉ Checking heart rate and neural activity while the above three are occurring, as well.
However, Riverstone doesn't know everything! If the Displaced share more about their abilities, they can also offer the following tests:
◉ Sleep studies
◉ Dream studies
◉ Taking blood while a power is shared/while holding someone else's chest object.
We won't be assuming these latter examinations will be taking place unless that information is provided on the turn in for this event.
In addition to giving blood samples, the Displaced will also be questioned by Riverstone personnel. Since we feel it's the easiest way to gather information for future purposes, since this event will have lasting effects in the setting, we've decided to have a turn-in section for the plot.
CHARACTER NAME:
CHARACTER JOURNAL: @
WHAT DISPLACED POWERS WILL THEY SHARE WITH THE SCIENTISTS: Either their unique Displaced power, or any of the powers listed here for reference.
ANY ADDITIONAL EXAMS: Sleep studies? Chest object junk?
QUESTIONS
WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT THEMSELVES?
HOW DO THEY MOVE AROUND THE WORLD SO QUICKLY?
WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT THE MAN JOHANN P. GREY?
WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT THE MAN INTERFERING WITH THE ARRESTS OF THEIR GROUP?
WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT THESE OCCASIONS?
WHY DO THEY THINK HAPPENED TO KATELIN JOVAVICH AND MATEK KATTAN'S FOLLOWING THE SIMULATION? For reference's sake, they'd say that Kattan is best known for putting on the Insomniac Ball.
WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MARIANA TRENCH IN SEPTEMBER 2510?
WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN ANTARCTICA?
WHY DO THEY THINK THEY WERE ABLE TO AFFECT THE SIMULATION?
WHY OR HOW DID THE SIMULATION TAKE PLACE?
HOW DID THE SIMULATION ABRUPTLY END?
DO THEY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED WITH JUDAS? Several members of their group are suspected to be involved with his escape. Will they own up to it?
DO THEY KNOW THE WHEREABOUTS OF JUDAS AT THIS TIME?
Please turn in this survey at its turn-in header. We totally understand if your character is all shrug emoji at most of these questions! Survey submissions will close on OCTOBER 31.
With a smaller event, we hope to offer a lot more flexibility than usual for paths that players can take. Rather than telling you what you can do in this event, we'll be leaving it open-ended—after all, every single one of the Displaced can take the front door into Riverstone. Once they get in, it's up to them what they decide to do. Kill some scientists? Sure. Be a model specimen? Hey, why not? Broker a deal to screw over everyone else? Well … it turns out that's on the table, too. Want to plant bugs or steal something or try to drag information out of the scientists' heads? Feel free. It's not like Riverstone has any guarantee that the people who show up will participate in their experiment until they … don't.
Just hit us up under the QUESTIONS header so we can give you the rundown of how these things will go.
First off, the mini-event log will go live on OCTOBER 17. Since we will be mostly hands off after the outline here, it will primarily be setting up the layout for everyone, and potentially including any consequences from plots that may come up here over the next few days.
As we've mentioned above, this is an event that will have lasting consequences regardless of what happens. We look forward to seeing what everyone does now that the planning post is up, and we've enjoyed the many, many posts dealing with the moral quandary involved here.
For our purposes, we'll be including the aftermath for the event on the November calendar, with turn ins due on OCTOBER 31. This is because many of the survey questions and DNA answers won't have long-term repercussions right away, so we'll be able to cover the basics on the calendar itself. The answer about who PM is may or may not be answered depending on what other chaos goes on, so stay tuned!
We want to add that a lot of metaplot pieces are really starting to come together, especially thanks to you all kicking over numerous cans of worms along the way. Solid answers are within reach and we hope that everything will really begin to come into focus soon.
SIGN UPS
Sign up here!
no subject
Role: Subject
Any other notes?: Kylo has an active (pyrokinesis) and dormant (chlorokinesis) power, which may or may not have any bearing on stuff but I couldn't think of anything else to put here. 🤣🤣🤣
no subject
Role: bodyguard, since he never left after the meeting.
Any other notes?: points at eyes points at riverstone he's watchin u
he might get into some trouble WHO KNOWS it's tony
no subject
Role: Subject
Any other notes?: Rey has multiple powers, and she's interested in the sleep studies.
no subject
Role: Bodyguard?
Any other notes?: He's mostly going to be GLOWERING and BEING TALL AND HUGE at people, but he's actually really curious about what what tests will be done and what riverstone thinks they're going to find.
no subject
Role: Subject
Any other notes?: Hawke is going to be making awkward jokes the whole time because that's who she is as a person. Sorry everyone.
no subject
Role: Bodyguard
Any other notes?: also here to glower and pretend not to find Hawke's jokes remotely funny
no subject
Role: Bodyguard
Any other notes?: Diana doesn't trust ANY of this, but she isn't going to let anyone walk in there alone. She'll keep a close eye on all scientists and generally look calm but also mildly threatening the entire time she's there.
no subject
Role: Subject
Any other notes?: He most likely will be walking out before he answers questions/does experiments.
no subject
Role: Subject, in theory.
Any other notes?: He is a part of team heist, so no experimenting happening.
no subject
Role: Subject
Any other notes?: Working with Ren and Akechi, so she won't actually do any tests!
no subject
Role: subject
Any other notes?: he'll be asking a lot of questions about what's going on and what's going to happen.