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meadowlarkooc2021-03-21 04:28 pm
EVENT #012
At the end of September 2512, a number of Displaced will be renting a boat off the eastern-most coast of what was once considered to be Russia, all for the intention of sailing that boat to America. In time, they will take a river through the state formerly known as Colorado, and then have a choice of taking the Mississippi River north or south through North America. What awaits them is largely unknown. Upon arriving in North America proper, the seafaring characters will be setting up multiple gates, making it possible for the characters to easily travel inward, as well as return to New Amsterdam if they're needed. This is meant to set up the laidback nature of the event, as well as open up opportunities for characters to get messed up by their surroundings while ultimately being able to be (physically) okay at the end of it. After all, there are no medi-units in North America—as far as anyone knows, anyway.
For over five hundred years, news out of North America has been nonexistent, and it's been left as a completely unsettled land. Even attempts at terramapping with drones have failed. Given the disparity over space on Earth, as well as the colonies, one question remains: why hasn't the United Nations come up with a reason to resettle America, creating new megacities and shifting focus from the colonies to rehabilitating this part of their planet?
The answer to this question ties into the overall mythology of Meadowlark, much of which was uncovered during our last event. In addition, some of the surprises in North America tie into other pieces of lore, such as where and how El hid for so long, as well as where people are taken to after they're rescued from their lives in the many megacities around the world. How much of this is uncovered during the exploration of America is up to the playerbase as a whole.
The overall goal of our North America event is to make it smaller in scope than our previous events. While exploration of America will answer some remaining questions, it also grants us an opportunity to shape the event according to what our playerbase would most like to see. We have some very fun ideas for what players can find in North America, but we also want to make sure that we're curating this event according to what you'd like to play out.
◉ In terms of world impact, this event is unlikely to have the same ripple effects as our previous ones. This is in part because North America is a visit to the past, and also because our two previous events (like both the monsters and the Aerie) are still being very much felt throughout Meadowlark's world. Having something smaller in scale is definitely our focus.
◉ Since the scope is smaller, the mod team will be banding together to create fun environments for the characters to engage with together. We'll be creating flora and fauna for the characters to discover and engage with during their journey.
◉ A lot of our inspiration for this event will be based on post-apocalyptic settings like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Planet of the Apes, Horizon Zero Dawn, and more. We'll also be drawing heavy inspiration from the film Annhilation, as well as the books the movie was inspired by (The Southern Reach Trilogy).
The mechanics of this event are going to work a bit differently from previous ones, in part because of the exploration aspect. It will be writing-intensive on the part of the mod team, but we're going to try to keep everything flowing as smoothly as possible. Here's how we see it working:
◉ Before we get started, characters do not need to participate in the boating portion of the North America trip to explore the continent itself. If you would like your character to partake in the boating trip, reach out to either Tomato (with Cassian at evasives) or Emma (with Jyn at realists). Once they get to North America, they will be setting up multiple gates to help characters travel to each of the four regions.
◉ As we mentioned, to get to North America, there will be a group of characters (partially outlined here—but if you'd like your character to be on board, let Tomato know!) borrowing a boat somewhere in Russia, and then taking it across the Bering Trait and down into North America proper. This boat will be one part electronic (and thus recently charged) and one part sailing, allowing them to dodge surveillance with ease. There will be no surveillance on these boating characters until they begin to hit the continental part of North America, which is where a set of drones will begin to appear as if they're surveying the land. However, these drones will not attack the characters at this time.
◉ We're going to set up different groups that will head in four different directions into four different regions. Each group will find a different environment waiting for them to interact with and explore.
◉ Down below, we will be taking requests for what types of flora and fauna characters are likely to find, as well as anything else, like ruins and cities, that the players would like to see in North America. We're going to try to fit in everyone's biggest desires here!
◉ As character groups explore their chosen regions, questions will come up! Do they sleep outside at night? Do they take a brief trip home via gate and come back the next day? Do they eat that hairy berry that looks like it has legs coming out of it? As they make these choices, the moderators will be responding via questions threads to let you know what comes from that choice. For example: eating that berry could lead to a new parasitic lifeform taking up room in your character's intestines. As always, we will be working with our playerbase to make sure that they're comfortable with the outcome.
◉ To streamline this, there will be question threads for each group/region, making it so the mod managing that region can write more specifics according to player interest and questions. North America is an expansive space, and we've got some ideas in mind, but there are bound to be things that catch characters' interests. Characters can also leave one group for another—they would just need to direct any questions about what they're doing to their new environment thread for that mod to address it!
Region (1): Alaska through the islands that now make up the Pacific Northwest.
Region (2): The lower portion of where Canada meets states such as Montana and Nebraska, this includes Wyoming and the former Yellowstone State Park.
Region (3): The midwest down to Mexico. This includes everything between the expanding Great Lakes, west of the Mississippi river and to the gulf of water that is now part of Colorado.
Region (4): Everything east of the (now very large) Mississippi river. That includes the East Coast down to what's left of Florida.
Let us know if there are questions here! We kept it a little loose in terms of boundaries of where goes into what, but if there's a specific place you're curious about and wondering what region it falls in, feel free to ask! As for the mod assignments, this will depend upon character sign ups, so we'll be handling that a bit later!
◉ For sign ups, we're going to try to ask for OOC preferences for what you'd like to see, and try to match you up through there. However, dividing into groups will ultimately be an IC thing, so we're going to work with everyone to make sure their groups suit their purposes. We also have a section for characters your character wouldn't want to be without, as that may influence where people are placed! Finally, if there is a specific region of North America that you'd like to have your character explore, let us know via the sign up form.
◉ As for movement in North America, we're rigging up some ways to get characters traveling through the continent without having to do some handwavy gate magic. In order to move through North America, we're going to have them use solar-powered hover vehicles that are brought in via gates once they're ready to go. These vehicles can either be remnants of Meadowlark's past, or something that the characters have developed as a means of dealing with the unique environment in North America. Since there aren't any charging stations in North America, we thought that the solar vehicles would be a nice way to both get the characters through the country, as well as explain why they get out of the vehicles to explore (so that the vehicle can recharge in the meantime).
If you'd like to have your character be part of the project to get these together, let us know below!
While we do want to tailor this event to what our players would like to see, we'd like to give you a preview of what we have in mind. Consider this us asking for feedback on what prospect excites you the most, all so that we can end up making sure we're emphasizing what you'd most like to see. Nothing has to be fully thought out! If Dean Winchester wants to know what's going on in Florida, then we can make sure that we include something going on with Florida!
◉ Ruins of American civilization. We mean things like the iconic end of The Planet of the Apes. We're also keen to dig into some local environments like they do in The Last of Us to show how 500 years of neglect have altered various cities.
◉ Various dangerous and unique sets of flora/fauna. Toxic forests? Yes! Giant mushrooms that glow in the dark? Double yes! We also really want to dig into some of the unique animals that evolved or were reborn in the wake of the Aerie thanks to the Gold god's peace.
◉ A secret civilization. We alluded to this above, but there is a secret civilization in North America. If nothing else, these people will prove that North America is definitely habitable.
◉ Lost gates and ruins connected to the fast travel system. Reason states that there should be fast travel systems throughout North America. We can confirm that they exist, but are no longer working. Nuclear devastation is definitely to blame for this. Can they be started back up again? And if there are people who believe in this mythology, why would they abandon these cultural artifacts and locations?
Although this event is not intended to have the same ripple effects, we do want to cover some of the initial world response as we see it. How hard we lean into it depends upon you all: it's possible that for this event, you can completely leave behind all of the dystopian surveillance for a while and have your character have fun in the woods. On the other hand, the characters coming and going from New Amsterdam may catch some attention. Do you want your character to be noticed, or do you want to set up a separate base for coming and going in the city so that everyone isn't entering and exiting the same gate all the time? We wanted to toss some ideas we have out there there and see what you'd like at this time.
◉ If the UN catches wind of where the characters are going, there is a great risk to what exists in North America (namely that secret civilization and the people inside of it).
◉ Ecological disturbances! If anything is brought back from North America, what will it mean for the environment of New Amsterdam?
◉ Do you want the Special Investigation Task Force set up by the UN to catch wind that the characters are going somewhere? There is no surveillance in North America by the UN, in part because of the difficulties they've faced in sending drones there. This would put a little more friction in New Amsterdam for those who've decided to stay behind!
◉ One thing we're considering while the Displaced are gone is having the Special Investigation Task Force invade their homes to see if they can find any evidence against them. This could lead to a New Amsterdam-side confrontation, though it wouldn't be an all-out war or battle. However, we're afraid this would make characters abandon North America altogether, so please give us your thoughts!
◉ Finally, and this is more for the group going into North America: the Johann P. Grey factor. He has some monsters that he can send in to cause a little chaos. Do you want some monster fights? These will be a brand new monster, never seen before, and it will be set up to throw the characters off from thinking North America is safe. If you're interested, let us know below!
◉ We're also considering having Johann find out where the characters are thanks to the Kestrels dream mechanic. Is this something you'd be interested in?
With all of that covered, what next? How do the characters engage with the event?
FIGHT: As per usual, there will be a fighting component to this event. Whether it's with one another or with the environment itself, characters will come up against some obstacles that can only be handled with aggression. Of course, if you're not interested in the more combative aspects of the event, we can make sure to steer your characters away from all of that.
STATUS EFFECTS: Given the unique environment and the introduction of uniquely evolved creatures, we're able to cook up a whole wealth of status effects for your characters. Are there any that you'd like to see? Let us know. We'll definitely be coming up with some of our own by time the log goes live.
INDIANA JONES AND THE LOST CONTINENT: Yep, as we mentioned before, there are going to be a lot of ruins throughout North America. Some will relate to the god mythos that's the background for the entire world of Meadowlark, and others will be lost cities waiting to be explored. North America was destroyed before humans had turned against the AIs, so there will be some remnants of them waiting.
SURVIVAL TROPES: Whether it's more about exploring horor because no one knows what to expect or simply a matter of starting a fire in a wet and wooded area, survival will be the name of the game. While we're exploring various vehicles for characters to take into North America, a large amount of exploration is planned to be on foot.
ALLIANCES?: With that secret civilization there, the Displaced might see an opportunity for themselves. But are these people friends or foes? We're happy to set up some mistaken first impressions if you'd like, or ensure that they're anti-Displaced. It all depends on what you'd like.
DRAW CONCLUSIONS: Why was North America destroyed? What was life like before World War III ended? Why have the United Nations decided to abandon North America altogether? And if the answer to that last question isn't in North America, does that mean that the characters need to piece it together on their own? We will say that all of these answers will be able to be found within the event itself.
ANYTHING ELSE: These are just the possibilities that we've come up with. Your character can decide to go climb a tree and never come down, claiming that that new tree is New Damianium. The sky's the limit, as always!
Compared to the giant scope of our last three events, we wanted to make this one more focused on character relationships and interactions while they explored a new setting. While there will be investigations and mysteries embedded in the event itself, we want the focus here to be on the characters and for everything to be character and player driven. And although North America is a very large continent, we really do want to emphasize how to make this a more intimate event on a whole.
With that, we also wanted to leave enough room for player input. If there is anything you'd like to see in this event, we'd like to make it happen. We have several threads below for this:
QUESTIONS: As per usual, this is where you ask us questions and we answer!
EVENT REQUESTS AND SUGGESTIONS: Under this heading, you can submit the form for a flora or fauna suggestion, or you can make requests for what you'd like to see in the event itself. We'll do a signal boost plurk midway between this planning post and the event going live so that we can make sure we get eyes on your requests. This does include status effects and anything else that comes to mind!
EVENT SIGN UPS: Under here, you let us know what you'd like to see, what you'd like to engage with in the event, any status effects you'd like or that you'd prefer to avoid, and any characters who should be glued to your character's side. This is so we can set up semi-randomized groups that suit each player's needs.
After the event, there will be a power-up available for using any of the Blue powers from our Powers Page for at least five comments. That means activating the empathy bond, dreaming, power sharing, or just using their standard power. We wanted to make it broad because we do want this event to be focused on character interaction as they explore this environment. Turn ins for this will be due on May 15, 2021. Submission will be handled in the wrap up post.
We're excited to make this the event you'd like it to be, and we're super excited to write a bunch of creepy environmental things for you in the near future. The projected date for the Event Log will be APRIL 10, 2021, though we may make adjustments to account for new arrivals.
no subject
CHARACTER NAME: John Murphy
STAYING OR GOING: Going
CR THEY'D STICK BY: Doing whatever Clarke tells him to do, which means Lexa and Bellamy are probably nearby, too.
REGION YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: Following the leader~
ASPECTS OF THE EVENT YOU'D LIKE TO PLAY WITH: Honestly I've still got limited opportunity for RP, so taking Murphy out with a kidnapping or some other damsel-type motivation if his team needs one, just to excuse my absence for a bit. Not that I want to be disruptive or divert focus, but if there's a way to use him that's helpful, I'm all for disappearing ICly.
TASK FORCE CONFRONTATION: Murphy has been working quite hard to keep his kru out of situations just like this one, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's successful, so... whatever's more fun? It could be interesting/suspicious if they were mysteriously unaffected while the other Displaced were targeted, but if a bunch of people are opting out anyway, that's probably not going to be much of a plot point.
ANY OTHER REQUESTS: None at this time!