CONCORDIA, DAY :025 - :032

[onemind]

CURRENT EVENTS

     CONCORDIA, DAY :025 - :032

The media monster is in full swing in the days following the bombing at the Royal Gaming Parlor. If the bombing at the Ven Diagrams warehouse was enough to kick off a bunch of public furor, this has been that times five. All the usual suspects are on parade: REPRESENTATIVE GORAM SAFFIT OF LARANN has addressed his constituents and the public at large with another message decrying violence and pushing for synthetic regulations; Mind Life has stubbornly published multiple statements similarly discouraging violent protest with the insistence that the only way to head off these attacks is to recognize and understand that the synthetic experience as valuable; Public Security has been in force throughout all blocks of the city, though it again seems like they don’t have many leads to follow. In fact, a large percentage of both media coverage and extranet public opinion has started to take not so subtle stabs at the Public Security Commissioner, Seong-Hye Ngozi. Is she dealing with this threat as effectively as she could be? Is there perhaps a better way to track down the people perpetuating these attacks?

Public Security raids in Subspace has gotten more aggressive and many low-level clubs popular among the young technophile crowds have been all but gutted by security sweeps; there’s a sweeping sense of paranoia among many of the denizens of the underground - no, most of them probably have nothing to do with H+H1 or EXTRAAA, but a lot of them have less than clean records and that’s apparently the only excuse Security needs right now to take people in.

If there’s one good (??) thing to say about all this, it’s that the anti-synthetic sentiment in Concordia has slaked slightly in the days following the attack; most people don’t really mind if androids or chips get blown up, but if these rumored biochauvanist are targeting androids in public venues then that means putting actual lives in danger. Everyone - Goram Saffit, Mind Life, and Public Security - seems united in the sentiment that attacks like this are simply unacceptable; no matter what ideology is being fought for, ending (organic) lives is the wrong way to go about it.

In the meantime, there’s plenty to dig into and the Hosts won’t have to do it alone - one DAY 25, a new batch of hosts wake up back on the Station… including one old friend (welcome back to the land of the living, Jessica Jones). They’ll be arriving on Concordia just after dark on day 26.


     IN OTHER NEWS...

Angel will fall into a coma on day 25. Keep your fingers crossed that she wakes back up!

Private security employment and integration has risen by 7%; it turns out that tragedy is great for select wedges of the Concordian economy.

Many companies looking to protect their androids have increased security protocols on their units. Casual interaction with corporate androids has gotten more difficult to obtain; most service droids (cab drivers, garbage units, etc) won’t engage in conversation with a stranger unless it’s required to complete their assigned tasks.

With the increased security sweeps along Subspace, any host with a flag on their security profile will want to be very, very vigilant and extra careful not to get stopped by Public Security. It’s incredibly possible that they might get taken in for questioning if they get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A candelight vigil is being planned outside the Royal Street Parlor (currently closed for renovations) on DAY 31; it’s very likely that a number of public figures will be in attendance.

In the wake of the Royal Street Parlor bombing, Kun-Kun’s public support has somewhat increased. He’s still getting called a ROBOT FKR in the comment section of videos, but there’s more of a ‘Can you not?’ sentiment in response.

Public Security will release Anakin Skywalker’s remains from the morgue on Day 29.

OOH-LA-LA! You thought some game parlor bombing was dramatic? You won't believe how much more compelling it can get! According to local tabloids, Saffron (a rising star of the stage; if you don't know her, then where have you been?) was spotted on the arm of one of the hunkier Bout It Out contenders at the parlor just before the explosion. Hopefully they're both okay! :''''(

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

DAY :025 (August 14-15) - Angel slips into a coma. The new Hosts wake up on the station to a brave new world.

DAY :026 (August 16-17) - All of the Hosts make it down to Concordia to meet up with their new forced-family.

DAY :027 (August 18-19) - The Host’s combined snooping around has lead to something, as a representative (or multiple representatives?) from EXTRAAA connects to everyone. This log will go up on the 14th, but in-character this contact will only last for approximately one hour on Day 27. Get your tagging in early, because all mod-responses to this post will stop end of day 8/19.

DAY ??? - Kun-Kun’s reps will contact the hosts to organize a meeting with Mind Life’s Sheena Frey; the in-character date on this will depend on host response.

There WILL be a log posted for the events of Day :025-026, as well as a log for EXTRAAA’s contact on Day :027. All other IC logs (including any IC plotting and planning) may be player organized/initiated.

OOC UPDATES

Hi again guys! We want to take a second to thank you guys again for being so great, and for really taking this explosion plot and running with it. There have been a lot of great ideas and IC action happening in the aftermath, including some exciting player-plotesque initiatives; we’ve purposefully kept this calendar light to give space for you guys to slot in your plots and plans accordingly. If you have something that you feel have a larger scope - big open logs, mini-player plots, etc - that you’d like to put on the timeline, go ahead and comment in the appropriate subthread below and we’ll edit it in.

Further, this is a casual reminder for new and old players that if your character is using a fake ID on Concordia, we have a place for you to dump info about them (complete with an excellently ridiculous randomizer - thanks Avali!) over HERE.

As a small side note, we wanted to mention that we’ve made a policy adjustment when it comes to re-apping a dropped character back into a capped cast. We’ll be accepting re-apps into capped casts as long as the character has been dropped from the game for at least two months. This policy may change in the future if we feel the game is becoming unbalanced, but for now this seems like it should work. Be aware that other than re-apps, the MCU and Star Wars casts are currently capped and accepting no new applicants. Additionally, we’re getting close to the game cap?! COOL.

Last but not least, during the application period we made reference to characters feeling incomplete if they belonged to incomplete broods. Just kidding! Due to recent apps trends, all broods are full (or as full as they're gonna get anyway; some of you have some dead weight. GET IT).

As always, feel free to use this space to plot and plan; if you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to ask them below if they’re related to current events and plots, or on the FAQ or the MOD CONTACT posts if they’re more general!

-Abby and Donna

CONCORDIA MISSION: OVERVIEW • DAY :008 - :013 • DAY :018 - :022
NAVIGATION • PREMISE • FAQ • RULES • GLOSSARY • SYMBIOTIC SKILLS • ABILITY POINTS

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[batmotif]

thank you modly ones! I plan on putting up an ooc post today to reach out to everyone for plotting purposes, so things should hopefully be falling into place relatively soon.

[onemind]

THUMBS UP!

[batmotif]

SO information gathered from the OOC post, running this past you guys to either get a thumbs up or down, coupled with a few questions. There are several hosts that would want to lend their aid to this endeavor, which I suppose has upped this to a kind of mini-event? Idek. Anyway, teams are as follows:

Team Sneaky Bastards (Infiltration): Bruce Wayne, Mara Jade, Rey*, Clint Barton
Team Make Alotta Noise (Distraction/Coordination): Kylo Ren*, Lexa, Bellamy Blake, Nathaniel Horn, Sam Alexander
Team Tech Support (Hackers): Pidge Gunderson, Sam Anders
Team Okay Bye Now (Extraction): Shiro, Sam Wilson

(*dependent upon how nicely these two play together. One may be subbed for the other, or one might go nope.jpg if things get too uncomfortable)

The plan so far is to have the Infiltration team enter from the rooftop above (earpieceless), with Clint potentially using his shadow powers to sneak in normally and let them in via rooftop access. Meanwhile, the Distraction team causes a big hullaballoo outside, potentially drawing out security/guards in their direction, or at the very least keeping the attention away from what's going on inside the building. Infiltration team will have acquired disguises (1) and with the help of their subterfuge experience and Rey's mental manipulation powers, will attempt to locate Ngozi's office and find evidence of her lies. They will also shuffle around/steal things in other office spaces, to make it look like they weren't specifically targeting her.

Meanwhile, they are supported by the Hacking team, located wherever they do their hacking thing. They provide extra support to the hosts inside the building, disabling any electronic security, etc. that might be giving them a difficult time. (2)

All the while, Distraction team is coordinating with everyone via mental link since they have a better grasp of just how much time they have before people become too suspicious, or if an unexpected development takes place that Infiltration team needs to be aware of. Ren could potentially manipulate security from the outside, or at least be able to sense their locations(?).

When everything is said and done, Extraction team will help all the hosts make a quick exit. Most especially if there's a pressing need to get out of there quickly.

Is this good? Bad? Possessing a gigantic critical flaw that I'm not seeing?

QUESTIONS:

(1) kind of a goofy question, but would they be able to get their hands on like... run-of-the-mill maintenance or cleaning uniforms beforehand, that would help them pass as people that are supposed to be there? I figure that's more realistic than finding a closet with uniforms that just happen to be in their sizes.

(2) Hacking in general -- previously, it was mentioned that Bruce would be able to utilize hackers to temporarily tricking the system into allowing them access into places they normally wouldn't be allowed, but they would need "extremely talented" hackers. Does this extend to someone who is a very talented hacker within the Nest, or was that only implying natives would be familiar enough with the systems to achieve this? Also, this was brought up, asking whether or not the security systems had a rudimentary (or not so rudimentary!) AI that Sam Anders might be able to interface with, and convince to not report them?

(3) Timeline! ICly what day would this best take place on? I don't want to conflict with any other player plots that may be happening. And finally, will there be some modly NPCing happening in any of this, or are all of the security and guards patrols up for the players to decide?


Thank you again for indulging me in all of this!

[onemind]

First: sorry for not getting back to you more quickly. It's been a wild week and there's a lot for us to organize, but we're still sorry about the delay! We appreciate you putting so much effort and legwork into this and are SUPER EXCITED about it.

(1) This is goofy and hilarious and we encourage it wholeheartedly. That said, MOST maintenance/cleaning is performed by androids. While most organization outsource cleaning services to take care of their properties, Public Security definitely has an in-house janitorial android staff. They do wear uniforms and it would be possible to acquire them if a host made their way to the android storage facility in the base of the headquarters. If you don't want to go the 'a closet with uniforms conveniently in our size' route, it'd also be completely possible to observe what they look like during preliminary preparations, get some made, and wear them during your adventure - you just might want to make sure any bared skin looks sufficiently android-esque.

(2) A talented local would be best for hacking the Public Security systems. That said, we could see the argument for Pidge (who is canonically good at figuring out alien computer systems) to be able to break into the system. She would want Sam Anders's assistance once they access the network though because Public Security's network is controlled by a highly sophisticated AI who would otherwise immediately log the unauthorized access and put out an (extremely) high priority report about the intrusion. The combination of the two of them MAY be able to distract the AI and fake out the system long enough to make sure the infiltration team succeeds, but it might put Pidge and Anders more directly into harm's way as extracting themselves from PS's systems and the AI's attention might be difficult. They'd also need to use their Concordian IDs and equipment to access the system, meaning they might potentially be on the hook for some serious repercussions if Anders can't convince the AI to play nice (but that's something that we could plot out with Stefan and Jen v1.0 as appropriate if y'all want to pursue this). Additionally, it might be a good idea for Pidge to talk to Angel (if she wakes up prior to this) for advice since at this point Angel (and Anders) are pretty intimately acquainted with Concordia's tech. Working with Angel's assistance would give Pidge additional bonuses to any metaphorical skill checks if we're talking tabletop terms (and, more importantly, might be a good CR opportunity if time allows for it).

(3) This is a REALLY good question. We suspect it might be helpful to you to pursue this after Ilde (et al)'s investigation into the hacker Y because it might [muffled coughing], but it might be best for us to all sit down and powow as a game to figure out what order of events is most appealing to everyone. If that sounds like a good plan to you, we'll put up an OOC post shortly to get some game-wide feedback!

Thank you again for putting so much thought and effort into this. In general nothing about this plan sticks out to us as being ABSOLUTELY DISASTROUS, though we want to make sure everyone is aware that this could result in some serious world-state altering repercussions and, depending on character actions, might make for some serious personal consequences. We'll do our best to communicate and give warning signs as those potentially arise to make sure no one writes themselves into a corner they don't like, but if that's something anyone's concerned about we definitely encourage them to talk to us about things they don't want happening to their character in advance so we can do our best to plot in a direction that avoids those things.

In general this seems like a fairly secure approach though, as far as 'doing things that are absolutely bonkers' is concerned. Thank you so much for all of this!

[batmotif]

No need to apologize, mods! I tossed a lot of stuff at you guys, and I really appreciate you taking the time to organize all this information for me.

Just responding to say all of this sounds great, and I'll be sure to let the players whom this information affects the most know by directing them to your reply.

RE: OOC timeline post -- yes, this sounds like a great plan! It'll help myself (and everyone else) find a good time to get the ball rolling ICly and OOCly, so everyone's input will be welcome! I'll keep an eye out for said OOC post in the comm.

Thanks again for all your help!

[onemind]

BOOP, here's that ooc post.

[headinjuries]

Okay, here's a question for distraction purposes:

Sam's distraction plan is to, uh. Go Nova and take out the top floor of a building, enough to make a big mess but he's aiming to keep anybody from getting hurt. (he will leave the emergency stairs alone...) He plans on doing this without his earpiece since without it, he figures his powers will be foreign enough that any scanners in the area would be like WOW UFO or something.

He also plans to start and end from a place not the Bearings so that nobody's like, hm, that glaring blue energy trail sure did go to where these people are staying.

Would it be difficult to get around the city (i.e. to start from somewhere else) if he left the earpiece at home, or are there checks/things he'd need to use it to get through? Would he need to have someone else come with him to the decoy point and hang onto it while he's in the air or would he be okay hiking there and back off the grid? :|a

[onemind]

SAM....................................

This is A) definitely possible to do B) sans earpiece. It would be difficult to get around sans earpiece - he needs it to board trains, to pay for things, to open most conventional doors etc, but he could hike somewhere without it without any difficulty. Basically once he's outdoors, he should be good to go. He can safely leave his ear piece at home as long as he has a friend to take him down the Bearings powerlift and out the front door.