∎ plotting ∎

[etrayamods]

⏵ PLOTTING ⏴ This post is for all plot-related questions! Things that don't have to be run by mods: A character wants to use an empty space to build something (though you may want to add it to locations!). A character starts a fight with another character. A character does something within the guidelines of a mission that would not affect the entire player base. Things that should be run by the mods: A character kills an important NPC during a mission. A character destroys a portion of the built city. A character wants to do something that will affect the entire player base. Please come to us with your ideas! Maybe your character wants to recruit a few other characters to try and escape the city, maybe they want to try and interact with Echo directly, or attempt to hack into the system at the hospital. We'll do our best to build plots around your ideas; if you dislike what we throw back at you, please let us know, and we'll offer alternatives when possible. Game plots are meant to be interesting for players and make playing in the game fun; to that extent, we'll do what we can to give you plot you can build off of.

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Comments

[neverleave]

Hi mods!

Natsuno would like to try to communicate with the new bubble city. Right now he's trying to find allies and figure out the best way to do it. The basic idea is to flash morse code in the hopes it will be visible from the other planet - by connecting/disconnecting a bunch of buildings, or maybe gather enough lights and plug them in a centralized location.

[etrayamods]

Hello!

Natsuno will be able to successfully communicate with the other bubble city! There is someone on there who does know morse code and will answer messages sent with a spotlight of their own.

What kind of message is he hoping to send?

FINALLY getting back to this after life kicked me in the face

[neverleave]

He would start by asking what purpose they were told they're here for and what kind of missions they're doing. He has more questions, but I figure that'd depend on the answers he gets.

Thank you for your patience!

[skaikru]

Hi mods!

Carrying over from my FAQ question about the basement computer, I am imagining that once Clarke got into the files, she would be very intent on reading through everything she could get hands on. I definitely don't need a page by page explanation of what she'd find, but the general gist of what's there and if anything in particular would jump out.

Now, Clarke is not her home team's hacker but she did grow up on the ancient vestige of what was once a great technological advancement/a spaceship, and also played a key role in shutting down the antagonistic A.I that threatened her Earth once upon a time. Past general reading, I think she'd try to dig in. You know, explore the trash basket to see if anything wasn't completely deleted sort of digging. Looking for any information about the other planets, looking for Aurora's code (can it be edited or overridden?), looking for construction plans or hints about upcoming missions, etc.

What she wants to accomplish: finding some back door way to communicate directly to Echo.
What I want to accomplish: Clarke's continued frustration, failure is hilarious, mildly fucking up something would be fun, and any potential plot nuggets would be delicious.

She would relent before being outright booted from the room. P...robably.

[etrayamods]

Hello!

The computer itself is pretty. . . basic. It's a touch screen with an unlocked desktop, and gaining access is fairly simple. What isn't simple is figuring out how to read it, as it appears that most of the text is in some illegible font similar to wingdings, but without being able to easily compare what letters are being pressed (since the keyboard at least appears to be in English) to translate what the text itself is saying. However, not everything in the computer is formatted this way.

Clarke will not be able to find a way to communicate directly with Echo. From a look around, she'll discover that small files are uploaded once monthly, around the same time when new arrivals appear, and a larger chunk of information had been delivered to the PC back on January 1st, coinciding with another arrival that happened on June 1st. These files are heavily encrypted, and she will not be able to open them.

She will be able to access a few folders that contain other player character data. These folders are listed by the first initial of their first name, their full last name, and a string of numbers and letters after that don't seem to coincide with anything relevant.

If she were to open her file, she'd notice that it contains a significant amount of data on her. It has her name, her height, and her weight as of when she first arrived in Etraya. In addition, her blood type, general medical information, and a summary overview of her personality, her likes, fears, best friends, and those she dislikes.

There are multiple documents within these folders, but most of them are heavily encrypted, too. The summary page, while encrypted, will be easy for her to access.

If you would like, you could ask other players to opt in to have their summary files read!

There have been no outgoing communications from the information hub. Information gets delivered to it, but there currently is no way to retrace where that information came from, nor put out a call in the same direction it came from. While there is a local network, it does not extend outside of the city bubble.

If Clarke spends excessive time trying to break through Aurora's encryption, Aurora will suggest she may need a nap, given that she seems inebriated.

[reconstruction]

hii!

piggybacking off of what Clarke may find, what would an advanced AI find on the basement computer? since he can just..touch and communicate with them and process gross amounts of info at once. also don't need too much detail! he would be looking for how information was input, if for each event there was new information manually input or if it was all already installed programming, if Echo/Aurora was created by humans/humanoids/other types of evolved sentient beings, who Echo is and how they can grab such detailed information. because Connor can mimic voices, would he be able to fool / bypass anything by mimicking Aurora's voice in the future as well?

i'm totally fine with his probing to cause some sort of temporary virus/temporary debuff as punishment if he discovers something he definitely should not have had access to, or some kind of system overload that has all of his usual skills on a cooldown for a week?? idk. excited for trouble, basically

[etrayamods]

Connor will be able to find what Clarke does if he goes looking without connecting himself to the PC.

Connecting himself to the PC and trying to sift through the data that way will automatically overload him. A significant amount of data is stored not just on that PC, but on the network it and Aurora are connected to. As with Clarke's discoveries, a lot of the language the PC runs off of seems to be something akin to wingdings but without the handy ability to translate it by pressing keys and seeing which letter coincides with what. There is a pattern to it, but that too seems to change monthly. The files that Aurora receives monthly on new arrivals, as well as the larger files delivered on January 1st and June 1st, seem to come from somewhere outside the network, but trying to retrace the data will lead nowhere. What connection had been opened was immediately closed after the information was sent.

Aurora's security does not run off of voice recognition but reads her data signature. Tim Drake (mostdangerousbird) has been given access to most of her source code, which Connor would be able to know through sifting through the network. Running through this information with Tim will show the pieces she was unable to send includes her data signature.

[reconstruction]

thank you so much for all this great information!!
i have a follow up about all this tech stuff. because Connor is naturally kind of connected to the internet all the time would he 1) need the earpiece to connect to the network and 2) does aurora/echo have the capabilities to be connected to connor at all times/are they that advanced? would he need to take extra precautions when getting information? or is he protected from it?

like would they be able to hack him basically lol

edit because there is so much info i keep forgetting omgosh i am so sorry. 2/2 being connected to things, connor would likely be able to tell if aurora could/was poking at him/trying to interface. usually interfacing is consensual between androids, but aurora / echo arent androids(that we know of??) so what are your thoughts on him being able to recognize something trying to get all up in his system, if aurora or echo are able to do that

Plot Related Question

[heartofthedream]

Would Superman & Phoenix be able to relocate the snakes to the following empty island (after the month of everyone getting to fight them ofc), making the land unattached and somehow getting Aurora to feed them?

Or can they at least try? It's land-changing and moving things, so I wanted to pop in here before doing too much more than brainstorming the potential solution they might be able to put together.

[etrayamods]

We're good okaying this! We would just need you to add a location for snake island to the locations page; we can update the map and remove the bit of land connecting it to another landmass.

Silly Plot Idea from Ye Olden Days

[waytodie]

I remember ages ago in a game I was in on IJ, there was this tether plot. I don't remember a lot of the details, just that people were RNG'd with partners (so as to facilitate new CR for ppl) and some random bit of magic was like forcing ppl to be within X-amt of distance of each other or else oops, you're being brain-zapped and In Pain!

What if that. But also combine it with a truth plot element. Like you have to tell your tether partner some Big Truth to be released, but if both people don't admit something, they're stuck together for the duration.

NO CLUE how to throw it in the mix, but thinky-thoughts I will leave in your hands to implement any way you see fit~

player plot: cw mentions of cannibalism / hannibal being hannibal

[relished]

heelloooo mods!

dropdown for the yucky plot vibes

i feel like i've briefly mentioned/insinuated this here and there, but the date is coming up and i'd like to touch base with you guys before putting a post up on the ooc comm to announce it. hannibal has killed another character and plans on hosting a dinner party at his house on the night of halloween, to feed said character to the characters who attend. i have an opt-out post on his journal ready in case anyone needs to use it, as well as his permissions page which has a place for players to interact with. i'm 100% prepared for consequences, i think some other players have something in mind but if there is something you need from me or if there's any repercussions you guys would like him to have let me know :)

[etrayamods]

Hello, Isabella!

We're good with Hannibal throwing his dinner party, and would be happy to replurk any announcements you post on the OOC community!

As for consequences, we'll see how it goes with the players who get involved and run from there. Aurora will be displeased if he upsets a good portion of the game, but if they take handling him into their own hands, she won't object.

Please let us know if there's anything in particular you would like from us to assist with your plot.

Giving Bryn a body

[tinflower]

Hi mods! Me and Tim Drake's player Marie were wondering about the possibility of giving Bryn (the boy in the mirror) his own robotic body in the future--sometime next year, most likely, as we don't have any set plans.

But the idea (for now) would be attempt to put his soul into a crystal much like was done for the souls during the mirror shards plot, and then putting that into a bot that Bryn would be able to control!

It would be difficult, considering Gorgug is a newbie at robotics and also at how to connect a soul to a vehicle (so to speak), but would be able to get some aid from his world since there's a similar situation with his van being controlled by a celestial stuck in a crystal. You know, normal stuff. We're also open to the opportunity for others helping, especially on the body making side.

We realise Bryn may have his own feelings about this, too! But let us know what you think.

[etrayamods]

Hello Ree!

We're open to the idea. Bryn has been staying within the mirrors up until now, but if offered a body, he would take them up on the offer! He would patiently wait and also offer his feedback through the mirror when asked questions/if he's put in a place where he can keep an eye on their progress.

Additionally, he might find things within the mirrorverse and offer additional pieces of hardware that may help - although some items will be things such as pop tubes, which, while fun, aren't very helpful.

If you need any additional feedback from us while you begin working on this plot, please let us know!

To be noticed, maybe even hauled in by Echo agents or equivalent (?)

[waytodie]

I’m just curious if there is anything a PC could do to really get on the radar of the Higher Ups/Management/etc of Echo. Or like get an audience with someone in the org besides Aurora 🤔

Whether it’s a certain level of reckless behavior or one extreme or the other with success (you did so well, we wanted to bring you onto this secret project kinda vibe) / failure (you didn’t even try / purposefully sabotaged the mission and this displeases us, time for punishment style thing) in a mission.

I have nothing super specific in mind but wanted to touch base with you guys to see if it’s even in the realm of possibilities!

Thanks, mods ♥

[etrayamods]

Hello Kayla!

While on Etraya proper, there aren't too many ways to get noticed by others outside of Aurora. While traveling off planet, like what was done on Moorecroft, there are others (such as Eos) of whom they can get the attention of. We're happy to offer a path to this in a future mission, but in the meantime - Connor and Accelerator posted some information that may be relevant here, regarding what's under the hospital. Interfering with Aurora's system would be the one way currently available to get noticed.

If that's not something you're interested in - we will make sure to, during a future mission (though likely not the November one), give PCs another NPC they can get noticed by to get the attention of Echo or other AI. We do have plans to introduce some NPCs who have a bit more knowledge about what's going on here soon.

player plot, hospital exploration

[messenger]

Hello! Castiel's been curious about the floors beneath the hospital since Accelerator and Connor posted about it, so I was thinking of having him trying to make the trip and see how far down he can go.

He's more or less completely impervious to normal forms of damage, and lack of oxygen/heat/atmospheric pressure wouldn't be any issue, though he wouldn't be able to clear out the hostile helper bots fast enough to keep them from being an obstacle (and that's assuming there's nothing else that would stop him), so they would eventually halt his progress unless he could teleport around them.

But if he were physically barred, there's a potential he could return to the surface and attempt a second trip by leaving his vessel behind and going down in only his incorporeal true form.

I'm curious whether he'd find this possible or what he'd see if he's able to explore any of the lower floors — he'd explore as thoroughly as he can, but he can't do anything anything at all with the computers and wouldn't try, so their information would be off limits.

[etrayamods]

Is there something specific you're aiming for with his exploration? If not, that's fine! We're just checking to see what information we should give you.

Aurora will recommend that Castiel not go exploring below the hospital if possible. She will tell him that there's a lot of sensitive data below the hospital, and that her own system is run primarily through those floors - if she is damaged and unable to maintain the systems that keep Etraya safe, it may result in others getting harmed. If he wants to see what's down there and explore himself, she would offer to chaperone him through the first several floors, so he can get an idea of what's down there.

[bookofpowers]

happy new years mods, i hope you had a great one!

i was thinking here if there was any way for them to get snippets of home information or of plot information from the system, because chrollo really does not trust aurora... so i was thinking a few ways to do this.

a. having a team to infiltrate the hospital, using fun fun cloth to steal some of the hardware and then trying to decode it.
b. by using the bots to hack the system. i remember we discussed that he could mess with the bots once, and i think this is a good opportunity!

... or another idea, he is meeting with some people about it... and might come up with something...

thank you guys! great Wednesday for you!

[etrayamods]

Infiltrating the hospital would be more successful! If you would like to get together a team, and give us an idea of roughly what you want for him to find (whether it's information on Etraya itself, the whole system, or Echo), we can give you and the members of Chrollo's team a good starting point for this.

[tinflower]

Hi! I don't know if this would go here or the F.A.Q; apologies if it's the latter!

I've been juggling a thought with the recent mission + the recent Solmara plot that Gorgug would be worried about Etraya's defences, esp since they're being spied on, and they're only finding out details right before a new mission. If he wanted to stay back (even if he would need to buy a pass to do so) and help Aurora make changes, would this be possible?

Asking early before putting forward ideas since if Aurora would discourage it, then I'll need to make plans for the mission.

[etrayamods]

Hello!

Gorgug would be able to stay back, as long as he had a pass to get out of a mission. If this was something he chose to do, we would be happy to provide some things for him to dig into while he remains back on Etraya.

[levelshift]

Hello! Liv (Harold's player) and I were playing around with the idea of Harold poking at the back-up computer Aurora gave Accelerator, and making some updates to it. These were the ideas we had:

1. Harold's computer is connected to the back-up computer so he can get data on Accy's brainwaves and calculations. This one is mostly for facilitating cr so our guys can nerd out over math.
2. Admin access for Harold so he can shut the back-up computer off if necessary. Contingency plan! Like how Damian asked Accy to be a contingency plan for Hernan.
3. Extend battery life by 5 mins for esper mode, bringing it to a total of 20 mins.
4. Allow Accelerator to do the calculations to form his tornado wings (for flight) while in normal mode. We had additional ideas we were tossing around (some additional reflection, enhancing his body for strength/speed) but I wasn't sure if that would be too much.

Would any or all of these be allowable? Or is there anything else we could consider?

[etrayamods]

These changes all sound fine to us! Please feel free to bring these upgrades into play.