faderiftooc | MOD POST ↠ PLOT UPDATE

MOD PLOT: Update

Hello! We’re allowing another day or so for people to vote on whether to extend the deadline, but based on the current poll results, a lot of you are waiting for other people to post sign-ups for plots so you could help, but only a couple people said they had definite plot plans. So our takeaway is that maybe everyone is waiting on someone else to do something first! But someone else might not actually be doing it. So you (YOU!) should probably do it.

The second most popular answer was that people needed clearer information about what they’re allowed to do, so that’s what this post is for! It’s also for more planning and brainstorming, if you want to do more of that.

For reference, the previous post explaining this plot is here and plot submissions go here.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

You can do nearly anything! Which we know is too vague to be helpful and maybe even sounds scary. But we’ve tried to set up the system so—unless someone pulls off a high-risk plot to assassinate or otherwise remove a candidate altogether—the outcome can be the result of a lot of smaller, subtler efforts that approach the issue from a variety of angles with a final outcome that reflects the efforts of a lot of people. Nobody needs to feel obliged to concoct an elaborate scheme to directly determine the election results themselves, using ten participants and five separate logs. You can totally do that if you want! but it's not necessary in order to participate and have an impact. You can do something lowkey with two characters in a single log that helps one candidate a little. That’s legit, and it will make a tangible difference.

The most important limit is that you can't make up any information about a candidate that is ICly true and that contradicts the impression of the candidate and her goals and values that we have OOCly provided. You can't concoct a plot to reveal that Benedetta is lying about wanting to call an Exalted March or that Gertruda is actually secretly married to an elf who lives off money Gertruda is skimming from her charitable works. You can run a plot that spreads an unfounded rumor to that effect, or one that hires an elf to play the part and claim it's true, or that forges and plants documents suggesting financial improprieties, and so on. But in order for this process to remain fair for all players, it's important to know that the candidates themselves truly are what it says they are on the tin, and that won't change.

We’re also generally going to be stricter about the realism and IC work required for plots that would have a direct, significant impact—since they mean a handful of players are having a big influence on the game—and more laid back about lower impact plots, since their overall influence is more limited and thus more easily countered by other people's other small plots, so the outcome overall is more democratic.

For example, we probably wouldn’t OK a plot in which one of the candidates is unexpectedly eaten by a dragon while characters are escorting her to Val Royeaux, or where one character's old NPC girlfriend has ended up becoming a very influential Grand Cleric who is now ripe for embarrassing blackmail sufficient to turn a whole faction of voters against a candidate. Both of those ideas are too dependent on coincidence relative to the amount of influence they would have on the outcome. But we probably would OK either of those ideas for a more minor influential Chantry figure or noble whose death or coercion would have a smaller impact (but still an impact!) on the proceedings.

Also, remember that only plots to completely remove a candidate require a minimum number of characters who have to agree to the plan. For everything else, it’s fine if two or three characters provide security to a traveling Chantry bureaucrat and only one character goes rogue and assassinates him, or blackmails him, or gets him alone to talk about what a babe Agathe is. The other characters don’t have to agree or help! The log could even mainly be about the first character’s increasingly desperate attempts to make them leave her alone with the target.

Here are some possible general approaches:

You can work for or against candidates indirectly by doing things that influence public perception of their political positions or social stances. For example, things that make mages look dangerous will help the conservative candidates. Things that make the Inquisition look competent in the face of the Chantry’s slow-moving uselessness might hurt Gertruda, who’s known for being distrustful of the Inquisition.
You can go after the candidates directly in some way—assassinations are the obvious big one, but directly meddling in their affairs, attacking their reputations, giving them helpful secrets, etc., is all fair game.
It’s also safe to assume that the whole world is trying to influence this choice and so a plot can work on stopping that—either because your characters want to preserve the sanctity of the process or because they want to stop someone from promoting a specific candidate. So if you want a combat plot but your character wouldn’t try to kill someone, you can do a plot to foil and expose an NPC’s attempt to kill someone instead.
You can start with something you want to RP that’s unrelated to the Divine, like a wyvern hunt or getting two characters trapped in a cellar together, and work backwards to connect it to people who influence the choice directly. The wyvern hunt could become an opportunity to talk to a well-connected noble who also loves wyvern hunting about who's been talking up Clorentine lately, so they can be stopped. Or your characters could be trying to get papers from a merchant's estate to prove they bribed a Grand Cleric to vote for Benedetta, hide in their cellar to evade detection, and get locked in overnight.
If the candidate you OOCly want to win isn’t necessarily the one your character would support IC—or if your characters don’t care—you’re welcome to propose ideas that backfire on OOC purpose or accidentally help or hurt a candidate, too. So if you think it would be most interesting for the game if Benedetta won, but your character likes Agathe, you can volunteer to have your character’s attempt at hurting Benedetta’s chances help them instead, or put them in a position where they have to choose between helping Benedetta's odds and doing something else that they find morally repugnant.

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES

Here are some more specific ideas, which you’re welcome to take for yourself, adapt into something similar that fits your character better, or just use as examples to help you start thinking of other options. (Note that the only way to call dibs on any of these ideas is to submit a plot request and have it approved, so if you do want to just straight-out do one of them, submit that request!)

Low- or Medium-Impact Plots

The following would be low or medium impact depending on how wide an impact it was proposed to have. (Remember we'll generally let people choose between low and medium depending on the impact they want to have and the risk they're willing to take to get it.)

For the most part, low- or medium-impact plots are going to be plots that change the minds of individual Grand Clerics who will be participating in the Grand Consensus, shift the opinions of nobles who may throw their weight around, or influence public opinion in a way that makes candidates look a little better or worse.

Resolve a local conflict between members of the Qun and a village Chantry in Rivain, which is threatening to escalate to violence and could make Elise’s tolerance look foolish if it does.
Elven unrest could sour the Chantry on candidates known for gentle elf handling, so go convince some elves who are on the verge to wait until after the election to start a riot.
Nobles whose property was damaged during the Mage-Templar War are organizing and pressing for any candidate who will reinstate Circles/against candidates who might not, so find ways to calm them down.
A publisher in the Free Marches is about to release a very exciting and well-written book, sure to be a hit, that features Nevarran necromancers as terrifying villains in league with Tevinter, which could make Agathe’s life much harder; make sure it isn’t printed.
Before taking vows, one of the candidates was nearly married, and her spurned fiancé is still in possession of some saucy letters and some lingering bitterness, and has been overhead threatening to publish them. Relieve him of the letters before he can do anything with them.
An influential Revered Mother's parish is being harried by bandits/phoenixes/whatever and one of Clorentine's backers is offering to help her with that problem in exchange for her support. Beat them to it.
One Grand Cleric is renowned for her aviary full of rare birds. Capture a rare specimen from the high Frostbacks to impress her and win her ear.
An Antivan sailor rumored—without any credibility—to be Benedetta’s illegitimate child is being tracked by pro-Gertruda merchants who want to convince him to come forward and name her as his mother. For enough money, he just might do it. Make sure they never find him by kidnapping him off his ship and temporarily rehoming him with some pirates.
One of Clorentine’s prominent backers is having some sort of social event, which could afford them a lot of time and impressive ice sculpture backdrops to sway people to their side. Ruin the heck out of their party.
A Sister is claiming Elise hosted wild orgies in the chantry when she was a Mother and some people are starting to listen. Find out what her agenda is and discredit her before the story can get any bigger.
Some unflattering cartoons about Elise are making the rounds in Antiva City. Track down who's producing them and destroy their stock.
Benedetta's plan for an Exalted March is meeting with general approval, especially in Orlais. Contact a respected but reclusive Orlesian scholar who has written extensively about the economic and social damage to the empire caused by previous Exalted Marches and do him a series of menial or outlandish favors in exchange for his willingness to publicize his opinion.
A bard has written a very bawdy song about a candidate and is singing it in every tavern on the road to Val Royeaux. Go tavern to tavern to track him down before he gets too far and convince him to stop (or to sing about another candidate instead).
Some disgruntled Elise-supporting servants are planning to stick up a party their employers are holding to support Clorentine. Stop them before they make a mess that makes Elise look bad. Or don't.
Someone else is planning to assassinate a Grand Cleric as she travels to Val Royeaux for the Consensus. Stop them.
A group of widows/widowers/orphans/etc. who have lost people to the invasion intends to travel to Val Royeaux for the Consensus and stand outside with their big sad eyes to ask people to choose Benedetta. Convince them not to.
Careful review of Chantry records shows that one of the Grand Clerics supporting a candidate you don’t like is lacking an essential signature on the document investing her and is not technically confirmed as a Grand Cleric. Get proof and get that proof into the hands of an opposing Cleric to unveil at the Grand Consensus to invalidate their vote with no time to fix their status first.
An Antivan merchant who has promoted Benedetta for years has offered to trade fine leather to an Orlesian noble at a ridiculously low price, and the local Orlesian Chantry Mother is now supporting Benedetta, too. Destroy enough of the merchant’s property that he can no longer afford the bargain.
Two nobles who disagree over who should be the next Divine have agreed to duel to the death over it. Stop the fight, or make sure the right one is vindicated by victory.

Footnote: these are all examples of the kind of things you could invent, not ideas based on existing IC news or secret mod info about the candidates or the world. For example, we aren't working off a mod cheat-sheet that says that Benedetta has a rumored illegitimate child, it's just a random idea we made up for this list without any prior basis. You can invent that a candidate has a rumored illegitimate child yourself if you want, and then propose a plot to deal with it. (The rumor just can't be ICly true.)

Medium- or High-Impact Plots

Plots that directly influence the candidates and their personal reputations—plausible major scandals, especially—are likely to be medium- to high-impact, but plots that influence whole factions or that would have a major impact on public opinion could also qualify. (And, again, remember we'll generally let people choose between medium and high depending on the impact they want to have and the risk they're willing to take to get it. The distinction is something we can discuss on a case-by-case basis.) For example:

A Chantry Sister beloved by one of the voting Clerics has been kidnapped, and her safe return is conditioned on the Cleric not voting for Agathe. Tracking down the Sister and saving her would likely be a Medium plot, but if you also want to identify which rival's supporters were responsible, and make sure that rival is publicly blamed for the kidnapping, that would be High Impact.
Root out a Venatori agent who’s attempting to influence the election in Clorentine’s favor. Like with the first example, identifying and capturing (or killing) the agent on its own has a Medium impact. If you want to catch the Venatori agent in a public enough way that the Venatori’s support for Clorentine becomes public knowledge, without the Inquisition announcing it and being accused of interfering or falsifying the story, that's going to influence a lot more people's opinions, so that would be a High Impact plot.
Elise is being followed by a spy who reports back to Clorentine. Follow the spy and interfere before they can get anything that would ruin Elise, or help them along. Blocking the spy from learning much or feeding them "white noise" type information might be a Medium Impact plot, and so would feeding them stories about Elise being in poor condition that are not easily verified. Feeding the spy explosive but false, easily disproven information and ensuring that Clorentine uses it publicly so that she looks very foolish might be High Impact, as would providing the spy with some sort of evidence to support stories that Elise is failing.
Publicizing forged letters supposedly from Benedetta to a close personal friend in which she insults Chantry elders and says that the Exalted March is just a pretext to consolidate power would be a Low Impact plot if the letters are completely fake, published on broadsheets and circulated in taverns, Medium if they're decent forgeries that a noble is persuaded to spread around. If you want to steal some of Benedetta's actual correspondence, learn her hand and her writing style, and create high-quality forgeries and get them to a Grand Cleric who will be fooled into believing they're real, that would be High Impact.

Candidate Disqualification/Removal Plots

Any plot that would wholly remove a candidate from consideration has special requirements. Assassinating a candidate obviously counts. So does blackmailing one into dropping out, inventing a scandal big enough that a candidate becomes fundamentally unelectable, convincing one to withdraw from consideration for any reason, blowing up the Grand Cathedral while deliberations take place, etc.

These types of plots are definitely allowed—and we think it'd be pretty cool—but because they would have such a big impact and potentially cancel out the efforts of other players who were promoting or working against that candidate in smaller ways, they have to meet some special requirements, as detailed in the original OOC post.

GO FORTH

You’re 900% welcome to use this post to brainstorm new ideas, look for people to help with ideas you already have, ask questions, et cetera. Feel free to make your own top-levels (you can organize them by player or by character, whatever works for you), and to use the four we've provided.

Instead of asking you to sort yourselves by candidate--because maybe you have an idea that could impact several--we've made them for different things you can RP: action, stealth, nerd stuff, and schmoozing. If you'd like to play your character at a fancy party trying to change hearts and minds, whether that's through good old fashioned charm or good old fashioned blackmail, toss up a comment under schmoozing, and people with schmoozey plots in mind may come see if you'd like to be involved, or to help them make up a party for both of your characters to be at! Don't get too hung up on the boundaries of the categories, they're just here to help people find players with similar interests, not to stress you out over whether wanting to assassinate someone is technically stealth or action. (It could be either, don't worry about it.) Plots can include more than one thing or none of them, and if you don't think it's a helpful distinction for you, you can skip it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

HEY come and help me fight orphans!

ORPHANS and some widows but let's focus on the pesky orphans are coming to Val Royeaux for the Consensus to tell everyone that they lost all of their parents to the invasion, and will be lobbying for Benedetta while they're giving their sob stories. they will look very pathetic and raggedy in just the right way. and we can't let this stand.

let's get some real orphans, or at least people who feel like orphans, to come and convince them not to. or start a street fight in Val Royeaux which is sort of what I'm hoping for, but the Orphans for Benedetta will ALSO look bad. the Inquisition Orphans might have had the oversight to wear t-tunics that support Clorentine, if a level-headed mind suggests as much. Matthias doesn't have that mind but maybe someone else can help.

it's so very perfect

HORRIFICALLY I have no one who would actually help with this, but I love it, and I would love to like to be involved somehow despite it, LIKE

maybe if it starts off as supposedly just a plan to talk to them and persuade them it's just undignified and they shouldn't interfere? or if I could have someone just wander by while the fighting is happening to be like wow those orphans sure look like Inquisition people hahahaha......

GOOD and hmmmm.

I'm trying to decide how he even finds out about it. I think maybe just a network post bitching about the news so a possible opportunity for an intervention there, in the hope of persuading Matthias and co to take the high road

but also I love the passerby option too

I'm not helpful

hey fight (alongside) me

javel would be super mad about all these orphans whining about their dead parents, what (literal) babies!! I'd been thinking he could join the Inquisition via this plot, but it might be simpler to have him already part of the Inquisition so matthias isn't heading into this all on his lonesome. javel is not a pre-planner either but he might suggest stealing some clorentine t-tunics if some street vendor was selling them.

tho either way we should probably acquire an adult for them somehow

hey okay good

okay but I LOVE the idea of Javel joining up with the Inquisition during this fight. like he just happens to be there and overhears the argument and the fight and jumps in and joins up after the dust has settled just in case he needs the protection of the Inquisition banner in avoiding hard time or whatever

but also let's not get caught and implicated as representatives of the Inquisition

if he IS already joined up though I like that too. I want them to be friends (?? "friends")

no adults needed thanks they've GOT THIS (they do not got anything)

yes!!! for sake of ~friendship~ then let's say javel will join up via this fight, so they can bond over beating up other kids and not worry about who's a mage and who thinks mages aren't people etc.

HELL YEAH let's ignore our significant differences to punch some babies together

orphan, check
ready 2 fite, check
let's DO THIS i just punched my palm irl and now i will do the required reading

get over here

let's bloody some baby noses!!!

YEAHAH!! BABY FIGHT!!! Hopefully Athessa doesn't start to relate to any of the babies she's fighting

don't you dare Athessa or you'll be known for a FRAUD and a WEAKLING and a BABY

and Matthias will TELL EVERYONE

nooooooOOOO but i want people to LIKE MEEE

MOD POST ↠ PLOT UPDATE

action and the clumsiest kind of stealth

i have only this gif to give

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busts in like the koolaid man

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