abovegrounds | August 2016 Plotting Post

August 2016
Welcome to your August plotting post! You can make use of the information here to plot what your character will be doing in the next month. There's lots of OOC stuff going on with the next faction reward and How's My Driving posts around mid-month. Plus, look out for the next test drive meme! That's coming your way towards the end of the month.

Check out the calendar for a quick summary of when things are happening. You can also check the game timeline to see what has happened in the game so far.

Factions
Raymond Harris's reign of terror proves to have serious consequences for the Islington Nest, as by the end of July the Night Council officially remove him from his seat and declare all Islington vampires outcast from the Council. This means that vampires belonging to the Islington Nest are no longer off-limits to hunters. Having lost their formal protection, they are free game to any vampire hunter. Rumours of a schism within the Nest begin to take hold, as many vampires are unhappy with losing their rights on the Council and with Raymond's anarchic style of leadership.

Having purged the Night Council of all Islington vampires, Sylvia Redbright orders her Guardians and relevant staff at the Redbright Institute to actively go out and hunt down rogue vampires, even linking up with the Hillingdon Clan where necessary.

Without a Vampire Representative, the Night Council is one short of their five required seats and this month they will be looking to appoint that missing role. The likelihood is that this seat will be filled by a Daybreak witch unless a convincing alternative argument can be made. The seat will be filled by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Raymond isn't the type to simply accept the Night Council's decision. Having been rejected by the Council, he then claims that the Islington Nest operates outside of the Council's jurisdiction. But that's not all. Starting from the beginning of August, Raymond will declare himself the Other Mayor of London and seek out potential allies from Circle Midnight and the Seelie/Unseelie Court to create a new rival Night Council. According to him, the legitimacy of the current Night Council no longer stands. A new regime must take its place.

The question is, will any other factions join him?

Territories
The Seelie/Unseelie Court launched an attack on Lewisham at the end of July but it was a hit and run affair, and the Islington Nest maintained control of their territory. Circle Daybreak is the most powerful faction in the city, with eight territories. See the Territories page for more information.

If your faction would like to claim a new territory, please comment to the appropriate thread. Players will then have three days from the date and time of the initial claim to sign up for the conflict. Anyone can sign up, but please only volunteer your character if they are a member of a faction involved in the conflict or they have IC reasons to actively help out. Please do not volunteer if you won't be able to participate in the plot.

If the outcome of the conflict is not already guaranteed, I will then look at the sign-ups list to calculate which faction will emerge victorious. It is up to players to plan and play out the actual conflict itself. If you comment to claim a territory, then you should also take the lead in planning and organizing it.

Minions
The following lucky minions will be promoted this month:

James Park | Werewolf, East End Pack | Level 1
‣ A rich frat boy who dropped out of university after being turned last year.

Edith Blatherwick | Werewolf, East End Pack | Level 1
‣ A nice old lady who really likes cats.

Peter Lewis | Fae, Hillingdon Clan | Level 1
‣ A fae who had been summoned and enslaved by a witch for some years. After getting free of her (and let's say she didn't let him off lightly) he found his old position in the court tiring and thus he defected to Hillingdon, where at least people mostly leave him alone.

Jessica White | Human, Islington Nest | Level 1
‣ A human ally who hangs around for the purposes of providing a willing meal. She thinks vampires are super cool and super hot and most of them keep her around for the groupie factor more than anything else.

Thom Evans | Vampire, Islington Nest | Level 1
‣ An American, Thom came to London to settle a business debt and fell into a rough way with a local vampire. Unable to face his family after that, Thom settled in for the long haul as the token London vampire cowboy.

Iona | Vampire, Islington Nest | Level 1
‣ One of the oldest vampires in the city, she might have once been a formidable foe but now she cares little for your petty dramas. As far as she is concerned, her cats are the only thing left for her in this world, and while you may laugh, god save you if you do so to her face.

Terrance Richards | Vampire, Islington Nest | Level 1
‣ A smart-thinking vampire who makes a living working night shifts on various security details. The fact that they call it the graveyard shift gives him no end of amusement.

Matthew Jones | Meta Human, Redbright Institute | Level 1
‣ An energetic student with the power of persuasion. Despite possessing this very dangerous ability, he strives to be a good person.

These minions will decide to leave town this month:

Rita Lee | Witch, Circle Midnight | Level 2
‣ Spunky, gifted, and outspoken, Rita is a recent convert from Circle Daybreak.

Nicholas Salman | Human, East End Pack | Level 1
‣ Quiet, shy, and doing everything in his power to avoid activating the werewolf curse he got last year.

Karen Rogers | Fae, Hillingdon Clan | Level 1
‣ A fae with an impressive art for disguising herself. Karen (if that's even her real name) is often used as a spy or undercover agent for Hillingdon. She's glad to take on the challenge, as she thinks it's fun to trick humans – not even Hillingdon is safe from her pranks.

William Hughes | Vampire, Islington Nest | Level 1
‣ A vampire who enjoyed his life in the 1850s and is seemingly stuck in that decade. He writes a lot of awful poetry that he will try to inflict on any poor soul who happens by, which one must pay keen attention to or else he gets VERY upset.

Bianca Aster | Witch, Redbright Institute | Level 2
‣ A young woman whose favourite subjects are agriculture and herbology. Peppy and cheerful, she's part of many organisations in the school and is popular due to her looks and her attitude.

And these less fortunate minions will sadly die this month:

Adriana Miller | Werewolf, East End Pack | Level 1
‣ Turned as the result of an accidental attack. Bitter and angry, she is always looking for a fight.

Factions may decide how and when their minions die, leave town or receive a promotion. Feel free to work these developments into any of this month's plots.

Drops
The following characters will be leaving this month:

Alexandra Udinov | East End Pack | facethewolves | Left town 15/7/16

Their faction may decide the exact details of how characters leave and incorporate their exit into their plots if they wish.

Events

1st August – LAMMAS. A day of celebration for witches, with rites and offerings to the summer harvest. All members of the supernatural community are encouraged to donate a gift to their local coven. In the spirit of generosity, witches may grant favours in return for an offering.

5th August – GUARDIAN NOMINATIONS. Every six months the supernatural communities of London are invited to nominate potential Guardian candidates to join the Night Council. The Council members decide which Guardians to accept.

6th August – OTHER MAYOR OF LONDON.* Raymond Harris has officially declared himself the Other Mayor of London and what better way to celebrate than to throw an all-night party? As well as vampires, guests from Circle Midnight and the Seelie/Unseelie Courts are also invited. The event will be held at the Angelo hotel in Islington, courtesy of Cesare Borgia.

18th August – FULL MOON. Werewolves, it's that time of the month! Will you chain yourself up or spend the night in a cage? Roam wild in the London parks? Or perhaps find a witch to make you a wolfsbane potion. Whatever you choose, better be prepared.

12th August – GUARDIAN INITIATION.* The chosen Guardians will attend an initiation ceremony at Westminster, where they will be officially brought into the fold.

28th-29th August – NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL. London's biggest party, the Caribbean-themed Notting Hill Carnival takes place over the August bank holiday weekend.

*There will be a mod-posted log for these events.

Plots
The following prompts are up for grabs this month:

1) There is a bounty on a group of rogue vampires. They have taken to performing a live show where human victims are sacrificed in front of an unsuspecting audience, who think the victims are actors. Reward: £1500
2) You encounter a fae who asks you to bring him a child for his wife. He will curse you if you fail.
3) You hear voices in your head telling you to kill someone you love. Someone has cast a rather malicious spell on you.
4) You sign up for a supernatural blind date. Turns out your date is a succubus...

About plots and events
• You may claim one plot prompt per month.
• You can also run your own plots based on the events listed above, or create your own.
• If you claim a plot, then you also volunteer to take the lead OOCly i.e. planning and organizing with other players, deciding on the outcome, setting a timeline etc.
• Once you have claimed a plot, you should introduce it ICly within the next month.
• Plots may not be entirely handwaved. You may handwave some of the plot, but you should play out at least part of it.
• Some plots will require NPCs as well as player characters to fill different roles. Please feel free to make up and play the NPCs yourselves.
• Plots are generally open-ended enough that you can make them big or small. It is up to the player who claims the plot to decide how they would like to handle it. You may want to do open sign-ups for your plot and specify whether there is a limit on how many characters can participate.
• Plots can also be self-contained or form part of an ongoing storyline. Again, it is your choice on how you would like to handle it.
• Please feel free to integrate plots and events or join plots up where appropriate. For example, if you claim a plot that involves a murder, why not choose an event during which the murder could happen? As long as the mod and other players are aware of your plans, I'm happy to accommodate.
• Do not ask the mod to explain what the plot is and what your character should do or discover. That is up to you. These plot ideas are just that, ideas, and it is up to you to run with them and decide how and why these events are happening, what your characters are going to do about it, and what the consequences will be.
• You may ask the mod questions pertaining to game mythology, to check that what you are planning to do makes sense within the game world.
• This list is not meant to be limiting in any way! Player plots are also very welcome.
• If you have an idea for a player plot, please feel free to comment here and see if there is any interest. Run it by the mod first if you're unsure of anything.