Chapter 8: The Father of Monsters

[Azraeth]

INTRO

Hey everyone, and welcome to chapter 8. We are going to be doing things a little bit differently from now on so that we can keep the plot for Path going, but do so in a way that breaks it up into bite sized chunks. It's going to more resemble a choose your own adventure book. The specifics are as follows. The only way to participate in the chapters from now on will be through writing. There will still be a chapter slider (or sliders) which give an indication of which way the pendulum is swinging. HOWEVER, the story itself is going to be broken up into pieces, with different outcomes depending on what is chosen. For example, in part 1, if you make one choice, it may result in the chapter ending automatically, with a particular outcome, whereas if you make a different choice, it could potentially keep the story going, making things more complex as time goes on.

Chapter updates will occur at set time intervals. The time to impact the chapter for Part 1 is 3 months after which David or I will let you guys know what the next step (if there is one) in the story is!

THE CHOICE

The first choice is to either aid the Admin by gathering information or sabotage him and those helping him, based on the Admin's request here. Obviously, characters may choose to 'help' for their own motivations. For example, they may just take what the Admin has told them and use it to get some intel, then try to keep it for themselves. They may or may not be successful at this!

Humans wanting to participate in the chapter will probably need connections through vampires because the Admin is sort of keeping this whole thing as much under wraps as possible.

The chapter tags are: [aid_admin][/aid_admin] and [sabotage_admin][/sabotage_admin]

As RP is going to be the only way to impact the chapter, be sure to use the above tags as often as possible when posting for the chapter. You can feel free to post threads on the Official Event Roleplay forum. Below are some ideas for thread plot, though don't feel confined to them as they are just starting points. Please feel free to ask questions (publicly vastly preferred over privately) if you have a plot idea in mind you want to try but aren't sure about.

TO SABOTAGE

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[Sabotage_Admin][/Sabotage_Admin]

If you are looking to sabotage, what this means is that your character, for whatever reason, does not want the Admin to get any information about the charity or where its money is going. This means you're invested in trying to stop Helheim from doing any work on the ground, obscuring money trails, obscuring the trail of possible weapons mentioned by the Admin, and generally going out of your way to just make things more difficult for anyone trying to gather info.

A few ideas for plots:

• Track down the shipments of weapons (possibly by hacking the police database to track license plate movements) and then destroy them or rob them/execute the ones doing the shipment so that no information can be gathered from them.
• Work to cover the tracks of the charity's monetary movements - which could easily be broken down into a number of its own sub-plots, like wiping surveillance footage, attacking members of Helheim who are trying to track down where the money is going, or even wiping the net and news sources of information pertaining to the charity.
• You could try to get into contact with people running the charity to warn them - though it should be noted that this will NOT work if your character is a vampire. Inquire with me if you have a human character you'd like to do this with as I may provide you with some more details depending on the plot you have in mind.
• Generally fighting/attacking Helheim to keep them busy so they can't do any recon is also an option.
• Work to keep the ones running the charity and their donors in the shadows, which could also be a number of its own sub-plots. The charity itself is fairly secretive and somewhat resistant to working with new people, especially of the vampiric variety. However, the Admin likely has members of Helheim tailing people, hacked security cams trying to monitor movement, and maybe even some business associates attempting to get in, so doing anything to keep the charity's secret would set him back.
• You can also engage playable characters (characters run by other writers) who are trying to gather information, and try to stop them in some way. These plots could turn out to be especially fun if everyone involved wants to make a solid, strong story.
• And honestly there are many more!

TO AID

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[Aid_Admin][/Aid_Admin]

If you are aiding the Admin, that means you are trying to gather information about the charity, their money trail, and the weapons they may be buying. Remember! This may just be the tip of the iceberg - there's no telling what all the St. James Foundation is doing with its money. Even if your character may not trust the Admin - this could be the way to get in on the info in case it's a matter worth exploring.

Some plot ideas:

• Track down the vehicles with the weapons, and capture the drivers. Or follow them to find out where they drop their cargo. Either way, this will prove to be difficult because the drives are heavily armed humans who will attack vampires on sight (they've been trained to spot them using mirrors). They are basically driving massive fortified trucks, so even getting them to stop will be difficult. And finding them at all will prove troublesome, and may require some legwork hacking the police database. They will be difficult to capture without them doing damage or killing themselves, but if you manage it, they might give some small pieces of information
• Wealthy humans or business owners may try to infiltrate one of these charity dinners to find out information. Be careful though, the charity organizers are secretive and very suspicious of outsiders. If they suspect you're working with vampires, it might result in a fight.
• Hackers might try to scrub the web for information about the charity as well, though they're unlikely to find much.
• A character could try to trail certain members of the charity in an effort to learn more about what their money is going to - they pay for everything in cash, so there won't be a paper trail to follow. Their operations are very covert, so it would require a ton of sneaking around, and possibly a little assassination or fighting to take down any objectives that get in your path. If you go this route, check in with me and I'll give you an idea of what the money is going towards - though only if the Aid side wins. Be aware though that the members of the charity are pretty wealthy, pretty well connected, and the people who work for them (the ones running the money) are very well paid hired hands who have extensive combat knowledge as well as extensive knowledge in how to avoid being tracked. They will work hard to cover their tracks and will attack if your character is caught following them.
• You could try to set up static surveillance or drop a mic or cam on charity employees, though you would run into the same issues as above - so be careful!
• You could try to look into the charity through the local government, see if anyone has heard of them, or if there are any licenses or documentation pertaining to the foundation. However, it should be noted that a number of charity members also work in the government. Which means that it's almost impossible to tell if someone can be trusted. Or if you'll be able to get any information at all. You may run into roadblocks at every step of your investigation. And if they suspect you're looking into it for the wrong reasons, you can expect to get a visit from some of their less than savory employees. In fact, you will likely find that the harder you search, the less information you find going this route. However, I'll give some details if you do choose this plot and the Aid side wins.
• You could escort Helheim soldiers on their missions to do any of the above or generally work to protect Helheim from anyone or anything that could get in their way.
• Etc!

As a general note on the above, if the Aid side wins, I'll go over threads dedicated to aiding the Admin and individually give out bits of information for people as well as some bigger information which will be public to everyone on Crownet.

Please please please, don't think of these as exhaustive suggestions. We wanted to leave it ambiguous enough to let people have freedom to be as creative as they want, so if you have questions about how something might or should work, feel free to ask! Think of this thread as a jumping off point.

END THOUGHTS!

Be sure to leave the end of your threads ambiguous! Depending on how the slider looks when it comes time for the chapter update, will determine if any information was gathered at all. Which means that there needs to be some chance for failure. I. E. Don't go in expecting for any plan to be foolproof.

You can also feel free to make any necessary NPCs. If you need some direction, feel free to ask! I'll be starting a Q&A thread here in a moment and the majority of questions should go there.

It's important to remember that more information will be revealed about what's going on with the chapter, but only if a certain choice is made. And every major choice for this chapter is going to intensify the stakes just a little bit more. So we are really hoping you guys enjoy it.

The end of Part 1 will be July 25, 2019 at which point the sliders will lock and you'll get more story. The sliders can be found here

[Azraeth]

About 1 month and 2 weeks left on this (If I'm doing my maths right). For those looking to participate - be sure to give yourself time to get through the bulk of your thread, though be sure to remember to leave the end ambiguous!

<3

[Azraeth]

Reminder that phase one ends in about 1 week!

[Azraeth]

Phase 1 wraps tomorrow. Expect updates on the 26th! <3

[Azraeth]

Phase 1 is officially over. Stay tuned for further details.

[Azraeth]

CHAPTER UPDATE!!

Okay so we are officially moving into Part 2 of chapter 8! This part will play out over the next 3 months to give people plenty of time to post, and will conclude around October 25th. At that point, the chapter may abruptly end OR it may continue depending on the actions taken by characters.

Since we are officially past it, I can reveal that had people chosen either to sabotage the Admin OR not look into the workings of the charity, it would have resulted in significantly worsened human and vampire relations due to the unchecked spread of the rogue/underground human element mentioned in the Administrator's post here. This means that those who aided the admin helped to uncover the sinister motives of the charity and ultimately have benefited all vampires by giving them a chance to act.

Now it's time to make a new choice.

THE CHOICE

The chapter slider can be viewed here.

The choices here are pretty simple. You can choose to aid the admin, which means trying to tear down the structure of the anti-vampire movement which was uncovered at the end of Part 1. The ultimate goal is to stop the spread, and there will be some plot ideas listed below to help move things towards that end.

The second choice is to try and sabotage the admin, which means helping the growth and spread of the anti-vampire movement. This can be done a number of ways (also listed below).

As the radio broadcast mentioned by the Administrator can be picked up by anyone with a radio - that means human characters will have a MUCH easier time getting into part 2 of the chapter. Flyers like the one in the Administrator's post can be found at places populated by large numbers of people, like shopping centers, transit stations etc. The ink can only be read in sunlight or with a UV lamp.

This is also basically a choice between pursuing war (sabotaging the admin) with humans, or trying to maintain peace with them (aiding the admin).

The chapter tags are: [aid_admin][/aid_admin] and [sabotage_admin][/sabotage_admin]

As RP is going to be the only way to impact the chapter, be sure to use the above tags as often as possible when posting for the chapter. You can feel free to post threads on the Official Event Roleplay forum. Please feel free to ask questions (publicly vastly preferred over privately) if you have a plot idea in mind you want to try but aren't sure about.

TO AID

Add the following to the top or bottom of your roleplay posts in Official Event Roleplay

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[Aid_Admin][/Aid_Admin]

• Daywalkers, thralls, and humans can attend the meetings and disrupt them. These meetings are just collections of disgruntled people of surprising numbers, spread across the city. There are usually at least 50 people who gather in warehouses, docks, shops etc. The ones running the meetings preach a pretty heavy anti-vampire rhetoric talking about how vampires are monsters who have ruined Harper Rock and may ruin the world if allowed to persist. The main focus of these meetings is to grow a grass roots movement to push through legislation on controlling vampires by limiting their movement, forcing them to have special identification, regulating their ability to feed (only from animals, for example), with very harsh laws for any and all infractions.
• The admin also released a public list of caches for weapons and explosives kept in warehouses which could be sabotaged.
• There's also a larger money trail than before which intersects with some of the major cartels trying to gain power in Harper Rock. The cartels are basically bringing in even more money and are providing a lot of the 'grunt work' with their existing criminal structure. So combating gang related crime would help.
• People could potentially try to go to the press with their findings. Though I feel like it needs to be noted that any story released is VERY likely to be either steamrolled over or suppressed by agents in the media. Though if there's a substantial enough number of people who move forward with that kind of storyline, there IS a chance of it succeeding. And it would be glorious.
• Same as the above, but with reporting the more criminal aspects of the rogue group's activities to the police. Though dirty/corrupt cops will try to get in your way.
• The rogue element has agents all throughout society, but attempting to coerce them into talking won't really work. They're all loosely interconnected, but nobody really knows who is at the head or if there is even one. The information is so spread out that the 'right hand' doesn't know what the 'left hand' is doing, so to speak. Which means that it'll be impossible to get useful information for anything really other than motivation, which has already been established.
• There are still shipments of weapons coming in that could be stopped.
• Trying to break up the entire money trail is also helpful.
• Business owners putting pressure on members of the charity by hinting that they are aware of illegal dealings would help.
• Some of the information passed between members of the rogue group a is done via social media through encoded messages. Hackers could potentially use this to find individuals who support the cause and terminate them or try to sway them.
• I want to emphasize that there are a lot of different ways to tackle this situation with persuasion, tactics, or brute force and they are all valid. I just want to see really good stories play out!
• There's also probably a ton more things I'm not immediately thinking about.

TO SABOTAGE

Add the following to the top or bottom of your roleplay posts in Official Event Roleplay

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[Sabotage_Admin][/Sabotage_Admin]

• Do basically anything that makes vampires look bad. This includes enticing them into a fight in public, breaking the law etc.
• Dig up and publish evidence of vampire wrongdoing.
• Go to the media with stories of how vampires are doing evil things.
• Go to meetings to rally support for the cause.
• Attack and kill members of Helheim.
• Work against/stop any of the efforts mentioned in the aid admin section.
• Help to protect weapon caches and the money trail.
• Aid gang-related criminal activity.
• Reveal the identities of vampire business owners so that people can 'blacklist' them.
• The structure of this group is super decentralized, which means that your character may not have communication with anyone. They may decide to act entirely on their own based on their feelings. Or they may be working with a group of friends. Feel free to include NPC characters who hate vampires.
• I know this list seems more sparse than the other one, but that's really just because there's so much that a person could do to sabotage the admin that it tends to fall into broad categories rather than specific actions - like anything which pushes vampires and humans towards war would sabotage the Administrator, for example.

Please please please, don't think of these as exhaustive suggestions. We wanted to leave it ambiguous enough to let people have freedom to be as creative as they want, so if you have questions about how something might or should work, feel free to ask! Think of this thread as a jumping off point.

[Azraeth]

Not long now until the end of this phase of chapter 8! Remember, the way people respond to the chapter determines how and if it progresses! <3

[Azraeth]

Only a few days left until the end of phase 2!

[Azraeth]

CHAPTER UPDATE!!

Alright folks we have officially hit the second crossroads for Chapter 8: Father of Monsters. Unfortunately, the direction the community chose to take has led to a dead end. With a marginal score in favor of working against the admin, it can be said that the denizens of Harper Rock decided to take the route of apathy and inaction in the face of a rising threat which promised to become more and more dangerous with every passing day. What this means is that the group of anti-vampire humans was allowed to continue growing unchecked. They had their meetings during the daytime hours without intervention. They were able to rally support, and continue the flow of cash from legitimate to less savory sources. Whatever eventuality they were building towards by stockpiling weapons and explosives it seems has been forestalled for now. After all, if they could manage to accomplish their goals without resorting to violence, why not take the diplomatic route?

The chapter has ended.

With nobody to stand in their way, the rogue humans won. The Administrator has been bested, and has gone radio silent on the matter which perhaps indicates they have gone into hiding to lick their wounds. Or perhaps they are just planning their next move.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment of defeat in situations like this, where there is no real conflict, but instead a slow spiral into darkness. However, a good point of reference is the newly ratified piece of legislation. Bill C-819 has come to be known as the Distinction Between Living and Animated Persons Act, though it has a couple of nicknames which it is equally known by. Some call it the Only Freedom for the Living Law, or Cotter’s Law, for the member of parliament who had a major part in constructing and pushing the bill through.

THE CONSEQUENCES!!

The Distinction Between Living and Animated Persons Act is a verbally dense document which can be boiled down to a single sentiment. Vampires are not truly living in the eyes of Canadian law. They are animated, which in the eyes of many, makes them only a little better than the zombies which overrun Harper Rock. This difference may not seem like much, but in legal terms, it’s significant. Because vampires are not considered living, they do not get the benefit of human rights, which is made doubly impactful given Harper Rock is under the equivalent of martial law. Even mayor Bancroft’s powers have waned considerably, as more and more authority is given to the Canadian military, which has promised not to allow the bleak ‘sickness’ which has ravaged Harper Rock spread outside of its borders.

Because of the new law, vampires are now being catalogued. Checked at every stop by use of a mirror or other means, vampires are put on a list for observation. What’s more, vampires are now required to have a specialized identification card which makes it clear what they are. Information about how to spot vampires has been made public and plentiful, though there are rumours going around that the undead members of Harper Rock’s little community might be forced to eventually wear identifying marks on their person somewhere. Visible, for all to see.

Additionally, vampires are being tracked through subdermal microchipping, which makes it easy for the military and the Canadian government to keep up with any and all movements. These microchips are being administered at every stop in Harper Rock and after October 31, 2019 - any vampire found without one faces legal repercussions. The same goes for the specialized identification card.

There is a permanent no fly ban on all vampires in and out of Canada. Those found outside of Harper Rock, within Canada or the United States are immediately deported back to Harper Rock if caught. Vampires are not allowed to leave the city by any traditional means, as all traffic going in and out is monitored. There are rumblings that citizens of the States to the south are afraid that the spread of the undead will reach their borders and are calling for something to be done about it.

Because vampires are not considered living or human, lethal force can be used to subdue or defend against them.

As extreme as these measures sound, there is information recently leaked which suggests the original draft of the bill was far more severe. Originally, the desire was to divest vampires of all physical belongings, wealth and status, to tear down the buildings in the Quarantine Zone and surrounding areas, create tenements, and force all vampires to live essentially on only a few blocks of land, with rigid control over who could get in or get out.

Perhaps the first draft of the bill is a glimpse into the future. Or maybe it’s not too late, and something can be done about the precarious situation the vampires of Harper Rock find themselves in.

Relations between humans and vampires have significantly worsened.

New rumours are being added to the grid to reflect the changes to the RP world.