Los Santos: Now, where were we?

[Droo]

When Los Santos and Redención House were first imagined, they were small intimate ideas which served as a setting for a story that had a definite beginning, middle, and, well, at least a temporary end. The setting has grown over the last couple of years, incorporating the ideas of others, and as new characters and stories were introduced, the plot, as they say, thickened. Except now it has thickened almost to the point of stagnation, not because there are too many cooks spoiling the broth, but because the pace of our roleplaying has diminished. We're spoiled from time-to-time by periods of feverish posting and then, suddenly, the tumbleweeds start to roll on by...

In a setting like our Star Wars universe, expansive as it is, this trend doesn't present much of a problem to our creative endeavours. If the Imperials don't crack on with the building of that new Death Star of theirs, or whatever new-fangled thing you crazy Imps are up to these days, the Jedi of the Wheel, for example, don't feel in anyway hindered by this lack of progress. In Los Santos, however, there are those of us who have been feeling rather restricted, in search of vivid new stories and character development, but at the same time constrained by a conclusion that is both inexorable and, at present, stationary.

This is not a call-to-arms for everyone to get their posting hats on, but rather, it is a chance for us to do a little brainstorming to help loosen these creative constraints for those who are eager to press on with their stories. The big conclusion to which I am referring is, of course, the Los Santos riots in which the government rolls out the first Sentinels. There are other major, although more character-specific revelations upon which I won't expound here, but suffice it to say, these events will have lasting repercussions upon the story-telling landscape of our little corner of LA. And what I would suggest is that we outline here a loose-ish sort of timeline for these events, and discuss any potential lasting implications they present to our characters and the world they inhabit. That way, people will know how to navigate the plotlines with a sense of creative freedom and without stepping on anyone's toes. If, in order to do this, we need to jump beyond the big finale of what we sometimes refer to as our Season One, then so be it. But maybe we can find a more agreeable point from which to continue without having to make an abundance of vague references to stories that have not yet been written.

Another thought I've had, inspired by Zeke's recent planning thread, is that we could share information about our characters that will lend itself to mutually-beneficial collaborations and new stories. Where is your character currently at and in what direction would you like to take them, pre-and-post riots and sentinels?

In my case, there's Jim Lewinski, who I'm presently playing as an eccentric, exciteable, cowardly, shrieking nerd of the highest order, which is fine up to a point, but I'd really like a shift in that formula with some character development. I have ideas, and there are events already in motion, following his sobering experience in the Firestorm thread, Jim has doors opened up to him in the shape of Tom Harriman, and Treadstone, and eventually, X-Force itself. Ultimately, I want to turn my unassuming dork into a fully-fledged hero with spandex and everything! Now, that's a steep hill to climb in itself, and made more difficult for me when I have to navigate a fuzzy chronology to boot. So, what would help me in this instance is knowing how much time transpires between Firestorm, and the consequent fallout from that thread, until the big finale rolls around? Do I have days? Weeks? Months? One I have a grasp of at least that information, I begin to figure out just how far along in his personal journey Jim can venture before disaster strikes.

Let's use that as our starting point, since I've waffled and meandered all over the shop, if Firestorm is the thread that starts the ball-rolling on the Los Santos: Season One end-game, and that takes place on July 23rd, when can we expect the sentinels to land?

[Banner Laverick]

I have some ideas of what I would like to happen with Banner, most of which involve Flux (natch) and meeting the Brotherhood. I'll try to flesh out some ideas on break at work this weekend.

Droo, message me about costumes, I've got some rad ideas. :D

[Captain Untouchable]

I like the idea of jumping ahead a little. It's been the summer holidays for two or three years now, and given the number of school kids and teacher-types kicking about, that's a big swathe of story types that we haven't been able to write about for quite a while. It's also been pretty difficult to work out whether plans can be moved forwards or not, because no one is really sure if there's a) enough IC time for the next step in the plan to take place, and b) enough OOC time for the relevant thread(s) to be written.

Also, if done right the whole narrative jump thing can actually be a pretty cool storytelling device. If we want to keep an air of mystery and such about the big finale/reveal/etc, we can still do that. We'll see the new status quo that the finale has caused, and there'll be an air of "Holy crap - how did all of this happen?!"

[Aidan Fox]

In answer to your timeline question, Droo, I believe we had things chunked up by months. June was our month for introductory action, bookended by the passage of the MRA (June 1) and the Rally (June 28). Then in July, things began to heat up, starting with "The Unfixing" (July 5). "Firestorm" marks the transition into the final act, and things were going to all go to hell in August. I know we toyed with the idea of the riots taking place on the eve of mandatory registration (so, August 31), but that's a lot of time to fill. I think mid-August makes sense for the big finale.

I have plans in place for several of my characters, but that's all dependent on how much time I actually have to write them. I liked the idea of all the serious shizzle going down at once season-finale-style, but that's just not practical with my school load and current creativity level. Quick breakdown, for my benefit as much as anyone else's:

Aidan Fox: really integral to the finale. The biggest outcome is that he will no longer be in Los Santos after the riots.

Jamie Morrigan: I really do want to do her nightmare thread. It'll be huge, but it'll be pretty much self-contained, so I don't think it'll really affect story options for other characters. It needs to happen between Firestorm and the riots, but it really could be written any time.

Zero: Loads of plans involving Mute, Vigilante, Colonel Hunter, and the rest of the Vanguard crew. I was really hoping that it could be sorted out shortly before the riots, but it could happen afterward. Shouldn't affect anyone except the characters I just mentioned.

Taya Robbins: I had a loosely defined plot involving her rather traumatically discovering a previously unknown facet of her mutation. The riots provide a perfect opportunity for that, but this is probably the first storyline I'd cut.

~~~

As far as how the status quo has shifted, a few questions occur to me.

1. How does public opinion/government policy concerning mutant registration change as a result of the riots?

2. What is the status of X-Force? Who knows about them after the riots? (e.g., Vanguard, the MCU, the LAPD?)

3. What happens to the MCU? I know Justin had ideas about Stern going rogue. Will the unit survive without him?

4. Who all is left at Redencion House? I know there are plans for some of the kids to leave. If anyone wants to introduce some new Redencion kids, this transition point would be the perfect opportunity to do so.

[Glen Fiddich]

I think we need to answer 1 before we can answer anything else. The role of the MCU and X-Force in particular would depend entirely on how California handles Mutants going forward.

Something to consider: Droo and I are still planning on doing a 1984-esque story in Britain, where the government is quite overtly clamping down on mutants. One of the many things that we cooked up was the idea of most mutants ending up unemployed, with the government using the benefits system to keep track of them (in the UK, you have to sign on every two weeks to continue receiving unemployment benefits).

It might be interesting to have a stark contrast in California. Britain isn't hiding the fact that mutants have become "second class" - perhaps there are ways that California could keep that kind of scrutiny and monitoring, but in a more subtle way? Vanguard and/or MCU (or perhaps both?) could have an almost secret police role, with people getting plucked off the streets, but with the public pretty much sticking it's fingers in it's ears and pretending everything is fine. There could be some classic tokenism - "Look at us! We're employing mutants!" - celebrity-endorsements... it could even open up the door for some of those Senator-type characters to crop up again.

[Aidan Fox]

Along with that - and let's go ahead and unspoiler it - the Sentinels. That's quite a game-changer right there. The public will see them deployed during the riots, and Vanguard + the government will have to be careful about how they're perceived.

This is how I've been envisioning the deployment of Sentinels during the riots. I've mentioned it to Jace and Droo before, but it's definitely open to suggestions. A cordon is drawn around the danger zone, which engulfs most of Los Santos, and national guard, Vanguard, and police forces are arrayed at the borders to keep people from going in or out. The Sentinels then are deployed into Los Santos with the stated mission of rounding up violent mutants and packing them into APCs for transport back to secure holding facilities. As I've said before, I envision the Sentinels as resembling the Hunter-Killer tank units from the Terminator franchise. They're not bipedal robots; they move on tank treads and are bristling with both lethal and nonlethal anti-mutant weapons.

I think the government and media will try to equate Sentinels to things like Predator drones. These are advanced tools that can enter and pacify situations too dangerous for human soldiers and police officers. They are a weapon of last resort, one that chiefly operates on a principle of deterrence. They serve as a warning to mutants who would use their powers for violence and terror.

I think that has to be at the center of America's new policies of mutant control.

[Captain Untouchable]

From a tactical standpoint, having them at the centre of America's new policies is a given... but I think the important take-away is the idea of equating Sentinels to Predator drones. I would think that the US Government would be very keen to downplay how dangerous these things actually are, because they're being turned against the American people.

A better parallel might be something like a taser, firing beanbags or rubber bullets in riot situations - or, hell, the sidearms that police officers carry. US law enforcement has dangerous equipment available to it, for use on an "absolutely necessary" basis. The Sentinels could be spun as an escalation of that... a taser for people who are immune to tasers, as it were.

One thing that could provide an interesting point of contention: would the Sentinels be autonomous, or would they have a pilot (like the Predator drone)? If there is a human behind the controls, it becomes a question of whether or not you trust the human to use the device responsibility. If they're autonomous, that could create all kinds of interesting issues over where legal culpability falls if anything goes wrong.

[Yolie Devix]

The only issue I have with what you're saying, Jace, is that you're assuming the government and people in the US at large will think of mutants as people with the same rights that they have. Isn't the overall premise that they really don't think that? That they're too different to be considered real citizens, or even real people? Though I do agree that they'd downplay just how dangerous the Sentinels really are - public opinion can change dangerously quick and they need to be able to manage it as best they can.

I always thought the Sentinels were remote controlled...or am I misremembering?

[Droo]

One of the big questions we have to consider is whether or not the government will be inclined to change its decision regarding mandatory registration for LA mutants in the wake of the riots. Can that kind of legislation even be withdrawn so close to the mark? Because if not, and if registration is going to become mandatory, then, come September, there are significant ramifications for all unregistered mutant characters. Every mutant in pursuit of a normal life will thereafter be required to be registered, otherwise they're a criminal.

When it comes to public opinion, I don't think it is going to be quite so one-sided. Let us draw a comparison between mutant and religious fanatic terrorism. The atrocities committed by the likes of the Brotherhood will have stirred up in the American people a fever of fear and panic, and similar to the strong anti-Islam sentiments we see expressed in the public forum and in some parts of the media, there will be a similar wave of anti-mutant prejudice and discrimination.

However, there will also be the free-thinking intellectuals who see beyond this lynch mob mentality, and their arguments will be bolstered with the deployment of Sentinels on American soil. That in intself will invoke a powerful backlash against the government, and not from a small portion of the people, either. I disagree that mutants are currently percieved as second class citizens in our America, those who harbor such hateful sentiments will be naturally divided up into two types, like racists, those truly warped enough to declare their hatred in public, and those who share their prejudicial views in private. No doubt there will be members of the government who also have those views, but to make them known would be career suicide this early in the game, because I don't think the government is ready to demote a minority group into a sub-class of citizen quite yet. That would only spark further moral outrage nationwide.

I think this sort of highly-charged moral, political, and social environment will allow a journalistic character like Taya Robbins to flourish, along with some of those old political characters. Consider tales of Sentinels malfunctioning, an exposé on their outrageous weapon systems, or horror stories of innocent civillians, mutant and non-mutant alike, being caught in the crossfire. What about a Guantanamo Bay for mutants? There's plenty of possibilities to consider.

And as for the government itself, well, the question remains whether or not it would renege on the Mutant Registration Act following the riots. If they are spooked by the violence and postpone mandatory registration, it may be seen as weakness, whereas if they go ahead with their plans, there's a chance it could spark similar violent protests all across the country. Such a relentlessly aggressive stance would surely drive scared mutants into the path of dangerous visionaries like Saladin. Can they take that risk? Do they have the Sentinels to deal with an uprising on a national scale?

This trend would also mean organisations like the MCU, and even vigilante groups like X-Force, would more than ever have their work cut out for them. Mutants forced to walk a very fine line between supporting their fellows and upholding the law. This would be especially difficult for the MCU, because they face the prospect of a backlash, which poses a threat to them and their families. X-Force at least has the blessing of anonymity. And speaking of which, since it has already been brought up, I think X-Force is still very much in its infancy, both IC and OOC, and while I'm uncertain what kind of role, if any, it will play come the time of riots and scary machines, I assume those behind it would want it to remainly largely uncredited on the crime-fighting stage for the time being. What might be interesting is if, in the future, someone from the MCU develops a Jim Gordon sort of relationship with X-Force, in acknowledgement of the escalating tensions and violence.

And as for Redención House, Jim will be gone, off to university and to Treadstone, wheras soon-to-be Uncle Jake, will stick around to support his sister for the foreseeable future.

And a final thought: following the riots, I intend to introduce Charles Jericho, founder of the Jericho Foundation, as if that wasn't glaringly obvious, and he, being a man of wealth and power and of considerable clout in the political arena, could help defuse the volatile situation. I'm thinking the usual spin but coupled with the rolling out of some new programs for mutants in society, to help them find work, medical care, homes, or whatever kind of support they need, which would conveniently also serve to apply a slick coat of paint to the Jericho Foundation's public image. Perhaps this could be one of the factors in either reversing the government's stance on registration, or conversely, the public's reception of it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

How many months after the riots are we looking at jumping to? With Tycho supposed to be an integral part of Anna's story, it makes it difficult to move on, but I can manage I think, with the idea that I'd go back to RP the past ASAP if Liz ever comes back (come back please, Liz :( ).

Anyway. After riots-

Aimee - homeless
Anna - having a kid in January
Jen Cho - dead
Ronnie - at the house
Scott - at the house
Antonio - failing school, if he's even attending any more
Jane - actively fighting against sentinel outposts? No idea really. Perhaps the a brotherhood has been forced underground again after their resurgence during and leading up to the riots.

I think Redencion House will be officially closed, though the current students will still be staying there. Anna would get in trouble for helping more mutants, but of course she can't be convinced to stop if anyone shows up in need. If the Brotherhood is squashed due to Sentinels, then a small core group could still be working, and indeed working with Anna to help get mutants out of California to safer states.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Ok...this needs way more thought than I am capable of at this hour...I'm going to sleep on it & edit in the AM.

Going to need to talk to peeps about characters first though!

[Captain Untouchable]

The only issue I have with what you're saying, Jace, is that you're assuming the government and people in the US at large will think of mutants as people with the same rights that they have. Isn't the overall premise that they really don't think that?

I don't think that's an unreasonable conclusion to draw, if you look at everything that is happening in the US currently, and has happened in the country in the past. Whether it's gender, skin colour, religion, same-sex marriages, or any of a whole slew of issues, America is a total powder-keg of disagreement over rights issues.

You most certainly will get people thinking that mutants are second class citizens... but America is the "land of the free", and the US government can't be seen to endorse that mentality. Following Droo's lead and comparing it to Eastern terrorism: sure, America engaged in a second Gulf War, we had Guantanamo Bay, and we had all of those new policies to do with detaining people suspected of terrorism. But the government couldn't just come out and say "all Arabs are suspected terrorists". The White House had to at least keep up the illusion that they were being impartial, objective, and were still observing everyone's civil liberties.

That's the point I'm getting at: it's all about the spin. While over in the UK we're creating a setting where the government doesn't give any fucks about public opinion and is taking extreme Orwellian measures, the US will want to preserve their image as "the good guys", at least to begin with.

Also, bear in mind that the riots and the deployment of the Sentinels was confined to California, and was a reaction to state legislature on mutant registration. It was a local affair, not a national one, and so the President would need to tread very carefully around the issue. There are, after all, 49 states that didn't decide to mandate mutant registration, and the White House has to be careful that it's response to what happened in California doesn't impinge on the decisions made at a state level elsewhere.

*

Edit:

Some thoughts re: Treadstone and X-Force.

Presumably, Dahlia Ericsson will have registered as a mutant. As a result, the world knows that Treadstone Industries is run by mutants. That could have all kinds of ramifications. Will people still buy Treadstone products if they have been "made by mutants"? Will we have a slew of non-mutant employees resigning to avoid being associated with us? Will we still have government and military contracts? Will there be public backlash? How badly will our share price drop? What impact will it have on Treadstone offices and facilities that are outside of California? Outside of the US?

On the flipside though, there is a lot of stuff that Treadstone can take advantage of. There may well be mutants losing their jobs all over the state: Treadstone is in a prime position to scoop up those people. Through Tom, we've already got a pro-mutant reputation, and we could take that further - funding initiatives, support groups, social groups, and all that jazz in local communities. We're enough of a household name to be active on the political stage. Part of Tom's research is to develop useful things for mutants - shoes for speedsters that won't burn out, and so on - we could actually start specialising in products for mutants.

From an X-Force perspective... I don't know what the official line would be (that's Dee's call), but I vaguely know what Tom's approach to things would be. There are going to be a lot of people who feel disenfranchised by everything that's happened, and might feel compelled to act out. Through his Treadstone work, and through his vigilante work, Tom will probably want to find those people, and stop them before they do anything they shouldn't. He'll also want to stop the Brotherhood and the gangs from doing anything that would force the government's hands and make them send in the Sentinels again.

X-Force will probably want to stay away from "normal crime" (at least to begin with) - it'd be more like policing their own, preferably without law enforcement ever noticing what's going on. It's less a matter of acting above or outside the law... more acting before the law, so the law doesn't need to get involved in the first place. In situations where mutants are too far gone for us to diffuse the situation though (the Brotherhood and such like), having a Jim Gordon style relationship with someone in MCU would be a pretty cool relationship to have.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Treadstone & X-Force

Jace brings up a good point. Dahlia would have resisted registering as a mutant until she was certain she could retain complete control of Treadstone. It’s something she’s been working on behind-the-scenes in RP terms, though she’s mentioned it as an internal thought once or twice. So, it’s a safe assumption to say that by the time she formally registers, she’s in a solid position business-wise.

What the knowledge will do is an interesting scenario to contemplate. Some non-mutant employees will most certainly leave the company in order to not be associated with such a pro-mutant entity. I’m sure profits as well will take a considerable hit for a couple of quarters, but that aspect isn’t something Dahlia would worry about as it will all balance out. Existing government and military contracts will likely not be affected as much as future ones will, since the existing ones would be quite legally binding and monetarily prohibitive to completely cancel. Public backlash and share price drop? Of course, but like any scandal, after the initial furor dies down, things eventually filter back to business as usual.

Treadstone is going to certainly capitalize on the opportunities that present themselves – love the ideas, Jace. Dahlia’s completely on-board with them. Products for mutants could certainly become the company’s primary division, as it would likely be the only one, or one of a very few that are doing so. Or at least, the only one with the size and clout Treadstone has. As for X-Force, I’m inclined to have them operating in secret as they were intended to from the beginning, to combat mutant trouble that would bring down either more sentinels or harm others, much the way you’ve already got Tom operating. It’s the idea we had for Treadstone and X-Force from the beginning, but failed to get off the ground.

Post Riot Herd Plans

Svetlana – planning to have her outed in some suitably spectacular fashion, being pulled in towards the Brotherhood, and

[I]Sasha – hiding behind Daniel, otherwise being a dormant voice

Phedre – continuing with the Brotherhood & dealing with her brother’s defection to X-Force

Gaia – continuing with the Brotherhood & trying to make sense of Saladin

Riley – going to be seriously hurt during the riots (haven’t decided just how severely), so will be recuperating, and

[I]Atlas – hoping to introduce him to the setting but haven’t decided how just yet

Neiva – running with La Raza, otherwise dormant

Tiana – attending UCLA, trying to stay under the mutant radar, otherwise dormant

Dahlia – dealing with her registration backlash, handling Treadstone & X-Force duties, and trying to keep Athalie safe

Athalie – making life interesting for her mother, father, and assorted other people :)

Piotr – mostly dormant unless it makes sense for either Gaia or Lana to have him in a thread, or his abilities are needed for a Brotherhood mission

Bianca – mostly dormant unless X-Force needs her

Themis – joining X-Force much to his sister Phedre’s intense displeasure, and teaching at UCLA

Robyn – no plans as of right now

[Captain Untouchable]

Another thing that springs to mind - the whole "Bar None" club/pub/etc idea never really took off, but in a post-riot situation it could actually be a pretty useful thing to have. The landlord and at least two of the bar staff will be registered mutants, so it could well be one of the few overtly mutant-friendly places to hang out in LA, and a good place for the different factions to cross paths and stuff. If you're trying to get in contact with the Brotherhood, or if MCU is looking for leads... it could be a good place to start.

*

One question does spring to mind. Are members of the Brotherhood registered?

My knee-jerk reaction is that they wouldn't be. I always got the vibe that they're in LA "illegally", or are at least living under false names and what-not. No one tried particularly hard to hide their faces at Disney World, so if they were registered mutants, it would presumably be pretty easy for MCU to ID them and find where they live...etc.

With that in mind, does that mean that most / all members of the Brotherhood ended up as Sentinel targets? Did they simply fight back and avoid capture that way? Did they have to hide? Did they have to leave the city, and then sneak back in later? Or, did a whole heap of the Brotherhood end up getting Sentinelled?

Basically, what shape is the Brotherhood now in?

[Athalie Ericsson]

I know that Phedre, at least, is already on the MCU radar with how she was outed in LA as a mutant. So she'll likely be a target or could be, if anyone's interested as she's a very public figure (yay disgraced sports star!).

Lana's also on the Vanguard radar, given the events at the Rally, which could be interesting to play with.

Yelena (Gaia) and Piotr aren't US citizens, neither is Lana - now that I think of it, are foreign nationals being forced to register? Or, will they be forced to do so to be able to enter the country in future, like an extra box on some customs form or whatnot?

[Captain Untouchable]

That's something I'm having trouble getting my head around.

This whole registration thing is a matter of California state law. Presumably then, that means you only need to be a registered mutant if you live in California. Someone visiting LA for the weekend, someone on holiday from abroad, and all that - how are the Sentinels going to differentiate the people who should be registered but aren't, from the innocent mutant tourists?

[Droo]

I don't think that is their purpose. I believe they're being deployed to quell the riots, specifically targeting violent mutants as opposed to unregistered ones.

Edit: And after the riots, when registration becomes mandatory, I don't think Sentinels will be used to pursue unregistered mutants, certainly not without just cause (ie. someone who represents a great threat and/or has a history of violence or association with terrorist cells). And in this instance, the Sentinels would then have a specific target, a mutant who is a known threat which it could presumably ID before engaging, and then it would only target other mutants in the event they tried to protect the target, or attacked the Sentinel itself.

[Aidan Fox]

Haaaa, and now I remembered an idea I had suggested to Jace and Holly but never actually posted anywhere! Yes, yes, I know, that's the problem with these IM planning sessions... ^_^;

My idea was this: in response to a number of events, like the Brotherhood stepping up their game, and Firestorm, the government identifies LA as a hot zone and moves the compulsory registration date for the city forward by two weeks. That's a big part of what triggers the riots. And because registration is now compulsory, every unregistered mutant in the cordon is a criminal and a potential target for the Sentinels. As for visitors... well, tough patooties, probably. It's an extreme situation calling for extreme measures, and all that. Keep in mind their first objective is nonlethal capture. There are going to be a lot of prisoners going into those APCs.

But Droo's correct in that the Sentinels won't be unleashed wholesale on unregistered mutants. Not yet, anyway... That would take a much more dire situation, which we may not even reach in this continuity. But they could certainly be deployed against groups like the Brotherhood and X-Force, if they get too nosy around government holdings.

[Captain Untouchable]

The whole "tough patooties" thing is actually a pretty big deal, from a national perspective. You've got California trying to impose it's state law on people who are outside their jurisdiction, and they're making use of a secret military organisation to do that. The use of American troops against American citizens on American soil is the kind of thing that political protesters would get really up in arms about, regardless of the mutancy issue. It would be far too easy for innocent people to get caught in the Sentinels' crossfire.

Not saying we shouldn't do it. I just think we need to make sure to aknowledge that when we work out the fallout. California is probably going to be under a fair amount of scrutiny from DC because of this: there might even be an inquest to see if any criminal charges should be levelled at anyone because of any deaths / damage / injuries / etc that occurred.

Is anyone playing any state / city government characters in amongst all this? It might be interesting to throw in Governors, Mayors, Police Commissioners, District Attorneys, a City Councillor who is leading a special task force on mutants... not necessarily fully fledged characters, but it might be interesting to have established names and personalities in there to help with exposition and what-not.

[Droo]

Since we have no idea how long it will be before we actually start tackling this endgame, how do people feel about at least some of the roleplayers here doing the time warp, and picking up stories in a post-riots and sentinels setting? Are there any strong objections or concerns?

Also, on that note I'll address your earlier question, Holly, about how long after the endgame we'd potentially be picking things up again. I think it's important to allow the dust to settle to a degree before we embark on our next season, as it were. This way, things will feel fresh and provide roleplayers with a sense of freedom. Also, it will allow those of us who get round to seeing out the finale the opportunity to play out some of that immediate social and political aftermath without feeling the need to abruptly stop before we start treading on the coattails of Season 2.

Poetically, I'd like to see Season 2 open with New Year's Day, which would give us the space of a good four months for the repurcussions of that fateful night to truly take shape, and become the norm in our little world. That said, I know Anna's baby isn't due until February so perhaps that may be a bit of a problem for you, Holly. Frankly, I don't mind jumping further forward still to accomodate this concern, however, before we get ahead of ourselves do people think that jumping forward 4-6 months is too great a leap?

[Captain Untouchable]

Re: Sentinels -

I'm really confused, then. The only thing I was ever really told about the Sentinels was to do with Anna. I'm not going to spoiler any details or anything, but I'm not understanding how that particular event could happen if the Sentinels are only targetting hostile or dangerous mutants. I wouldn't have thought a pregnant lady falls into that category.

Perhaps this is something better explained to me over IM.

Re: Jumping to 2010

The only issue I can see with jumping all the way to 2010 is that we skip over a lot of the interesting roleplaying.

Explanation through example: think about all of the characters who are High School and UCLA students. There's a lot of meaty roleplay potential for those people at the start of the new academic year. Since registration is mandatory, everyone is going to know who the mutants are; and there's probably going to be some anger towards them from the "normals". The start of the year is when you're going to get mutants being bullied, being excluded from sports teams because they have "an unfair advantage" (regardless of what their mutation happens to be), and it's when you're likely to get those mutants starting to band together with each other. There's a whole heap of writing opportunities there.

If we skip to 2010 though, LA has had four months for things to settle down and come to terms with the events of the riots. All of those new character dynamics and relationships will already have been established. Not only have we missed those opportunities to roleplay... we're actually making work for ourselves. We'll have to sit down and work out what all of those dynamics and relationships are going to be, rather than letting them evolve organically over the course of threads.

On the other hand, jumping to 2010 probably makes it easier / simpler to define what the new status quo is, as far as the setting is concerned. Things will have stabilised rather than being in flux; and if we're trying to avoid getting bogged down in the same couple of weeks again, it's probably less sticky for that.

I'm cool either way - just want to make sure that people are aware of what we'd be skipping over, etc.

[Banner Laverick]

^ I kind of do, but I'm not part of the big picture so I fully expect the leap to happen anyway :-/

[Droo]

The issue has been raised here so everyone can have a say, and express their views, otherwise I'd have just sent private messages to those who are a "part of the big picture."

[Banner Laverick]

Either way, I'll end up doing flash back threads if it happens, and just do my own thing. I'm just being perfectly honest about my character - she ISNT part of any of the major storylines, at least not yet.

As someone who has just gotten BACK to RPing, it's a bit overwhelming to read huge walls of text just to get a back-story of what's going on in a setting that's just NOW being rekindled. I have my own ideas of what to do with Banner, which are going to happen whether we jump forward or not, but not posting and coming back does make me feel like a bit of a noob, IC-universe wise.

TIDE - This is also why I probably will never RP in the Star Wars setting again, unless it's to write my own stories. Even then, probably not gonna happen.

TIDE TWO - Since we have so many younger characters, why not make a New Mutants/Generation X type thing? Even if it's not set up via the basic X-men principle (Teachers + Students = Team), if we have so many characters at the same university, like minded mutants could band together and make a new hero team.

My plans for Banner are:


get her back into super hero-ing, probably behind Fluxs' back
introduce her to Fluxs' BrothersPretty basic stuff, that would only take two threads. Any fallout with Sentinels would probably just make her MORE convinced that Flux is right, and that the Brotherhood is the way to go. Right now, the only person IC that Banner has interacted with is Flux, so anything with the House/X-Force/whatever won't have any baring on her story line til later/whenever we get around to doing Brotherhood stuff.

[Sansa]

I don't have a problem with the story being picked up a week later or six months later, that's up to you guys. I just can't do anything with Anna or Redencion House without Liz and/or Andrew unless the jump is a bigger one. I could do some Aimee stuff, however, as she's on her own after the riots.

I'm just being honest. This would not mean that people couldn't RP in that time period with the House as a backdrop (Jim, for instance, RPing mostly at tread stone but still living in the House?)...? Does that make sense? I don't want to write MIA characters out of Anna's life so I'm willing to wait or simply not write the stories (I do want to write them).

[Droo]

It's starting to sound like the best option, in the event that some of us do take a bit of a temporal leap, if we resume business in September. So, we're talking about jumping a month forward, or to put it another way, two weeks after the riots and the passing of the registration act, which would be in time for the start of the new school year, and would hopefully not be too great a chronological shift for characters like Banner to regain their footing (that is assuming, of course, that those people have an interest in joining us in moving forward to September). Anna's situation is a difficult one, and much like the big finale itself, simply cannot be done without the contribution of some key roleplayers. Until those people are back on the scene, we can either twiddle our thumbs, or take the innitiative and bypass the obstruction of the narrative.

It was never going to be a perfect solution but at least it would open some doors. And as you said, Holly, while you may be presently unable to continue with Anna's story, there are always your other characters to focus on until then. If there's anyway I personally can help you to write the stories you want to write, just let me know.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Just chiming in to say that I'm excited to see this all kicking off again :)

[Banner Laverick]

I'd like to get Banner more settled into her role as whatever in the Brotherhood/L.A. first, but that's not going to affect everyone else from rping whatever they like. If someone summarizes the riots and whatever happened, then it's fine by me.

[Art Jones]

I haven't done anything yet, so my vote is null. I'm apathetic. However, I'd prefer to get involved in the world pre-riots if possible.

[Droo]

To clarify, think of it as if there'd be two active timelines for the Mutants Unite setting. The first would be our current one, in which all characters are active, and which will culminate in the mid-August riots. The second timeline could begin shortly after that, for example, at the start of September. That way, no-one is forced to stop writing pre-riots stories nor is anyone limited to writing only pre-riots stories. Then, when the riots are finally written up and that whole era comes to a close, the two timelines will merge, and those who didn't jump ahead with their characters are at perfectly liberty to join the others. Considering the way activity is on the forums at the moment, I can't see this providing much in the way of confusion anyway, but for me, personally, I'd like to move on because I'm bored witless.

[Dragon]

Until we finish up the riot arc, post-riot threads could possibly have a post-August date in the first post just to make it explicit. I don't think there's any need to put it in the thread title with so little activity going on anyway. If you don't see a date September or later, you can assume the thread is pre-riots.