OOC Plotting Post: Operation Get Our Stuff Back

[highprofilerichkid]

Given the gang situation in Keeliai and the fact that many characters are going to want to investigate/get involved with the gangs on their own, it has been suggested that the foreigners should get together and actually coordinate their efforts and share intel.

The current plan to instigate this IC is for Tony to come back from his meeting with Zanru (which will not go well) and start ranting about taking Stark Industries back by force, prompting a couple more level-headed people to intervene and kickstart the discussion about infiltrating the gangs in a more subtle and concerted manner.

So, in this plotting post we should discuss:
• who will be present for that initial discussion (atm Gene, Sokka, Valdis and Cain muns are already signed up for this, which is probably about the limit the thread, unless one of them changes their mind)
• who will hear about it second-hand and how
• what relevant skills people have
• who is going to be cozying up to which gangs
• short-term goals (get their possessions back, get weapons, get access to their tech, get on the good side of the gang leaders, integrate the foreigners into kedan society so they can work and eat without being harassed, etc.)
• possible long-term goals (try to help one gang take control, or maintain the three-way balance, or put in place a more formal government and weaken all the gangs, etc...?). It's pretty early to be discussing this since the foreigners only know the basic outline of the situation and power dynamics right now, but if you think your character would already have strong opinions, you may want to note that here. How this discussion goes and whether it comes up at all will depend heavily on IC interactions.

I think it makes the most sense to put up a catch-all log for this, which will include the thread for the initial discussion, as well as threads for meetings that will occur later as word gets out.

Comments

[wrathfulkhan]

This sounds mad sweet and as articulated above I am so in. Love dat political intrigue.

I'm going to try and have Jackie backslide into gang membership, probably with the Snakes as a low-level grunt if I can swing it, so the possibility to try and use him as a mole may come up in future. Just tossing that out there in case anyone wants to bite for a long-term thing. o7

[highprofilerichkid]

Do we still want to do the thing that we discussed with Makari, where Jackie falls in with the Snakes independent of this plan, and Raine expresses concern to Tony, and Tony ropes Jackie into things so he can put his criminal tendencies to good use keep an eye on him?

[skeletonenigma]

It probably makes the most sense for Skulduggery to hear about this second-hand, or third-hand, or even fourth-hand. He's got his own idea for getting his Bentley back which includes negotiating with the gangs, and if/when he hears about Tony wanting to use force, he can definitely be one of those level-headed influences.

Don't mess things up right off the bat, Tony. -_-

[Also this whole thing is amazing thank you]

[rioh]

He may hear about it via Gene, if you're so inclined/if you want to make it secondhand knowledge. If you want that to come from new CR, that's totally fine too.

[gathersnomoss]

Zel might hear about it from Valdis. He's got a number of sneaking/lockpicking skills, and flight. He doesn't mind befriending some of the gangs.

HIs short term goals are getting people places to live, work, and places to buy food/clothing. He doesn't care about the politics and doesn't know about the tech. Getting the hospital back would be nice, both as a way of establishing goodwill and for their own purposes.

(Dante has talked Tazendra into freelancing so she might have some gang contacts, but she's the sort who needs a plan or she'll cause trouble. She's good with magic and violence, and terrible at keeping secrets. OTOH, she works as a distraction.)

ETA: Iroh is more interested in making connections to various other kedan families, but that might work as a base.

[highprofilerichkid]

Zel: Getting the hospital back and running smoothly is a really good idea. If he has basic rogue skills and medical experience, he might do well in the lower echelons of the Snakes or the smaller gangs? In addition to negotiating with the family leaders, we'll want foreigners who know what is going on with the common kedan, and working with/providing medical services to them would be a great way to do that as well as to foster goodwill.

Tazendra: Tony is absolutely not the right person to keep someone like Taz in line. x| double double EXPLOSIONS and trouble amirite So maybe one of the more sensible adults could keep an eye on her and more effectively direct her magic and violence. It's always good to have a really big distraction in your pocket.

Iroh: is definitely a Sensible Adult With Experience In This Sort Of Thing, so he could be a big asset. Would he be more inclined to act as a neutral party, or to help the foreigners organize their probably bumbling attempt at political intrigue?

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis is in, and ready to be a voice of reason and infiltrate the upper levels of the snakes. Once I am home I will add more details

[highprofilerichkid]

Excellent. How involved do you want Valdis to be in organizing the foreigners? Are you thinking she'd have a leadership role in these shenanigans, or is she more of a lone wolf har har har?

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

Sonja will definately hear it second hand, either from someone talking, or from her eavesdropping gathering intelligence

[highprofilerichkid]

Okay! Do you have any idea yet how she'll want to get involved?

[denyamenti]

Jack will urge caution once he hears about it, and may offer to be the "legal" side of things, helping to take observation away from the infiltrators?

[highprofilerichkid]

That's an awesome idea! Yeah, we definitely need some people obviously working on behalf of the foreigners, so this whole thing isn't, like, super suspicious.

I get the sense that that kind of negotiation is going to need to be focused on the Snakes, since they will probably have the most influence over how the foreigners move about the city, their safety, whether they can carry weapons, etc... The tech skills of many of the foreigners ought to give them at least a little bargaining power with the Metalworkers, but I'm guessing the Snakes are going to be a little harder to work with.

[akito]

I know that Akito is going to try and get his delivery business up and running again, and cater to all the gangs, making sure to emphasize that he is a neutral party and will not do anything other than pass packages/messages along safely. If any gang tries to sabotage a delivery he won't be an errand boy for them any longer, or something.

If that'll help at all idk but yeah

/still sleepy and braindead after holiday spa special week jfc

[highprofilerichkid]

If Akito does manage to set himself up as a trusted neutral party, that will offer a fantastic opportunity for spying on all the gangs, and if Tony doesn't bring it up I'm sure someone else will (possibly Gene). Tony won't like Akito putting himself at that much risk, but he won't stop him if he wants to do it. Whether or not that is a good idea is... questionable. Sometimes having a trusted, discreet go-between is more important than having a mole. That decision should be made in-character (if it is something Akito would consider doing at all).

Even if they decide not to do it/Akito refuses to do it, it's still possible that some of the more manipulative characters (...Valdis?) may still try to use Akito to their advantage (eg, following him to secret drops or meetings, trying to spy/eavesdrop on messages, etc.)

[royalguard_style]

-Dante will hear about it secondhand. I'd like to backdate this as much as possible for IC reasons, or just handwave it.

-If they want to use force, he's there. He needs to vent

-Otherwise, since he's probably going to end up on bad terms with the Snakes, he can probably try and kiss the rears of the smaller gangs that they're warring with.

-Dante's more interested in keeping what he has (his weapons) and helping out the people he's close to then getting anything back for himself. This basically means that he'll have it out for the Snakes in particular, and is only going to involve himself with the other two families if asked.

[redlightgreenlight]

As long as he doesn't mess things up for Valdis...She would not be happy if she had to fight the Snakes in his defense.

[highprofilerichkid]

I think having Dante as a "representative" for the small gangs is a great idea. Since most people will be focusing on the three big families, it will be important to have someone keeping tabs on the smaller factions.

Unfortunately, Tony is hardly any more subtle than Dante is, so he's probably not going to be able to give him much advice or direction. Maybe they can coordinate harassing the Snakes. :P

[12goingon113]

I have absolutely no idea how Mike will hear about it.
(I vote either Sokka or Tony get in touch because: Ninja.
And not just Ninja, but a ninja who used to teach the children of many Kedan Families. Mike...has like, urchins at his command, not unlike small urchin like flying monkeys.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony can get in touch with him! Since he previously offered his services as ninja-for-hire, and Tony now has a reason to take him up on that. :P

[theideaguy]

Oh great. Sokka's going to be working with Mikey again? This will be so. much. fun.

I mean, Mikey! How you doin'?

[theideaguy]

I'm supposing that I'm still having Sokka hear about this by Tony whinging to Sokka about how Stark Intergalactic International is now a trashy company with low stock prices. Oh yeah, and it's now owned by someone else or something.

Let's be honest about one thing: Sokka is not a schmoozer. Yes he could act the part of a gang member (probably rather successfully—Sokka actually has a decent amount of experience acting and playing at parts), but he's not really the one to go up and be buddy-buddy with people he doesn't necessarily like. That's probably not something he could do well.

My hunch would be that, in the grand scheme of things, his grand skill for this is orchestrating everything and figuring out a decent plan for how to swindle these fine people idiots out of the stuff they stole from us. Or really whatever else we need to do.

That said, Sokka actually hasn't lost all that much. Probably a nice fur coat or something really. But really, he's been toting around most of his real possessions. The only thing that was really taken from him was his job. But that's enough to pitch into the effort.

[highprofilerichkid]

Yup, that is still the plan!

And yes, we will definitely need some people staying a little more under the radar, organizing the foreigners and the information they gather.

[insertdadjoke]

I am here for plotting and things! Just. I'm sorry, work is eating me alive. From the 27th onward I should be able to slow down once schedules return closer to normal. Sob.

But yes, for the record, Cain is focused on helping the Foreigners integrate and gain some independence by making ends meet before they can even think to do anything else. Trying to do whatever else with no foundation is dumb, he thinks.

[highprofilerichkid]

Are you still on for Cain being in the initial convo? He can yell at Tony about logistics while Valdis yells at him about tactics.

Are you thinking that Cain will be more on the negotiating side of things? Jack will be doing negotiating as well, possibly with the Snakes, if Cain wants to help with that. We also probably need some people investigating and trying to make connections with the Woodsmen, so that's also an option.

[gistful]

Anton sort-of on the kedan's side. Basically he's counselling patience and courtesy, because it's clear the kedan are still figuring out the boundaries of the whole 'free-thinking' thing and antagonising them is a bad idea.

The Hotel will be available to all Foreigners, but it's also available to kedan, and Anton himself will always be available to talk people down from being stupid.

Solomon isn't on either side. He's been around long enough to understand why the kedan are reacting the way they are, because the Foreigners are kind of an invading force, but he's been heavy-handed in the past so he's basically keeping his head down and trying to avoid interacting with them too much until he figures out his shit.

He's more likely to go for the 'charm them' route than the 'infiltrate' route, though.

[highprofilerichkid]

Anton: Tony has a lot of respect for Anton, both personally and because he recognizes that he's a pretty powerful person. He might find the absolute neutrality of the Hotel kind of annoying and frustrating, but unless something really extreme happens, he will not object to Anton doing his thing.

I guess the big question is, how will Anton react if Tony's actions start to draw conflict to the Hotel (even if he's not directly involved in any fight(s) that break out)? Will he give Tony the boot, try to diplomatically or forcefully prevent Tony from messing around in kedan gang politics, etc...? And ditto for anyone else who's in on this scheme, since with this many knuckleheads participating I'm sure someone is going to screw it up.

Solomon: he's competent and sharp, so it seems plausible that he might come across useful information even if he's not actively searching for it. Would he willingly share anything he finds out, or is he going to be avoiding this entire enterprise like the plague since people like Tony and Valdis are running it?