12 October 2020 @ 05:19 pm
K so here's the deali-o:
Ian is working on the whole legal mumbo-jumbo in the off case we have need of it (hopefully not) but for safety reasons we need to know who is going to go through the tests. So in this post you can say it! No need to explain yourself, just "me" or whatever name you use that for some reason is not your tag will do. And if you are afraid to get the stinky eye from others, just write it privately.
This list is going to be for a very small number of people, basically us involved in trying to get as much protection to you guys as possible.
I understand that some of you might go "nah fuck you I don't owe you shit" and decide not to tell us, and hey, that's totes your choice, but it will certainly be easier if we can tell how many people are going and make sure they're all going out of their free will and what not.
So yeah, there you have it. Also please please don't comment here to bitch about this whole thing; much as I love to scroll through all your very well thought out drama this ain't the place, chief.
06 October 2020 @ 07:38 pm
I'm going to be researching and interviewing law firms to represent the displaced that intend to participate in Riverstone testing.
This doesn't mean I agree with the decision, and I won't be participating, but I genuinely believe that it's worth trying to protect them legally if they're adamant about doing it.
If you're interested, here are the things I'll be asking them to look into
-clear terms that all harvested organic material is the property of the participant of the study, but granting permission to Riverstone to complete a pre-approved list of tests they communicate in advance
-any genetic material has to either be returned or destroyed upon completion of the testing, and what exactly completion means
-PII needs to be considered confidential and shouldn't be stored by Riverstone beyond a specifically allotted time period after testing, with the exception probably being people still employed with the company
-we'd need some kind of statement on their security policies or data maintenance in the event that they're conveniently hacked
-we'd need an airtight nondisclosure agreement that includes our interests, not just theirs
-maybe some kind of declaration of intent with the stipulation that anything outside of the specified use cases be approved by all parties involved
-an agreement to release all findings to the participants of the study, or a specified list of contacts in the event that participant can't be located
I'm aware it's entirely possible Riverstone could just do whatever they wanted behind closed doors regardless, but I'm hoping this will help dissuade more blatant abuse and also give participants a leg to stand on if we find any evidence they breached contract. I also believe that if they refuse these terms, they have undeniably nefarious intent that should officially and realistically dissuade the Displaced from participating at all.
The point of this is post is to ask if anyone would be willing to donate toward the legal costs. I think this will benefit the displaced as a whole even if not everyone gets involved; if we have to have personal information given out to a mega-corporation anyway we may as well bundle in one more person who's fighting for our interests.
I'll be donating what I can myself. I'll also inquire about pressing Riverstone for a contribution toward the legal fees, since they're so interested in testing us. They may or may not be willing to negotiate on that point.
Any amount you're willing to contribute would be appreciated.
Thanks.
02 October 2020 @ 05:18 pm
i made a mistake
-------
ETA
Riverstone is interested in cooperating with the Displaced to learn more about the people who brought us here. They figured out who I was when I put in the paperwork to change my name back. Apparently, I'm still on the UN's most wanted list, but someone prevented the UN from acting to bring me into custody.
I don't know who, and neither does Riverstone — in fact, they asked me about it.
But they know that I'm one of the Displaced, which actually explains a few things. I've been working for Riverstone for months. After I went to Everest, I was gone a bit longer than the rest of us, well beyond El's coverage. They gave me back my job anyway. I don't think this was news to them. If you ask me, that's a sign they're not out to get us, but I realize not everyone will agree there.
Now they want to talk to all of us, or as many of us as are interested. Riverstone is offering to pay travel expenses in New Beijing for one week for anyone who wants to undergo observation and testing of their power, and who's willing to answer some questions. I know that sounds scary. I know scary. The UNA had me in custody for some time, running "tests." But Riverstone claims that what they're offering is different, that we'll preview everything first.
Before you decide, I should mention ... they think they might know something about who's been dropping us off. In return for our cooperation, they're willing to exchange that information.
I'm not telling anyone what to do, and no one else should try to do that either. But if follow (this) link, you can register your information with the Riverstone employees in charge of this, and they'll reach out to you to arrange the trip.
26 September 2020 @ 07:05 pm
What do you guys do to have fun?
Other than drink and have sex, because I know you're all so very original.
I ask because for the longest time I didn't really have a say on what I could do with my idle time (which was like, every living moment of my life) so now that I have all the time, ever, I'm going a bit insane.
Also, don't say bartending or washing dishes, I got those too.
26 September 2020 @ 03:09 pm
What's the deal with your surname? If you have one. We don't have them, where I'm from. I'm not stupid, for what it's worth-- I don't need the concept explained to me. I know they're just... family names, or whatever.
I just wanna know... what does yours mean, I guess. If it has a meaning. Where did it come from. If you don't have one, how did you... I don't know, choose yours, when you got here?
Anyway I guess I was gone for a bit, now I'm back, don't make a big deal about it.
13 September 2020 @ 01:46 pm
Hi everyone. I know we just got newcomers, so I apologize if any of this seems new to you. I recently updated our Arrival Guide, so take a look at that. If you have any questions, I'm sure one of us can help you out.
Before we get started, I'm Clarke Griffin and my partner in this is Stephen Strange. We've been running the Displaced-owned bar, Red Wings, since February. We're two members of the small handful of Displaced who have been here since the very beginning.
I've mentioned this in a few places, but Stephen and I are working on a proposal for our group. It's one that we hope that works for everyone, and it also doesn't expect anyone to adhere to any codes or guidelines. I don't think we can set up rules, bylaws, or committees for our group when we have turnover like we do. It would be unfair to anyone coming in. I've stood by this position from the very beginning, and I do think it helps us.
As for our proposal, there are a few parts, so bear with us.
What do we tell the world about us?
The general consensus is "very little," but we're unique and we stand together more times than not. It helps that we have a private means of communication. Even if we might not have a single mindset or goal, we are a unique group.
So, what are we going to say? Stephen and I want to tell the world that … as far as we know, we may have gotten our powers from some kind of gift from "god," as that's the only explanation we've gotten so far. Our ties to the gates will help us explain that, though we don't need to go into detail there. We also don't need to believe in these being gods, so much as that being what we've heard from the people who build the shrines.
When we talked about putting this proposal together, Stephen pointed out that while it's better that we don't say we're not of this world, it's important that we don't say we are from it, either. I'm sorry if that's confusing, but we don't want to get caught in a lie. Nobody's going to assume we're from another world, so it's better if we don't mention it at all. Anyone who might have proof one way or another would need to expose themselves to us. Down the line, leaving that open-ended may prove useful in knowing why we're here and how to get off this world.
We do intend to announce ourselves publicly soon as two people from our group, but we wanted to let everyone know about it first. If you're new, let me make it clear: people know about us. They know we glow. They know we run Red Wings. This is more of a formality than anything. It's a matter of taking control of the narrative. If you're employed with us at Red Wings, I understand if you want out. We can do our best to help you find other employment.
Red Wings as a Base
Moving forward, Stephen and I want to help the community with Red Wings. We've gotten the place mostly back in working order, but there are a few more concerns about the safehouse and the tunnels built in that I'll cover below.
As a base, we want:
To help grow a sense of community outside of times of crisis, encouraging connections between local people in the city.
To provide food and shelter to people in need, especially during crises
To work with PRESERVE to have a spot for people to rest up during these crises, as well as provide medical care if hospital workers are overworked.
Offer people a place to stay temporarily, especially if they're helping with the above causes.
We'll expand from there. The goal is to continue what we started during our recent monster crisis.
Protecting Ourselves
One major concern that @adora.weaver brought up during that crisis is that we're not learning self defense or preparing for a situation that is, quite honestly, only getting worse here. While we will not be instituting obligatory self defense, we've spoken to El about setting up the abandoned hoverbike garage as a training range. This will include any and all soundproofing that would be necessary, as well as other facilities on site. We feel that it's a good space for it.
As for weapons and combat training, we'd leave that up to anyone who wants to do it within that space. I know that having a space for it has been hard, so having one dedicated to it moving forward will help. If you're interested in helping with construction on this project, let us know.
The big thing is that Adora was concerned that we aren't approaching our situation with the seriousness that it needs. I've updated the guide to better reflect where we stand.
In addition:
One of the concerns with "outing" ourselves is how we'd be able to protect ourselves if people turned on us. I see the tunnels under the city as a means of working this to our advantage. However, we need a way to conceal these from the common people. If we can't, we'll need to abandon this plan, but does anyone have any ideas?
Protecting the Citizens
Stephen procured a warehouse that we believe will help us provide similar training to New Amsterdam citizens. We believe that we can look for local sponsorship for this activity. Weapons training will need to be off the table because of the legality of it, but any other training will be allowed.
My hope is that we can have Red Wings security help train the people of this city in how to fight. In time, we'd like to be able to make a secondary Displaced business out of this service, one that can outlast Stephen and I. We'd also be happy to let someone take this off our hands, but we'd likely help oversee getting it up and running, as well as procure sponsors.
I saw that someone wants to help release information that we learn, as well. I don't know how we can do this or how we can get it setup, but if you have an idea, I'm all ears. I'm still hesitant to assume that everything we experience is relevant to the world as a whole, so we may need to come to some decision on that.
Welcoming Newcomers
I'm happy to keep up the Arrival Guide for as long as I'm here, especially since its original creator was my friend. But we do want to look at putting together a group that handles helping newcomers get situated, especially one that can be handed off between Displaced when turnover happens in our group. Does anyone have any proposals for how to manage this?
Powers and Skills Listing
The Arrival Guide has a short listing of people with skills that may be immediately needed during a crisis. Feel free to add yourself there if you think you can do some good. It's been out of date for a while.
However, we've been throwing around the idea of an official database for skills and powers, but it's not something that any of you would need to be obligated to be a part of. I'm wondering if anyone would like to take this up. Personally, I'm happy to list my skill set, but when it comes to powers, I won't be included. Just to give people an idea of where this stands.
Final Thoughts
Obviously, this isn't something that we can do ourselves, but we think this speaks to a lot of the concerns that people have had. Our hope is that we can hand most of these projects off to people.
If you have any ideas for changes, we welcome them. But we'd like to start moving forward on them as soon as we can.
Thanks for reading, and we look forward to what you have to add.[ooc: Clarke and Stephen have been crowdsourcing and listening to What to Do for a while, so this is a proposal they came up with together! It's the result of months of IC discussion among the Displaced and between one another, especially after the last two events really putting the Displaced to the forefront of public attention. Both Stephen and Clarke are open to listening, but also want to move forward after a lot of discussion. However, we don't have the ability to run ahead with most of these projects ourselves (and have little interest in doing so because it's A Lot), so we were hoping something like this could be delegated via a post like this, with revisions made by characters along the way. The only thing they'll definitely be spearheading is anything to do with the Red Wings HQ (as in the bar itself), as well as using their Displaced-gained fame to get sponsorship for the self-defense center Both Stephen and Clarke are willing to delegate and put people in contact with one another as needed, so just let us know.
We'll also be submitting a plot engagement with the information about "coming out" once the discussion around this post ends. We'll mostly be focusing on that + the HQ, and we're happy to provide starting details for the other projects (since some have been run by the mods already) to get you moving in that direction.
Thanks!!]
24 August 2020 @ 09:19 pm
So.
How long have you all been here? Who has been here the longest, too?
And where can I read the tl;dr of just what the fuck is going on.
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