And then a bunch of new people showed up almost at once and completely changed the dynamics. The first was Mab.
Mab Westell arrived like a whirlwind in April 19HY, barely seventeen, seemingly everywhere and knowing everything, and asking a hell of a lot of questions about everything. Was a near constant annoyance at first, especially on top of the community still asking questions about Brian Torres.
And then…she started using her knowledge to build a news distribution platform in late 19HY, called Zero Flux Given, which let everyone post their random ideas, and suddenly, Haven was much more connected online than it had previously been. Before that, Haven had not had any sort of ‘social media’, and now it did. After, politics became more than just a few community leaders arguing in a bar with whatever random locals showed up that night and a few defunct online message boards that no one used.
This changed things. People started showing back up to the meetings, and then even more people. The meetings became a lot more structured, with a table at front with chairs and audience seating and a time they’d call on that audience, eventually adding live broadcast and ability to ask questions remotely.
Mab is also the only serious person who made a somewhat well-crafted argument for option 4, for actually ‘overthrowing’ Project Zero and declaring independence, just because she thought every position should have someone competently argue for it at least once. It still wasn’t workable, and relied entirely on the Project Zero and the MTPs not responding at all and just letting Haven leave, which was very dubious, but it at came up with answers to a few questions about how Haven could survive.