SS Idea: Seek and Ye Shall Find

An Internet rumor has begun to spread on several prominent forums on the Academy City network. According to the story, there are several parts of a certain machine scattered around the city. The original source, as far as it can be traced, says nothing about what the machine does. In fact, the user, known as "Anonymous 977456," says they don't know its purpose. However, he/she posted some fragmentary scans of maps and documents as "all the information they have right now." Reportedly, they found it in an abnormally-fancy suitcase lying in a street in The Strange. Now people all over the Academy City network are trying to find these pieces, figure out what they do, and maybe benefit from it.

That's what I've got for now.

That sounds like fun. What it needs, though, is some more detail. Well, without knowing what the machine does, I can't exactly give very much, or any specific, advice. Anyway, the details that need to added, in my opinion, are things like a way for people to converge.

"Oh hey, this is one of those machine parts. Cool." "Oh hey, isn't that one of those machine parts?" "Yeah, this is one of those machine parts, all right." "What does it do?" "I don't know." "Huh. Well, nice talking to you! See you later!" "Yeah, see ya!"

Is all I can see happening if anyone actually meets, for whatever reason. Of course, that could depending on a variety of things. The nature of the machine, someone or a group of people that know what the machine does and want it, etc.

Well the machine itself would do fine if shrouded by mystery. I mean it probably would give all treasure hunters a good reason to look for the pieces and try putting them together.

In the end surprise would be great, once the full machine is put together and the truth is revealed~

I guess that would also cause an epic plottwist if executed in the right way, wouldn’t it?

Hm... Inspiration. Perhaps, instead of starting the side story with the beginning of the search, start it with the end, with the machine being put together. And then the story begins with consequences of the mysterious machine's completion. Interesting!

I think it's a tad bit different from what you had in mind, though.

I think that working together to find the machine parts would help the characters better form relationships and get to know each other better than if the thread just started with the machine completed. After all, the question of how would still be raised: How did they get all the parts before anyone else? They'd have to had worked together in some sense, and so they would've needed to form relationships. I also think that interactions between people would be a bit more extensive than just:
"Oh hey, this is one of those machine parts. Cool." "Oh hey, isn't that one of those machine parts?" "Yeah, this is one of those machine parts, all right." "What does it do?" "I don't know." "Huh. Well, nice talking to you! See you later!" "Yeah, see ya!"

Of course there should be other people looking for the parts, too. Some of them may want them all to themselves. Some might form one group, others might form another. And yeah, I haven't entirely decided the nature of the machine yet, but I sent my top idea to the mods for approval. If it's approved, I can start thinking up why some various organizations would want that particular machine. Otherwise, I'll think up another machine function and organizations to go with it.