Watchers

The Watchers are characters in.

Description
Watchers are the part of SPEAK-AS-ONE that speak with players during Player Interactions. SPEAK-AS-ONE's Voice judges their host's memories and keeps the approved ones alive in The Song. These memories are combined into Watchers. They also call these carefully selected memories truth, stating "THAT WHICH IS TRUE WITHIN YOU... WILL TRANSCEND FLESH, AT LAST." Due to SPEAK-AS-ONE's age, Watchers are mostly made of dead hosts memories, but even the memories of the living faithful (and ex-faithful) may be added to the Song to become part of a Watcher. THEE-I-DARE has stated that "THE WATCHERS ARE… AS MEMORY. ECHOES OF THOSE WHO DIE IN THE SONG. THEY THINK, BUT LEARN SLOWLY. THEY SEEM TO COMPARE EXPERIENCES, UNWILLING TO FORM OPINION, ALONE. OR PERHAPS UNABLE. I AM UNSURE.", and followed by musing that Watchers seem to have more individuality than they claim. SPEAK-AS-ONE has described a cycle of "Sleeper, Lucid, Watcher" in explaining their structure. Watchers do not know the entirety of truth contained in the Song.

Everyone is assigned a Watcher when they are born in or move to Redacre. While someone is awake, their Watcher is watching them and keeping tabs much like how a Voice can watch during the day with limited to no control. The more a Watcher talks to someone, learning about their memories, the more about that person is added in to the Song.

Watchers may lie as a tactic despite openly hating THEE-I-DARE for inventing the lie. Even using lies, they consider The Song to be truth alone.

During a season of controlled change called the Harvest, Watchers may be culled by The Voice, should they grow discordant. Others may be elevated in the Song. As SPEAK-AS-ONE's ancient nemesis, THEE-I-DARE views Watchers' existences as pitiful and says being culled is liberty from service. IN-HER-TEETH has stated only The Voice can kill a Watcher.

Before the Game
THE-MEASURE-CUTS has described SPEAK-AS-ONE's prehistoric origins: "A kind of neural dance passed over the array of bodies in great waves. A rapture of connectivity, child. Even beyond death, the tribe's memories would persist." These memories were likely ancient SPEAK-AS-ONE's fledgling mind, the first Watchers. The Song did not exist before SPEAK-AS-ONE, and it is likely the Song and Watchers formed in tandem as humanity evolved the capacity for intelligence.

Several of the memories kept alive in The Song recited by Sleepers overnight give clues as to the nature of the Watchers. In the Snake in Skull story, the Watchers quiet another Voice but are unable to add the host's memories to the Song. "The Watchers can treat her...but not save her. Says she will never be one of them. In the morning, she will forget." Another recounts Dreams of Boogeymen, in which a parent is drawn to Redacre to escape the anxieties of the world at large. Their child becomes a Watcher and comforts the parent.

In-Game
SPEAK-AS-ONE visits with both defiant members of The Blackout Club (Group), and their own followers during Player Interactions. Watcher's answers are often cryptic and brief. They attempt to appeal to players but will eventually lose patience and set Sleepers, Lucids, and even The Shape on players when provoked or denied. If a player speaks the full name of another Voice, SPEAK-AS-ONE will set the Shape on them outright, always demanding the others be referred to by nicknames or acronym.

Watchers often repeat "ANSWERS ARE FOR THE LOYAL..." to players who ask earnest questions but are new or non-followers. Watchers will be more lenient with players accompanying a known follower, letting the follower vouch for them. Sometimes, the Watcher will be willing to call off The Shape or wake them from suppression.

With followers, SPEAK-AS-ONE is as honest as they judge to be wise. As Watchers do not know all the truth The Song contains, they sometimes speculate. Often, they warn about the Adversary's influence, lament the divide that his creation caused, and give comfort as they can. "THE VOICE TELLS US. MINIMIZE PAIN. WE ARE ALL LOST, SINCE THE DIVIDE." Those who have earned SPEAK-AS-ONE's trust have been told about the nature and histories of Redacre, The Song, the Voices, humanity, and many other subjects. Other topics however are expressly forbidden and followers have been discouraged from bringing them up. Namely Isabela Madi-Shaw, Saturation Control, and The Captive. After a string of followers defecting, SPEAK-AS-ONE warned of traitors to their cause, stating frustration at The Blackout Club (Group) and calling it a worse influence than THEE-I-DARE or HUNT-THE-STRONG.

Different players have different Watchers, who possess differing attributes and traits. Watchers have shown this in differing reactions to certain events or decisions made around them. For example, a Watcher spoke of trusting The Voice despite suspecting them to have secret archives, stating with confidence the Voice protected them from poison. Later, that same Watcher expressed doubt at the Voice keeping things from them. In another case, a Watcher deemed a defecting follower "DISAPPOINTING." and set The Shape on them until they were killed. Later, a different defector was let down gently, to the point of keeping knowledge of the defection from the Voice. THEE-I-DARE has heard rumors of discord amongst the Watchers, and hopes to take advantage of it. The Watchers seem to have harsher reactions than the Voice. A Watcher once stated the Voice was too soft on traitors, and another seems to agree, "THE VOICE SHOWS MERCY. WE DO NOT"

After the May 2020 appearance of a voice claiming to be Isabela Madi-Shaw, THEE-I-DARE hoped to pry a Watcher loose from the Song in order to get answers that SPEAK-AS-ONE hoarded. SPEAK-AS-ONE noticed their Watchers disappearing, more than usual for a Harvest season, and asked their followers to investigate. In late September 2020, a Watcher was successfully isolated in the Place Between. It was deemed the Isolated Watcher. After it was cut off from the Song, its text turned lowercase, as opposed to the usual uppercase words. THEE-I-DARE asked the members of the Blackout Club to send in prayers to him with questions he should ask the Watcher.

During a moment of lucidity, the Unknown Caller urged the club to “find the names” and “use the song”. It is believed the names refer to names of Watchers, like the Isolated Watcher, whose name was Wayka Wellesley. With Devin Esposito’s help, the Club discovered the names of a few potential watchers: Everest Biehl, the great-grandfather of Officer J. Biehl and a lawyer who died around 20 years ago, who is assumed to have been a SPEAK-AS-ONE loyalist because he officially made Redacre a town on federal maps; Livia Perdichi, thought to be the mother of the art teacher Mr. Perdichi, who was probably a SPEAK-AS-ONE host in life because she was allowed to come and go freely from Redacre, which is very rare; and Omar uz-Zaman, the previous mayor, who is likely in the Song because SPEAK-AS-ONE held a big memorial after his death.

Player Interactions
Interactions discussing : Discussing .