Watchers

This article is about general Watchers. For the Isolated Watcher known as Grandmother, see Isolated Watcher.

Watchers

Information

Affiliation

SPEAK-AS-ONE

The Watchers are characters in The Blackout Club (game).

Description

	WE ARE NOT MERELY ONE ECHO. WE ARE THE BEST OF MANY.
— SPEAK-AS-ONE

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.

In order to manipulate the children, SPEAK-AS-ONE was forced to use the Word. They pulled this skill from the memories of their hosts, and along with it came pieces of personality. These bits of memory combine into different structures (Watchers) to get the right reaction out of children, and different children bring out different personality quirks. One watcher is not made up of memories all from one person. 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.

History

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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^{[citation needed]}, 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.^{[citation needed]}

While she was a Watcher, Grandmother couldn’t distinguish the memories of her life from the memories of others. The child who trapped her goaded her with pride, bringing out more and more of her personality within the Watcher. When she was trapped in the Place Between, more of her personality was present in the Watcher than any other. After she was trapped, she took over and the other personalities faded.

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. Additionally, a former host of THE-MEASURE-CUTS, Horace Giménez changed loyalty to SPEAK-AS-ONE and helped design parts of the maze. When he passed, Horace became a Watcher.

In order to separate another Watcher from the song, a Watcher must be led by someone they trust or someone who brings out certain personality quirks. If club members start throwing the names around, the Watchers will become defensive.

One Watcher was urged by a loyal follower to remember their past. The Watcher remembered being a missionary and traveling outside of Redacre. After asking if the Watcher is Livia Perdichi, both players took damage, and the Watcher expressed that it fears becoming like Grandmother. In response to a question about ciphers and the lucid transcript found by HQ, Livia responds, "WE HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO LEARN FRENCH". Grandmother encouraged the club to be very careful with this detail, as it is difficult for Watchers to speak in the Word, especially under duress, so every word would be intentional.

Player Interactions

Interactions discussing Watchers: Discussing Watchers.