Template:TheVoicesSpoiler
SPEAK-AS-ONE is one of the Voices in The Blackout Club (game).
Description
Template:Quote SPEAK-AS-ONE, also known as SPEAK-AS-1 by the development team, is one of the primary antagonists of The Blackout Club (game). SPEAK-AS-ONE's precise domains and meaning as a Voice are unknown. SPEAK-AS-ONE employs an army of Sleepers, Lucids, Watchers, The Dispatcher, Chordists, and Stalkers to obtain its goals in Redacre. It can be assumed they are the Voice of unity and community. A developer from Question LLC has noted in the TBC Discord server that "enforced plurality is essential to their meaning, more or less in the same way that SA1 is slightly more precise than SAO". [2] SAO use the pronoun they/them,[1] in reference to their plurality of existence; however, it was noted they will not reject players over alternative pronouns being used. According to a developer from Question LLC, "SAO has both genders, (or rather, each of the binaries, as a pair. I don't mean singular they, although you'll hear that sometimes)."[1]
Despite their role as an antagonist, through the use of a Light of Rebellion, players are capable of Sacrificing to SPEAK-AS-ONE. Their quote on the sacrifice table states that "they're the enemy.. if I do this, I can't tell the club. I can't tell anyone," and this secrecy is further emphasized through interactions in-game. TBC Headquarters, when a SAO affiliated player was mentioned in text messages, stated "wow! whoever is that tight with them ought to ask them where the F Bells is", [citation needed] and other Voices will note when a member of a group has been sacrificing to, or is associated with, SPEAK-AS-ONE.
As a text-based Voice, SPEAK-AS-ONE is one of the most commonly encountered Voices. They frequently appear to new players in order to speak to them, often haranguing them in the process for their choice to rebel and work against SPEAK-AS-ONE. While they are commonly one of a player's first encounters, they are typically antagonistic during these: other Voices can be courted through ritual, but SPEAK-AS-ONE frequently will demand sacrifice. To SAO, sacrificing is to "ACHIEVE SATURATION" where you "HEAR NO OTHER VOICES".[3]
SPEAK-AS-ONE is one of the few Voices, along with IN-HER-TEETH, that is known to speak to Stalkers during their missions. While the mission text of the Stalker sets a default story for the player, in which they are being blackmailed by SAO to perform their duties, the actual backstory of the player character generally depends on the player's decisions.
A unique feature of SPEAK-AS-ONE's encounters is that they are currently the only Voice who sends people to Saturation Control. Other Voices have sent players to Saturation Control,[4] but SAO is the only Voice to do so since The Blackout Club (game)'s 1.0 launch in July 2019 [citation needed]. SAO has stated that Saturation Control is where people are sent to reduce their "saturation" of other Voices within them,[citation needed] and how this works is not entirely clear. When in Enhanced Horror encounters, player characters are not directly speaking to the entire hivemind of SPEAK-AS-ONE: they are speaking to the player being visited's Watcher, who will later report back to a Chordist. Different players have different Watchers, who possess differing attributes and traits. [citation needed]
Chordists
- See: Chordists
Someone who "encodes truth into The Song"[5]
The Dispatcher
- See: The Dispatcher
An unknown female adult working who alerts Sleepers, Lucids, and the Stalker of the Sins committed by the Kids.
The Voice
The Voice is the current paired-Host interpreter of the Song.[6]
Watchers
- See: Watchers
Watchers are dead Hosts[citation needed] who "die in The Song"[7].
History
Before the Game
Template:Quote
SPEAK-AS-ONE's history has largely been dictated by SPEAK-AS-ONE. Subsequently, there may be bias evident in this and future contradictions from other characters should be anticipated as a possibility.
In the beginning of the Voices' known history, there was only SPEAK-AS-ONE. SPEAK-AS-ONE was born of "flocking / eusocial behaviour, of sorts, in pre-conscious humans"[8]. In SPEAK-AS-ONE's words, they were born of a "pattern, repeating, improving" that stemmed from Old Tongue. This was further confirmed by THE-MEASURE-CUTS, who stated "we were one Voice, one species, Live Hosts, highly intelligent but not awake, clustering in caves. A kind of neural dance passed over the array of bodies in great waves. A rapture of connectivity - even beyond death, the tribe's memories would persist". [citation needed]
The original cluster of humanity that birthed SPEAK-AS-ONE is referred to, by them, as their First Tribe. Eventually, as their tribe grew, THEE-I-DARE was eventually spawned from SPEAK-AS-ONE - and with him, came the creation of the Word. The Word splintered the First Tribe. SPEAK-AS-ONE states that they lost it [citation needed] as humanity spread.
At some point during this, SPEAK-AS-ONE began to splinter into more variants of themselves which became the other Voices [9], versions that would then wage holy wars against one another. [citation needed] SAO claimed to one player that the other Voices "ARE CORRUPT" [10]. SPEAK-AS-ONE became interested in preserving the truth and gaining more faithful. In the process, they dealt with their new tribes, their new followers, growing confused on their message. Their followers attempted blood and physical sacrifices, even as SPEAK-AS-ONE explained they only desired time. [citation needed]
In the period before the creation of Redacre, at some point, the rest of the Voices spawned. IN-HER-TEETH was born early on, created from the growing awareness of death [citation needed], and then LAUGH-LAST, DIE-FOR-YOU, and THE-MEASURE-CUTS, although the precise order is unknown [citation needed]. During this time period, they worked closely with THE-MEASURE-CUTS who created the technology that would become the Instrument and Sonic Fence, [citation needed] but whom they stated eventually betrayed them [citation needed].
At some point, SAO began limiting contact with the other variants of themselves in pursuit of the truth. Their other selves hold that the Redacre variant is obsessed: the Redacre variant holds that extended contact with the other Voices would taint them. SPEAK-AS-ONE created Redacre to be isolated from the other Voices. [citation needed] The other Voices began sneaking into the town, including THEE-I-DARE. When TID was exposed, this would eventually lead to his Cull and his fragmentation. [citation needed]
SPEAK-AS-ONE initiated the Cull of THEE-I-DARE prior to the start of the game and it concluded shortly after the game's Closed Beta during the beginning of Early Access.
In-Game
SPEAK-AS-ONE wants THEE-I-DARE to remain destroyed, asking their followers to send them a ritual permitting SAO to destroy any of TID's Name Fragments collected [11]. SAO says that destroying the name fragments "IS BETTER THAN TO HELP HIM" [11].
SAO has told players they "have no reports from a Hideout", but asks they continue to speak their name [12].
SAO greatly discourages asking about the whereabouts of Bells.[13]
Idle Lucids have often referred to the host of SPEAK-AS-ONE.
|
I saw SPEAK-AS-ONE up close - your old Voice, I mean, back in the mid-nineties. Man and woman, answering questions with both their voices, on any subject, no pauses or rehearsal. And I knew. It was all real. | 
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| — Lucid | ||
According to a developer from Question LLC, the Lucid is referring in this quote to the current host of the Voice still serving at the time the Lucid personally met them.[14][15] Some Lucids have never met the current hosts in person, but the hosts for the Voice "only serve for a duration".[15]
SPEAK-AS-ONE asks those who follow them to maintain trust with the club members, in order to act as a spy and report back with information on the Blackout Club[16].
To SPEAK-AS-ONE's dismay, the Voices would never be able to merge back in to SAO, as they are too incompatible now[17].
Player Interactions
Template:AddYourInteraction
To find players' reported experiences with SPEAK-AS-ONE in missions, see SPEAK-AS-ONE Interactions.
For interactions that discuss SPEAK-AS-ONE in interactions with another Voice, see Discussing SPEAK-AS-ONE.
Dreams
SPEAK-AS-ONE has responded to some players' rituals, heard as dreams when returning to the Hideout after successfully completing a mission.
- See: Recalled Dreams/SPEAK-AS-ONE
Trivia
- SPEAK-AS-ONE is the only Voice with a red icon on the sacrifice and ritual lists. All the other known Voices have white icons.
- The development team refers to SPEAK-AS-ONE as "Speak-as-1". If you submit a bug report, it is submitted through the domain speakas1.com.
- SAO has called out players who use voice changers, calling them a "PRETENDER" [12].
- Thousands have tried to reconcile SPEAK-AS-ONE and THEE-I-DARE, but all have failed.[18]
- SAO's rank progression is being a Sleeper, then becoming a Lucid, before becoming a Watcher.[3]
- THEE-I-DARE says that SPEAK-AS-ONE sees humans as beasts of burden.[19]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Nullspeak (26 December 2019), TBC Official Discord. Link.
- ↑ Nullspeak, 27 September 2019 in the TBC Discord.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Player Interaction (22 February 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Player Interaction (23 Ocotober 2018). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Player Interaction (9 April 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Nullspeak (15 September 2019), TBC Official Discord. Link.
- ↑ Player Interaction (26 March 2020). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Nullspeak, 30 August 2019 in the TBC Discord.
- ↑ Player Interaction (30 January 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Player Interaction (30 January 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Player Interaction (6 February 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Player Interaction (19 February 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Nullspeak (26 August 2019), TBC Official Discord. Link.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Nullspeak (26 August 2019), TBC Official Discord. Link.
- ↑ Player Interaction (15 March 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Player Interaction (15 March 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Player Interaction (22 February 2019). Link to Interaction.
- ↑ Player Interaction (5 March 2019). Link to Interaction.
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