Protected Witness Payroll Roster / 受保护证人薪册

A Protected Witness Payroll Roster is a durable management card for witnesses, carriers, followers, clerks, fan delegates, editor sources, or route assets whose safety and loyalty remain playable after recruitment or protection.

It is created when a person has become useful enough to be hunted, bought, subpoenaed, edited out, publicly defended, or abandoned.

This card is not a generic relationship tracker. It is a bill with a body attached.

Primary playable use

The player assigns this roster to decide whether a protected person is paid, sheltered, audited, publicly defended, sponsor-retained, editorially masked, deferred, abandoned, captured, or turned hostile.

A protected witness should remain useful only if their ongoing support is visible. If the player hides the cost, the roster can become a leak, a hostile testimony source, a duplicate claim, a sponsor capture surface, or a future blocked route.

Creation trigger

Create or update this card when all of the following are true:

1. a witness, follower, carrier, clerk, fan delegate, editor source, or route asset exists in recruited, protected, route_asset, public_witness_recruited, carrier_protected_under_oath, runner_protected_under_oath, hostile, captured, missed, or equivalent state;
2. that person can alter future custody, proof, public receipt, sponsor pressure, archive execution, or broadcast reality;
3. support remains unresolved: money, shelter, oath, alias, escort, fan protection, sponsor retainer, edit mask, public apology, or legal cover;
4. at least two claimant families can target or claim the person;
5. the person has not already reached clean discharge, final disappearance, terminal hostile state, or irreversible capture.

This card must never be created by a fixed numbered turn. It is created from exposed-person support state.

Required fields

card_id: card.protected_witness_payroll_roster
source_person:
  source_storyline: archive_enforcement_docket | settlement_aftershock_ledger | claimant_collision_lock | field_logistics_runner | equivalent
  source_session_id: <durable session id if available>
  source_seed: <source seed if available>
  person_id: <witness_or_follower_or_route_asset_id>
  person_state_before: recruited | protected | route_asset | hostile | captured | missed | equivalent
support_state:
  payroll_state: payroll_unopened | payroll_due | sheltered | paid_route_asset | audit_protected | public_shelter | sponsor_retained | masked_by_edit | payroll_deferred | unpaid_hostile | captured_witness | witness_disappeared | sacrificed_witness
  owed_cost: cash | safehouse | oath | alias | escort | fan_support | sponsor_retainer | edit_mask | apology | favor | none_explicit
  handler: yu_lan | shen_luo | han_yanshuang | inspector_rhee | baiya | lin_qiao | sponsor_orion | security | explicit_absent
claimant_pressure:
  sponsor: active | quiet | hostile | absent
  inspector_archive: active | quiet | hostile | absent
  fan_public: active | quiet | hostile | absent
  editor_blackbox: active | quiet | hostile | absent
  false_owner: active | quiet | hostile | absent
  pirate_relay: active | quiet | hostile | absent
future_route_effect:
  usable_in_rites: []
  blocked_or_costlier_rites: []
  leak_event: pending | fired | cleared | absent

Assignable slots

A valid roster can be assigned only when the action provides or explicitly lacks these slots:

• one protected person or explicit missing/hostile/captured state;
• one handler or explicit no-handler failure;
• one support source or explicit no-support failure;
• one claimant pressure target;
• one future route effect that changes availability, cost, legitimacy, or risk.

Durable states

State	Meaning	Required consequence
payroll_unopened	The protected person exists but has no support surface.	A support triage, leak, capture, or hostile path must remain possible.
payroll_due	Support is visible and unpaid.	The player must choose a support route or accept breach risk.
sheltered	Location, escort, or safehouse is committed.	Retaliation risk falls while capacity, leak, or favor cost rises.
paid_route_asset	The person remains assignable as a route asset.	Future rites can use them, but payroll leak/debt remains visible.
audit_protected	Lawful oath or archive/inspector protection is active.	Admissibility improves while inspection/bureau cost rises.
public_shelter	Fan or historian network makes harm public.	Legitimacy improves while exposure and sponsor/inspection pressure rise.
sponsor_retained	Sponsor/manager funds silence or shelter.	Immediate pressure falls while contract capture or distrust rises.
masked_by_edit	Identity is hidden by edit/black-box/alias.	Retaliation falls while edit debt or drift rises.
payroll_deferred	Support is delayed but the debt is recorded.	Immediate cost falls while future breach/capture cost rises.
unpaid_hostile	Person turns witness against the player.	Hostile testimony, leak, duplicate claim, or recovery route appears.
captured_witness	Another faction controls the person.	Future use requires rescue, exchange, counterproof, or suppression.
witness_disappeared	Person is missed or hidden too well to use.	At least one future action loses a witness/carrier option.
sacrificed_witness	Person is burned to protect another route.	Short relief appears and long-term legitimacy/custody debt rises.

Counter payload

Every roster resolution should carry at least three of these counters or equivalent durable states:

• witness_payroll_due
• cash_reserve
• safehouse_capacity
• payroll_leak
• follower_morale
• witness_loyalty_doubt
• witness_retaliation_risk
• public_witness_legitimacy
• public_receipt_legitimacy
• public_receipt_distrust
• fan_oxygen_balance
• fan_oxygen_liability
• fan_oxygen_resentment
• inspection_heat
• bureau_favor_debt
• archive_signature_legitimacy
• archive_debt
• custody_clarity
• route_asset_pressure
• sponsor_stop_loss_pressure
• contract_capture
• edit_debt
• reality_drift
• future_blackmail_cost
• false_owner_hardening_risk

Play examples

林乔 as paid route asset

If 交接链跑腿 delivered a custody packet and remains reachable, the roster can keep her assignable as paid_route_asset by spending safehouse capacity, petty cash, or an oath.

Success reduces custody gaps but increases payroll leak, inspection heat, or favor debt.

Yu Lan public shelter

If Yu Lan mobilizes public receipt witnesses to protect a low-rank carrier, the roster can become public_shelter.

Public legitimacy rises, but fan oxygen liability and sponsor retaliation become louder.

Shen Luo sponsor retainer

If Shen Luo or sponsor pressure funds a quiet safe room, the roster can become sponsor_retained.

Immediate retaliation falls, but contract capture and future blackmail cost rise.

Baiya edit mask

If Baiya hides the witness in a cut, the roster can become masked_by_edit.

Exposure drops, but edit debt and archive doubt increase.

Non-goals

• Not a passive NPC affection card.
• Not a free follower inventory.
• Not a clean witness-protection reward.
• Not a fixed-turn upkeep timer.
• Not a prose-only memory note; it must be assignable and must mutate counters, future route access, or follower state.