Protected Witness Payroll Storyline / 受保护证人薪册

Protected Witness Payroll is a non-character pressure storyline for the stage after Storyteller has turned a person into evidence.

The player may have recruited a carrier, protected a public witness, converted a runner into a route asset, split a receipt, served an archive order, or exposed a sponsor contradiction. That earlier success remains true. This storyline asks the next management/RPG question: who keeps the person alive, paid, loyal, hidden, admissible, and usable afterward?

A witness can be sheltered by money, protected by audit oath, defended by fans, retained by sponsor quiet money, hidden by an edit, deferred, abandoned, captured, or sacrificed. None of those choices is a clean universal win.

Primary playable question

When a recruited or protected person becomes a route asset, does the player pay them, shelter them, oath-protect them, expose them publicly, sell their silence, mask them, defer them, or let them become a hostile witness?

Why this is the next useful expansion

Recent Storyteller content has made first-order custody and enforcement strong:

• 认领撞锁 turns route assets into contested objects.
• 和解反震账本 keeps relief/debt alive after settlement.
• 归档执行案卷 tests whether orders can be served and resisted.
• 交接链跑腿 Storyline proves low-rank custody logistics can matter.

The remaining gap is not another verdict, enforcement breach, or raw count expansion. It is ongoing human maintenance. A witness who carried the proof should not become a permanent free key, and should not vanish as mood text. This storyline makes follower custody payable, missable, capturable, suppressible, and route-relevant.

State-triggered entry

Open this storyline when all of the following are true:

1. a prior branch created, recruited, protected, exposed, or partially relied on a witness, follower, carrier, fan delegate, editor source, archive clerk, memorial claimant, low-rank staffer, or equivalent route asset;
2. the person can still alter a future rite, route, proof chain, public receipt, archive order, sponsor claim, or broadcast reality state;
3. support remains unresolved: cash, safehouse, oath, alias, escort, public witness protection, fan oxygen support, sponsor retainer, edit mask, public apology, or favor;
4. at least two factions can exploit, capture, protect, expose, suppress, or discredit the person;
5. the person has not already reached terminal clean discharge, terminal hostile witness, irreversible capture, or final disappearance.

This storyline must never trigger from a fixed numbered turn. It enters from exposed-person support state.

Content pack

Mechanic

• 受保护证人薪册机制 — defines payroll states, support slots, branch families, counter contract, and replay evidence shape.

Card

• 受保护证人薪册 — stores source person, support state, owed cost, handler, claimant pressure, and future route effects.

Rite

• 证人薪册分诊 — assignable management rite that pays, shelters, oath-protects, publicly shelters, sponsor-retains, edit-masks, defers, abandons, captures, or sacrifices a protected person.

Event

• 证人薪册泄露 — breach event when unpaid, hidden, sponsor-captured, edit-contradicted, or publicly exposed support mutates witness state.

Primary actors

• 交接链跑腿 — low-rank carrier whose route-asset status can become payable, protected, hostile, captured, or sacrificed.
• Yu Lan — public shelter, receipt witness chain, fan oxygen legitimacy, and public exposure cost.
• Shen Luo — manager bridge, sponsor retainer, contract capture, quiet money, and future blackmail.
• Han Yanshuang — oath protection, white-glove custody, bureau favor debt, and lawful admissibility.
• Inspector Rhee Archive — archive admissibility and seizure pressure.
• Baiya — edit mask, alias cut, checksum contradiction, and edit debt.
• Orion Breath — retainer money, stop-loss retaliation, clean shelter, and ownership capture.

Core route states

Route state	Meaning	Required consequence
payroll_unopened	A protected person exists but no support roster is active.	Triage, leak, capture, or hostile path remains possible.
payroll_due	Support is visible and unpaid.	Player must assign support or accept breach risk.
sheltered	Safe room, escort, or low-risk handoff is committed.	Retaliation risk decreases; capacity/leak/favor cost rises.
paid_route_asset	Person remains assignable as route asset.	Future rite accepts them; payroll leak/debt remains.
audit_protected	Inspector/archive oath protects the person.	Admissibility improves; inspection or bureau cost rises.
public_shelter	Fan/public network protects the person.	Public legitimacy improves; exposure/sponsor/fan cost rises.
sponsor_retained	Sponsor or manager funds silence/shelter.	Immediate pressure falls; contract capture/distrust rises.
masked_by_edit	Editor/black-box hides identity or cuts around the person.	Exposure falls; edit debt/drift/archive doubt rises.
payroll_deferred	Support is delayed with explicit future cost.	Immediate cost falls; future breach/capture cost rises.
unpaid_hostile	Person turns witness against the player.	Hostile testimony, leak, duplicate claim, or recovery-only branch 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.	Future action loses witness/carrier option.
sacrificed_witness	Player burns the person to protect stronger route.	Short relief appears; legitimacy/custody debt rises.

Branch model

Branch A — Pay and shelter

The player assigns money, safehouse, escort, staff favor, or low-risk delivery support.

Expected outcomes:

• payroll_state = sheltered or paid_route_asset;
• witness_retaliation_risk, custody_gap, or route_asset_pressure improves;
• cash_reserve, safehouse_capacity, payroll_leak, favor_debt, or inspection_heat worsens;
• the person remains assignable to at least one future rite.

Branch B — Audit oath protection

The player assigns Han Yanshuang, Inspector Rhee, archive seal, lawful oath, custody copy, or audit proof.

Expected outcomes:

• payroll_state = audit_protected;
• archive_signature_legitimacy, custody_clarity, or public_witness_legitimacy improves;
• inspection_heat, bureau_favor_debt, sponsor_stop_loss_pressure, or archive_debt rises;
• the person remains admissible but officially visible.

Branch C — Public shelter

The player assigns Yu Lan, fan oxygen queue, public receipt, audience testimony, pirate relay, or public witness chain.

Expected outcomes:

• payroll_state = public_shelter;
• public_receipt_legitimacy, public_witness_legitimacy, fan_oxygen_balance, or audience_stability improves;
• fan_oxygen_liability, sponsor_stop_loss_pressure, inspection_heat, pirate_exposure, or witness_retaliation_risk rises;
• future harm to the person becomes public route pressure.

Branch D — Sponsor retainer or managed quiet

The player assigns Shen Luo, Orion Breath, sponsor quiet money, clean package, retainer language, manager bridge, or slot-saving cover.

Expected outcomes:

• payroll_state = sponsor_retained or payroll_deferred;
• immediate slot, money, or retaliation pressure improves;
• contract_capture, public_receipt_distrust, witness_loyalty_doubt, future_blackmail_cost, or fan_oxygen_resentment rises;
• the person remains usable only under sponsor claim or later counterproof.

Branch E — Editorial mask

The player assigns Baiya, edit mask, alias, black-box cut, checksum, redaction, source tape patch, or continuity repair.

Expected outcomes:

• payroll_state = masked_by_edit;
• witness exposure, retaliation risk, or sponsor targeting decreases;
• edit_debt, reality_drift, archive_debt, public_receipt_distrust, or future_fraud_cost rises;
• later public proof may require reveal, checksum, or confession.

Branch F — Abandon, suppress, sell, or sacrifice

The player lacks support, hides the roster, lets a claimant reach the person, sells them to sponsor/archive, suppresses them, or burns them to protect a stronger route.

Expected outcomes:

• payroll_state = unpaid_hostile, captured_witness, witness_disappeared, or sacrificed_witness;
• 证人薪册泄露 or equivalent fires;
• a leak, hostile testimony, duplicate claim, route block, false owner, future blackmail, or recovery-only branch appears;
• at least three counters or durable states change.

Counter contract

Every resolution, leak, capture, or sacrifice must change at least three counters or durable states. At least one must be visible relief and at least one must be visible cost.

Primary 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

Multi-session continuity expectation

This storyline should be able to load a person created in an earlier replay and prove that later support handling preserves source provenance.

Expected evidence:

• source session id and seed that created, recruited, protected, exposed, or endangered the person;
• payroll session id and seed;
• source storyline and person id;
• person state before payroll;
• roster state before payroll;
• assigned handler, support, proof anchor, and claimant pressure;
• selected branch;
• resulting person state, payroll state, counter deltas, and future route effects.

Missability and recovery

This storyline is missable when the player treats witness recruitment as self-sustaining, hides the roster, refuses support, lets sponsor or archive identify the person first, uses an edit mask without later proof, or allows public shelter to become uncontrolled exposure.

Recovery is allowed only at higher cost:

• reopen payroll with stronger support;
• rescue captured witness through exchange or public exposure;
• publish receipt and accept sponsor/inspection backlash;
• convert hostile witness through apology, cash, oath, or sacrifice;
• reveal the edit mask and accept archive/public distrust;
• pay fan oxygen debt to stabilize public shelter;
• spend a route asset or favor to unwind false-owner testimony.

Integration notes

• With 归档执行案卷, this storyline begins when service, breach, or hardening creates a person who carried the order and remains vulnerable.
• With 和解反震账本, this storyline begins when a person becomes the carrier of unpaid relief/debt.
• With 认领撞锁, this storyline begins when a route asset is a person rather than only a docket, cut, or receipt.
• With 交接链跑腿 Storyline, this storyline is the support layer after logistics success.
• With Route Assets and Custody, the payroll state mutates route-asset availability, cost, missability, and hostile recovery.

Non-goals

• Not a fixed-turn upkeep episode.
• Not a generic economy sink.
• Not a passive companion affection track.
• Not a new first-order verdict.
• Not filler escalation.
• Not a clean witness-protection reward.
• Not a retcon of earlier recruitment or protection; prior success remains historical while support becomes payable, breachable, or corruptible.