History AudioPlay / TheWatcherInTheRain

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Despite initially appearing to be a standard Chaos plot, [[spoiler: the dark powers aren't actually the villain of this story. The Watcher ultimately turns out to be a [[DarkIsNotEvil creepy but otherwise harmless]] entity which merely forces the people it stalks to confront their own moral failings. The true horror of the story comes from humans living under a fascist regime as expansive and powerful as the Imperium. Crucius tortured his own mother to death out of blind fanaticism while Greta caused hundreds of deaths purely ForTheEvulz.]]

In the Administratum world known as "K4", the planet is undergoing a massive evacuation effort due to the threat of a massive and incoming warpstorm that threatens to engulf the planet for centuries (if not a millennia or more). The warpstorm has caused endless rainfall and thus causing massive flooding upon the imperial cities that continues to rise by the second.

'''"The Watcher in the rain"''' is a ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' audio drama as part of the ''"Warhammer Horror"'' series, written by Alec Worley.

** [[spoiler:After they successfully pilot a shuttle and leave the planet, Greta shoots Crucius when he becomes entranced by the Watcher, and continues to mortally shoot him after he comes back to his senses. Crucius, however, understands why she did it and records a message to be sent to Inquisitor Atrox absolving Greta of her crimes and declaring her innocent...Only for Greta to manically admit that she was indeed guilty of the crimes she was accused of.]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler: In a flashback during his training as an agent of the Inquisition, Crucius was tasked with interrogating a former staff of the Governor's household due to suspicions of treason. It is revealed that not only was the woman innocent, but she was Crucius' mother, and that he felt nothing after he learned the truth. His mentor, Inquisitor Atrox, explains that in order to fight the enemies of the Imperium, within and without, the agents of the Inquisition cannot afford to be distracted by emotion and morality. They must commit monstrous acts, whatever the cost, without pity or remorse if they are to ensure the Imperium's survival.]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler: In a flashback during his training as an agent of the Inquisition, he was tasked with interrogating a former staff of the Governor's household due to suspicions of treason. It is revealed that not only was the woman innocent, but she was Crucius' mother, and that he felt nothing after he learned the truth. His mentor, Inquisitor Atrox, explains that in order to fight the enemies of the Imperium, within and without, the agents of the Inquisition cannot afford to be distracted by emotion and morality. They must commit monstrous acts, whatever the cost, without pity or remorse if they are to ensure the Imperium's survival.]]

* LockedUpAndLeftBehind: The Imperium, being the same cold dictature as always, didn't bother to evacuate the asylum inmates, or neither just let them out of the building to let them flee by their own means. And even without knowing the existence of the Watcher, the Imperium's authorities were very aware the inmates would die in the flood, and abandon them anyway because they didn't see the utility to waste space and ressources to save them. No matter if they became insane at least partly because they gave their lives to the Administratum, so to the Imperium.

** Discused by Greta, who feared to become one of them, if she had continue to spent her life at the service of the Administratum. [[spoiler: And maybe experimented by her, because her indirect mass killings was her way to cope with her life, it could easily be theorized she turned psychotic, just in another form that the inmates.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: The Watcher is essentially a manifestation of a person's guilt, and its demands for the people it's stalking to look at it is akin to figuratively looking at a mirror and confronting their crimes and guilt to realize what they truly are. Considering that in the Warhammer 40.000 universe, if sufficiently sentient beings experience the same sensation, concept, faith, or feeling, it could turn into a god inside the Warp, and that K4 is being engulfed by a Warpstorm, it is justifiable in-universe too.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The Watcher is essentially a manifestation of a person's guilt, and it's demands for the people it's stalking to look at it is akin to figuratively looking at a mirror and having them see all their crimes and guilt to realize what they truly are. Considering than in the Warhammer 40.000 universe, if sufficiently sentient beings experiment the same sensation, concept, faith or feeling, it could turn into a god inside the Warp, and that K4 is being engulfed by a Warpstorm, it is justifiable in-universe too.

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Greta is guilty of sabotaging the Imperium war effort, knowingly causing or participating to the death of hundreds of soldiers, even taking pleasure in it. However, she is 100% right when she points out she only is a disposable clog in the Imperium, who functions in the military administration until she breaks, without any form of free will. She acknowledges that she voluntary commits deadly "mistakes" as the only way to exercise freedom and feel power.]]

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Greta is guilty of sabotaging the Imperium war effort, knowingly causing or participating to the death of hundreds of soldiers, even taking pleasure in it. However, she is 100% right when she points out she only is a disposable clog for the Imperium, who will uses her to the military administration until she breaks, not allowing her any form of free will, and she aknowledges that she voluntary commits deadly "mistakes" as the only way to exerce and feel some freedom against this dictature.]]

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Greta is guilty of sabotaging the Imperium war effort, knowingly causing or participating to the death of hundreds of soldiers, even taking pleasure in it. However, she is 100% right when she points out she only is a disposable clog for the Imperium, who will uses her to the military administration until she brokes, not allowing her any form of free will, and she aknowledges that she voluntary commit deadly "mistakes" as the only way to exerce and feel freedom against this dictature.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: The Watcher is essentially a manifestation of a person's guilt, and it's demands for the people it's stalking to look at it is akin to figuratively looking at a mirror and having them see all their crimes and guilt to realize what they truly are. Considering than in the Warhammer 40.000 universe, if sufficiently sentient beings experiment the same sensation, concept or faith it could turn into a god inside the Warp, and that K4 is being engulfed by a Warpstorm, it is justifiable in-universe too.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The Watcher is essentially a manifestation of a person's guilt, and it's demands for the people it's stalking to look at it is akin to figuratively looking at a mirror and having them see all their crimes and guilt to realize what they truly are.

* LockedUpAndLeftBehind: The Imperium, being the same cold dictature as always, didn't bother to evacuate the asylum inmates, or neither just let them out of the building. And even without knowing the existence of the Watcher, the Imperium's authorities were very aware the inmates would die in the flood, and abandon them anyway because they didn't see the utility to waste space and ressources to save them. No matter if they became insane at least partly because they gave their lives to the Administratum, so to the Imperium.

* LockedUpAndLeftBehind: The Imperium, being the same cold dictature as always, didn't bother to evacuate the asylum inmates, or neither just let them out of the building. And even without knowing the existence of the Watcher, the Imperium's authorities were very aware the inmates would die in the flood, and abandon them anyway because they didn't see the utility to waste space and ressources to save them. No matter if they became insane at least partly because they gave their lives to the Administratorum, so to the Imperium.

* ArcWords: '''"Will you see me?/See me"'''

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Greta's atrocities started because of an accidental misfiling of spoiled food rations that killed about a hundred militarum guardsmen due to starvation, with the rest resorting to cannibalism out of desperation. When her ship is found by a militarum vessel, it is revealed that most of the crew have resorted to cannibalism due a munitorum adept giving them rotten food for their ten week voyage. The high ranking militarum officers discuss their plans on killing her and using her as food. What makes this extra karmic was that during her motive rant, she mockingly mused how poetic it was that the imperium was eating itself when she confessed that she made another purposeful misfiling of food to another militarum regiment.]]

* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:The militarum vessel that Greta sees as her rescuers are revealed to be cannibals. They turned to cannibalism out of desperation because during their ten-week voyage, they discovered that they were given rotten food and some of the crew starved to death. One of the officers laments that what they are doing is wrong, but the captain insists that what they did was necessary to survive. Apparently, most of the crew do not even know that they are being fed human meat, as the captain explains that they will kill Greta (albeit quickly and painlessly) once they board the maintenance craft and secretly bring the bodies of her and Crucius to their ships kitchens.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: The PDF officer at the beginning is very strict and harsh, ordering one Administratum adept's servitor thrown off a high point for being non-essential, but he does point out that the evacuation shuttles are already crammed up, and there needs to be enough space to allow everyone to safely evacuate. Not to mention that they are on a tight schedule, and they cannot afford delays.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Greta's atrocities started because of an accidental misfiling of spoiled food rations that killed about a hundred militarum guardsmen due to starvation, with the rest resorting to cannibalism out of desperation. When her ship is found by a militarum vessel, it is revealed that most of the crew have resorted to cannibalism due a munitorum adept giving them rotten food for their ten week voyage. The high ranking militarum officers discuss on how they plan to board her ship, kill her and quietly bring the bodies of her and Crucius to the ship's kitchens in order to feed the remaining crew.]]