| The Employers | |
|---|---|
| |
| Conductor, Deliberator, Auditor, Stygian | |
| Debut: | MADNESS: Project Nexus |
| Appearances: | 1 (game only) |
| Role(s): | Leaders |
| Allies: | The Machine |
| Enemies: | Hank, 2BDamned, Sanford, Deimos |
The Employers are a mysterious group of both benefactors and antagonists of the Madness: Project Nexus subseries.
MADNESS: Project Nexus[]
The overarching conflict in Story Mode is between the Employers and the Nexus Core. Phobos, leader of the Nexus Core, has betrayed his charter with the Employers, who respond by contracting Doc to destroy Project Nexus. Doc further enlists Hank, Sanford, and Deimos to carry out the mission.
Several members of MERC are aware of the Employers. Notably, they accuse Sanford and Deimos of being "more Employer goons", but Sanford himself does not recognize the name. Moreso it is likely that MERCs learned about Employers from Christoff due to Jebediah's friendship with The Sheriff (Who is the leader of MERC) and fact that he was told about Employer's relation to Nexus-Core as a result of his post of Chief Doctor within Project Nexus in the past.
They make a physical appearance as a group of four in the epilogue of Story Mode, after the credits roll, where they approach Jesus and order him to stand down. They state that their charter with Project Nexus has finished, and also tell him that they have a role for him in their next project. Their names and colors are Deliberator (White), Conductor (Blue), Stygian (Magenta), and, of course, Auditor (Red).
Animation[]
Trivia[]
- They share their name with an equally enigmatic group of characters from the first-person shooter game series Half-Life.
- The Auditor was first revealed to be an Employer by Krinkels in an art stream.
- The Deliberator is the only one among the Employers that does not share the distinctive "eye slants" that the others have. This could just be the fact that their eyes glow white, and the "eye slants" have a white border around the Employer's distinctive eye colors.
- Though not outright stated, the Employers are likely the new identity of the Higher Powers which is even stated in the official M:PN Dossier.
- When each of the Employers has a turn to speak, the rest turn to face the speaker. However, the Auditor never turns to face them, and he always stares straight at Jebediah.
- Krinkels confirmed that the Employers' roles are within their names, stating that Stygian "guides the dead across the mortal coils", while Auditor "makes sure things are running the way they 'ought to". Conductor and Deliberator's roles can be assumed from their names despite not being outright explained.
- Krinkels, in the same clip, also likens the Employers to angels, stating how their roles are not hands-on and have been described as 'custodial'. The Auditor being the exception to this, as Krinkels has also stated how his interference with mortal Nevadeans is unwise.
- Krinkels has also stated that while they do have set explanations for what the other two do, they will only reveal them unless it becomes a plot point.
- The Employers are described as "stewards of The Machine" in Doc's notes in Arena Mode.
- Krinkles has stated that the Employers are inspired by the Investors from Venture Brothers. Before Krinkles "turned them into universe-scale janitors"
- Krinkles has stated that the Employers smell just as bizarre as they look.
- The Merc Gunner implies The Employers have contracted other people to enter Nexus City.
- This, however, could be referring to Phobos.
- The Employers were compared to 5 dimensional beings from a superior plane of reality by Krinkels, who no one can comprehend and mainly use avatars in Nevada. However, he possibly doesn't mean that they are exactly Fifth-dimensional creatures.
- It was stated that The Employers help to "write story" for The Machine and have power to affect the world.
- The other Employers are annoyed at The Auditor for all the stuff they have been doing
- When asked about how Employers view each other, Krinkels has replied that their relationships are comparable to being "Co-workers"