Insurance and the Memento Mortem

[Wigbert FriggleShit]

I couldn't find anyone else discussing this topic anywhere, so I have to ask; what are the implications of the insurance company taking every single detail of the player character's testimony as valid evidence for the claims made at the end of the game?

This means the company MUST have been made aware of the Memento Mortem stopwatch and its abilities by the player character. We know this because there is no other way they would have found credibility in the player's findings, especially when he/she claims to know the exact fate of almost every single crewmember when the ship that arrived in port was only populated by less than a couple dozen skeletons and remains. SOMEONE at the company clearly decided the visions granted by the watch are admissible as evidence.

If there was a sequel, this would make me worried for the fate of the stopwatch or even the player character him/herself because the stopwatch is a threat to the company's profitability:

Usage of the watch for other large cases like this would turn a lot of small or non-issuable claims for disappearances and such into much more expensive claims since most deaths would suddenly become claimable, especially if their conduct was meritorious.
This suddenly costly affair is demonstrated by the Obra Dinn incident, where without the watch, the only claims would have been for the apparent loss of the ship and cargo itself.

Therefore, in order to hide the watch's existence, perhaps the company would try to confiscate or steal the watch from the player character, possibly harming or killing him/her in the process.
In the Obra Dinn universe, it seems like magical items tend to have a deadly outcome for those involved with them, so this would not surprise me at all.

It makes me imagine a sequel where another protagonist comes into possession of the watch and has to solve the disappearance of the original player character, and revealing the company's illicit involvement along the way through a long string of questionable disappearances and deaths.

[Radene]

No, the company has no clue about the MM - they will accept any result as long as the investigator signs their name under the form, in fact, the claim and award parts of the form change depending on what you put in, and then it's made official, and that's that. They just trust your judgment - that's why they sent you. You're the only one who was even willing to look into it, no company auditor will challenge you - that'd mean they'd need to personally board the bloody thing, and nobody is going to do that. They're happy to just bury it under paperwork.

Once your signature is on the form, what you said goes, no questions asked. You even get an achievement for saying that the captain is to blame for everyone, and "technically", the EIC still considers that legit.

MM is only of value to Henry Evans and his book, which is a separate mission entirely.

[Wigbert FriggleShit]

I can get how the investigator has an almost "inquisitorial" status, and the point was made very early on that no one else was keen for the job for some unexplained reason (boring?controversial?dangerous?).
But it just seemed strange to me that the specificity that was required to satisfy Evans and his book which was, like you said, a private venture, that specificity seems to have been also retained in the investigator's official report (some killings being specified as "mutinies" without any actual physical evidence, detailing the deaths or absence of people who totally disappeared without a trace, etc), rather than the vague and uncertain reports the investigator would have had to make without the watch, or to conceal that he had access to a watch with such capabilities. All of this, and not even an actual ship to show for it since it's now at the bottom of the English channel or whatever.

But I think I understand what you're saying, which is that even if he wrote on the front page of his report, "Hey just so you know, I used a magical watch and a self-inking book to conduct this investigation," whatever clerk(s) had to handle his report probably wouldn't give these odd details a second glance and simply carry out the claims like any other paperwork and not question their superior.

I guess you can't ever discount the incredible ability of bureaucracy to render even the most curious of reports mindnumbingly boring and inconsequential.
The only question left now since the investigator now officially owns the watch, would the investigator continue to use the watch to conduct his work? Impossible to say.

Originally posted by Radene:

MM is only of value to Henry Evans and his book, which is a separate mission entirely.

Maybe, but can you imagine someone using the watch on the alleged remains of Hitler in Russia? Or Julia Wallace?
I bet the first thing an American would do is visit JFK's grave.

[worstcase11]

The insurance company can't really go and check afterwards anymore - once the investigator leaves the ship it sinks.

[Wigbert FriggleShit]

Originally posted by Wigbert FriggleShit:

...All of this, and not even an actual ship to show for it since it's now at the bottom of the English channel or whatever.

I'm aware, but a sunken ship doesn't prove nor disprove anything since its sinking provides no lasting evidence at all other than confirmation that the ship itself is now DEFINITELY sunk.

If the assessors ACTUALLY read the investigator's report and STILL believed every word he said, that would be like if I started telling people that the old man that lived down the street from me kept fifty orangutans in his house until it burnt down, and you have no choice but to believe me since the house is gone.

Which is all the more reason why at the time of writing my initial post, I was surprised that they seemed to be carrying out all of the investigator's fantastical claims (speared by a crab riding demon? geez, fifty pounds to this poor sod's estate).
In the end though, it appears the simple answer is that laziness and a willingness to sweep this case under the bed by the agency seems to have won out.