Mr. House

Robert Edwin House is the self-styled president, CEO, and sole proprietor of the New Vegas Strip in the Mojave Wasteland in the year 2281.

Background
Prior to the Great War, House was an ever-alluring, reclusive enigma to the world and a veritable celebrity with various tabloids and news articles covering his every move in business and private life. His founding of RobCo Industries propelled him to the top through business savvy using mathematical prediction algorithms; gaining the envy of other roboticists and corporations through sheer success. As such, RobCo technology became ubiquitous across the former United States both in the civilian and military sectors, and shaping the technological progression of it.

As the Great War was drawing closer, Robert House modified himself using the latest life-preservation technology money could afford, integrating himself with the various control and defense systems of the Lucky 38, his personal casino. Utilizing the Lucky 38's defense systems, House would save the entirety of Las Vegas from complete mass destruction. Though his efforts saved the city, he was put into a coma from the excessive strain un-updated software put on his brain and support systems. This coma lasted for 61 years until his systems restarted. He would bide his time until the arrival of the New California Republic when he would reform several tribes in the New Vegas area into the Three Families (each representative of an aspect of pre-War Las Vegas culture) to turn the then anarchic New Vegas into a civilized city again with his Securitron army. Starting with the Las Vegas Strip, Mr. House would rebuild several of the casinos for each of the Three Families to bring the former glory of pre-War Las Vegas back to the Mojave. With the New Vegas Strip acting as an autonomous body, he would enter a tenuous partnership with the NCR as they marched into the Mojave to seize the Hoover Dam and confront Caesar's Legion.

With the turning of New Vegas into the Free Economic Zone of New Vegas city-state, he would become one of the three major powers in the Mojave Wasteland vying for total control New Vegas and the Hoover Dam. His position to make any maneuvers strategically were handicapped as Mr. House has been running on an outdated version of his OS with the only upgrade for his systems being the platinum chip lost during the Great War. However, the platinum chip had recently been found and he contracted a Courier with the Mojave Express to deliver it to him personally.

Biography
Born on June 25, 2020, (making him 261 years old) to a wealthy Nevada tool magnate, Robert Edwin House was orphaned at an early age when his parents died in a freak accident involving an autogyro and a lightning strike. Cheated out of his inheritance by his half-brother, Anthony, he nevertheless attended the Commonwealth Institute of Technology and later went on to found RobCo Industries in his hometown of Las Vegas at the age of 22. It would soon become one of the most profitable corporations in the world, owing mostly to House's considerable technical genius and business acumen. He used the wealth and power to gain controlling interests in a myriad of other businesses. These included REPCONN Aerospace, the Lucky 38 Hotel & Casino on Las Vegas Boulevard, and perhaps, most personally, the H&H Tools Company, the family business usurped by his greedy half-brother (although, the factory on the outskirts of Vegas was still under his brother's control in 2077). But along with his fame came a look into his peculiar personality. A scandal emerged when House was dating a starlet, but only wanted to scan her brain and make her dress in different outfits, a story that captured the interest of foreign tabloids like El Periódico de las Aburridas.

A staunch pragmatist by nature, Mr. House would regularly design and run mathematical paradigms based on global political and socioeconomic conditions in an effort to predict future events. By 2065, these projections led him to the inexorable conclusion that the world would be engulfed in a nuclear war within fifteen years. Worse still, his contacts within the military informed him that seventy-seven Chinese warheads were aimed at his beloved Las Vegas. Armed with this knowledge and his projections, House went to work on a secret plan to ensure the city would survive this apocalypse and that he would live to see the world after the War. He programmed multiple mainframes with satellite links meant to disable the vast majority of the Chinese missiles while in flight, then designed an array of high-powered laser cannons, which he had installed on the roof of the Lucky 38, to deal with any missile his program had missed. To preserve himself, he took equally drastic steps: his body was permanently connected to an extremely sophisticated life support device named a "hibernation chamber" to take care of his physiological needs, while his brain was wired directly into his vast information network via an enormous supercomputer. Essentially, he became a one-of-a-kind humanoid brain bot, with the Lucky 38 and an army of Securitrons serving as his "body."

An integral element of his plan was the platinum chip, which in reality was a combination access card and high capacity data storage device, containing a vital OS upgrade for his Securitrons and the laser defense network. The chip was to be delivered in the afternoon of October 23, 2077. However, about 20 hours before it could be delivered, the Great War happened. The chip was lost and not rediscovered until over 200 years later by some of the multiple scavengers hired by House. Forced to work with an inferior version of the OS, he suffered numerous system crashes but this OS version only allowed him to save Las Vegas from 68 out of the 77 warheads, 59 disarmed and 9 destroyed, aimed at the city. But due to using an inferior software, numerous system crashes occurred and the Lucky 38's main reactor had to be shut down. For five years, House fought power outages and more system crashes until he rebooted his system in an old version of his operating system, but was put in a decades-long coma.

Post-War status
House regained consciousness in 2138. Biding his time, he entered the world stage once again in 2274, when Securitrons under his command emerged from the Lucky 38. This action was prompted by the arrival of New California Republic scouts at Hoover Dam. In order to establish his rule, he enlisted the help of tribes living in New Vegas (later known as the Three Families) and rebuilt the city just in time to welcome the arrival of the New California Republic Army's advance forces. In exchange for help with Hoover Dam and permission to use the McCarran Airport as its headquarters, House signed the New Vegas treaty, ensuring cooperation from NCR and, for a time, protecting the Strip from annexation.

House resides in the Lucky 38 and is in charge of the Securitrons that roam New Vegas. At some point after emerging from stasis, House won the leadership of Vault 21 in a bet, stripped it of all useful technology, and then planned to permanently seal the Vault away by filling it with cement. At the pleadings of Sarah Weintraub he left the top section of Vault 21 as it used to be, and she converted it into a hotel (all the casino equipment was already there from the vault experiment).

Mr. Houses's top priority was to re-acquire the platinum chip, lost to him on the eve of the Great War. For years during his awake period, House would spend cumulative millions of caps on scavenger teams and prospectors to find the platinum chip. The expenditure ultimately paid off in 2281 when the platinum chip was found after 204 years. Mr. House contracted the delivery of it to the Mojave Express, and to cover up the importance of the package, Mr. House tried obfuscating it through various dummy packages of miscellaneous novelty junk items. Mercenary teams were also dispatched to screen the routes for potential dangers.

Carried by the Courier from southern NCR, through the Hub, to New Vegas, the Courier and chip was intercepted by Benny around Goodsprings after attaining the exact route through Yes Man eavesdropping on House's datastream. Benny intended to use it to gain control of the New Vegas Strip and make it an independent power in the wasteland, free of his employer's machinations. Mr. House was not unaware of Benny's involvement, a securitron, Victor, he had planted in Goodsprings had reported back to him on Benny's betrayal and theft of the platinum chip. Mr. House felt betrayed, as he considered Benny as a protégé that could be his right-hand man able to achieve tasks he alone could not, but misjudged his drive for supremacy. Mr. House would closely watch the Courier, having had Victor dig them out their grave, further observe them as they left Goodsprings, and wander into the New Vegas Strip. Once there, Mr. House would have Victor direct them to the Lucky 38 in hopes of using their want for revenge on Benny to take the platinum chip back.

Health
Mr. House is extremely physically decrepit and can only live inside a self-contained life support unit. Along with the life support chamber, House further modified himself with several artificial enhancements to replace or supersede basic life functions. The most visually observable enhancements include a food pump to deliver nutrients directly into his stomach, an enhancement around his heart (likely a pacemaker or artificial heart), and what can be assumed as solid and liquid waste removal pump around his crotch. The Courier has the opportunity to break through his security and see his true form. However, opening his isolation chamber, even for a second, means that Mr. House will not live more than a year due to exposure to outside contaminants.

Personality
Mr. House is a very reclusive individual, although this is largely due to his own machinations and health status, forcing himself to be sealed in his own Lucky 38 control room. His inability to allow all his life's work to be ruined by what he sees as the wrath and folly of a jingoistic and increasingly unstable world has cemented, in his mind, the fate of democracy and human civilization itself. His contempt for most post-apocalyptic institutions from bottle caps to the various factions is a result of what he sees as humanity's inability to learn from its past mistakes, instead of putting blind faith in reckless expansionism and excessive warfare to bring back the Old World.

Mr. House sees it as his mission to return New Vegas to its former pre-War glory as a crown jewel of technological innovation and the bright neon paradise of business and fortune. Having lived in the Las Vegas Strip prior to the Great War, he was taken in by what he saw as the unstoppable technological progress and an economic boom unimpeded by the problems and unrest that plagued much of pre-War America. His vision of autocracy and disillusionment with democratic society stems from his resentment towards the attitudes and actions of the increasingly desperate and jingoistic pre-War United States, whose decline was precipitated by the failure to adequately research and invest in alternative technologies.

His own strategies and decisions are largely based on mathematical calculations, giving him a high sense of confidence and self-importance in carrying out his plans. He sees himself as an autocrat, viewing New Vegas as his rightful property with the various factions in (or trying to gain) control as irrelevant or, at worst, treacherous, referring to the war between the Legion and the NCR as "two snarling dogs fighting over a curve of bone" due to their repeated attempts to take Hoover Dam. He further disparages both groups as nothing more than "regurgitations of the past," drawing parallels between the two as attempts to revive past civilizations rather than offer a palpable future. He derides the NCR as a "society of customers" lead by scheming leaders who wish to take Vegas out from under him, while showing disgust at the Legion's practice of slavery, technophobia and general brutality. Failure or unknown variables tend to frustrate him greatly, not so much as the fear of losing power, but with the attitude of an employer having to deal with unfaithful employees.

Although ambitious and fairly ruthless, he is not sadistic and takes no pleasure in ordering the extermination of his enemies, merely viewing their deaths or otherwise neutralization as the completion of a contract. He holds little genuine hatred of NCR or even the tribals inhabiting New Vegas, tolerating the existence of those he otherwise sees as no threat or a boon to his tourist economy, even allowing NCR and Legion currency to be used at casinos, and allowing shady business practices as long as they reside within the remit of his contracts. However, he is extremely disapproving of the Brotherhood of Steel and insists that the Courier eliminate the Mojave chapter, leaving no room for alliances or even negotiation.

He takes little interest in monitoring or controlling the lives of others beyond established rules and generally allows the casinos to run themselves, and is largely reliant on the few information networks at his disposal and his Securitron patrols to exert order. He takes great pride in his technical achievements, seeing himself as a visionary and seeing his own life as the embodiment of great leadership. He takes great interest in the Courier, although they share largely a business relationship, he nevertheless sees the Courier as an agent that could successfully aid him in overcoming obstacles normally too much for the average Securitron, entrusting his new employee with a great deal of information and responsibility. If aided in his work, he will eventually begin to see the Courier as more of a lieutenant than a mere employee, even becoming proud of himself for his selection should his takeover be successful. Should he succeed in his plans, he would establish an "autocracy," invest in the Strip's burgeoning tourist economy thus galvanizing his newfound independence and economic growth to embark on a series of grandiose scientific projects, echoing his pre-War business ventures as CEO of RobCo industries.

Quests

 * The House Always Wins: Mr. House gives the player character the quest, which leads to one of the final quests, All or Nothing. In this case, the player character communicates with House only through the computer terminal in his office.
 * For the Republic, Part 2, Wild Card: Change in Management, Render Unto Caesar: However, if the player character decides to side with NCR, Caesar or fight for an independent New Vegas, Mr. House has to be killed or disabled.
 * The Moon Comes Over the Tower: Emily Ortal asks the player character to bug one of House's terminals for important medical information.

Effects of player's actions

 * Upon his death, the quest The House Has Gone Bust! will simultaneously trigger and fail, and the note A tragedy has befallen all mankind will appear in the player character's inventory.
 * If the player character takes Mr. House out of his stasis chamber, he will ask them why they have ruined his plans and he will react differently depending on what they tell him.
 * If told they did it in the name of the NCR, he will belittle them and call them a "sad, misguided whore."
 * If told they are acting on behalf of Caesar, he will be horrified that slavery is humanity's future.
 * If told they did it for Yes Man, he will tell them their "vanity project" is doomed for failure.
 * If saying it was "just business," he will retort by saying that they should have worked for him for personal gain.
 * Finally, if the player character says they did it just because they didn't like him, he will call them a fool for letting their feelings about him jeopardize humanity's future.

Other interactions

 * Mr. House plays a major role in the game. The Courier hears a lot about him while traveling, but upon reaching New Vegas he is invited by House himself to visit him in Lucky 38. There, House gives the player vital information about Benny and the platinum chip. Also, he allows the Courier and his/her companions to use Lucky 38's presidential suite as a safehouse.
 * Mr. House has an interest in the collectible snowglobes found in the game, and will pay handsomely for each. The snowglobes can be given to Jane in exchange for 2000 caps each. Snowglobes found in Sierra Madre (Dead Money), Big MT (Old World Blues), Zion National Park (Honest Hearts) and Divide (Lonesome Road) will automatically be removed from the player's inventory and replaced with 2000 caps. Once the Courier has sold a snowglobe to Jane it is placed on display (on a mantle) in the Lucky 38 presidential suite. However, if the player kills Mr. House, the snowglobes will stay in your inventory and Jane will disappear.
 * The Courier can also attempt to pickpocket Mr. House, but he does not yield any items.
 * Due to his age and method of staying alive, Mr. House actually counts as an abomination for the Abominable challenge. Because he is considered an abomination, shooting him with the flare gun results in the "The abomination panics and flees!" message, but nothing else happens.
 * Robert Edwin House is one of the characters that the player character must eat in order to earn the Meat of Champions perk.

Appearances
Robert House appears only in Fallout: New Vegas. He is also mentioned in Fallout 4 by Deacon, and in Fallout 76 at the RobCo auto-cache, introduced in the Wastelanders update.

Behind the scenes

 * Mr. House was written by John Gonzalez.
 * The challenge A Slave Obeys requires the player character to kill Mr. House with the 9 iron or Driver Nephi's golf club. This is a reference to the video game BioShock, where one beats an antagonist, Andrew Ryan, to death with a 9 iron while he repeats the words "A man chooses, a slave obeys." Both characters were based in part on Howard Hughes.
 * In casino parlance, "the house" refers generally to the gambler's opponent, the casino itself, as in the idiom "the house always wins."
 * Mr. House's personality is based on that of Howard Robard Hughes Jr., a reclusive millionaire with strong ties to the real world Las Vegas Strip.
 * Jane, House's securitron companion, is an allusion to the film star Jane Russell, who worked for Howard Hughes' production company for several years.
 * Mr. House had another female programmed securitron named Marilyn (based on Marilyn Monroe) that was cut. However, she appears alongside Jane in a card from the deck of cards of the Collector's Edition, as in real life, Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe were contemporaries. The texture file for her "face" is still in the game's files, and there's a reference to her in the G.E.C.K. Also, after meeting Mr. House, Veronica will say she's "surprised he only had the two robot sex slaves." This was likely meant to reference Jane and the absent Marilyn, but the line was never removed or changed.


 * His affinity for snow globes is a reference to another work of fiction, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, itself based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. A snow globe falls from the hands of the dying Kane at the beginning of the film as he utters the famously cryptic line "rosebud."
 * Walt Disney is also an influence on the character, given his use of robots (Disney was instrumental in pioneering animatronic technology during the 1960s) and his longevity (ultimately false rumors of Walt Disney being cryonically frozen or otherwise preserved have pervaded popular culture since his death). Disney was also well-known for sporting the same style of mustache as Hughes/House.

Bugs

 * A Medicine check of 35, gaining XP each time, can be accessed in Mr. House's dialogue repeatably.
 * Activating Mr. House fails to start dialogue, rendering him useless (the mainframe). This might be the result of resetting ally status of Securitrons when they are hostile due to a faction error with vault 11 robots. To fix this, enter the following commands into the console:, , , , ,.
 * The dialogue ending "at Fortification Hill" may cause a crash once he is finished talking.
 * The stasis version of Mr. House will sometimes break, turning invisible.