The Chairman

*“Controlling the economy and politics becomes remarkably easy when you can see the future.”*— The Chairman, *Esoterrorism*
**The Chairman** was the Scottish leader of the Committee, the ruling body of the House and all of its agencies. As the de facto ruler of the world, the Chairman had unlimited power, which was only matched by his callousness and disregard towards any life that was not his own. Ruthless, greedy, and sociopathic, the Chairman served as the epitome of every sin the House had come to embody, covering up his selfish aims with benevolent rhetoric. His sins would come back to haunt him in 2008 when Nathan Hawthorne, ostensibly his colleague, destroyed the House, which included massacring the Committee with his son Stephen Hawthorne; though the Chairman escaped the initial onslaught and survived the Truth coming out, he would be found dead at the hands of vampires two years later, presumably killed by Arthur Morgan.

Though he is not the main antagonist of any of the *Red Room* books, his actions make him the overall antagonist of the entire trilogy.

## Biography

### Background

At some point in the past, the man who would later be known only as the Chairman ascended to the Committee, presumably by killing a previous member of the team. Though it is unclear if he was once an average member of the Committee and eventually became the Chairman or if he ascended to the position immediately, he was in the position by the time Nathan Hawthorne began rising through the ranks of the organization. He and Nathan came to blows early in his career when the Chairman allowed the Sino-Japanese War to continue for his own personal gain; as retribution for his insolence (and to increase Nathan's antipathy towards non-humans), the Chairman had Nathan's first family murdered.

Decades later, Nathan successfully rose through the ranks and killed another member of the Committee to join it, making the two colleagues. Unknown to the Chairman, Nathan used this position for decades to further corrupt the House from within, seeking to destroy it entirely when the time came.

Later on, the Chairman took notice of Rebecca Hawthorne's experiments, particularly on bloodslaves, and decided to reward her by placing her in charge of Protocol Zero. This gave her complete control over the most dangerous project the House had ever created, as she began kidnapping supernaturals with the intent of brainwashing them to destroy their species' from within. He also eventually ordered the death of Ashley Morgan, leading her to go into hiding.

### Derek Hawthorne's Ascent

As the conflict with the Wazir began to come to a head, the Chairman initially made a deal with Cassandra Cassidy for her role in the creation of the Matheson-22 virus. In exchange for Cassandra's crimes essentially going ignored, she ceded control of a large portion of Pantheon Corp to the Committee, making them even richer than they already were. However, Cassandra took advantage of this to escape and begin a rampage of her own, with her and the Wazir launching attacks against Division One stations and freezing their assets.

Needing a scapegoat, the Chairman ordered that Derek Hawthorne, the agent investigating Cassandra, would be brought before the Committee to decide his punishment for failing to arrest her, even though he only failed because of the Committee's deal with her. However, Derek refused to simply take a punishment lying down and instead chose to ascend to the Committee by assassinating Yuri in front of them. The Chairman recognized what was happening and chose not to interfere, blithely commenting that it was very similar to what happened when his father Nathan ascended to the Committee.

As Derek continued to explain his ideology, the Chairman chose to hear him out, and eventually he had a telepathic conversation with the other Committee members. After agreeing that Yuri needed to die for his demonstration, the Chairman granted Derek two weeks to use his power to change the House the way he wanted and arrest Cassandra, proving that his idea had merit. However, he also agreed that Derek hadn't shown them enough respect, so he blew up Derek's left eye first.

### The Fall of the House and Death

Shortly after the conclusion of the Protocol Zero War, Nathan ensured that Roland Cassidy would take control of Pantheon Corp and gain a seat at the Committee's table, which turned out to be the first step in Nathan's final plan to destroy the House entirely. As Roland made moves against Derek in revenge for Cassandra's death, Nathan released his son Stephen from his confinement and had him go on a rampage against the House. Among his victims were the entire Committee with the exception of the Chairman, who managed to go into hiding.

As the House began collapsing and the Reveal became a reality, the Chairman remained in hiding, valuing his own life over trying to control the House or manage the flow of information. Eventually, the Truth came out and the supernatural was finally revealed to humanity, but the Chairman continued to remain in hiding. However, justice would finally come to him two years later, when Stephen discovered the Chairman having just recently been killed by a group of vampires led by Arthur Morgan.

## Personality

The Chairman represented everything wrong with the House, using the front of benevolent motives to serve his selfish and greedy ends. He cared for nothing other than his own life, even watching one of his co-workers being killed in front of him and simply responding they needed to protect their life force better. However, what made the Chairman truly repulsive is his tendency to order the deaths of his own agents the second they become a problem. Though he rewarded those like Rebecca who shared his genocidal tendencies, he punished others like Nathan and Ashley who wanted to better the world, killing Nathan's family, ordering Ashley's death, and blowing up Derek's eye just because of his disrespect. In the end, he died a pathetic coward whose sins had finally caught up to him.