Caldwell

— Reverend Caldwell

**Reverend Caldwell** is a character in The Smoke Room. He is the minister of the Meseta settlement's church and preaches Christianity to its people.

## Appearance

Caldwell is a tall and imposing heron with pale white feathers on his head and gray feathers from his neck down. He has gray arms ending in talon-like fingers and a prominent gray and yellow beak. Caldwell has yellow eyes accentuated by gray markings and a long black feather resembling an eyebrow trailing over each one. He wears a coal colored cassock befitting his occupation. Cliff describes him as almost uncannily prim and clean for someone who lives in the desert. He is also said to have a high and breathy voice.

## Personality

Caldwell is a smug and strict; he believes in the self-evident superiority of the religion and language that he is charged with bringing to the Meseta, and rewards disobedience harshly. He earnestly seems to believe that he is providing salvation to the Meseta through his teachings and punishments, though he seems to have little regard for the actual thoughts or wellbeing of his followers themselves. Caldwell is fastidious and condescending, and he has little patience for those who fail to meet his expectations or resist his authority.

## Story

### Before The Smoke Room

Caldwell was appointed as the reverend of the Meseta settlement's church at some point in the past. He frequently preaches the tenets of Christianity to his congregation, with attendance seemingly being mandatory. Despite being a man of the cloth, Caldwell seems to have a hand in both the political and bureaucratic aspects of the settlement's government, and also takes part in running the residential boarding school. Under Caldwell's supervision and often with his direct involvement, the school brutally punishes students who are caught speaking the Meseta language.

Although he outwardly expresses a dedication to help the settlement thrive and become self-sustaining, and uses Meseta labor to ensure this, Caldwell's operation is eventually revealed to prioritize exporting goods that make him a personal profit over producing ones that support the community. He maintains business relationships with both James Hendricks III, an industrialist in the nearby town of Echo hoping to build a railroad to the settlement, and Gerrit van Houwelinck, an aristocratic merchant from Europa.

### Cliff's Route

Cliff and the rest of his expedition team encounter Caldwell shortly after arriving at the Meseta reservation. Cliff meets with Caldwell alone to discuss the business contract he has brought on behalf of James Hendricks. After scolding Cliff for his late arrival, Caldwell explains that he and James plan to build a railroad from Echo to the settlement, with the Meseta to be used as workers and Cliff to serve as a cultural liaison to make them more agreeable to the idea. He then instructs Cliff to meet him at the church after sunset and gives him free reign of the settlement, with the exceptions of the boarding school and the military men's quarters, before departing with a reminder to keep their business confidential.

The next morning, Caldwell meets Cliff and Yiska at the school and, after scolding Cliff for once again arriving late, shows them around the classrooms. The tour continues at the nearby apiary, with Caldwell remarking that the students must be made to work as well as learn. He muses that bees are models for civilization, since they play their essential roles in perfect harmony with one another.

Caldwell leaves while Yiska teaches Cliff about beekeeping then returns shortly afterward, furious to overhear that Yiska and Tsela are speaking the Meseta language. Tsela brushes off Caldwell's scolding and spits on the ground before walking away, but Yiska is extremely apologetic and promises to talk to Tsela about his behavior. Seeming to consider Tsela something of a lost cause, Caldwell directs his disappointment at Yiska instead and instructs him to wash his mouth out with lye soap, clearly a familiar punishment for Yiska from his days as a student of the school. Despite Cliff's discomfort, Caldwell is unyielding and Yiska seems to accept the punishment willingly. As Yiska suffers from the caustic lye, Caldwell treats him approvingly and even gently, then sends him home to clean up.

Caldwell asks Cliff to tell him what Yiska and Tsela were saying and learns that several of the settlement's pack animals were killed the previous night. Caldwell then turns on Cliff, accusing him or someone in his group of instigating Yiska's uncharacteristically disobedient behavior and bringing misfortune to the settlement. He pushes Cliff into the shed where the beekeeping supplies are kept, then turns and runs away suddenly after locking the door.

Hours later, Caldwell returns and promises Cliff his freedom if he can answer some questions. He demands to know whether Sam could be responsible for the mutilated pack animals, explaining that the loss will endanger the flow of shipments out of the settlement. Much to Cliff's horror he openly admits that, rather than pursuing a strategy of self-sufficiency for the community, he has been prioritizing the production of goods that can be exported so he can 'skim some of the cream off the top.' Caldwell then brings up the fact that Cliff's father Gerrit apparently warned him beforehand about Cliff's 'funny' and fanciful nature, and begins deriding Cliff as something half-formed that is neither a man nor a child.

Disgusted and disdainful, Caldwell calls off his business partnership with Cliff and prepares to let him out on the provision that he leave the settlement, but just then a hulking shape slams into Caldwell and begins mauling him. Mortally wounded, Caldwell cries out for God's help with ragged breaths. Avery finds him soon after and uses his medical expertise to list off Caldwell's injuries to him. Echoing the cruel lessons that the residential school has been inflicting on Meseta children, leading to the deaths of many including Avery's own sister, Avery laments he cannot help since Caldwell's shaky pleas don't sound much like proper speech, and leaves him to die.

When Samuel and Murdoch eventually find Cliff in the shed, Caldwell's remains are nowhere to be found but scraps of his clothes cover the area. Several Meseta later find Caldwell in the road of the settlement being gored by a huge boar and kill the animal. Cliff and the others come to investigate the scene the next day and see Caldwell's corpse lying beneath a bloody tablecloth.

## Relationships

### Cliff

Caldwell apparently received numerous letters from Cliff's father during their business correspondence that warned him about Cliff's 'peculiarity' and unreliability. Although Caldwell claims to have initially wanted to give Cliff the benefit of the doubt, upon meeting him he quickly concludes with disgust that Gerrit was right, and that the poor reputation for flamboyancy and naiveté that Cliff has attracted is true. Caldwell consistently calls Cliff by his birth name and seems to particularly relish mocking his attempt to rename and reinvent himself.

### Yiska

Caldwell seems to consider Yiska something of a proven success of the residential school system's harsh teachings. He calls Yiska a role model for the current generation of Meseta students due to his strength and calm diligence, and affords him special privileges for his good behavior. Caldwell is paternalistic and condescending towards Yiska, and treats him gently even while cruelly punishing him. He seems truly shocked when he overhears Yiska 'acting out' by speaking Meseta, and immediately seeks to blame Cliff or another outside influence for instigating behavior that he believes is uncharacteristic in his prized pupil.

### Avery

Avery's sister Enola died at the residential school that Caldwell oversees, and Avery savors the opportunity to watch the reverend die while begging in vain for his help.

## Trivia

* Caldwell is the first bird character to appear in an Echo Project VN with a sprite, though Nate and Lucy precede him in terms of appearances.
* Compared to the other Smoke Room characters Caldwell is designed to be slightly more stylized, and has nostrils at the tip of his beak that real herons lack.
* Caldwell's design is said to take inspiration from villains such as Lord Shen from *Kung Fu Panda 2* and Judge Claude Frollo from *The Hunchback of Notre Dame.*

## Gallery

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