Dollhouse For Dummies
Or, So You Want To Understand What The Hell Topher Is On About.
What is the Dollhouse?
The Dollhouse is an organisation that "programs" people with personality and histories, to serve whatever purpose their clients want them to, in exchange for absurd amounts of money.
This purpose can be romantic/sexual, friendship, criminal, body-guard, baby delivery, hostage negotiation, investigation, even talking to people who are dead, or a specialist in just about any field, and practically anything you can think of that you would like someone perfect for.
There are 22 Dollhouses (23 at the end of 2009):
Akranes, Bangkok, Berlin, Budapest, Chicago, Cleveland, (Dubai), Edmonton, Hong Kong, Johannesberg, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Mumbai, New York City, Paris, São Paulo, Seattle, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC.
Los Angeles staff:
Head of House: Adelle DeWitt
Head of Security: Laurence Dominic (former), Boyd Langdon (current)
Programmer: Topher Brink
His assistant: Ivy
Doctor: Dr. Saunders (former), Dr. Claire Saunders (copy) (former), (current unknown)
Handlers: Paul Ballard, Sophie Alvarez, Selena Ramirez, and many more
Washington DC staff:
Head of House: Stewart Lipman
Programmer: Bennett Halverson
Her assistant: Grace
Then, what's Rossum?
The Rossum corporation is a "nebulous drug conglomerate", and the parent organisation of Dollhouse. It is headed by Clive Ambrose. They are fairly evil, and seem to be planning to take over the world, more or less. They're also really scary, and will cut you to pieces if you betray them. Or worse, put you in the Attic.
So, what's the Attic?
The Attic is both a place (a floor inside each Dollhouse building), and the mental condition the people send there end up in. It is considered a fate worse than death.
The people sent there live in a never-ending nightmare, their worst fears repeating forever, with them powerless to stop it. Their brains are plugged into a Rossum Mainframe and used as a computer -- so they are still very much an asset to the company. It is not a fun place.
What does Topher actually DO?
He will tell you that he makes people better, that he fixes their brains, and makes people happy. Which he does do, but that's not all he does.
Topher builds personalities. Using complicated brain scans, picking pieces (memories, skills, knowledge, anything) and putting them all together to create one personality perfect for the job. He then imprints an active with this personality (using an imprint chair), and the active is sent out on their engagement. When they're done, he wipes the imprint clean away.
Once an active has finished their 5 year term, he imprints them with their original personality, as well as solving whatever problem they had upon arrival, making them better.
And an active is...?
A doll.
A person who, usually out of desperation and lack of options, signs their life away for five years. They are promised that they will remember nothing, be in excellent health, and filthy rich when they are done. Five years will seem like five seconds.
They then have their personalities and memories wiped and stored away safely. In their dollstate, they are child-like, simple and obedient, with no knowledge beyond how to use a knife and fork.
In LA, they all have names after the NATO phonetic alphabet. In DC, they're named after Greek gods.
And this Alpha person?
An active whose original personality was a man who liked to cut people up. Thinking they could wipe that clean away, he was made into a doll. However, while still in dollstate, he acquired an obsession with the doll Echo, and wanted her to be the best doll in the house -- so he cut up the face of the current best doll, Whiskey.
Before Topher could wipe Alpha, Alpha fought back and killed a handler, and an accident messed up the wiping process, causing a composite event. Alpha was imprinted with all the 48 personalities he'd formerly been imprinted with. He also killed the current physician, Dr. Saunders, and several other handlers, but spared Topher. (Something he later repeated twice -- it is unsure why. Perhaps because Topher created him.)
In the aftermath, Topher imprinted the broken doll, Whiskey, with parts of the old Dr. Saunders's personality, permanently imprinting her as Dr. Claire Saunders. When Alpha returns many months later to take Echo with him, he also makes Claire aware of that she used to be a doll. Once again he spares Topher's life, once again he escapes.
He returns a third time to the Dollhouse, but this has not happened yet in Topher's timeline.
What's all this tech he has with him?
Disruptor
A small metal cylinder with a button on the end. Pressing the button makes it emit a humming noise, and if pointed at any person within 50 feet with an Active architecture chip in their brain, they will get a headache, bloody nose, and pass out. It doesn't do anything to normal people though, just dolls, which is why it can help to find out if someone is a doll.
Or you can watch Topher explain and demonstrate it himself.
Wedge
An electronic device used to store personalities/memories, whether copied from real people or manufactured. It's a metal box roughly the size of a hard drive enclosure.
His computer
It's a very powerful computer with six computer screens. Usually at least half of these screens would be running some form of code, or show information like vital signs and location, transmitted through the biolinks of actives he was monitoring, while he worked with the other three.
It also has a keyboard and mouse, naturally, and a webcam. The security measures put on it (by Topher himself) are insane -- even Alpha (who is a genius with the intelligence of ca. 40 people) couldn't crack it. It has a lot of programs related to his job, plus a few games.
Pics #1 and #2. (He keeps the mouse on the left side.)
(He had about 20 screens altogether in his office, but only 6 of these were directly connected to his computer. Some showed surveillance footage, some were connected to the imprint chair, some were connected to other computers.)
Why does he offer people 'treatments'?
That's usually how you bring actives in to be imprinted, wiped or checked up on. When offered a treatment, they will become much easier to handle and know that yes, they must have a treatment right away. They might not have that particular phrase programmed, though, it might be something else entirely, but besides the Disruptor and brain scans, this is the only way of knowing if someone is a doll.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them here.
What is the Dollhouse?
The Dollhouse is an organisation that "programs" people with personality and histories, to serve whatever purpose their clients want them to, in exchange for absurd amounts of money.
This purpose can be romantic/sexual, friendship, criminal, body-guard, baby delivery, hostage negotiation, investigation, even talking to people who are dead, or a specialist in just about any field, and practically anything you can think of that you would like someone perfect for.
There are 22 Dollhouses (23 at the end of 2009):
Akranes, Bangkok, Berlin, Budapest, Chicago, Cleveland, (Dubai), Edmonton, Hong Kong, Johannesberg, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Mumbai, New York City, Paris, São Paulo, Seattle, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC.
Los Angeles staff:
Head of House: Adelle DeWitt
Head of Security: Laurence Dominic (former), Boyd Langdon (current)
Programmer: Topher Brink
His assistant: Ivy
Doctor: Dr. Saunders (former), Dr. Claire Saunders (copy) (former), (current unknown)
Handlers: Paul Ballard, Sophie Alvarez, Selena Ramirez, and many more
Washington DC staff:
Head of House: Stewart Lipman
Programmer: Bennett Halverson
Her assistant: Grace
Then, what's Rossum?
The Rossum corporation is a "nebulous drug conglomerate", and the parent organisation of Dollhouse. It is headed by Clive Ambrose. They are fairly evil, and seem to be planning to take over the world, more or less. They're also really scary, and will cut you to pieces if you betray them. Or worse, put you in the Attic.
So, what's the Attic?
The Attic is both a place (a floor inside each Dollhouse building), and the mental condition the people send there end up in. It is considered a fate worse than death.
The people sent there live in a never-ending nightmare, their worst fears repeating forever, with them powerless to stop it. Their brains are plugged into a Rossum Mainframe and used as a computer -- so they are still very much an asset to the company. It is not a fun place.
What does Topher actually DO?
He will tell you that he makes people better, that he fixes their brains, and makes people happy. Which he does do, but that's not all he does.
Topher builds personalities. Using complicated brain scans, picking pieces (memories, skills, knowledge, anything) and putting them all together to create one personality perfect for the job. He then imprints an active with this personality (using an imprint chair), and the active is sent out on their engagement. When they're done, he wipes the imprint clean away.
Once an active has finished their 5 year term, he imprints them with their original personality, as well as solving whatever problem they had upon arrival, making them better.
And an active is...?
A doll.
A person who, usually out of desperation and lack of options, signs their life away for five years. They are promised that they will remember nothing, be in excellent health, and filthy rich when they are done. Five years will seem like five seconds.
They then have their personalities and memories wiped and stored away safely. In their dollstate, they are child-like, simple and obedient, with no knowledge beyond how to use a knife and fork.
In LA, they all have names after the NATO phonetic alphabet. In DC, they're named after Greek gods.
And this Alpha person?
An active whose original personality was a man who liked to cut people up. Thinking they could wipe that clean away, he was made into a doll. However, while still in dollstate, he acquired an obsession with the doll Echo, and wanted her to be the best doll in the house -- so he cut up the face of the current best doll, Whiskey.
Before Topher could wipe Alpha, Alpha fought back and killed a handler, and an accident messed up the wiping process, causing a composite event. Alpha was imprinted with all the 48 personalities he'd formerly been imprinted with. He also killed the current physician, Dr. Saunders, and several other handlers, but spared Topher. (Something he later repeated twice -- it is unsure why. Perhaps because Topher created him.)
In the aftermath, Topher imprinted the broken doll, Whiskey, with parts of the old Dr. Saunders's personality, permanently imprinting her as Dr. Claire Saunders. When Alpha returns many months later to take Echo with him, he also makes Claire aware of that she used to be a doll. Once again he spares Topher's life, once again he escapes.
He returns a third time to the Dollhouse, but this has not happened yet in Topher's timeline.
What's all this tech he has with him?
Disruptor
A small metal cylinder with a button on the end. Pressing the button makes it emit a humming noise, and if pointed at any person within 50 feet with an Active architecture chip in their brain, they will get a headache, bloody nose, and pass out. It doesn't do anything to normal people though, just dolls, which is why it can help to find out if someone is a doll.
Or you can watch Topher explain and demonstrate it himself.
Wedge
An electronic device used to store personalities/memories, whether copied from real people or manufactured. It's a metal box roughly the size of a hard drive enclosure.
His computer
It's a very powerful computer with six computer screens. Usually at least half of these screens would be running some form of code, or show information like vital signs and location, transmitted through the biolinks of actives he was monitoring, while he worked with the other three.
It also has a keyboard and mouse, naturally, and a webcam. The security measures put on it (by Topher himself) are insane -- even Alpha (who is a genius with the intelligence of ca. 40 people) couldn't crack it. It has a lot of programs related to his job, plus a few games.
Pics #1 and #2. (He keeps the mouse on the left side.)
(He had about 20 screens altogether in his office, but only 6 of these were directly connected to his computer. Some showed surveillance footage, some were connected to the imprint chair, some were connected to other computers.)
Why does he offer people 'treatments'?
That's usually how you bring actives in to be imprinted, wiped or checked up on. When offered a treatment, they will become much easier to handle and know that yes, they must have a treatment right away. They might not have that particular phrase programmed, though, it might be something else entirely, but besides the Disruptor and brain scans, this is the only way of knowing if someone is a doll.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them here.