The Rossum Corporation is a nebulous drug conglomerate based in the United States. They also fund a science laboratory at Freemont College.
They designed the drugs that made the Dollhouse possible, and are one of the parent organizations of the Dollhouses. The LA Dollhouse is underneath a building with a Rossum sign in the lobby.
Neither of the corporation's two founders is actually named Rossum. The name, according to Clyde 2.0, is a reference to Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. or "Rossum's Universal Robots", which tells of humanity being replaced by artificial people.
The leadership of Rossum consists of Boyd Langton, Clyde 2.0 and Clive Ambrose.
Operations
Rossum is the world’s largest manufacturer of MRI imaging equipment, and the neural map of each patient scanned by their machines is added to Rossum’s database of persona constructs. This provides Rossum with a massive collection of personas from which to program Actives in their Dollhouses. In addition, Rossum has a worldwide network of diagnostic medical laboratories which similarly aggregate the results of every blood test that pass through their labs.
Rossum operates a secret subsidiary organization informally known as Dollhouses, using wiping and imprinting technology to provide programmable people for a variety of services, often sexual. Profits from the Dollhouses go towards Rossum's research.
Rossum operates a military branch, Scytheon, which uses ex-military Actives in a role similar to private military companies, codename Mind Whisper. The former Actives are linked "telepathically" through a technology called Neuro-Radio. S2: "Stop-Loss"
Other operations include psychotropic drug research.
History
Rossum was founded by Clyde Randolph and his college buddy, later revealed in "Getting Closer" as Boyd Langton. These two developed the wiping and imprinting technology. Randolph was later betrayed by Boyd and consigned to the Attic in 1993, replaced by Clyde 2.0.
Recently, Rossum was targeted by animal-rights activist Caroline Farrell, who broke into the labs at Freemont with her then-boyfriend Leo in order to document Rossum's treatment of its animal subjects. As luck would have it, the two stumbled across the corporation's experiments on humans, which led to them being pursued by the building's security. Leo was killed in the ensuing action. Farrell, with the help Rossum rising star Bennett Halverson, was later captured in Tucson after bombing another lab. She was pressured into signing a contract with the Dollhouse. The injured Halverson, who lost the use of her left arm, was viewed as a casualty and eventually ended up working for the D.C. Dollhouse.
In 2009, the labs at Freemont were compromised again after researchers Owen Johnson and Sam Jennings thought to sell the secrets of the N-7316 memory drug to Rossum's Swiss rival Bel Med Tech. Johnson got cold feet and tried to back out, and so Jennings drugged him with the N-7316 unintentionally causing him to commit suicide. Before then, Johnson touched Jennings and another student, transmitting the drug to them and then to others, causing an epidemic of hallucinations, flashbacks and euphoria on the campus.
Later, Senator Daniel Perrin publicly accused Rossum of withholding medical research and conducting illegal human experiments. It turned out that Perrin was an Active placed in his position of power by Rossum via the DC Dollhouse, and his investigation of the company was only the lead-in to his "discovery" of evidence exonerating them from any wrongdoing and implicating their rival drug companies of nefarious deeds. Rossum's ultimate plan appears to involve using Perrin as a puppet in government to pass laws for them.
The End
Rossum was heavily damaged by an attack by members of the L.A. Dollhouse.
In the future, Rossum's ambitions grew out of control. They start offering clients "full body upgrades" into Actives -- the prospect of immortality -- for a 9-figure sum, en route to the future shown in "Epitaph One".
Appendices
Background
- While not canon, the promotional website created for the Rossum Corporation, suggest that there are over 48 locations worldwide, including Antarctica (The website itself mentions there are 48 locations worldwide, but the series has mentioned additional locations opening). The website itself does not list all 48 supposed locations, but does list 22 of them, two of which have been shown on screen (L.A. and Washington, D.C.), with a mention also of New York City, but "Haunted" explicitly mentions this office to be in Manhattan, so it is possible that there's an actual "NYC" branch and a "Manhattan" under this assumption. While not seen on screen, there has been references to a Tokyo branch for Rossum/the Dollhouse, and the "official" website for Rossum lists Tokyo as a branch location.
- While not explicitly made clear, it is suggested on screen and through the website that where there is a Rossum Corporation branch, there is also a Dollhouse branch.
External Links
- In-character corporate web site - includes a list of regional branches and a founding date of 1982