Purity, hehe, yes the old charlatan was certainly into his pageantry. Too bad it was all a lie, a pretty pretty lie. House was also a realist. He could befall any number of fates leading to his death, a microchip controlling his oxygen could fail. I don't see why you have trouble believing a guy strange as House would just write out an obituary without thinking his days are numbers so that he could set the record of his life. Now you seem to be misunderstanding what I'm saying, I think that House knowing to mind his own business is a good thing, not a bad thing. Micromanaging people's lives is not something I remotely want a leader to do, which is why I think Caesar in particular is a horrible choice because he's totalitarian and wants a strictly controlled environment. House wants stability and progress, not to tell people how to live there lives. Perhaps he's a bit too lenient, like with the Omertas, but governance should be handled with a light touch and an iron fist. The thing is, House sits between two great wasteland powers that dwarf him. In order to emerge as an independent power he had to do some underhanded stuff to position himself in place to oppose both. Ultimately thou, I didn't see much manipulation. Of the NCR sure, but they intended on conquering the region and he maintained most of its independence and turned the NCR into a supply line. That's some fine diplomacy, turning a potential enemy into first a resource then a possible ally, and to do so as an inferior power. That's some effective leadership. Independence is only insane because the game lacked the tools to properly master the wasteland. With a Vanguard of Securitrons it's just a matter of installing a civilian government and recruiting a formal military. Once that's founded you're talking about a wasteland settlement with fresh water, power, and vast tracts of death separating you from your enemies. Combine that with being the master of Big Mountain, data research for bioenhanced farming, and my death ray and I think that De'Tortor's Mohave could be a livable civilization and a formidable wasteland power.
