Organized Chaos (Dorian, 7/22/14)

There was a particular sound that a gloved metal hand made when it knocked against a wooden door. In Defiance, that meant it was likely one of two people calling on the Hermetic Master. He stood patiently. And inhumanly still.

There is a long wait, several minutes at least, before a response stirs. The door opens and inside is Dorian, the Hermetic is wearing well adorned ritualistic robes that hung slightly open in the front giving a glimpse of bare chest and slacks beneath. His hair was a little messed up and he appeared to have a week or more of untamed facial hair growth on his jaw. "Reinhard? Or... whatever you are calling yourself these days." The man rubbed his eyes and then stepped back, opening the door wider. "Come in. What brings you here?"

For a brief moment, there is a hesitation. A subtle power was suggested at being invited into someone's home, and particularly an Awakened. He felt it whenever guests were welcomed into his Lab, just like when he was welcomed into the Laboratory of the original Reinhard von Luftwitz. Besides all that, a slight, nagging fear that the Sanctum of a Hermetic would be considerably paradoxical to his nature as a robotic golem. "There are few enough Sons in the area, I'd just as well prefer you call myself Doctor, and Metropolis, Metropolis until I've decided upon a more fitting nomenclature."

Stepping inside, he continues. "I believe we'd be doing the right thing by abolishing the Covenant, but that certainly begs the question of what would come after. I understand you've been busy as of late, but I'd be surprised if you hadn't given it a bit of thought, and I'm wondering where those thoughts may have taken you."

"If you insist. I tend to consider Doctor a rather bland label. But if that is the name you chose for now, then I will respect it. Helps you define yourself, the name you choose." Words spoken idly, small talk that seemed as though they might not require a response. The door was closed behind the good robotic Etherite. On the inside where locks and knobs ought to have been from their exterior counterparts were instead flat metal plates with arcane engravings - symbols that the Master tapped rapidly in obscured sequence responding with the sound of a door locking.

"I have given it some thought..." he said turning around, but paused to examine himself. "If you'll excuse me a moment. Please have a seat while I make myself presentable." Dorian rushed off towards a staircase and vanished upstairs. It was only a few minutes later when he returned in a collared button-up shirt, hair combed, and facial hair tamed and shortened a bit, no longer robed. "So... The Covenant, yes. Before I continue my own thoughts... I am curious why you feel abolishing it is the correct course of action."

He raised a skeptical eyebrow at the sigil lock as he fastened it, but held his commentary. Unlike most instances when they were safely behind the doors of an Awakened individual, the doctor does not drop the image crafted by his Camouflage Field Generator. "It hasn't done anything for us except give those who'd lived here before our arrival something to raise arms against. It was a clever and cleanly written document, but laws are judged best by how they serve the people they're written for, wouldn't you agree?"

"Indeed. The people who they are written for. The people, as a group, not individuals. And that is all these rebels are, a group of individuals that are each worried about themselves instead of the greater good. They have no issues except old grudges and misconceptions. Their understanding of the Covenant they claim to despise is flawed, and their offenses are moot points or outright fabrications." The master grew animated, and clearly angered, the emotion charging the room with powerful resonances that seemed just shy of producing physical sparks.

Something invisible distracted Dorian at that moment, and he glanced around. The reprieve gave him a moment to breath deeply and calm down a bit. "While I am not opposed to governmental reform, I do not feel that the core principals ought be changed. The laws serve the people just fine. In fact the people have the most power under the Covenant as written, they just refuse to take advantage of that power. And the complexities of the document protect that power. To simplify the document would centralize governmental power. To do that, would actually make those in charge more primed to despotism. They are asking for the tyranny they are claiming to fight. And being traditional as I am, used to taking orders from a small council, centralized power does not frighten me. But the ignorance of these rebels is disgusting."

There is no reaction to Dorian's animated response. "You're an intelligent man, Dorian, but you must be lacking a certain amount of common sense if you expect everyone to comprehend matters on the same level as yourself. Even I have some difficulty with the legalize in that document. I'd like something our detractors can swallow so no one repeats the Butcher's warmongering."

"And that's exactly why their ignorance is so offensive Doctor." From whatever angle he was standing regards to former-Reinhard his head shifted to peer at the machine man. "You are intelligent enough to realize you don't understand. They are ignorant enough to think they do."

"Socrates, isn't it? 'The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing?' I've recently had an epiphany, and it only proved to me exactly how little I know myself, let alone the universe."

He lifted his arms in a sort of 'what can you do?' gesture. "Well there's still work to be done here, and they are who we have to work with. If you just can't stand talking to those outside the Chantry, we can appoint a representative. Jun Pei wants us all dead eventually so his cycle can repeat itself. You said you'd given some thought to what comes next. I came because I was hoping to hear those ideas, if you're willing to share."

"I cannot abide their ignorance. That does not mean that reform isn't a good idea. With so many absentee officers the government cannot function. And as things stand it is the only reason why I am not fighting change, because nobody has given me a good reason besides it that there ought to be changes."

Slowly Dorian nodded and then began to take steps towards the next room. "Of course. Please come this way, I think I'd like to make tea while we talk." The hermetic lingered or moved towards the kitchen as appropriate to assure that the Doctor stayed in earshot of his voice. "I think if simple is what people want, there needs to be a small body, with executive decision power. Maybe what is currently the Triumvirate is mutated into a council, with similar positions except it gains the ability to rule without so much of the bureaucracy that the current Covenant demands. This council of three would be Legislators, Judges, and Executives of the Chantry. Perhaps retaining a position of Censor would be worth doing, but I'm not certain about that. Maybe the office names would change, but one seat filled by strength, one by vote, and one by lottery."