(1610) Formal 1

[Fisher]

Fisher frowned as the others spoke. She honestly did not see why a heirach was needed at all, because it isn't like there was a massive mage population that needed guiding. What was this some sort of modern everybody wins city, where everyone gets a participation award? Does everyone in the city need a flipping title? We were going to run out of chests to pin rank on pretty soon. Also if the titles switched around it would produce some unpalatable results, namely Wayland could get even more authority and that was scary as hell.

"Look people," Fisher began as she stood. She pointed a finger to each person present in the room and lastly to herself. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ten is all we have. I don't honestly see the need for a heirarch. If we appoint someone then another present has to be promoted to councilor. Then we will have like six people in charge of four? If we pick a heirarch and then a herald, which we also don't need, then we have seven people in charge of three? If we have a sentinel we have eight people in charge of two. SERIOUSLY?" She looked around to each person present to let that settle.

"That's eighty percent of the people with a title and worse than some countries in Europe where the government employs sixty percent of the population. If we need someone to lead meetings each councilor can take turns acting as a sort of chair for the meeting. Also point of order. We don't have a sentinel. We have not had a Heirarch since the previous one left and because the sentinel gets their position and authority from the Heirarch that means we don't have one. We have never really needed a sentinel their only job is to guard the Circle and act as the Heirarch's leg breaker so I have no idea why they would be allowed on missions if we did have them. We have ten, three of us are Arrows so if anyone attacks the Circle everyone is going to have to participate anyway and the Arrows can just take the lead there if needed. I say no Heirach and no Sentinel, because the councilors can manage things as is."

[Star]

"Um. Yeeeaaaaaah."

Everyone can come in on Saturday, right? Because that would be great.

"I agree. With that."

Which left Truce as the tie-breaker. To install himself as Hierarch and hand out gold stars to everyone, or...

Cue the Jeapardy music.

[Truce]

"The position of Hierarch isn't simply to be in charge of other people. It elicits certain duties and responsibilities," Truce replies to Fisher. "And that means delegating those responsibilities, being able to see who is best suited for which tasks. A hierarchy isn't just about having someone above and below you in a chain of command, it's about knowing who to go to for guidance and for help. This Consilium needs a Hierarch, not one to lord over others, but to provide support and to act as a mediator." And to demonstrate to other Consilli that they follow respectable traditions.

He turns to Avis next. "Thank you for vote of confidence, Councillor Avis, but I do not consider the appointment of a Hierarch to be a game. I will only take the seat if it is the will of the Council. And though I would prefer unanimous support, I will settle for a majority. I can make a solemn promise to you now that as Hieararch I will not abuse the power of its office. Because it is true what Councillor Fisher says, there are few of us, and I can no more impose my will over you than any other. It is our collective will that will determine the fate of this community. Now, that being said, I see no issue with allowing each Order to conduct their own excursions into the time portal. I approve of that policy, barring certain conditions."

Compromise to promote cooperation. Each Order likely has its own interest in the portal. He clears his throat and looks out across the dais. "Though those with smaller Order membership will likely need volunteers from others. It will be up to each Order to create a team that will fulfill their mission statement. I also ask that the Council be notified of each and every use of the portal and the purpose behind its use. Unauthorized access and frivolous tampering should have a punishable offense."

[Wayland]

Wayland had to have a quiet chuckle to himself. Fisher first insists that missions through the portal have a defined leader, but then argues against the same for a Heirarch. Pulling out his phone he starts searching the Internet for the name of an animal that likes to back-flip, for a new nick-name.

She did have one good point though, about his tenure as Sentinel. It was something he had planned to bring up at this consillium when the floor got opened to the masses, as he was of the opinion his Oath had been voided since Aquinas' disappearance, along with their Timeline. Honestly he wasn't concerned if they chose to reaffirm his Oath of Service or release him from it in favour of another. Ive cause division, and maybe the best way to heal that is to like, not be Sentinel? But that wasn't his to make, and it would be up to the new Heirarch.

The city could do much worse that to have Truce's calm nature at its head.

[Avis]

"I just want to point out, a Hierarch is essentially just a sixth councilor. They really don't have responsibilities and duties above and beyond that. Especially consider the fact that the Heralds and the Sentinels are unnecessary. You have the Arrow. You have the Ladder. They can easily fill those roles. So could the Mysterium, the Guardians, or even the Free Council. Why not let Orders play a larger role in the consilium?" Avis suggested.

[Campanella]

Now, at last, Campanella shifted forward in his seat, interest in his eye. The muscles of his jawline pulsed once, then twice, before he settled.

As a Solitary he had no say: not without a Cabal.

At best, all he could do was indicate his support for Avis' idea. After all, as the lone mystagogue he would benefit the most from such an arrangement.

[Tuesday]

Word-plosion ho!

Siting in her chair, Tuesday was very glad that Fisher brought peanuts. And that she shared them.

Crunch, crunch, crunch

Because watching all this with out something would have been a tragedy.

Soooo she might get a title with work attached to it. or not and have zip for work since not only a noob without a stole, buuuut Lone Unicorn.

Hmmmm! and also Meh.

Crunch, crunch, crunch

She wished she could put her feet up to watch the rest of the show.

[Benji]

That answered that question.

Brother Rat sits down and resumes taking record of the proceedings when Councilor Fisher does not call on him to speak. Acting as a stenographer, you had to condense what was said into a shorthand that you could later expand into what was actually said. There wasn't a whole lot of time to listen and write and form opinions on what was being said while it was being said.

[Strix]

With his part done, Strix sat back down and let the councilors take over the show again — and what a show it turned out to be, one that left those not in the council to watch for now. His eyes moved momentarily over to Brother Rat, who had stood up — maybe intending to ask something — only to sit back down again. Councilors arguing, though less heated than he was used to watching, wasn't exactly that uncommon a sight, and he guessed that matters of politics were everywhere the same.

There might be some Awakened who thought themselves above the Sleepers, but they argued just as much as anyone else. He wasn't any better when he got going.

Fisher wasn't incorrect with her assessment of the situation, though, there simply were too few mages around Sacramento to go and split them up even further by adding a Hierarch, adding then a Herald, as well, wouldn't really serve them all that well. Avis' suggestion wasn't bad, either, considering he was currently the only Libertine — what with the previous resident Libertine besides him being dead, and the others having just been passing through.

Using the portal, with permission, seemed...alright, he guessed. Considering its power, he wasn't sure they should just randomly use it, but it wasn't like they could activate it willingly.

Yet.

Maybe they could do it, somehow. Rituals can be cast, feeding mana into it...what could be the worst that could happen? Except, maybe, getting darkspawn into the world, tearing a rift into the sky...inviting some abyssal for tea — actually, that sounded like a terrible idea.

Back on topic: As far as he was concerned, being a knife in the Seers' back was always a good thing in his book — so he'd be happy to accompany any party who might need additional manpower for that. Since he was one of those with 'smaller Order membership', that would really only be him.

For now, Strix was willing to let the Councilors continue to talk this out between each other.

[Star]

"Yeah."

The mop bobbed at Avis, but looked at Fisher . The Hierarch's got as much power as, well, anyone gives them. And honestly? If their Hierarch was just a mediator for the Council and emcee for the rest of the Consilium then that all worked out fine.

"And, yeah, I don't think we need Sentinels or Heralds either. Honestly, Councilors can recognize their own Pathies and let the Arrows... Arrow." Fingers tried to tap-tap the pile of robes but just sunk into cotton with an unpleasant pliancy. "Also. Can we seriously talk about this stupid stuff Nous slid into the Charter? About not being full members without a cabal? Let's be real. That wasn't about trust or solidarity, it was just to oust a couple of sitting Councilors."

That's the short version for the peanut gallery. Wait. There's an actual peanut gallery. Okay. That's the short version for everyone without a Cool Kids Lunch Table Chair.

"I, like, vote, or motion, or whatever, we ditch all that."

Because no one cared when the assclown Aquinas broke it.