Shrugging to the others who wanted to end the deadlock by just skipping to the next topic in a to Philip quite unprofessional manner, without giving him the chance to say his piece on these latest developments. So he continued in his pleasant-slash-neutral deadpan expression.
"You raise some good points. The guard dog in the house metaphor seems to be a death-star level weakness I didn`t even consider. And the question what the point of it is, next to the existing defenses. Is debatable in my opinion, but certainly has some merit, too. To be clear, I only supported Corn`s idea insofar as that the risks were negligible and it didn`t turn into a half-measure. And on top of your previous points- if it`s just Corn and me on this and there`s no big Consilium-wide group-ritual component in addition to the Thaumium, then that`s what it is to me- a half-measure. Because I agree, this should be incredibly hard for a single mage to alter. But I still think the general idea to improve defenses is a good one and shouldn`t be dismissed completely. If nothing else as a threat assessment and feasibility study."
he said, briefly looking to Corn apologetically, breaking deadpan, before resuming it and continuing.
"As for fight training, I suppose that has merit. But even in such a setting, could the even-less-strongly-built-robots-for-this-purpose be commandeered away from you and become the problem we just discussed?"
he asked Corn, frowning.
"But the idea itself is admirable. And I`ll gladly take you up on the paintball idea."
he said, still fully turned to Corn, but adressing his comments openly as suggestions to everyone, before continuing, speaking more directly only to him.
"But I`d gladly sit down with you sometime to continue brainstorming ideas for defenses, if you`d be interested."
he said enthusiastically, before turning to Aurora.
"But for the moment, yes. What we`re left with is vigilance, being aware of what`s around us and trusting in the Circle`s defenses. And I guess an active defense recon mission idea ties into the Hallows and Ley lines project, as I see it. So ok. With that, I`d say that settles that discussion for the time being, for me at least."
With that, Philip agreed to end that discussion for the time being, unless others had questions or comments to what he`d just said.
"So, leadership? As far as I`m concerned, nothing really needs to be changed at the moment in my view, unless you have a specific reason for suggesting otherwise? If that changes, I propose to re-visit the issue."
he asked, shrugging, but nodding to Corn in general agreement. Winter was gone and with him, much of the leadership discussion as Philip agreed Corn rightfully pointed out, despite knowing next to nothing about him, leaving Philip still somewhat distrustful. He didn`t trust Aurora to turn him into a fish at some point anyway and the Thyrsus seemed too prone to anger and emotions. Meanwhile Corn was a loose cannon anyway, who openly admitted to his conflict of interest when he joined. And Chambers? He was mature, certainly, and his opinions on the Moros were rapidly improving. But he still wasn`t quite sure about him in a leadership role. And besides, he appreciated having at least some measure of power in this semi-democratic system they currently had in place and he did not want to relinquish his agency without a good reason.