"Admittedly the actualisation of such an order can be... frantic." Achille shrugged, staring peaceably at the river, as though searching for his words within it's recesses. "Divilitae et Unitas; not a simplistic concept to maintain. It's intriguing what you say about the irrationality of people cheri; if you look at our fraternity, you will find maniacs, egotists, geniuses all (in our own ways); possessors of property and affluence to varying degrees. Yet our intentions are ever conflicting..." His smile danced unfathomably, "...As it is between us, Robert."
"In division, there is unity. Often, the Commonwealth will only collaborate fully to work on a project which is seen as mutually benign, or grabs the common interest and skill sets. Our personal assets remain separate, true, but we find parity in our common differences. Logic reasons we should destroy each other, but no matter how hard - myself and my incurably incorrigible friend over here as an example - may struggle to destroy each other, we somehow (just) succeed in surviving each other, perhaps even growing from our pairings. By all reasoning we should distrust each other, and we do, but it's the necessities of existence which draw us close."
He sighed dimly, flicking a small stone into the waters, watching it skim boisterously over the waves before suddenly plopping out of sight, or any visible existance.
"As with all things, our flight in life is finite. Might as well milk it for all it's worth then, eh?"
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)