User blog comment:DYBAD/Character Sheet/@comment-4867780-20151010124756/@comment-4867780-20151011221336

Exactly ! Conquering "for the greater good" has been done a million times over, sometimes with genuinely altruistic intentions, nine times out of ten as a catchy cover to further an imperialistic agenda and/or a megalomaniacal ego ^ ^;

I wanted something more subtle, original and interesting, that would nicely reflect the character's worldview and personal style. I must say I'm pretty satisfied with it  :^)

There are several reasons to this undercover strategic choice :

First, Lawrence treasures his privacy and freedom, which doesn't mix well with public existence and official responsibilities. Second, operating out in the open would sooner or later reveal his capabilities and resources, thus leading protectorates to grab his leg and endlessly beg for "moar and moar" (you know how it works), which is really annoying and ungrateful. Third, it would end up creating a situation of societal dependency, which would inevitably give him massive gravity-like political weight, and nobody would dare farting without his approval in triplicate.

Last but not least, he firmly refuses to play god and/or take control of others' destiny, even indirectly and even with the best intentions. Protectorates are meant to support and protect as a token of gratitude, not puppeteer societies and reshape lives. It is essential to him that they forge their own destiny with their own means, and all he does is provide a strong and healthy basis for them to do just that - and eliminate greedy parasites that get in the way, whether they hide in low or high places.

Which is much easier to cleanly pull off from behind the scenes ;)