JackRyan, DeadlySpikeS and iocaste were all respectable, good men - nay, Godfathers. If they were still around, I'm sure they could tell you of enjoyable nights we spent sipping scotch and shooting the shit over in the coffeeshops. To say they were competent leaders would be an insult to their memories; they were more than that - they were good leaders who protected their interests as any good leaders should. To say I enjoyed their company would, again, be an insult - the mutual regard went a little deeper than that I'd like to think.

The obvious question, then, is why I would place myself squarely in the centre of an alliance who's raison d'etre was to dump those 3 Godfathers in Lake Michigan. I suppose I could stare at my shoes, scuff my feet on the sidewalk and mumble some unintelligible nonsense about me thinking they were going to put my district down and that lending my hand in this war was a pre-emptive act. I won't do that, because it's not true; I had absolutely no reason to believe they would war me. I trusted them, not to a ridiculous extent of course.  I trusted them merely as peers trust each other - a trust necessary for us to work together as Godfathers.

Don't get me wrong, we conduct our business in such a 'small' world that conflict is an inevitability. The unstoppable force will always meet the immovable object so perhaps way down the line myself and DeadlySpike and his faction may well have found ourselves on opposing ends of an out-of-control game of knifey/spoony but I certainly had no reason to seriously suspect they were orchestrating such a situation. However, the in vogue idea is that 'they were going to war us so we warred them' is one of the soundest justifications for war. This is an idea that makes me truly wince.

'They were gonna war us.' Cringe. It's an extremely poor reason to give. It is a cop out. If I were to go down that route, I would point out Spike's tub-thumping nonsense in the streets; something I was very disappointed in given my extremely high regard for the man. His later oratory performances were the sort of excitable appearances had the kind of tone of a war-bonds salesman at a Town Hall meeting. My feeling was shared by some errr...Czylharians? Czylharzites? Czylharz...people. Many of whom had claimed affinity to the name much longer than he.

Equally, I could point to JackRyan's clandestine conversations with Anarchy; proclaiming him the district head of Staten Island without the knowledge or consent of a majority of Godfathers followed by the awfully coincidental death of Aaron_McKeever just 7 hours later. Given the timing of Ryan's conversation with Anarchy, I personally find it difficult to believe that he did not know about the impending death of McKeever, and yet the Godfathers collectively were only informed about the event some 14 minutes before it occurred. A little concerning.

I discussed these matters, and a couple of others in which I felt the South Side/Corktown collective overstepped the boundaries, with my closest advisors. The counsel I received from them was almost unanimous - it wasn't great news but it was ultimately a storm in a teacup. Much ado about nothing. My Gallic impulsiveness was reined in by the sensibility and pragmatism of my inner circle and I put the matter to the back of my mind; not particularly happy but neither too concerned to be worried.

The twist in this story is rather predictable. Bip approached me and trusted me to a degree that was sincerely humbling. She truly placed her and Dripple's life in my hands by fully disclosing their distaste with what they viewed as a cancerous growth within the Czylharz faction and their frank intent to cut it out; but they needed my scalpel along with their own. Would I help?

My first reaction, to my shame, was public perception. This was ostensibly an in-house matter for Czylharz; my involvement would not be received too kindly. This thought lasted for about 3 seconds, gone until now. Neutrality was not really an option, not as I saw it.

For me, the path was laid out very clearly. I could ally myself with Spike's faction and bring about the death of two people (and their districts) who have known me longer than most - after they had trusted me above and before all others, no less. I could barely even consider such an option.

The alternative, the glaring alternative, was to pledge my support to Dripple and bip. I will sound like a broken record but I will again reference the utter faith they placed in me. I have also referenced the mutual regard that existed between myself and JackRyan, Spike and iocaste, but I also mentioned that this was simply the relationship one would expect to find between Godfathers who work well together.

The situation with Dripple and bip was different, the fact that they openly and without hesitation gave me all the ammunition I would need to destroy them with was a vote of confidence I could not ignore; a show of trust I could not possibly betray.

Those of you who disagree must be itching for me to finish so you can scream at me that these are scant reasons for which to go to the mattresses. You will have no arguments from me. These are scant reasons to war, so let me wrap things up by giving you the purest reason of all - I am a Leader, my job is to lead my district and me and my inner circle felt that acting as we did was in the best interests of the West Side. That is what it all boils down to. That is reason enough. If any of you disagree, I would challenge you t act differently if you are ever in my shoes. I also fully accept, just to pre-empt those who will say it, that those who live by the sword will die by it and if I am felled in similar circumstances (as I no doubt will by someday, somehow) then my son will have no arguments. We all chose this life.

This will be of little consolation to the sons of DeadlySpikeS, Jack and iocaste but let me finish by saying this; I cannot emphasise enough the fact that I respected these Godfathers and, more tellingly, liked them as men. That, however, will never come before my district - that is the way of our thing and something I will not apologise for.

Mikro listens to his Godfather's word, then he see's one thing and only one thing that he wishes to comment on.

"Hello Godfather Cantona, I was right hand to Aaron McKeever. I was not aware of JackRyan playing a big part in taking him out of power. I knew that he made Anarchy head of the city without anyone else. But, for what I recall and my part in this I was supposed to test Sonny's loyalties on request of Aaron himself. While testing him he told me about him and Anarchy talking on a few occasions and he was obviously displeased, with the preformace of Aaron. I found out of a plot to take him down.. I'm not gonna sit here and act innocent as I was fully behind the move to take him down as I felt me and Sonny(Left Hand for those unaware) were doing a lot of the work.. I more took on the responsibilities of Left Hand in managing the members because many of them felt uncomfortable talking to him or felt as he did not like them. So I looked at my job as protecting the family itself.. I knew Anarchy had the backing of a godfather in this move so I didn't really think me and Aaron had any such chance in winning a "war". So I decided to make a deal with Anarchy that he had my support in the move if he spared the family, as well as myself.. Many may say this was selfish but I will say I did what I felt was best."

Mikro then stops for a second. And, realizes he has gone COMPLETELY off topic..

"What where was I?? O ya I was just wondering if you had any proof that JackRyan was the one helping organize Aaron's killing? I mean no disrespect by this I'm just curious."

A pleasure to hear, as is so hard to judge what a simple action or inaction can cause down the line and knowing how long a persons memory can be.

Thank you Godfather Cantona for your speech

Shuffles off to another conversation

I certainly am glad that this speech was given, thank you. I had a few questions regarding the war and this answered a good majority of them. 

Chong lights a cross joint in honor of the fallen. 

"To echo what Telkin was just thinking (yes - I also don't know how I know what Telkin is thinking), I too lost many friends in this war from both sides. Listening to the reasons that Cantona has brought forth, I fully understand why he brought West Side into the war. I personally know the turmoil that Cantona was going through whilst doing this, but he did what he genuinely thought was best for West Side, and myself, along with others, fully support Cantona's actions."