Mako comes forward to the crowd, smoking a cigarette, and putting on his sunglasses.

"War speeches! What they good for? Just about everything.

War speeches are a common ground here in our country. Sometimes we receive them, sometimes we don’t. Most of that quality falls upon the leader, as most of us would agree. That, or the victor. Today, I’d like to talk some about quality war speeches and what you get from them, what can be learned from them.

As the times change, so does power, and so does the people involved with that. As much fun as war speeches might be to read, there’s something deeper to them than just that. What good is a war speech if it doesn’t give proper reasoning, support, and debate?

Granted, not all war speeches will be debated. However, there is normally someone upset. That’s the nature of this world. I don’t hold any ill will in it, and it actual intrigues me to what some of the fallens’ kin might have on their minds. While people are telling them to ‘shut up and quit bitching’, I listen. It’s entertaining to me. i find the streets are getting put to good use when people give a speech like that some attention. The streets were made for debates and that’s where we get the heart of them, the majority coming through war speeches."

He takes a breath and smiles before continuing.

"Over the years, I’ve seen decent war speeches, and I’ve seen amazing ones. Hell, sometimes none at all. If no one has checked out Godfather Dripple’s war speeches, I recommend you do. He’s a well spoken man, very driven when he speaks, and doesn’t even seem to break a sweat doing it. Charisma. Something we don’t normally see from speeches nowadays. Over time, I’ve had to watch Godfathers get lazy with their speeches. Some tried give you half the story. Some just spoke words for sake of looking intelligent.

Godfather Dripple is just an example of how someone should present a war speech, at least in my eyes.

During times, the speeches are going to change, and so will the reasons. Only sometimes. History often repeats itself. My question to all of you is this... What do you believe makes a quality (not quantity) war speech? Do you like the story, or would you rather them just get down to the point? Does it matter to you if the Godfather isn’t the one actually giving the speech? To what extent do you find points reasonable in your eyes?"

Afterwards, Mako flicks the cigarette to the side and takes a seat on the steps, where he awaits replies.

Mabutton stands as he waits for Mako to finish so he can pipe in and add his two cents.

You speak about a quality war speech, personally I'd like to know why you thought Dripple's speech was good. I read it just like many others after the war and only thing i had positive to say about it was 'Atleast he held back on the mass amount of bullshit.' Which I respect in a sense cause I couldn't care about quality or quantity. I just like to know who fought who, whose replacing who, and if your going to try give people a background story atleast be honest cause none of us got time for bullshit lies. As really since I've been back most wars were started over the lie of they were going to attack us so we killed them first. To this day i will never know what Lynch or LadyFighter were planning against us (this being back when my ancestor was in Lions Den) but I don't think I'll ever care to know since i was on the invading side. I really think people's interest has a lot to do with their side in the war, some people want to know cause they may feel they died without reason. Others like myself in that specific situation who lived are more interested in the spoils of the war.  So again much respect to Dripple but I'm a straight to the point guy, if i ever feel i need more info I'll look into it more but unless I'm on the dying end of the war i don't really care to listen to excuses of why a family or district had to die. Anyways that's just my opinion, thanks for listening without throwing tomatoes. I do really like this subject though Mako, excellent speech and I look forward to seeing what others have to say.

Mad steps back into the shadows for the time being.

Like my Father I enjoy war speeches for all the drama it brings as the majority of time the returning kin like to throw in little grenades of information to try and upset the apple cart. From reading his journals I must say that Godfather Dripple is fast becoming a Godfather that I will make a point to listen to as he seems to have the right amount of background information for a war speech to work. I think some can go on and on and others aren't long enough. He gives enough so that the majority of the people that died can get some closure on the war but of course there will always be those that disagree with the Godfather's reasoning.

I think that the Godfather should make the speech as they are the ones that give the orders to me that shows strong leadership. I think all points are reasonable in a war speech, if a Godfather came to the streets and said I wanted to send a message to everyone and killed everyone in District A then that is reasonable in my eyes because they are the ones that have the power.

I do think that war speeches are an important part of our world, and I do think that, although it is the prerogative of the Godfathers of the time to choose whether or not they wish to deliver such a speech, it is better form to deliver one than to not.

For a start, when a Godfather delivers a war speech, even if the reasoning is along the typical lines of "we heard a rumor they were planning to attack us", I personally instantly feel as though the Godfather in question has put more consideration into his or her reasoning to go to war than if the whole thing went down with not a word to the commoners. They've at least had to think about how best to present it to the public. I do wish sometimes that when a war is an obvious power play, the Godfathers responsible would be more blunt about it, but giving a speech does at least require you in some small way to consider the public relations aspect of a particular move. Also, I do believe that the sons and daughters of the fallen do have a right to know what their parents gave their lives for. Yes, people should follow their crew leaders into battle, but I think it's also important that they know, at some point, what it is they fight for, beyond their crew.

The timing of a war speech is also important, to me. Ideally, in my opinion, the speech should be delivered within 24 hours of the end of a given conflict - it seems unfair to keep people from moving on so long, particularly after an especially contentious war. As previously mentioned, there is often cases of the deceased having left messages to be passed on through their next of kin which can upset the apple cart. Often, the delivery of these messages makes it impractical for that particular member of the family to continue their lives on these shores and therefore to these eyes, it's better to get this kind of to-ing and fro-ing completed with speed. I know that some people will discount the words of the children of the fallen as whining and bitching over the deaths of their parents, however I think that sometimes, they do have interesting things to say and their presence as commentators after a war speech makes the whole process so much more interesting sometimes.

Now - you give the example of Godfather Dripple as a particularly good post war speaker. I agree. Godfather Dripple delivers speeches typically soon after the event, which contain the information needed and explain the reasoning for going to war well. Whether or not his reasons are agreed with is another thing, but he does speak well on what has gone on. I also know that he does try to answer any questions a person may have - an instance recorded in the journals of my mother does record a coffee shop conversation with Dripple following a question she asked in response to a speech of his that couldn't be answered at the time. He does make an effort to engage people without putting them on trial.

Personally, I enjoy the kind of speech that gives a good bit of narrative and context. For a start, not everybody is privy to the politics of this world, and references to events that may make perfect sense to upper structure members who have seen some parts of certain events will not make sense to every single person out there. Secondly, it is nice to know exactly where the bones of contention were. Sometimes the best parts of looking back when a war speech is given is being able to pick certain events from memory that acted as markers in your mind to indicate the conflict may be brewing. Obviously, it isn't always wholly possible to give this particular level of detail following a conflict. There are a myriad of reasons why not - flagging up potential upcoming conflicts, giving away too much information relevant to the running of your crew, all kinds of impractical things. But, when it can be done, it's something that I personally enjoy.

To move on to the questions that you asked, rather than to speak of these speeches in general:

During times, the speeches are going to change, and so will the reasons. Only sometimes. History often repeats itself. My question to all of you is this... What do you believe makes a quality (not quantity) war speech? Do you like the story, or would you rather them just get down to the point? Does it matter to you if the Godfather isn’t the one actually giving the speech? To what extent do you find points reasonable in your eyes?"

A quality war speech is clear in it's reasoning, rather than being deliberately so confusing that it's nigh on un-followable. It's also honest. If the reason is that you thought they were a threat to your family - fuck "we heard rumors", can we not just admit that feeling that somebody is a threat to you and your people is a reason in itself?

I personally like the story. I really like to get into the politics behind a move, the relationships, who is tried to who. Yes, when things get to the actual point, I'm happier if they don't mince words, but I certainly enjoy the story behind it.

Who delivers the speech isn't hugely important, as long as it is done well. It probably looks a little better to the children of the deceased if the speech is delivered by a Godfather, however if a Godfather doesn't particularly feel they are a fantastic orator, or they feel that they need to focus their efforts on organizing the rebuilding of their district, I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with a crew leader or the Godfathers right hand from making the speech, so long as it has been approved by the Godfather. I do feel as though an appearance somewhere by the Godfather is quite important, however.

I would personally appreciate if it will be the GodFather or in his absence any CL who took part in the action give the speech. I'm not particular in the merits of the action. What is important for me are the reasons of the actions made. Merits of any action always will be different from opposing sides.

Like you said, merits would differ upon opposing sides. And the winning side would always be applauded by the majority. Since the minority would be at the most, annihilated.

But to answer Mako's question, all I want to hear from a war speech are the following:

Why it happened?

Was there no any other alternative but to go to war?

Most war speech answer those questions. Everyone tries to justify their actions. Justifying is one thing, but for the justification to be accepted by everybody is another thing.

All in all, after each war, to hear  about the reason here in the street is one thing. It's like an "ahhhh, so that's why it happened."

or "Damn, that's why I got killed!"

So... Mako, I would rather just get to the point in every war speech.