TheTripleDeuce steps out of his office at the South Philly Sanitarium, paper in hand and a man on a mission, as he begins his way down the street to the Philadelphia City Hall. He approaches the steps he takes a swig out of the flask from beneath his Duster Jacket. After putting his flash away, he sharply unfolds the paper in hand and begins to read:

Ladies And gentlemen, I come to you today to speak about the city they call Las Vegas, but not all of Las Vegas, the heart and soul of Las Vegas. Yes folks, that's right, The Strip. The future of The Strip is up for grabs, as you may have already noticed a populous slowly growing in the neighboring district of Paradise. Today I offer the opportunity to partake in a similar competition to seize control of The Strip and its future. Since the competition in Paradise has become a big hit for those involved, and the interest from people who didn't have a chance to get into the Paradise Competition that was full in 24 hours, the Godfather Counsel has decided to give a similar competition to it's neighbor.

TheTripleDeuce flips over to the other side of his paper, ready to read off the familiar rules.

In 11 days from now The Strip will be ready for its influx of potential leaders. There is a limit on the amount of space however and only a yet to be selected five people will be allowed to establish root's in The Strip. The reason for this taking place in 11 days from now is to allow anyone to rise to the rank Of Made Man to become eligible for this competition on the future of The Strip. Those who may join need only meet a few key points of the criteria.

• Whether it be a current crew leader or someones next of kin with the hopes and dreams of winning the future of The Strip, you are eligible to join.
• that you must obtain permission from your current crew leader or Godfather who will send out a message announcing your arrival and participation in the future of The Strip.

After the 11 days have passed if we have not received enough applicants we will open the future of The Strip to a first come first serve basis until we reach five candidates. If we get five people in the first 24 hours, then like last time, we will be taking those dedicated five.

Once the 11 days are over and we get the five eligible crews in The Strip, there will be a 14 day grace period. If anyone within the district displeases any of the Godfathers within those fourteen days, they could be eliminated from the competition. There should be no bloodshed during the 14 days between the five other crews within the district. If so, they will be removed by outside sources.

After the 14 day peace period, competitors will be able to work out how to get to Godfather from there. They can work together or they can kill to try and reach the top. Anything goes within the district after the peace period has ceased. It is up to them to decide their path and destiny.

So what are the Do's and Dont's?  We won't limit you on bodyguards, forts, members, or anything like that. You will be able to build as you please, and with peace at mind for 14 days. After that, it's up to you guys to find your own way. Please remember that you will have some time to gather your things and earn some money in the 11 days before you get your CL or GF to announce your arrival to The Strip.

TheTripleDeuce folds up his paper and puts it in his pocket back where it was and looks at the crowd that has gathered with a smile.

"From this point on my friends I wish you all luck in the future of The Strip and look forward to hearing and reading any correspondence regarding any questions you might have. I hope your all as excited as I am and look forward to seeing who will be taking part in the future of The Strip in 11 days from now."

Mako nods his head in RasAGhul's direction and smiles.

"A street announcement is encouraged, but not required. A mail sent out from the leader on the day of move is the only thing required. We feel like the less restrictions or requirements, the better. A street announcement is a good thing, traditional, and it certainly looks promising. However, it's up to them. The participants will be announced here and through mail. How they wish to do things is strictly up to them past that."

TheTripleDeuce smiles at RasAlGhul

I am certainly beyond Proud to be able to speak on behalf of the GodFather Council and present this competition for everyone to have a chance to take part in

TheTripleDeuce looks towards Alexander

the tradition of rewarding those who have worked hard with their district is a tradition that still stands, however Las Vegas being so new it is almost like a breath of fresh air that we are able to hold these "contest", it is a chance for a potential underdog to shine with so few requirements. i disagree with too many "Contest" being held as i can only off the top of my head think of 3 "contest" being held from all the 21 Current District's

What ever happened to tradition and rewarding those who have worked hard with his or her own district? That is the way things worked in the past and it was sound and reliable. Too many "contest" have been occurring, it just isn't best for business honestly.

We still have districts to fill. If you would like to mail me names of people that you feel deserve it, along with their interested, and their Godfather agrees, then we might be able to make it happen. It will be considered to say the least. We will buy their HQ personally. (Message brought to you by Godfather Cantillon)

But don't forget that CL's aren't held back from entering for this competition. If their Godfather agrees, they are allowed.

Capitalist hears the good news so he decides to hop on a train and head out to Philly. When he arrives he shakes the hands of all the current attendees and asks a question which for the most part only representatives from the godfather can answer

"Now I do like this competition simply because of the grace period making it easier on newer leaders, however how much outside help will there be? After the 14 day grace period lets say Z asks his/her crew leader to take out X because Z doesn't think that he/she will be able to shoot through X's bodyguards. Will this be allowed or will there be punishments should this take place? I have a hunch on what the answer will be but thought I'd ask just to clarify."

After listening to the latest announcement by TheTripleDeuce, Maria takes a few moments to collect her thoughts and listen to those who wished to make a hastier reply, including her own Godfather. She gives Mako a warm smile as she moves closer to the group of speakers - she appreciated having a Godfather who was willing to set an example when it came to encouraging the activity of their members on the streets and it always gave her a little lift to see him out here speaking. 

As much as my line, and indeed myself when I arrived on these shores and began to find my feet, approved of the announcement of the contest in Paradise, Las Vegas, I do find myself asking certain questions of the Godfather Council and those working alongside the Godfather Council when it comes to this contest, as similar as this contest is to the one being held in Paradise. 

I will be quite honest about the traditional position of my bloodline when it comes to contests - we aren't fans. Most contests come across merely as rushed and desperate attempts by the Godfathers of the day to fill excess districts, and end quite quickly in some kind of balls up or another. Black Bottom, Staten Island and was it Brooklyn? Three contests that ended badly pulled right from memory there. So yes, my line has traditionally spoken out against all forms of contest as being bad for the way business is conducted in this world. However, when the Paradise contest was announced, we found ourselves liking the open nature of the contest. However, I now come to these streets to hear this announcement, and am instantly met with a number of reservations, which I will try to lay out now.

Firstly, while I am aware that the contest in Paradise is still within the limits of it's grace period, I must question whether or not we can actually call it a success thus far. The only thing we've seen come out of Paradise so far is a rogue in the form of Heidnik. It feels a little as though the decision to call the contest in Paradise enough of a success that it should be re-run in another district has been made a little prematurely. If the Godfather Council were indeed set on re-running the contest in Paradise, it might have been nice to see how the first week or two after the grace period ended in Paradise itself before making that decision. 

Secondly, I must ask why the Godfather Council has this time decided to lower the amount of time given over as a grace/building period to the new residents of The Strip in comparison to that of those currently in Paradise. Is this just an attempt to give our world more bloodshed, to feed the thirst of the community for drama and for war? Or is the longer grace period something that you as a group and as individuals feel has been too long to the detriment of the contest in Paradise? If so, I'd like to ask why. The grace period was one of the things that I personally liked most about the Paradise contest, as it gave people time to make new ties and to actually build up a crew without the threat of instant death hanging over them. 

Thirdly, and I'm sure that this particular point is going to be a point of contention, but, was the re-running of a contest that is already in motion really the only thing that the Godfather Council could think about using The Strip for? Even looking at this from purely a numbers viewpoint, the facts are that we currently have 19 crews, excluding Godfather crews, running at below 30 members. Does throwing another 5 crew leaders into the scrap for newcomers to this world which are already so very thin on the ground really seem like such a good idea? Between this and another recent authing into an empty district, it really is starting to feel as though the Godfather Council is just desperate for ideas to fill a district. If that is true, perhaps it is time the Gods were lobbied to rethink the decision of the re-organization of our world into districts, or even just to rethink the decision of opening up the West Coast for our population. 

Moving past, however, these three main concerns of mine, I'd like to put a little more focus on some of the thing that has already been said by someone else here already. 

What ever happened to tradition and rewarding those who have worked hard with his or her own district? That is the way things worked in the past and it was sound and reliable. Too many "contest" have been occurring, it just isn't best for business honestly.

I do have to agree with Alexander here. Contests are nice from time to time, and of course, I do understand that the number of districts our world currently has puts a huge demand on our leaders to fill them. Personally, however, I would rather see them go unfilled until the Godfathers can agree that an individual or crew has put in enough work to warrant their own district, or, as Alexander himself suggested, just to see our current leaders distribute power a little more than it currently is. I have to agree that I do think that that is 'best for business', as they say. 

Maria hadn't quite expected to be speaking for so long, and decided that it was cigarette o'clock as she waited to see what others would come to add to the discussion. Digging around in her purse, she pulls out a pack of cigarettes and rummages around for her lighter.

Fuck! she mumbled. 

Anyone got a light?

 COOL! Another 7 auths with 3 members

Maybe we should look towards filling the other 36 families that aren't currently full before running competitions like this?

Why the need for more auths? It doesn't make sense unless it's just to set up some extra targets for people to pew? Mako stated that there are still districts to fill, but the current ones aren't full yet.

Taking a few minutes out from his evening robbing post offices, Paul stopped by and listened intently to TheTripleDeuce's speech. He was intrigued yet ambivalent about the news regarding the future of The Strip. He took a swig of his coffee as he prepared to air his views on the subject.

I appreciate that we have a great many parts of our world that lie empty at present, and it's only natural for attempts to be made for those districts to be filled. It's what they're there for, after all. However, I consider this to be a symptom of the problem that exists at present. However, rather than taking more of your time than is necessary I will simply say that I agree with Maria's speech in its entirety. I am not against contests as a general rule - however, that the Godfather Council and others is having to introduce more and more of these contests compounds the problem we currently face: too many chiefs. Crews are generally fairly small as the members are spread fairly sparsely.

This is not a problem of the Godfather Council's making, necessarily; they are simply trying to best utilise the hand they have been played by the Gods. However, I do consider that the number of districts available in our world at present is simply too high, and this has simply fragmented and dispersed people across five cities, when a more concentrated situation is significantly more beneficial. Less leaders and generally larger crews and more concentrated cities are absolutely what is needed at present. If there was a way we could encourage this situation to develop it should definitely be explored.

Hearing of another competition is Las Vegas KingLucifer is glad to hear that LV is growing very quickly

Its good to see Las Vegas being populated and hopefully will become the great city i know it can be, I just hope these competitors dont take this lightly as it is a competition, But i will happy to see some new faces in Las Vegas.

Good luck to everyone who will take part in the competition. I really like competitions like this because it allows people to grow in a speed, or to a notch they wouldn't have grown before. Now I don't want to sound like I'm complaining but is 14 days of peace really enough?

While listening to the crowd and the hoot and hollerin, He simply approaches the front of the pack where the Godfathers are located.  Having spoken with Rorschach and Jeddy about his own possible success and future he approaches TheTripleDuece.

Sir it honors me greatly to shake your hand and announce my intent to participate in TheStrip I have come recommended by my own CL and Godfather Jeddy with the intent of moving into the strip!

Shaking many hands and handing out Cookies as well as buttons with his image on it he bows out and slides back into the crowd of onlookers and well wishers patting him on the back and shaking his shoulders giving him a hard time.

Trixie watches Cookie from her usual seat under the Oak tree and thinks to herself that he will bring life to the Strip.  And to think he is here for one and all to see him announce his intentions.  Cool stuff!  It will certainly be interesting to see who else comes forward to let us all know who will be competing for the privilege of doing business in The Strip. 

She walks slowly toward Cookie and then out of nowhere - she grabs him in a bearhug. 

WTG big guy!

I have just seen this. Since I wont be made before the 11 days from the time this post was made. Does that exclude me as a contender?