"Your lineage is what defines you."

"Along with that, your history is something you should reminisce from time to time. And even tell your fellow comrades over vodka and caviar. Today, I'd like to share my own heritage during a specific time in our world."

IvanRomanov removes several pieces of old parchment from his pocket. He begins to read...

"The back story of MikeHunt

MikeHunt's time was during the legendary DeadlySin's time. However MikeHunt was serving under his Captain, Phil_Steak. During this time, we witnessed many leaders come and go. Cities were empty and ideas ran of what to do with them. The rise of DeadlySin was from the Las Vegas experiment. Back then there weren't very many experiments as people thought they were a waste of time. Some were indeed not.

The Chicago experiment was one of the few of its kind. The rules were quite simple. You were able to join if you were a specific age, no more than 35 days old. You were only allowed to be guarded by 50 bodyguards. You were allowed one other person to join you and they were to be your RHM. You were expected to be as professional as the other leaders were in the rest of the world. And most of all there would be no outside help from other cities. The winner would the one who claimed the title of Godfather.

MikeHunt loved the way the opportunity presented itself. MikeHunt had no other inquiries of being a leader before. The opportunity always seemed to escape him. This time he knew he wouldn't let it. Along with MikeHunt, his companion Vasily would be joining him. Before they decided to enter the competition, the two wanted to make sure they were ready. MikeHunt wanted to have the safe protection of Phil_Steak as long as he could. He wanted to earn as much as he could before he made the move. While that time continued, he witnessed others enter the competition. 

As people joined the competition, they were gunned down and merely one man remained. That man was Castiel. The experiment was going on but the majority of Chicago was ran by Castiel and his crew, the S.A.Cs. Castiel was enormous in numbers and his power was truly frightening. His headquarters was nearly full, along with his upper structure having the maximum allotted bodyguards. The S.A.Cs were a powerhouse. Mikehunt didn't let this bother him. Nor did young Vasily have much thought about the power someone else wielded. Vasily wanted this opportunity just like MikeHunt wanted the chance to run something.

Moving day

MikeHunt and Vasily finally found a date of when they should move to the city. Within the rules of the experiment, you had to announce yourself in the public's streets of your arrival to the experiment. Failure to do so, and you'd be put six feet under. MikeHunt introduced himself and Vasily and his small crew called the West Montrose Mob. 

At first the time spent in Chicago was slow. MikeHunt and Castiel were on good terms and the amount of new folk from the old country was at a steamily halt. Along with this time now, there wasn't anyone else who wanted to join the competition. Maybe the fear of Castiel winning the competition or maybe the fear of his power was scary. MikeHunt didn't know nor did he care.

A couple of friendly folks approached him shorty before his move. One was StanPython, while the other was just an alias in the coffee shops snooping for info. StanPython and MikeHunt's relationship went back years. Their bloodlines have known each other almost as long as MikeHunt as been in this world. The idea was that StanPython was going to work along side MikeHunt. They thought that if one or the other reached the position before Castiel did, they would let the other live and continue to make Chicago a city that would be remembered. StanPython moved and set up his crew in Chicago, The Gale St Gang.

MikeHunt and StanPython continued their relationship while both went to work on recruiting. One morning however, MikeHunt awoke to a war. The war involved the likes of New York, Philly, Las Vegas, Detroit. Chicago did not at first get involved."

Ivan pauses for a moment. He brings the parchment closer to his eyes as he tries to make it out...

"Man this thing is old... I'll just skip to the parts I can read."

"The war had ended with DeadlySin and the city of New York being the victors. Chicago was left with two leaders, MikeHunt and StanPython. Castiel joined the war efforts on the opposing side that had attacked New York. Castiel met his doom along with the assailants who attacked first. The city was left to the two friends who had one idea on their mind. That Chicago was theirs to run from now on.

A few days later DeadlySin made a speech regarding the future of the cities that were empty from the bloodshed and shooting. Chicago was awarded to MikeHunt. DeadlySin recognized MikeHunt's bravery and leadership during the war and rewarded him. StanPython was awarded with the city of New Orleans. The Big Easy was about to get a leader it hasn't seen in quite some time. New Orleans had been empty for awhile and it was then when they finally got something going. 

A month later...

The West Montrose Mob was up to 30 plus members and had the likes of AlisonDilaurentis, Hyperion, Aura, Pontus, Flea, Insidious, and Apollonia just to name a few. Apollonia was named his captain and the Windy City was off to growing stronger and stronger. At the same time so was New Orleans. New Orleans was growing and StanPython authed Bentley. Bentley was a quiet man who stuck to himself and his city. AlisonD and Flea were the first to be promoted in Chicago to the ranks of Made and they were moved to be MikeHunt's upper structure. Vasily's death during the war was mourned for times to come. 

As time went on and Chicago grew in members and strength, more members became of the rank of Made Man and higher. Insidious was one of them promoted. 

StanPython's woman who was his RHM at the time, ElsaElderdoor, was in Chicago collecting her dues when she shot Insidious's protecting. Claiming it was an accident, MikeHunt did not care. He shot her in the streets of Chicago within minutes. Protecting his city, accident or not, was all about what MikeHunt was about. Short after MikeHunt shot ElsaElderdoor, MikeHunt was contacted by StanPython and the two deliberated the actions of his Right Hand and decided both parties could move on from this.

Alison's demise and betrayal of Chicago

The following day AlisonDilaurentis seemed to have drawn several members away from the city of Chicago and to the Big Easy. The forts back during this time of history were feared because guns were not built as quickly. Alison, being MikeHunt's Right Hand, was trusted. And as she was, his members followed. The reason she used was she was going to be jailing in New Orleans and between the two cities, we wanted to remain peacefully.

As soon as some of MikeHunt's members flew there, they were bombarded and gunned down like target practice. It was a blood bath.

MikeHunt was attending a personal appointment and the only person who knew of this was AlisonDilaurentis. She knew that MikeHunt would not be around for a counter attack or anything. She ultimately lead the whole city to their demise as they tried to counter attack. Aura was able to set up and fight for the rest of the city while others scrambled around and give MikeHunt pro shots."

"This part gets a little fuzzy too."

IvanRomanov tries to continue reading on...

"Hours into the conflict...

Aura was able to gun down a few members of the Gale Street Gang. MikeHunt was still attending to his matters as hours went by. According to a few reports, StanPython missed at least twice on MikeHunt. While other attempts were protection shots. As the night and morning endured on, MikeHunt was finally gunned down. Aura and the remaining of the West Montrose Mob were gunned down as well. Except for two. Those two were AlisonD and her long time companion, Shaggs. They were accepted in the ranks over in New Orleans under StanPython."

IvanRomanov stopped for a second to reminisce the story from so long ago.

"As much I enjoy speaking about my own bloodline, I have to admit it has made me the man today. It made me realize that some people are not always who they pretend to be. Never let your guard down. As I have finished my own story, what is your own? Where have you come from over the years? What has made you, you?"

Ivan takes a step back in hopes of other mafiosi stepping up to tell their own tale.

IvanRomanov takes a second to tells his drunk friend Vlad to hang a sign for all to see. 

Contest: Tell a story about your own lineage. This can be literally anything regarding your past. I have a feeling someone somewhere, is going to tell a story about the time Barry got his head stuck in a car window. As of right now I'm offering 25 credits towards the best told story. (If anyone would like to donate to this cause, please feel free. Just contact me. Along with donating towards this contest, you will also be a judge.) The deadline will be 10 days from today at 1200.

If you have any questions, approach Chyna and rub her big muscles. 

In addition, Godfather Curtis and Chris_Vaughn will both be judges. I encourage others to participate if they are willing. 

The pot is up to 55 credits.

It started simple enough with wikkedjuggalo. He did not last long because he was mixed up in that Genocide debacle and was simply in the wrong family at the wrong time and was killed for it.

Arthas on the other hand was a different story. He joined with Transporter who was in South Chicago at the time and then when Transporter got promoted to Godfather in BlackBottom DT, he was promoted to his LHM. Then the war with 303 started. Arthas thankfully did not see much combat, but what he did see, he made damn sure the 303 remembered.

Then, Godfather Spunky was killed. Not sure entirely what happened, but fighting was heavy for a while. After all was said and done Transporter and DT were still standing. But then, still not entirely sure who, someone decided Trasnporter was not worthy of being GF of BalckBottom and decided to take matters in their own hands and destroy him, and several other families. Alas, Arthas was killed in that exchange.

ginsters listened to MikeHunt's story and smiled at the mention of the name StanPython. He missed that bloodline awfully and hoped he'd return to these parts one day, it was bloodlines oldest friend in this world. 

A great story Ivan, I too like hearing and learning from the past to ensure that the same mistakes aren't repeated. I think it's important though not to spend too much time dwelling on our "glory days" from past years. My story is similar with an equally important lesson learnt - trust your gut. I must offer my apologies though, names fade and events become mixed. 

A not too distant relative of mine was the LHM for Godfather Lynch of West Side, Chicago. Actually I had two relatives that were both LHM during Lynch's run but the first died to a pesky one in a hundred shot during one his forays into the battlefield. The first of the men thrust into the LHM role was that of blink. Despite limited history between him and Godfather Lynch; through a combination of hard work, quick learning and a very good aim he was eventually rewarded with the position. In the aftermath of the "May War" there had been quite the power struggle ensuing between the districts as they fought for complete control of the then most powerful city in the Mafia world. 

The first move was made, during one evening members of Detroit headed by Subtle and Alucard if memory serves me correctly made a "power play" and removed one of West Side's allies as they took out Godfather Goku and Philadelphia. (Funnily enough I believe Toast the rat squirmed his way out of that removal too.) With no idea what was happening I quickly made the move on Godfather Lynch's orders to give him a prowack - just in case. Goku fell with Philadelphia's districts quickly being filled by family members of Subtle and Alucard. 

Later that week after consultations between Godfather Lynch, Godfather Anomaly, New York and their respective hands we decided to make the move and remove Alucard et al. They were reckless and unpredictable, two traits that nobody wanted to work with. The night was set and the targets allocated, blink was to shoot CaptainAmerica. He spoke with his close friend and trusted prowacker mario, giving him the locals so that he could be tracked easily. He entered Philadelphia and took aim, Success! Easy points. Over an hour passed and the war raged on, they'd somehow got the tip off of a potential attack and many of our targets were still very much alive. I lost my dear friend JessiePinkman to Alucard, that was a tough loss for West Side. I found my next target and took aim, I wackbacked to jail. Upon being broken out my father was fatally hit by his prowacker mario and died. Brutal. Eventually our enemies were all removed thanks to some impressive shooting from Anomaly and Lynch with some help from the remaining Chicago districts. 

Beason continued his father's work for West Side, taking the mantle of LHM. During the prior war the fall of the late Cpt-Harris had left a very obvious void and subsequent "intensity" in jostling to be the one true leader of Chicago. This was the beginning of the end for West Side and Detroit. Rumours had already been circulating regarding animosity between West Side and other districts within Chicago, further fanned by the comments of a then high ranking New Yorker of the Corky bloodline. She was happy to play both sides in an attempt to get them to attack each other and create a spectacle with New York picking up the pieces as the underworld power house. Eventually the rumours became too much for Godfather Lynch and after discussing with his upper structure, Anomaly and the rest of Detroit decided to make a move to end this for good and assume total control of Chicago. 

Lynch approached Ladyfighter privately who after some intense talks decided to once again be our allies and help us. Unfortunately she once again confided in the wrong person and word soon got back to the rest of Chicago that we were planning to make the move. 

ginsters paused and took a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing 

The night of our removal still haunts and motivates my bloodline, as I read through my own journals it still reads clear as day. Earlier that day my ancestor Beason had approached Godfather Lynch saying he had a bad feeling about the day, in his gut something seemed off. Lynch assured him everything was fine and not to worry. As it continued Beason entered the coffee shops and found a quiet corner to speak privately with Godfather Anomaly. He expressed his concern and Anomaly said not to worry too. 

However as time progressed the conversation got more intense, there were a lot of movements in the coffee shops, Skype avenue and milling around the streets. Beason had pointed out that Primus had moved to the RHM position and suggested it was for a "boost." Anomaly asked him the question several times - do I take a pro? Beason had ummed and arred and finally said not too, that Lynch had said not to worry and it would be a dead give away that we knew something was afoot and not to spook them prior to removing them. Anomaly listened to him and agreed and was gunned down minutes later. Beason just managed to get off a quick shot on Space-Pole before falling himself. Through out the rest of that night West Side and Detroit were slaughtered, many of Beason's closest friends had fallen along with himself. 

To this day that question and answer has haunted me. It was a big decision and Beason didn't have the balls to pull the trigger on the "correct action." 

ginsters closed his book and remained solemn. 

That moment right there "made" my bloodline. That was the last time (bar one) that he's ever been taken unaware or made the wrong decision. And also a reason I suspect that my good friend and the bloodline of Anomaly is always pro'd. It is ALWAYS better to safe then sorry and if in doubt - shoot first. Two pieces of advice that had been passed onto his son Desmand and every subsequent member in my bloodline and well he didn't do too badly all things considered.   

Woodpond was walking by and hearing his leader talking about his line of parents and grandparents. After hearing Ivan's, Reedeemer's and Ginster's stories he decided to add his own.

Woodpond spoke "My lineage has been around for a long time now. Reading from the journals left by my father and his fathers. It all started when my great great great grandfather came to these shores. He was known as Pittbull. His story wasn't really worth much. He was Capo under Neon and and died in a Philly inner city take down." Woodpond looking back over his notes that he always carried around, "Ahh yes, Pittbull's son, Devils_Nightmare a Goomba under Cory Chase, He wasn't a big name but made quite a bit of money for Corey and LA. Unfortunately he died young still holding twenty million dollars. He died in the take down of LA when Silk was Godmother."

Woodpond wiped his eyes a little bit thinking back on all the stories his dad had told him, "His Great Grandfather was King-Pitt a Don out of Jaqen_Hghar's family. His Godfather was the Legendary Deadlysin. King-Pitt had lasted awhile as he was becoming an old man. A mighty war arose that pitted powerhouse against powerhouse. Philly and New York was fighting Chicago. King-Pitt didn't last long as he was killed in the early stages of this war."

Woodpond looks down at his notes once again, "This is where my lineage starts being associated with a group that many people do not like. SammyGravano SR. was King-Pitt's son. After all the fighting was done and there was no more war Sammy joined up with Lynch. Lynch was at this time a Don in West Side Chicago under Godfather Odin. SammyGravano worked just as hard if not harder than anyone in his family. Which ultimately paid off. As Lynch was primed to take the Godfather position of West Side, SammyGravano got his lines first shot at leading his own crew. Sammy learned alot and fast and he also built up a nice gun and a great crew. During his time he saw three wars. The first was the take down of Detroit where Creep was to be removed. The second was the removal of South Side's ChoasSpike and Detroit once again as well as a few in Philly. Two wars is enough for anyone to have gotten use to bullets flying by their own heads. The third war was Sammy's final one as it was the removal of West Side and Detroit. Now let me go back to the second war. After this war SammyGravano got the call up to go set up in Detriot in Black Bottom and take over as Godfather where he would work along side Anomaly. Back to the third war, Sammy went to sleep one night and was awoken by bullets smashing into his house. As he ran down and got into a car and left the bullets behind, one of his Body Guards told him that everyone else was dead. Now Sammy was gonna go down with a fight. Ultimately he died as well leaving his son a great deal of cash."

Woodpond looked down at some old pictures of his family and continued, "SammyGravano left behind a son whom he named after himself. SammyGravano Jr. Just as his father had SammyGravano worked hard. Now the grandchildren of his former dads friends had created an alliance called 303303. On the return of my father he was sworn in. Sammy worked under JohnnyNoname in Queens NY. He worked hard enough to earn himself a Crewleader position the second of his line. As the days grew long and Sammy became older, there was a war. New York taking out Chicago and moving their own in. After Sammy had worked hard and with the organization losing some members aka Godfather out of some districts. Sammy got his name called to take over Suburbs. During his time there were small skirmish's but nothing of real note. Then the worst happened. Sammy started getting bored of his own life and all that he had accomplished and was being more and more inactive at meetings. Any Godfather would have died because of this but being so close with this organization he was spared. One day he comes back to his office to find his right Hand Man dead. Sammy heard rumors that the person who shot his RHM had came from Princess's district. She was the Godmother of South Side. As par the rules of "the group" no one is supposed to make a decision without talking to the other members of this organization. Well Sammy's head was not in the right place as he quickly had to make a decision and he did so by killing Princess. This then turned the group against Sammy. Sammy was kicked from the alliance and killed for disobeying rules."

Woodpond looks straight ahead, "Now let me clear one thing up my father was with the group but in the end he was kicked for not following rules. Me, i am no part of any organization. I am loyal to New York and my Crewleader IvanRomanov. Thank you for your time." Woodpond then walks away.

Irina had been listening to all the stories and was highly intrigued by everyone's tales. She had wondered if she could offer up anything as interesting as what had already been told. She sat down on a bench near where everyone was talking and began to think. As she thought, the words began pouring out of her.

I have many, many ancestors that have roamed these shores. And while all of them are near and dear to my heart, there is one that stands out. During this ancestors time, my line probably learned the most. Some very hard lessons, some of the best times my line has ever had, some of the best friendships formed, some friendships damaged. My line had just returned to the shores after enjoying a vacation in the old country. Her good friend Grif had a crew of his own and wanted to take her in with him. He was planning on taking over the role of Godfather. She only wanted to be there to champion him on, but things didn't turn out like that. Grif lost one of his auths and he came to Cassi and asked her how she felt about setting up in his place. She wasn't crazy about the idea, but he convinced her that he needed her. So with a young MikeHunt in tow, Cassi set up underneath Grif.

Things went well for a bit. Grif took Godfather and named her as underboss. The city was growing, everyone was getting along. And then the unthinkable happened. Grif was the tragic victim of a gun malfunction. Never in her wildest dreams had Cassi imagined herself running a city. Underboss was just a title that she was sure she would never have to fulfill. Somehow, with the support of some very amazing people, she stepped up to the plate and claimed her position as city head. There were some bumps in the road. No one was prepared to lose Grif and while the dynamics worked while he was alive, people get used to working for people and change isn't always easy. But things smoothed out and they all continued working together. 

Then one of the biggest wars this world had seen broke out. The other cities were rallying together to take down Roman and his strongest ally Premeir. Cassi rushed to those that she trusted most. The answer was clear. While Premeir was considered an ally to Philadelphia, she had to put her city first. And if she chose to align with Roman, she was sending her people to a most certain death. If that had happened, she would have carried that with her all the way down to my line today. Her choice to fight against Roman cost her dearly though. Her beloved, trusted, loyal right hand, MikeHunt was shot. That was an enormous loss for the city of Philadelphia. Cassi was quite heartbroken. Mike was not the only loss that Philly suffered. One of Cassi's captains, ParisO went down as well.

On top of all that, in the middle of the war, Odin decided to move to Philadelphia and set up. Cassi mailed him and he assured her that he would be moving once the war was over. She didn't quite trust him and so once the war was over, she approached the epic and amazing Godfather Sexybeast. She had never spoken to him before, but had been told he would be a strong ally to her. And indeed he was, because that's how heroes are. When she approached him about her concerns, she was informed that there were already plans in place to remove Odin. Not too long after that, he was indeed removed. It was time to rebuild. Once again. 

Cassi turned to Tonks, one of her closest friends and asked her to step up after the loss of ParisO. Things seemed to be moving in the right direction once more. The city was recovering from the loss of Grif and the losses from the war. It seemed as though Philly's streak of bad luck was up. They were growing so much that Cassi called another close friend into her office. It was time for LottaBEssen to shine. Things were going so well and they were looking towards a bright future. Another war popped up and Cassi spoke with some of the other Godfathers. Her city had taken too many hits over the last month, she would not subject them to another. Her city would not be participating in the war. She went to bed that night confident in the fact that she was doing the right thing for her city. Those closest to her did not feel the same, but they followed her instructions. However, she never awoke. For whatever reason, Jade had decided to use one of her shots on Cassi as she slept. 

As I said, this time in my ancestors life probably made the biggest impact on my line. The loyalty and devotion that the city of Philadelphia showed was out of this world. My line learned many, many lessons that even I carry with me to this day. Thank you for allowing me to share this. It has actually been very soothing to reminisce on those days.

The Severe bloodline had been one of many horrible decisions over his life span, doing things such as abandoning families, disrespecting Hands and Crew Leaders and overall just being a juvenile type of player. Ever since the death of Premeir it seemed to be hard on his bloodline to continue his success he had back then and it took many years until a man by the name of WildTurkey also known as JesusTheGangster to many others had found him as a guy known as Equation. This was one of the kin of Severe who really had no intentions of doing anything until one day a discussion between Equation and WildTurkey started, during this discussion it had seemed WildTurkey had taken a liking to the guy, he knew he had it in him to be a great player and it appeared the JesusTheGangster bloodline always judged people based on the end of the road after giving certain people a shot. It came to a decision that Equation would leave the life of crime and that Typhon would enter the world as WildTurkey's Right Hand and new protege.

The start for this was a rough one as it always is when nobody trusts a certain bloodline, mails on a constant basis and talks on the coffee shop came flooding into WildTurkey asking if he was crazy for giving such a screw up an opportunity, a guy who had not proved to anyone he deserved such opportunity. However despite all the negative talk about Typhon and how badly he would screw over WildTurkey in the future, he continued to defend him, the only problem is that he was already not doing such a good job at the start. Typhon had already had some arguing and bad dealing with a few members of the city and had to be sat down by WildTurkey and told how to handle things and like every old school player it came with stories to try to help Typhon visualize and understand why you restrain yourself and why you handle things the way you do as it is all about the future and not the present.

As the weeks went by things were going smoother, he was settling into his Right Hand role, helping family, trying to recruit while building his own character up, but it would not take too long before things started getting worse. The problem with Typhon is that he was a hot headed immature person and his Godfather known as SammyGarcini bumped heads with people often and in this case very often with Typhon. It did not take very long for these two to clash and he had already made a few mistakes, while the clash was not too bad it did take a tole on him and make him wonder whether or not he was truly loyal to Sammy, even though in the long run Sammy was just trying to help him understand what he expected from him as a Right Hand in his city.

Months gone down the road everything was actually going good, there were minimal problems now and WildTurkey had often left for weekends at a time and forced Typhon to take the reigns of the family and handle all issues which went rather well. However that would not hold up for very long as Typhon once again clashed heads with Sammy while a member under him defied rules set by Sammy and bought a plethora of Bodyguards without his permission, this leading to a very bad argument between Sammy and Typhon. Later down the road it was apparent that Sammy more than likely should have disposed of Typhon that night but he did not and this would only be one of the many many times that he escaped what should have been a death.

WildTurkey began to trust Typhon more even after his drunken hurling abuse at his LH and the defiance of stopping what he was doing asked by WildTurkey. He had also escaped more situations that should have been resulted in his death but those are a little blurry. The fact is he was trusted by two of the three main guys in the city with WildTurkey and Odin being the main two the problem was at this point Typhon hated Sammy for many different reasons as Sammy would often insult Typhon even if he meant to be helpful. The worst was yet to come as Typhon continued to work hard on his character, he was a good player when it came to the work but had a stupid mind, and a rebel attitude, his attitude would be what led him to an early grave and could have easily been avoided.

Typhon being very upset with Sammy decided to drink one night, this would be one of his last days on Earth, as when he got drunk that night he had a conversation with opposing Godfather Phil_Steak in which the discussion included many things like him being pissed at Sammy and him becoming an information snitch as they say for Phil_Steak. That night he also did something very stupid and broke the code by giving away his gun size to Mr Phil Steak. That night was one of the nights that never should have happened but will never be forgotten and one of the nights where Typhon would end up learning a very bad lesson.

Days were going by and Typhon was taking up Mr Phil Steak's offer in finding proof that Sammy's city wanted Phil_Steak dead, he had some and was often digging to find more until one night a conversation with Cpt-Harris known as Odin and WildTurkey took place about the removal of Phil_Steak as Chicago which was their city, and New Orleans belonging to Phil_Steak were not on very good terms. After this conversation Typhon deleted any evidence he had made in an attempt to turn on Sammy, none of this evidence had been presented to Mr Phil Steak nor would it even but the liability was still there and soon would be gone.

Not too long later down the road one morning Typhon was strolling around the cities doing his normal activities when he was asked by a member of his if they wanted to do an Organized Crime in New York, Typhon agreed and flew to New York to help with the Organized Crime, that would be his last time ever as a bullet shot out of Phil Steak's gun fatally wounding Typhon. Was it an accident? Perhaps, but the simple fact is that Phil Steak had enough evidence to prove that Typhon at one point or another was contemplating or attempting to sell out the city of Chicago, while compensation of a rather large sum of money was given the simple fact is that Typhon's death would be nothing more than the death of a liability to Chicago.

What happened after that is the rebuilding of a poor bloodline that had continued to destroy themselves until the end of the Chicago run sparked by the death of Typhon lighting a fire in many who believed he did not deserve to die eventually leading to the run of Severe and his revenge run in an attempt to remove Phil Steak from power and get revenge for the death of Typhon. Lessons learned throughout the entirety of the bloodline of Severe's run in Chicago, enough that many months later down the road he had thought back on many different times that occurred in Chicago and applied everything to make him a more mature player later down the line. Typhon had learned a very hard lesson, one that could have simply been avoided non-the-less despite what happened it was the start of a bloodline who truly wanted to show the world what he could do as a player, and despite everything that occurred he believe he succeeded.

"He Who Fears Death Cannot Enjoy Life"

That is the tattoo that I proudly wear.  My name?  Well, that's Swiss for What Happened to Them?

And what does that mean?  Well, let me explain.  It all comes back to who I am and where my lineage was forged.

My lineage was forged in the embers of a burning vendetta against ScipitaRourke and the CheeseSteak outfit in Philly.  This story has been told elsewhere, so I will recap briefly.  A Capo named Francis_Costello got his first auth and was ambitious.  His ambitions were thwarted by his lack of understanding and appreciation of the responsibilities that come with leadership.  ScipitaRourke was wise and didn't trust Costello.  She provided Costello with a RHM.  The RHM read Costello's mail, Costello being unaware that the RHM could do this.  Costello encouraged an acquaintance to shoot at a rival.  This was reported back to the Philly leadership.  And so, Costello died, and his son was full of rage, having seen his father's hard work and networking fall by the wayside due to an inability to accept instruction and keep away from trouble.

My lineage developed into a rabble-rouser, a feud starter and a stirrer.  As bad with a gun as he was prolific on the Streets.  This lineage was noticed and interacted with virtually everyone of note in this thing of ours.  All the while developing the dark arts of manipulation, entrapment and extortion and remaining utterly ignorant of the basics - how to train and develop members, manage and grow a crew, make friends and influence people.  Where some people strive to make allies, my lineage forged enemies and loved every moment of it.

It has often been said of my lineage "you could get right to the top if you wanted to" but, whilst the sentiments are appreciated, they miss the point.  The vintage of this lineage has been sullied and corrupted and lacks the most basic of knowledge and skills to serve as an effective hand, let alone lead a crew that would make any kind of positive contribution to this thing, or be known outside of the immediate.

Am I proud of some of the achievements of my lineage?  I sure am.  But what has it amounted to?  Not much.  A bit of indulgence among the old-timers and absolute indifference and non-recognition from the new breed - who have/had their own underground many times more powerful than that which my lineage was involved with.

My lineage has been around a long time, more than most, but can't be considered a veteran bloodline.  Times are changing and so have the culture of this thing.  My lineage was smart enough to see the writing on the wall, about its writing on the Streets.

In summary, my lineage has learned not to fear death and to embrace change.  Some friendships have given me a chance where, by rights, I should have none.

What happened to them?  They were killed, dozens of times over, usually pointlessly and unnoticed.  

What have I learned?   What not to do.  

And I'm not doing it.  There are blanks to be filled in.

Gollum comes sprawling out form the back alley. The trash. Hearing about a competition that he could win he thought he could enter telling the story of his once famous ancestor Zoey Hills. 

Stupid fat mobsters! Its gollums turn to share the stories! 

Gollum clears his throat and begins to speak with almost the most excellent orator voice one has ever heard. It was almost as if it wasnt gollum but someone speaking through Gollum! 

Zooey Hills is the story i will share with you all. A little back story, she started out very successful in life and was rising in her career but she was just finding a lot of boredom with work and wanted to change things up. This is where she fell into the lifestyle of the Mafia. She would meet a young woman by the name of Deces. Now Deces had a flock of men that followed her and she took a moment to reach out to Zooey. My ancestor was very unfamiliar with the life of the mafia did not fully comprehend the point of everything. "Is it just boys killing each other?!" Was the common question Zooey would ask before being immersed into everything. Deces had two remarkable points in her career the first was that she lead an unstoppable crew. The second was that she educated my ancestor on how the works of things went in the mafia. Deces answered every question and took time to ask the very basic, "How are you?" For those aspiring to be leaders this was huge for a follower to receive, that their leader cared for them. 

Deces would soon introduce Zooey to her leader and close friend Taegan. Now Taegan was pretty much the boss, the head hancho of Los Angeles but more specifically Hollywood. When Zooey and Taegan were introduced they immediately hit it off and became instant friends. Taegan and Deces decided that Zooey was finding herself in love with the mafia life and learning everything she could. She was befriending so many leaders of the time and gaining wisdom that was freely shared. Zooey decided it was time for her to go on a trip with her family to another place. During her visit with her family however tragedy had reached Zooey that Deces was accidentally shot and killed. Everything began to fall a part very quickly and Zooey was unsure if she should ever go back to Hollywood. She lost her closest friend and sure she was close with Taegan and the TyrionLannister at the time she was really only friends with. Zooey decided that she should go back at least for Deces funeral after all the hard work that she put in for Zooey teaching her so much. 

At the funeral, it was the first death Zooey ever experienced and it was favorite person. She sat next to the Godmother Taegan and was very much consoled and cared for. TyrionLannister then approached Zooey. "We would like you to join our family." Taegan gave permission for the transfer of families. Zooey now entered a new form of leadership lead by Tyrion Lannister. Almost immediately he placed Zooey as his Left hand. She didnt really understand what this meant and im not sure if she ever understood what it meant. The goal was set by both Taegan and Tyrion that Zooey would soon start understanding how to be a leader in the Mafia. They were training her to become a leader of her own family.

A couple of weeks would go by when all of a sudden Zooey was now the right hand of the family. This is where she learned the most intricate details of leadership. She learned how politics went. She learned how to speak and recruit young members to a family. She was constantly on the pursuit of improving the family. She loved working with Tyrion and became a student of his leadership. At one point The leaders of Hollywood were sitting down with a couple of drinks. "You know Zooey, if you were shot and killed during the time we lost deces, we would have gone to war. We would have killed everyone over you." Zooey was not a made woman at this time and yet at the party they were all speaking about how they saw something in her. Something that they would have jepordized everything they worked for. It really instilled a sort of confidence inside of Zooey. 

"And on this day, I would like to hand the keys to a new house to Zooey Hills." We filled Tyrions crew up quick. The next thing to do was make a new family. A vote was made. Zooey was so nervous but the question, rather the command finally came. "You will be setting up in Hollywood as your own leader." It was only right that Zooey took someone who showed her the ropes. She brought Deces daughter in who although a silent leader continued to teach her so much from her own experiences with her mother. Zooey recruited and loved working with the people. She was destined to become one of the bests. Taegan and Tyrion with their encouraging words of wisdom would greatly inspire Zooey to do more and more. 

Zooey had been laughing with everyone in the family bar. "people are mentioning war in the streets." It was the most frightening thing she ever heard. Questions were immediately being asked, "Is it us? are they after us?" The gun shots ripped through the bar. Taegan and Visas went down. Zooey followed Tyrion but only time would dictate the end. No one lasts for long. Zooey was crying. She lost her closest friends and those who spent countless hours teaching her how to do everything she was doing. Some say that emotions make you weak or its just cause Zooey was a girl she cried but that wasnt the reason. Zooey was hurt. She loved Her friends. She loved talking to them at all hours of the night. To know that this was it the conversations would cease was killing her. 

"Zooey what do we do?!" Zooey tried convincing her members to leave and jump ship. She tried telling them it was ok with her. She wanted them to live and prosper. "We wont leave you Zooey we are fighting to the end what can we do?" The battle cry of the Hollywood Stars was loud. They werent going down without a fight. They stood by her for hours. They stood together for hours. And slowly everyone was killed. Each death was hard for her to take. Like a chess game where you are always losing a queen. It was as if every bullet that found a home had broken thousands of conversations and laughs. Zooey had tons of friends who werent in the war at all but definitely were too afraid to join up. They didnt want to back any side and that really hurt her even more. Eventually when everyone who was considered a friend to Zooey decided not to join up Zooey decided to kill one person from each city. A right hand, a crew leader, a left hand, a boss. Anyone who was anyone was now marked. After several hours of cat and mouse and messages from everyone telling her keep up the good work Zooey decided to take a chance. Maybe just maybe she could do the notorious 1% on Cristiano Ronaldo, The most evil mobster ever! Zooey places the gun and makes eye contact and lifts the barrel. BOOM...

The bullet echoed out in the streets of Los Angeles. Cristiano wasnt even grazed. He looked and issued a challenge for a duel with Zooey. She immediately flew out to Philladelphia. Safe at least for a moment. When Zooey walked off the plane she was greeted with a horrendous bullet placed in her heart. She never saw the killer. He said nothing. 

Zooey Never realized how thankful she was for Visas, Deces, Tyrion, and Taegan. There were so many great people in Hollywood so many well educated and dynamic men and women. So many who could have easily lead the crew and did what Zooey had done. She was formed by the best. Maybe not through Gollum but through her next descendant for sure Zooey Hills will be brought back to life; reincarnate. When this happens expect a historic and exciting time for all of the Mafia. 

Gollum backs away and hands flowers to Ivan after pushing past the countless body guards and his disturbing voice returned.

Stupid fat Bodyguards! I wants the precious! I wants to wins the competitionsies! IVAN, o glorious Ivan, Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou for giving me the chance to do this and have a therapeutic session with the past and finally putting it to rest. 
 

IvanRomanov steps forward after hearing everyone's own personal stories on their history in this life. He loved hearing everyone's own experiences as they told their stories. Many he did not know of. He had only guessed what had happened with certain situation but now, certain things were clear on what happened. 

First and foremost the contest ended a couple hours ago and the judges will come together to make a final decision on a winner shortly. 

I'd like to thank every single person who entered and told their history for all to see. I hope it was as enjoyable for you as much it was for me. Hearing everyone's own story was a blast. I hope we'd be able to do another contest similar to this one, sometime soon.

Again, thank you all for participating and the winner will be announced very shortly.

After careful judging and such, I am proud to announce these are the following winners.

Miss Petrov took first. Along with that, the cave dweller Gollum won second. And in third, Fear from Detroit. I know I didn't announce anything about second or third prizes but I have to admit I high enjoyed the contest.

 Thank you again for the participation! Hopefully we can do another contest like this soon.

Yes this was very fun and id also personally like to say well done everyone. It was fun and a shot back to memory lane. Thank you Ivan for giving us this great opportunity to share our stories. 

Gollum grabs the ten credits from Ivans hand and runs up the wall.

Oh thankyou thankyou! 

Menacingly glaring at the rest of the crowd gollum speaks out.

Stupid fat mobsters should have participated in the credit contest but its all over now! 

I did really enjoy this contest Mr Ivan, it was a great deal of fun reading through peoples stories about the past and I really did enjoy Irina's story as well and I must say it is a well deserved win for her. I also had a hard time deciding which story personally to write up but it was a great deal of fun to tell a side of me that I have forgotten about mostly and learned from the most and share it with others so they can understand how bad my reputation was at one point and that no matter what if you try hard enough you can fix it.

I really do hope to see more contests such as this one as I really do enjoy telling stories and with creativity these ideas are endless. I look forward to your next competition Ivan and again thank you for the opportunity to participate in this one as well as spectate and read the stories of other people  may not have known about otherwise.

Ohhh shit, I miss the fun :/ LOL