Gunther, taking inspiration from the recent words of NathanExplosion, took to the streets. He wanted to get the creative juices flowing within the community. He knew just where to start as well. What a better place to start such a thing, than the past itself. After all, hindsight is 20/20. So with this in mind Gunther found the busiest intersection he could, he stacked a number of large wooden boxes together to form a makeshift stage, and as loudly as he could began to speak.

"Good afternoon everyone! I hope to take just a moment of your time here. I promise I will keep this as short and as sweet as I can, if you'll just lend me your ears."

He hesitated a moment as hundreds of faces turned to see who was yelling. A sheen of sweat instantly manifested across his forehead, but he pushed on.

"I would like to invite you all to share your voice loudly and bravely here in front of the members of the community. I invite anyone willing to partake to pick a moment in the past. An action or series of actions taken, and analyze them, debate what could have become, and if the best actions were taken with the information available at the time, or if there was a clearly better option."

He noticed a small amount of interest forming in the crowd before him.

"Before I step off this stage and allow anyone to step up and get this thing rolling. I would like to ask that everyone to be respectful of one another, keep the past in the past, and simply look at this as a historical debate. My hope is that through discussing the past, we as a whole, can move on. Moving on with greater bonds, stronger ties, and a sense of closure. This is by no means intended to be a powder keg to drive us backwards. I hope we are all adult enough to agree to this basic concept. Thanks for your time! The stage is open for whoever wishes to speak!"

Gunther then stepped down. His heart racing after addressing such a large crowd. He was interested to see where this went, was hopeful to see something great take place, fearful it may lead to something terrible, but most fearful that no one would take part. For that would be the death of society in his eyes. If there was no one left willing to speak their minds, then what was the point of this thing of ours in the end. He smiled though, curious to see what would become. 

"Gunther, my oh my you may be on to something here. This has the potential to blow up, in both a good and a bad way. People in our thing tend to hold grudges for quite a while, but are they willing to come out here in public and discuss what happened, and how things could have been handled differently? Can they admit their ancestors may have erred in judgement? I know mine certainly have before."

He looked down at his feet pensively and considered what to say next.

"If you'll allow me a bit of time, maybe I'll have something we can discuss. In the meantime, perhaps someone else will bring forward a past event that can be discussed."

"I'd like to speak on the downfall of one of my ancestors, Wayne of Las Vegas, and CeceliaBriggs of Philadelphia. The brutal murders of these two leaders (and several other important people, like Drax) set in action a chain of events that saw a complete nationwide war for control, as the connection between the west coast and the east coast had been shattered.

However, it is the actions leading up to their deaths that I really want to speak about. First, a bit of backstory.

Wayne and CeceliaBriggs grew up together in Philadelphia under Luis_Patangeli, Valencia, and Aladdin. As they progressed and things changed, each of them were given power in different areas, but that old Philadelphia connection remained. Over time, an alliance formed that was very strong, and ruled over the nation as justly as possible. Of course wars happened and people died, but for the most part this regime was a good one. However it was the actions that led to their downfall that ultimately stained their image in history.

As they aged and peace reigned, a small pocket of danger began to surface. The old C regime (closely related to the most recent purge regime) were hiding within families of the alliance, and building with the ultimate goal of "being on top again." This worried the alliance, as they did not want to be the regime that gave the game back to the devils. For weeks, the heads of the cities discussed pruning those select individuals they had identified as loyal to the old purgers. A taste of their own medicine, if you will. It was not a decision any of those men and women took lightly. Back and forth the discussions went for some time. Purge them or let them live? Risk ruining their image or risk ruining the world as a whole?

Eventually, things came to a head, and Wayne and CeceliaBriggs took it upon themselves to handle it. A select group of hitmen was chosen to bring down around eleven men they had marked as sympathetic to the old ways. Everything went well, the others were just happy the ordeal was over with and handled. And yet there was animosity in some of the lower ranks, specifically the leaders who lost close friends without warning. Within a few days, two of those leaders struck out in revenge, killing Wayne and CeceliaBriggs as they dozed.

Which brings me to the main point: should they have gone through with the purge? Did they make the correct decision? That group of evil people did eventually reach the top again of course, and once more held the world under their thumb. But did that justify the actions? Perhaps it would have been better to continue on with their strong alliance, and hope that those evil ones were true to their families."

Thank you for the story Nathan, very interesting to listen to for someone who's family wasn't around during that period. I think most bloodlines will have had many what ifs and buts during their history in this place, my story is indeed a very similar situation to the one your ancestor was faced with.

Many a moons back a ancestor of mine was a Godfather in the district of Chicago. During the run they had authed more than a few crew leaders and indeed crew eaders that went on to become Godfathers in their own right. However for one of the men I had authed, there had always been a worry from some of the other individuals he was allied with that he was not to be trusted. Even more so, there was a real worry that his RHM was a strong and quick builder that was capable of causing potentially catastrophic damage to them and those that ran the world.

After quite a bit of pressure and during the war, my ancestor gave the green light to remove the RHM to preserve the safety of the alliance and keep everyone happy and sleeping soundly. My ancestor reached out the man he had authed and explained the situation and he hoped smoothed over any discontent or angriness it may have generated. Happy that the working relationship was in still in tact he continued to operate his business, days turned into weeks and the man who had lost his RHM was even given his own city to run and achieve the rank of Godfather. 

Then one day whilst he slept my ancestor was gunned down in his sleep by the same man he had given a family, city.. and ordered the removal of his RHM. I guess the question we always ask is whether our actions to avoid the outcome actually resulted in the outcome that we had tried to avoid. 

I want to thank my friend in metal - NathanExplosion for his thoughts on that point in history.  I remember very vividly as I watched my great-great-great-great-great grandpappy (yeah, we have our kids young in this thing of ours) take up his role as a RH in Philadelphia, only to watch the initial shots fired mere hours after, and the initiation of a slow spiral down the drain. Jester put up a hell of a fight over the next 30-odd hours - but he was out manned and outgunned.  Everyone was either hiding behind their bodyguards or their protection wackers - not that I can blame them.  

The piece that I wanted to add here though - is that Jester fought for his family and his ideals.  He died in a duel to a man named Dillinger.  His son came back and worked hard for Wayne's son (who was on the other side of the war) - and eventually ended up being the RH there.  You see, battle lines can often be drawn and tough decisions are made.  Once the war was over and it was back to business - the past was forgotten and we moved forward both for ourselves and the betterment of the community.  

To me, it's an interesting contrast to what Mr. Explosion is talking about.  In taking care of the C regime - he is using the past in guiding his decisions and I am talking about forgetting the past and moving forward. I don't know what's right, to be honest - probably a healthy mix of both. What I do know is that I think that both of us put family (community, business or whatever you want to call it) first.  

Johnny listened as others recalled stories from journals of ancestors past and contemplated on the dilemmas that each and every one of them faced. Finding it a seemingly safe place to open his mouth and speak, he smiled.

" Indifference , I would have to agree that it is probably a healthy mix of both. It's wise to let each man, woman, or otherwise show their own merits, because not everyone is like their ancestors. Though at the same time, it's also wise to not necesarrily -forget- the past, even if we can forgive it. It's when we see the same patterns of behavior that have been recognized and passed down genetically, that we start to wonder if someone is any different than their ancestors before them, or if they carry a familial grudge. Regardless, it brings me to my journals and to searching through my past."

Closing his eyes, Johnny lost himself in thought for a bit. "I remember reading through journals about Wayne, Cecelia, and others. But even before that, my first ancestor that set foot in this land that many years ago found himself accepted into La Famiglia Gato in Detroit. Mr. Gato was the first person to reach out to my ancestor to offer a hand, even flying to Vegas to meet him and offer a job." Johnny chuckled thinking about the stories.

"Anyway, what it brings me to was the untimely, and apparently mistaken, taking of Mr. Gato's life, along with my ancestor who had just recieved his button and a few others. It seemed that, according to the knowledge my ancestors had, someone had falsified documentation about something Mr. Gato had said. Twisted his words, per se. Now, I know this is a useful tactic to take down someone who opposes... But the leadership that were seeking the truth learned they were false. Unfortunately the shooter was warned but had not recieved the message, to my ancestor's knowledge, and the damage was done. It simply makes me question what things could have been done differently, if anything at all? Mistakes happen, and no one holds the shooter's lineage at fault for the mistakes their ancestors made. That, is certainly the way it should be in situations like that."

Johnny shrugged. "In the end, we all die eventually. I know I'd at least like to not die because of a mistake though." He chuckled. "Then again, I'm a magician. I'll probably die on stage trying to saw myself in half for a trick."

Alexei was waving his hands dry as he was roaming in the streets. He had just tended to his new rhubarb garden down the block and his freshly rinsed hands were still wet. His garden was an oasis for him. He loved the peace and serenity it brought. Being able to farm the irregular garden vegetable from Mother Russia was always a dream of his. 

He walked up in the middle of an interesting topic. As he listened to NathanExplosion, he started to remember his uncle, Mikhail, telling him about these actions.

"As memory serves me, my uncle Mikhail was there that night. It was only brief as he had learned the leaders of the members to be gunned down were not notified of Wayne's intentions. When he heard that, he wanted no part of it. Along with that, it wasn't eleven men who were sympathetic to the 'old ways'. A couple were just working for their city and wanted to remain loyal to it. Anyways, back to your question... when is a removal like this accepted? In my eyes, never. When cycles repeat themselves it tends to create a new norm for our way of life and that is something I don't think anyone wants to see."

Alexei wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"There were a lot of incorrect decisions on this but the main one was removing members in other cities during the middle of the night, without talking to their leaders; or what some call purging. You may claim that some of those people removed that night eventually reached the top again but it was because they were allowed to by other people. And those people's ancestors were never really one to act the way they did in recent times."

"The best way to end a terrible thing like purging, is to make sure it ends and does not start on your own watch."

Gunther was pleased to see members coming forward and sharing pieces of their past, lessons learned, and posing questions unanswered all at once, in the open and for all to see. As he stood and listened he did not wish to interrupt. These conversations had begun long ago, just after the end of the revolution, and there was something that he noticed.

"Thank you for sharing and continuing to share."

He said looking to NathanExplosion, Indifference, Alexei, JohnnyChrist, and tebo.

"I've heard from all of you the last few months. I have nothing specific to add to either of your points, but I would like to make an observation and hope to hear your opinions on this."

He paused and smiled.

"Now I don't wish to jinx us, but I've noticed that though many have perished since these discussions have started, not a single one of us have. Do you think this just a coincidence? or perhaps due to our openness, willing to share, and willing to learn from the lessons of the past and evolve?"

He placed his finger on his chin in thought.

"I for one can't chalk it up merely to coincidence.."