This past week has had much unneeded bloodshed. I stand firmly by that statement. However, despite how many unneeded deaths that have occurred, there were many that needed to happen, and for that to occur, there was always a risk of innocents being slaughtered.

This world of ours requires a certain level of brutality in order to stay alive at the top, to protect our allies and ourselves, and the status quo. The other week, we were caught in a very awkward situation:

1. Paradise was clearly harboring those who wished to harm the greater powers that be. With previous suspicions, it became clear early last week that Nick-Valentine was not being transparent, and had been hiding information from his superiors (and was likely hiding more). Not surprisingly, during the war, it also became clear that there were many more under him who wished to cause harm to the greater country than anticipated. Most interestingly, Powers (LV) shooting Crow (LV) stood out (Nov 22, 01:35:38 You witnessed *w**so WACK Crow). (Not to mention other things that came out post war regarding those hiding there being part of certain undergrounds).  
2. Attempts had been made to create open communications with the godmother of Paradise. It had gone well mostly. It is my belief that Makima had good intentions for collaboration, with some limitations to that of course.
3. However, I do think she was in an awkward spot with her friend Nick-Valentine. While she knew that there were outside concerns about things within her district, she likely was unable to make or enforce tough decisions in her district due to that friendship. Makima was in a very bad position. Makima had previously relayed that Nick was intentionally not taking in rogues or potential rogues, but this became clear early last week to be false.
4. The same can be said for Godfather Chairman Petah. He was faced with a tough decision if he had tried to enforce things, which I am sure he knew would likely have resulted with retaliation from that district or the execution of that district. However, due to his intermingled friendships, this would become too much of a burden for him to act on without either a mutiny or having to execute most of his city. Considering his own district had been far eclipsed by Paradise in terms of numbers and strength, this was a very tricky situation.

I shall give DeadlySpike’s perspective, since I am sure there is some interest. For the past few months, people did not trust Paradise. DeadlySpike staked his name on the line to protect all of Las Vegas (including Makima), and stopped all the other cities from wiping it despite all the bitching and bitching and bitching and bitching almost daily. Why did DeadlySpike prevent Vegas from dying for so long? Foremost, his personal relationships with Petah, Anne, and Crow. DeadlySpike was the only one with a relationship/bridge to Vegas. No one else. Second, strategy. If Petah, Anne, and Crow were loyal to the regime, if Paradise was questionable, and if Paradise at the top (i.e. Makima/Nick) would not rogue themselves, at worst, maybe one or two rogues would come out of Las Vegas, resulting in only a few casualties in other cities. DeadlySpike felt this risk was worth taking in denying everyone else the move against Paradise (and potentially all of Vegas) versus DeadlySpike’s awareness that a move on Vegas was a very large undertaking (even just Paradise), and would result in far greater causalities than just two rogues... People ignored this warning. He was also hopeful that perhaps there would be some more information found over time which would be able to be used to get rid of the risks in Paradise amicably with Makima and the rest of Las Vegas. Unfortunately, DeadlySpike was overruled, and his greater concern became a reality.

Las Vegas was asked to do detective work, and be transparent. Find rogues. Find undergrounds. Gather intel. Look for inconsistencies. Makima had done some of this, but it was clear she was not able to follow through fully because some of the people were being protected by Nick. Petah did his best, but I can only imagine it was walking on eggshells doing so, especially as certain elements started to reveal themselves in the district early last week. Petah did well for Las Vegas as an ambassador, but much of Vegas’ activity stood in Paradise, not in the Strip. It had grown far beyond him, and he was left in its shadow. It was evident (if you bother to read post-war obituaries, especially things that Nick’s kin wrote) that Paradise/Nick had machinations for a potential move, which was likely being held back by Petah (and Makima).

When approached about leaders from all cities wanting to make moves last week again, DeadlySpike had to face the other people in power. They were afraid. They did not trust Paradise at all, especially Nick-Valentine. DeadlySpike was in a meeting in Pennsylvania with some of those leaders, and directly confronted with this on several occasions for several days, while all DeadlySpike wanted to do was meet deer and eat lobster. Could he take on more resentment (after months of protecting Las Vegas, and risking other people’s lives as the only link to Vegas)? Unfortunately, no; the decision had been made before he had woken up the late morning of the war. He had to sit still, and simply said not to touch Crow, Petah, and the Strip. It was all he could do to try to protect his friends there, but also with some strategy in mind. He knew they might retaliate. He knew they would give them hell if they did retaliate, but he also knew that the soldiers available to the attacking regime for various factors could only barely handle that one district out west, and so it was worth the chance of them not retaliating. He had warned several times that this was not an easy feat and could be botched. He also knew that Petah would not be shamed “Disorder Style” in being directed to wipe half his city. Petah is no Flash-Kitten. However, he hoped Petah would perhaps step aside (and recognize that there was a major problem within Paradise and that it was one he was not going to be able to control for much longer, much like the position DeadlySpike was in. DeadlySpike had wanted more time to see if it that would sell or if Makima maybe would resolve some of the issues, but time had run out for him to do so… i.e. can’t hold back the horde…). It was risky all around, but the dice were rolled one way or another with the hope of minimizing bloodshed.

During the early night, DeadlySpike was hoping to play poker and have a bubble bath. He was hoping people had forgotten what they had told him they were going to do that morning because so far that had been working out pretty well for him all week. He thought they might just nod off asleep. A poker game was announced, and quickly, someone remembered the war plan, and the poker game was cancelled and it was decided something else would happen instead. He warned them that there wasn’t enough in terms of resources again… They were making a move without a full deck but it was too late. Someone started the engine, and once that’s done, there’s no turning back. It played out not so far from how he expected it to. And beyond that, people didn’t line up their pros. People tried to rush things and didn’t think before shooting… Petah decided to defend his city, and DeadlySpike had his bubble bath, while another blood bath gushed.

So, the war kicked off, people died. More people died. Chaos. Power vacuums. But the powers that be still live on. Was it the wrong move for the regime to make? It’s hard to say if it was correct... strategically. Personally, I’d say the war was a botched move (tactically) and that certain people should have made more considerations, but at the same time, it’s more than probable something else would have bubbled over and kicked off sooner or later anyway, especially since it’s apparent Nick was pushing for a move. Overall, it was a fucked situation. There was good cause for everyone to be paranoid of Paradise. Seriously though, why did Powers shoot Crow?

Maybe there’s a lesson here… Perhaps there isn’t. In most instances in this world, it’s the same old tales… Watching friends and enemies bleed in the ongoing wrestle of who’s on top and who’s on bottom. This is the world we live in. To those on the bottom, I say, remember what you did on top in the past. To those on the top, one day you will be on the bottom again. For now, this next chapter of this regime’s voluminous anthology can be long or short, but at this time, I will leave you with a cliffhanger.

Sincerely,

SpikeS

Good lord that was a lot of bullshit to trudge through, I'm tired. Since we have Goomba's giving street speeches based on scribbled notes their ancestors left for them I guess I can chime in as well. I too will be a goomba if I can survive just one more night...

crosses his fingers

I don't want to get into some long-drawn-out name-calling match in the streets, I truly don't give enough of a shit. Some of this shit is just beyond absurd though. Good god man; just say it like it is, you're not running for president. 

First of all, since you're so fixated on Powers for some odd reason, he shot Crow because when he saw his crewleader die he had a split second to respond and he thought that we were the ones shooting their district. He quickly realized that he had judged the situation poorly and apologized.

"But Socket, why would he assume it was LV shooting them!?" - Spike probably 

Good question, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that him and his family have seen the 'leaders' around here do that repeatedly for the better part of two years. 

The second thing you seem to be fixated on is this myth you've cooked up that big bad scary Nick had some evil plan for world domination. The only 'plan' Nick ever had was to suggest that maybe we should shoot first before we get shot. The biggest mistake Petah made was not listening to him. For some weird reason, Petah believed that Spike wouldn't turn on him like that. Even if he did want Paradise gone surely he would talk to him about it first. 

Did Nick's crew have some people who disliked the SpikeS family line? Of course it did. You'd be hard-pressed to find a crew in this world that doesn't. That doesn't mean they were a threat to your precious regime. This might seem like a completely foreign concept to you but Petah trusted Nick and Makima, and Nick trusted his friends. All of the people you were terrified of were friends of his. He trusted they would not act without him, and Petah trusted Nick would not act without him and Makima. Godfather's trusting Crewleaders and Crewleaders trusting Godfathers... its some crazy shit I know. See unlike the SpikeS family, Petah didn't give a shit what Jake's counsin's mother's brother's friend overheard Tom say one time seven years ago in a coffee shop. 

As for you valiantly defending LV from "the whole game" for two months... just stop. We both know Ligambi was the one worried about LV, and Nick in particular. I don't even really need to argue this it's kinda obvious no? The chaos that ensued after the take-down, the Chairman of Philadelphia retiring after sending a mail to his city in which he stated "I didn't see anything besides paranoia that was driving for the slaughter", LA shooting more LA/Det leaders themselves after, and oh yeah a Philadelphia crewleader shooting and killing DeadlySpike...

 I’m of the same mind as Socket when it comes to not really getting into a long drawn out discussion but I do feel a few things need addressing. Firstly, did I want to shoot? Yes. I did I’ll openly say that now. Why some may ask, let me direct you to a quote by Spikes long time running mate that I feel holds great significance to our current regime. 

“I'll tell you exactly why he was "strung along".  

It's smart actually, my father did it to many people.  You let people think they are safe so they invest time, money, and spirit into their account.  You know they are destined to die, but they do not.  They invest their resources in the hopes that they have been granted forgiveness, whatever that is.  

In letting them invest then killing them you accomplish two things.  One, you severely diminish their war chest.  The credits, time, and spirit invested are all lost in a single move.  If you kill people too early they just have the resources to build again.  By killing them late you waste their investment and their resources for their next attempt to rogue.  Two, you wound their soul.  Each time this happens to someone it weighs on them heavily.  You do this in the hopes that they will eventually just give up their fight and fuck off as we have seen with many others.  Number 1 minimizes their risk for next time.  Number 2 nullifies them completely and sterilizes our world of their presence.”

Remy authed Lust into Bella Vista we invested time and money into that run only to be wiped because you didn’t trust us. (That’s what I’ve heard at least) Honestly all good I don’t really hold hate or resentment in my heart for people there’s no room for it. But that doesn’t mean when Lust was authed into Paradise I was going to blindly follow as I’d previously done. I knew your game now and I knew how you’d play it, because of the above quote from JTG and a pattern you’ve shown over your reign . Lust thought she’d built some sort of relationship with you that would allow Paradise to be spared. I was never under the assumption we’d be allowed to live in peace with the regime. 

So fast forward to present day, I was asked about people in my family constantly. First Lust asked me because she was asked by Petah, she was told whatever she wanted to know with full transparency but I asked that it not go any higher than Petah. In my eyes Petah and Lust were who I reported to. Then came Joe Ligambi to my personal line, trying to tug on heart strings and the old we were so close back in the day. Knowing we hadn’t spoken in years regardless of the attempts I’d made. This was obviously just a manipulation tactic. In order to inquire about who was with me, I didn’t release any bloodlines because I knew what would happen. I’d either be asked to shoot them, they be shot by someone else and I’d be informed afterwards, or we’d all be wiped. After Ligambi didn’t get the desired outcome then and only then did Petah come to me and ask for specifics. When he asked again all questions were answered in full transparency. I told him if spike found out who was with me he’d want us dead.

Then a few days later came the list. Totaling six names four of which were in my family and two in Lust’s family spike wanted removed. I refused to purge and lust refused to purge. I told the other leaders in LV if we refuse this we may as well shoot, because it was only a matter of time before we’d be removed. I went to Lust and LP about it first, they both agreed no move would be made without Petahs approval. We were all in agreement about that, Petah had been nothing but good to us and none of us wanted to screw him over knowing he was the one and only reason we were not only allowed to set up our crews but allowed to live. Then James came to me expressing similar concerns all the leaders besides Petah were on board with shooting. Petah thought putting faith in the friendships he has built over the years would be our best course of action and the decision not to shoot was made. So what did we do? We listened to our Chairman no more talks happened and the conversation was dropped. Because of this we were killed but honestly I hold no grudge against Petah, a man who could so easily turn on his friends wouldn’t be a man worth following. When the time came he fought alongside his people which is more than can be said for a lot of the leaders you’ve employed in this long lasting regime of yours. So in closing did I want to shoot you? Yes, you’ve shown over and over again you will purge whoever is deemed bad by the regime. Collateral damage be damned. Would we have? No, because we had faith in the chairman we entrusted our lives to. 

Then James came to me expressing similar concerns all the leaders besides Petah were on board with shooting. Petah thought putting faith in the friendships he has built over the years would be our best course of action and the decision not to shoot was made.

Damn Ivar, sounds like your chairman was a big dummy. Maybe he should've listened to the shared opinion of apparently literally everyone else. That sucks.

Alen, I know at least 25 of my members well enough to dance their favourite dance whilst whistling their favourite ditty.

What have you ever done?

Let this serve as a stark reminder to everyone who currently thinks they are friends with Spike and Co.

Your days are numbered. It will happen to you too. Enjoy the limited time you have and accept your inevitable fate or make plans for creating your own ending.

Alen has many questions, SpikeS has many words. Neither of the aforementioned were interesting. Can we just go back to the halcyon days for the streets of Skorpeon shooting RVZ in the face or even better the "How many bins do you have?" era. Great times. 

Individually, I shall respond starting with Socket:

Okay, so Powers just randomly in the spur of the moment shot a district head in his own city because he thought he was attacking him? Okay, that seems a bit odd. Apologies and handshakes and a doctor’s note, got it.

You are incorrect. People did not think Nick had plans for domination. They believed that Nick was harboring those who did, and this was not acceptable. He was not being transparent even with Petah until the last few days, and even still, there were likely more. However, it is also clear that in your statement (and in many other places) that Nick was recommending an assault…

You have to keep in mind that people there may not have liked DeadlySpike and so on, but that is not why this happened. It happened because no one trusted Nick and what was under him individually and that he was not forthcoming. Their feelings about DeadlySpike were not the motivation here. It was rather that Nick was clearly not working with the greater regime, and that same regime got fed up because he was doing his own thing in what almost seemed to be defiance. Now moving on…

Ivar: “Without JTG, you are nothing. – Freda” JTG hasn’t been around. He hides during Thanksgiving.

Lust was killed for having a conversation with a NY district leader about wiping Las Vegas. She did not report this to Remy. The NY district leader didn’t report this to Remy or their City Head. Their conversation was leaked to Las Vegas, and the East Coast had to address it. We could not simply tell the West Coast “Oh, they didn’t mean it. It’s OK bro!” Thus, they were executed. As for Makima in Paradise, she did well… But as I described, she was in a position where she would have had to make hard choices that clearly, she would never do to Nick.

“I told him if spike found out who was with me he’d want us dead.” So just stepping back from that, how was this ever going to work out peacefully? Makima had specifically went out of her way to tell DeadlySpike that Nick was not housing anyone controversial; this was clearly not true. But even still, going back to my reply to Socket, not everything revolves around what DeadlySpike’s relations are with people. Other people have beefs. So many beefs. And many people had beefs with Nick. There were six people mentioned to Petah, but they were not requested to be purged. Information was requested on them. Clearly, that information which in part was withheld, revealed that whoever they were, were clearly controversial (as you say). But no one’s head was called for, not even Tyrannis. It’s what you refuse to say that causes problems… and more suspicion and frustration.

If Nick had been transparent from the start, perhaps it would have gone a bit differently, but at the same time, his values were not with the greater regime’s interests. In my opinion, Nick was being selfish towards his whole city by doing his own thing, and played on their friendships with him to create a problem because he knew Makima would have had to have let him, versus killing him which she wouldn’t do. It became clear after the bloodshed that many of the people planning to make rogue moves against the greater regime were decimated, proving the point regarding what was beneath Nick. Whether he was intentionally hiding them or incompetently and ignorantly protecting them all, it is hard to say.  

Moving to your last bit, you explain that a lot of people in LV wanted to attack, but didn’t because of Petah. I totally believe that. A lot of people wanted to attack Paradise for months, and didn’t because DeadlySpike said no. Last week, he did not make the decision and advised against it repeatedly (as we can see how it played out…). One way or another, one side was always going to say fuck it. One side hiding an enemy building, the other wanting blood of the enemy, with Petah and DeadlySpike caught in the middle. DeadlySpike did all that he could for him, but Nick hid things even from Petah until it was too late and the others pushed and pushed to get this war done because they were fed up. Vegas itself, minus Petah, may have eventually said fuck it too at some point. Nick chose other people over the regime… Which is fine, but not sustainable and it dragged his entire city into shit. That said, DeadlySpike was trying to make it sustainable… Even if one or two rogues slipped by, he believed it was worth doing so versus making an attack on Las Vegas (especially a botched one)… Sadly, we are here.

To be fair though SpikeS, there are plenty of reasons for individuals or their lines not to trust this reign either. So I mean your father and friends are not any better than the people you claim your kin could not trust.

So my question would be what is this reigns end game? Was it just to ensure lines stopped coming to these shores altogether? Or people just think they will continue to be held down and work blindly while the same lines keep getting those fancy suits within their first two weeks of arriving? I am just curious what the point of all this purging is at the end of the day.

So my question would be what is this reigns end game? Was it just to ensure lines stopped coming to these shores altogether? Or people just think they will continue to be held down and work blindly while the same lines keep getting those fancy suits within their first two weeks of arriving? I am just curious what the point of all this purging is at the end of the day.

Very good questions Melis. 

I got no stake in this, but I can say hell will freeze over before you get an answer. An honest one at that.  It is evident business is conducted within the squad. Such business has and continues to drive down business. Sadly, there are a few left who are blind. But overall, the people who work for these CL's are the prize. Without them the CL is a nobody. And for a CL to kill one of their finest because the squad said so is an absolute cowardice move. Kudos to those who did not. 

What I have an issue with is the "assumption" everyone they don't know is a threat. They tippy toe around the inquiries of who is who because they must abide by the laws. If there is not a satisfactory response and they are active on these shores they are time stamped. Dead. That has gotten really old, and business is declining. It is essentially bloodlining but they will say purge. 

I am going to walk off wondering if the Gawd of this thing found this acceptable. It's the first explanation in a very long time according to my resources. 

I think its funny eepy Joe was so concerned about another city that he completely overlook the shit brewing in his own. Seriously where was all this defender of the greater regime mumbo jumbo when Jack Rooney was hand? And the circus event in LA that followed after Joe's death? Just messy.

It's evident y'all will say anything but "we were too beta to allow our friends to make friends." If there were rogues harbored like you say, they would've rogued. Simple. Six shooters is strong enough to cause some serious damage. But no, they were family, trusted, friends. Except Lucy apparently, GRHS.

There were six people mentioned to Petah, but they were not requested to be purged. Information was requested on them. Clearly, that information which in part was withheld, revealed that whoever they were, were clearly controversial (as you say). But no one’s head was called for, not even Tyrannis. Lucy?

I seem to recall my father, Tyrannis, being told he was no longer allowed in LA during one y'all's routine purge wave. Joe's orders. Tyrannis never left LV again after that in fear of being shot on sight. I mean until Boyardee failed shooting him anyway. To rebrand the list as nothing more than a request for information is hilarious. It's clear to any and everyone now that it resulted in Lucy's death and then, a day later, the take-down of Paradise. I guess the good ole boys weren't satisfied with the response they got for trying to police another city.

Look I understand there's a certain level of micro-managing done around here but whatever happened to a little thing called respect? Y'know respecting a Godfather's decision, their trust in their own men, and, to some extent, their jurisdiction? To order a take-down like this and hope they ignore the blatant disrespect is wild.

A lot has been said by many people, but very little of it I am able to follow or willing to listen to (Ronnie often tells me I never listen, which is why I get the belt instead).

There is one question that is burning on my mind however: is there a descendant of Goku's 23 times Godfather lineage out there willing to comment on this?

GordonGopher The rumour mill was alight with rumours that the botched LV removal was actually a SpikeS plan to rid himself of another descendant of the troublesome (23 x GF) family line of Goku. The latest word in the street is that Goku is deep incog within New York biding his time to rid us of this tinpot regime. Either that or bore us to death with another OOC thread. 

You are incorrect. People did not think Nick had plans for domination. They believed that Nick was harboring those who did, and this was not acceptable. He was not being transparent even with Petah until the last few days, and even still, there were likely more.

Well, half true I suppose... they clearly believed that Nick was harboring people who were scheming up some trouble. I don't think anyone has denied that. That doesn't make it true, but it's clearly what they believed so thanks for the clarification I guess?

I have nothing to hide and no reason to lie, as you know my family only returned from old the old country when Balls made Spike his hand and Spike got in contact with Petah asking him to get on a boat and come join the crew. He then only got active when Remy was authed by Balls and needed a hand, only took auth when Penny wanted to step down and there was no other valid options to replace her as CL, only moved to LV when KW's city was decimated and he needed help, and only took GFC when he was the only survivor of multiple wars in that city. I have no plans to stay around long-term or follow in his footsteps. 

So back to that speech of yours, you say Nick was not being transparent even with Petah. That's not even remotely true. Petah was asked to look into a list of names and "assess risk". So he talked to Nick and Makima and the first time he talked to Nick he was told that they were friends of his family, had been for a long time, and he fully believed none of them were up to anything. He even said if any of them rogued he would happily take a bullet for it. Petah didn't ask for any family histories or ancestors' names, he didn't care who they might have been related to previously... his crewleader vouched for them and he left it alone. 

Spike didn't leave it alone though, in fact Petah spoke to him during his trip to Pennsylvania hoping to finally put his mind at ease so that people would stop going on and on about it. He was told repeatedly about how this wasn't just a random list, these people were active, nobody knew who they were, and they had even had the audacity to hit-list members of the Durden family! The two biggest offenders apparently were Lucy and Tyrannis.

At this point it was clear to Petah that this wasn't going to get dropped until he got them some names. So that same day he went and tracked down Nick and Makima again and this time he asked for some names. Nick answered every question he was asked and hid nothing. The only person he ever hid anything from was weeks earlier when he had apparently been approached directly by Ligambi and asked for names. He told Petah he had purposely not answered him because he didn't feel it was right for a GFC of another city to be questioning him about his members. Lucy was purged that day... that was Petah's decision. Petah then told Spike that he had "assessed the risk" as he was asked to and he had decided the only person who was a real threat to them had been Lucy and he took care of it. 

Now you can ramble on as much as you want about why you did this, but it's clear to anyone with half a brain that you did this because you didn't trust Petah's judgement. Your own detective work and spying abilities were a better judge of character than the people in LV who actually knew and talked to the people you were scared of.