Marston tips his hat in appreciation of the words expressed by Zombie, before speaking about his perceptions of loyalty...

While respect, loyalty and integrity are considered fundamental principles in our way of life, it is also in our job description to lie, cheat, steal and sometimes murder. It's quite hard to follow a straight path with such contrasts forming our foundations.

I like to think that every man in my bloodline has been a 'stand-up guy' and kept to these principles I mentioned that they all held dear, they certainly set out with the intention to anyway. When it comes to loyalty, sometimes situations arise where whatever option choose, you're going to look like you're the bad guy to someone. But allot of the time there are no options and we just do what we have to do.

I remember reading my father's journal where he spoke about a horrendous situation he found himself in. He was given permission to start his own family by the godmother of New York, the same woman who had given him his 'made' status, and he had sworn his undying loyalty to...

After arriving in Vegas he formed a strong alliance with the other leaders there including the appointed head of the city, and they build a strong city together. Some weeks later that city head, along with several others joined forces to destroy New York. My father was out of town at the time and was only informed of the plan minutes before it was carried out, confused and angry; he immediately boarded a plane and got to New York as quickly as he could.

He arrived to find the godmother of New York slain along with the majority of her men. Battle raged on in other parts of the city, but my father now had conflicting loyalties and promises to keep… Firstly to the godmother of New York, to whom he had sworn his undying loyalty, therefore he partly felt he should join those remaining and fight in her name to his last breath. He brandished his weapon and gave a death stare to the unstoppable force that was raging through the big apple.
He then turned to face his men, to give them a motivational battle speech and the order for them to fight to their last breath… But as he turned and looked at them, he realised another loyalty he had, another promise he had made. His men were ready and willing to obey his every command, even if it meant their death. These men had followed my father since the day he arrived in Las Vegas, and other than his hands none of them had any history or loyalties in New York. He had sworn to protect their lives and best interests as long as they remain loyal to him; he took a few minutes to think things over, and then holstered his weapon.

It was the hardest decision he ever made, to do what could have been interpreted as turning his back on the people that raised him, but I think he made the right choice in the situation considering the responsibilities he had.

Having heard this tale from my father I am somewhat empathetic to how some of these acts seen as disloyal come about. Granted, some men seem to find making that decision to break loyalty much much easier than my father found it, and some of the situations aren't quite as life and death urgent. But often there are conflicting loyalties and responsibilities that bring them about...

I believe it is beyond the simple oaths and honours and good intentions we start out with.  As times change, so do people and their motives, responsibilities and allegances.  I have watched as made members change cities, those who take an oath not fight when their boss falls and dirty tricks from friends and children of the deceased.  The truth is most people just slowly plod through life earning their money and die in their sleep one fateful night because someone got bored or a mistake even if unrelated ot the person in question. 

We have often seen rumour or mistake kill people, and this can often change allegiance's.  I am sure if my dear friend Jordan today said all her employees with a vowel in their name would be executed today a lot of her people will suddenly change oath and wonder whats gone wrong.  This is the same for most people, sometimes you look and realise things are going wrong in an organisation or your not respected or needed and is time to take an alternative route.  Is hard to constantly keep people motivated and involved and thats part of the problem, you cant give people full responsibility and expect them to have all the skills as they get off the boat.  When life revolves round limited aspects we often see people take their lives or retire after they have made enough to maintain a lifestyle for them.

As for subdefuge and grudges, those are eternal and often make us achieve so much more even if not in the sense we want.  Without plotters and schemers we dont develop techniques on how to handle these people.  I guess its where it borders on bloodlining, do we watch for the eternal traitor or do we open our arms to them hoping the knife doesn't slide between our ribs or deep through our back.