I've now spent some time contemplating on what our friends in the Black Hand have had to say and somewhat surprisingly, I actually agree with part of it. This thing of ours simply cannot spend eternity fighting the same wars, there are grudges in this world older than some of the people currently fighting them. Someone rogues, somebody gets purged, somebody's son or daughter comes back looking for revenge, somebody else's child remembers what happened to their mother or father ten years ago and eventually nobody can quite remember who threw the first punch.

Those that know me will know in recent times I've had a fairly simple philosophy when it comes to this sort of thing, the sins of the parents should die with the parents. My father Matt is dead and I've now been walking these streets for 132 days. If you fucked my father over in any way, I'm not going to spend my life hunting you or your children because of it. If there's history between our families but you come to me like an adult, tell me things are going to be different and then actually behave like they're going to be different, I'll give you the opportunity to prove it.

I accept people change and what matters more to me is what you've done during my current lifetime.

Unfortunately, that's where your lovely speech runs headfirst into a fucking great wall called reality.

You tell us "We rogue because you purge. You purge because we rogue." It's wonderfully neat and makes the whole thing sound like two equally stubborn sides trapped in an unfortunate cycle of violence, the problem is that it isn't an honest account of how we got here. You specifically describe yourselves as the victims of purgings and the perpetrators of the subsequent revenge killings following the deaths of Spicoli, DarwinRoss and DeanWinchester. That's a very convenient place to start the story because those deaths didn't fall out of a clear blue sky. Those people weren't plucked from peaceful families because somebody woke up one morning and decided their names looked pretty, they were removed for genuine reasons. You can disagree with what happened afterwards, argue that the response was disproportionate or point to mistakes that have been made since, but you cannot simply cut the first half of the story off and then present everything that followed as something you were reluctantly forced into.

For all the talk about regimes that purge and purge and purge, that isn't what is happening now either. Plenty of people from bloodlines with complicated histories are alive, building and even holding positions of considerable power. The fact that somebody's mother or father once went rogue doesn't automatically earn their son or daughter a bullet. People have been allowed to move on because they've given everyone reason to believe they actually wanted to move on. That's rather important, because there is a fundamental problem with your version of the clean slate.

Your solution is: "Don't fucking shoot us." In return, you won't rogue. Simple enough, apparently. Except the defining feature of a rogue is that we generally discover someone is a rogue when they start shooting people. So stripped of the speeches about olive branches, white peace and great leaders throughout history, what you're effectively asking is this: we've demonstrated how devastating roguing can be, now stop taking precautions against us, and we'll promise not to do it again.

Forgive me if I don't immediately mortgage Chicago on the strength of that promise.

It's particularly cheeky given that only a week ago many good people were put into the ground. It's even cheekier when, in the very same peace offering, you take the time to tell us how successful you've been, congratulations. So, by your own account, your campaign has killed Godfathers, devastated families, cost the other side billions and made you an enormous amount of money. Having demonstrated that this strategy works rather well, you'd now like everyone else to stop taking precautions against it, shake hands with you, forget what happened and allow you to keep the proceeds.

That's a magnificent peace deal for you. I'd take that deal.

However, beneath all the selective history, chest beating and complaints about dick swinging, there is still a point on which we agree. This does have to end somewhere. Somebody eventually has to decide that the next generation isn't going to inherit the last one's war, now I can't speak for every city and I'm not going to pretend that I can but what I can do is speak for Chicago.

So here's my offer. You want your clean slate? Fine, I'll give you one.

Come to Chicago. Build your fortunes, train your guns and grow as enormous as your hearts desire. I won't indulge a ten year old grudge simply for the pleasure of continuing it. If somebody genuinely wants to put this shit behind them and make a life for themselves, I'm perfectly willing to let them prove it. If you live peacefully in Chicago, contribute to Chicago and give me no reason to believe you're planning otherwise, you'll receive the same protection and opportunity as anybody else here.

But a clean slate means cleaning the slate. So there are two conditions attached to my offer, and neither is negotiable.

First, tell the truth about how we got here. Publicly acknowledge that this current chapter did not begin with the arbitrary murder of Spicoli, DarwinRoss and DeanWinchester. Acknowledge the circumstances that led to their removal, acknowledge that opportunities to end this conflict have existed since and acknowledge that members of your bloodlines chose to rogue again and again regardless. Then publicly apologise to the families who have paid the price for those choices. That's not about making anybody bend the knee despite how desperately you seem to want to frame any acknowledgement of responsibility that way. An apology doesn't resurrect anybody and I don't need the satisfaction of watching grown men grovel however it's simply very difficult to wipe a slate clean when one side insists on pretending they didn't write anything on it.

Second, having accepted responsibility, put your money where your mouth is. You've helpfully told everyone that all this has made you VERY rich, so compensation shouldn't prove too difficult. For every person your organisation has murdered during the last 132 days, I expect their surviving or returning family to receive $1,000,000,000 each. Call it compensation for the bodyguards their sons and daughters now have to hire and train. Call it the cost of rebuilding guns and family fortunes. Call it compensation for lost earnings, pain and suffering or call it whatever the fuck you like. You're asking the families of people you've just buried to forget the past while simultaneously boasting about how profitable burying them has been. If you genuinely want to wipe the slate clean, give something back to the people you've taken from.

Fulfil those two conditions and, as far as Chicago is concerned, the account is settled.

I was not going to comment at all on this, because I have been on the shit end of the stick, and have not done any of the killings, ok, maybe one, but that was after the family I was in, was being systematically picked off. But you mention Spicoli, one of my ancestors as being removed for good reason, except we all seem to forget, spicoli wasnt removed for anything. Spicoli was a victim of a rogue, a rogue who is close friends with myself and many of my friends. Beyond that, I have made attempts to work as a cohesive unit, with many people, in many families, and have multiple fathers and grandfather's murdered, solely because of who they were, or what they didnt know. I have been blamed for things I had no part of, and in the big picture of it all, have been one of the least violent people in all of the murders. I have been one of the few who has been trying to advocate between all the parties for peace and prosperity. We can all say what we want, he said she said, but very few people know everything, and there are quite a few people roaming around spewing nonsense, probably because that is what they are heard or told. 

I believe the big picture of this speech was missed or misunderstood. There are alot of so called bad guys, who want no part of the violence, and just want to be able to rack up their riches, but are being dragged along in the nonsense because they refuse to choose one friend over the other.

Fair correction, Thorfinn. I'm old, a lot of shit has happened over the years and I can't pretend I remember the circumstances of every death perfectly. I was merely following Alexander's lead in using those three deaths as his starting point, but if I've misrepresented Spicoli's death then I apologise.

My wider point remains though that this particular vendetta didn't start with those three deaths and it certainly didn't begin because one side randomly decided to start killing the other for absolutely no reason.

Winston listens carefully to the speakers before stepping forward

My past bloodlines have been the victim of both purging and rogues and lets not get that meaning wrong it is a a person who acts independently disobeys rules or shows unprincipled unpredictable behaviour. I have no problem with someone having a vendetta that's what this life runs on and how people can come together to a common cause. If you targeted the same person as a rogue time and time again then you have become what you hate and are therefore as bad or worse. Now to look at the other side imagine building and being killed for nothing or for your assumed reputation even at the hands of your own leader. You are going to be angry and the leader was not your leader they sold you out to save their own skin so what's the point? 

Winston pulls a flask of whiskey out and lights his massive cigar 

I hope that we can protect our members from other people flexing their egos and for sins of the father but then its up to you to change also and show what much of our community lacks sometimes and that's loyalty the only thing you cannot train. 

Noob, if I had to take a guess, I would say it's because they are not in a position of superior bargaining power. Now pay me my two billion!

My ancestors were purged repeatedly by SimonTheBastard but once I accepted Jesus Christ as my lord and savior, he was happy to let me back into the fold. Maybe if you godless heathens would do the same, you wouldn't have to come out with the beggar bowl, asking for a truce. Are the crew priests a bit handsy? Sure. But show me a priest who isn't and I'll show you a pig that flies, and makes great Amish bread. They're just lonely virgins in liturgical smocks, and ever since Simon's willy was cut off in that knotweed/autoerotic asphyxiation accident, they've taken a great interest in their newest choir castrato. 

Hell yeah, reimbursements for everyone!

By all means, put forward your own official offer of what you want and what you're prepared to offer in return and I'm sure everyone involved will be more than happy to consider it.

Seems only fair.

After five days of careful consideration and consultation with absolutely nobody and zero indication that my extremely generous offer was going to be taken seriously, the response has been, well, underwhelming. The closest thing I've had to any meaningful diplomatic engagement is HughJanus repeatedly trying to get into my pants. While I appreciate his enthusiasm, I'm afraid this falls somewhat outside the scope of the original proposal.

As such, with some considerable reluctance, I suppose I'm going to have to withdraw the offer. The window for negotiations has closed, the olive branch has been retracted and Chicago's generous reimbursement department has been shut down due to a frankly shocking lack of customers. If anyone would like to revive negotiations at some point in the future, I'm sure they can submit their proposal through the appropriate channels, which I believe are currently located somewhere between Hugh's massive cheeks.

I'm incredibly disappointed that Matty, you have rescinded your previous offer. I was just about to take you up on it too. 

I don't know what you were offering or what would be required of me but I was willing to do pretty much anything you say, provided there was a little monetary bonus in it for myself.  

Fuck no TenInchTim. I was completely on board right up until you suggested you were going to get paid for it.

I’m all for taking advantage of your willingness to do “pretty much anything I say” but the moment it starts costing me money, I’m out.

does a clean slate not work both ways? must both sides be willing to move on? one side (the living) must be able to wash away any grudges with those who have perished. but those new family members must also be able to "forgive and forget" type deal when it comes to reading up on their family's history.

failure to do so on both sides just leads to a continuing battle of anger with no true benefits to either side and fosters more and more vitriol.

I pride myself on being able to allow new members on these shores safe homes so long as they come in and not preach stories of the past or harbour a grudge from times that have come and gone.