It is time, is it not, to re-think that which has always been.  

So City A decides to take out City B, A's hitters load up and attack, and they don't stop, until City B is destroyed. 

Now, of course within City B there are a good number of persons who simply must be dealt with.  But there are plenty more who don't.

And there are plenty more who, with the right encouragement, could be granted safe passage to City A, where they'd become good, loyal, hardworking and productive members of that particular outfit.

Hey, we might even get to a stage where City A attacks City B because of the labor pool over in City B.

Can we have some proportionality?  If City A are making a strategic strike, then be strategic.  Not everyone has to die, do they?  

In some instances, yes, a city needs taken down.  But they are few and far between.

So, what are your thoughts on a new type of warfare?  Decisive strikes, then offering a safe place for anyone wanting to get back to earning?

It would make this thing of ours even more interesting, would it not?

I think what you are describing already happens a fair bit. There are instances where it is not scorched earth so to speak. People do survive and go on to be members of another city.

That raises a lot of questions though in regards to loyalty, etc.

But in the gist of what you are describing, in some take downs and some wars it does happen where not everyone dies.

I would say that leaders and hands should most definitely be taken out though if a city is being taken down.

Fate steps forward, interest piqued by Chloe's final words. 

"I've always found crew-jumping Rights and Lefts during takedowns simply deplorable. But that's a topic for another day. I believe Chloe nailed the topic at hand pretty well...protection orders should in theory let those folks that haven't gotten their button yet a chance to seek refuge elsewhere and have a go at getting on with their lives. Sadly, scorch and burn still happens, for whatever reasons, and the kin of the dead have the choice of hunting down answers many believe they simply don't deserve, or attempting to bite the proverbial bullet and just move on. I mean, sure, there are additional options, but no point bringing up such nastiness," she says, delivering a wink and a smile to no one in particular.

Bryan had been nagging about her smoking...it was the worst drug out there, that darn tobacco. Lighting up a smoke anyway, she tips a respectful nod to those in attendance and walks back home to her cat, 'Hammer'.

What Chloe says is true. Each war has it's unique details in execution and aftermath. Often enough a few people manage to survive while on the losing side. The sooner the crewleaders, their hands and most known hitters are gone, the quicker the winning party will decide whether their goals have been met, or whether they have reason to keep attacking the remaining people.

SOOTY3, you propose that by defualt an attacking party only removes those nececssary to meet the goals and leave all others alive, so they can go elsewhere and continue their careers. Although I can understand where this proposal originates from, I disagree with your idea.

It goes against a lot of the core values that this place is build on, but instead supports the individual's longetivity. 
We already have to little of our core values here and arguably increased longetivity for people can make this place boring.

Let me explain, while focussing on Made Men and those of higher ranks.
As a Made Man you are truly part of a family and the family should be the backbone of your career and identity in this place. I agree that often few families give that much value to it, but rather accept things as a given. But it isn't just a boss work for, these are your brother and sisters. You build them, they build you. Your idea opens up to the idea that a family is just a means of transport in this world. A temporary haven that one could do without. It allows for the strange idea that it's okay to see you brothers and sisters get slaughtered and then go and work for those who pulled the triggers. 

The idea that one could survive an attack by being insignificant, might be an incentive for people to actually be insignificant. While in practice this won't change a lot for many people, it's the wrong mentality to promote. You want hard-working, meaningful family members that can protect the family in times of need through whatever means they work best with. 

So we got family and hard work covered here. Let's discuss one value you mentioned yourself as well. You say people can proceed to become loyal members to their new employers operations. Loyalty is a nice abstract term that in practice means little to majority of the population here. Let's consider people who worked for City B 'loyal'. They stood by as their family got killed and got saved because they were deemed unimportant to the family that protected and build them. Next they go work for the attackers of their family to become loyal members once more. What exactly is it we expect from these loyal members at this point? That they proceed to be irrelevant once more when things get exciting? That when their new boss dies, that they'll be loyal to the next SoB that comes along?

I realize there are numerous situations where in the aftermath of war it can make sense that some people go work for other families, but these should always be the exceptions. We shouldn't have plans in place that allow for less-involved Made Men's to live through wars unharmed. Each of them should by default be considered relevant to family's operation. Sure there will be plenty of cases where that's not the case, but then again they should perhaps be killed because of that instead of continuing their career and become someone else's problem. Hard work should be rewarded, but there's no need to protect less-than-mediocre efforts. None of my ancestors ever proceeded to work for a different crew then they initially joined up with. I think that if one day I found myself the survivor of a war and I get to join another family, I'd ask myself what I did wrong that I got this "chance".

I understand why you proposed this SOOTY3 and it's good to discuss it. But I think we really need a discussion on how a family can prevent being taken down instead of a plan where some of it's survivors get to live. We don't need sweet deals for insignificant members in the aftermath of a war. We need plans to prevent there are members who live with the idea that their current family isn't their last one. Because if your current family is your last one, you'd be more motivated to actually work for it and protect it to the best of your abilities.

As Axel was out doing his usual rounds, he came across a discussion. It wasn't too late in the day, just late enough though for the hip flask to become a handy instrument. Axel noticed JaryllJicchai out amongst it. A face he'd come to recognize, and a voice he enjoyed listening to. Not exactly the voice itself, but the words. It always seemed to make his mind tick over with thoughts; it got him thinking, and he'd usually come away with a bit more knowledge than before.

Not wanting to do anything other than simply listen, Axel took out his hip flask and downed a little taste as he took in the man's input.

Crew jumping is deplorable. Anyone who crew jumps can easily be viewed as a traitor.

Gin stumbles into the streets to hear SOOTY3 speaking on a topic of wars and who should be saved 

It's been mentioned already above but once you pledge your locality to your family and receive your button, you have pledged to die for your family. That nothing comes before your family. Taking the oath is not a joke and should be taken seriously. If your fellow family members fight you fight, not till everyone else is dead and you make a truss, you fight to the death. Any Made member of a family that would jump ship to survive wasn't very loyal to there fellow family members so why would they be moving forward. At the moment you allow any Made member to survive you either risk the chance they are shadows in the wings waiting to avenge their fallen family or have showed they have no loyalty to anyone but themselves and that's not what his thing of ours is about.

Now once the Made members have been dealt with and associates that have made no pledge or have not visibly helped to protect anyone from the family that was allowing them to do work for them I would say those associates have every right to look for work elsewhere.

Just the way I see this thing of ours, sure there are lots of opinions. No you have to excuse me I have more drinking to do.

If MY Cl left a will instructing what I was to do in the event of their death, I would follow those wishes. Otherwise, there is one way to go.