[Old Stuff Day] Last Rites

[A blank white room fills with sound. The wall shows random flickering images while we hear a moody, melodic song – “I Walk Alone” by Oleander.]

I can’t take this anymore

[We hear a metal bell being struck.]

and I’m almost pretty sure

[We see Devon shaking hands with Chad]

I’ve been here before

[We see Chad Black vacating the World Title.]

I can’t take this any longer

[We see Randy West's hand being raised]

I won’t heal until I’m stronger

[We see Chad limping out of the arena]

strong enough to not be afraid

[We hear Chad screaming 'I'm not afraid of you!']

of what anybody thinks

[We see Sanction looking smug and the Runaway whispering 'fuck you, I hate you']

of what anybody says

[We hear the crowd chanting 'asshole']

about the way

[We see Shawn page pointing.]

about the way I am

[We see the Exemplar standing in front of an absolutely immaculate closet.]

so I’ll wait until the day

[We see a sunrise washing over the cliffs.]

when those feelings fade away

[We see Chad holding Anita during her night tremors and promising never to hurt her]

then I’ll make my break

[We see Chad cleaning out his locker.]



I can’t take this anymore

[We see Chavez leaving the Escher house.]

and I’m almost pretty sure

[We see Chavez looking for his chess piece]

I’ve been here before

[We see a black and white checkered room]

I can’t take this any longer

[We see Chad being beaten by a variety of ARMAGEDDON wrestlers and we hear a metal bell being struck]

I won’t heal until I’m stronger

[We see Chad in the hospital]

strong enough to not be afraid

[We see Chad facing RTV alone]

so I leave it up to you

[We see Anita stepping out of the car in Pennsylvania]

yeah I leave it in your hands

[We see Anita holding her stomach]

respect your wishes and your demands

[We see Chad listening to Anita]

but if it was up to me

[We see Chad's desire for redemption]

honey we’d already be back at home

[We see Chad carrying Anita over the threshold]

and living out our dreams

[We see Devon and Romona in the honeymoon car]

living out

[We see a long string of faceless hotel rooms]

everbody and everything I’ve known

[We see Chad and Arun J, Chad and Brev fighting, Professionals, Inc, Trinity, AOD, the Curse, Justice]

never taught me how to stand up on my own

[We see Sanction holding Chad up after a match]

had to learn it from the one who let me go

[We see Chad standing up after his loss to Chavez]

now I walk alone, yeah I walk alone, yeah

[We see the Exemplar, Chad Black, walk out of the cage alone.]

living blissfully

[We see Chad meeting Anita's family in Italy]

I guess you had to step away

[We see Anita in Chavez' arms]

to make me want to be

[We see Chad's face in a rage]

a bigger man, a bigger man than that

[We see Chad refuse to cheat again and again]

I need you by my side

[We see the Chad on the cot next to Anita's bed in April]

as I take it all in stride

[We see Chad walk down the runway]

I put away, I put away my pride

[We see Chad decide not to wrestle anymore]

oh I leave it up to you

[Chad steps aside for Zach, Logan, Arun, Flavio ]

yeah I leave it in your hands

[We see Chad handing Arun J a chair]

respect your wishes and your demands

[We see Chad listening to Flavio on ATV]

but if it was up to me

[We see Chad wishing it would all go away]

honey we’d already be back at home

[We see the Black home in Ireland]

and living out….

[We see Chad vowing to absolutely live]


everbody and everything I’ve known

[We see the Exemplar standing in the vault surrounded by his music and his painting]

never taught me how to stand up on my own

[We see Chad falling from the roof of the cage]

had to learn it from the one who let me go

[We see Chad overcoming his fear of water]

now I walk alone

[We see Chad walking out of the clouds of confusion]

yeah I walk alone, yeah

[We see reality hitting Chad like a brick]

I walk alone

[We see Chad smiling on his last day as a wrestler]

[The white room dissipates away and we see Chad Black sitting on a stool, facing us with a satisfied look. He is dressed in a pair of loose khakis and a blue long sleeved polo. His hazel eyes seem very focused today.]

Chad: ARMAGEDDON has been my home for a long time now. It’s not anymore, and that’s ok with me. It’s time for me to make my own home, and live my own life.

Many of you haven’t heard me speak for a long time. We’ve seen a lot of montages, we’ve had the history lessons. Some of you may wonder, what is it that made Chad Black so great?

[Chad smiles briefly, his face lighting up at some memory.]

I don’t know anymore. I know I’m not who I was then. I know things have changed. I feel confident that I’ve purged myself of the past. I’m ready to move into the future and all it holds.

Some of you may ask me, how can you leave this behind? How can you ignore the history you have here? I answer them by pointing to my life now.

When I started here, I was a confused, overfocused kid bent on proving that I wasn’t a mistake. I was fresh from the seminary, having failed to attain priesthood. There was opportunity galore to exemplify, and I did so. Not long after coming here, I stood at my friend Shawn Page’s side and helped him exemplify professionalism to the rest of ARMAGEDDON. At Shawn’s side, I got closer to breaking through my rigid shell
and becoming a man. I won the US title as his strongest defender, and the man the Professionals counted on to protect them from interferences.

A lot has changed since then. I’ve had more than a few moments that made quite a few people question my sanity. [Chad laughs for a moment.] Even ARMAGEDDON’s
resident nutcase, Brev Jazed, saw me for a lunatic. I can’t say that isn’t true.

I’ve had some heated rivalries- starting with none other than Brev. I was so obsessed with trying to find redemption for my loss to him that I asked Father Pain for help. At the time, Pain and I were not at odds, and he had beaten Phoenix, a man that had defeated Brev. Pain offered me more than simple revenge- he taught me a great deal more. I never did get to face Brev again, and I was forced to move on.

Eddie came to live with me. He destroyed my house and hit on my girlfriend. He drank himself into a stupor every day, and left me to clean him up. Somehow, he
and I became friends. Somehow, I saw what he had and desired it- I wanted the freedom to live. Somehow, I saw that I wasn’t having fun.

Then, I started arguing with myself. I tried to bury myself alive. I for lack of an easier way to say it, went psychotic. I helped Eddie decimate the man that had been my best friend and then took his belt from him.

No matter what he might say, Anita was never part of that situation. The three of us had an understanding- mostly, I let her do what she wanted because I trusted
she would come back to me. Maybe I am naïve, and maybe I am pathetic, but I loved her, and that was enough for me.

After Eddie and I joined up with Willie and shook ARMAGEDDON, I had a lot of enemies. That was fine with me, I was the world champion and no one could take me
down. It all changed when Anita told me she was pregnant. In one startling moment,  all my hate vanished into a desire to be with her and to care for her.

I fought Rick Thomas, who was right about me and who I was at that time, and I defeated him. After the match, I gave the referee the belt and I was prepared to walk
out of ARMAGEDDON forever. And that’s when I met the Curse.

You probably know the rest of the history by now, but there was an event recently that a lot of you missed, mostly because it was hidden. When Pain came back and Mercy slammed Grace through a table, I couldn’t just watch. I ran from the Runaway and from God and I got brutalized. Lucius and I battled for a long time after, and it was never less than intense. When ARMAGEDDON traveled to his homeland for our European tour, he faced the man that was the Runaway. Both of them discussed their families and their lives away from ARMAGEDDON.

Anita and I had the shock of our lives when we heard the nephews ask why sisters would fight. We were already in Italy to meet her parents when we heard this. Anita met her sister, Mercy, not much later. I should note that Italian women have very short tempers, and let it be at that. Just a very short while later I was forced to fight along side the man that is in technicality my brother in law. His saving grace was that I was opposing Eddie, the man that attacked my wife.

My history here is long and twisted, but it is over. There are other people here that aspire to so much greatness, and have more promise. I’ve given you almost everything I have.

I only have one more thing to offer ARMAGEDDON. A man that I honestly and truly hated has tried to make amends for his evilness. He is acting in grace now, and trying to share light and hope. He and men with similar goals, those of defending what is right, may or may not form a coalition. Regardless, they have asked to use the name Justice.

To them and to ARMAGEDDON, I say that no permission is needed. If she needs a defender, take up her mantle and wear it. If there is still Pain and evil, crush them with the light of her power. Take the only legacy I can leave you and use it to bring hope.

I cannot help you any more than that, friends. I have my own Hope to deliver, when she feels ready to arrive. I have Destiny to attend to.

If I see you again, then I will meet it gladly. If not, then I hope you enjoyed my grace and eloquence.

[Chad stands from the stool and walks off the screen.]

[RPG] Character Ideas I Can't Use #3- Chad Black

I've talked about Chad before- at least once. He was a character I "played" in a PBEM Wrestling Federation. His moniker was The Exemplar; literally an example for those around him.

At first shine, Chad came off as arrogant and haughty- pretentious and prideful. After some careful examination, he displays a serious desire (almost a need) for approval, for a place to belong.

The base idea for Chad was pretty simple. He was a failed priest novitiate, wanting redemption and a place to release his aggression. He was a good, honest and generally decent man- but with an abundance of fury. He held  very little dear, but was fiercely protective and loyal to the things he did value.

I've toyed with the idea of Chad in many guises, in many game systems. I've envisioned Chad as a priest to the outcasts and homeless- as a vampire and as a Changeling. I've seen Chad as a superhero- a strong man, a judicar or a very misguided  vigilante. I've seen him as a government agent for any number of conspiracy type games, and I've seen him as a street dude, for the Shadowrun style games.

The problem is that he's so versatile, and so personal. I got to write for him for over a year, and he feels so ingrained to me it's hard to share him with anyone- to let anyone else in on the process. Someday I'll find a home for him... I hope.

[40K] Where Are The Ladies?

So I have an idea for a Killzone team that would need at least 2 ladies. The idea is spawned out of the old Armageddon crew- I'm thinking of Chad Black, his lovely Anita, along with Father Pain and Mercy. They would most likely be Black Templars, or possibly just really DARK Space Marines. One of the ladies can easily be out of the Witchhunters/Sisters of Battle- she's essentially a nun; I can find a figure.

The other? I really envision a bad-ass babe in SpaceMarine armor. Is there such a thing?

On that thought, does 40K have any serious butt-kicking females at all?

Sure, there's Lelith, and some of the Wytches. Are they HQ slots, though? Are they "leading the charge"?

In WarMachine, there's no end of sure-fire hell raising women. Sorscha, Haley, Deneghra, Fiora, Ashlynn, Kaelyssa- each faction has a killer; no-holds barred lady to lead the forces. Hell, the AVATAR of MENOTH is a woman.

Is it too much to ask for a girl with great gams in armor for my 40K shenanigans?

Failing what I really want, what can I convert? Do I need a degree in greenstuffing to get anything close?

Old Favorites

I recently moved, so unpacking has been a way of life for the past few weeks. I am down to 3 boxes to deal with and I have actual living space (rather than a living room stacked 6' high with boxes).

I ran across many fun things from my past either while packing or unpacking. Yesterday, I came across one of my all time favorite "characters".

I put characters in quotes because I did not play him in a tabletop RPG or a LARP. In a galaxy far far away, a long long time ago, my husband and some of our friends played in an electronic wrestling federation.

The premise was that you came up with a wrestler and wrote "promos" or "shoots" with the wrestler talking or doing something to set the scene for the matches to come. Whether your wrestler won or lost was calculated in part by the "shoots" (written roleplay sessions, essentially) and sometimes by actions described in private emails sent to the refs (the guys running the show). Those kinds of actions could include things like ambushing an opponent prior to a match, wooing girls, or set kinds of tactics for the upcoming match. Extra points were awarded for creativity, originality, and writing parts of your own matches. (The fed owners often hand wrote play by play descriptions of matches and less work was an awesome deal for them.)

I enjoy wrestling, and this looked like fun. I wanted to play, but I did not want to get accepted because I was The Dude's wife. I wanted to be accepted on my own merit. I came up with an alternate name and email, a character concept, wrote up a sample RP, and applied. I was accepted.

Thus began the life of Chad Black- also known as the Exemplar.

I played Chad for almost a month without anyone discovering my identity. I really enjoyed what I did, and I'm going to share a little bit of it here with you today.


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[Scene opens to a shot of a large closet. The closet is full of white dress shirts, perfectly pressed, black pants, pleated until they could stand on their own, rows of shiny black wingtips and a legion of black leather belts. The camera pans to another closet to the right of the current closet. This closet is a walk-in, and it is overflowing with silk jackets of seemingly every imaginable color. They are all obviously expensive, designer, custom items.

The camera shifts, bored with the wardrobe display, looking for the interviewee. As it continues to pan right, the Glorious Greatness is discovered standing at the huge bay window. His back is turned, and he is seemingly enjoying the sunset over the bay of some harbor.]

The Prime of Perfection is an example of the exquisite, with hair that is touched with streaks of red throughout the light yellow curls, cut to above the ears.  He possesses a fine form, made neither miniscule nor mountainous.

Cameraman: Ahem…*coff*

(The Exemplar turns, with a slightly saddened look on his face at having been interrupted. He looks as if in thought and then addresses the camera with deliberation.)

tE: Oh, my apologies for any delay you may have experienced. I was observing this spectacular display of natural beauty. Thank you for being so kind as to send your cameras all this way. I simply wanted to elaborate a point.

(Gestures with his hand to the window)

Impeccable, isn't it? No amount of computer technology, mirrors, or editing can reconstruct that which the environment effortlessly produces daily. We witness this phenomenon repeatedly throughout our lives, yet few recognize the marvel of this accomplishment. So it is with so many other things in our daily lives. We see them appear in front of us, yet we do not recognize their greatness. We simply do not register them in our mental databanks, and it is our loss. I however, strive to acknowledge accomplishment wherever it occurs, in any form it may be shaped. This sunset is but a mere example of the many splendors submitted to my mental mainframe as guidelines for my giftedness.

Another example can be witnessed in ARMAGEDDON's ranks. I speak of no other than Shawn Page. He calls himself 'the Professional'. Of the many definitions of 'professional' are the words 'expert' and 'master'. These words certainly exemplify the quality of Mr. Page's talent, as was demonstrated at Cataclysm of Champions. This "Professional" came out to defeat a nemesis and odds that were stacked against his favor. He used his expert skill and his mastery of the mat to achieve the ultimate goal of many waiting in the wings of this fine establishment; the possession of the world title belt.


(The Paragon of Perfection moves away from the window in a nearly gliding motion, walking around the room, examining its stark and sterile nature. The room is consistent of the two closets, the window, and a small end table against a blank wall. The effect is strangely fitting, as the surroundings seem to fit the Definition of Delivery. He starts to speak again.)

It is not lost on one such as I that his fortune was dependent on random factors. I have not overlooked the animosity that exists between Mr. Page and Mr. Douglas.  I have not dismissed the formation of the united group of men par excellent in "Professionals, INC". I am acutely aware that Mr. Douglas' cohorts outnumber Mr. Page and his collegiate companion.  No, these realities are nearly branded in my cerebral capacity, and I have drawn but one conclusion. As the Prime of Perfection, the Majesty of Mastery, the Reign of Reliability, I am the prominent possibility to provide pragmatic protection to the possessor of pure professionalism. I intend to align my assistance to Mr. Page. This is of voluntary volition, without complex contracts to denigrate delivery.

When perceiving the paragon, the magnificent marvel, the euphoric entirety, one obliges to reject the remainder. If the remarkable cannot be replicated, it is upon us to enjoy and embrace that worldly wonder .So it is with myself. Enjoy me while I exemplify excellence.

(The lights in the room dim, casting slow shadows on the firm face. His expression remains motionless, as he simply snaps his fingers and the camera ….

Fades to black…

We hear a rushing wind, as if the windows have been opened, and an echoing voice proclaiming…

"I certainly will."