BLACK SAGE

[The following is an unedited rebroadcast of the first ever promo that Black Sage cut for a national pro-wrestling promotion in the United States. It's original airdate was sometime in late August of 1995. Since that time, Sage has only wrestled for a handful of promotions, with turmoil always preceding success, and a brief stint in federal prison to break up the break up of the monotony. Say that three times fast.]

[FADEIN: Black Sage is sitting by heavy candlelight in an undistinguishable outdoor setting. A cigarette is dangling loosely from his lips.]

BLACK SAGE: ---Before I say anything, let me say first...that if you don't want to understand who I am and where I'm coming from, you can turn away at anytime. I've grown quite accustomed to it, but my intentions have never been to offend anyone, but rather enlighten them to what really goes on while ya'll lead your happy little lives. [Sage shoots a crooked smile] Some people don't want to know who I am, but a lot of people in this business are going to have to learn, so here's the only history lesson I'm ever giving. [Sage stares dead-on at the camera] 2 years have passed since the Scorn Plague, and it's wars.

[Sage looks to the ground briefly, then to the sky, before turning back towards the camera.]

BLACK SAGE: ---In 1992, fresh out of the marines, I dedicated myself to the Time Corps, a surviving division of the extinct Peace Corps. To my excitement, I was stationed northeast of Lima, just outside of Regusa, Peru. [Sage smiles] I had never been to South America before, and I'll never return. [Sage pauses for a moment as his smile deteriorates] Regusa was a peaceful mountain community, but one in threat of local militiamen, and that is why we were there...to protect them. Providing protection wasn't something their own government was interested in doing, so they seeked out the aide of the United States, like so many others before them.

Unfortunately, in the spring of 1993, a mysterious plague broke out in Regusa...the Scorn Plague....and almost overnight our assignment had changed. [Sage clears his throat] We were no longer there to protect, but to contain. I watched as children clenched to their dying mothers, as local doctors scrambled to find an explanation, the cause, or a cure, but it became impossible. The Peru government wouldn't help, and neither would that of the United States...it was being flat-out ignored, but *STILL* we were ordered to contain the people of Regusa to prevent "any further contamination" to the surrounding communities. [Sage sighs] Then, all within nearly 3 weeks, 90% of the community was dead, and it was painfully obvious the remaining 10% wished to join them. But you see, somehow, by some distant miracle...that 10% who made it through the first 3 weeks survived, but still...they were left with hideous scars of the plague, physically and emotionally. Girls, barely ten years in age, walked through the village balding, countless women lost their eyesight, and the men...developed some of the rarest forms of cancer within days.

[Sage takes a deep breathe and tosses down his cig.]

BLACK SAGE: ---It wasn't over though...because the orders hadn't come yet...but they soon did. [Sage pauses] When those orders arrived, the U.S. government made it clear that "although the people of Regusa were no longer deemed contagious, they were to remain confined to Regusa until further undetermined testing could take place." Basically, the United States saw these unfortunate souls as nothing more than lab rats. They figured we'd be able to contain them as long as they dragged their feet getting scientists and doctors down there. However, the orders resulted in a chaotic state of panic taking over Regusa. The once quiet and peaceful town had become a hostage camp for those who had been inflicted by the plague, and intern became a bloodbath when the survivors rebelled against their oppressors...the Time Corps.

It was then that the militiamen who once opposed the people of Regusa, began supplying them with arms to fight us, because although the militiamen still held a great disdain for Regusa, they hated the presence of the United States even more. [Sage looks to the sky briefly] The war didn't last long, but too many lives were lost needlessly on both sides. The Time Corps had few weapons, designed only for minor defense, and the U.S. government ignored our early requests for either withdrawal or reinforcements. Finally, after 17 long days of battle, we were deported by helicopters from Regusa...and the Time Corps were officially disbanded in Washington.

[Sage lights up another cigarette.]

BLACK SAGE: ---Looking back, I went to Regusa to helps it's people. I was compassionate, I was sympathetic...WE ALL WERE, but *still*, intervention led to nothing but *misfortune* and *DEATH*! [Sage pauses for a second] Since then, Peru has renamed the ghost town, where Regusa once prospered, No Sun City, and although few will ever know the truths about the mysterious plague and its war, No Sun City will always serve as a reminder of what was. In my eyes, I hail only and solely from No Sun City, because all of the freedoms and liberties I had enjoyed prior to then have been almost entirely erased from my mind at the hands of the horrors and injustice I suffered there.

[Sage tosses down his cigarette.]

BLACK SAGE: ---Every civilization has suffered from evil acts, as will the many who have yet to encounter the hate and evil now instilled *inside* of me. My options are few, and I've been oppressed by the past for too long now. [Sage pauses] Before my days in Regusa and the military all together, I was an established wrestler on the amateur, and later the professional indy circuits of the Northwest, from Salem to Tacoma. Now, after success in those same indy circuits over the last few months, I've joined the ranks of the AFCW to bury the memory of Regusa, and begin a new life. To my disgust however, every aspect of purity has vanished from this sport I love, and I don't think I'm going to rest until I can restore at least a fraction of what was! I've always done what I wanted swiftly, and without hesitation. Evil occupies every race, creed, and religion...and no one is safe from the final solution! Not now...not ever.

[FADE to BLACK]

Roleplayer: William Hart
E-mail address: [email protected]