Wish/Characters/Matthew Black

Matthew

• Full name: Matthew Aaron Black
• Called: Matthew (preferred), Matt
• Sex: Male
• Species: Human
• Age: 45
• Ethnicity: English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Scandinavian
• Height: 6'0"
• Weight: 221 lbs.
• Measurements: 48/42/45 - 5" circumcised penis
• Hair: Black with Dyed-Green Mohawk
• Eyes: Hazel-green
• Skin: Lightly Freckled Caucasian

Time Line Images

30s & 40s

20s

Teens

Pubescent

Child

Toddler

Description

Matthew always had a fast metabolism, but as he aged this has slowed down a bit. He had always been skinny, but has just started to form a bit of a gut. When dressed he still appears very thin. Matthew is quite strong, but his long limbs hide much of that strength. He tends to wear clothes for comfort most of the time, but refuses to wear shorts on most occasions, even though he has a low heat tolerance and high cold tolerance. He like denim jeans of blue or black, and t-shirts (generally of punk-rock bands, leftist slogans, or patriotic and/or gun-rights slogans). He loves the feel of silk, but has no silk clothing. He likes to dress up, but never really has a reason to . . . so he doesn't. He will always choose a 3-peice suit over a 2-peice suit. If he is going with just a coat and tie, he'll generally wear jeans instead of slacks. Add the waistcoat and he goes all out.

Personality

Those who know Matthew best would generally use three words to describe Matthew's personality: altruistic, lazy, and slovenly. Matthew is not very materialistic at all. He enjoys material objects, but if he doesn't have a use for something, his first thought is to give it to someone who does rather than to sell it. This is partly because material wealth means next to nothing to him, and partly because he is too lazy to sell the object. For his friends and for programs that he believes in, this goes further. If he can help them out financially without overburdening himself he will . . . pretty much always. He is currently donating to over a dozen charities. Now he sometimes will not donate to something he believes in if it's too complex to do so do to his laziness.

Speaking of his laziness, it seems to be genetic as his father was a lazy good-for-nothing that refused to keep a job. Matthew's mother helped him overcome much of this instinct so that he can actually get work done. Once he starts a job, he tries very hard to get it finished without a break. Each break he takes is likely to be the end of the workday, and he knows this and tries to power through instead. Matthew tends to give up on things if they get to be too much trouble. The more complicated the process to get the reward the less likely Matthew is to bother in the first place.

This laziness and his social isolation has lead Matthew to be a bit of a slob. When his mother was alive, she kept it in check; but now that she has passed, he has gotten worse and worse. He started having marathon cleaning sessions for his accumulated mess, but they have become further and further apart. He currently hasn't cleaned the house in months.

Matthew is highly intelligent. This is a trait he also inherited from his father. He enjoys intellectual pursuits, but gets bored rather easily. He is highly creative, enjoying reading, writhing, drawing, and making and playing tabletop games of all kinds (but predominantly role-playing and board games . . . card games not so much). He also enjoys playing video games, predominantly sandbox games, role-playing games, puzzle games, and building games. He has tried many times over the years to make his own perverted video games, but his boredom and laziness always seem to win out in the end.

Matthew is very political. He is predominantly leftist, but shares some strong opinions from the right as well. He identifies as a right-leaning progressive socialist liberal globalist. He feels strongest about the protection of people's first amendment right to freedom of expression, followed by egalitarianism, social reform, equal opportunity, socialist programs to see to the needs of the people (socialized medicine and higher education foremost), immigration reform (from a predominantly liberal perspective), criminal justice reform (that falls on both sides of the isle), the right to bear arms, and common sense gun legislation. He is generally open-minded, and has learned over the years how to engage in political conversation with those of opposing views without too much vitriol . . . except in extreme cases of closed-mindedness which he simply quits the conversation.

Matthew also loves talking about physics, technology, and religion.

History

Matthew has had a hard life. His mother left his father when he was just three years old. His sister wasn't even one yet, and little did his mother know, but Matthew's half-brother had just been conceived. They moved back to his extended families rural home where they were surrounded by four of Matthew's six uncles and their families. It was only four of his uncles because one was already deceased, and the other lived all the way across the country. It was a large enough property that even with that much family, there was still an inordinate amount of space to be had. Matthew was happy for most of early childhood . . . until he started school.

Starting first grade in the late seventies was no picnic for Matthew. His nervousness was compounded by bullying early on, leading to severe social trauma. Matthew was taught that there is never a good reason to fight, so he didn't fight back when the bullies hit him; but still got in trouble for fighting. Matthew suffer devastating emotional damage in those early years that would follow him his whole life. He did eventually fight a bully in high school, but that is a story for another time.

Matthew didn't really make friends, he just kept his head down and tried to survive. He never attended a single social event, and quietly attended those rare events that were required of him without participating. He didn't even attend his own prom or even graduation. He didn't even have a picture in his senior yearbook. He instead lived vicariously through his medieval fantasy and science fiction stories. It was about midway through high school that Matthew discovered Role-playing Games. D&D was forbidden in the house because a preacher had once scared his mother away from buying the game for the family . . . but there were other role-playing games. There was Top Secret SI, DC Heroes, and Palladium to name a few. Matthew found the escape in those games was even superior to the escape from his books, and he immersed himself in them, and the culture surrounding them. He was among the founding members of early nerd culture.

Matthew did well in school, but didn't really apply himself. Once he graduated, he really had no path to higher education. His single working mother just couldn't afford it. That left the military as the best option to pay for his continued education. He ended up joining the US Navy for a six year enlistment as a Data Systems Technician. It became clear to him rather quickly that it was a mistake. Creative personalities do not fare well in a military environment. He spent six years in "hell", and barely made it out with an honorable discharge. The only thing he gained from his time in the navy was a love for punk rock music and culture.

He returned to the family farm, and convinced his mother to let him work the farm for room and board while he tried his hand at writing a novel. A year later he had successfully written a high fantasy novel, but after only three rejections gave up on his dream of writing for a living forever. He continued to merely exist for the next decade with little change. He occasionally tried to get a job, but people, and his discomfort around them, always sent him back to the homestead. It wasn't just the people. Matthew was running away from himself as well.

Very early in life Matthew started becoming attracted to girls. Even as early as the first grade he felt physical attraction to the girls in his classes. As he grew up, and his peer's taste in women aged with them, he found that his did not. He still found girls his own age desirable, but he was also still attracted to the younger girls as though he were still their age. As he got older he discovered that society deemed that this made him a monster, and he believed it. It's best to keep the monsters away from the regular people, so he kept to himself. On the farm in the middle of nowhere, he was safely away from everyone. Even when he finally discovered that he was definitely NOT a monster, and that he controlled his actions, not his libido . . . it was too late. He was a forty year old virgin living with his mother.

His only relief was, as always, fantasy. Soon after getting out of the navy he found a gaming group. He played with them as often as he could, and eventually found a true friend in Daniel Harrison. It was the deepest kind of friendship. There was literally nothing that the friends wouldn't do for one another. The other members of the group were friends as well, but Matthew would literally die for Daniel. The only other person he would go that far for was his mother . . . but that wasn't an option.

Just a few years before, his mother been diagnosed with throat cancer. Matthew took her to her chemotherapy appointments and radiation treatments and looked after her, and she survived. Recently, however she was diagnosed with lung cancer and pass away not two weeks later. Matthew was pretty certain that she has hid her symptoms until she was sure there was nothing that could be done. Not having had a "real" job for most of his life, he started working a factory job. The hours were long, but the pay wasn't terrible. he hated not having time for the things he loved, reading and writing and role-playing . . . but you have to make a living. Now if only he could make himself go into his mother's old room . . . maybe he could find a certain ring that would turn everything around.

Family

• Linda Belle Jackson-Black Mother (deceased): Matthew loved his mother very much. When he returned from the service in 1995 he went back to live with her in an attempt to establish himself as a writer. He helped around her farm for many years. Eventually he ended up taking care of her when she got cancer even though his brother and sister did not. He inherited everything from her, but still misses her. He still hasn't changed her room of the house.
• Leah Kimberly Black-Johnson Sister (42): Leah cut ties with the rest of the family in the late nineties due to a falling out with their mother when she had been an alcoholic raising them. She hasn't talked to anyone in the family for years. The last time she contacted Matthew was six years ago when their absentee father was dying.
  • James Allan Johnson Brother-in-law (44):
    • James "Jimmy" Allan Johnson Jr. Nephew (16):
    • Emily Lynn Johnson Niece (13):

Friends, Enemies, and Acquaintances

• Daniel Ethan Harrison Best Friend (35):
• David Henry Schmidt Friend (37):
• Seth Evan Hanson Friend (33):
• Brittany Ellen Baroffio D&D Group Member (25):

Work Relationships

• Jose Manuel Avila Sanchez Boss (34):
• Tristan Lloyd Kane Coworker (22):

As Main Character

• Play as Matthew