Quick note: This is NOT part of the story you are about to read. This is an introductory message I wrote to a reviewer months ago explaining how the Highlander universe works in my particular style of writing. You do not need to read this in order to understand the story as a whole. If you want, you can skip it. If not, read on.

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Here is a short version of how the Highlander universe works, at least the version of it that I use in my stories. My version developed over several years as I used to run a role-playing game based on the series and the game universe evolved over time. Here goes.

In this universe, Immortals exist. Except for the ability to live for a very long time (unless something kills them), and a few other selected traits, they are just like normal people. Immortals are genetic aberrations born to human parents. They age normally until a traumatic event - a first death - activates their immortality. In the movie and series, the first death must be violent; in my universe it does not. For example, for Jonny Fairbanks, a character in this story, his first death was as a result of being beaten to death when he was fourteen. However, one of his friends - and his first mentor - David Ashton, died for the first time as a result of drowning when he was thirty.

Once immortality is activated, the Immortal no longer ages. Any wounds received, even those that result in a temporary death, heal rapidly, either in seconds or, for those very severe injuries, several minutes. This means, of course, that essentially the Immortal is always healing at the cellular level. This results in an accelerated metabolism and the need for them to consume far more nutrients and calories than a normal human. Jonny, for example, eats between 4,000 and 5,000 calories per day; David Ashton, who is a world-class athlete, takes in double that amount just to maintain himself. This is why the Immortal Jack is following has lost so much weight, for example.

Because of their high healing factor, Immortals are very difficult to kill, but there is a way. In my universe, there are actually many, but I'll stick to the most common. The most well-known method of killing an Immortal is decapitation. This causes immediate death. Other ways of doing it, in my world, at least, are to prevent, in some way, the reanimation of the Immortal. Let's say, for example, the Immortal has been deeply buried (more than a few centimeters) and cannot breathe. In this case, there is no way for life to restart for the Immortal and, unless he is exhumed before decomposition begins, he will die.

If an Immortal is beheaded in the presence of another Immortal, another event besides just death occurs. This occurrence is similar to an electrical storm and is known as the Quickening (the Quickening is also a generic term for the lifeforce of an Immortal, but it is used to refer to this, as well). When this happens, it is said that all of the power of the dead Immortal is transferred to the nearby Immortal. If multiple Immortals are around, this transfer is to the closest one. The exception to this rule is if one of those Immortals was the killer of the now dead Immortal; in this case, he will receive the Quickening even if another Immortal is closer.

Why would one Immortal kill another, you may wonder? There is a belief among Immortals that, at some point in the future, only one Immortal can remain. This has led to a mantra among them: "There can be only one." Legend says that this final Immortal will receive "the Prize" though no one knows really what that is. Some say it is all the power and knowledge of all Immortals who have lived. Others say it is the power to rule the world. No one really knows. This deadly competition amongst Immortals has become known by them as "the Game."

Regardless, pursuit of "the Prize," or at least the desire to stay alive, has forced all Immortals to learn to fight. Nearly all of them adhere to an unwritten code of ethics when it comes to Immortal combat. It can be blades only, no firearms. There can be no mortal witnesses (this is sometimes violated). Once a challenge has been accepted, it cannot be withdrawn. Mercy is never expected and, if it occurs, is solely at the discretion of the victor. No combat may occur on holy ground (regardless of religion. For example, a cemetery, Buddhist temple, indian burial ground, and Catholic church are all treated the same).

In my universe, not all Immortals believe the Prize is real. However, since so many others do, they all train to fight and are force to play the Game even if it is just to survive. Ashton, Jonny, and most of their close friends are among these nonbelievers.

I mentioned that Immortals are genetic aberrations. Another trait of their abnormality is they are all sterile. None of them can cause pregnancy or become pregnant even before their immortality is activated. This is often a cause of distress for those Immortals who later marry mortals who wish to have children. It is completely impossible for them.

Immortals can also sense each other's' presence, whether it is a person who is immortal or someone who will become immortal (I describe it as their Quickenings, which is like an electrical aura, bumping against each other). This sensation is much weaker for pre-immortals, of course. From the movies and series, it seems like they notice each other at a distance from anywhere between ten and fifty meters. It seems to vary widely. I tend to describe it as an indication of the power of the Immortal's Quickening. Someone like David Ashton, for example, who has taken over two thousand heads during his four-thousand years of life, would seem more powerful than Jonny Fairbanks. By contrast, Jonny, who is a little over eight hundred years old, has taken slightly over one head per year of his life (he has been heavily hunted by other Immortals because, since he is a child, he is often perceived as an easy target). Both of them are very powerful, but two thousand is still greater than eight hundred (Jonny is also more ruthless than Ashton who sometimes lets his defeated opponents live; Jonny does not).

The movies and series show a lot of flashbacks as part of their storytelling. It is common for fanfiction to include flashbacks as additional scenes or even as parts of whole additional storylines. This brings to mind the question, at least in my mind, of Immortals' memories. If, in the movie or series, they are recalling an event from two hundred or two thousand years ago, are they actually remembering it eidetically or just in bits and pieces? I tend to go for the whole memory concept. To support this, I say, in my universe, that Immortals have superior memories than mortals do and can recall events from centuries ago almost perfectly.

There is more than just the goings-on of Immortals, though. There is also a secret ancient organization known as the Watchers prowling around the world. The Watchers, unlike most mortals, know about the existence of Immortals. Watchers are primarily historians who believe the world would lose a great part of its own history if the stories of Immortals' lives were to remain untold. For this reason, the historian Watchers developed the skills of spies and began to observe and record the histories of Immortals around the world, all the while never interfering with them or their deadly Game. If the existence of Immortals is a secret to mortals, an even greater secret is knowledge among Immortals that the Watchers exist.

In any group, you will find renegades. This is true for the Watchers, as well. There exists a faction, no one knows really how many, that believe the Immortals are a threat to mankind. Whether this threat is by claiming the Prize and taking over the world or perhaps as an evolutionary overpowering of mankind or some other method, none of the faction's members have coherently said. The only consistent argument among this group, known as Hunters, is they believe the entire Immortal race needs to be exterminated in order to protect humanity.

Since the Hunters are also Watchers and know the identities of the Immortals, they can easily track them. Being mortals, Hunters are not constrained by any of the rules or codes of ethics of the Immortals. They attack in packs, violate holy ground, use guns and tasers, and always take the Immortal's head when there are no other Immortals around. This assures that the transference of the Quickening never occurs and all that the dying Immortal ever was is lost. Again, since they are also Watchers, the Hunters are also typically able to conceal their illicit activities from the other Watchers.

Earlier I mentioned that I used to run an RPG based on the TV series. One of the ongoing storylines in that RPG was a war between the Watchers, Hunters, and Immortals. One of my first collaborative works, called Defend and Betray – which actually makes little sense unless you were playing the game at the time – was written during the game. I am currently trying to get permission from the person who originally developed the story to rewrite it in a more coherent style. This is actually what I want to write once my current project is complete.

After the aforementioned war ended, there were a lot of changes within the Watchers (in my version of the universe). New security measures were implemented across the organization, all Watchers were trained in self-defense, most of them were armed, and a new para-military arm, the Guardians, was formed. The Guardians were an anti-Hunter unit and, on very rare occasion, would even take out highly dangerous Immortals, as well.

Lastly, a covert partnership was formed between Watchers and Immortals. The result of this partnership was the Durgan Institute, a research organization devoted to better understanding Immortals. Most of the time, whenever I introduce something new into the universe, like the Immortals' metabolism or alternate ways of killing them, I make reference to Durgan Institute research as a basis for this radical new information.

I hope this brief introduction has proven helpful in understanding the story. If not, please drop a question or two my way.

DJ