AN PBEM RPG



IMMORTAL STAND



CANON DETAILS



AMENDMENT TO THE MOVIE





Connor MacLeod did not win the Prize. The Kurgan's quickening was very great and he had spread a rumor that the Gathering was happening in New York City in 1986. This lie was successful in that it made Connor fight him, though it did not end well for the Kurgan himself.



AMENDMENT TO THE SERIES





The Season Five episodes 'Comes a Horseman' and 'Revelations 6:8' did not occur as they did in the series. The Horsemen did not band together again, Kronos merely plotted and tried to get Methos involved, thus exposing his past. In the end, Kronos escaped. Caspian and Silas were not contacted at all and remain alive.



IMMORTAL DEATH





Immortals can die. When killed by means other than decapitation, immortals go down for the count, recover and awaken again, fully healed. The only means of permanent death, of course, is decapitation. The more gruesome the death, the longer it may take to awaken.



FOUNDLINGS





In the series we find the concept of Foundlings (that all immortals are 'found'). In the novel, Connor is born to his mother who later dies. In the film, we are never told. In our game, however, immortal children are born at one time or another. Not all immortals are foundlings.



AGING





Immortals stop aging at the time of their First Death, which is sometimes referred to as their 'Mortal Death'. This is always a violent death which can include a virus or poison if they are sufficiently damaging enough. Please ask the mod if your idea will work if you want to use one of those options. Once pre-immortals die for the first time, they awake fully immortal and no longer age from that day on.



KEEP IT SECRET, KEEP IT SAFE





In immortal culture, it is taboo to tell a pre-immortal what they will become.



THE QUICKENING





Immortals can feel quickenings of immortals as well as pre-immortals, but pre-immortals do not sense anything. For Immortals, the Quickening can be sensed, but not at extreme distance except if your character is ancient. It has been established in game that the older you are, the further your range is, and the more acute the sense is. Ancients could, for example, sense the approximate age of an immortal. Younger Immortals can sometimes get a sense of a general age as well but that is highly variable. Sensing a pre-immortal is still somewhat difficult for any immortal. They have a muffled feel to their nascent quickening and even ancient immortals need to be fairly close to feel them.


It has been theorized in game that this development of additional sensitivities was somehow caused/brought about because of the extreme loss of mortal life due to the 2002 plague - ie mortals somehow naturally dampened the sense. It has also been theorized that it is perhaps a step up in evolution (so to speak) as the world is now so vastly different.



IMMORTAL INJURIES AND HEALING





In the series Xavier St. Cloud lost his hand and it never grew back. In our game this is not the case because frankly, how much sense does it make that someone could live a few hundred, let along a thousand years, without accidentally losing *something* and not being able to immediately reattach it as the producers decided would work - not to mention if an Immortal could regenerate a body burned in fire, why not an individual limb? Game canon states that a loss that happened prior to the First Death (ie a limb, eye sight, or hearing etc), the loss remains after the First Death. In relation, something like a tattoo that happened prior to the First Death would remain after no matter what happened (if it helps, think of it as the quickening 'deciding' the body's 'factory settings' include whatever happened before whatever caused that first death) for instance if the skin the tattoo is on is cut it would heal and the tattoo would look completely normal. Tattoos received after becoming immortal may or may not last 'forever.' They would fade faster than the average tattoo, and in fact completely heal if not touched up for long enough. Things like piercings would possibly migrate out or heal if jewelry was not worn in them constantly. Limbs severed post First Death can regenerate though it takes time. In game, Connor lost his hand and it took several weeks to grow back/regenerate.



RANDALL FLAGG





Highlander canon applied to the Stand: Randall Flagg, the antagonist of The Stand and an evil being of unknown origin, has the ability to 'steal' a Quickening from the victorious immortal after a fight if he is in the area. It is not yet known how he learned to do this.



'The Stand' Canon





In 1978 Stephen King published one of his most popular novels of all time - The Stand. It was updated and re-released in an Uncut version in 1990, had a miniseries adaptation in 1994 and 2020, and a comic book adaptation from 2008-2012. Why is it so popular, you ask? King imagined it as a 'Sprawling American epic akin to the Lord of the Rings.' It is a battle of good vs evil, but in order to have that battle he first had to whittle down the armies. To do that, he create a flu virus so communicable and deadly that it wiped out 99.9% of the population of the country (and world - though we, like the novel, are set in the United States) over the span of roughly two and a half weeks. Following the plague, survivors begin to have dreams of two figures, one good beckoning them to Nebraska, then Boulder the other evil drawing them towards Vegas (via enticement and/or scare tactics depending).



Timeline





A full timeline of canon and the game is located in the group, but here is an abbreviated one:


June 13 - the virus breaches containment and begins to spread.


June 21 - a majority of the population of the town patient zero crashed into on the 16 are dead and there are outbreaks across the entire country.


June 24 - The virus is considered out of control in 30 cities and 12 states.


June 26 - A clearly ill president of the United States denies the severity of the flu and the rumor it was government made - being sure to also note the worldwide outbreaks.


June 27 - A majority of the population is dead or nearly so.



The battle between good and evil





The game began at this point, though it has advanced to August by current game play. Most threads we have take place in the main cities for each idol - Boulder, Colorado for those following 'good' and Las Vegas NV for those following 'evil' (or those looking to follow a 'stronger' leader).



Mother Abagail





Your character would have had dreams of an elderly African American woman named Mother Abagail who would ask them to join her initially in her home in Nebraska and once the first groups arrived there they moved onward to Boulder. She is very religious (Christianity), though she would not slander those of other or no faith. She tends to speak of community and friendship but also that there is work ahead for them.



Randall Flagg





On the other side is a being known as Randall Flagg. He is quite persuasive and will often tempt people to join him, especially if they have certain skills he finds useful. He tends to speak of belonging and rising above those that would have put you down in the previous world. His other tactic is pure nightmares preying on what scares each person the most almost as if he can read their minds. Some people only have the nightmares and some only have the temptations.



The Shine





Both Mother Abagail and Flagg will *know* things about your character, including the things they haven't told anyone else.



Animals





In addition to human casualties the flu hit some members of the animal kingdom quite hard as well. A decent rule of thumb is the 'wilder' an animal, the more able to live on its own without humans, the more likely it survived. Horses and dogs were hit quite hard while birds, cats, and cattle made out fairly well. If you want an animal companion for your character please ask if it is an animal not listed or if you want a horse or dog.



Don't be Shy





Additional information is included in welcome emails and we happily accept questions!



IMMORTAL STAND