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Highlanders in the World of Darkness
by Hank Driskill

(based on quickening concepts originated on the Highlander mailing list)

Prologue

A Treatise on Immortality by Stephen Bonet, Filius of Penelope, House
Bonisagus (Order of Hermes), presented to the Stonehenge Tribunal on
March 20, 1854

Greetings Fellow Magi!

As always, it is with great honor and privilege that I address you at
this Tribunal.  My sodalis and I have come across a most curious breed
of man, and I would like to present our studies of this man for you to
enjoy: His name is Guillaume, and he was born in the year 1422 to a
farmer and wife outside Paris, in France.  All of this information
about him has come from our explorations of his mind and body, for
despite his incredible powers he is but a man, albeit a very special
kind of man.  Through his mind, we saw his death and rebirth: unlike
the mummies of the southern lands, however, he does not travel to a
spirit realm and beg to return, but rather his internal power somehow
regenerates his form, no matter how damaged it has become.  This
natural healing is rapid, causing him to return from the most grievous
of wounds to his full health in scant hours.  We tested his mind's
visions, and in fact his wounds heal remarkably quickly.  He cannot be
drowned, for somehow his lungs draw air from the water itself.  He can
be burned, or shot, but he heals so quickly that the most heinous of
wounds are little more than an annoyance to him.  Through his mind, we
likewise learned of others of his kind.  A teacher, who came to him
and taught him the Rules, and others, who came to steal his power for
themselves.  Their kind have Rules, built up through centuries of
conflict.  The only way to kill them is to remove their head from
their shoulders, separating their head from their heart (the two
sources of life, as we ourselves know).  If this is done by another of
their kind, the power within them (which they refer to as their
Quickening, or life) flows into their killer, making him even more
powerful.  Their legends speak of the Gathering, a time when all of
their kind will battle, until only one remains.  That one, with all of
their power as his own, will be like unto a god.  How do we explain
these beings?  Quite easily, in fact.  Their power is nothing less
than raw Quintessence, somehow drawn to them from reality itself.  As
all living things have some faint spark of Quintessence in them, these
beings have a raging flame, which gives them strength and power.  This
raw power is similar to that of our own Avatars, yet in many ways
different.  Those of us who study the Prime have recognized this in
our subject, and in fact can sense the power flowing through him.  At
the same time, he does not seem to have the Gift, and we have been
unable to Awaken him.  We have not yet endeavored to remove his head
ourselves, until we are certain we have learned all we can from him.
Another Rule of their kind deals with Holy Ground, and the fact that
they cannot fight there. According to Guillaume, he can sense this
ground, much as he senses others of his kind when they draw near.
Through studying him and his memories, we have gained some information
as to this sensation.  It seems our Chantry is also considered Holy
Ground to him, as it seems all Nodes are.  These connections to
Quintessence are off limits to them? Why is that?  The answer lies in
understanding their battles.  When two of their kind fight, the
Quintessence within them begins to flow, empowering them and their
weapons, and literally filling the air around them.  When one loses,
the winner draws his own Quintessence back into himself, as well as
some of that belonging to his opponent... the rest, with nowhere to
go, wreaks havoc on the environment around them. This Quintessence he
absorbs from his opponent carries with it a shadow of the man's
memories, indeed his very life... and in some cases, can overshadow
the life of the victor.  On a Node site, the Quintessence from the
loser flows not into the victor, but into the Node itself.  In this
way, the victor not only gains nothing, but in fact loses that
Quintessence of his which had mingled with that of his opponent... a
very pragmatic reason for the Rule they follow.  There are many things
about these beings still to be learned.  They seem as closely tied to
Quintessence as we ourselves, but at the same time seem to be able to
contain and harness this "Quickening" of theirs in other ways.
In some ways, they seem a living Node: a constant amount of Quickening
within them, unused by their healing and powers, and always the
capacity for more.  We will experiment more with this subject,
including channeling Quintessence into him, to further explore our
theories.

Thank you for your patience, and good night.

Chapter One: The Quickening

In the end, there can be only one.  - Ramirez

The parallel between Quickening and Quintessence is too powerful to
ignore: Quickening is the life force of an Immortal, that force which
is transferred between them when they battle.  Quintessence is defined
in Mage as "the very basis of reality".  Living beings have a
spark of Quintessence within them, Magi have an Avatar which gives
them a reservoir of Quintessence to draw from.  What then, is the
Quickening?  The Immortals depicted in Highlander use their Quickening
for a variety of effects, which are closely related to various Spheres
(Forces, Life, and Prime specifically).  Their Quickening isn't a
resource, however, which needs recharging... it is an innate force,
which neither increases nor diminishes.  In a way, an Immortal behaves
much as a Node, with an inherent magick which is never depleted.

Quickening as Magick

The sensation you feel is known as the Quickening.  -Ramirez

Immortals battle for each other's Quickening: a mystical force
which empowers them.  In game terms, an Immortal is like a Mage with
one sphere, called Quickening, and has powers related to his level.  A
starting Immortal has a Quickening of 1: they have died and been
reborn, and now are more than human.  The only way for this to
increase is through the deaths of other Immortals... Quickening may be
increased with Freebie points, as long as there is appropriate
justification in the Prelude (increasing Quickening points costs 7
freebie points).  The maximum Quickening is 5.  Quickening, much like
a rating in a Sphere, conveys mystical abilities to the Immortal.
These are closely related to traditional magick, but are innate
abilities of the Immortal, and depend only on his rating in
Quickening.  These powers are discussed in Chapter 3.

Gaining Quickening

Don't lose your head.  - Queen

Whenever two Immortals battle, their Quickening is mingled into an
electrical lightshow around them, and is absorbed by the winner when
the loser's head is taken from his shoulders (removing a head from
one's shoulders requires three successes on the attack, and one
must do three health levels after the soak).  The winner gets 2x his
opponent's Quickening in "Study points" of a sort... once he
has Current Levelx6 in these points, he may spend them to increase his
Quickening by one.  He also receives one level in any ability in which
his opponent has a higher score than him, for each point of Quickening
his opponent had. Thus, if a person with Quickening 1 defeats someone
with Quickening 4, he immediately gets 8 "study points", which
raises him to Quickening 2 (at a cost of 6 of the 8 points).  He also
gets to raise four of his attributes by one each, four in which his
opponent had higher scores than he did.  If the Quickening 4 person
had won, he would only get 2 study points of the 24 needed to go to
level 5, but would still pick up one point in some ability that the
loser was proficient in.  If the winner is better (or as good as) the
loser in every ability, he gets no increase in abilities.

The Rules

Holy ground, Highlander!  Remember what Ramirez taught you...  - The Kurgan

Immortals have two main rules.  They always fight one on one, and they
never fight on Holy Ground.  Both of these rules are rooted in the
Quickening, and what happens when they fight.  If two are fighting
one, and the one loses, his Quickening will go to one of the two
involved in the battle.  This flow will happen because of the
mixing... and when it's over, one will come out ahead.  In addition
to the normal "study point" award, the victor gets two
additional points, and the other "victor" loses 1 Quickening
(this of course is only if the victor has more than 1: they cannot
lose their final point of Quickening except by losing their head).
Note that if another Immortal steps in and beheads one of two
combatants, the Quickening still goes to the one who had been
fighting, because his Quickening is so intertwined with the
loser's.  In the case of Holy Ground, the Node itself is the
"victor" of the contest.  The Node gets "study points" of
2xloser's Quickening+2 toward increasing its own power, and the
victor of the two Immortals loses 1 point of Quickening (again, unless
he only has 1).

The Gathering

Struggling to reach the time of the Gathering, when the few who remain
will battle to the last.  - Ramirez

The Gathering is the draw that Immortals feel, once enough of them
have gotten close (or to) 5 in Quickening, to head for New York and
lop one another's heads off.  The rules for gaining Quickening will
work fine until 5. They explain why killing powerful Immortals is
good, but also why the Kurgan went all the way to Scotland to kill
Connor (an Immortal who hasn't been Awakened still has one point
for purposes of "study").  But what about the Prize?  Once an
Immortal has gotten to 5, they gain no more Quickening... once they
are the only Immortal left, then they get the Prize.  The movie and TV
series are both deliberately vague about the Prize; it lets Connor
read minds, but what else?  It would plunge the world into an eternity
of darkness, if it fell into the wrong hands...  A suggestion: leave
the Prize vague, unless it becomes necessary (there is an end, and one
remains).  Since Quickening allows Immortals to exhibit powers similar
to several spheres, the Prize could be 5 in all the Spheres...
that's close enough to godhood for the immortal, and powerful
enough to endanger the entire world.  Note also that the lightshow and
transfer of Quickening has never attracted Paradox... maybe the
Highlanders are so closely tied to reality (like the Garou) that
they're immune?  Makes the 5 in all spheres even more disgusting...

Chapter Two: Character Creation

We are the same, MacLeod!  We are brothers!  - Ramirez

Immortals are often ancient beings, powerful not just because of their
Quickening, but because of their knowledges and talents.  This power
of theirs is balanced by the fact that they have one Sphere, and thus
start with fewer "powers" than their Mage counterparts.  For
character creation, Immortals start with 7/6/5 for attributes, instead
of the normal 7/5/3 (in general, they appear to be more perceptive,
more attractive, and more physically able than normal humans, or even
Magi).  For abilities, judge their points from their age, and use
Storyteller discretion: if an Immortal is 2000 years old, then they
will have a lot of skills.  It makes sense... so don't try and deny
it, just don't allow 2000 year old PCs if you think it's a
problem.  Some suggestions:

13/9/5          0-100 years
18/13/8         100-250 years
23/17/11        250-500 years
28/21/14        500-1000 years
and so on.

Immortals get 1 point in Quickening, 5 points for backgrounds (chosen
from Vampire or Mage, whatever is appropriate).  Acceptable
backgrounds include Allies, Arcane, Contacts, Fame, Influence, Mentor,
and Resources. Note that all of these are available to humans except
Arcane, which was added after watching enough episodes of the series
(why isn't Duncan locked up just because?)  Immortals have a
starting value of 5 for Willpower, just as Mages do, and have no
traits for Conscience, Self Control or Courage.  Much like Mages,
Immortals develop an immunity to instincts like these.  Start them out
with 18 freebie points.  Again, this will give them more points in
attributes and abilities than other starting characters; this is
weighed out by the fact that they have only one Sphere, have other
Immortals who want them dead, and the normal Mage enemies who don't
like them much (the Technocracy has a dislike for Immortals, go
figure).

Healing

You cannot die, MacLeod... accept it!  - Ramirez

Immortals use the following chart to heal normal wounds; in addition,
they may use the Quickening to help them, see Chapter Three for more
information.

Health Level                    Time
Bruised                         One Round
Hurt                            One Minute
Injured                         Five Minutes
Wounded                         30 Minutes
Mauled                          One Hour
Crippled                        One Hour
Incapacitated                   One Hour

Chapter Three: Powers of the Immortals

It's a Kind of Magic.  - Queen

The powers exhibited by the Immortals in the Highlander movie and TV
series are fairly simple to gauge and to mimic in Mage.  Here are some
of them, along with the levels of Quickening needed to attain them.

1 Sense Quickening - With this, much like the level 1 Prime spell
Sense Quintessence, the Immortal may sense other Immortals.  They can
also sense Nodes, and others with Free Quintessence within them (which
includes Magi and various Talismans).  A perception roll may be
required.

1 Breathe Water - With this, Immortals may survive
indefinitely underwater, drawing oxygen from the water.  

2 Empower Weapon - At this level, the Immortal can use any edged melee
weapon (knife, sword, axe) to do aggravated damage. One additional
damage success (above that of the weapon), aggravated, is dealt per
success rolled (like any Sphere, dice in Quickening is rolled, against
difficulty six).  Example: Duncan swings his trusty katana (which is
difficulty 6, Str +5) and hits.  He rolls Str 3 + 5 = 8 dice for
damage, plus an additional 4 dice (4 Quickening).  Any damage done by
the 4 dice is treated as aggravated.  

2 Heal Self - At level 2 in Quickening, an Immortal may heal himself,
in much the same way as the level 3 Life spell Ho Tien Chi works.
Taking a round, Quickening is rolled (3 dice for 3 Quickening, for
example) against a difficulty of six. Each success heals one health
level.  Aggravated damage may not be healed in this way, but must heal
over hours (using the chart in Chapter Two).  One cannot treat the
same wound in this way twice... the rest must heal using the Immortal
Healing Chart.  Note: Immortals who are somehow taken to incapacitated
are not dead.  If their head doesn't leave their shoulders, they will
recover.  Let them heal up one level according to the chart, then they
may use Heal Self to heal part of the rest.  

3 Empower Self - At this level, much like the Life spell Better Body,
the Immortal may increase his physical attributes by one for every
success rolled.  This increase lasts for the entire scene, and is
usually done during challenges.  

4 Speed of the Zephyr - With this level of Quickening, the Immortal
may take extra actions in a round, one per success rolled.  

5 Ignore Wounds - At this level, the Immortal's powers of recuperation
have become so potent that they can heal effortlessly.  Normal damage
can be healed 1 wound per round, without a roll (or an action taken). 
Aggravated damage may now be healed as normal damage is healed in Heal
Self, above.

