Immortals (ihm-mor-tullz):
a group of humans who come back from the dead and live forever unless their
heads get separated from their bodies; there is no known way of determining
where they came from
The Game (gaym):
the game between two Immortals who fight to the death until there is only
one left in the world; the winner takes the loser's head and power, thus gaining
all the knowledge of the victim. Immortals must not fight on Holy Ground,
or become cursed and damned
Holy Ground (hole-ee-grr-owwnd):
safe haven for those Immortals who seek temporary asylum and protection from
combat with another Immortal, who must also respect this rule; it has been
staged since the dawn of time whence they came
Sanctuary (sank-shoo-err-ee):
a resting place for Immortals to remove themselves from the game by hooking
themselves up to tubes
Prize (puh-ryze):
ultimate power for the one last remaining Immortal
Quickening (kwik-en-ing):
immense electrical energy drained from another Immortal when one cuts off
his or her head with the stroke of a sword. The winner receives the loser's
power, experience, knowledge, soul, past life sources, and at times, even
curse. The energy disrupts the surrounding area, causing massive destruction
Dark Quickening (dark-kwik-en-ing):
same as Quickening except for a good Immortal, it means a transformation into
an evil Immortal due to attaining the energy of all the evil Immortals killed
before; almost never curable
First Death (fhurst-deth):
the first time a mortal becomes immortal, usually through a violent death;
most Immortals can sense certain mortals who may end up becoming one of them
The Watchers (waht-churz):
a secret society of men and women who observe and record the Immortals' lives,
but never interfere; there are sometimes renegade Watchers who don't play
by the rules. The Watchers have kept tabs on Immortals for eons in what they
call the Watcher Chronicles, first a book and
now a computer CD
