The year was 1721. The colony had just struggled through its hardest year in the short history of its formation and a highwayman had just stolen the last of their money that was being taken to the next town to buy some much-needed supplies. In response, a man, his grown son, neighbor and slave set out with eight hunting dogs to find the man and bring him to justice. After five days of hunting, the group found the thief and began to fight with him, with the leader taking a blow to the head during the skirmish. At that same moment, a ball of fire appeared in the sky above them, approaching at a high velocity. As a strange meteorite crashed into the land that they had been fighting on, the men dived for cover, but not before being eradiated by the alien radiation. Once they were sure that they had survived, the men took the highwayman into custody and headed for home, unaware that anything had changed.

The town gathered together to witness the quick trial and execution of the man that had stolen their hope for survival. They hung him by the largest tree in the town square by firelight, intent on leaving the body there until morning. Unfortunately, that was too long as, when they returned to take the corpse down, his body was gone. Superstition ran rampant for several years that followed, encouraged by stories from neighboring towns of a robber who would not die.

Eventually, the men who had hunted down the thief started to notice strange things in themselves as well. They realized that something had changed in them that night. In addition to being more resistant to harm and disease, they had stopped aging. In order to ensure that they were not persecuted as witches (memories of what had happened in Salem were still clear in people's minds), the men agreed to go their separate ways; changing their identities and trying to live as normal of lives as possible.

Centuries passed. The man's son, now going by the name of Percy Granger, had witnessed the horrors of the Great War and had stood idly by, but couldn't do so again as Germany once again started to exhibit a desire for world power. In the United States, people with superhuman abilities started to surface, including reports of a man who could throw lightning and a criminal that would not die. He decided, in the fashion of the Arthurian legends his father had raised him on, to join the battle under the identity of his favorite knight, Galahad. His career as a superhero did not last past the war. When he crossed swords with Hitler's personal mage, the man known as Kristoffer dealt him a death-blow to the neck, severing his head from his shoulders and finding the one way to kill an immortal.

Back in the United States, the man learned of the death of his son and, already suffering from the blow to the head that would never heal, was driven over the edge. Embracing the passion for Arthurian legend he had shared with his son, the man began to believe he was Lancelot du Lac, "the greatest and most trusted of King Arthur's knights," and the traditional father of Galahad. He continues to try to make up for the loss of his son by trying to build a Camelot for the modern age.

His Scotish neighbor had spent the centuries that followed traveling around the world. He had finally grown tired of being on the move when he returned to England and set up shop as an antiquities dealer. That life suited him well until a super criminal decided to rob his establishment, much to her detriment. The attention the encounter drew forced him to give up his life as Mac Carter and become a deeper recluse. He eventually found himself back in the states and bought himself a casino under the name of Macarthur Duncan, holding up in a penthouse apartment and trying to ignore the world passing by. This didn't last long either, though, as a superhuman battle took place in his lobby. Deciding it was better to have a group to fight for what's right in his stead; he invited them to stay and formed the Las Vegas super team, The Aces. When their base was invaded by Shadow soldiers, he once again changed his name and moved to start anew.

The slave spent the better part of the next century on the run, trying to stay above the Mason-Dixon line and away from those who would love nothing better than send him down there. Even after the Civil War concluded the reign of slavery in America, he still could not wield the same level of respect as other men - white men. It took another century for any semblance of equality to settle in, and by that time he was tired of waiting. Setting himself up in the heart of the Louisiana bayou, he took a local voodoo priestess as his wife and began creating an underworld network. He held power over the area for the next fifty years until an upstart group of heroes, led by a white man, came in and tore it all down again. But what Pappa Boulet built once, he can build up again, and hopefully provide his immortal hunting hounds with an extra special treat: Diamant-flavored doggie treats.

And what of the highwayman who started the whole thing? He continued to steal and murder his way through the centuries, walking away after his various executions to begin again. He truly embraced the days of the old west, being a gun for hire, so much so that he continued to pack six-shooters and get into quick draw fights into the twentieth century. It was while using the name of Bart Matthews that he was finally caught and taken before the electric chair. He laughed as they threw the switch, but was surprised to wake up still in the chair rather than on a gurney in the basement. Apparently the electricity had arced off him and hit a bystander, so his hopes for a resurrection getaway were foiled. Realizing that they couldn't kill him, they decided to imprison him for life, eventually making him the first official inmate of the Radke Ultra Security Penitentiary, where he still resides.

	The Immortals (in their current identities)
	Bart Matthews Lance Granger Russell McMichael Peter "Pappa" Boulet the hunting dogs

	Deceased
	Percy Granger

© Copyright 2004, 2024 - James E. Caswell and Kenneth G. Hallaron

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Last updated on 24 March 2024