Saving Richie Ryan - Another strange fanfic idea for someone else to write

[ffutures]

OK... Let's keep Richie Ryan alive.

One of the least popular deaths in the Highlander TV series was that of Richie Ryan; there are still people writing "Richie Survived" fanfic, and trying to find ways for him to escape his fate. I've got one for them...

In Ian M. Banks' Culture novels the Culture discovered Earth in the 1970s (The State of the Art), took a look, and decided to leave us to get more civilised. But we know that their Special Circumstances agency recruits agents on primitive worlds, often ones that have had no overt contact with The Culture (Use of Weapons). Worlds like Earth, for example. So let's say that Special Circumstances hears about Earth and comes headhunting (in the employment sense) in the nineties, and discovers the existence of immortals. Someone who can survive being shot etc. would make a wonderful agent; there are a few problems, of course, such as not being able to make use of any of the Culture's advanced implants (I'm guessing that a regenerating immortal would reject them) or plastic surgery, but on the whole it would be a definite plus.

Now The Culture doesn't want to take anyone off Earth who is likely to be missed, but they have good cloning technology. As in being able to regrow someone's body from their head after they have been decapitated (again in Use of Weapons). Given the number of Immortals decapitated every year, it shouldn't take too long for them to be able to get hold of a head or two.

So let's assume that a few seconds after Richie was decapitated his head rolls out of view, and is promptly displaced (transported) up to a Special Circumstances ship, placed in stasis, then connected to life support. Months pass as the body is regrown, and eventually a new Richie Ryan is born. Problem solved, and we can have a Richie Ryan: Culture Agent spinoff series.

The snag, I suspect, is that he's no longer an Immortal - his killer got his Quickening, and I can't see any obvious way to get it back, unless there's some sort of residue left in the head, and if that was the case the heads of all of the decapitated Immortals would presumably be growing new bodies, which is something we don't see on the show. But this snag apart it's one way to get Richie back into play. Or any other character from Highlander who is decapitated, of course. And whoever it is will still be a highly trained swordsman and warrior, in all probability, so very useful to Special Circumstances.

Comments

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

If you put the Culture into the mix, it feels hard to avoid the consequence that the Minds would just figure out how the immortality works and add it to the default Culture citizen package (after fixing any annoying problems with it). Which would make it a fairly different story.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I think the Minds would have to decide if immortality was actually desirable first - if it turns out to be inherently incompatible with implants such as drug glands that's a big minus, for example. There are plenty of very long-lived alien civilizations around in the Culture universe, so I don't see it as an insoluble problem. Give them a few centuries to decide, anyway!

[lakrids404.livejournal.com]

Ritchie Ryan: Culture Agent with his trusty sidekick Mawhrin-Skel

I have never seen the Highlander tv series, but a fanfic with the Culture would be very great. I have never found any Culture fanfics not even in crossovers with SGA or Star Trek.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

There's an ongoing Harry Potter / Culture crossover on Fanfiction.net

Culture Shock - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3983128/1/Culture_Shock

and a Culture / Battlestar Galactica crossover on Twisting the Hellmouth

A Day in the Life - http://www.tthfanfic.com/Story-16122/justaguy+A+Day+in+the+Life.htm

I've never seen any others - I did make a sort of start on a BtVS / Culture crossover at one point but it wasn't much good.

[lakrids404.livejournal.com]

thanks for the links

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

I think my favourite Culture crossover reference is a throw away sentence in a Doctor Who fanfic. I found it hilarious. (In this story Ten is trying to seduce Donna! Silliness ensues)

He pondered the seduction of Donna as he checked his email. Spam, spam, invite to join the Culture, spam, a chance to win an iPod (worth checking out just in case), request not to join the Culture, feedback on his Angel/Spike fanfiction, demand for some library books he keep meaning to take back early, spam, spam, a man in Ghana who wanted to use his bank account to launder eighty million pounds (not falling for that one for a third time).

Story: We'll Always Have...You Know, PG13ish

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Nice one!

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

The English language has no words for how wrong this is.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

And your problem with that is..?

[trinfaneb.livejournal.com]

As I just posted, I have a deep and abiding hatred for Richie Ryan because the annoying little brat became immortal and Tessa died. Save Tessa and I'd be all for the story :)

Never heard of the Culture before. Will have to check it out.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Sorry, only just noticed this - you REALLY want to read the Culture books (Consider Phlebas and sequels), they're immense fun.