PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Havuik on August 27, 2009, 07:15:31 pm
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I need some help and would like to ask a few questions to the settings team and the players. I hope this will spark a discussion and help RP by keeping everyone on the same page. This is about ages, not so much lifespans as that is already covered in a book.
I see lots of players in the game playing a variety of different aged characters. What I would like to understand is at what point do different races develop? What is considered "adulthood"? What is considered "elderly"? Who would be a "youth"? I see a lot of players going by human years in regards to their character.
For the sake of this discussion I will post typical lifespans for different races. This, I would assume, is common knowledge to our characters, they would at least know roughly how long they live for. These are in years/cycles:
Ylians - 80
Xacha - 70
Dermorian and Nolthrir - 200
Hammerwielder and Stonebreaker - 120
Kran -150
Klyros - 50
Lemurs - 100
Enki - 60
Diaboli - 45-50
Ynnwn - 100 (but "varies wildly")
Also from this book I was able to get that Dermorian 'youths' are 30 years and under.
So with this information comes questions...
Should we assume that all races develop and mature at the same rate? Are ages of adulthood proportional to lifespans?
If the latter is true and 30 cycles and under for Dermorians and Nolthrirs are 'youths' than this would make the proportion 3/20 for all races. With the math done (hopefully correctly) this would equal 12 years of age for Ylians. Now is that considered the age for 'adulthood'?
However, would could also take cultural influences. Dermorians and Nolthrirs have the same lifespan, so would that mean they both consider their children no longer youths at 30 cycles? Is it possible that Nolthrirs consider there offspring to be children until 50 cycles? Perhaps do to harsher conditions, traditions, and other culture upbringings?
Other things to think/discuss:
What would be the ages for races to drink at the tavern?
What would be the ages for races to join a military guild?
What would be the ages for races to learn out to fight? The Octarchy Decree says as soon they are able to, they are taught to throw stones and fight with sticks. What age is that for different races?
I hope I explained this well enough. It was tough for me to put some thoughts into words. In your responses perhaps you could use Dermorians for a base example because we KNOW that they live to roughly be 200 cycles old and they consider 30 and under to be 'youth'. Please post your thoughts and share any information you have.
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Other things to think/discuss:
What would be the ages for races to drink at the tavern?
What would be the ages for races to join a military guild?
What would be the ages for races to learn out to fight? The Octarchy Decree says as soon they are able to, they are taught to throw stones and fight with sticks. What age is that for different races?
I assumed there was no drinking age in yliakum, considering it's based off the medieval age when it was dangerous to consume nonacoholic beverages due to poor sanitation. everyone of any age can drink alcohol (but it could be unhealthy for a baby to drink it obviously, but they have milk). the drinking age thing is modern.
probably 12, but they would be considered squires or apprentices. I'm pretty sure it's possible to join a military guild earlier than that, but you'd be useless.
when they're very young I guess, 5 years old. a monkey could learn how to fight with sticks and stones lol.
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Other things to think/discuss:
What would be the ages for races to drink at the tavern?
What would be the ages for races to join a military guild?
What would be the ages for races to learn out to fight? The Octarchy Decree says as soon they are able to, they are taught to throw stones and fight with sticks. What age is that for different races?
I assumed there was no drinking age in yliakum, considering it's based off the medieval age when it was dangerous to consume nonacoholic beverages due to poor sanitation. everyone of any age can drink alcohol (but it could be unhealthy for a baby to drink it obviously, but they have milk). the drinking age thing is modern.
probably 12, but they would be considered squires or apprentices. I'm pretty sure it's possible to join a military guild earlier than that, but you'd be useless.
when they're very young I guess, 5 years old. a monkey could learn how to fight with sticks and stones lol.
Well thanks for the history lesson but I wasn't exactly asking about what happened in medieval times. Planeshift is a unique world, and although it has medieval themes I really think it is its own world. The reason why I asked those questions at the end was because I've seen a few elves walk into the tavern with their description saying they are seventeen years old. That would put them (if ages are proportional) at just under seven years old. It just seemed odd to me that a seven year old would be going into the tavern drinking beer and talking about how they slayed an ulbernaut and won a guild war. Now I'm not trying to turn this into a thread on how to RP but I'm trying to find answers so that the community and myself can be on the same page.
My main questions were in the body of the post. The questions at the end were more just to add to discussion or think about. Now Sarras when you say 12 and 5 I'm assuming this is human ages. Now is this the same for other races? Are elves considered to be of military age at 12 cycles or 30?
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Other things to think/discuss:
What would be the ages for races to drink at the tavern?
What would be the ages for races to join a military guild?
What would be the ages for races to learn out to fight? The Octarchy Decree says as soon they are able to, they are taught to throw stones and fight with sticks. What age is that for different races?
I assumed there was no drinking age in yliakum, considering it's based off the medieval age when it was dangerous to consume nonacoholic beverages due to poor sanitation. everyone of any age can drink alcohol (but it could be unhealthy for a baby to drink it obviously, but they have milk). the drinking age thing is modern.
probably 12, but they would be considered squires or apprentices. I'm pretty sure it's possible to join a military guild earlier than that, but you'd be useless.
when they're very young I guess, 5 years old. a monkey could learn how to fight with sticks and stones lol.
Well thanks for the history lesson but I wasn't exactly asking about what happened in medieval times. Planeshift is a unique world, and although it has medieval themes I really think it is its own world. The reason why I asked those questions at the end was because I've seen a few elves walk into the tavern with their description saying they are seventeen years old. That would put them (if ages are proportional) at just under seven years old. It just seemed odd to me that a seven year old would be going into the tavern drinking beer and talking about how they slayed an ulbernaut and won a guild war. Now I'm not trying to turn this into a thread on how to RP but I'm trying to find answers so that the community and myself can be on the same page.
My main questions were in the body of the post. The questions at the end were more just to add to discussion or think about. Now Sarras when you say 12 and 5 I'm assuming this is human ages. Now is this the same for other races? Are elves considered to be of military age at 12 cycles or 30?
idk I figured they grew at the same rate but just aged slower. in case you haven't noticed PS isn't very well known for its settings' accuracy. have to ask a dev.
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Well I wanted to discuss this(but I see no one else really wants to). I don't know if the devs have an answer for this and why should I wait months (or even longer) until they come up with this? Besides, if they answered my question personally what about everyone else? Shouldn't they know as well? If only a few people know about knowledge that should be fairly common in Yliakum then what's the point of having different ages at all? If people will just use there own system to age their character than why have the settings team come up with details about ages?
I'm interested on the general interpretation of this. If a settings team member sees this and can release an official comment then that would be great! It would allow everyone to see and know what their characters should know, which allows us to play them more true and (for me at least) enhance the experience.
Please, if anyone has something to add or comment on...
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there's a good chance they'll call it a spoiler and leave it unanswered. xD
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I was afraid of that, but honestly I don't think it is a spoiler. This should be common knowledge our characters should know (or at least roughly know). Also there is nothing that I have found in game that describes how races /age/ and how it is different. Closest I've seen are how /long/ races live.
Besides even if they don't give an official answer, we can always gather thoughts and come up with an unofficial answer as a community until they do. How am I suppose to RP something correctly that isn't stated anywhere. If the devs/settings are too busy to come up with it I'm sure that is understandable. Why don't we come up with something on our own?
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The devs will nvr answer this, but you can just make something up and say it to be so. Post in a few threads, and ppls will think it's official. Works like magic.
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I for one think that this is an interesting topic. :thumbup:
From what I see, this sort of thing shouldn't have a rule set in stone. Why? How rapidly one ages and how long one lives is completely independent of how someone else (even of the same species) does. Some people will age quickly, some will grow scars in battle, some will have their eyes gourged out, some will be burnt by magical fire, and there are even some more natural and less violent ways that show that someone is approaching their expiration date.
That being said, I would not think that a Xacha who claims he is 500 cycles is being fair. But, a very frail Xacha of 90 cycles I would buy.
My opinion? Take the suggested age limits into consideration, then push and pull at it in a sensible and fair manner.
For the actual aging, I would guess that the process is proportional to the life span. (Otherwise the 200 cycle demorian will be a black peanut.) But I wouldn't go as far as to say that there is a simple fraction to be used against all the inhabitants of Yliakum. Again, be reasonable, but this decision should be up to the RolePlayer.
And as for laws that govern different age groups (i.e. the one year of weapons training), I think that the most appropriate way to determine who is/isn't appropriate is to go not by age, but by character. For example, I know of an 11 cycle klyros who is quite intelligent and fairly skilled with weapons. (But then again, Klyros only live to 50, so that's actually old ;D , but anyways...) A government official should deem him ready for training because he is physically and mentally ready for it. But the 50 cycle Demorian who babbles to himself and wears a diaper would not be ready for such training.
Just my two-five cents.
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I'm sorry that all the settings devs are currently busy with their real lives and preparing for the next release, I'll try and have a definitive answer as soon as possible
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so I was thinking about the whole aging processing deal, and I thought it would make more sense for all races to grow at the same rate. it would be too weird to have, say, a dermorian and klyros who have known each other since they were just babies, and then a few years later the klyros is almost an adult and the dermorian hasn't even begun schooling. it just doesn't make sense.
i'm going to bed! NIGHTY NIGHT.
I'm sorry that all the settings devs are currently busy with their real lives and preparing for the next release, I'll try and have a definitive answer as soon as possible
isn't PS a part of their real lives....?
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Humm.. well, after giving it a bit of thought, this is what I've come up with:
Ylians, Xacha, and perhaps Enki would be mature-ish at 16-18.
Klyros and Diaboli I'd say about the same, but... perhaps starting around 15 instead.
Ynnwn, because of the "varies wildly," I'd say maturish at about 18.
Lemurs perhaps 18 - 21....
The Hammerwielder and Stonebreaker would be about 21.
Dermorian and Nolthrir, perhaps maturish from 21 - 25?
I think the Kran are a special case... I can't remember, when they are 'born' are they fully grown already?
I guess by these ages, I would mean physically mature and mostly mentally mature.
Anyway, it does depend on the person to how quickly they mentally mature. But this is talking averages.
They are all similar enough that it wouldn't be too weird even for a Diaboli and a Demorian to grow up together.
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so I was thinking about the whole aging processing deal, and I thought it would make more sense for all races to grow at the same rate. it would be too weird to have, say, a dermorian and klyros who have known each other since they were just babies, and then a few years later the klyros is almost an adult and the dermorian hasn't even begun schooling. it just doesn't make sense.
Why not? For one thing, I would think that most children would play with their own species (for the most part.) And if not, then one of them walks away grown-up before the other is ready.
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it would be too weird to have, say, a dermorian and klyros who have known each other since they were just babies, and then a few years later the klyros is almost an adult and the dermorian hasn't even begun schooling
Yes, its weird from a human point of view. However if this was what you were accustomed to then you might not think that it was so strange at all.
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Last I heard, all the races mature at about the same rate. The all go to school in the same time span (from 6 to 18 or 20). The difference is when they are considered an 'adult' in society by their own people.
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Interesting. There are some good points here. I will say that the gestation periods for races are all different, usually the longer the lifespan the longer the gestation period. In RL gestation periods usually have a relation with the size of the mammal, but it looks like in PS it is related to how long a lifespan they have. So perhaps this added information will prove/disprove something about how races in PS mature.
Also I'll remind everyone that a Dermorian youth is consider 30 and under.
Some other things to think about/discuss:
What age should a particular race be to leave the house and move somewhere?
What age should a particular race be to get married?
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Last I heard, all the races mature at about the same rate. The all go to school in the same time span (from 6 to 18 or 20). The difference is when they are considered an 'adult' in society by their own people.
this makes sense. we know when Dermorians are considered adults, what about other races?
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i dont know about this cse you have the simple fack of say a enki average lifespan is wha 60 but is that 60 in human years as in what we count or is that 60 in enki time i would think certian races would grow fast or slower i mean look at dogs 7 birthdays a year so do enkis at age 30 in human years are they actualy say 70 in enki years is i think the question you really have to put over.
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I'm pretty sure all races have the same year/cycle. Although I've seen a lot of people say their character is X number of "human years". To me this doesn't make sense (in the RL dog example as well) because all the races live under the same crystal and the world experiences years the same way.
The reason (I think X-/) why we have dog years versus human years is to simply convert it easily and understand what ages are to different species of animals. For instance, in your example (and I don't know too much about dog's ages too be honest) perhaps a human lives 7 times longer than a dog. For that reason it is necessary to say that a dog ages 7 times a year where as a human get older only be one year.
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I think you miss the point of the 'human years' ingame. While I personally don't do it, I can understand why others would. Simply because this thread has so many questions and barely any answers. The player doesn't know how old a Diaboli would look at 20 years old so they say they look like a human would at 20 years old, which is by all means acceptable. I mean, descriptions are describing what I see, and if I see something comparable to a human that is 20 years old, it's fine.
Once there are conclusive answers here, I'm sure the 'human years' will work its way down the drain.
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I wanted to know about all of the ages for the races of Yliakum, thanks for posting this. I am going to have to change my age as a kran, i thought we only lived to be about 100 so i announce that i am now 125 years old! [i used to be 85, since Geoni is meant to be old! yeah i think its crazy to change the age around, though now im not going to change it from being 125, i am only going to get a year older each birthday.] I do my best to roleplay being elderly, but at the same time, this kran doesn't lose kra's exuberant energy! \\o// I hope to hear more about everyones ages in the game, and seeing them roleplay to that fact. I do my best and i hope everyone else does.
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What I am seeing here is a great discussion about all the ages and maturing rates of all the races in Yilakum. Theoretically they make sense. Theoretically being the key word there.
I am seeing a few main problems so far. First of all, no matter how widely you post your results, no matter how many people read them, you can never stop people arguing about it. You are basically adding controversy. It is all good to discuss, but implementing it going to be very difficult. I mean many people wont read this thread,(I know some people who boycott the PS forums in general) and others who will read it, and then decide to ignore it going back to counting in human years. Now the people who do accept it are a minority, because of the other two groups. In the end its just going to confuse the hell out of people. I mean, if i think I am talking to a middle aged demorian, who turns out to have the body and mind of a child, the current rp is either dead, or very hard to salvage. Keep discussing this by all means, in fact I think its very interesting, but I would suggest using a more generic term like youth, or elderly man, until we get something stating these ideas as facts.
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In my desc. I just use calender years and go off the average human lifespan, even though I'm Demorian.
A. Keeping up with all different lifespans is a pain.
B. No one knows them anyway, so it will confuse them into thinking your half the age you want your character to be.
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That's irresponsible, because it creates continuity errors between you and your son.
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That's irresponsible, because it creates continuity errors between you and your son.
Don't have a son, unless I met your mom when I was, what, 3? 4? ;)