The Age old question.

[Under the moon]

The question of race age comes up often in the game. Most people keep their character's ages at a 20 year old average. However, a lot of folks wish to play older characters. This is where the problem comes in. No one knows what 'old' is. This is how I adress the ages until the Devs come down on one side of the fence or the other.

No race should live much over 100 years, 150 max. The reason for this is the actual timeline of the game takes place is a scant 750 years. So, if you were to try to say you were a 1000 year old elf, you would be able to tell exactly how the trip through the Portals felt, and what your old world looked like. This contradicts the Setting's statement of the origins of the races being lost in the fog of the past. Also you must take generation span into account. If you had a race that could have children at 100 years old, that is only seven generations that have been in the realm.

This is how I address the ages [note, the second age is very old for one of that race]:

Ylians (humans): Average age of 50 to 70. This is quite generous considering the medieval settings. Xacha may live a bit longer due to healthier diets.

Lemurs: They were carefully crafted by a god, and are a new life form that has not had a lot of time to mutate, so I give them a higher lifespan of 80 to 110.

Dermorians: Max life to these adaptable people. 130 to 150.

Nolthrir: Due to the duel nature of these people, and their susceptibility to mutations from the Crystal, this race has a lower age than the other elves, topping out at 70 to 90.

Dwarves: 100 to 130, with perhaps the Hammerwielders having a slightly longer live than Stonebreakers due to the shorter dwarves working in more hazardous environments, such as the dustiness of caves.

Enkidukai: 35 to 70, almost equal to humans. The great gap in age average is due tot he different clans.

Diaboli: Due to their harsh past, The Diaboli evolved specifically to die rather young, so as not to slow the rest of the nomadic people down. Max age of 50 to 60. However, they do not get old like other races, but rather a genetic sickness overtakes them.
Many Diaboli prefer to die before then, further lowering the average age.

Klyros: 60 to 80. Why? Have not really thought about them much.

Kran: Sturdy? Perhaps in form, but their equivalent to DNA must be a mess, due to the nature of their creation. Unlike the Lemurs, there was not any care taken in creating them, just massive power by an untrained hand. This gives them a very wide range of problems that could plague the race. But even in a random pattern, some things can fall perfectly into place. For this reason, I give them the widest 'very old kran' gap of 35 to 100 to unknown. The unknown is due to the fact that the oldest kran had died in battle at an age of 147 without showing any signs of aging, while others had wasted away at 35. Not many kran live past 100 before their bodies begin to fall apart.

Ynnwn: Their 'old age' varies widely as well, depending on which race of elves their parents belong to, and if they take after the Boli side, or elvish side more. As such, old age can set in from 60 to 140.

Note: I am just offering this as a guideline based on the 'facts' of the Settings.

[Garile]

hmmm problematic. Ofcourse we have a civilization somewhat around renaissance in technology with gunpowder not being invented yet but other things that are and it is a rather organized society. Also there is the fact of healingmagic. We don't really know how widespread it is, but if it can literally bring back the dead curing illnesses would be a whole lot more effective.

Think the ages chosen are about right but hard to pinpoint with it being different races and so many blanks.

[Under the moon]

There is nothing yet to say that magic can cure illness. It is limited to injuries as it is. But yes, I have thought of that. It is one of those things that may never be resovled.

[Malfini]

There is nothing yet to say that magic can cure illness. It is limited to injuries as it is. But yes, I have thought of that. It is one of those things that may never be resovled.

Actually if you look at the blue way skill description in the game it says "Many diseases and poisons will be incurable without the help of the spells of this Way". I interpret that to mean that some blue way spells will be able to cure diseases and "disease" in many contexts means the same thing as "illness".

[Garile]

Look at the descriptions of the magic ways in the skill list and you'll find some mentioning curing. Not just injuries like Malfini quoted.

Specially the raising of the dead makes me wonder where the lines really are with magic. Still very vague and thats annoying when roleplaying. Not sure how the antimagicskill works either in RPsence so if you are RPfighting a mage you're not quite sure what to expect.

Anyhow looking how much medicalscience made our lifespan longer the question arises if magic might not even be better then our science. If so maximum would be up a lot. Specially if the magic is widespread it would perhaps even become uncommon to die of anything else then instant death accidents and old age.

Or a violent death ofcourse

[witchking]

Hmm, sorry, UtM but I disagree with most of what you've said and would like to offer my own point of view on the races' age. It's easy to say that it's based on "facts" in the settings but I have yet to find any facts about some of the conclusions you've made.

For example, the Elves should have at least a 100 year life span, regardless of whether they are Dermorians or Nolthrir, simply based on the Elven traditional life span from various popular fantasy literature. That is if they're not slain in battle before that, being traditionally fragile and all.

I guess Ylians are comparable to real humans in their life span.

Lemurs and Kran were created by young and inexperienced gods, who did not listen to the warnings of other older and wiser gods, with Talad not even knowing about properly using the crystal to create life. So, it's very likely that those races would have many imperfections and not a very long life span.

Enkudikai should have significantly lower life span than humans being a feline(ish) race.

Your guess on dwarves was ok. Terry Pratchett's dwarves, for example, have a several hundred years life span, while some other settings state from around 100 to 120.

Klyros are a bit of a tough call. They are very fragile and were made even more fragile for passing through a portal, "It seemed to suffer for passing through the portal...". But then it also says that they easily adapt to new environments. Elves are fragile too but are generally given a generous life span.

And now onto your conclusion about Diaboli, which I disagree with the most. Diaboli are pretty much demons or a demonic race, based on their name and description. In fact, the word "Diaboli" is mostly associated with the "Devil". Ever heard a phrase "a demon's life span"? As in "she seems to have a demon's life span" when talking about a famous person who's been alive for a very long time. Not only have Diaboli adapted to live in their harsh homeland environment, they are the only race that thinks of Yliakum as a real paradise (which means, all other races don't). They also have "gorgeous, perfectly shaped bodies". While they may have good enough genetics to be inclined to such an appearance, it would take a great exercise and diet to keep in such a shape, since "they have almost the same body proportions as humans, and almost identical internal organs". And healthy body usually equals a longer life span. Not to mention that "The Diaboli developed a good resistance to many elemental spells thanks to a deep knowledge in that area of magic", which would translate into a good resistance against natural elements, those spells are based on, as well.

In fact, most demonic beings are either immortal or have a very long life span. Take a look at Warhammer universe, for example. Many demons have thousands of years life span and some are immortal. If even a human being decided to worship a Chaos god in Warhammer, their lifespan and abilities are enhanced by those gods' favors and mutations.

Ynnwn is self-explanatory based on what I've already said about Diaboli and Elves.

Just offering an opposing opinion here.

[Garile]

hhhmm

This is PS and not the universe of any other fantasy setting so just the fact that in other fantasy setting one has a certain top age isn't a very good argument that they MUST have the same age in PS

Enkudikai should have significantly lower life span than humans being a feline(ish) race.

Uhm enkies aren't cats and as far as I know cats can become more then 20 years old. I am sure monkeys don't have much better lifespans so don't see why enkies should have shorter lifespans based on that argument.

Diaboli again are not devils. Why would they need to have a special diet? They aren't human. That they evolved to look more appealing in general doesn't mean they have better genetics in general. Just ones that make you look nicer, might simply mean it came at a cost internally. Also the fact they seem to have about the same organs as humans would suggest to me their max-age would probably be about the same.

[witchking]

hhhmm

This is PS and not the universe of any other fantasy setting so just the fact that in other fantasy setting one has a certain top age isn't a very good argument that they MUST have the same age in PS

And the fact that it is not any other universe does not mean that it must be different, for the simple fact that it does not state otherwise, so before I see an official age of each race assigned in a PS setting, it is a very good argument, while we are in the process of making suggestions and offering opinions.

Uhm enkies aren't cats and as far as I know cats can become more then 20 years old. I am sure monkeys don't have much better lifespans so don't see why enkies should have shorter lifespans based on that argument.

I never said they were but the fact that they have very similar features with felines is logical to assign a shorter life span to them. Again, there is no reason offered for why it should be different, so it's not off base at all to suggest similarities with cats. Obviously, they'd live longer than cats but still less than humans.

Diaboli again are not devils. Why would they need to have a special diet? They aren't human.

Why would they need a penalty against holy and blessed items then? Besides, I said demons, and that the name is often associated with the "Devil", meaning that they may have a demonic or devilish deity of some sort they are associated with in their homeland. And they might very well be devils, which is really just another name for demons. I guess by your logic the name "Diaboli" is just an innocent coincidence, and the fact that they avoid holy places and objects and suffer double-damage from them. Obviously, they might very well be saints. 

That they evolved to look more appealing in general doesn't mean they have better genetics in general. Just ones that make you look nicer, might simply mean it came at a cost internally. Also the fact they seem to have about the same organs as humans would suggest to me their max-age would probably be about the same.

I never said they had better genetics in general, I said they had good enough genetics to be inclined to such an appearance. Besides, being more attractive is not good genetics? That still falls under the genetics category. There is a very good saying - "Healthy body - healthy mind". What cost internally would it be exactly? It doesn't say that they are sick. In fact, it says they have a good resistance to elemental spells, and hence very likely to various elements they are based on. Besides, there is already an "in-built" penalty to holy weapons and magical items. Perhaps they wouldn't need a healthy diet to remain attractive but if they wanted to reach that extra level of perfection, they may very well benefit from it, having similar internal organs to humans and all. As for max-age based on internal organs, there is another great saying - "Form follows function", so just because they function in a similar fashion and look similar, does not mean they have a lesser life span than humans. They are demons (or demonic) after all. 

[Miaua]

Uhm enkies aren't cats and as far as I know cats can become more then 20 years old. I am sure monkeys don't have much better lifespans so don't see why enkies should have shorter lifespans based on that argument.

I never said they were but the fact that they have very similar features with felines is logical to assign a shorter life span to them. Again, there is no reason offered for why it should be different, so it's not off base at all to suggest similarities with cats. Obviously, they'd live longer than cats but still less than humans.

Humans have very similar features with apes... and live shorter cause that?
Klyros have lizards's features... that mean even shorter life?

[Hassadria]

Enkudikai should have significantly lower life span than humans being a feline(ish) race.

Here I have to disagree too. A simple look into the race description says 'Humanoids with feline features...'
That surely puts us into the same category as Ylians.

[Under the moon]

The races of Plainshift may look, sound, and even be named after races from other games, books, and fantasy, but they are not, in fact, these other races. What I have based my judgement on is only slightly based on races from other sources for the same reason the Devs made them look like popular race types from other games and stories. This is to give a bit of familiarity to the game. It is not to make them just like the peoples from other fantasies.

I think elves should have been left out of this game due to everyone's preconception of them as the 'Ageless Race' of great wisdom and magic. Looking at the languages people are trying to use for them based on other fantasy makes me cringe sometimes. "Traditional" is a word used far too much in those examples. There is nothing in the Settings to say an elf of either race is anything like the peoples of other fantasy.

My judgement of the Enki had nothing to do with being feline in nature, and everything to do with the tribal nature of hunter gatherers. An older clan simply could not compete as well for for game, and would find it harder to sustain themselves. Therefor they would not be prone to develope longer lifespans. The different lifestyles of clans that do not like to 'mix blood' would give them varying lifespans.

The Diaboli are not demons, simple as that. So, your entire base of comparison is null. But, as said, this is how I deal with them, not the official stance [yet]. (there is not really an official stance on the Boli's past yet. I asked)

Thanks for taking the time and intrest to post a counterpoint.

[Siteri Kidachi]

I think elves should have been left out of this game due to everyone's preconception of them as the 'Ageless Race' of great wisdom and magic. Looking at the languages people are trying to use for them based on other fantasy makes me cringe sometimes. "Traditional" is a word used far too much in those examples. There is nothing in the Settings to say an elf of either race is anything like the peoples of other fantasy.

Nothing to say that they aren't either. Until an official language is provided we should be able to use whichever language we want.

[Garile]

I never said they were but the fact that they have very similar features with felines is logical to assign a shorter life span to them. Again, there is no reason offered for why it should be different, so it's not off base at all to suggest similarities with cats. Obviously, they'd live longer than cats but still less than humans.

Why do you think I mentioned the monkey? You argument would give humans short lifespans becuase monkeys have short lifespans. Now enkies are different from cats as we are to monkeys. So if monkeys and cats life about the same age shouldn't enkies and humans live to become about the same age?

You still haven't said why it's so logical or why it's so obvious.

it says they have a good resistance to elemental spells

The Diaboli developed a good resistance to many elemental spells thanks to a deep knowledge in that area of magic

Do read your own quote. It says nothing about any genetics. Quite the opisite they developed it with knowledge and it's only against spells not the elements themselves.

I guess by your logic the name "Diaboli" is just an innocent coincidence

My point is very clear even if you don't like it. You are making assumptions about Diaboli while it's obvious they are mortal and they are even compared to humans. All this immortal stuff has already been debuffed by your own quotes still you claim they must have an extremely long lifespan. Not to mention you are quite ignoring that in a lot of literature demons are not at all immortal so to asume this when the text in the setting already implies differently is just ignoring the parts you don't like from the description.

"Healthy body - healthy mind"

Again. it doesn't say it is a healthy body now does it? It says they are pleasant to the eye. Their bodies are perfectly shaped doesn't say anything about the inside. Does it mean they have to be sick? no, but just think of flowers. The most beautifull ones are useally the ones that grow on the weakest plants. Beautifull appearances don't mean anything to general genetics.