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	Subtopic	Started By	Posts
	Archive through Sep 16, 2004 Last Post: Dec 10, 2004, 09:57 am		20

Posted By: Seeria Dec 08, 2004 - 05:20 am

That is because he was a milieu writer.

Posted By: Talon Sinnah Dec 08, 2004 - 05:41 am

Didn't this happen in another forum... nevermind. As far as I know the olnly elves that are immortal are Tolkeins's and Santa's. Dragonlance they just age very slowly and I mean veeeeerrrryyy.

So the answer my friends is elves age very slow.

Posted By: Magus Dec 08, 2004 - 12:50 pm

Really? I never knew that. I guess you really do learn new things each and every day.

Posted By: Aldan Dec 09, 2004 - 08:33 pm

In most d&d stuff, they aren't said to be mortal or immortal, but at least originally were said to basically do a Tolkein (develop a need to leave the world and travel across the sea to the immortal world, if you will). Later, they actually came up with ages for death, but those were still over a thousand years of life...

Posted By: Spiderkeg Dec 10, 2004 - 09:57 am

The thing about immortality is that it has a flaw. If a person is "born" as an Elf or even as a pure blood Vampire, they share a common trait of immortality.

We all agree that immortality is simply the concept that a living organism exists without the restriction of aging through linear time, correct?

Aside from that, a person who is immortal can still be killed through other means... such as beheading, drowning, fire, etc. I guess the only exceptions are in the varied cases, examples being Highlander and Vampires, in which breathing isn't a necessity or death can only be brought through one action (i.e. Highlander and beheading).

So... as for the Elves. I would consider taking an action that would help explain their state of immortality, which can be both beautiful and provoking. Let all Elves be born mortal, that way they can age through infancy and adolescence. Then, one a day comes that the Elf is ready (or the Elders feel is ready) a ritural is performed in which the final stage of immortality is set. It will cause the Elf to remain at their current age, to never feel the fingers of time and progression again.

If you choose to have the Elves born immortal from the get go, you will have to alter that perception and make it so that they at least age at a very, very slow pace. If not, then you will have a race of infants who never age.

Posted By: Magus Dec 10, 2004 - 12:48 pm

But that race of infants, that would be something pretty interesting to write about, wouldn't you think? At least it would make a funny story.

Posted By: Spiderkeg Dec 10, 2004 - 02:22 pm

Aye, a funny story indeed. A race of infants bent on ruling the world, one crib at a time.

Posted By: Magus Dec 10, 2004 - 02:48 pm

Posted By: Aldan Dec 10, 2004 - 07:18 pm

David Weber came up with another idea for how elves became immortal, and the effect of their immortality on them...
In his War God series, he said that originally, elves were humans who had a natural connection to the magic field. However, because it was natural, many of them ended up doing awful things with it. Therefore, when two powerful "archmage" rulers came along they developed a spell which gave these natural mages the option to either continue as they were, and be mortal (as they were) or to give up their magic by having it converted into a source of immortality. They chose the latter, but then after a horrible war that took place later on, one which they couldn't do much to help with, they became a very introverted, depressed race, looking back with longing on the ability to do magic and the ability to die... because they had all those horrible memories inside that they couldn't get rid of...

Posted By: Magus Dec 10, 2004 - 07:28 pm

wow... That's so sad.

Posted By: Talon Sinnah Dec 15, 2004 - 08:48 am

Another thing about elves... most grow to a age of maturity. They stop showing signs of age, or slightly show it, at the moment of maturity. The age of maturity varies but I believe most is aroun 100.

Posted By: Spiderkeg Dec 15, 2004 - 01:27 pm

Well, at this rate, I'm thinking that there are two factors that can stop (or slow down) an Elf's aging process (or any race's aging process for that matter).

1. Some kind of ceremony is performed which causes an affect.

2. Upon reaching maturity, the hormones kick in which cause a reaction in the biology of the Elf causing aging to slow down or stop completely.

In either way, you're dealing with either a genetic answer or a supernatural answer. Choose your destiny.

Posted By: Magus Dec 15, 2004 - 02:31 pm

Maybe what would happen is a type of hormonal see-saw. Where they would mature to the pinnical of their age this would cause reverse-age causing hormones that would reverse the age and then another set to age them again.

This could make for an interesting story, where the ages of elves waxes to "old man" and then wanes down to a child, and then begins all over again.

Posted By: Spiderkeg Dec 16, 2004 - 05:10 am

Well, a method of aging and reverse aging would tax any biological lifeform... at least at some point.

My feelings is that, if it takes maturity to release a hormone that stops (or slows) the process of aging then you run into a intereting issue... not every person reaches maturity at the same time.

I know plenty of women who reached their "growth" maturity at a young age (like 11) and were well beyond training bras by the time they hit Middle School.

Can you imagine an immortal Elf stuck at the age of 11? How about an Elf who didn't get their hormone release until the age of 30? It happens.

Posted By: Magus Dec 16, 2004 - 01:51 pm

WOW! That would make for a VERY interesting story. Then we could have a protagonist who's aged rather oddly, maturing at an extremely young age, or maybe an extremely old age. It would be pretty interesting, methinks.