Coping with immortality

[Svrtnsse]

How do immortals deal with their long lifespans in your world?

I'm thinking that if you live long enough you may eventually become bored, or even worse, bitter and cynical. At least, I think, that's what would happen to a human if they suddenly turned out to be imortal.
Chances are that for races that are immortal by default (elves) the mindset will be a bit different, but it's still an interesting question. How does immortality affect the way you view the world around you and the way you live your life?

 

[Caged Maiden]

I want to be immortal. I'd live dangerously, though, tempting fate.

 

[Lunaairis]

In a comic of mine the only immortal races are Angels, Demons and the infected (which is like a combination of Vampirism and Lycanthropy) Out of the main cast only one character is an immortal (Was once an Angel and then got infected; Damgel) Her name is Astrid and she takes immortality very seriously. She knows how fleeting time is, and if she keeps putting things off she knows she will miss exciting moments in time. So she tries very hard to be able to see as much as she can. Even if that means stealing a spaceship from the local Celestial Refugee Organization of Secret Services (A.K.A. CROSS) and possibly putting her own life in danger in the process.

She is rather unique, as Angel's are servants to their gods (all powerful), while she discovered how to best her's; leading to her freedom. She's lived for a relatively long time and hasn't really gotten bored yet, for she tends to surround her self with a few mortals and listens to them all through out their life, before finding some new ones.

Other Angels are usually rather busy following their god's orders till they get killed. ( God's literally have a a legion of angels and fight each other till they killed.) These angel's then not to notice how much time has actually gone by.

(Hopes this is relatively interesting)

 

[Queshire]

Well, very few of my immortals fall into that whole "who wants to live forever" trap, because those that do tend to find ways to remove their immortality and commit suicide. For those remaining, they think immortality is freakin' sweet! Yeah, sure they out live a bunch of stuff, and that's kinda sad, but there's always new stuff just waiting to be discovered!

 

[Wynnara]

One of my favourite interpretations of immortality that I've seen was in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager entitled "Death Wish" in which a member of the Q Continuum requests asylum on Voyager so that he can commit suicide. As the immortality of the Q is a big part of being a Q, the Continuum was doing everything in its power to stop this from happening. But the Q with the suicidal intent made the argument that once you've seen everything, done everything and know the possibility of every outcome... what is there really left to live for?

Not that I'm condoning suicide in the slightest, but the episode left an impression and made me think that immortality wouldn't be such a great blessing after all.

 

[Ireth]

Both of my immortal peoples (Fae and vampires) are largely pleasure-seekers; what sort of pleasure they typically seek tends to vary. Some are after sex, some want constant amusement (often at the expense of us humans), others just want companionship.

 

[Penpilot]

Well, it depends on the person. If you think about it even within a normal human lifespan, there are those who think it's too long and for what ever reason want to end it. Then there are those who can't get enough of life. I'd think it'd be like that. Some could do the marathon, see the continual wonder in it all while others couldn't handle it. They'll fall into despair and want it to end.

 

[Zero Angel]

I don't have any "immortal" characters that are unkillable. They do have the ability to live forever, but they still have to be careful!

I think it affects different people differently. I mean, the old Tolkien staple (and previously faery tales and legends) where they end up withdrawing from the world is crap in my opinion, but a lot of people go that route. I have some god-like characters that become disillusioned and go through decades of meditation or wasting away, only to become inspired and fall in love with life again. Then I have others that are imprisoned and unable to escape but when they do it is explosive. And yet there are still more that are always active and involved.

Everyone is different!

 

[Svrtnsse]

I think it's as you all say that it's a matter of having the right state of mind.

In my current WIP the elves are immortal. They're not invincible and they can be killed, but they don't die of old age like the other races. I've toyed with a few different ideas for things they do to maintain an interest in life throughout the millenia. One is a tendency to engage in very long-term hobby projects and another is a kind of active hibernation.

The first one is fairly simple; start a project that it'll take you thousands of years to complete but which doesn't require your constant care and attention. Things like breeding the perfect race horses or hunting dogs from scratch come to mind.

The other is less obvious and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The idea is that in order to get away from the world for a while the elf will be able to shut away all of their memories and higher mental abilities while still remaining functional. This transforms them from civilized, intelligent beings into something little more than an animal; they go feral, litteraly. While in this state the elf spends their time in the wild, hunting or foraging for food, alone or with other elves also gone feral.
The elf would be able to remain in this state for years, decades or even centuries before reverting back to their original civilized self. This return to the self can probably be triggered by some subconscious need of the elf or through some external mean. When the feral elf goes back to its own self it'll be a bit like waking up from a long sleep.

 

[Zero Angel]

The other is less obvious and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The idea is that in order to get away from the world for a while the elf will be able to shut away all of their memories and higher mental abilities while still remaining functional. This transforms them from civilized, intelligent beings into something little more than an animal; they go feral, litteraly. While in this state the elf spends their time in the wild, hunting or foraging for food, alone or with other elves also gone feral.
The elf would be able to remain in this state for years, decades or even centuries before reverting back to their original civilized self. This return to the self can probably be triggered by some subconscious need of the elf or through some external mean. When the feral elf goes back to its own self it'll be a bit like waking up from a long sleep.

I like it. I have races that go feral, but never thought of elves doing this as a way to cope with immortality. Of course, my elves live between 600 - 1000 years on average depending on the race of elf. I would think a lot more would die while being feral though! Maybe you could have an order of rangers dedicated to looking out for their feral cousins. This seems sort of like the night elf druids in Warcraft. Partly because of their shape-changing abilities, some of them ended up going feral. Might be worth looking into.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I like it. I have races that go feral, but never thought of elves doing this as a way to cope with immortality. Of course, my elves live between 600 - 1000 years on average depending on the race of elf. I would think a lot more would die while being feral though! Maybe you could have an order of rangers dedicated to looking out for their feral cousins. This seems sort of like the night elf druids in Warcraft. Partly because of their shape-changing abilities, some of them ended up going feral. Might be worth looking into.

I've thought of this as well and there's likely going to be something like this. Both to keep an eye on the feral elves and to keep the lands free from intruders/poachers.


Another thing I thought about is the breeding cycle. Elves have been around on my planet for over 12,000 years and there are those who are that old. If elves bred at the same rate as humans and never died the world would suffer rather badly from overpopulation. I'm thinking that elven women will be fertile from around 200 to 500 years old. In this time they have on average 2 children. I haven't done the maths on this though - nor do I really have a clue about fertility (even among humans) so there may be some rather big plot holes to fill here...

 

[Zophos]

I want to be immortal. I'd live dangerously, though, tempting fate.

Except for the scars one accumulates from dangerous behavior, of course.

Well, very few of my immortals fall into that whole "who wants to live forever" trap, because those that do tend to find ways to remove their immortality and commit suicide...

Funny, I wrote a short about a cult that worshipped a god whose name roughly translated to suicide in the human tongue; it was a godslayer.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

If I was immortal, first thing I'd do is fund research to figure out how to alter my brain to make me never get tired of being immortal.

 

[shangrila]

Science says that the older you get, the faster you perceive time. So if you were 1000 years old people you knew their entire lives would be about as significant as someone you were friends with in college and then never saw again. Kind of depressing, but then reality seems to go that way.

In my fantasy world, immortality just means you can't die of old age. There's a few mages, known as the Fifth (as in, a fifth of a percent, or the number of mages that reach that level) who've mastered enough magic to stop aging. However, depending on how it's done, it can lead to mental instability. A few of the different races do as well; the Bruzol are naturally long lived to the point of being practically immortal, the King is the last of his race and thus has been using the leftovers of his race to keep himself alive. There's a few gods that pop up from time to time as well, which are naturally immortal.

As far as how they deal with it, the King is a custodian for an ultimate evil type thing, while the Bruzol spend their days studying magic. The Fifth manipulate the world by playing games with each other, though they're careful not to take an active role in fear that several of the other mages will come down on them. Psycologically, most have mental problems; Bruzol are intensely reclusive, only meeting with others of their race every few hundred years to try and reproduce. Most don't even do that. The King has forgotten most everything except why he's where he is, meaning he's little more than a husk of a being. The Fifth tend to be bored easily, with several suffering from depression as well.

 

[SeverinR]

Imagine that,
When I first read the title, I thought it said immorality.

If you live as long as you want, there would be no reason to rush around. You will get to it eventually.
You can learn all you want, experience all you want as often as you want. Indulge in all the arts, see all the world (live as long as you want, just keep walking.)

I assume we mean no age limit, rather then unkillable. Ie They have to have enough to eat, drink and need to breathe.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

My thought is that someone who is immortal, assuming he started out as something more normal, would head for boredom fairlyquickly. After all if he was a farmer in the middle ages, well there's only so many fields you can plough. So as time passed one of his driving ambitions / reasons for living, would be to find new things.

Equally he would become seperated emotionally from all others. You can't have a family and friends and watch them die without failure, without slowly realising that everyone you love must eventually go away. So sooner or later you'd stop creating firm attachments to people knowing that eventually they must leave you.

As to death wishes, not so much. My thought would be that the older you get, the more comfortable you become in your rut, and the less you want to die, and the more likely you are to become cowardly as death becomes less the end of life and more an enemy to be feared. An enemy that you don't needto fight. Maybe though they would go through periods of needing an adrenaline fix every now and then just to remind them that they still live. But too many and they'd be dead, so obviously anyone who had already achieved an advanced age, had already learned to deal with them.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Svrtnsse]

If you live as long as you want, there would be no reason to rush around. You will get to it eventually.
You can learn all you want, experience all you want as often as you want. Indulge in all the arts, see all the world (live as long as you want, just keep walking.)

I think this is significant. You can take your time doing things and there's no need to rush. You may even see a value in doing things "properly" or in doing something "the right way".
I think this is why elves won't make great inventors. They have no need to automate tasks or to make things more efficient. Instead I think they may be more likely to strive for perfection in the things they do.

 

[Zero Angel]

Another thing I thought about is the breeding cycle. Elves have been around on my planet for over 12,000 years and there are those who are that old. If elves bred at the same rate as humans and never died the world would suffer rather badly from overpopulation. I'm thinking that elven women will be fertile from around 200 to 500 years old. In this time they have on average 2 children. I haven't done the maths on this though - nor do I really have a clue about fertility (even among humans) so there may be some rather big plot holes to fill here...

You could have them, and this would be really radical, have sex less.

...on top of less fertility, but if you make it so unlikely that they only have two kids in 300 years, then I think that is pushing the limits (personally). Can you imagine the elf that wants to have a kid try for 200 years until being successful?

I think creatures that live that long are probably more likely to have non-permanent unions (only for 50 - 100 years), although it makes the permanent ones that much more significant.

Another option is to have the woman be pregnant for 50-100 years and not even notice a physiological change until the last year of pregnancy--although it should probably be detectable so they can plan and celebrate and so forth.

Yet again, another option is to change their cycle. Woman are purportedly only fertile for 3 days during their cycle, called ovulation, (although sex before these days sometimes lingers--be warned!). If you have elven females ovulate once a century or once a decade, then that means they have to have the means and desire to have kids during a small span of time that happens 120 times less (for the per decade option) than it does for humans. It also means a successful pregnancy would require that they wouldn't take measures to prevent the pregnancy during that time. For a race that lives that long, they may think it is their duty to control the population.

Finally, one thing that you can do is have their biology be "psychic". This is what I generally do. Basically, let their bodies respond to the need for more population or less. If there is a terrible epidemic, then their bodies start to be a little more fertile and the average goes from 2 every 3 centuries to 4 or 5 or maybe it lasts for 5 centuries when there is a need. If the carrying capacity of the ecosystem for elves has been reached due to whatever limiting factors, then even elves that try might not be able to produce offspring at the rate they would like. Also, maybe they would be naturally less amorous. Clearly this would not be absolute (there would be variation), but I think there is definitely something in communal organisms that responds to the environment and this is not absurd to say that it would affect creatures like elves that would overpopulate given different physiology.

 

[psychotick]

Hi Zero Angel,

Why would it be really radical? I've always thought that a lot of the inspiration for Vulcans in Star Trek comes from elves. (Pointed ears, wise, non-violent (ish), long life spans) And they have sex every seven years.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[TWErvin2]

This question is tangently addressed in my second novel. There are immortals in my world (some call them greater elves, others immortal bloods, others gods).

There are also creatures that are immortal that were once human.

One thing that keeps them going the challenges that they're presented with--to survive, to hold their own or to conquer--powerful mortals and other immortal bloods. But they think in terms of decades and centuries in planning and execution. It's just a different mindset. Think of it as a child today, 3 months until Christmas or a birthday is an eternity. To an adult, the 3 three months arrives before it's realized. It's a matter of experience and perspective.

The daughter of an immortal blood, Belinda the Cursed, is asked by the main character how she deals with the deaths of those who have served her over the years. Flank Hawk, the main character is asking this in relation to his friend, Lilly, who is a lycanthrope and who's life span is shorter than a human's.

Here's an exceprt from Blood Sword to better explain:

I shrugged and looked out the window. “It’s not who I am, or want to be.”

She laughed–more like a cackle and not filled with mirth.

I reached for the cup and took another drink, knowing I’d regret continuing to talk, but I thought it’d be worth it. I probably would never get another chance to ask a question that’d been bothering me. “You’ve lived a long time. You’ve seen a lot of people age and die while you go on.” I took another drink. “How do you deal with it? How do you treat them as this happens?”

“Thinking about your lycanthrope friend, are you?”

I nodded, knowing that Lilly would become an old woman before I reached thirty-five summers. I thought about First Mate, Belinda Iceheart’s trusted sailor aboard her ship.

“You have posed a question few ever consider,” Belinda the Cursed said. She sat down in the chair and ran her fingers along the runes in her staff. “How to describe it…”

After moment of thought she said, “Have you ever had a faithful dog?”

I nodded, thinking back to Old Chip. He’d died three summers ago.

“Do not take this the wrong way, Mercenary, but this is the best relevant comparison I can come up with. You know First Mate. I think of him far more highly than any animal. He’s served me for many years, just as a faithful dog. I have watched him learn, mature and come into his own, and now he is beginning to show his years. Unlike an animal, he is cognizant of it happening, but accepts it. Once he cannot do what I expect of him, I will replace him.”

“Just like that?” I asked.

“The Sunset Siren needs a competent and able first mate. What would you have me do, Mercenary? With your lycanthrope friend, remember life is never equal, never fair, and continued life is never certain. Treat her as you do now until age changes the relationship, then move on.” She raised a hand before I could object. “Don’t forget her, but allow your friend her life cycle. For you, visit her. Let her know when she passes, you’ll remember her.

“First Mate has seen in my cabin. There, scribed on the wall, are the marks of all first mates who have served aboard the Sunset Siren, including his that he placed there.” She stood and started hobbling toward the door. “In your line of work, Mercenary, the mortality rate makes it a moot concern.”

That is just Belinda Iceheart's view on immortality, or an aspect of it. In another, the Colonel of the West, Iceheart's father, occasionally dines upon chicken and dumplings based on the recipe from his mother and grandmother nearly 3000 years ago. Of course, none of the cooks ever get it just right.

Here's an excerpt from the novel:

The Colonel appeared just past middle age. He wore an olive green jacket over a light green collared shirt with a black ribbon knotted at his throat. He walked with a straight back, alert and without expression–just like countless officers I’d seen. But the Colonel of the West was a greater elf, an immortal blood. He’d walked the earth for nearly 3000 years.

Lilly made a point of tasting Grand Wizard Seelain’s food and drink for poison before he reached the table. Seelain lifted a hand to stop her but changed her mind, knowing Lilly would object. Lilly was right and it was better to move forward than draw attention to it.

At the Colonel’s invitation we all sat. He bowed his head, as did Major Parks, and said a silent prayer. When he looked up he said, “This is a humble meal, lacking the splendor of a distinguished visitor’s banquet. But it is nutritious.” He took a gray cloth napkin and placed it on his lap. “Whether I eat alone or with my officers, or occasionally among the enlisted men, I partake in the same food as they do.”

Grand Wizard Seelain said, “You honor us by your presence and we expect no better than what you share with your soldiers.”

He nodded and gazed across the table at Lilly. “Scout, you look as if you have a question.”

Lilly hesitated but finally spoke after being urged by Wizard Seelain. “After all the years you’ve lived, doesn’t it get boring to eat? I mean, this food smells really good. But how many times have you eaten it?”

“Many things have lost their luster, Scout.” He spoke as if lecturing a newly recruited soldier, but in a friendly manner. “I encounter very few new or unique experiences.” His voice softened as he pointed with his spoon to the food on his plate. “This chicken and dumplings is my mother’s recipe. As always, the cook won’t get it exactly right. Nobody but my mother could, except my grandmother.”

He put a bite in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. “Although I think of them whenever this meal is prepared, I haven’t shared this information with anyone in three generations.”

Lilly’s eyes widened. “Who was the last person you told about this?”

“A cook. A corporal named McCombs. He thought the recipe called for too much salt.”

I took a bite of the chicken and dumplings. I’d never had it before. It was good and not too salty. Out of the corner of my eye I watched the Colonel eat. It was hard to reconcile the fact that he was a powerful immortal being. Some thought him equal to, if not a god. Yet he had his cooks prepare a meal that reminded him of his centuries upon centuries-dead mother.

Was he using guile to put us at ease when we should be on our guard?

The point being that I don't think one immortal would deal with such long lives exactly the same way as another. They'd each find their own path through that forest.