How do Dwarves age?

[DracoDruid]

Hey everyone.

I wonder, does anyone know if Dwarves age more slowly than humans or elves?

[Hellebore]

There was a quote on the dragon age wiki which doesn't seem to be there anymore. It said:

Dwarves in Thedas live longer on average because they are, on the whole, a relatively hearty race—but they certainly don't live anywhere near as long as dwarves in some other fantasy worlds (like the Forgotten Realms). Humans, elves and dwarves in Thedas all have comparable lifespans.

Hellebore

[Ghostdanser]

I have the same info Hellebore has, from when I grabbed almost everything that was posted about two years ago...and the same problem of no longer being able to locate it on the wikia site.

[DracoDruid]

I remembered something like that and couldn't find it either, that's why I'm asking.

For my own fantasy world, I used the human "ageing zones" as a basis and appointed each race an "aging factor".
e.g. Dwarves had AF 2. Meaning they would take twice as long as humans to get into a specific age.

(The main intention was to eliminate the STUPID 100+ year old 1st level Elves of D&D.
To semi-quote OotS: "that means 30 years in diapers" )

BTT:
Do you think "factor 2" would be too much or to low?
My instinct tells my either 1.5 or 2.
What do you think?

[Ghostdanser]

Do you think "factor 2" would be too much or to low?
My instinct tells my either 1.5 or 2.
What do you think?

Well it is really a matter of personal preference I suppose...but I would say both of those are probably too high.

The only current reference I can find is a quote by Dagna in DAO when she is referring to waiting for permission to research at the Circle Tower she says:

"Well I've waited nineteen years; another month won't kill me."

If you take her meaning to be a relaxed reference of her age being 19 years (vice waiting 19 years as an adult), then that seems to indicate dwarves mature at the same rate as humans. So basically the life span increase appears to be a reflection of dwarves (on the whole) having a hardier constitution.

I (personally) would probably go with a 1.25 or 1.3 age factor. It increases their longevity, but not tremendously. A 25% to 30% increase in lifespan is pretty significant in my view...but I wouldn't say 1.5 was ridiculous either.

[Loswaith]

Personally for ages of Humans, Dwarves and Elves, I havent realy pondered it much for Qunari yet, I go with about 50-70 years for humans and city elves, 60-80 years for typical dalish (the occasional one being allot older than that), while for dwarves about 70-100 years.

The setting being more inclined with medieval times disease and hygene arent up to modern standards, while life is a bit more harsh too which brings down the age of humans, though I look at the dwarven constitution giving them much similar lifespan to modern day real life humans.

[Jekias]

Personally for ages of Humans, Dwarves and Elves, I havent realy pondered it much for Qunari yet, I go with about 50-70 years for humans and city elves, 60-80 years for typical dalish (the occasional one being allot older than that), while for dwarves about 70-100 years.

The setting being more inclined with medieval times disease and hygene arent up to modern standards, while life is a bit more harsh too which brings down the age of humans, though I look at the dwarven constitution giving them much similar lifespan to modern day real life humans.

I was using the idea that Elves/Humans lived roughly the same and Dwarves twice as long (being an average old age of 70 for humans) but I've now reconsidered and personally like Loswaith's idea. Going to retcon this in now - but since my players are all 20'ish, this wont have big implications for them - more so for NPCs than anything else.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

I think the basic impression/gut feeling, is that dwarfs of Thedas live five quarters of a human lfiespan. So longer but not by much. I wouldn't see a Dragon Age dwarf living to over 120 myself and that would be pretty rare.

[shonuff]

Dalish elves might live considerably longer than city elves and humans. Zathrian, from DA:O, has been alive for centuries, and while that instance is attributed to blood magic, it's also not considered extremely strange.

[Loswaith]

The thing with the Dalish elves is it doesnt seem to be a blanket case of all of them living longer, the majority likely dont, but they definatly have a slide back towards their heratage of being immortal. So pining down ages for a specific individual of a Dalish elf can be some what complex.
While the dalish dont likely have issues with anyone living longer or likely to even make much of a point of it as they would see it as part of their history and heratage as well, like something they lost but are begining to find.

I went with the dalish being 60-80 years simply because I see the vast majority living slightly longer than city elves, due to, partly lifestyle, partly their heratage, while a few will of course live longer (being important if it needs to be for plot reasons).

[Lynata]

The thing with the Dalish elves is it doesnt seem to be a blanket case of all of them living longer, the majority likely dont [...]

Yet isn't that one of the traits specifically pointed out as a difference between "wild" Dalish Elves and City Elves in Set 1, where it says that the latter somehow seem to "lose" this longevity due to living in human cities?

If there's a Dalish that has been alive for centuries in DA:O, it stands to reason that this is a rather good example ... until we hear something to the contrary, at least.

[shonuff]

The thing with the Dalish elves is it doesnt seem to be a blanket case of all of them living longer, the majority likely dont, but they definatly have a slide back towards their heratage of being immortal.

True... of course, an "average" lifespan would account for that.

But, you're right in that the Dalish would vary greatly, if it's true that staying away from humans would increase their lifespan; many are raised amongst the Dalish while many are coming from the cities.

If there's a Dalish that has been alive for centuries in DA:O, it stands to reason that this is a rather good example ... until we hear something to the contrary, at least.

Not quite. It's a plot point.

[Sidmen]

Yet isn't that one of the traits specifically pointed out as a difference between "wild" Dalish Elves and City Elves in Set 1, where it says that the latter somehow seem to "lose" this longevity due to living in human cities?

Close, Elvenkind have lost (past tense) their longevity because they were forced into close contact with humankind. Long ago, they were once immortal, then some thousands of years ago the Tevinter conquered and enslaved them, quickening their blood as a result. Now, they live only as long as humans. Some believe segregating themselves from humankind will let them lead longer lives, this has not yet been proven.

If there's a Dalish that has been alive for centuries in DA:O, it stands to reason that this is a rather good example ... until we hear something to the contrary, at least.

He is a few centuries old because of events unrelated to his elven lifestyle. For comparison, the Human Mage Avernus (also found in Origins) is several centuries older than the Dalish mage you mention.

It seems that mages have many options to extend their lifespan - most hiding in some form of blood magic.

[shonuff]

Close, Elvenkind have lost (past tense) their longevity because they were forced into close contact with humankind. Long ago, they were once immortal, then some thousands of years ago the Tevinter conquered and enslaved them, quickening their blood as a result. Now, they live only as long as humans. Some believe segregating themselves from humankind will let them lead longer lives, this has not yet been proven.

My personal theory (right now) is that the elves used some form of very strong blood magic. Maybe they hid Arlathan (the Golden/Black City in the Fade?) or maybe they cursed the Tevinter with the Darkspawn or something else entirely.

But I think it has been proven that the Dalish have begun to get their longer lives back.

[Ghostdanser]

Not sure on whether the elves are regaining their longevity or not, but here's a bit of clarification on Arlathan...

Maybe they hid Arlathan (the Golden/Black City in the Fade?) or maybe they cursed the Tevinter with the Darkspawn or something else entirely.

Arlathan was a physical city in Thedas which was once (presumably) located within the Arlathan Forest, which can be found on the Thedas Map on the north coast between Tevinter and Antiva. It shouldn't be confused with the Golden/Black City in the Fade although I can easily see how that mistake could be made.

From the wikia site...
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Arlathan

Little is known about how or why the Tevinter Imperium came to conquer the great city of Arlathan, but elven lore tells that, rather than fight, the elves chose to flee and that with magic, demons, and even dragons at their behest, the Tevinter magisters used their great destructive power to force the very ground to swallow Arlathan whole, destroying eons of collected knowledge, culture, and art.

Hope that helps.

[shonuff]

Except Arlathan is missing. I would assume that there would be some sort of excavation in search of Elven artifacts, especially by the Tevinter. If the city had been swallowed by the earth, then there could easily be remnants in the Deep Roads. Additionally, the Codexes, while helpful, are written as sources from the setting, not as omniscient historical fact, so they must be taken with a grain of salt.

I'm not saying that Arlathan is necessarily the Golden/Black City. I just find it interesting that the elves had a deep connection with the Fade and there is a mythology surrounding the utter destruction of one city and the corruption of another. Or it could just be coincidence.

[Ghostdanser]

You might very well be correct...lord only knows what we will eventually get for the truth of the matter...but I am taking a slightly different approach in my game.

If the Tevinter mages were able to cause the earth to swallow Arlathan whole it would have required an incredible amount of power...enough power to significantly damage the Veil in the area and make the place extremely dangerous. The Brecilian Forest would be a cake walk by comparison. The Arlathan Forest in my game would probably be more properly named "Arlathan Forest, home of the screaming death of a thousand hells where no sane adventurer would ever really want to set foot, but where they may have to go because the GM is a sick and twisted bastard that wants to kill us all!!!"

Unfortunately that name is a bit too long for most maps...so Arlathan Forest will have to suffice. I guess in a nut shell I am treating it as it's not so much "lost" in the sense the elves don't know where it is (or once stood)....so much as "lost" in the sense that they cannot return there for fear of what lies in wait. As for why the Tevinter mages don't go there...well I figure they didn't realize the repercussions of using such powerful magic to destroy the city (they don't seem to have done it again to another city)...but after the first few mages that set foot on the ground were turned into abominations I imagine they realized their mistake and quarantined the forest.

"Demons and Ghosts and Abominations...oh my!"

[shonuff]

If the Tevinter did sink Arlathan, I'm assuming the Veil would be extremely torn there. I'm surprised that the city hasn't come into play yet in the game series more than the Arl of Foreshadow's reference...

But then, I also imagine Tevinter mages coming across the city...

Mage 1: Where'd it go?
Mage 2: Duh.... IDK! (Yes, he speaks in text)
Mage 1: I know! Let's say we did it!
Mage 2: OMG! Oh snap great idea!

[Zapp]

There was a quote on the dragon age wiki which doesn't seem to be there anymore. It said:

Dwarves in Thedas live longer on average because they are, on the whole, a relatively hearty race—but they certainly don't live anywhere near as long as dwarves in some other fantasy worlds (like the Forgotten Realms). Humans, elves and dwarves in Thedas all have comparable lifespans.

Hellebore

I have the same info Hellebore has, from when I grabbed almost everything that was posted about two years ago...and the same problem of no longer being able to locate it on the wikia site.

Deleted stuff on a wiki is still accessible through the page history.

In this case, a user named Mictlantecuhtli trimmed the Trivia section of the Dwarf page at 10:15, May 26, 2011. The quoted paragraph was one of the things removed.

As can be seen right here: http://dragonage.wikia.com/index.php?ti ... did=319744

In this case, the user left the following comment:

(Bunch of trivia that isn't trivia. Dwarves and elves are not enemies in any other game I can think of, Varric is one of many beardless dwarves, dwarves in D&D don't have exceptionally long lifespans.)

Not sure how this is relevant to the actual removal of text, but whatever. Probably there is no official source on dwarven lifespans, which would be a legitimate reason to remove that text.


Wiki-Zapp

[Ghostdanser]

Deleted stuff on a wiki is still accessible through the page history.

In this case, a user named Mictlantecuhtli trimmed the Trivia section of the Dwarf page at 10:15, May 26, 2011. The quoted paragraph was one of the things removed.

As can be seen right here: http://dragonage.wikia.com/index.php?ti ... did=319744

Nifty to know...I tried the wayback machine website, but couldn't find it there...nice to know it can be found in the page history for the wiki. Thanks!

But then, I also imagine Tevinter mages coming across the city...

Mage 1: Where'd it go?
Mage 2: Duh.... IDK! (Yes, he speaks in text)
Mage 1: I know! Let's say we did it!
Mage 2: OMG! Oh snap great idea!

Or...ya know…now that I think about it…the elves might have employed a Somebody Else’s Problem field (as detailed by Douglas Adams in his brilliant Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series), all they would have to do is paint the entire city of Arlathan pink with maybe purple polka dots and/or yellow stripes and the human mind would have rebelled against the very thought of the city, rendering it effectively invisible.

Elf #1 – Wow…so painting the city obnoxious colors really made it invisible to the human mind! The Tevinter Mages will never be able to find and invade the city now!

Elf #2 – Yep…and the beauty of it is we can always blame it on the Tevinter mages…saying they had the earth swallow it whole…or some such other nonsense. Humans are so stupid...they'll believe anything. It's a good thing we elves would never fall for such a transparent trick...

Elf #1 – Brilliant…well I suppose we should be heading on home for dinner…

Elf #2 - Yep…it is getting to be about that time…after you…

Elf #1 – I was going to follow you…I can’t quite seem to quite place where my house is from here…

Elf #2 – Ummm…so uh…you’re having a small problem with that also…

Elf #1 – Yes...I suppose it’s a good thing we have those Tevinter mages to blame for this…

[Ghostdanser]

I was reading a David Gaider interview and found some info on Elves aging...

http://swooping-is-bad.livejournal.com/1286233.html

TUK: Totally jumping question--we're running out of time, so I hope this will be a quick one--how long do elves live|? Clearly they once had much longer lifespans than they do, and they refer to humans as shemlen or quicklings, but how long do they actually live nowadays?

DG: City elves have the same lifespans as humans. They call them shemlen because it's an ancient word...occasionally city elves will use some words that are elven without really understanding where they really come from. So it's a derogatory term, and that's all it is to them when they say shem, the short version, they call humans that even though the reasons for that word no longer exist. Dalish tend to live longer. We're not talking into Tolkienesque numbers of years here. The longer they've stayed away and their parents have stayed away from humanity, the longer they seem to live. There are exceptional individuals among them as well, Zathrian had lived for almost three hundred years. It's going to vary but for the city elves, the elves that live inside human cities, they don't have exceptional lifespans at all.