I've been wondering, how long is the average natural life span of elves in EQ2. In some of the shows I've watched and books that I've read elves can easily live past 100 years. Is this also true for EQ2 elves? If so what about half elves, what is there average lifespan?
As i understand it high elves live a long time(over a hundred years) with the exception of the Renda'Dal elves (they live only about 100 years due to their isolationist, purity philosophy i.e lack of genetic diversity) Wood Elves live a bit longer then humans (as do half elves) I assume dark elves live similarly long lifespans to high elves. Hope i was helpful.
Umm...average life span. Variable? Story driven? Sorry, I know it isn't a very helpful response. Renda'Dal actually have very short lifespans. We're talking 60 years. Mayong did a real number on them. That means they match the life expectancy of someone born in the late 1800s. All of the rest of the Elves live a long time. Living 1000 years is considered exceptional but not too uncommon. The enchanter you meet outside of New Tunaria is that old, and feeble. Terren of Terren's Grasp is the same age and in much better shape. Firona Vie is somewhere in her...800s? 700s? Something like that. She has a touch of grey in her blond. Still shows a lot of skin. Opal Darkbriar has to be pushing 1000. Maybe older. Really hard to tell with her. Various Teir'dal Emperors were suppose to have lived for thousands of years...but that could be that the name was assumed by the next Emperor. There is conflicting lore in that regard. Dwarves live in the 300 range. Gnomes are close to that too. Halflings...dunno. Longer than humans. Less than elves. Except for the entire Bobick clan and Squire Fuzzmin who are apparently immortals. Barbarians, Humans and Euradites all have similar lifespans. About 100 years max. Various individuals have methods to achieving longer life spans (most being a version of undeath). Guessing Ogres are close to a human lifespan. No idea about Trolls, Iksar, Sarnak, Ratonga or Kerra. If you dig in this forum you'll find a thread where someone that has the Everquest Role Playing Game posted the numbers in their book. While I question how cannon that information is, its at least a start.
From the old EQ RPG book : (1st number being "average" for the race, 2nd being the "natural" maximum. Obviously, things like magic, planar travels, divine gifts, necromancy etc. can change that) Ogre 60-80 Troll 65-89 Barbarian 70-106 Human 75-115 Erudite 90-138 Vah Shir 100-140 (EQ2 Kerran might be less than that) Iksar 100-160 Half Elf 110-170 Halfling 100-200 Dwarf 250-450 Gnome 200-500 Wood Elf 300-700 High Elf 350-750 Dark Elf 375-775
Elizerain may have lived to be 3000..seeing as she was around during the Lost Age...unless it's 2 elven queens sharing the same name. but for the most part, the elves are pretty much timeless. they live until disease or someone else kills them. though in elizerain's case, they can literally die of broken heart.
Going by the responses (thanks everyone) is it right to assume the average lifespan of the average population of pure blooded elves is 100 - 1000, while half elves live only a little longer than humans (guess being half human has its drawbacks). So another question: Do elves mature at the same rate as humans then just stop when they hit their physical prime, or do they have longer childhoods to match their greater lifespans. If anyone can post a link to a website that explains this stuff (in terms of EQ2) I would appreciate it.
There arn't any websites that covers anything like that. Childhood really isn't talked about in the EQ2 universe. I can't think of any in-game references (which would be the important ones).
Well we could always ask for some more lore on creature lifespans, racial growth rates and adulthood the game has been running a long time and society has changed since launch. Remember in Kunark there is a iksar child(Sethis Kai) who asks you to kill some local mobs for their feathers in exchange for learning sathirian so he can present the feathers to his father so he can be considered an adult.
Yep, there are a few examples like this, but do they help answer the OP's questions? How old is that iksar child when he takes his coming of age ceremony? The quest doesn't say. Age isn't something that gets brought up very often. I think there might be one or two quests where an elf talks about themselves coming of age but I can't think of one where they actually give you a number.
Up until a certain point all of the ages were assumed to be about the same length. Then the Age of Cataclysms called that all into question. Most ages were assumed to be at least 1000 years, but the Age of Cataclysms was only 500. The current age in EQ1 was even shorter (sorry, I can't think of what that age is called). What we know (or do we?) of the Lost Age is that it covers the lifespan of the Combine Empire. We also know that history was purged from that time period but no idea why or how. It could be that the Lost Age covered less than a single human lifespan considering that Katta both founded the Empire and ruled over it until his best friend Seru killed him and plunged it into a civil war. As far as we know his Inquisition was responsible for destroying all records of the Empire to cover the vicious betrayal that Seru was responsible for. Though that wouldn't explain how records would of been removed from Neriak. They were a new addition to the Empire and they wouldn't of trusted the Inquisition. If nothing else the Thex Emperors would of gloated at the fall of Seru and the folly of the Combine Empire. So really, something else had to be responsible? One disturbing possibility is Anashti'Sul could of been banished at this time. That would explain the massive memory loss as the Gods went to erase any possible record of her when that happened. Though that seems silly, undeath was probably around before the Combine Empire. Though again, there isn't anything that says how long between when Anashti'Sul created undeath and how long it took the gods to come to the decision of banishing her to the Void. The gods aren't exactly known for prompt action. More likely we still don't know why history was erased during the Combine Empire. Possibly nobody knows because it wasn't specified when that lore was written? Even without a backstory to support it, the notion that there is a lost piece of history has a large appeal to it.
Noticed this some years back as well, it would make sense that the High Elven Queen would have access to powerful magics and mages/healers that could imbue her with the ability to prolong a High elves already lengthy natural life. iirc EQ1's old Faydwer Map had Elizerain's Lake to which it the EQRPG book fabled her tomb or another powerful elven adventurer's tomb at the bottom of. Like Meirril says tho, not all ages are the same length of time, some are very quick others take a while. Doesn't the book in Nek3 say she only entered the grey afterlife only a few years/decades before EQ'1's age of turmoil (or even EQ1's "starting" time)? note to the devs!: the Nek 3 book hasnt been reset in about 4 yeas, I know b/c every time I go to do nek3 (about every 6months) it still has my toon locked out of it even if i answer all the questions correctly. Because I answered it wrong on one of my runs 4-5 yrs ago.
As far as the life span of PC's in game, it seems moot. No one appears to age in EQ2, and with the exception of NPC's, no PC stays dead, unless deleted. Sadly, deletion is like they never existed. Just a thought...
