It is fairly common knowledge that the Dunmer live to be about 130 - 140, and that Altmer live extremely long lives, but how long do Nords, Imperials, Bretons, Argonians, Khajiit, and Orcs generally live, And approximately what is each races average height?

I ask because this is not easily found, if found at all.

Much is left up to speculation, for example, one would speculate that because Bretons are "Manmer" as the Nords called them, they should live longer than most men. Also, sincs supposedly much of the curse shortening Nords lifespans was thrown onto the Orcs, they should live shorter lives (Maybe 30 - 40? )

If you could answer this question quickly, for each race, it would be greatly appreciated.

Orcs are the shorter-lived race, with about fifty or sixty years. Other humans can live up to about a hundred and ten (one of the Nordic kings reached 108), although they more often have eighty or so years. Bretons seem to have, although there's no real lore that I've found on the subject, ninety to a hundred and thirty years (latter age is probably very rare).

But I don't know much about height at all. It goes from the size of a teenager to a small house (Senche-Raht).

Topic about heights: http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=872601&hl=height


As far as we know bosmer, dunmer and altmer can become somewhere between 500 and 1000 years old.
It all depends on the type of person however. A wealthy person would be able to afford better health care and thus would live longer.
The average age for Dunmer are thought to be:
Commoner: 100-140
Nobility: 500-1000
Other (Telvanni): 2000-4000 (they do use magic to lengtten their lifespan however.)

The best known qoutes about Elven age are:

There is not much known about the age of Argonians. If such information does exist however it can be most likely be found in the Argonian Compendium: http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/brendanarticle1.shtml

Eh, I dconsider the information in Barenziah to be archaic, not valid anymore information. The interview seems more like it...

Other way around really. The use of magic extends your lifespan. Just look into the whole corruption of original power spiel that the elves went through. Mundus is partially made of Sithis, which causes change. Random change has a degenerative effect on everything, essentially it causes ageing. Having plenty of magicka shields you from this change as first the raw magicka gets changed before you do.

Yet Barenziah is over 400 years old.

Is it just the using of magicka or the amount of magicka that shields one from ageing?

And what does this say about the immortal Nerevarine? Does the corprus just give him a large "magicka shield" or is his body in perfect stasis?

I thought as a coprus victim you just survived because your body was always renewing with more flesh. Those who didn't have a divine power keeping it in check grew into living tumors, but the Nerevarine and the servants of the Sixth house had some gods controling the disease, so it would not get out of hand. I guess it lengthens your telomeres, prevents macular degeneration, cleans out p-16, removes heavy metal buildup, and other things that might help keep you alive but also cause cancer.

Well, the way you describe it, anybody with a very high magicka reserve should have longer lifespans, which I guess in game terms means more intelligent people have longer lifespans.

Remember, though, that mistress Dratha was said to be using necromantic arts to extend her lifespan, meaning that apparently if the large ammount of magicka prevents you from aging, it isn't enough once you start to get as old as her. Then again, Fyr was older and didn't claim to be using magic to extend his lifespan, though he might have been, since he could actually clone and was apparently capable of the genetic manipulation to produce females, which I assume is the same as in humans due to bretons existing. Then again, Nirn might not have the physics for genes and such to be the basis of heredity.

What? Where is that from?


Which is a far cry from "thousands of years old".

Well, maybe child birth and magical abortion takes it out of you? If I recall correctly, Barenziath went through plenty as a younger elf. The events during youth probably have a strong impact on a person's health later in life, regardles of species.


Well, I recall reading in some book that magicka "elightens and informs". Meanwhile, Sithis is apparently entropy. I would figure that if Sitis is really just the universal tendency to disorder, then he would be uniformly spread throughout all space, and so the only defense would be to reorder and be cold, but considering how personified he is in TES, and the different nature of the universe, perhaps the presence of a dense cloud of information and magic could stave off his effects.

The author of http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/invocation_of_azura.shtml claims to have been a priestess of Azura for three hundred years, and there's no evidence that she's a noble, so my guess would be that the average Dunmer lives (or could potentially live) at least a few centuries. I'm not inclined to trust that interview; it's interesting, but it doesn't seem to bear much relationship to the Dunmer we actually see in Morrowind.

Exactly!

Well that and a serious lack of Telvani actually using Necromantic (gag) magics (gag).

Id rather have that. What you described seems a far stretch to me, supported maybe by some sources but kinda far away from them. Besides, that every strong magic uses is automatcially far living seems quite BATW to me, compared to Telvanni usage of necromantic arts.

Extending your life with Necromancy is the biggest thematic misnomer ever. Necromancy deals with things that are dead. It's hallmark way of extending life is by reanimating your own dead body as a lich. Thematically, lichdom is also either a trap for those who want power fast or a last resort for the desperate.

But thematically neither of those makes sense when you can als live life for several thousand years by just using some further undescribed "Necromantic Magics". As far as BATW goes, this is a bloody eyesore.

So you don't believe there's anything to the oft-repeated rumor that the Telvanni mage lords are Necromancers who feed off souls, Proweler?

Erm, you dont think your explanation has the same problem? Why become a Lich when one can use Telvanni necromantci Arts? Well, why become a Lich when one can as well train the own magicka? Considering how difficult it seems to become a Lich, training to gain more Magicka doesnt seem to be such a more difficult feat.

Also, while Necromancy is the Magic of Death, I see no reason why life-enlenghtening effects cant come out of it. Its like science, where sideproducts are often the most successful ones. Wasnt Viagra a sideproduct of cancer research or something?

*coughcough*Restoration*cough*

I don't doubt that there are Telvani who engage in Necromancy and seeing how quite a few of them are conjurers I can imagine that rather then eating souls they are selling them. I just don't believe it capable of extending your life while living.



Because eventually everybody dies.

I'm specifically arguing against the idea that "Necromantic Magics" extends the life of a living mage, it's the magika that does this and presumably more so for elves.

However they do it, Dratha and Therana both use necromancy to sustain themselves somehow. I wonder if it could be connected to their degrading (or in Therana's case, degraded) sanities.

I recall a quote from Aryon on Dratha but the quests she sends you on is for an Amulet of Flesh made whole, which is a powerful restorative item. The only 'necromancy' I'm seeing in this is an attempt in warding of death.

What about Therana? It's mentioned in the dialogue as a side note, that she can go on forever because she's sustained by necromantic arts, but unless the smell of rotten eggs keeps her alive, I'm not seeing any of it either.

Well, I didn't see anything that contradicted it either.

I don't know how they do it, but whatever it is, it's considered the necromantic arts. Which opens up another can of worms (sorry, couldn't resist).

Well that's exactly my point. Nothing supports it either other then then a very unspecific line. Now I really don't mean to stereotype Necromancy, but generally it does involve dead things.

So I'm more inclined to look at the effects of extensive use of magic because that does consitently seem to be the common element. Especially because for the Altmer the decline of it is associated with the decline from Sacred into the profane and they to great lengths to prevent it using more magichttp://www.imperial-library.info/obscure_text/nu-hatta_nu-mantia.shtml#8. As such the preservative effect of magicka should also hold on a personal level.

I've been doing a bit of in game reading and I remember the phrase 'he aged like a breton' in reference to the half-elven emperor whose name I can't remember. So presumeably Bretons have an age span that is intermediate between that of elves and those on the more human races, given that thier racial is extra magicka that would seem to support the thoery that is it a person's magicka 'store' that allows them to live longer, provided no outside factors prevent it.

Obviously a person's birthsign would also affect thier lifespan, with atronachs possibly living the longest under 'natural' conditions.