My Merari looks very young and innkeepers often tell him they shouldnt be serving such a young'un, really, but with the economy..

He is an Altmer though and in his late sixties. Wich for an Altmer is very young, of course.

I always make my characters look young so I'll say around 21 yrs old.

Raistlin is as young as possible. Maybe something about 15-19.
Hey, does characters get old when you sleep like 10 years? (I know that's not possible to sleep 10 years).

All of my characters are at the youngest you can be in the game. I'd say they're all about 19-ish.

My character is my age, which is to say he's 16 years old. I know that's quite young, but I can relate to my character more that way and his backstory works a bit better that way, as well.

Nope.
I must be the otulier, I like making my characters old. Makes them feel wise and experienced.

Being young has its own advantages, though. It fits more with a character's initial lack of experience and makes me feel like my character is a killing prodigy. By the time he turns 17 years old, he will have killed several hundred people, possibly reaching into the thousands.

Well i have 2 characters both are brothers.
Sepht Volturi the older one has born in Sun's Height, 31st, 3E400, he's 33 years old born under the sign of the Warrior... His parents died at 3E425 when he has 25 years old...
Veronica Volturi the youngest one, has born in Sun's Height, 2nd, 3E412, she's 21 years old born under the sign of the Assassin, She lost her parents when she has 13 years old living with her brother, and when she has 17 years old, she leaves the house to begin a new journey, she goes to prison in 3E432 with 20 years old and leave the prison in 3E433.

Elberond was born under the sign of the Thief on 12 Evening Star in 3E 408. At the start of the Oblivion Crisis, he was 24.

I often wonder what age is 'young' or 'old' for various races. Mannimarco is known to have lived for about 1000 years (ca.2E200-3E433) according to his Lore article on uesp, so clearly Altmer have a significant lifespan although perhaps 1000 is not typical (also, Mannimarco is defeated by the player, so it is possible his future lifespan may have been significant). Accordingly, my Altmer mage had the most youthful face possible but is still 87 for roleplaying purposes. I consider that 87 in Altmer years is probably equivalent to about 20 in human (ie Imperial, Breton, Nord, Redguard) years.

Dunmer and Bosmer I guess would have less significant lifespans but still greater than humans, as their archetypal lifestyles tend to be more active than sedentary (thieves/scouts/warriors as opposed to scholars or mages). Although, Barenziah lives for several hundred years if I recall. Khajiit I guess probably don't live all that long as in-game sources refer to 'litters' of Khajiit kittens, diminishing the benefits of parenting to them. Argonians, I would regard as similar to Khajiit. Orcs? Haven't a clue, but I never played Orcs, so .

So, in my mind, lifespans are like this:

Altmer: ~ 500-800 years typical, potentially? perhaps 1200.
Dunmer/Bosmer: ~ 250-400 years typical, potential 600.
Imperials/Bretons/Redguards/Nords: standard human lifespans (50-80 years typical, potential 100 or so)
Khajiit/Argonians: 15-30 years, similar to real-life cats and lizards.
Orcs: ?

My own characters had the following ages:

Luther Martinus (Imperial Crusader): 35 - middle-aged appearance
Gwenyan (Altmer Healer): 87 - youthful appearance
Fenrir Darkblade (Dunmer Assassin): 45 - youthful appearence
Berrick (Redguard Mercenary): 21 - youthful appearence
Marie le Belle (Breton Rogue): 18 - youthful appearence
Eldod Ulthainn (Bosmer Archer/Scout): 52 - young middle-aged appearence
Aenur (Altmer Alchemist): 408 - late middle-aged appearence, but still with colour in his hair!
Kerr-Mitt (Argonian Scout): 8 - youthful appearence, whatever that means with Argonians!
Julia Martinus (Imperial Soldier): 38 - middle-aged appearence

PS. Acadian, I read and love Buffy's journal over at Chorrol.com, but one of the things that could be improved about it is to change her age to make it more consistent with relative Bosmer/human age. If I recall, one of the entries refers to Daenlin saying to Buffy that 'she doesn't need to rush through life like those round-ears'. Yet, at 18, she has already left home and is independent, and an accomplished adventurer, and is harbouring mature feelings for Savlian Matius. In my mind, an 18-year-old Bosmer would probably be barely out of nappies.

My character is Rhiannon. She is around 50, but for mages, that's quite young. She has ventured in Tamriel for about 50 days (although she is not sure how the translates into a calendar she understands).

Remember Mannimarco is a special case, as he is a lich. Regular Altmer should have the same (if not slightly longer) lifespan than Bosmer and Dunmer. Orcs, I suspect they would live for 150-300 years maybe, people seem to forget that in tamriel, the full name of Orcs is Orismer, and that they are dubbed "Corrupt Elves", and because of this, I suspect that there would be a difference in Regular Elvish and the orcs Life Span.
Also, with Buffy's case, I think I recall her father being a Breton, and it is widely accepted that Elves don't start to slow down the aging process till about 30.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Calendar#Months_of_the_Year might help.

I had forgotten that Buffy was half-Breton. In that case, it could be argued that her early development has derived from her father, while her lifespan capacity has derived from her Bosmer mother. I guess that would make sense.

Is there anything in the Lore that actually lays down 'official' lifespans for the races?

I don't think so, there are people and books in game that do say '[race]can live for[approximate]amount of years' so we get a fair idea, but no solid evidence.

Thank you for the kind observations about Buffy's age. In writing an in-depth saga type fan fiction (as Buffy's story is), it is necessary to be aware of lore, but not be slaved to it. We make choices that in most cases are consistent with lore. I tried to keep her age a little bit closer to what one might expect with a human to make her easier for human readers to identify with.

Claiming some literary license, this is how things work in 'Buffy Fiction'. Some of it is lore, some it is reasonable license, and some of it is just plain the way things work in Buffy Fiction:

Although her father was indeed Breton, her mother was Bosmer, and Buffy's physiology is Bosmer (lore). Bosmer come to sixual maturity several years later than humans (lore), and they ovulate about every 180 days instead of the human cycle of approximately 28 days (reasonable license). Further, they have trouble getting pregnant and are lucky to have two children over the course of their several hundred year lifespan (lore). This helps explain why elves don't overpopulate Nirn and why young elven women (especially Dunmer) are often perceived as promiscuous (lore).

Buffy experienced her first period at the age of 19 while a student at the Arcane University. Although slower to physically develop than a human, there is no way around the fact that elves have lived longer by the time they get there. This explains why Buffy is more sophisticated at 'puberty' than her human counterparts of only 13-14 years old.

During her first meeting with Savlian Matius, she was 'wowed' by his heroism and found it romantic as many teenage girls might. She then promptly ran away from him, confused by her feelings. Over time, her interest in him is deepening and maturing, just as she is maturing. By the time she helps him close that Oblivion Gate, I expect she will be 20, and perhaps ready for love.

I'm certainly not saying our view of elven age/physiology is the perfect lore answer, but I believe it is reasonably consistent and suits our purpose for her story telling. :tongue:

In a world where Divayth Fyr (Morrowind) can be 4000 years old, my characters are not going to worry about a few hundred years one way or the other. :wink_smile:

Llara Aran (Dunmer girl) was born in 5th Heartfire 3E 316, which makes her about 17 at the start of Oblivion. Which, as I suppose Acadians view seems right, makes her still a bit immature. She was born in Blacklight, Morrowind, but soon after moved to Windhelm, Skyrim. Her parents died when she was 17.


I used this as a guide for age:

Actually, on average, Altmer live a lot longer than Bosmer or Dunmer. It's not uncommon for an Altmer to reach 1000, whereas it's decidedly uncommon for any other mer to get past 500 without magical aids.

There's a very interesting piece of lore about one of the reasons Altmer live longer. I do believe it was Phynaster who showed them that a shortened stride would extend their lives by at least 100 years.

The trouble with the lifespans of races is that like much of its lore, Bethesda changes it with every game. So it is anything you want it to be.

Thank you for that comprehensive explanation!

edit: I mean that sincerely.

Wow, yeah, waaay more than I ever wanted to know, lol =D

Camarilla just turned 20, at the peak of her physical evolution! Now she just needs some experience and skill =)

I really cannot remember right now.
Anyway, for those of you who want to know, using the construction set to make NPCs shows that the age slider runs from 15 to 65, that means if you created a character with age all the way to the left, he/she is 15.

Lol, I just noticed yesterday and was gonna bring that up.

Eh, I typically put them in the 22-26 range.

Thanks for the link! I had suspected that the Oblivion calendar coincided with our human one. So Mage Rhiannon is 50 and will be so for another 315 days.