Which race lives longest according to lore? Also, do we have any idea which lives shortest?

i think the high elves live the longest not sure about the shortest though

Generally all types of 'mer'- Altmer, Dunmer, Bosmer, Dwemer. They can naturally live up to 1,000 years. Necromantic magicks can extend their lifespan for thousands more.

I think imperials or altmer or nord or redguard is the shortest lived. Maybe they even share their rank on it.
Khajit and Argonians would live a little longer i guess.
Dunmeri and Wood Elfs i wonder. I think the Dunmer lives the longer in this case.
High Elf would be the longest lived, they are also closer to the antic elvens in genes i guess.

WHAT? 1000 years? I seem to remember an Altmer in the Cheydinhal mages guild saying that they have quite long lives but I would never have thought it would be more than 120 years...

Traditionally in DnD lore elves always live fairly long lifespans, and I believe this to be true in TES as well (just, umm, it seems right). I'm thinking the Altmer live longest and the Dunmer the least, with Bosmer in between.

The Khajiit and Argonians probably also have decent logevity; I expect the Imperials, Redguards, Bretons, and Nords to all be akin to normal humans.

While it is possible for Mer to become thousands of years old, these are however far and few between. This is shown by the specific mentions Dyviath Fyr and Baladas Demnivani get for their 4000 and 2000 years. Phynasters addition of another hundred years to the Altmer span made him a culture-hero, which suggests those years were a significant addition. So the reference to thousands of years from the Real Barenziah should be taken with a grain of salt, artistic freedom. The http://www.imperial-library.info/interviews/alvur.shtml however pegs it around 120 years for Dunmer providing no accidents happen. I'd estimate the average Altmer life span to be somewhere around 200.

It's already been mentioned but Mer in general have a better stride for getting old. Not so much because of a natural older age but because it appears their age is more flexible. Good health care has brought Barenziah to 500 years, but it's magic that really does it as shown by Dyviath and Baladas. This ofcourse isn't so strange considering Mer descend from the Old Elnofey, beings more adjusted to a life in a world that was closer Aetherius then ours.

Altmer probably have the longest natural, un-tampered-with lifestyles.

Sorcerors and Mages of all races can probably extend their lifespans beyond the normal limit. Specifically, a few Dunmer of Great House Telvanni measure in the thousands, most notably Lord Fyr. What magics he used to accomplish this specifically are unknown but it's speculated the Telvanni use Necromancy, and he is shown to be a skilled "cloner" able to "grow daughters" from his own flesh. Theoretically he could use whatever science/magic he controlled to accomplish this to extend the life and youth of his own flesh.

I'd probably say the Khajiit and Argonians have shorter lives than the Bretons/Imperials/Redguards and Nords. The khajiit and argonians are based around animals, and animals usually have a shorter lifespan.

With an immunity to poison and a strong resistance to diseases, I'd expect the argonians to fare better than the khajits who have none of it. Even in a slave pit in Tear, which can be as vermin and disease-ridden as the worst Black Marsh has to offer.

If we consider a lifestyle shielded from physical abuse and exposed to good medical cure, including magic, I'd put them at something like the following :

* altmers : up to 1000 - commoners up to 250
* bosmers : something like 600, commoners up to 200 - they're not as known for lon lives as the altmers but they share their resistance to diseases
* dunmers : up to 4-500, 120 for the commoners - they don't share the other elve's resistance to diseases

humans :
upper class up to 120, commoners usually up to 60 but up to 80 with luck
bretons might add an extra (say 150 and 80) thanks to their trace of elven blood
redguards may also have a bit more thanks to their moderate resistance to diseases

Having seen no mention of special longevity for the argonians and humans I'd put them on par with humans, the argonians getting the same as the bretons.

the orcs are an uknown quantity - their elven origin might help, but orcs have only been recently been in a condition to die of old age. Acording to not so reliable nord sources, they got a curse dumped on them by Lorhkan that shorten their years, which would put them as the shortest lived - maybe 90 and 50 for the commoners.

Altmer - longest
Orcs- shortest, due to curse.

Based on the animals I'd expect Khajiits to live less than humans and Argonians to live more than naked apes.

Big reptiles have longer lifespans than humans. Crocodiles can live until they reach 120 years (some cases were documented) in a safe environment. Turtles can reach more than 250 years (a documented case again). Add resistance to disease and poisons and maybe a lifespan of 150-175 years starts to make sense.

The oldest house cats reach 20 years of life more or less, Tigers can reach 26 years in zoos (googled it ) but if they are really descendants of Elves, maybe they have longer lives as well.

You're extrapolating, but there's no proof.

:poke:

Pretty hilarious that you try to equate house cats to walking cat people who are born different due to phases of the moons, which themselves are remnants of a dead god.

Some phases of Khajiit are intelligent housecats.

Mers' lives the longest generally.

QFT
Besides I mentioned Tigers too, as they are the biggest felines alive today. Interesting how both extremes of the genus have almost the same lifespan. Of course if they are elfic as I said and all that moon stuff... But their entire chaotic and fun driven nature seems to point to a short lifespan too. "Enjoy it while it last" seems to be their philosophy.


In the end it is all magic, eh? But that would be a good logical guess.

The Tscaesi live the longest....

Poor Kajiit, crack heads don't really live long, so you gotta love em' while thier alive.

all that moon sugah and what not...

Sloads! N'Gasta forever!

Divayth Fyr was said to be 4000 years old, and he's still alive making Corprus antidotes! Of course, the "mer" live the longest among the races in the Elder Scrolls.

Fyr may have used magicka to prolong his death. It just shows how stubborn the Dunmer are and how powerful the Telvanni can be.

Of course he used magic! What else could he have done???

Personally, I think it has more to do with his knowledge from his membership in the Psijics than his membership in the Telvanni. I hate to use a guess like that, but I personally see Psijics as a BIT more magically competent than the Telvanni.

It could very well be the simple idea that Fyr was quite a traveler and could have just picked the crap up on his own.

Well, the Telvanni tend to be very reckless, almost more of a mad/crazed scientist that wants to be left to his/her experiments. The Psijics seem more calm and collected, taking things more slowly, not so reckless, but more harmonious with the magicka around, but don't expect them to take any person in. And I'd say that Fyr's abilities may partly be from his Psijic training before, but I'd gander the majority of it would have to be his own experience, and his studies about the dwemer. But, the dwemer thing may be a recent activity he picked up a few hundred years ago. Also, he may be a Telvanni, but his membership is more like he is and is not, more like a very informal member. Even the other Telvanni council members see his membership as a very informal association.

I remember reading about dwemer preservation enchantments, and why thousands of year old books haven't rotted and why thier facilities and RoboCops haven't rusted over. Mabye his research led him into something like this.

I personally think it's the Psijic Orders trainging, actually, I don't know. All three variables should be taken into account.