| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
dwarvenranger
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 01:06:03
|
Does it seem to anyone else that human lifespan seems to be extended in the Realms? Or maybe it's just Waterdeep? I mean both Mirt and Durnan have to be in their 90's (at least)and they're still very active. Piergeiron has been the open lord of Waterdeep for almost 60 years and his hair "is only slighty greying at the temples" CoS:W.
I've read of "life sustaining magics", although Ensul's Soultheft is the only spell I know of that actually stops the aging process.
Nor have I read that any of the above examples use any life sustaining magic.
So why the longevity?
I greatly appreciate your comments.
|
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
|
|
|
MerrikCale
Senior Scribe
USA
947 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 01:21:17
|
| Magic, my man, magic. Its better than plastic surgery. |
When hinges creak in doorless chambers and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls, whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight. |
 |
|
|
Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 01:26:24
|
They have been using potions of longevity that still exist in FR, which were stated in 1e and 2e material. Mirt has also had a increased lifespan because of what Dove?, I believe it was Dove, but it's been awhile since I read Silverfall, did to him to help turn back his age.
There's other longevity magics also. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
|
|
|
Kentinal
Great Reader
4689 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 01:28:22
|
| Why not old men? The health care is better then real world and Wisdom and Inteligence tend to be the most important stata to hold power, both improve with age. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
|
|
|
dwarvenranger
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 01:31:21
|
| Guess I'm going to have to read Silverfall. I also never realized that longevity potions were being used, or were that common. Off the top o' your head any idea on the gp value of those Kuje? I guess I can get into my 2ed stuff. |
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
|
|
|
|
Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 01:47:02
|
quote:
Originally posted by dwarvenranger
Guess I'm going to have to read Silverfall. I also never realized that longevity potions were being used, or were that common. Off the top o' your head any idea on the gp value of those Kuje? I guess I can get into my 2ed stuff.
2nd edition magical items usually didn't have a GP value listed, at least not like the 3/3.5e items does. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
|
|
|
dwarvenranger
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 03:46:51
|
Appreciate it kuje.
I guess that it really doesn't seem like they're old men I'm understanding that it has to be magic. |
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
|
|
|
|
AlacLuin
Learned Scribe
131 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 04:00:51
|
quote:
Originally posted by dwarvenranger
Guess I'm going to have to read Silverfall. I also never realized that longevity potions were being used, or were that common. Off the top o' your head any idea on the gp value of those Kuje? I guess I can get into my 2ed stuff.
I reacently read Silverfall, and that does not get into the longevity potions.
But it was other Mirt history where they come into play.
Something like he found a 12-pack of them in Undermountain.
|
|
|
|
Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 04:50:56
|
| Ed and/or THO confirmed that Mirt and Durnan have both used longevity potions, and that both are well over the minimum 120 years old that I had figured. I'd give the exact quote, but I'm not on a machine with that file on it. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
|
|
|
The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 05:54:55
|
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Ed and/or THO confirmed that Mirt and Durnan have both used longevity potions, and that both are well over the minimum 120 years old that I had figured. I'd give the exact quote, but I'm not on a machine with that file on it.
Indeed. 'Tis here, from March '04 --
"Wooly Rupert, I think Mirt and Durnan are both a trifle OLDER than 120. Still unpublished is the “essential Realmslore” short story in which they acquired as treasure certain drinkables that might be expressed in AD&D terms (the D&D game came along after I wrote the story) as slightly-variant Potions of Longevity. So, yes, they appear to be rather leathery/fat/worn-but-vigorous 50-ish males. The way the published Realms has turned out, the careers of Mirt and Durnan have been sadly neglected, but you will see their present-day selves adventuring together in my tale in the forthcoming Realms of Dragons anthology (end of 2004, I believe)."
|
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
Edited by - The Sage on 25 Nov 2006 05:59:20 |
|
|
|
The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 06:00:01
|
Additionally, we have this other little bit from what Ed said back in May '05 -
"Thanks for reminding everyone, kuje31: yes, there’s still longevity magic in the Realms. Rules changes don’t alter established lore. Even if your PCs can’t find or get potions of longevity, or you as players can’t find them in the rulebooks, it doesn’t mean NPCs in the established Realms (such as Mirt, Durnan, Filfaeril, and dozens more) didn’t find and imbibe (or even store, for future use) them in the past.
Rules should never trump accumulated Realmslore (our collective imagined ‘reality’)."
|
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
|
|
|
dwarvenranger
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2006 : 13:14:09
|
| Thanks Sage, very enlightening. |
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
|
|
|
|
Calrond
Learned Scribe
USA
118 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2006 : 00:27:57
|
I would imagine that Mirt and Durnan would share their potions with their wives when they get older. Asper's still young, I know, and I don't know how old Durnan's wife is, but they might go for that when the time comes. Otherwise, they'd be in a Drizzt-Catti-brie sort of relationship with one aging and the other relatively ageless (and that makes me think that just maybe Drizzt would start looking for a longevity potion for Catti-brie if they both live that long). It just doesn't make sense to take life-extending potions when you know that you are going to have to continue on for decades, and possibly longer than that, after the person you love dies.
Also, if the potions can be brewed once, they can be brewed again assuming that the ingredients are still available. Do the old 1e and 2e books have a list of required ingredients for the potion? (Reminds me of the Philosopher's Stone) If so, it could make for a great campaign. |
|
|
|
Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2006 : 00:49:22
|
quote:
Originally posted by Calrond
Do the old 1e and 2e books have a list of required ingredients for the potion? (Reminds me of the Philosopher's Stone) If so, it could make for a great campaign.
Not really, it was left open for DM's to detail. Ed might have detailed the ingredients for FR's version though. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
|
|
|
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2006 : 01:16:26
|
If you go by Lord Wand's description of said potions in the novel Blackstaff, they are entirely unpleasant to consume.  |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
|
|
|
dwarvenranger
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2006 : 04:29:58
|
| I'd forgotten about that part of the novel, thanks for jarrin my memory Rinonalyrna. |
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
|
|
|
|
Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2006 : 05:10:27
|
quote:
Originally posted by Calrond
I would imagine that Mirt and Durnan would share their potions with their wives when they get older. Asper's still young, I know, and I don't know how old Durnan's wife is, but they might go for that when the time comes. Otherwise, they'd be in a Drizzt-Catti-brie sort of relationship with one aging and the other relatively ageless (and that makes me think that just maybe Drizzt would start looking for a longevity potion for Catti-brie if they both live that long). It just doesn't make sense to take life-extending potions when you know that you are going to have to continue on for decades, and possibly longer than that, after the person you love dies.
Nothing said they are ageless... It could be that they found several of those potions, and drank them at various times over the years. That's a lot more likely than some sort of immortality elixir. Besides, Ed said a "slightly-variant" version. While we don't know what that means, exactly, I'd say that near immortality is a bit more than just a slight variation. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
|
|
|
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2006 : 02:02:07
|
quote:
Originally posted by dwarvenranger
I'd forgotten about that part of the novel, thanks for jarrin my memory Rinonalyrna.
You're welcome! |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
|
|
|
Victor_ograygor
Master of Realmslore
Denmark
1075 Posts |
|
|
Ergdusch
Master of Realmslore
Germany
1720 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2006 : 08:27:07
|
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Ed and/or THO confirmed that Mirt and Durnan have both used longevity potions, and that both are well over the minimum 120 years old that I had figured. I'd give the exact quote, but I'm not on a machine with that file on it.
Indeed. 'Tis here, from March '04 --
"Wooly Rupert, I think Mirt and Durnan are both a trifle OLDER than 120. Still unpublished is the “essential Realmslore” short story in which they acquired as treasure certain drinkables that might be expressed in AD&D terms (the D&D game came along after I wrote the story) as slightly-variant Potions of Longevity. So, yes, they appear to be rather leathery/fat/worn-but-vigorous 50-ish males. The way the published Realms has turned out, the careers of Mirt and Durnan have been sadly neglected, but you will see their present-day selves adventuring together in my tale in the forthcoming Realms of Dragons anthology (end of 2004, I believe)."
In the forthcoming Realms of Dragons anthology - aye! Has this actually come true, I wonder? Do we read about those two in this book? Anyone knows? |
"Das Gras weht im Wind, wenn der Wind weht." |
|
|
|
Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2006 : 09:49:02
|
| It has -- Mirt and Durnan uncover mysteries in "The Keeper of Secrets". |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
Why the longevity?
