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Rickter · **12-27-2013, 03:51 AM**

Hi all,

Im new to the forums here so if this has been answered already please close the thread (and direct me to the appropriate section).Â So i've been wondering about Life Spans of the different races and if there is any information out there on them.

Seems to me like Mi'qote would have the shortest lifespans
Roegadyn and hyur have average life spans
Lalafels and Elezen have the longest lifespans.

I seriously have nothing to base this off of.Â what do you guys think?

is there even an established average life span?

pas · **12-27-2013, 04:26 AM**

I've wondered this myself! I've never found anything either way, though, so I've just assumed they were parallel to human lifespans.
Hopefully anyone can provide some fresh information.

Lost River · **12-27-2013, 04:33 AM**

So far, the only thing I know is when comparable to Hyur, Elezen lifespans are somewhat expanded.

Tiergan · **12-27-2013, 05:06 AM**

I just assumed hyur and miqo'te had similar lifespans while all the others had slightly longer ones.

Rickter · **12-27-2013, 05:38 AM**

Well its apparent we all have different ideas about what the life spans of the races are!Â

I just want to know what is considered "young" or "Old" for a race.

i attributed shorter life spans to mi'qote due to their feline "properties" (i figured cats have shorter lives than humans right?)

Now that i think about it, Lalafell should have relatively shorter lifespans as well if we want to get detailed.Â Real Life midgets dont live as long as normal sized humans because of the stress they experience having to adapt to the world with their size.Â its the same concept that left handed people live shorter than right handed people.Â but then again, lalfell have their society built around their size so the inconveniences that a midget in our world may experience, a lalafell in Hydaelyn may not.

Elezen is the typical Elf race so i gave them longer life spans by default but now that i think about it, do Elezen fall into the typical elvish lore of being hte oldest and wisest race in the world?Â

i suppose the developers just hadnt really thought about this part of the lore.

Tla · **12-27-2013, 06:58 AM**

There's such threads on official forums as well, but it seems no answer can be found. So far it seems they live more or less the standard human age...

Ildur · **12-27-2013, 08:10 AM**

Everything about the lifespans of races is only speculation except for two things:
-Elezen live longer than Hyur, but not by much.
-Lalafells 'stop' aging at some point and can live beyond the hundred years. (This is based on an NPC in 1.0, I think, whose dialogue implied he had been alive for 120 years at least).

Also, please note that Miqo'te are not cats. They are humans with feline parts. Making them live less or more than Hyurs is arbitrary and speculative.

As a rule of thumb, I'd go with "everyone lives between eighty and a hundred years", except for lalafells, who apparently live longer.

Eliane Dufresne · **12-27-2013, 08:10 AM**

Last I heard, everyone had more or less human lifespans, except for the Elezen, as stated above. I really hope they come out with more concrete information at some point. Sad

ansemaru · **12-27-2013, 01:49 PM**

I'd err on the side on not assuming anybody lives multiple centuries. The only precedents we've got for unusually lifespans are that Lalafell that was apparently in 1.0, and some obviously supernatural examples. So while Elezen live longer than Hyur, I think it's better to not assume they're functionally immortal. While they are more or less elves, they certainly aren't Tolkien elves.

Also keep in mind that a big piece of average lifespan has to do with living conditions. Folks who are more well-off and have regular access to good, healthy, fresh food and good medical care are going to live longer than those living in poverty. So Wildwood Elezen, who are socially near the top of the heap in Gridania, which is a lush natural paradise for the most part and also home to an entire guild of adept healers, would have an advantage in lifespan that doesn't even come from being naturally predisposed to live longer than others. Meanwhile, Duskwight Elezen are marginalized in the exact same spaces where Wildwoods flourish- they wouldn't have the same access to health care and proper nutrition, and might even be denied healing from Conjurers on the basis of maintaining the natural balance and not offending the Elementals. So it wouldn't be implausible to assume Duskwights do not live as long as Wildwoods.

The same might be said for Highlanders versus Midlanders- while Highlanders have a hardier constitution, they are also outsiders in the regions they inhabit, due to their (typically) Ala Mhigan background. We've all seen the living conditions in Little Ala Mhigo and places like Pearl Lane. There's also the issue of the Ala Mhigans who refuse medicine that is not traditional for their people- and the fact that the medicine available in the city is, as we've seen, experimental and dangerous handouts from the Alchemists' Guild, that the people have little choice but to accept. It seems unlikely that on average a Highlander Hyur would live much longer than a Midlander at all.

As for the other three... Many Miqo'te live as assimilated into Eorzean society as the average Midlander, but there are still quite a number living out in tribal situations outside of the city-states, who lack the steady access to resources and care that city-dwelling Miqo'te would. They've also got what appears to be a diet that skews more carnivorous, and a more small, delicate build than the other non-beastman races of Eorzea. These factors tend to contribute towards a shorter lifespan on average, but given that Miqo'te are still fairly human-like, it wouldn't make a huge difference, especially with city-dwelling Miqo'te. Roegadyn are larger and not actively marginalized in any circles, and would likely on average have decent access to resources and care. They'd probably live around the same length of lifespan as Hyur, possibly a little longer. And Lalafell? Evidently there are examples of them living well over a century in 1.0, though I'd love to get a source on that. There are a lot of Lalafell in the upper echelons of Eorzean society, especially Ul'dah, so they also have the benefit of resources, moreso than a number of other races.

Ultimately, I think the range of average lifespans for the five main races in FFXIV is probably not hugely variant, and likely crosses the span between 60 to 120 at the extremes. There's nothing indicating any of the races live multiple centuries, or anything shorter than a respectable 60 years, barring extraordinary circumstances.

What I'm curious about is the average lifespan for beastmen. What's the life expectancy for a Sylph, Ixal, or Amalj'aa? What about Goblins and Qiqirn?

Darkfae · **12-27-2013, 03:22 PM**

I stillÂ have a thread in on the official lore forums asking for more info from the lore team directly on this. Someday, someday...maybe they'll answer it and we'll have official information on this. Otherwise, we've got very little to go on, as it's unclear whether or not some of the longer-lived examples we see in game are exceptions or the rule. =/

Rickter · **12-27-2013, 05:49 PM**

There is a race i hope they make playable (or at least give us some kind of unique customization option) and they are the Padjhal(spelling?).Â According to the lore, they appear to stop aging while still children so i am curious as to their lifespan as well.

and i understand that mi'qote are not "cats" in fact i stated they had feline "properties" but they are certainly within the 50% margin in regards to the percentage of how muc hthey are hyur or feline.

ansemaru · **12-27-2013, 06:13 PM**

Given the relative rarity and story-importance of Padjal, it seems unlikely that they'll be made available to play any more than, say, moogles. Going from what we know about their physiology and role in the world, I'm not entirely sure they function on the same time scale as normal races- they almost definitely have some kind of preternatural extended lifespan deal going on.

As for Miqo'te- obviously, normal biology cannot be applied in the case of an animal that has major features of primates and felines, which are certainly both mammals but hardly related beyond that. Given that they have feline senses, dentition, and tails, it may be tempting to assume that their ancestors were more cat than chimp, as it were. Elezen, Roegadyn, and even Lalafell might be reasoned to share a common ancestor with Hyur, but I find it unlikely, barring magical intervention, that Miqo'te also do.

LandStander · **12-27-2013, 06:39 PM**

(12-27-2013, 06:13 PM)ansemaru Wrote: Given the relative rarity and story-importance of Padjal, it seems unlikely that they'll be made available to play any more than, say, moogles. Going from what we know about their physiology and role in the world, I'm not entirely sure they function on the same time scale as normal races- they almost definitely have some kind of preternatural extended lifespan deal going on.

As for Miqo'te- obviously, normal biology cannot be applied in the case of an animal that has major features of primates and felines, which are certainly both mammals but hardly related beyond that. Given that they have feline senses, dentition, and tails, it may be tempting to assume that their ancestors were more cat than chimp, as it were. Elezen, Roegadyn, and even Lalafell might be reasoned to share a common ancestor with Hyur, but I find it unlikely, barring magical intervention, that Miqo'te also do.

Funny thing. I remember reading about how when the Hyur first migrated to Eorzea and met the Elezen that some scholars thought that the Elezen were a bastard race of Hyur, but of course the Elezen completely call BS on this claim. I can't recall if there are still some scholars who still hold his belief. I'll try to dig up where I found that at.

ansemaru · **12-27-2013, 06:50 PM**

I know I've read that somewhere, too, and I'm fairly certain it was an official source. There's, uh. Well, once again, hesitant to apply laws of biology to a fantasy setting, but there appear to be enough consistencies that assuming at least a common shared ancestor between Hyur and Elezen isn't out of the question, but science isn't advanced in Eorzea to the point where that could be determined by anybody living there.

There's also the Crazy As Balls Hypothesis for why the Hyur and Elezen are similar enough that the Hyur have made note of it while the Elezen vehemently deny it. Have you seen the concept art for Shiva? And have you noticed how a certain region that is mostly inhabited by Elezen has suddenly and mysteriously become covered in ice and snow after years of being a more temperate region- a region inhabited by individuals who display fanatical devotion to an icy goddess? You know how the beastmen races have grown to resemble their Primal over time?

Cough. Cough.

Ildur · **12-27-2013, 08:25 PM**

(12-27-2013, 06:13 PM)ansemaru Wrote: As for Miqo'te- obviously, normal biology cannot be applied in the case of an animal that has major features of primates and felines, which are certainly both mammals but hardly related beyond that. Given that they have feline senses, dentition, and tails, it may be tempting to assume that their ancestors were more cat than chimp, as it were. Elezen, Roegadyn, and even Lalafell might be reasoned to share a common ancestor with Hyur, but I find it unlikely, barring magical intervention, that Miqo'te also do.

I doubt the developers thought much about the evolution of the Eorzean races. They just made a race of humans with cat ears and tails because it was cute/sexy/cool/whatever, and not because they are the natural and logical conclusion of an evolutionary chain.

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Information on Life Spans

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes