Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Assassin714 on July 22, 2018, 07:36:32 am
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What is the average Vasudan lifespan and how much does it vary?
If there is no canon information on this then has it ever been addressed in any fan-made campaigns or other supplementary material? Is there any generally-agreed upon fanon answer to this question?
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I think longer than humans.
If i remember correctly there was a Vasudan Admiral in a Post-FS2 campaign who was an Admiral during the 14-year war between Vasudans and Terrans, too. Even i do not remember exactly which one.
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I was thinking slightly longer too ... however canonically Vasuda Prime suffered some kind of ecological collapse which prompted the Vasudan expansion into space (FS1 tech room mentions the planet's surface water not being safe for consumption by Vasudans)...
This may hint at several things including longer lifespan but also at overpopulation (as a rule species which overpopulate their habitat are those with shorter lifespans - counterpoint of course being that a longer age of maturity is a common survival mechanism in species living in an adverse/competivie envoirment)...
... and thats before we are talking the influence of culture and tech; how good is Vasudan medicine? Are there crippling degenerative diseases that come with age (e.g. age-related dementia in humans)? How well are the elderly respected in various vasudan cultures? How do they treat those not at "preak condition"?
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I was thinking slightly longer too ... however canonically Vasuda Prime suffered some kind of ecological collapse which prompted the Vasudan expansion into space (FS1 tech room mentions the planet's surface water not being safe for consumption by Vasudans)...
This may hint at several things including longer lifespan but also at overpopulation (as a rule species which overpopulate their habitat are those with shorter lifespans - counterpoint of course being that a longer age of maturity is a common survival mechanism in species living in an adverse/competivie envoirment)...
Depends a little bit on how long ago the ecological collapse was. Major genetic shift like that are highly unlikely in relatively short periods of time. For instance, if an ecological disaster hit Earth, humans 1000 years from now are unlikely to have shortened natural life spans. Instead, it's likely that it puts a pressure on developing technologies that would enable survival in rough environments, which is stated to be one of the catalysts for Vasudan space travel.
Vasudans strike me as a species with low metabolisms, which generally results in longer natural lifespans. It'd explain why they're less rash and impulsive compared to humans, as they're just naturally more calm.
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Depends a little bit on how long ago the ecological collapse was. Major genetic shift like that are highly unlikely in relatively short periods of time. For instance, if an ecological disaster hit Earth, humans 1000 years from now are unlikely to have shortened natural life spans. Instead, it's likely that it puts a pressure on developing technologies that would enable survival in rough environments, which is stated to be one of the catalysts for Vasudan space travel.
... unless there is the use of eugenics (aka selective breeding) or germ-line genetic manipulation on a large scale... Considering the Imperial Vasudan culture is in default per canon, with an aristrocratic class mentioned, the Vasudans might not have the same distain that is commonly held towards these practices right now
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On that same topic:
Canonically vasudans do not wear non functional clothing... now excluding any cultural significance of that point (i.e. clothing being a symbol of social caste for example), this suggest some kind of adaptation to the envoirment of Vasuda Prime like say leathery skin as water retention mechanism, meaning the water shortage on Vasuda Prime might not be a recent pheenomenon; polution and overpopulation might still be possible regardless
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Asking "How long do Vasudans live?" is like asking "How long do Terrans live in the 24th century?". FS doesn't give an awnser, for :v-old: did not consider this an important thing in the story they wrote.
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Asking "How long do Vasudans live?" is like asking "How long do Terrans live in the 24th century?". FS doesn't give an awnser, for :v-old: did not consider this an important thing in the story they wrote.
I mean, you can use this line of reasoning for a whole bunch of things. It's fun to speculate or fill in the blanks, using whatever bits of info there are.
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I don't deny that. :)
The thing is for example if you have a set of substances that delay aging it might give the Vasudans more years than Terrans, possibly inverting the "who lives longer" thing.
However, I think that most of the references to Vasuda Prime was there IIRC to show that the Vasudans might have been helped by the Ancients, boosting their technological/social evolution instead of the biological. Vasudans and their biology might have been just as good adapted to live on VP as Terrans to live on Earth.
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I like the idea that they're like ****in turtles or sharks or lobsters or whatever and they don't die of old age they just get increasingly lazy and foul tempered.
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I like the idea that they're like ****in turtles or sharks or lobsters or whatever and they don't die of old age they just get increasingly lazy and foul tempered.
:lol:
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And start filling boxes with heads?
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I had thought Vasudans lived for hundreds of years, but I cannot find that in canon anywhere. I might have been thinking of this old thread though: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=400.0
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And start filling boxes with heads?
They eat sand, so they can live as long as stones...
I had thought Vasudans lived for hundreds of years, but I cannot find that in canon anywhere. I might have been thinking of this old thread though: https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=400.0
Now that is a OLD thread. To sum it up:
where do you get vasudans live 4for 00 years?
hey, calm down! I always wanted to know how long did a vasudan is supposed to live, so I ask you, nothing more (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/ubb/noncgi/wink.gif)
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Through out my time knowing this game, I never seen anything stating how long they live. I DO feel the narrative of the game SUGGEST the Vasudens live longer than the typical human does. By how much? None knows as far as I am concerned, but it would be a safe bet at LEAST 50 Earth years on the average, maybe more.
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About the lobsters and turtles thing...did you all know that their dna doesn't unravel, but they do keep growing until they die?
That would suck for Vasudans even if you're biologically immortal.
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I got the impression that Vasudans live longer than humans but not that much longer--maybe 30-50%. In most campaigns they seem to behave accordingly, being more conservative and less impulsive than Terrans but not so much as to be entirely unrelatable.