Kilrathi life expectancy?

Mekt-Hakkikt

Mekt-Hakkikt

Mpanty's bane
When I first read about Ralgha's age in VS, I dismissed it as being false (like Maniac's age). It didn't seem right to me for a Khantahr, commanding a Fralthi cruiser, to be only 14 years old when he defects. Especially not when I read the novel FF, where his appearance is described as quite old (grey hair and so on). But after a few months here, I guess it is to be taken as canon, unless other sources are given.
So my question is: What's a Kilrathi's life expectancy when not cut short by violent death, disease or whatever and when do they mature to adults?
From another thread I recall that Ralgha was 4 years old when he joined the Kilrathi military. So I assume that the Kilrathi reach adulthood very fast compared to humans. Comparing with other fictional races, i.e. fantasy races, there's some kind of rule: If the race does mature quickly, they don't get very old (e.g. Orcs and the lot) whereas long-living races as dwarves and elves reach adulthood significantly later than humans.
If this is applied is to the Kilrathi we could expect them to have an average life expectancy of perhaps, let's say 50 years.
But according to the timeline, the Kilrathi emperor is already around in 2594(commanding an attack, so he should be adult at last) and ascends the throne in 2632, making him more than 100 years old in WC3.
So if I sum up, the Kilrathi mature very quickly and have a natural life expectancy of 100+ years? Or do we other sources, or do you have any ideas? Is the Kilrathi emperor taking life-prolonging drugs, like in Priv2? ;)

Thanks in advance
 
V

Valiento

Rear Admiral
Or maybe they go by kilrathi time.

In which the Planet's(or used to), revolves around the sun very slowy. Compared to earth days it takes many earth years to revolve around it's sun. So by the time it does, a kilrathi, has gone through only one kilrathi year. So it's all a relative thing. They are old, but have a younger yearly count.

Which would make sense considering kilrah has very harsh enviroment, that could be caused by it's slow revolution around it's sun, from being further away from it's son, compared to how far earth is from it's son.

[Edited by Valiento on 05-07-2001 at 14:19]
 
F

Fenris

Spaceman
If Kilrah was far enough out from its sun, which appears to be fairly dim anyway, to make a Kilrathi year that much longer than a Terran year, Kilrah would be one cold place; we're talking pretty close to cryosphere here. It would be impossible for either species to survive in the same environment, in which case there would be no real purpose to the war. Furthermore, we do see Kilrathi in the same environments as Humans, so that theory isn't viable.

If this post sounds wierd, its because I've got the flu, and I'm a little woozy right now.
 
M

Madman

Vice Admiral
just cos he ascended to the throne in 2632 doesnt make him 100 where that basis, there is no stating of his birthdate and thus we dont know how old he was
say hes 15 win 2594, then when he dies in 2667 hes 88
not over 100

[Edited by madman on 05-07-2001 at 15:32]
 
Mekt-Hakkikt

Mekt-Hakkikt

Mpanty's bane
Yeah, you're right. Somehow I calculated with 2699, not 2669 (that's the year he dies). :eek:
So, he is not 100+ years old, my fault. Still , they live long compared how quickly they mature.
And we are talking of Terran years, since the timeline uses Terran years.
 
D

Dark Tower

Rear Admiral
Hmm...
What we need is a bioligist, Any biologists around??

Anyway ti could be that as already mentioned the naturaly difficulties force the Kilrathi as a species to mature quickly however usaly species that develope quick also die quickly as they have a slower life cycle. However if we look at what i just said i failed to mention that these quick maturers are usally small animals not part of dominant species. Therefore it seams that threre biologoy is different to normal biology in other words its an accident in material. However one last part is maybe the ages are miss read, the refference to the 15 kilrathi (forgot name :( ) could be years after manhood? and the emporer could have asscended young it does happen odd considering the culture but if the family was strong or if there was a protector it might work but thats sociology and i pass on that as i pass on decency, concideration and logical, well worded comments.

Last note on biology is this look at the dinosaures they were weak will young but according to what Ive seen they mature quickly then last longer so who knows the longitive of a race is dictated by how many times certain dna chains replicate them selves (or is it cells? ) anyway have fun i think ive knocked most of you out.

In case your still awake does anyone (read LOAF) know what the age when they can reproduce is and how many generations exist of kilrathi (eg. Son, farther, grandfarther = 3 generations) howfuly ignoring death by weapon then its just a matter of calculating it.

PS whats the smily limit??

[Edited by Dark Tower on 05-07-2001 at 16:28]
 
U

Unforgiven

Spaceman
Just wondering

I'm not a bioligist, a Computer Scientist actually.

Anyway, Kilrah did not strike me as a cold place from the WC3 movies, so it's probably not much further away from the sun than Earth, unless of course their sun is larger than ours.
Besides that, planet rotation times depend on a lot more factors than just distance to the sun. It also depends on the mass of the planet and star, rotation of the planet around it's axis etc. And let's not forget that Kepler's 3rd law applies only per star, so rotation time of Kilrah need not be proportional to those of Earth or any of the other planets in the Sol system.
And besides that, we don't know if they define a year by the rotation around the Sun. Not even all Earth cultures do that.
The old Roman 10 month calendar did not span 365 days (I believe) and some modern cultures also have different length years, causing a Malaysian friend of mine to have to birthdays, one in his years and one in ours.
 
D

Dark Tower

Rear Admiral
Which brings up the question of what is the standard for time in wing commander , earth years as is current in RW (tm) or is it parsecs or something else??
 
Bandit LOAF

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
Kilrathi come of age at 4 years -- thus, the Emperor was born around 2590 (his first military operation was the 2594 war with the Varni)... according to the Wing Commander III novel, he didn't expect to live beyond the end of the year (2669). Thus, the maximum lifespan for a Kilrathi is 79 years -- slightly worse than our own. It's also known that in pre-war times, a warrior was expected to serve for 40 years before retirement.

This is all in Terran Years... the Kilrathi year is shorter than the Terran -- all the Kilrathi dating information can be derived from Voices of War. The "Sun Year" (Kilrathi unit of measure) is made up of 522 "Moons". The Terran Day is equal to 1.77 Moons.
 
V

Valiento

Rear Admiral
Not if the planet's own thermal conductivity.....

"If Kilrah was far enough out from its sun, which appears to be fairly dim anyway, to make a Kilrathi year that much longer than a Terran year, Kilrah would be one cold place; we're talking pretty close to cryosphere here. It would be impossible for either species to survive in the same environment, in which case there would be no real purpose to the war. Furthermore, we do see Kilrathi in the same environments as Humans, so that theory isn't viable."

Not if the planet's own internal geo thermal core and energy was producing the heat for there survival. As is seemed kilrah looked very geo-thermic. So it is still possible that is were they get the warmth they needed to survive.

Not to mention a kilrah year could be, 1 year for every 4 human years. Which means a 4 year adult kilrathi is in acuality really 20 year old in earth time.

Which means they wouldn't be that much farther out from there sun, than earth is.

But, since Loaf explained it, my theory is mute...... So I won't bring it up again.

[Edited by Valiento on 05-07-2001 at 18:42]
 
V

Viking26

Spaceman
Originally posted by Dark Tower
Which brings up the question of what is the standard for time in wing commander , earth years as is current in RW (tm) or is it parsecs or something else??
Click to expand...

Parsecs are a measure of distance (1 pc = 3.26 light years). The parallax (measured in parsecs) is related to the apparent movement of a star when its position is measured from opposite sides of the Sun (ie six months apart). Think geometry on a HUGE scale :)
 
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