Atlantean aging

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Kidagakash85
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Atlantean aging

#1 Post by Kidagakash85 » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:07 pm

Several theories have abounded as to the rate at which Atlanteans age. I believe that the simplest and most logical explanation is that for every year tht passes, an Atlantean's body ages one day.

Taking into consideration that a year is made up of 365 days (plus or minus 6 hours), and an Atlantean's body ages one day in a year's time, then a year's aging for an Atlantean would occur in 365 years.

Therefore, in order to determine an Atlantean's age in "normal" years, you would divide their real age by 365 in order to get the amount of years that their body has aged.

For example:
Kida is 8800 years old.

8800/365 = 24.7

Kida is almost 25 years old by normal aging standards
Kida being 24-25 makes sense, considering her physical appearance and her personality: a bit childlike, but clearly an adult.

This also applies to other characters whose ages have been stated. For example, Talia, the little girl in "Kida and the Crystal," was turning 1500 the day Milo and the others arrived.
Talia is 1500

1500/365 = 4 (approximately; taking into consideration the extra 6 hours in a year, it probably would equal 4 exactly)

Talia is 4 years old by normal aging standards
This theory works perfectly with the exception of the King. While the King looked quite old, if one uses the 365 years = 1 year theory, then he is younger than he appears:
King Kashekim is 20,000 years old

20000/365 = 55 (approximately)
While the king looks much older than this, if one takes Kida's age and the age/appearance of the King and Queen when the city sank into consideration, this would seem logical. By deducting Kida's current age (~8800) from the King's age at death (20000), you see that the King would have been 11,200 years old when Kida was born.
Kashekim at Kida's birth is 11200

11200/365 = 30
This seems a logical age for the king to have been at the birth of his first child. So, most likely, the aging theory is correct, and exterior factors (the loss of his wife and the destruction of his empire) caused the King's body to deteriorate faster. It is common knowledge that if one has lived a hard life, one looks older than one actually is.

Also, it seems likely that if Rourke had not wounded the King, and if the King had been given medical treatment, he would have lived to be much older. Therefore, while 55 may seem a bit on the young side, it is probably accurate--after all, he's Kida's father, not her grandfather.

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Questions this theory arouses / Topics for discussion

1) Gestation period: is an Atlantean woman pregnant for the standard nine months (~275 days), or is she pregnant for 275 years? (I'll just gloss over the effects of the aging process on her menstrual cycle)

2) Hair color: I'm sure we've all noticed that while Atlanteans have white hair, their eyebrows are dark. Is this simply a racial trend (i.e. genetic)? Or are young Atlanteans born with dark hair, which turns white after about 50 years (perhaps a side effect of the aging process)?

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Similar/Alternate Theories

My proposed theory is similar to the Avalon-aging process in Gargoyles. In that series, for every hour spent in Avalon, a day passes in the real world. Atlantis is slightly different--obviously, a day is a day in Atlantis; it's merely the body that ages at a slower rate; whereas, in Avalon, time itself passes differently. However, the theories are at least comparable.

Other theories about the aging in Atlantis include one proposed by Julie Horwitz, in which an Atlantean child ages at "standard" human rate until he/she reaches puberty; upon puberty, the crystal's powers begin to take effect. This theory, to an extent, would answer the gestation period question: obviously, pregnancies would be "normal" length.

A problem with this theory is, obviously, Talia: a very young girl who is 1500 years old. The argument in favor of Julie's theory is that Talia was not in the movie, but rather a book, and therefore isn't "canon." This is logical; however, according to the illustrated script, the majority of the events in "Kida and the Crystal" were intended to be in the movie but were cut for time. Therefore, Talia may indeed be "canon," which would negate Julie's theory.

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Okay, I'm done. Rather like a college thesis but, hey, that's what I do.

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#2 Post by Pharoah » Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:47 pm

interesting that you brought that up, i created my own idea as well, it's based on simple division, (and this also was used in some of my earlyer storys) basicly all i did was take there age and divide it 500 to get a decent result.

so, i took kida's age, and divided it by 500, so 8800 divided by 500 = around 18 years old.

also, i did this in reverse as well. meaining my age 18 mulitplyed my 500 equils around 8800. (it worked quite well in my storys, but it's just the idea i used. not nessesary the correct math used in your example, i just figured it out this way so i could be with Kida in the story! :D

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#3 Post by Blueoriontiger » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:44 am

I agree with Kidagakash85's explanation, and think it's truly logical. A similar theory was talked about on Destination Atlantis before it shut down by Rebmakash and Goblinqueeen.
Yayap: Hey look!! My Alpha-Bits are spelling a secret message!! Its says, "Ooooooo!!!"

Janeil: Yayap, that's Cheerios.

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#4 Post by Pharoah » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:10 pm

true, however, it really does not matter. i just used my idea in one of the very first storys i made. btw, any idea why she has not posted yet? i though she had the most posts before the k.f.u went down last time.

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#5 Post by Kidagakash85 » Tue Aug 01, 2006 6:24 pm

Reb? She and GoblinQueeen were hitting ComiCon last week, so she might not be back yet.

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#6 Post by Pharoah » Fri Aug 04, 2006 9:55 am

Whats ComiCon? never heard of it. Anyway, i sorta noticed that the comunity was rather slow, cause of summer, Anyone gonna know when it's gonna revive it's self?

I myself found some new atle books that i'm getting ahold of. And i found a way to market alot of my crystals to people.

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#7 Post by Blueoriontiger » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:09 am

Reb's back, I believe, still getting over jet lag...mentioned drawing something for somebody and going back to school soon...
Yayap: Hey look!! My Alpha-Bits are spelling a secret message!! Its says, "Ooooooo!!!"

Janeil: Yayap, that's Cheerios.

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#8 Post by Pharoah » Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:52 pm

i keep forgetting who some people are, i meet and make pals daily now. can you give me a re-cap? does she have msn messenger, cause i would like to know if she wants a crystal, i have so many of them now. btw, i have scans of the how-to-draw book now. i did the pages on Kida. there are two pics total of pages 3-4 and 5-6. so now, if i deside to post em' you'll be able to draw kida!

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