[ Is this just a nation that hasn't seen the industrial age yet? Although 23 seems exceptionally low for anywhere. He can only assume it's some kind of disease happening here. ]
W-well, um... everyone in Arpéchéle dies to the curse by the time they turn twenty-three. A... a long time ago, someone from another country landed there with a few books from the outside world, and our scientists started using that knowledge to try to cure it, but they... weren't successful.
Then, another scientist who was born later continued their research on genetics, and managed to... find a way to create a backup of a person's genes and memory, and clone them after they died. B-but even a Reliver's body can't live past another twenty-three years, and... they'll always have the same body they did when they were backed up... so even if they can live for more than twenty-three years, they never age.
[after a second:]
I-it's supposed to be secret from everyone else, but nobody here seems to be from the same place we are, s-so I think... it's okay...
[how do you even keep a secret that is so intrinsically tied to the way everyone at home lives their life anyway come on]
[ Tfw he had a long geography conversation with Lucas but he didn't actually say Arpéchéle out loud so he can't clock him from this name BUT he can actually figure out they're related from everything else he just said. Mostly the random foreigner.
Still, he assumed Lucas's place was more like... well, not so advanced as to talk about genetics, basically. ]
...
I'm sorry, what?
[ WHAT? GENETIC BODYSNATCHERS COUNTRY??? THAT IS INSANE! ]
[ He thought he'd already been through so much but this island sounds even more and he doesn't know how that's possible. ]
Erm... so you're from a remote nation that is cursed so that no man can live beyond twenty-three... and you create copies of yourself to achieve longevity until you can stop it?
[ Eighty isn't actually that long in the grand scheme of things, but that's also impressive they figured out a sort-of solution that fast if it was that recent. ]
No one knows what happened to the Drifter... so I-I think it's possible the curse took him, too...? But maybe he just settled somewhere out of the public eye...
[he'd like to think that's the case, that someone with a naturally longer lifespan got to live it out.]
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[ Well the bulletins are just kind of out there in front of everyone and god. ]
...May I help you?
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[he fidgets with the fabric of his waistcoat.]
I've never... seen anyone your age before...
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Well, that definitely takes the cake for the weirdest thing he's been told yet, and he really thought he'd heard a lot of weird stuff. ]
. . .
How old do you think I am?
[ Let's establish that first? ]
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[earnest...
this is unfortunately very genuine]
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[ But that does just make it even more bizarre. ]
What do you mean by that? Did you grow up somewhere secluded?
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[extremely secluded.]
So I've never known anyone who could... age past twenty-three.
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Not much medicinal progress where you're from...?
[ Is this just a nation that hasn't seen the industrial age yet? Although 23 seems exceptionally low for anywhere. He can only assume it's some kind of disease happening here. ]
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[daan is going to get jumpscared so hard by the state of this country probably.]
Only ways around it.
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Could you tell me more about that? I'm a little curious, and quite confused.
[ This island is so not okay. ]
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Then, another scientist who was born later continued their research on genetics, and managed to... find a way to create a backup of a person's genes and memory, and clone them after they died. B-but even a Reliver's body can't live past another twenty-three years, and... they'll always have the same body they did when they were backed up... so even if they can live for more than twenty-three years, they never age.
[after a second:]
I-it's supposed to be secret from everyone else, but nobody here seems to be from the same place we are, s-so I think... it's okay...
[how do you even keep a secret that is so intrinsically tied to the way everyone at home lives their life anyway come on]
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Still, he assumed Lucas's place was more like... well, not so advanced as to talk about genetics, basically. ]
...
I'm sorry, what?
[ WHAT? GENETIC BODYSNATCHERS COUNTRY??? THAT IS INSANE! ]
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[help him out here daan]
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Erm... so you're from a remote nation that is cursed so that no man can live beyond twenty-three... and you create copies of yourself to achieve longevity until you can stop it?
How long has this been going on?
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[something like that?]
Relivers can only ever look like the age they were when they were backed up, though, so... it's difficult to tell how long any given person has lived.
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[ Eighty isn't actually that long in the grand scheme of things, but that's also impressive they figured out a sort-of solution that fast if it was that recent. ]
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I'm sorry for all the questions. It sounds like your situation is pretty dire.
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[it's just that, you know, if you don't get cloned you're probably going to die when your child is a toddler.]
Our situation would be much worse, if Monsieur Scien had never developed the technology for it.
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[ And yeah the fact that you'd probably die while your kid's still a child and that's something that makes him subtly sad. ]
Is "curse" just how you call it, or is it literal? It's not a biological cause?
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[but this is why they invented cloning before figuring this shit out, genuinely who fucking knows.]
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[ Yikes. ]
...
Do you know if it's tied to the land or the people?
[ Has anyone tried LEAVING. ]
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[he'd like to think that's the case, that someone with a naturally longer lifespan got to live it out.]
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I'm not the oldest here though, so there's also that.
[ Or is the existence of Ichiban just like, absolutely blowing up your mind right now? ]
Even with the wars, I'd still say the average lifespan expectancy is usually at least fifty.
[ Twenty-three is less than half that. BLEAK. ]
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[the existence of ichiban and laudna does blow his mind, yes. so do astarion and iwatooshi.]
People really live that long?
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It is the average. The healthy and hale may occasionally live up to seventy if they're lucky.
[ It also means there's a lot who die young, but you know, that's neither here nor there. ]
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