daan [pcs]

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daan the maan

Comments

[cumulative]

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]

[recession]

[ 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! ]

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Um... I-I don't know which part I should try to clarify...?

[help him out here daan]

[recession]

[ 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?

How long has this been going on?

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It's been... some time now. I think the oldest Relivers must have lived for around... eighty years?

[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.

[recession]

And are you one?

[ 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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No. I've... never been backed up.

[recession]

So there is still some semblance of family dynamics, even in that state of things.

I'm sorry for all the questions. It sounds like your situation is pretty dire.

[cumulative]

Huh-? Family dynamics...? O-of course there are, Relivers aren't unable to have children... and people who don't become Relivers have families, too.

[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.

[recession]

It just seems like the age for parenthood would be very young.

[ 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?

[cumulative]

We... we don't know. They say Arpéchéle is... "a land loved by Death".

[but this is why they invented cloning before figuring this shit out, genuinely who fucking knows.]

[recession]

That's very ominous.

[ Yikes. ]

...

Do you know if it's tied to the land or the people?

[ Has anyone tried LEAVING. ]

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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.]

[recession]

...

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. ]

[cumulative]

Right, there were... others who were even over forty...

[the existence of ichiban and laudna does blow his mind, yes. so do astarion and iwatooshi.]

People really live that long?

[recession]

[ Okay well lets not get too hasty here, Astarion and Iwatooshi are weirdos. ]

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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Up to seventy...

[wow... he's wrapping his brain around it.]

E-even if Relivers can be that old, it's difficult to think about... living that long in a normal body.

[recession]

Guess it depends on who you ask. The body ages and begins to wither after a certain point... Some might dream of the idea of being able to reliving their early twenties.

[ He thinks it'd be a foolish thing, but dreams of immortality aren't rare among people. ]

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M-maybe, but you have to keep backing up your memory, too... and some people would rather not become Relivers at all.

[anything has its drawbacks.]

[recession]

The technological talk is out of my paygrade...

[ That's so sad. Kid's only 17, and he's only got six years left apparently. ]

I hope you haven't been too uncomfortable, not that we're living in the picture of luxury here exactly.

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It's a little strange for me... I'm not, um, used to living like this.

[he fidgets with his clothes, picking at a thread.]

Usually I would have someone cooking for me, o-or bringing meals home to the mansion...

[recession]

[ Oh... a rich boy.

That's so funny, an island where everyone dies at 23 and you all still got class differences. ]

A very far cry from what you're used to then.

[cumulative]

Yes... everything here is very, um.

[it's. hm. well.]

I-If we hadn't all just woken up here like this, it might be easier to appreciate seeing how people in tiny villages live...

[recession]

[ He snorts. What a thing to say. ]

It's not that interesting. Unless you're that fascinated by self-sufficiency.

[ He's not trying to be mean. He's seen how the relation of money and shelteredness sometimes is a positive function. ]

By all you've said so far, you must be the lord of the mansion...?

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[he remains quiet for a few moments, before he blinks and shakes his head.]

Yes, b-but I don't... do very much... I haven't finished my studies yet, so I don't work for the Royal Family, or anything like that.