I was wondering how long people live in the Warhammer 40K Universe. I guess the easy answer is: Until they run afoul of the Inquisition...

But seriously - I am curious.

In the Horus Heresy they talk about fighting for centuries (but they are space marines and not necessarily aging as normal folks...)

However, Ciaphas Cain talks about being into his "second century of life" as he is writing his memoirs.

Any thoughts?

Todd

Depends entirely on the planet and your social station. (Re)juvenation drugs and treatments are able to keep people alive for centuries, but they are limited to the elite (meaning, Imperial nobility and high-ranking officers of the various Adepta).

On Sepheris Secundus, the serfs that make up the majority of the populace are probably lucky if they reach the age of 20, whilst gang warfare and industrial pollution in the underhives of Scintilla may demand a similar price in blood for different reasons. On the other hand, the farmers from Cyrus Vulpa could well live to get 60, 80 or even a full hundred years old. Several centuries, however, I see limited to the upper classes (and the Marines, obviously).

Though I won't say that there cannot be exceptions. Who knows what kind of effect toxic waste can have on a mutant worker population in this pulp setting?

I do not think that the natural lifespan of people in 40k is much different from ours, if that is what you mean.

A bit longer than 20 for the serfs probably. That is if you reached that age, you're quite likely to have another 10 to 20 years, unless having one of the bad sorts of accidents. Just reaching 20 however is something most kids don't make. Child mortality rates among the Secundus (and similar planets) serfs must be around what they were in medieval Europe. In short: Bad!

One factor that wasn't mentioned by now is warp travel. Of course, it's something that only ever affects a very small number of total populace anyway, but those that are live far longer than normal without any aid by drugs or treatments. Yet rarely will someone not part of a warp ship's crew travel enough time in the warp to actually get an effect of more than maybe a few years extra. The player characters of course just might be so lucky.

And on the high-end worlds of the Imperium, someone from the middle class and upwards with a halfway reasonable way of living can count on a natural live expectancy of somewhere between 80 and 120, if I go by what you usually read. No special treatments included. It also depends on the world of course.

There are a few in the Calixis sector known to be into their second century including the Velnerable Cal (Ascension and Blood of Martyrs) and Hax (Core book) are mentioned at least. Warp travel really can muddle the waters but thats the exception rather than the norm and the person really hasn't lived that long they just skipped bits.

The horrifying bit is if you think about Rogue Traders, they're definitely going to be skipping a few years with all that warp travel and with their kind of cash can easily afford to get the specialist drugs.I was informed once that a Navigator natural life span was capped around four hundred or so years regardless of warp travel!

The oldest living Astrates is Dante Chapter Master of the Blood Angels (known for their longevity even amongst Astrates) was reported as 1,200 Years old in one source.

Also daemonic pacts and living in warp/realspace intersections can help you skip forwards (and potentially backwards) in time.

Travelling through the warp doesn't make you live longer, though. It simply stretches out your life. From your perspective, you've still lived longer, it's just while you were in the warp, time has "skipped" a bit. It's almost like Joe Haldeman's The Forever War series, in which soldiers fighting an interstellar war are put into cryogenic sleep between conflicts. Each time they wake up, the society they come into is less and less recognisable for them.

(Though interestingly, one of the main themes in 40k is that the Imperium is stagnant, which is why characters are relatively able to integrate back into society, despite these large gaps!)

Gaius said:

However "longevity among Astartes" is pretty much a stupid expressions since there's no Space Marine that I'd ever heard of dying from old age. Which of course makes sense if you remember their field of work and that they can live for at least a millennium.

As for warp travelling: It is written as having a rejuvenating effect. So it's not just a different perception of time passed. Which wouldn't work anyways since what were days in the warp can be weeks outside of it and vice versa. This is not something that is stable enough to have a predictable effect.

Hey Lukkai,

Can you cite any sources for that? I'd certainly be interested to read them.

Is there really no edit button, or am I just missing it?

Further to my previous post, I understand entirely about the warp being unpredictable - you can easily exit before you've entered! But I'm curious to know where you're getting the evidence that the warp is actually "rejuvenating."

Apologies for the lack of clarity in my last post.

Astartes are typically capped around 400-500, though folks like Chapter-masters and those souls kept alive in Dreadnoughts can be extended far, far longer through technological means, and I'm sure some Librarians (if they escape death by Xenos or Chaos and prevent the Immaterium from blowing their head like an overripe melon) might live far longer through their exposure to the chaotic nature of the Warp.

My theory is a biomancer might live for thousands, but in a gene-test it would show some cells in a state of perpetual perfection, alongside some dessicated husks of cells that appear to be impossibly old and withered. Teir ultimate control over their bodies would allow for a far longer lifespan, but no matter how talented they cannot control the Warp completely.

Another group not mentioned so far are the Mechanicus. The ritual replacement of flesh with metal means that they can live for thousands of years. In The Hammer of the Emperor , one Magos is described as one of the 'new, young Magos' (IIRC, not exact words) at ~800. The same book, when talking about an unaugmented human Colonel (might have been a General, I can't recall) who still fights on the front lines at times and so is in quite good health, mentions him looking in his prime at 60, rather then his actual age of 80.

All in all, Acolytes could reasonably live for centuries provided they have sufficient wealth and access to the technology that rejuvenates cells.

BangBangTequila said:

Except that's the fallacy.

400-500 years for a regular Marine is something that hasn't been in the fluff for a long time, if it was ever in there to begin with. It seems to be most often cited with the line about how Blood Angels live longer. But Logan Grimnar hasn't lived more than 300-400 years more than the average Astartes just because he's the Great Wolf and is afforded some extra special treatment. Especially since the Space Wolves seem like the type to look down on that sort of thing.

For all intents and purposes it seems like Space Marines are immortal, and if anything the Blood Angels just age better, staying young and pretty looking.

Blood Pact said:

It's in novels at the very least, granted it is relatively recent. Ben Counter's Grey Knights mentions the apothecary treating Justicar Alaric being in the 400 area and at the end of the Astartes' extended lifespan. Technically speaking, there are a few Marines that have lived since the Horus Heresy, if you count the 13th Great Company, but all recent sources that specifically mention how long an Astartes lives has pegged it in the 400-500 range.

Excluding Black Library sources, I couldn't tell you, but since there is no actual timeframe given in canon I'm likely to take the fluff as the rule and instances otherwise as the exceptions. If it's fallacy, it's GW sanctioned fallacy put forth by a long time author of 40k fluff.

BangBangTequila said:

Editors can miss things.

Such as carnifex-mounted Marine Multilasers.

Hence Gav Thorpe saying that GW at times adopts things from non-studio material they like whilst simply ignoring the rest.

Blood Pact said:

Actually, the fallacy is that a person can die of old age.

People don't die because they reach some arbitrary count of years. Death "by old age" is a combination of the effects of wear and tear upon the body and late onset medical conditions.

Astartes don't die of old age... but then, nor does anyone else. What happens is that age and use wears at the body, slows it down, makes it vulnerable. Undoubtedly, the Astartes are nowhere near as susceptible to such things as mortals, but that doesn't mean they're immune to such concerns.

After a few centuries, a Marine's body starts to lose effectiveness, from natural wear, from scars accumulated from many wars. He isn't quite as strong as he once was, or perhaps not as swift... it might be that his prowess is enough to compensate, it might be a sign that he should refocus his efforts onto some other role within the Chapter (such as teaching Scouts), or it might never be noticed until too late. In all likelihood, it'll affect different Marines differently, at different rates and in different ways, and geneseed is going to factor into that. Those who bear the blood of Sanguinius age more slowly than others - their noted longevity - suffering the wear of years far less than those of other Chapters.

That's how i view the matter, anyway.

Oldest human 700.

Oldest non-blood Angel/Space Wolf Marine currently is 400ish and is considered ancient.

Oldest Blood Angel Dante is 1200ish this is a recon down from 2500+ a few years ago.

Oldest techpriest currently 1200ish. again this might be a recon because a few years ago 5000-6000 year range was old for a techpriest.

This is from different sources since the old Rouge Trader days.(early 90s)

Lukkai said:

I never said they died from old age just that Dante is cited in the background as the oldest living Astrates (not counting Dreadnoughts), super soldiers or not the Astrates do get sent against some very scary stuff and they do lose members as casualties to combat and other sources including occassionally disease or other sources... and I am saying occasionally since thats quite rare.