Cephiran lifespans

[Antoinette Veronica]

I always wonder, do Cephirans ever age? How long would they live?
Also, do you think Pillars are immortal? Or would they die naturally? One fanfic I read mentioned a Pillar who passed away due to old age (although she looked young).

[suzanami]

Most fans seem to think that Cephirans can live for hundreds of years.  Obviously Clef is a bit of an oldster at 745, but that doesn't mean 500 years isn't a common old age.  The series is never explicit, but does make a point, especially in the anime, that Cephirans never look as old as they are.  But then, Clef could be REALLY ANCIENT for some reason -- due to his position he has extended life?  Them living for hundreds of years makes more sense to me, though.

Personally, I think the Pillar lives on eternally.  Because the ideal situation would be the perfect Pillar who was Always There.  If Pillars were dying all the time, well, then Cephiro would have nasty crumbling spells often and that's not ideal.  The summoning of the Magic Knights is an extreme measure when the Pillar knows they're not longer fit to serve the country. 

To bring both points together... Emeraude was chosen at some point, and Ferio was alive to see it happen.  So either Emeraude's only been Pillar for 10-15 years, or Ferio's also hundreds of years old.  Eh, it's possible that Emeraude was a very short-lived Pillar and usually they live for a full lifespan and then die off, but even though the Pillar system is very flawed, I don't think it's so flawed that it'd send the country into turmoil every couple of generations.

My thoughts!

[Down]

IT'S HEADCANON TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME~ er. XD

My general headcanon is that lifespans are usually from about 500-1000, with anything over 850ish as Startlingly Old in Cephiran terms, but that if people had the will they could go on longer - and that people tend to live longer in eras where there are longer-reigning Pillars, because the fewer fundamental changes to Cephiro, the less they have to adapt to, if that makes sense?

I also think that the Pillar lives until either a tragic accident which happens too fast for them to stop it, or they summon the magic knights. And that the average reign is something like 300-600 years - I tend to think that Emeraude is about 300 years old, so wasn't particularly aware of the changeover before hers, and that Clef has been Guru about that long (300 years again) - probably because the previous one died in the confusion/grief of the loss of the previous Pillar, and that the short length of the changes compared to lifespan means most people see one or two, which is why the truth of the system is such a closely guarded secret, and all the people know is the vague legend of the Knights? Also that normally it doesn't take so long to pick the NEW one, because normally Mokona isn't waiting for the invading forces to appear.

(I tend to think Emeraude's reign was decades long at most, though. And then I want to hug her D:)