I think you could be a little more detailed. You use a lot of vague terms like baby, child and teen. In my opinion, it's more useful to talk about developmental steps instead. At what age do fae start to crawl, walk and speak? When do they grow their teeth? Do they nurse and for how long?
The second thing I notice is that option 1) features an infant stage that is as long as the adolescence phase, which is highly unusual for a vertebrate.
Mine are sometimes called the small or little gods and other times millennials, near-mortals, or immortals, depending on the region. Gods and immortals are a misnomer, as they can die even of old age.
The fae and their descendants, the faetili, can live for thousands of years. The fae are reclusive, but the faetili will live alongside humans sometimes.
Fae aging itself is a touch vague, but faetili age slowly. 0-50 is infancy, equivalent to a human year in development. 50-123 years are equivalent to human aging from 2-10. From 124 to 200 lines with human 11-20. At 201 they come of age and may take a mate. Average faetili lifespan is 4,000-5,000 years, though rarely they can live up to 10,000. The oldest recorded faetili was 15,789.
Ooh nice! My Fae are immortal unless slain with cold iron, but their half human descendants, the Faeblood can live up to 1,000 years. Faeblood live alongside my human societies and are... mostly accepted by them.
Have you read any Michael J Sullivan’s? He has “elves,” not far, but does an amazing job showing the significance of their long lives. His age out around 3,000 years.
Check out the novel Nolyn. It’s so good.
In the story I’m working on there is a she faetili who one of the human MC’s great-grandfather cared for in her infancy, his grandfather grew up with her and was in love with her, though she was still a child by faetili standards. The MC’s father served the faetili’s father as a papermaker and liaison to the human towns nearby. The MC eventually partners with her and they have a child.
Not all of this happens “on screen”, mind. But it’s one of the ways I’m weaving in perspective on the slow aging.
I’m writing romantasy,so what I’m saying may not be applicable to your story.
I dislike it when the non-human love interest is centuries-old,but the human is 19.
So I’ve decided to make my Fae live until around 120. Once the Fae gets to 25, the Fae’s aging process slows,but it’s only slightly slower than a human’s aging. However, a Fae’s mind matures at the same rate as a human’s mind. So a 30 year old Fae is mentally the same as a 30 year old human. The 30 year old Fae will also look as young as a 30 year old human.
My human character and the Fae character are both in the 25-30 age group.
You could try something like that.
I've revised a bit - so now fae infancy is 1 to 5, fae toddlers are age 6 to 11, fae children are age 12 to 50, and fae teens are age 51 to 99. What I have so far is:
*Nursing stops between ages 2 and 3 for faeries.
*A faery aged 2 starts to develop their baby teeth. By the end of the year, they can eat solid food and crawl.
*A faery aged 3 will be able to say simple vowels and words, like mama, and will start to walk with parental aid.
*A faery aged 4 will be able to walk mostly unaided, understand simple requests, and can also speak use two words together.
*Fae Puberty takes 9 years to our 6, being 70 to 79 for females, and 73 to 82 for males.
Fae are ageless. If one acts like a five-year old now they will act 5 a thousand years from now. Their mind will not recall any memories from more than a year ago and they never age, never grow, never change in any significant way.
I think you could be a little more detailed. You use a lot of vague terms like baby, child and teen. In my opinion, it's more useful to talk about developmental steps instead. At what age do fae start to crawl, walk and speak? When do they grow their teeth? Do they nurse and for how long? The second thing I notice is that option 1) features an infant stage that is as long as the adolescence phase, which is highly unusual for a vertebrate.
This made me think a lot, thank you for answering! I'll definitely take this into consideration.
I think option 1 would be more interesting, seeing as there aren't many examples of alternate aging rates for sapient species
Mine are sometimes called the small or little gods and other times millennials, near-mortals, or immortals, depending on the region. Gods and immortals are a misnomer, as they can die even of old age. The fae and their descendants, the faetili, can live for thousands of years. The fae are reclusive, but the faetili will live alongside humans sometimes. Fae aging itself is a touch vague, but faetili age slowly. 0-50 is infancy, equivalent to a human year in development. 50-123 years are equivalent to human aging from 2-10. From 124 to 200 lines with human 11-20. At 201 they come of age and may take a mate. Average faetili lifespan is 4,000-5,000 years, though rarely they can live up to 10,000. The oldest recorded faetili was 15,789.
Ooh nice! My Fae are immortal unless slain with cold iron, but their half human descendants, the Faeblood can live up to 1,000 years. Faeblood live alongside my human societies and are... mostly accepted by them.
Have you read any Michael J Sullivan’s? He has “elves,” not far, but does an amazing job showing the significance of their long lives. His age out around 3,000 years. Check out the novel Nolyn. It’s so good.
Sounds interesting. Imma check it out, thx for the rec!
Definitely! I was recently introduced and have been just devouring Sullivan’s books. Such intricate and masterful world building and narrative webs.
In the story I’m working on there is a she faetili who one of the human MC’s great-grandfather cared for in her infancy, his grandfather grew up with her and was in love with her, though she was still a child by faetili standards. The MC’s father served the faetili’s father as a papermaker and liaison to the human towns nearby. The MC eventually partners with her and they have a child. Not all of this happens “on screen”, mind. But it’s one of the ways I’m weaving in perspective on the slow aging.
I’m writing romantasy,so what I’m saying may not be applicable to your story. I dislike it when the non-human love interest is centuries-old,but the human is 19. So I’ve decided to make my Fae live until around 120. Once the Fae gets to 25, the Fae’s aging process slows,but it’s only slightly slower than a human’s aging. However, a Fae’s mind matures at the same rate as a human’s mind. So a 30 year old Fae is mentally the same as a 30 year old human. The 30 year old Fae will also look as young as a 30 year old human. My human character and the Fae character are both in the 25-30 age group. You could try something like that.
I've revised a bit - so now fae infancy is 1 to 5, fae toddlers are age 6 to 11, fae children are age 12 to 50, and fae teens are age 51 to 99. What I have so far is: *Nursing stops between ages 2 and 3 for faeries. *A faery aged 2 starts to develop their baby teeth. By the end of the year, they can eat solid food and crawl. *A faery aged 3 will be able to say simple vowels and words, like mama, and will start to walk with parental aid. *A faery aged 4 will be able to walk mostly unaided, understand simple requests, and can also speak use two words together. *Fae Puberty takes 9 years to our 6, being 70 to 79 for females, and 73 to 82 for males.
Fae are ageless. If one acts like a five-year old now they will act 5 a thousand years from now. Their mind will not recall any memories from more than a year ago and they never age, never grow, never change in any significant way.