Advice on how to describe the life cycle of my reincarnating fantasy race

[HHHawkeye]

I need advice on a potential issue I might have with my story set in a setting populated by a species of reincarnating humanoids called the Kethai. To simplify to what's important, the Kethai do not sexually reproduce (though as you can probably imagine given where I'm writing this they do have sex). Instead, they have a two-stage life cycle, starting in the first, then transitioning to the second at variable times, and then eventually dying roughly 50 years after entering the second one. After that, they are reincarnated in a new, adult body (with an adult brain) that grows out of a pod on one of twelve massive trees throughout the setting, with a new, randomized appearance, roughly the same personality as they had before, and a limited memory of their past lives.

The point is, this setting has no children, only freshly-reincarnated adults. However, I've run into a problem here: nobody remembers enough of their past lives to have a real sense of their true, total age, and this setting's culture has absolutely no conceivable reason to start counting the age of everyone's newest adult body at, say, 18... but if I have them start the count at 0 like they logically would, then I'm worried the people checking submissions for approval might get very confused and alarmed at what some of the characters in my story are going to say their ages are, unless the characters describe their ages in a way that's clearly alien and inapplicable.

Is this a legitimate concern I should be worrying about? If so, any advice on how I can get around this?

 

[KeithD]

You can depict the aging of their reincarnation as something like 2/0, 2/1, 2/2, and so forth and explain it in a note to the submissions editor when submitting the story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Is this a legitimate concern I should be worrying about? If so, any advice on how I can get around this?

Potentially, yes.

Solution - invent some term or other that establishes the reincarnation idea but avoids the notion of "age" entirely; in other words, mystify it up so much that folk will be thinking millennia, but for fuck's sake, don't write them as twelve year olds.

Are you sure you're cut out for this world building malarkey, if you can't figure this one out?

Just kidding! They're alien tree people, I'm sure you'll get an acorn of an idea .

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't see this as a problem if you handle it the right way. Write the characters like they are adults. Physically adults, and mentally and emotionally adults. You say they are reincarnated in an adult body, so I don't see a problem.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

If you’re clear about it, it should not be a problem. Suggest putting a note in the administrator box on the submission page stressing that these critters are born adult.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Maybe drop the term "reincarnation", which implies rebirth as an infant, and use some other word such as "transformation" or "metamorphosis" instead.

 

[CyranoJ]

Give the years of their life cycles names instead of numbers. A cycle of a couple of dozen year names wouldn't be significantly harder to remember than, say, the signs of a zodiac. Then give the first and second life cycle either simple numbers or their own identifying names that hint at youth for the first one and experience for the second one.

It provides an opportunity to add a little setting flavor, convey the alienness of Kethai life and culture, and eliminate any possible confusion.

(And of course, you don't literally need to come up with a couple of dozen year names, just make them up as you need them.)

 

[Bramblethorn]

Give the years of their life cycles names instead of numbers. A cycle of a couple of dozen year names wouldn't be significantly harder to remember than, say, the signs of a zodiac.

"In the third year of Emperor Bluntvub VII's reign..."

 

[HHHawkeye]

You can depict the aging of their reincarnation as something like 2/0, 2/1, 2/2, and so forth and explain it in a note to the submissions editor when submitting the story.

This sounds like a really good idea. Showing the two ages they are at or got to in the two stages is a simple way to make it clear that we're not talking about the human concept of age. I think I'll go with this. Especially since what age they got to in the first stage is relevant in the second stage, so they'd want to list their ages that way anyway.

 

[NotWise]

This sounds like a really good idea. Showing the two ages they are at or got to in the two stages is a simple way to make it clear that we're not talking about the human concept of age. I think I'll go with this. Especially since what age they got to in the first stage is relevant in the second stage, so they'd want to list their ages that way anyway.

From you're description, it seems like age is largely irrelevant. Why put a number on it at all?

 

[CyranoJ]

"In the third year of Emperor Bluntvub VII's reign..."

"... Koomis Summer-Phoenix twitched his oomoe across his zarf's left brampf and gazed up at the three suns of Ormolu while he adjusted his gigget-basket."

I could dance to it.

(One wouldn't want to overdo it, of course. I've often wondered about doing a fantasy version of DFW's Subsidized Time though...)

 

[HHHawkeye]

From you're description, it seems like age is largely irrelevant. Why put a number on it at all?

The age of their current body affects certain things in the setting, so mentioning ages will sometimes be important.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

I read a sci-fi story years ago by Keith Laumer called 'A Trace Of Memory' about a race of immortals who live their lives as normal people, then, at a certain point in their life-cycle they go through something called 'the Change' and are virtually reborn as a younger adult version of themselves, with no memory of their identity. To preserve their memories, they record their personalities on cylinders when they feel the Change approaching and, when they've undergone the Change they're taken to a special room where the trace of their recorded memories and personality is uploaded back into them again. The point of the story was about what happens when one of the immortals loses their connection to their recorded memories, and becomes stranded on Earth, where he goes through Change after Change over millenia with no idea who or what he is after every change, and builds a whole new life after every Change, only to have it stripped away from him yet again next time he undergoes the Change.

 

[NotWise]

The age of their current body affects certain things in the setting, so mentioning ages will sometimes be important.

You could, instead of mentioning age, describe the physical state of maturity.

It isn't just your story, but on Lit in general. A lot of possible problems could be avoided by just not using numbers for age.

 

[Djmac1031]

However, I've run into a problem here: nobody remembers enough of their past lives to have a real sense of their true, total age

My suggestion (for what it's worth) is simply give them more memory. Or at least enough to know how many times they've been reincarnated.

They could then state something like "while my body appears that of an 18 or 19 year old, my mind has been reborn 52 times so far " or something to that effect.