The Age of Man

As was covered earlier, there are various core races to the Westerlands (aka Realmwalkers). But just how do the lifespans of these fantasy denizens compare to humans? Well I'm glad you asked. Arranged from eldest to youngest they are:

*An update: I recently came up with a possible age progression of elves compared to humans. Elves mature and grow at the same rate as humans until their late teens. From then on an elf only ages physically about 1 year for every 3-5 human years. Thus when a human reaches very old age of 85-100 an elf of the same age will only look in their late 20s or early 30s.

Elves: 500-800, although they still refer to the Eldar who would be thousands of years old had they remained in humanoid form.
Gnomes: 300-400, considered to be very old and gifted if they live beyond 350.
Dwarves: 250-350, being a people of action and productivity, once a dwarf passes age 300 they consider themselves too old and infirm to keep up with the younguns.
Half-Elves: 200-250, barely half the lifespan of a full blood elf, these hybrids are still more than double the average human life expectancy.
Humans: 80-100, actual life expectancy in the Late Middle Ages for the average commoner was about 40-50 tops, but because we don't want players/NPCs keeling over too soon I've stretched it to a full century if they're very healthy or if they have some magical talent that keeps them kicking.
Half-Orcs: 80-100, they might live as long as humans, but because they're a warrior society they seek a "good death" in battle preferably before 75. So if you're ever invited to a Hork's 80th birthday party, respectfully decline.
Grimalkin: They're catfolk. So do they actually have 9 lives? I was thinking more along the lines of reincarnation of the soul. Their physical bodies age and die at about the same rate as humans, but based on their karma and conscience they come back again and again in various forms. Mayhap their nirvana is being reborn as a star with full recollection of all previous lives. The brightest stars could be the best souls in the heavens, constant reminders to be as good as you can to achieve immortality.
Draken: I want them to be very old as well. I think 350-500 would give them a respectable run with much time to hone their skills and wisdom. Maybe they too get reborn -symbolic of shedding old scales - but they don't retain memory of complete life, just important lessons learned. Priests are literally more learned than warriors. Fighters are "young souls" who haven't yet settled down and embraced higher learning.

Vampires: well obviously they're immortal
Lycans: They maintain the normal lifespan of their original race, minus a bit because of their highly active hunter lifestyle.

Think of what this all means in terms of remembering and recounting events as we know them. In the last State of the Union address, an elderly woman was spotlighted for her devotion to civic duty - voting. She waited in line for hours and hours to cast her ballot.. She was 102! That means she was born during William Howard Taft's Presidency and would have been eligible to vote for Calvin Coolidge. She would have been just a few years older than me when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. She was 55 when JFK was assassinated, and 58 when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot.

The Land of Nod posted an interesting timeline back in April. It goes a little something like this Core Race Memories