In this document, we consider the age that truly dedicated magus could live to. We imagine a Magus Yossarian[1] who is single-mindedly set on living as long as possible. Magus Yossarian is a most respects a perfectly normal Magus, just he has the Flaw Driving Goal (live as long as possible). I assume that this leads him to spend two seasons per year, dedicated the studies most likely to improve his necessary skills, and the other two seasons in Covenant service and other activities to finance his obsession.
After his gauntlet, Magus Yossarian wholly neglects the twelve Arts irrelevant to his quest, learning few Spells (only those he needs to study the Tractatus on them), and probably never casting any.
Magus Yossarian has two conflicting problems, Twilight and brewing longevity potions. These conflict because he will ultimately require a very considerable Vim score to handle Vis required to brew his potions, but that every 5 points of Vim score adds another Twilight point. In the long term, he will need to increase his Vim score by one every five years to maintain ability to brew his potions. This implies taking a Twilight point every 25 years. In addition merely taking Longevity potions causes a point every 20 years, so in total he must take 9 points per century. In practice, he will have about 5 points at the age of 100 (4 from 60+ years on potions; 1 from 5+ Vim). He cannot avoid Final Twilight much past 300.
Whereas many of these assumptions, (especially Yossarian's initial Art and ability scores) make remarkably little difference to the outcome, the following may be significant. I assume:-
In fact, he can do a little better than the 300 limit by stopping learning Vim after brewing his final potion. He times the design of this final potion so that it ceases to give him ageing-immunity at about the time he will go into Twilight anyway. After this he might as well stopping study, however I assume he continues as usual.
The following table lists the years Yossarian brews a potion, plus a final
line for the year that he goes into Final Twilight.
| Age | Corpus | Intéllego | Vim | Magic Theory | Twilight Points | Potion Immune Until |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 40 |
| 40 | 15 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 60 |
| 60 | 25 | 26 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 100 |
| 100 | 41 | 40 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 170 |
| 170 | 58 | 58 | 23 | 11 | 11 | 250 |
| 250 | 72 | 74 | 33 | 17 | 17 | 330 |
| 280 | 78 | 78 | 39 | 17 | 20 | 350 |
| 355 | 91 | 93 | 39 | 19 | 24 | Final Twilight |
Note that for the final five years, Yossarian is not immune to ageing and has a 10% chance per year of an Annoying Afflication. Much more important is that this would represent a Potion failure, and require a re-brew. However he is incapable of handling the necessary Vis. Unless he can find a Vim specialist capable of doing this for him, and the three-quarters of a Queen of Vis, he cannot rebrew. Without a potion, he is guaranteed to take a Decrepitude point every year. Accordingly Yossarian has a very low life expectancy once his Potion ceases to provide immunity to ageing.
Any other sources of Twilight points will markedly reduce overall longevity. Early in life each Twilight point will on average[4] reduce longevity by eleven years, provided Yossarian correctly reduces his final Vim score to compensate. Later in life, when he is at his final Vim score, each point will cost twenty years. By age 200, any roll for Twilight is potentially Final.
Only a very boring magus that could avoid spell botch Twilight completely for 300 years.
The progress assumes vast numbers of Tractatus. (About 250 in each of Corpus, and Intéllego; about 100 in Vim. Precise values depend on best Summae available.) In the absence of the necessary books, Yossarian must either stop progressing in the relevant Arts (with inevitable earlier potion failure), or spend a vast number of seasons studying Vis (with the near inevitable botchs and Twilight points).
Certainly in later life, Magus Yossarian would be in enormous demand as a designer of Longevity potions. He could charge massive fees for his potions. For most Magi with typical Twilight experience, one of his potions would guarantee no-ageing-ever.
However when younger, there is no guarantee the Yossarian would be able to afford to spend as many seasons in study. If at any stage, he cannot design a potion providing ageing-immunity, he risks potion failures. These require Vis for the rebrews, which is a further drain on resources, and a potential downward spiral.
In an exceptionally Vis-poor compaign, he might just lack the Vis to brew the potions. Albeit as he can use mostly Vim Vis, and this can be distilled in any campaign. Nevertheless at he lacks the Vim score to use only Vim Vis, he will require some Creo or Corpus Vis, so this could theoretically be a problem. On average he uses less than a pawn of Vis per year.
Whereas the 350 year-old Yossarian cannot brew himself a better potion, he could brew his apprentice Magus Dunbar[5], filii Yossarian. This would give Dunbar aging immunity to about 400. Freed from the need to ever brew his own potions, Magus Dunbar has less need of a Vim score so can delay Twilight further. If he nevertheless studies as obsessively as his Parens[6], he will ultimately be able to design even better potions, (albeit only brew them of much younger magi). Ultimately over several generations, Magi in the Yossarian's line could live to about 500, which is the limit if Vim Twilight points are avoided completely.
However as the Order of Hermes has not been going long enough, we can be sure this has not happened yet[7] .
[2]: This leads to an ultimate Concentration score of 13, which is most of the study total. If you don't assume this then it becomes complex, as, in the early years, Yossarian should spend most of his time Practising Concentration to accelerate his Arts learning the later years. It is very difficult to work out just how much he should Practise this.
[3]: In practice, initial Arts, skills and characteristics are of very little importance. Intelligence is the only significant value as this is included in Study Totals. Except at the very start. the Lab. Total is dominated by the Arts scores.
[4]: Note it is "an average" 11 years. In practice a single point may reduce longevity by any amount from zero to twenty years. Several points will average out at about 11 years each.
[5]: Dunbar is also a character from Catch-22. "He was working hard at increasing his life span. He did it by cultivating boredom" Thereby at least making it seem longer.
[6]: Note that as Dunbar has a "survive to 400" potion from a very early age. His studies can do nothing to improve his own longevity. This makes obsessive Corpus and Intéllego studying even less plausible.
[7]: I leave it to the reader to decide whether this use of yet refers to 1220 or 1998.
