What's going to be the mindset of a superhero whose shtick is that he's unagaing, nigh-immortal, and has been alive and active since nearly 1800 BC (after being left wounded on the battlefield, feverish and starving for weeks, he began desperately munching on a piece of discarded snakeskin he could crawl towards which just so happened to contain a tiny bit of the essence of immortality its last owner stole from Gilgamesh)? How would such a guy think and act?
He'd act like an elf.
Methos.
>>43982749
I thought Gilgamesh was never immortal, but was always seeking it?
I'd say it depends on how much he can remember over the ages and if he grows smarter now that he need not worry about death. An ancient immortal that remembers clearly the rise and fall and burning of empire would likely be world weary and want a peaceful pasture that he can live in. If it all becomes a blur after 200 years, he might still be looking the world over for wonders and beauty, both man-made and natural.
Also, if he still suffers from thirst and pain, he'd stay closer to civilization.
>>43983004
>I thought Gilgamesh was never immortal, but was always seeking it?
He found a herb that would've granted him immortality, but it got stolen by a snake before he could use it. Hence why snakes change their skin, which the Mesopotamians saw as an act of rebirth.
>>43982749
Depends on his personality before. He'd be Ra's al Ghul, more or less.
>>43983930
>Ra's Al Ghul
More like Vandal Savage, I'd say.
>>43983967
Vandal Savage is way, way, way, waaaaaaay older than that. He's older than what we currently consider THE HUMAN RACE.
reminds me a little of Wolverine
>>43982749
The whole "being left for dead, wounded on a battlefield" thing is going to mess with his psyche.
Otherwise? Might want to take a look at Casca, the Eternal Soldier.
Mutants & Masterminds has the Freedom City setting, which has Daedalus (father of "I flew too close to the sun and my wings melted away" Icarus) as an immortal as well, fighting crime as an Powered Armor, scientist type character.
A lot of the big-name immortal characters in comics tend to be villains, not heroes, for a variety of reasons.
>Wow, everyone's gotten really touchy about rape lately!
>>43983967
Vandal Savage is a cave man, though.
>>43982749
"Damn kids these days, no respect for their elders."
>>43982749
The Man From Earth is a good source for the potential behavior of an immortal.
And if you're playing a contemporary campaign, I imagine he'd be rather annoyed at Islam for wrecking those Assyrian relics he grew up under.
>>43982749
#YOLO incarnate. Also probably extremely politically incorrect.
>>43987238
I laughed to hard at that.
>>43982749
He'd fall into one of the extremes, either trying to take over the world, run a secret society, or live a completely isolated and relatively mundane life.
>>43982749
It depends; is his memory literally perfect or is it no better then anyone else's?
If he's basically human mentally despite immortality he might misremember or forget a lot of shit as time goes on simply because how much of life he's experienced; what seems incredibly crucial and important to some people might seem a bit trite and silly to him since he's seen variations in this shit all before.
Also, consider that he might actually be a pretty poor reference for what history was "actually like" because he might have not actually been in the places people ask about ("What was Ancient Rome like?" "The fuck if I know, I lived in Persia.") or haven't actually met important people ("Did you meet and talk to Napoleon?" "I dunno, have YOU met and talked to Obama?") and because the human brain is actually a pretty shitty information storage system in general.
He might see political conflicts as boring and temporary but he zeros in on GENUINE wide-scale threats and dangers the sort supervillains often represent because he's been around long enough to know what some things are temporary and some things have severe consequences.
He also might feel more then a little alienated; even if he's used to the modern day, his only connection to it is the people he knows about and likes because he personally was only connected to a culture that's been dead for millennia and doesn't exist anywhere on Earth anymore.
Alternatively, he could be the sort who "adopts" cultures he spends time in a lot as his own to compensate for that loss.
>>43983004
I'm just going to say, after reading the epic of Gilgamesh for my ancient history class, I'd love to play a setting based off the Epic. The Epic itself is really a tale of two bros, beating the shit out of everything in their way.
Also big G got keked by the snake.
>>43982930
/thread methinks
>>43990186
>It depends; is his memory literally perfect or is it no better then anyone else's?
For the sake of the thread, he's eidetic.
>>43982749
>So, hey, I just got a lifetime ban from the local cathedral. Did you know that temple prostitutes aren't a thing anymore?
>Look, officer, I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to behead drug dealers and bring their heads to the station for money! But, hey, I killed them! It WAS kinda annoying to chase them down when they were running away, but the job's done! I still get my bounty, right?
>Goddamn it, those Mexican immigrants did a shit job washing my car! Now Rebecca, Jim and Thomas, they'd know how to make it shine! I'll never forgive President Lincoln for taking them away from me...
>Oh my god, you are NOT the first asshole to make that joke! YES, we married and banged underage girls, I did it, my friends did it, everyone did it! But if you lived in a time where everyone dies at 30, YOU'D DO IT TOO!!
>>43990186
>("What was Ancient Rome like?" "The fuck if I know, I lived in Persia.") or haven't actually met important people ("Did you meet and talk to Napoleon?" "I dunno, have YOU met and talked to Obama?")
This always bothered me, too. Immortals in fiction seem to know every historical figure on a personal level, and have always happened to be in every war, every event, etc.
>>43990963
>>43991026
like the knight's move in thought.
i like your jokes, friend.
One of the common tropes I've seen used is the waivering line of apathy immortals face.
You live for a few thousands years, you see a LOT of people die.
I mean shit, imagine knowing that in a few days (comparative to your view of time) everyone on the planet was going to be dead and a new batch would replace them. You have to work very hard to stay connected in a situation like that.
So you tend to get characters who either just do not give a shit about the little folk and are very big picture orientated, or you get characters who obsess over odd things in a bid to retain humanity.
On top of that is the issue of perception of time. The longer you live, the faster time seems to pass relative to you.
A guy whose been knocking around for the past few millennia could conceivably react to events extremely slowly. Rocking up to bank robberies a week late.
>>43990963
>time where everyone dies at 30
Low average life expectancies throughout history are primarily due to high infant mortality rates, broheim.
>>43991120
>On top of that is the issue of perception of time. The longer you live, the faster time seems to pass relative to you.
You forgot to factor in the fact that as the immortal ages his leg muscles get stronger from all the manly shit he's doing through the ages (which, i might add, is much too manly for men and mice such us) which boosts his propulsion.
His additional velocity slows his perception of time, cancelling out the above effect you mention.
HE WOULD SEE TIME LIKE THE REST OF US :P
>>43990361
If you ever do, let me know how it goes. My attempt fall apart in an incredibly flaccid fashion.
>>43982749
>he's unagaing, nigh-immortal, and has been alive and active since nearly 1800 BC
I honestly don't think a person who's lived that long would think or behave like a human being at all.
I certainly don't think any player's performance could possibly approximate the psyche of somebody who's loved that long.
>>43991221
>>You forgot to factor in the fact that as the immortal ages his leg muscles get stronger from all the manly shit he's doing through the ages (which, i might add, is much too manly for men and mice such us) which boosts his propulsion.
Your mind is an amazing place, and I applaud you.
>>43982749
I'm just going to leave this here
>>43990501
you can't call /thread on a reference to a character, let alone one from a nineties tv show that almost no one here would have watched
The only thing I know is that he would be a terrible father.
I am a 2.5k year old immortal, ask me anything
>>43997590
How many dicks did you suck?
>>43999124
A fair few actually, given I practiced homosexual tendancies for a good majority of 100-900AD.
>>43982749
>What's going to be the mindset of a superhero with brown hair
>What's going to be the mindset of a superhero with a tiny penis
>what's going to be the mindset of a homosexual superhero
Depends rather heavily on the superhero in question.
>>43990361
You need to re-take that class.
>>43982930
I always felt Methos shouldve been more of a badass swordsman given his experience.
>>43990559
This would be pretty crazy then.
Remembering literally everything in a NORMAL life is pretty crazy and very rare given how easily time and emotion distorts memory for us.
Remembering literally everything in a life that spans human history is quite literally impossible for us to grasp.
>>43991026
This is especially true in that not only would it have been impossible for them to know everyone at every important point in history, in 80% of all cases the guys who genuinely shape history aren't really famous for shaping history until well AFTER they died.
The immortal would need to literally be precognitive to know who to befriend.
>>43999176
Let's be fair, though.
Methos doesn't really bother with headhunting. He's more of a "get away and go to ground" guy when somebody comes after him.
>>43999334
Except for the phase when he was such a legendary warlord that he was the inspiration for the biblical 'Death'...
>>43999422
Yeah, but his memory of the distant past is... spotty.
>>43984124
And still manages to fail in every regard.
Pro-tip: Building giant doomsday rockets will never work against the Justice League.
>>43999231
It'd be fun to go the other way, an immortal who despite his best efforts has never managed to do anything that mattered to history.
