"I feel that I've finished living. Farewell, everyone."

[JoshuaMadoc]

In this topic, I bring up to you yet another fabulous concept.

Age deceleration is a rather common theme for werewolves and fellow shapeshifters. I think the more common portrayal of this age deceleration thing is the fact that the more centuries shapeshifters have on their tabs, the more unkempt and unhygienic they look. Well, personally, I find that kind of portrayal very very ridiculous, because I don't remember them (especially europeans) refusing to be taught hygiene lessons from Saladin or some other arab to keep their appearance in check. But let's leave personal care for another topic.

According to my lore, good practice of shapeshifting can extend a person's longevity, and even keep a person's youthful appearance indefinitely. Centuries-old shapeshifters are somewhat uncommon, but not as uncommon as millenium-old shapeshifters. With so many people who've lived through countless generations, you'd think that they'd all decide to live to the end of time, right? Well, yes, some do, but there are others who feel that their business in the corporeal world is done, and would like to "die". There are many ways to "die" in on this matter, such as suicide, euthanasia, and so on. But what if those methods are just impossible to do?

That's when the shapeshifters learned of another form of euthanasia that requires none of those.

Have you guys heard of stories about ascetics in india who can end their own lives by their own whims? These people live the absolute simple life, requiring nothing more, and nothing less. And when they finally say that they have finished living, their lives end, just like that. What the shapeshifters do is similar to this.

The process is as follows: A person invites relatives, friends, and acquaintances to a farewell party, a few days in advance before they pass on. This person spends the final days saying goodbyes to said invited, and do whatever else they need to do. Come the time of the passing, and the person begins the process of halting every single bodily function until nothing else can function, and the soul finally leaves the physical being and transcend to the world beyond the corporeal world. There's yet to be any records as to what lies beyond the corporeal world, because this is an absolute one-way process with no returns. This process can be done in private or with an audience consisting of the previously invited.

There ARE conditions to this process, however. Before this process can even be considered, every piece of unfinished business in the corporeal world MUST be taken care of, as there is to be absolutely no regret whatsoever when transcending. This can take years, or even decades depending on what needs to be taken care of. In some cases, the conditions can even be near-impossible because with one thing taken care of, another two or three unfinished businesses come about. It is because of this that some shapeshifters deem the transcension as the most expensive process to undergo. Forget money, we're talking about YEARS here.

Anyway that wraps up the foreword to this topic and my 1000th post. I feel lightheaded. KANPAI~~!

[Leonca~]

Interesting idea. I’ve never heard about the ascetics. They can cause themselves to die by willpower alone? I’m fairly skeptical of people who claim to be able to control autonomic functions, though perhaps some day scientific investigation could explain this.
I like the idea for werewolves though. Kind of sounds like the opposite of the way some people set up ghosts to work- that they are stuck without being able to pass on until they have resolved their unfinished business. It would probably be much more convenient to get that taken care of while still alive, I would imagine.

[Terastas]

Interesting idea. I’ve never heard about the ascetics. They can cause themselves to die by willpower alone? I’m fairly skeptical of people who claim to be able to control autonomic functions, though perhaps some day scientific investigation could explain this.

It's not unheard of. Click here to see Guy Bavli demonstrate.

What I'm having a hard time buying is that a werewolf would ever decide that he has nothing left to live for. Maybe worn out and weary of it all, but. . . Well, be honest: if one of your parents or your significant other came to you and said that they felt they had nothing left to live for, how would that make you feel?

The werewolves in both of my settings don't age normally either, but with the pack counting on each other just to make it through the day, there's no room for a werewolf to just drop everything and decide they're going to up and die at random. Maybe start looking around for an opportunity where their death could have meaning, but. . . Just shutting themselves down because they're bored?

If a werewolf could only be permitted to pass once all issues have been cleared up, I don't think it would ever happen by sheer virtue of the werewolf's decision to die being an issue by itself. Werewolf suicide would come with its very own Catch 22.

[Leonca~]

[Terastas]

Well, that was interesting. Too much drama and not enough science though.

It still can be done.

I couldn't find a video of it, but I remember way back when there was a Guinness Book Of World Records TV show, they had on a guy from Paris that called himself the Yogi Kudu who submerged himself in a locked box for half an hour under water. The secret to his "trick" was a meditative trance that slowed his heartbeat down to roughly two beats per minute.

So while the human body doesn't necessarily have an "Off" switch and there are no simplistic scientific explanations as to how it occurs, the possibility of shutting one's body down voluntarily is still, at the very least, hardly anything new.
Besides, we're dealing with werewolves here. Shutting down makes more sense than shifting on the scientific level, right?