The Twelve Kingdoms Forum

This is something I have been wondering about. The book said that the kirin life span is 30 years and that once the kirin mature their appearance won't change. The previous Enki couldn't find a ruler and died at 30 years old. Rokuta looks like a 13 years old but live for 500 years. Keiki is about mid twenty when he selected Yo-ou, then it take him another year to find Youko. Just let say, Youko or En-ou dies, how long does Enki or Keiki has left to find another ruler? When does the clock start ticking? How do you calculate the kirin natural file span?

The Kirin is an Immortal. He can't die from illness or age. They don't have any deadline to find their ruler, but somehow they can die from mental break down or depression.

So the Kirin natural lifespan is endless. As long as he find a ruler he cannot be depressed. If his ruler disobey the Law of Tentei, he dies. Some weapons can hurt him, he can only die this way if he's beheaded.

Yes, Lyn they are inmortal, but only as long as they are serving a ruler. In the books it is said that they have a 30 years lifespan, meaning that they have that much to find a ruler to serve. I think that after a ruler dies, the clock get reset and they have another 30 years to find a new one or they are Youma's dinner! LOL
I think this may be done by Tentei as a way to force them to look for a ruler.

I think that after a ruler dies, the clock get reset and they have another 30 years to find a new one or they are Youma's dinner!

You may be right. I was thinking that may be while they serve the rulers the clock stops. But my thinking seem to have flaw because kirin do age even if they found and serve a ruler. Such as are the case of Sairin and Taiki. Sairin found a king when she was 8 but she does not look like eight to me. And Taiki is aging as well. May be the future book will explain it. We can hope, right

I think that in the case of Sairin and Taiki, they chose their rulers before they could fully mature, that will account for their still growing phase... I think Enki said something about that when he an En Ou were explaining the dynamics of the Twelve Kingdoms to Youko. Also, in the case of Taiki, his clock started again after he returned to Horai. If i am not mistaken, Risai in Shore of Twilight was very sad to see that the little boy that she once knew was no more. It is possible that maturing doesnt have to be physically, but mentally... Enki is small and still he matured sooner than Keiki ... It will be good to have stories of all the Kirins to see if their is a common thread that havent been seen so far.

To Carmolita: So in case of Enki Rokuta if En-ou died, he has 17 years to find another ruler? Enki matured at the at of 13 and at the same time he found En-ou. What happen if he was to find En-ou at 13 but not mature until 20? Did the clock stop at 13 or 20 for him?

Here's what I gathered from the novels (similar to some posts):

- Kirins matured when they matured (nobody knows when and how, and it's different for every kirin), and this has got nothing or little to do with choosing their emperor

- They can choose an emperor when they are 6 six years old

- After reaching the age to choose, without an emperor they can't live long (usually they would die at 30, so that probably means they have around 24 years to do the searching (30 minus 6)?)

- Sairin and Taiki grew because when they chose their emperor, they weren't adult yet.

- Taiki reached adulthood while he was in Hourai, even when he lost his horn, because he still had powers and because he's a black Kirin. But it's unclear in what age he actually reached it.

- In normal situations (happy with their righteous emperors), theoretically, Kirins can live forever, so they have no life spans.

The key is having a ruler. Remember, once a ruler is enthroned, he becomes inmortal, henced all his retainers should be inmortal too, so they can help him rule the kingdom for as long as the ruler live (Kirin included). But is kind of hard for me to think that after the ruler die, the Kirin only have the remaining years before turning 30 to find a ruler without a reset of the clock. Look at Kyouki, for example, he was 28 when he finally pick Kyou-ou, so what will happen if Kyou-ou dies, he will have only 2 years to find the next ruler? I dont see it that way...

The immortality of the people the emperor made immortal doesn't go away when the emperor dies. In one of the En books, there is a character who spent 50 years waiting for a new emperor to serve.

To Jinx999: yes, the people who the emperor made immortal does not age but we are talking about kirin, not people.

I was going to say that as far as I could tell, their immortality works in the same way. However, I realised that someone granted immortality stops aging, even if a child, while a physically young Kirin can continue to grow up (except Roktuda, who doesn't seem to have bothered).

There was a significant gap between You-ou and Youko being enthroned, but we did't see Keiki getting frantic. We don't know if there continues to be a time limit and if it gets reset or not.

purpleleaf wrote:This is something I have been wondering about. The book said that the kirin life span is 30 years and that once the kirin mature their appearance won't change. The previous Enki couldn't find a ruler and died at 30 years old. Rokuta looks like a 13 years old but live for 500 years. Keiki is about mid twenty when he selected Yo-ou, then it take him another year to find Youko. Just let say, Youko or En-ou dies, how long does Enki or Keiki has left to find another ruler? When does the clock start ticking? How do you calculate the kirin natural file span?

First question.
They would have for the rest of the natural lives.

Question two,
Probably right away. Or after the body is buried.

Question three.
I dont know let some one else answer that.

Jinx999 wrote:I was going to say that as far as I could tell, their immortality works in the same way. However, I realised that someone granted immortality stops aging, even if a child, while a physically young Kirin can continue to grow up (except Roktuda, who doesn't seem to have bothered).

There was a significant gap between You-ou and Youko being enthroned, but we did't see Keiki getting frantic. We don't know if there continues to be a time limit and if it gets reset or not.

Actually, I think we're told a kirin stops aging once they find their king. Note this mostly applies to the human form; the kirin form is already large by the time they're 10, I think. Taiki's grown up probably because of missing his horn, being in taika form in Japan, or both.

I thought it was only a year between Kei-ous... and we didn't really Keiki at all in that period, except when he's found Youko. Keiki and Jo-ou were fairly new when Taiki came over, they last 6 years total, Taiki's been gone for 6 years... pretty close overlap.