Genetic Immortality

Genetic Immortality is more than just simply changing a body to be "un-aging." No - age is more than simply your biological clock ticking down to nothing; age is the accumulation of damage, the change to DNA over time, the shortening of telomeres, disease degrading and changing cell function, tumors permanently changing the blueprint of the body, neurons slowly dying. To be unaging, unending, is to remove all of this. To be ageless is to be permanently healthy. To be undying is to be genetically locked to one state. To be endless is to always reset the clock, every second that passes.   When it's said "Genetic Immortality" what it actually means is "Biologically-driven Eternal Youth;" beings with Genetic Immortality have their genetics rewritten on an almost base-line level, their body self-correcting every minute of their life, biological functions streamlined to perfection to allow for perfect, endless function. Introduced into those aging on their own, the code of the new genes are so efficient that even those with skin sloughing off and brains failing will watch as their body physically heals. Skin re-tightens, fat melts away, eye sight returns, brain function returning to near perfect health, bones strengthening. With those who were born with it, they may never notice pain without injury, never fade or devolve; essentially freezing at their prime.

The creation of the Genetic Immortality genemap so lovingly called the "Immortality Serum" by people who think they're funny, is an extremely complex and long process that requires years of work for a species, but once that general map has been created, it's borderline universal. All species who are capable of having their life extended indefinitely share almost identical genetic code at some level - all humans, for example, have the same liver - identically. An individual who procreates with the genetic code passes it on to their children, even if not done through Artifical Incubation; an individual who wasn't born with it, or has had their DNA ripped apart by radiation, can simply have it re-injected into them.

Eternal life. Not just some fake out "oh you'll live a million years that's basically forever" eternal life, but actual, true, endlessness. The ability to know that, as long as you live safely, you will never ever die. You will always persist. To the heat death of the universe, and potentially beyond that, even. Real agelessness. What would you do? What could you do? Anything and everything you ever wanted to do could be possible, to no end. Some indulge themselves in desires that would take centuries, some take on projects without an end, some laze about for decades, thinking about what they want to do.   But, without death, life grows endlessly. Each individual has the potentiality to never cease, to continue ever onwards, reproducing, multiplying endlessly. With this, the inception of "eternal childlessness," came, the idea that, if one plans to live endlessly, they should not reproduce. While not precisely a law or unyielding moral code, even the most careless are aware of the risk of simply running out of space - of resources.   However, endlessness is not the only choice. Some may decide, either as a child or thousands of years into their lives, that death, simply the ceasing of existence, is a requirement for their own psyche. They simply get bored, tired, complete their goals, or find peace in the fact that their continuation is not a requirement for them to be happy, acceptance with their own personal void. The age at which most people decide to simply stop is variable, especially among species. Some decide to stop only after 80 years, the youngest average, while others find it more fitting to cease at 500, 1000, or even beyond. It's almost always round numbers.