The Nature of Mages

While no one individual is the same, there are certain traits that the vast majority of peoples tend to exhibit: eating, sleeping and a desire to avoid pain are all things living things must do to survive. In essence, the will to live. This trait is universal in the sapient population of Az, with the exception of the insane or those in the bowels of melancholy. Mages, for all there grandiose abilities and might, are no different. Sorcerers, exemplars and the Divine-eyed are all united in this scramble to live, evading death for as long as they might.   When one has the ability to manifest their desires through sheer will, it comes as no surprise that the bulk of mages all see a decidedly longer life expectancy than that of the Dregs and common-folk of a population. Whether consciously or not, any individual of sufficient soul-force and state of mind will see this phenomenon come into play, their bodies refusing to follow the natural course of aging and persist, many years after they would have normally perished. This effect is seen throughout the history of Az, across every possible society and has garnered a special term in more recent times. "The nature of mages", which in of itself is the nature of all life.  

Implications for Societies

This unnatural extension of certain powerful individual's lives has had a whole host of outcomes for societies. Since an individual will see an increase in their magical reserves as time passes, it follows that mages who are capable of extending their lives will slowly grow ever stronger as they shift through the centuries, often reaching exemplar levels of power and beyond after a certain amount of time passes. This has an interesting butter-fly effect in relation to the longevity of institutions, governments and all manner of civilizations, as powerful casters are, in most cases, highly likely to be elevated to positions of great authority, by virtue of the sheer disparity present between them and the common citizen. They are then capable of steering a society in the direction that pleases them, presiding over a group for centuries (if not thousands of years) before they are replaced. Hence, organized civilization on Az is far more enduring, lasting thousands of years in certain cases, though there are just as many examples of large governments hardly lasting a single century due to internal struggle between conceited mages and the general population.   While this may at first appear to be a net positive for a population to have such individuals in power, the truth of the matter is far more nuanced. For having great magic rarely make a person any more resilient to the pitfalls of vice and biases. Due to this fallible nature, it is a common trend throughout time to see long-running civilizations develop technologically and socially at a heavily reduced rate, with abiding mages preventing any drastic changes to their communities, for fear it will disrupt their position within it. Stagnation and decay, are what follows. Many of the greatest societies on Az have fallen prey to this effect, slowly but surely fading away into a shell of their former selves whilst being kept in some semblance of unity by the powerful magicians that were responsible for its decline. The fall of the Vrenidi empire is the definitive example of this, with the high-priestesses fostering an uncontested force on Yddian for several thousand years, which through the priestesses idleness and their refusal to adapt to changing times, gradually devolved into the pitiful state it is in now, the capital of Vrenyddock a husk of its former glory, with only a few insane priestesses left to steward the last Glass Tower on Az.  

The Main Issue

Perhaps you can guess this, but immortality is not a natural state of being for any form of life, no matter how much humans, Vull'jorg and giants would like to believe the opposite. So it stands to reason that while magic can prolong the lives of mages greatly, there is only so far the might of the arcane can go before the mind itself begins to unravel from overuse. So as time stretches on ever further, it is almost inevitable that long-lived mages go insane in some fashion. This appears to stem from an ancient proverb of Lenoad origin, which postulates that magic is an exercise in exerting one's "vision" over the material world, with ones eyes acting as the intermediary between themselves and the world. Implying that a mage must be able to envision the change they want to make, to see what is before them and see it in their desired state within their mind. Hence, seeing one's body as young and strong? No great feat of imagination. Seeing one's mind as the same? Much harder to conceive, after all no one can actually see their brain with their own eyes, save for the truly bizarre circumstance. This means that even the most powerful magicians cannot truly conquer old age, in some way or another, all will succumb to deterioration of the mind. Divine Serpent Mado Yua, King Rubedum and the Vrenidi priestesses, all were unmatched mages of their time with godly ability, all fell prey to madness in some form, be it inane paranoia, indifference to living or religious fanaticism. This consequence can be postponed for many centuries, with diligent mages training their minds to be more robust and certain people even retaining sanity after a milenia. However, this is more of a delay than anything else, with no true cure for the "Madness of Time". If left unchecked, an insane mage is a lethal issue posed to their surroundings, so as of late many societies have instigated ritual euthanasia for mages, once they hit a certain threshold in mental capacity.