Meta-esque question for everybody

[scarletmorning]

What is the "coming of age" age in the Fire Emblem games? Is it closer to our CA, 18, or closer to the more medieval one, about 14-16? Do you believe that it's always the same or differs from continent/country to continent/country? What about the Laguz races? It's obvious that they live far longer than beorc, but which age would approcimately be the equivalent?

At the moment I kinda tend more to 16. For Magvel, especially, mostly because Amelia. This is probably just my impression, but she doesn't seem to be 18. Maybe 17 or 16. But she's already a soldier. So is she an adult already or does the Gradian army employ children as soldiers? (Could actually be, having a war and all).

Tellius seems to have a higher CA. I still find Lucia´s and Janaff´s support not that clear if she needs a chaperone because she's not old enough or because she's a woman. Could be, of course, but Lucia seems to be in her 20s to me.

What are your thoughts?

Comments

[mark_asphodel]

I think the evidence in Jugdral appears to indicate an AC of 15 and maybe a little lower. I mean, Dew is about 13, and he's one of the characters who can father children, and others in the breeding pool are 15 or so at the outset and can't be more than twenty by the time everything goes to hell... by which time they can have up to two kids apiece. Fifteen definitely seems to be the age of maturity per FE5, as Leaf is considered old enough to command at that age.

Archanea, though... really, it seems like 16 is the minimum, both for command and for marriage. Yumina and Yubello, at 13-14, are deemed children.

[scarletmorning]

Interesting. They seem to be relatively consistent with that, at least. Though I'm wondering if there might be countries that have a higher or lower age. It seems very unisono.

[xirysa]

I've always thought that if someone's old enough to go out into the world on their own and somehow make a living for themselves, they're old enough to be considered an adult in most aspects, regardless of how young or old they are. Of course, there's definite squicks regarding certain things, but based on general trends, anywhere from 15-16 seems to be a good ballpark for FE-land.

[scarletmorning]

Hm, I wondered if there was some sort of special ~feast~ they might do on the "coming of age" day, which was got this started. I mean, like, an official "You're one of us now" party.

Yeah, 15-16 seems to be the guess 8D

[xirysa]

"Coming of age" ceremonies are pretty common in a lot of cultures; I had one when I, ah, "came of age", so to speak. :P

[scarletmorning]

Yus, I favour 16 at the moment. Seems like a good time.

[samuraiter]

I say 18 (in all cases) because the authorities in this country don't seem to care whether or not people are fictional when it comes to Naughty Behavior ™. Verisimilitude takes second place to the 'ficcer covering his own ass, IMO.

[scarletmorning]

Yeah, for porn I would definitely say Real World Standards over Game Standards. But if it were for a completely innocent gen fic where the coming of age day would be just the background scene, would you change it there or just keep 18 for simplicity´s sake?

[samuraiter]

(Ack! Forgive the delayed response.)

I keep it 18. The urge to do so is hard-wired into my writing brain.