Anagathic

Library Data Milieu 1116 

Anagathics
Type	Drugs
Tech Level	TL–15
Cost	Cr30,000 per dose
Size	Various
Weight	Various

Anagathics or Antiagathics are drugs which counteract the aging process. . Anagathics are a mixture of several compounds that help prevent aging and prolong life in Humans and other sophonts. The drugs are a regimen of regular monthly doses. These drugs are both rare and expensive.

The regimen needs to be started during the Adult life stage, prior to the onset of age-related degeneration. The user may reach an age of 100 or more before seeing any age-related effects. It takes a while for the total effects of anagathics to be felt; it also takes a while for the effects of anagathics to totally go away. However, there are withdrawal effects from interrupting the supply of anagathics. Obviously, anagathics are most effective if they can be taken long-term without interruption. A continually interrupted supply can have devastating side-effects.

In medical terms, antiagathics are known to confer a form of biological immortality through the conference of a stable or decreasing rate of mortality from cellular senescence as a function of chronological age. In addition to the terms Anagathics and Antiagathics, the specific drugs are known as Anti-senescent or gerontological medications. Informally they are referred to as Anti-aging, Life extension, or Rejuvenator drugs.

Many cultures prior to the introduction of functioning Antiagathics have legends about the Elixir of life, a magical treatment which will grant extended or eternal life.

The cultural reaction to the availability of antiagathics varies widely. The general cost prohibits all but the richest from using it, allowing the elite to extend their period of dominance of government or corporations from a few decades to a century or more by forming a perpetual Gerontocracy. Some cultures view this as stability, while other reject anagathics as stagnation. Imperial society frowns on Nobles who use antiagathics, but does not otherwise ban or regulate them.

Prior to several TL–15 breakthroughs, anagathic treatments were assembled from organic compounds generated by life forms on many different worlds. Because the compounds were difficult to reproduce in a laboratory, finding reliable sources for these materials was of great importance. Some of these sources were widely known, others were kept as tightly held secrets.

Specific Races

• Answerin: Standard Human anagathics work for Answerin, though their use is often interpreted as succumbing to fear of death, and all fear is considered pathology by the Answerin culture.
• Athar: Human anagathics do not work on Athar, and no native anagathic substances have been discovered.
• Azhanti: Although they can use standard anagathic drugs, few Azhanti approve of them, believing them an effort to "cheat" the time allotted to them by their God.
• Bosaki: Despite their advanced medical technology, the Bosaki do not use anagathics. They apparently accept their natural death without concern.
• Bwap: Anagathics have been developed for Bwap, but most consider them at odds with the philosophy of Wapawab.
• Dolphin: Dolphin anagathics are available.
• Geonee: Common Human anagathics work on Geonee, and can significantly increase the Geonee lifespan.
• Graytch: Use of anagathics specialised for their race is common amongst modern Graytch.
• Gurvin: Gurvin use anagathic drugs adapted to their species.
• Irhadre: Standard Human anagathics work for Irhadre.
• Jaibok: Although rare, anagathics designed for this species do exist. The Jaibok biology, however, is geared toward pinnacle and sudden decline rather than slow degeneration; there are relatively few effects of increasing age.
• Jonkeereen: Most of the common anagathic drugs do not work well for the Jonkeereen. However, the zaerkee plant that is a staple of their diet has anagathic properties.
• S'mrii: Anagathics for S'mrii have never been developed. The S'mrii are naturally amongst the longest-lived of sophont races, and feel no need to extend their lives further by artificial means.
• S'raak: No S'raak anagathics have yet been developed.
• Talpaku: Anagathic drugs have not yet been developed for Talpaku.
• Tezcat: Anagathics work on Tezcat, and species-specific drugs are in production.
• Vargr: Anagathic drugs are available for Vargr. Some large Imperial pharmaceutical companies such as SuSAG manufacture anagathics specific to the Vargr metabolism both for sale to Vargr living in the Imperium and for trade purposes.
• Vlazhdumecta: A Vlazhdumecta-suitable anagathic formula was developed with the assistance of biotech experts in the Carillon Harmonies.
• Za'tachk: Anagathics are in use by this species, and can significantly extend the lifespan.

Sources of Anagathics

The following systems and worlds are known sources of anagathic materials:

12 of 12 World articles in Anagathic

Abir  •  Anagathica  •  Arcanum  •  Earlyu  •  Forboldn  •  Granporr  •  Irikrough  •  Knorbes  •  Medurma  •  Olny  •  St. George (Vl 2616)  •  Terra (SR 1827)Terra (SR 1827)  •  

startbacknext(12 listed)

Some sources of antiagathic substances in Charted Space include:

• The Abirian Greenspore from Abir (Gushemege 1615)
• The Arcani Spore from Arcanum (Deneb 2126)
• Earlyuan Moss, a moss from Earlyu (Trojan Reach 0933).
• Granporrian Zulanir, an avian animal from Granporr (Massilia 3035).
• The liver of the Tree Kraken from Knorbes (Spinward Marches 1807)
• The Symmonds Tree from Medurma (Dagudashaag 2124)
• Plant life on Olny.
• The Kesternet plant from St. George (Vland 2616)
• Terran Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus), a marine animal from Terra (Solomani Rim 1827).
• Terran Corals, a marine animal filter from Terra (Solomani Rim 1827), which does not die of old age and exhibits potential immortality.
• Terran Horseshoe Crab, a saltwater arthropod (animal) from Terra (Solomani Rim 1827).
• Terran Hydra, a freshwater animal from Terra (Solomani Rim 1827).
• Terran Jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii, or Turritopsis nutricula), a saltwater animal from Terra (Solomani Rim 1827).
• Terran Planarian Flatworms, an animal form from Terra (Solomani Rim 1827), which does not die of old age and exhibits potential immortality.
• Terran Sponges, a marine animal filter from Terra (Solomani Rim 1827), which does not die of old age and exhibits potential immortality.

References

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Elixir_of_life. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. Starships (Game Designers Workshop, 1977), 45.
• Loren Wiseman. "Gerontology, Rejuvenation, and Traveller." Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 19 (1984): 6-7.
• Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 67.
• Marc Miller. Players' Manual (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 16.
• Frank Chadwick, Dave Nilsen. Traveller: The New Era (Game Designers Workshop, 1993), 335.
• Jae Campbell. Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag (Signal-GK, 2017), 24.
• Colin Dunn. Library Data (Mongoose Publishing, 2011), 4.
• Matthew Sprange. Core Rule Book (Mongoose Publishing, 2016), 47,109.
• Matthew Sprange. Central Supply Catalogue (Mongoose Publishing, 2016), 83.
• Marc Miller, Robert Eaglestone, Don McKinney. Worlds and Adventures (Far Future Enterprises, 2019), 191.