Over in this thread I saw some discussion of the 'lifespan problem' where the lifespans established for races in the 'core' 4e setting is not consistent with what is established in the Realms.
I guess I hadn't really thought of it before. I knew many elves were much older than what was described in the Player's Handbook for Elves and Eladrin, but I never made the connection.
So, since the core lifespans don't match up, can anyone point out to me what other incosistencies there are, and what the real expected lifespans are for races in the FR?
Of particular concern to me is the lifespan of Half-orcs. Based on the stated lifespan in PHB2 for Half-orcs I had to stretch things a fair amount for a character backstory so that he would be a couple generations removed from ancestors that served Bane before the Time of Troubles and lived in Zhentil Keep before its destruction by Netheril. If FR half-orcs live longer, that gives me more leeway here.
FR lifespans stayed the same like in 3e
I'm afraid I never played 3e and don't have any 3e books. Fluff info like life span doesn't seem to be in the 3.5 SRD.
So... is there any good source I can refer to?
I've looked at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, which is of some assistance - it has half-orcs living to 75 instead of 60, sylvan elves living between "two and nine centuries," for example. Some races, though, take their information directly from 4e, including Eladrin/high elves that have often lived for many centuries.
Elves (sylvan and eladrin, there was no differentiation) were supposed to live around 900-1200 years, and even then they didn't die, they were called back to Arvandor by Corellon.
Dwarves were in the 350+ year range as I recall, same with half-elves.
Gnomes were in the 500+ year range I think.
Hin... I'm a bit hazy on them, but I seem to recall 150+ years for them.
Orcs... I can recall seeing some life expectancies in the 35+ year range, most were lower, and a mention that no one knew what the actual life expectancy was for them since they almost never were allowed to reach what other races would call 'old age'.
Humans... I've seen some hints that they could expect to live up to 90+ years fairly easily, but I've also seen stuff that gave them a 60+ range too.
My own advice would be to take those numbers and adjust them up or down to fit your worldview. The brighter and happier the world, the higher the number, the darker the world, the lower. Also keep in mind this is going off of memory, so take it with a grain of salt. As to sources, the 2e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting boxed set would be the place to look (those numbers were higher as I recall) or the Player's Handbook for core perhaps, though I seem to recall some inconsistency between the two, or for 3e the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting hardcover.
Ive been lookin through various Realms books looking for something that mentions life spans and I cant find one, I guess in previous editions the life spans matched up to the Core versions so there was no need to make a seperate Realms Racial Lifespans, but now it seems there is such a need. Looking through the 4e FR Player's guide, and I noticed that they were a little vague on Drow lifespans, saying only that they can live well over 200 years, I guess that could be applied to other races too. If you want a definate reference i would say go with the 1st or 2nd edition players handbook, possibly 3e too, im not sure how they stack up.
Stiggers lifespans look accurate, I would go with that. Its also worth noting that these longer lived races also matured slower than Humans. Dwarves matured around 80 and Elves around 100, Im not sure of the other races. I'll post some more if i run across anything usefull.
My Moment to shine. 
From Cormanthyr - Empire of Elves
Type Starting Age Maximum Age Range
Gold 125 + 5d10 600 + 4d100
Moon 100 + 5d8 500 + 4d100
Green 90 + 5d8 450 + 4d100
Aquatic 75 + 5d6 400 + 3d100
Drow 60 + 5d6 350 + 3d100
Cormanthyr - Empire of Elves *Facepalm!* I was gonna look there next!
Good find my friend, I was thinkin there had to be a standrad lifespan for the Realms somewhere.
And I actually do have that book. I'm ashamed. ^^
VaultDweller was particularly interested into the lifespans of Half-Orcs
Starting Age Middle Age Old Venerable
14 + 1d4/1d6/2d6 * 30 45 60 + 2d10
* (depending on class "complexity")
Half-Orcs do die young, but they are already old when they're still young. ;)
Just FYI, the Player's Guide to Faerun (3.0 book) has an age/effects table on p.31 for almost all the playable PC races.
D'oh! Another one i didnt even think of looking in.
Interesting stuff... though I seem to recall dwarves hitting maturity around 40 in 2e, gnomes around 60, hin around 20, same with half-elves, humans at 15, and elves at 100. Don't recall if 2e ever gave age of majority for orcs or half-orcs though. Could be wrong about that stuff though, its been a while since I've looked through those books.
Interesting stuff... though I seem to recall dwarves hitting maturity around 40 in 2e
You might be right Im not sure, I was going by the Thunder Blessing wich occured in like what 1306 Dale Reckoning? and by 1372 DR those Thunder Twins were maturing and leaving home to adventure and explore the world, of course that would put the age of maturuty for Dwarves at around 66 or 70, but my guess is that alot of them left a little early.
Not sure their departure necessarily had/has to coincide with maturity. For all we know, they could have reached the age of majority, and then spent a few decades hanging out and improving their combat skills before heading out into the larger world. Or, alternately, they could have all received a vision from Moradin to go forth and do whatever at around the same time... or not. My point being that one doesn't have to have anything to do with the other.
Thanks to everyone for all the info.
VaultDweller was particularly interested into the lifespans of Half-Orcs
Starting Age Middle Age Old Venerable
14 + 1d4/1d6/2d6 * 30 45 60 + 2d10
Thank you, Nolwelen. I appreciate that.
Cause I was about to state the same damn thing!!
Next time, don't make me read until the second to last post to have my fun spoiled!! 
Sometimes its just, "do or die. Make or break." :D
Stig--I'm looking to revive the elven evolution thread, You up for it? At least that has some merit.
I thought we like pointless debates around here?
we do, but some of them go haywire and spiral downward out of control into chaos
Make him come back to refute the nonsense being posted. Most of the nonsense will be coming from yours truely...me!
I dunno... debating elven evolution without LK seems a little empty to me, given that no one gets as worked up about Races of Faerun as he does. And Nai isn't the best of stand-ins for LK, despite the fun of watching the steam come out of his ears when he gets going.
Funny enough, I think LK would actually participate. There's enough upstarts around here to set straight that he may do it just on pride. I'll have a gander and see if it is even worth reopening--I got fed up and quit halfway through, so I'm not sure what may have been covered.
Thats why we need to start topics that will get LK's blood a boiling...
Make him come back to refute the nonsense being posted. Most of the nonsense will be coming from yours truely...me!
Thank, Bejebuz. And all this time people thought I was the one.