Changelings

[Captain McBain]

Do changelings have unlimited lifespans? Do they eventually die of old age?

[R. Star]

Unknown. Odo survived for hundreds of years in Children of Time without any seeming ill effect. Why's this on the Voyager board?

[at Quark's]

I'm not entirely sure but there's this line from the female founder to Odo (DS9 - favour the bold):

You are a changeling, you are timeless!. Which does suggest to me they could very well be.

Also, why is this in the voyager forum ?

[Tosk]

Maybe not immortal, but certainly damn near it compared to human lifespans.

Why is this on the Voyager board?

[Captain McBain]

I'm sorry. I made a mistake. Maybe I'm oversimplifying this, but it seems that the cells which comprise a changeling would degrade over time. I don't know, maybe not.

[Finn]

^ Who said they are made of cells?

[Tosk]

And even if they are, why assume they would degrade?

[Captain McBain]

Finngle Bells wrote:

---

^ Who said they are made of cells?

Well, it seems likely that they're made up of something. And unless Odo's people can somehow overcome the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, it'd seem that they'd eventually break down, even if it took eons.

[R. Star]

I dunno, it's quite possible the the body functions that break down in us "solids" could be rejuvenated just by the process of shapeshifting itself.

And why is this on the Voy-- okay, okay the horse is dead, we forgive you!

[Guy Gardener]

Are the same changlings always made from the same goo?

Odo without access to the link would be confined to the same Goo until he dies.

He calls sleeping "regenerating"?

What if he really is replacing all the cell loss from he day, he could lose and gain 5 pounds of goo every week?

It's just a question of goo depredation as he gets older.

[teacake]

Didn't Bashir take some goo away and this stressed him out? He wanted it all back. So I'm thinking it doesn't replenish if any is lost.

[Guy Gardener]

In the beginning the changeling baby Odo was raising was growing rapidly.

Maybe the Changelings replace mass by eating their young just like the Doctor has to eat other "sentient" holograms to stay sane.

After all, Odo had a really good reversal of all his health issues that time he ate a baby.

[teacake]

Imagine if they never stopped growing. They could take over the quadrant by swallowing it in bronze goo.

If they do make new changlings and then consume them to replace mass lost through age the ones that were sent away might have been the best off. I'd imagine they would be consuming the infants before they had any real personality or sentience, they were just material that they needed.

[Guy Gardener]

But linked Changelings, are we sure that their personality is specific to the goo they walked into the link with?

No matter how many babies they eat, their fragile child personalities are still in the link either growing up, or pissed and resentful suffering from an arrested development?

Oh.

Is that why they send their kids away out into space?

Just 100 my cheese grating ass.

Maybe a hundred at a time, but it's the only way that they can have fully formed accentuated distinct personalities to bring growth and evolution to the link.

[teacake]

They should have formed a gang and made their own link and returned home to have their vengeance.