With that, I can see it happen 3 different ways.

1. People stop aging. But I doubt this since I feel children are still being born. And very young children would likely start getting abandoned early on. Why keep your 1 year old alive for 30 years if they never grow up? Even if a child were 10 years old and would be useful somewhat, after 30 years there's prone to be accidents to the point that there just wouldn't be very many young ones left at all. By time the number counted down to 10, would there even be anyone left to erase?

Not to mention Maelle has clearly aged since being orphaned...

2. The age rule allows those lucky enough to be born at certain times to live. Age 32 when she paints 33? Well, now you're 33 when she paints 32. Now you're alive. And if this was the case, they could mount one gigantic expedition full of everyone 34-60 years old that managed to squeeze by.

3. The likely answer. Same as 2, but the number simply erases everyone of that age or older, so then there's no weird loopholes to worry about. Magic is powerful. It isn't gonna care that you're .084632 days or years too old/young to skip right by.

The most likely is the final option from the previous comment. As in people die if they are older then the number or equal this has a few implications

1. People could die on their birthday. I am not sure if the paintress will work like this, but theoretically if you turn 33 years old while the number is 33 you may die. Alternatively people only die like this when the number changes.

2. The beginning of the paintress. this will definiately be explored in the story, but how did the whole curse start? The paintress might have painted a big number like 60, instantly killing everyone of that age or older. And the number ticks down.
Or she started with 150 or something unreachable by humans, and for some time the effects of the curse wasnt even felt

In the bio of Gustave, it says "...he devotes his final year", I think this would give credence to the possibility that people simply die once they get that age or older and the paintress is always painting down. If the loophole allowed for people to live beyond that age, I don't think the world would be in such a dire situation as it seemed to portray in the trailer ie, there should've been more survivors.

When I first watched the trailer, i wondered if the number would be random but it makes more sense for it to be a countdown.

Originally posted by gameonlymala:

T

1. People could die on their birthday. I am not sure if the paintress will work like this, but theoretically if you turn 33 years old while the number is 33 you may die.

I had thought about this too, and I thought this might be most likely. When she paints 33, everybody who is already 33 disappears then, but others disappear throughout the year as they hit 33.

If so, could potentially lose Expedition members. My one hope is that they suspend disbelief on time passing during regular play, being on a time limit where you had to carefully consider rests and might end up unbeatable would be pretty brutal.

Originally posted by rebecca:

Originally posted by gameonlymala:

T

1. People could die on their birthday. I am not sure if the paintress will work like this, but theoretically if you turn 33 years old while the number is 33 you may die.

I had thought about this too, and I thought this might be most likely. When she paints 33, everybody who is already 33 disappears then, but others disappear throughout the year as they hit 33.

If so, could potentially lose Expedition members. My one hope is that they suspend disbelief on time passing during regular play, being on a time limit where you had to carefully consider rests and might end up unbeatable would be pretty brutal.

I think the simplest and most easily explained is that people only disappear at the moment a new number is painted, rather than the moment their age equals that number. So at 33, she erases everyone that is 33-34 years old right at that moment. It's more impactful to have groups disappear all at once, than having people periodically disappear here and there.

Originally posted by Ratsplat:

3. The likely answer. Same as 2, but the number simply erases everyone of that age or older, so then there's no weird loopholes to worry about. Magic is powerful. It isn't gonna care that you're .084632 days or years too old/young to skip right by.

I'm going to love the people who "identify" as a 21 year old every birthday even though they are clearly in their 30s or 40s

Originally posted by Ratsplat:

With that, I can see it happen 3 different ways.

1. People stop aging. But I doubt this since I feel children are still being born. And very young children would likely start getting abandoned early on. Why keep your 1 year old alive for 30 years if they never grow up? Even if a child were 10 years old and would be useful somewhat, after 30 years there's prone to be accidents to the point that there just wouldn't be very many young ones left at all. By time the number counted down to 10, would there even be anyone left to erase?

Not to mention Maelle has clearly aged since being orphaned...

2. The age rule allows those lucky enough to be born at certain times to live. Age 32 when she paints 33? Well, now you're 33 when she paints 32. Now you're alive. And if this was the case, they could mount one gigantic expedition full of everyone 34-60 years old that managed to squeeze by.

3. The likely answer. Same as 2, but the number simply erases everyone of that age or older, so then there's no weird loopholes to worry about. Magic is powerful. It isn't gonna care that you're .084632 days or years too old/young to skip right by.

I think the most logic solution would be the second option

Originally posted by euthanasia steve:

If last year all 34 year olds died, what happened to last year's 33 year olds, who would've turned 34 before the new number is painted? Does it work persistently? The whole concept seems flimsy

Its easy. The point is that you die if you reach that age - so it doesnt matter how old exactly you are. So if you are 33 and then 34, but 33 is painted then you die, because you reached that age already.

This game is literally: You've died of an old age.

Funny, I just watched the trailer for this game and that's exactly what I thought. I wager it's either you die upon reaching that age, or more likely you only get taken on the painting of a new number.

It is kind of a horrifying concept though, you're essentially racing to your death 2 years per year...even 16 year old Maelle would only have 9 more years to live...