History Main / SocietyOfImmortals

* In ''Literature/{{Mogworld}}'', the world the protagonist inhabits is a typical {{MMORPG}} where everything killed simply respawns at appropriate locations after a short time. However, from the perspective of the [=NPC=]s, their world suddenly experienced a supernatural event that granted everyone ResurrectiveImmortality and [[TheAgeless agelessness]], and civilization [[AdventureFriendlyWorld has undergone dramatic changes to accommodate this new status-quo]] (chapels, for instance, have made a killing on charging a small fee whenever someone respawns at them, while monsters cooperate with quest vendors and adventuring guilds to profit from the eerie, compulsive behaviour of {{Player Character}}s). It isn't long before a [[WhoWantsToLiveForever general malaise]] sets in, beyond the zombie protagonist's own [[DeathSeeker quest to die]]; at one point, attention is drawn to the rise of businesses geared towards offering people unusual and exotic ways to off themselves, just for the sake of experiencing them. One half of a villainous duo, meanwhile, is a serial killer heartbroken by the fact that his murders are now meaningless.

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* In ''Literature/SundayWithoutGod'', no one in the entire world can truly die, which was caused by [[HaveYouSeenMyGod God's disappearance.]] When a person is killed, they turn into an undead and have to be given peace by a gravekeeper.

* ''Anime/MaquiaWhenThePromisedFlowerBlooms'': Maquia's tribe, the Iorph. The story itself is partly about Maquia learning to live among ordinary humans after escaping an attack on her homeland.

* ComicBook/TheEternals and most of Earth's mythological gods in Creator/MarvelComics. Eternals have historically maintained their own secret cities but sometimes hang around with mortal humans for kicks. The various gods live in pocket dimensions that are homes to their respective pantheons. To illustrate the difference this trope creates in mindset, there was a dialogue in an issue of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' where the Eternal Sersi was asked by one of her (mortal) teammates what the Eternals' beliefs regarding ghosts were. Sersi responded that the topic does not get discussed much in their culture -- because they don't die.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': The Green Lantern Corps' founders and mentors, the Guardians of the Universe, evolved from the male humanoid inhabitants of the planet Malthus to become immortal and invulnerable. The female equivalents of the Guardians were later revealed to be the Zamarons, warrior women who empowered the women known Star Sapphire to act as their queen.

* According to Jason in ''Sailor Moon: Legends of Lightstorm'', the entire universe used to be this way during the Silver Millennium. In a way, a society of immortals still exists, because all Sailor Scouts and Justice Champions can live forever unless something kills them.
* This is the goal of "The Great Plan" in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/TheGreatAlicornHunt''. The plan is to, basically, cure old age by turning anyone and everyone they can into immortal alicorns, and also find a way to grant immortality to those who can't be "alicornified". Problems that could come with this are addressed in early chapters. In the case of overpopulation, they'll start colonizing other planets (traveling to the moon was possible a thousand years pre-series so this is also possible).

* Elves in Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' stories.
* The people of ''Literature/TheCulture'' can become genetically immortal if they so choose to, it is just not commonly done since becoming immortal is considered gauche. They can also be resurrected at will via brain uploading.
* In ''Literature/AlteredCarbon'' everyone is implanted with a cortical stack at birth that records their brain activity so they can be [[BodyBackupDrive "re-sleeved" in a new body]] when they die. Though most people only choose to be re-sleeved a couple times, except for some rich eccentrics referred to as Methuselahs.
* Before the Saudar enticed the Marra into the physical world and made them forget how to return home via TheFogOfAges in ''Literature/TheMadnessSeason'', the Marra had an eternal civilization somewhere in hyperspace.
* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov and Christopher Nicholas Gilmore's ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'', humanity has long ago figured out how to stop the ageing process using a [[LongevityTreatment one-time gene therapy]] called Cell Regeneration (or just CR), [[ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty which most people do in their mid-20s]]. While this doesn't grant true immortality (i.e. you can still die a violent death or get sick), enormous advances in medicine also mean that [[WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture most diseases are treatable]] (in fact, the titular protagonist had himself sterilized, so that he can have as much sex as he wants without the risk of having children, knowing perfectly well that it can be reversed). Of course, this would be a major problem on a single world. Luckily, humanity has also discovered interstellar travel (but not FTL travel) and has settled thousands of worlds. Due to the incredible population growth, planets reaching a certain population density institute [[PopulationControl child licenses]].

* ''Literature/TheEmpiriumTrilogy'': Angels are a race of immortals who existed long before humans did.
* In Creator/RobertReed's ''Literature/GreatShip'' universe, most of humanity is effectively immortal because of their [[{{Transhuman}} genetic modifications and emergency genes]]. One character remarks at how young a hull repairman is, at the ripe young age of 50,000 years old. It's also remarkably difficult to actually ''kill'' a human short of blasting their head with a PlasmaCannon courtesy of their HealingFactor; most wounds can be healed given enough time and raw materials. The majority of alien species seen on the [[PlanetSpaceship Greatship]] are likewise ageless, as space travel without any FasterThanLightTravel is ''very'' slow, to say the least.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' novel series ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga'', the Forerunners are all shown to wear armor which give them lifespans that are millennia in length.
* On ''Literature/{{Riverworld}}'', no one looks older than the beginning of adulthood and anyone who dies appears somewhere else in a new body.
* In Creator/AndreyLivadny's ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' series, the [[StarfishAliens Logrians]] have invented extremely powerful but tiny computers called logrs. Each logr is a small crystal that can store a living being's personality. The Logrians, being wary of ImmortalityImmorality, have forbidden themselves from using logrs to copy their minds into new cloned bodies after death. Instead, they live inside the tiny computers in a virtual world and contemplate the nature of things. Naturally, not every being is content to eternity of contemplation. When the Logrians were enslaved by the [[HumanAliens Harammins]], their ruling caste used the logrs to make themselves effectively immortal. Naming their caste the Immortal Quota, they continued to rule over the rest of their race, as well as the enslaved Logrians and [[InsectoidAliens Insects]], for 3 million years until they started (and lost) a short war with humanity. Their ImmortalityImmorality brought about a status quo, resulting in zero technological progress (in fact, the progress was actually negative). So, when the relatively young humans showed up with HumongousMecha, the Immortal Quota was wiped out. After this, humans began to use logrs to store personalities of the deceased, although their new Logrian allies frowned upon using the same method as the Harammins to extend life. Humans went around this by sending willing personalities to remote star systems in order to settle new worlds (logrs are actually capable of independent space flight). Thus, they are effectively starting new lives in younger bodies far from what they know.

* In the ''Literature/{{Eldraeverse}}'', both the [[SpaceElves eldrae]] and the [[SiliconBasedLife galari]] are naturally TheAgeless, and they've used their technology to add {{Body Backup Drive}}s and gift other sophonts with immortality as well.
* The immortal Griffin family from the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' made a practice of throwing parties for other immortals, which attracted everything from demigods to fey to vampires. As the Griffins were snobs and only the upper-crust attendees were likely to be invited more than once, such parties were effectively a ''High'' Society of Immortals.
* Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs:
** In ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'', the Martian peoples are either [[TheAgeless ageless]] or least very LongLived, being capable of living hundreds of years, thanks to their advanced technology diseases and injury are easily recovered. Only a violent death can keep their population in check, [[DeathWorld and given the planet they live on]], it happens a lot. However, by religious edict, those past 1000 years are required to take a sacred pilgrimage to Valley Dor, where it's believed that they will find paradise.
** In the ''Literature/{{Amtor}}'' series, the [[VestigialEmpire Vepajans]] from planet Venus become immortal thanks to a life-extending drug that slows down aging indefinitely.
* The culture of Saturn City in ''Literature/AeonLegionLabyrinth'' thanks to technology that can restore the user to a youthful state. Population growth is stagnant to prevent overcrowding and what few new Saturnians are born are a result of a lottery with the rest coming from immigrants to serve in the [[TimePolice Aeon Legion]]. Their culture considers ambition taboo.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Towns such as Dnnac Ledo are populated by elves and much of their culture is about making productive use of eternal life. Adults teach their children to find their "Eternal Hobby", [[WalkingTheEarth walk the Earth]], and regularly visit their immortal relatives.

* In ''Literature/{{Mogworld}}'', the world the protagonist inhabits is a typical {{MMORPG}} where everything killed simply respawns at appropriate locations after a short time. However, from the perspective of the [=NPC=]s, their world suddenly experienced a supernatural event that granted everyone ResurrectiveImmortality and [[TheAgeless agelessness]], and civilization [[AdventureFriendlyWorld has undergone dramatic changes to accommodate this new status-quo]] (chapels, for instance, have made a killing on charging a small fee whenever someone respawns at them, while monsters cooperate with quest vendors and adventuring guilds to profit from the eerie, compulsive behaviour of {{Player Character}}s). It isn't long before a [[WhoWantsToLiveForever general malaise]] sets in, beyond the zombie protagonist's own [[DeathSeeker quest to die]] -- At one point, attention is drawn to the rise of businesses geared towards offering people unusual and exotic ways to off themselves, just for the sake of experiencing them. One half of a villainous duo, meanwhile, is a serial killer heartbroken by the fact that his murders are now meaningless.

* The Land of Immortals in the second ''Series/{{Spellbinder}}'' series. The immortality was an unintended side effect of a drug meant to cure a devastating plague. Unfortunately, it also kicked in the ImmortalProcreationClause. Among the survivors, no one can ever have children. Instead, they build clockwork automatons to "play" and entertain them. When the protagonists (a man and a teenage girl) end up in that world, the scientist who created the original drug kidnaps them and plans to set up PeopleFarms to repopulate his world... or at least provide few new faces around.
* In ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' everyone on earth suddenly becomes incapable of dying (except Jack). Unfortunately, they don't heal. The ramifications include many countries instituting concentration camps for people who become disabled beyond medicine's ability to repair them. They also continue aging normally.

* This is what happens in the afterlife, according to some religions.
* UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}: Aeons have the Pleroma.

* Spiritualism holds that human incarnation is like a temporary version of this trope.
* Virtually any pantheon.

** The githyanki are ScaryDogmaticAliens from the Astral Plane who technically have a lifespan similar to that of humans, but since time doesn't flow in the Astral Plane they're functionally immortal in their homeland.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{Rolemaster}}'' setting ''Shadow World'' had immortal elves, [[FaunsAndSatyrs fauns]], Lennai, titans and K'ta'viiri.
* In ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' nearly all biomorphs are largely immune to aging, and anyone who can afford decent [[BrainUploading backup]] insurance is pretty much safe against accidents or murder too.

* Until the end of ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII,'' the Night Elves were a nation blessed with immortality by the Dragon Aspects. [[spoiler:They sacrifice this immortality to stop TheLegionsOfHell at the end of the game.]]
* The Dalish elves of ''Franchise/DragonAge'' think their people were like this at one time, centuries ago. It's debatable if they ever were, however.
** Supposedly, being among humans resulted in them having short lifespans (by their standards).
** [[spoiler:Only the nobility of the Elven Empire were immortal, while the lower/slave castes were mortal. Modern Elves are likely descendants of the slaves, meaning they were never immortal in the first place.]]
* For reasons that aren't entirely clear but have something to do with the place being 'downstream of Hell', inhabitants of ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' all have ResurrectiveImmortality. Disease and old age can still kill them, though, and apparently, they can't come back if someone desecrates them ''really'' thoroughly, either. And dying a lot of times can result in [[CameBackWrong coming back wrong]] and being shipped off to the Tomb-Colonies.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Battleborn}}'', those who have attained immortality via the Jennerit's Sustainment process are called the Sustained and within the FantasticCasteSystem of the Jennerit culture, they are at the top. Because of the huge energy consumption required to just make a single Sustained, there is but a select number of these Sustained consisting only of those who been deemed worthy enough to be granted the privilege of immortality. Furthermore, due to things such as the [[FantasticRacism Jennerit's view of most other races]], Sustained are typically of the Jennerit race and it's a rather rare and quite unusual case when a Sustained happens to be a non-Jennerit.

* ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'': [[spoiler:The Far Zenith colonists, who left for a planet in the Sirius system shortly before the Faro Plague ate the Earth, only for the same people to come back a thousand years later]]. {{Deconstructed}} as they don't really ''have'' a society. Once they figured out biological immortality they had no use for children and VirtualReality meant they didn't really have to interact with each other. Even in the face of their own potential deaths, the best they can manage is TeethClenchedTeamwork. This all means that while they did accomplish ''wonders'' it's far short of what they could have done, as Tilda points out.
-->'''Tilda:''' We could have done more... after all, we had eternity.

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has the society that created the Amorphs exist as a very late stage of this -- most of its members had died off and the remainder were content with living in a cave and observing their Amorph "children" evolve over the ''billions of years'' since their own society collapsed under the weight of biological and sociological side-effects of transitioning from mortal to immortal.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' has two types of immortals: one with their own society; the other covertly living in human society. The former is made up of [[CapitalLettersAreMagic capital "I"]] Immortals who mostly live on the [[SpiritWorld spiritual plane]] where they mostly [[AllPowerfulBystander observe humans]] and [[SuperEmpowering occasionally visit the material plane to interact with certain humans in certain ways]]. The latter is made up of elves which are the children of Immortals and humans. They move every few decades so that their agelessness doesn't attract attention. The only mentioned restrictions on them are that they are forbidden to serve in life-threatening jobs (since surviving the unsurvivable would break TheMasquerade) or to use their magic except in exceptional situations.
* ''Webcomic/DeepRise'' has [[StarfishAliens the Nobles]], who do not wear out with age.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''WebOriginal/SeventeenThousandSevenHundredSeventySix'', all humans mysteriously stopped aging, dying, and [[ImmortalityInfertility being born]] in 2026.
* In most of the Terragen sphere of ''Website/OrionsArm'' life extension {{nano|machines}} and BrainUploading are so ubiquitous that most people live for 1,500 years before getting tired of living forever or [[TheSingularity Transcending]]. One alien race known as the Silent Ones have discovered how to completely halt the aging process, and the ruling class of their society is made up of said "immortals". They keep some regularly aging members of their race around for breeding purposes though (the immortality treatment causes severe birth defects in the offspring of immortals).

* As do all amoebae, who do not die from age but essentially stop existing as the same individual when they divide to reproduce.

* In most of the Terragen sphere of ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' life extension {{nano|machines}} and BrainUploading are so ubiquitous that most people live for 1,500 years before getting tired of living forever or [[TheSingularity Transcending]]. One alien race known as the Silent Ones have discovered how to completely halt the aging process, and the ruling class of their society is made up of said "immortals". They keep some regularly aging members of their race around for breeding purposes though (the immortality treatment causes severe birth defects in the offspring of immortals).

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': The Amazons of Paradise Island are immortal, which is part of what makes the place a "paradise". If they leave the island or revoke their obligations as an Amazon this immortality can be revoked or fade depending on the continuity.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': The Green Lantern Corps' founders and mentors, the Guardians of the Universe, evolved from the male humanoid inhabitants of the planet Malthus to become immortal and invulnerable. The female equivalents of the Guardians were later revealed to be the Zamarons, warrior women who empowered the women known Star Sapphire to act as their queen.

* In ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' everyone on earth suddenly becomes incapable of dying (except Jack). Unfortunately they don't heal. The ramifications include many countries instituting concentration camps for people who become disabled beyond medicine's ability to repair them. They also continue aging normally.

* In ''LightNovel/SundayWithoutGod'', no one in the entire world can truly die, which was caused by [[HaveYouSeenMyGod God's disappearance.]] When a person is killed, they turn into an undead and have to be given peace by a gravekeeper.

* As a species of hardy HumongousMecha, ''{{Transformers}}'' never die of old age, are affected by only a couple very rare diseases, and usually require a ''lot'' of physical damage to die from injuries. Many of them are millions of years old, and some are outright {{Time Abyss}}es.

* Every single character you meet in ''Videogame/IMissTheSunrise'', including the PlayerCharacter, is TheAgeless, thanks to a mass-produced ImmortalityInducer. Furthermore, combat is extremely unlikely to be fatal, since craft will disengage long before the pilot is killed.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has the Lunarians, a race of people who live on the Moon. They all seem to be unageing and distance themselves from any form of life or death as they consider such concepts "impure", remaining eternally unchanging. They're very reclusive as a result and usually hostile to outsiders. Funnily enough, they exiled Princess Kaguya for drinking an elixir that made her truly immortal, as they consider CompleteImmortality to be "impure" as well.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Time Lords have near-immortality; if not killed, their natural lifespan, including regenerations, lasts thousands of years.

* The country of Oz in ''Literature/LandOfOz'' was turned into this centuries ago by a fairy named Lurline. No one can age in Oz, no one can die of natural causes in Oz, and no one gets sick in Oz. You can be killed in an accident, but even this varies depending on the book (with books like ''Literature/GlindaOfOz'' and ''Literature/OzmaOfOz'' stating that people survive even after being blown to pieces or having their heads cut off).

->From that moment no one in Oz ever died. Those who were old remained old; those who were young and strong did not change as years passed them by; the children remained children always, and played and romped to their hearts' content, while all the babies lived in their cradles and were tenderly cared for and never grew up. So people in Oz stopped counting how old they were in years for years made no difference in their appearance and could not alter their station.