Editing Characters (section)

=== It's not the years, it's the ===
'''Mileage''' is a hidden attribute that
* goes up with heavy injury and radiation poisoning 
* goes up with the abuse of certain drugs 
* is added to Age for computing aging effects 

Mileage starts at 0 for ''new'' characters.  In this case, ''new'' does not necessarily mean 'newly recruited' as it is possible to recruit a character who has been active, and therefore have a mileage value above 0.

A character's actual age has less effect on a character than the character's mileage.  In other words, characters who are relatively inactive can expect to live into their 60s or 70s, but a character who has been injured, and subjected to the aurora and radiation poisoning, will have a much shorter lifespan, i.e. 30s or 40s.

Characters have a narrative ''General Health'' rating shown on their detail sheet to indicate their overall Mileage state

{|class = "wikitable" border = "1"
!  General Health
|-  
|Excellent
|-
|Good
|-
|Weakening
|-
|Worn Down
|-
|Deteriorating Fast
|-
|?
|}

==== Mileage & Injuries ====
Any ''critical'' hit, i.e. anything with a descriptive part to it rather than just being reported as a ''concussion hit'', can increase a character's ''Mileage''.  These additions are often tiny amounts, however.