I thought this thread was about punctuation.
Seriously though, I agree that there should be an incentive for players to eventually retire their characters and let others have their chance to climb the rank ladder. I don't think there should be a mechanic that kills characters though, it should be a conscious decision.
As far as I understand, currently elderly characters just receive less hours per turn and that's it. Doesn't really work, we just get lots of senile lords sitting on their hands with several hours per day.
I'd agree with the idea that characters past 60 should have a severely limited combat capability. So realms full of old leaders would simply crumble when a major conflict erupts.
