Prolong

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In the fictional Honor Harrington universe, prolong is a genetic engineering process for life extension. It was developed on Beowulf two or three generations prior to the series' present (the early 41st century), but is prevalent or at least present in almost all advanced star nations. As of the events of the Honor Harrington series, prolong has only been recently introduced in less developed areas, such as pre-alliance Grayson and the Talbott Cluster.

Prolong slows down aging and eventually stops it completely. The 'freeze' does not last forever, but a prolong-affected lifespan is 200-300 years. Aging is 'frozen' at a younger point depending on the generation of treatment that was available when the patient was young enough to be treated (meaning that the older characters in the series look older). For instance, first-generation recipients will settle at a physical age in their mid-forties, while third-generation recipients will appear to be in their late twenties. It should also be noted that while the Prolong Treatment tends to "freeze" its recipient at a given visual age group, it also prolongs the development process, with many individuals (such as Honor Harrington, a 3rd Generation Prolong) complaining that it took them many years to break out of their awkward adolescent stage compared to 'normal' humans.

In David Weber and Steve White's Starfire novels, humanity has access to similar medical treatments, called antigerone therapy. To avoid overcrowding the oldest worlds of the Terran Federation, and as an added inducement for exploration and colonization, the treatments are only available to those who agree to emigrate to newly-founded colonies, or to those who have somehow indebted the Federation to them through their heroic actions.