>Third line from the bottom, the victim knows he is permanently
>aged. It doesn't say he gets older. It states that it rips
>years away from his life. I obviously understand it just
>fine.
>

No I really don't think you do. The question here is over the use of the word "aged". I would suggest reading the dictionary definition sometime. But, to further my argument I provide one, this is a rather normal, conventional, definition of the word aged.

"The length of time during which a being or thing has existed; length of life or existence to the time spoken of or referred to."*

Now, you don't want us to think of wither as moving someone forward in time, i.e. aging them or in fact having anything to do with time at all. The way you look at it, wither reduces the potential length of the victims life, that is not being aged. The victim ultimately remains the same age they just die early.


>From the helpfile.
>Level(0) WITHER
>Syntax: commune wither <victim>
>
>This horrific malediction attempts to wither the target,
>causing
>extreme strength loss. There is also a chance of the victim
>being permanently aged several years if this supplication is
>successful.

I would reword the helpfile as it stands it is confusing at the very least.

* Definition is from dictionary.com but was consistent with my desk copy of the oxford english diction, and the merriam-webster online dictionary. Additional entries tended to go into greater precision
in regards to aging, marking ones age, or being "aged" as in old. I could not find a single mention remotely close to something being "aged" but showing no signs of age, or not dealing with a length of time.