I'm willing to bet that the average lifespan in the world of Elemental is at most 40. Between horrible sanitary practices, close proximity of the few survivors, and the fact that there are horrible monsters literally waiting outside the walls to eat your brains, it's quite likely that Elemental's society is similar to that of the Dark Ages, when people would get married around 12-14 and then die at age 30ish from the plague. Given that, it's entirely likely that he was drinking, gambling, and whoring as soon as puberty hit.
