It's not talked about much, if at all in the game, that's true. It is talked about in Conquest, Defenders of the Realm, and The Journey Begins. Like someone else said, it also says in MK4 that Liu Kang is the "Immortal Champion of Mortal Kombat," though the term immortal, as it is used here, is merely an exprssion. Being ageless doesn't mean immortal, just eternal youth like someone else said. So the champion would be ageless as long as they continued to defend their title in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Losing a fight outside of the tournament doesn't count.
Anyway, this part of the story I feel would HAVE to be true, even though they make little, if any, mention of it in the game. It's only logical. Otherwise, how on earth would the champion be able to defend his title every generation? It just makes sense that the Elder Gods would grant the winner agelessness so the champion could return to defend their title. Not sure I would call this a reward though. More like a responsibility.
There was one episode of Conquest that touch on concerns about agelessness that I really liked. It was episode 4, though the title of the episode escapes my memory at the moment. But anyway, it pointed out how being ageless can also be a curse, because you would remain young while all your friends would age. In this episode,
*SPOILER WARNING*
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Taja and Siro were aging rapidly due to something Shang Tsung did (he did it to Kung Lao too, but it didn't work because Kung Lao was the champion of MK), and Kung Lao had to find a potion or something to stop it from happening. He got the potion, but Shang Tsung got to his friends first and threaten to kill them unless he fight him in Mortal Kombat. However, since it is forbidden for former MK champions to fight the current champion until the next tournament, Kung Lao had to waver the rules temporarily (I guess the champion has that power), and fought Shang Tsung again. Winning of course, and saving his friends, but Raiden was VERY angry with Kung Lao afterwards, and said some things that really made you think. It was a very tense dramatic scene, and showed a different side to Raiden's character that we hadn't seen before. I use to have this scene in my memory, but it's been a few years since I watched it. I have it recorded though, so I should watch them again sometime. But anyway, this episode really made you think about the concerns that come with agelessness, and the heavy responsibility of being champion of Mortal Kombat. Good episode.
