Page 169: The most messed up!

Discussion regarding the Outsider webcomic, science, technology and science fiction.

Moderator: Outsider Moderators

User avatar
SaintofM
Posts: 197
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2019 8:01 pm
Location: In a Galaxy Far Far away

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by SaintofM »

Would Beryl be in mother hen mode with Alex then? The birthing mother may not have much to do with the raising and training of her child, but there might be some residual instinct to protect her young back in the days when her kind had to worry about rival tribes or predatory threats attacking.

novius
Posts: 654
Joined: Tue May 26, 2015 10:33 am

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by novius »

SaintofM wrote:Would Beryl be in mother hen mode with Alex then? The birthing mother may not have much to do with the raising and training of her child, but there might be some residual instinct to protect her young back in the days when her kind had to worry about rival tribes or predatory threats attacking.
That, and some "other interests" in a male don't necessarily exclude each other in a Loroi. After all, they do see their males as something needing protection (and sort of guidance, because they might be too flightly and whimsical when left on their own) even when being grown up.

So yes, Beryl seems to be switching between those two modes, but to a Loroi "I'll take very good care of you" may count as a flirtatious remark as well, given that background.

raistlin34
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by raistlin34 »

novius wrote:
SaintofM wrote:Would Beryl be in mother hen mode with Alex then? The birthing mother may not have much to do with the raising and training of her child, but there might be some residual instinct to protect her young back in the days when her kind had to worry about rival tribes or predatory threats attacking.
That, and some "other interests" in a male don't necessarily exclude each other in a Loroi. After all, they do see their males as something needing protection (and sort of guidance, because they might be too flightly and whimsical when left on their own) even when being grown up.

So yes, Beryl seems to be switching between those two modes, but to a Loroi "I'll take very good care of you" may count as a flirtatious remark as well, given that background.

I don't think Loroi even undertand the concept of "flirting". They don't exactly court their males; instead they have "Government approved encounters" aka wait-your-turn-for-nookie."

Arent
Posts: 265
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 8:42 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by Arent »

raistlin34 wrote:I don't think Loroi even undertand the concept of "flirting". They don't exactly court their males; instead they have "Government approved encounters" aka wait-your-turn-for-nookie."
Which might still involve various rituals, for example gifting the men flowers to "compliment their beauty" :shock: , writing sappy poems, showing off your muscles to the "weaker sex" etc. :mrgreen:

User avatar
Werra
Posts: 840
Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2018 8:27 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by Werra »

raistlin34 wrote:I don't think Loroi even undertand the concept of "flirting". They don't exactly court their males; instead they have "Government approved encounters" aka wait-your-turn-for-nookie."
Arent wrote:Which might still involve various rituals, for example gifting the men flowers to "compliment their beauty" :shock: , writing sappy poems, showing off your muscles to the "weaker sex" etc.
I'm sure there are quite a lot of intricate ways to court the females that do decide such things.

raistlin34
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by raistlin34 »

Arent wrote:
raistlin34 wrote:I don't think Loroi even undertand the concept of "flirting". They don't exactly court their males; instead they have "Government approved encounters" aka wait-your-turn-for-nookie."
Which might still involve various rituals, for example gifting the men flowers to "compliment their beauty" :shock: , writing sappy poems, showing off your muscles to the "weaker sex" etc. :mrgreen:
According to Beryl, Loroi males are too horny for simply caring about preambles.

asaenvolk
Posts: 96
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:29 am

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by asaenvolk »

Somehow the idea that the Loroi don't know what flirting is sounds off.

There would be LOTS of reason for "peacocking" in a races where there are few males and lots of females, even if the males are promiscuous. The number of males are just too low for the females to not have some internal drive to attract male attention for them. Remember its not just about ANY mate, its about the BEST mate, and the males are already rare. Loroi culture might mitigate this, but it would be unlikely to eliminate this behavior.

Then there is the fact, that in the comic, the Loroi are doing it. Talon, Spiral, and Beryl have all been acting like hormone driven teenagers, which, on some level, is what they are.

This is not a bad thing.

boldilocks
Posts: 672
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2017 3:27 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by boldilocks »

asaenvolk wrote:Then there is the fact, that in the comic, the Loroi are doing it..
Are they? It sounds more like the commentariat here in the forum are writing slash fiction in their head every time a new page comes out, scrutinizing every panel to theory-craft about how those slutty space elves are going to jump the human bone any moment now...

Arent
Posts: 265
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 8:42 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by Arent »

boldilocks wrote:
asaenvolk wrote:Then there is the fact, that in the comic, the Loroi are doing it..
Are they? It sounds more like the commentariat here in the forum are writing slash fiction in their head every time a new page comes out, scrutinizing every panel to theory-craft about how those slutty space elves are going to jump the human bone any moment now...
On one side, you are right, on the other, the comic is actually heavily promoting it. The best example are Beryls antics about "mating encounters" which are nothing but a slutty space elves teenager fantasy :shock:

boldilocks
Posts: 672
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2017 3:27 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by boldilocks »

Arent wrote:
boldilocks wrote:
asaenvolk wrote:Then there is the fact, that in the comic, the Loroi are doing it..
Are they? It sounds more like the commentariat here in the forum are writing slash fiction in their head every time a new page comes out, scrutinizing every panel to theory-craft about how those slutty space elves are going to jump the human bone any moment now...
On one side, you are right, on the other, the comic is actually heavily promoting it. The best example are Beryls antics about "mating encounters" which are nothing but a slutty space elves teenager fantasy :shock:
Actually that's probably something you'd ask if you are of a species where the male is heavily emotionally dependent on frequent mating encounters. She was also looking into his eating habits and so forth.

raistlin34
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by raistlin34 »

I think, beyond motherly instincts and gender dynamics, Beryl may be looking for her career. A new spacefaring race which looks a lot like Loroi? Being the first to document data about their society could get an otherwise unremarkable Listel into the Hystory books if only as a footnote.

User avatar
orion1836
Posts: 399
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:38 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by orion1836 »

raistlin34 wrote:Being the first to document data about their society could get an otherwise unremarkable Listel into the Hystory books if only as a footnote.
I wonder if "historian" in trade is the same as the name the Historians give themselves and, if so, why is it that the Historians see themselves as such?

kiwi
Posts: 129
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:35 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by kiwi »

boldilocks wrote:... It sounds more like the commentariat here in the forum are writing slash fiction in their head every time a new page comes out, scrutinizing every panel to theory-craft about how those slutty space elves are going to jump the human bone any moment now...
Yep. It’s called motivated reasoning, and we all do it sometimes.
raistlin34 wrote:I think, beyond motherly instincts and gender dynamics, Beryl may be looking for her career. A new spacefaring race which looks a lot like Loroi? Being the first to document data about their society could get an otherwise unremarkable Listel into the Hystory books if only as a footnote.
Damn straight. I reckon that “keep the information source alive” is very high on her priority list. Especially when those are apparently her orders, too.

She also seems to be a naturally cheerful person, which helps. Talon and Spiral, too. Still waiting on more character interaction with Tempo, Fireblade et al.

User avatar
Arioch
Site Admin
Posts: 4593
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:19 am
Location: San Jose, CA
Contact:

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by Arioch »

orion1836 wrote:I wonder if "historian" in trade is the same as the name the Historians give themselves
Yes.
orion1836 wrote:and, if so, why is it that the Historians see themselves as such?
A partial answer is that they see themselves as passive observers of history more than active participants in it. Their "civilization" (if you want to call it that) predates the fall of the Soia, and they've basically been watching the rest of the races recover and rebuild without really helping them or intervening. Kind of like the monasteries in Europe during the Dark Ages, collecting and hoarding knowledge. The Umiak invasion really caught them off guard... despite being much more advanced, they just weren't ready for it... a little bit like those same Christian monasteries that were suddenly being plundered by Viking raiders who weren't Christian and weren't awed by their ancient mystique.

asaenvolk
Posts: 96
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:29 am

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by asaenvolk »

Those same Historians have had, what 2? decades now to rearm? This could be bad for the others if they decided to flex.

User avatar
SaintofM
Posts: 197
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2019 8:01 pm
Location: In a Galaxy Far Far away

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by SaintofM »

on the topic of flirting: They may not be like how humans do this, but most animals will try and impress a mate.

Frogs sing.
Birds of Paradise dance.
Elk strut and fight to prove how strong the are.

So while Loroi may not have pickup lines or wear toxic levels of Ax Body Spray they will try to look and act more impressive than the others around them trying to get a male's attention.

As for Historians: if they decide to. Right now they are siding with the Loroi simply because they are their best bet at survival. Neier spac elves nore Historians like eachother very much from the looks of things and are sticking togeather simply out of survival. Alex, and by extention humans may tip the scale here tp one side or the other

Krulle
Posts: 1421
Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 9:14 am

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by Krulle »

asaenvolk wrote:Those same Historians have had, what 2? decades now to rearm? This could be bad for the others if they decided to flex.
Luckily they seem to be benevolent watchers.
With a strict non-interference policy.

Using their superior technology to hode away, and secure their borders, and observe.
But it failed once.
We don't know if any mechanism preventing the Umiak from getting their hands on any technology, or reverse-engineerable artifacts, worked.
We don't know if the Umiak gained technology, or knowledge, from the Historians during their stint in the Historian space.
We don't know if the Umiak gained the hiding tech from Farsensing from the Historians (or sufficient knowledge to find the workaround themselves).
The Historians know the Umiak will want more technology from them, if they are able to break in again.
So the next time the Umiak come, they should fing the Historians better prepared. Either in "here they come, get out of their way", or in active pushback military.

Also, last time the Historians did not provide much resistance, IIRC.
They simply moved out of the way, deflecting the Umiak.

Which sounds much like the Historians are not going for any form of hoarding of materials, ships, colonies,.... Their economy seems to be a minimalist economy, to provide necesssities, and sufficient surplus to pursuit the target of archiving history in the local bubble. But not to expand the population, colonies, power, ..., apparently not even to prevent any military incursions from others.

The tech transfer the Historians provided to the Loroi may actually be a counterbalancing tech, to allow the Loroi to counter the Technology the Uniak gained during their military stint in Historian space.
Because having failed to protect knowledge from one side may be seen as "intervening".
So they intervened again to counter the effects a bit.

I wonder if we'll see more "interventions" by the Historians, besides the emissary (Pocket Historian(TM)) telling Alex to shut up.
The Ur-Quan Masters finally gets a continuation of the story! Late backing possible, click link.

User avatar
orion1836
Posts: 399
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:38 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by orion1836 »

Arioch wrote: A partial answer is that they see themselves as passive observers of history more than active participants in it. Their "civilization" (if you want to call it that) predates the fall of the Soia, and they've basically been watching the rest of the races recover and rebuild without really helping them or intervening. Kind of like the monasteries in Europe during the Dark Ages, collecting and hoarding knowledge. The Umiak invasion really caught them off guard... despite being much more advanced, they just weren't ready for it... a little bit like those same Christian monasteries that were suddenly being plundered by Viking raiders who weren't Christian and weren't awed by their ancient mystique.
Fascinating - I had never quite pieced that together. I knew they were advanced, but was always under the assumption that they simply had recovered faster after the fall.

User avatar
Arioch
Site Admin
Posts: 4593
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:19 am
Location: San Jose, CA
Contact:

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by Arioch »

orion1836 wrote:Fascinating - I had never quite pieced that together. I knew they were advanced, but was always under the assumption that they simply had recovered faster after the fall.
That's not to say that they weren't affected by the fall, but they didn't suffer a complete breakdown of their civilization or complete loss of technology. They still had to rebuild their infrastructure more or less from scratch, and that did take some time... the Historians not being terribly industrious or handy in the absence of ultra-tech infrastructure.

User avatar
orion1836
Posts: 399
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:38 pm

Re: Page 169: The most messed up!

Post by orion1836 »

Arioch wrote:
orion1836 wrote:Fascinating - I had never quite pieced that together. I knew they were advanced, but was always under the assumption that they simply had recovered faster after the fall.
That's not to say that they weren't affected by the fall, but they didn't suffer a complete breakdown of their civilization or complete loss of technology. They still had to rebuild their infrastructure more or less from scratch, and that did take some time... the Historians not being terribly industrious or handy in the absence of ultra-tech infrastructure.
Do they have a an accurate account of the time before the fall? Do they perhaps know the truth of the Loroi/Barsam/etc's origins?

Post Reply