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There was female Australian comedian who did a bit about how each culture seems to have a different theory on who's shagging the sheep. Aussies think Kiwis are shagging the sheep, Kiwis think Aussies are shagging the sheep, Brits think Scots are shagging the sheep, Scots think Welshmen are shagging the sheep, South Africans think Americans are shagging the sheep, Americans think West Virginians are shagging the sheep. Her conclusion was, "Personally, I think it's the sheep that are sluts."

Let's try to not get our feeling hurt, and move on.

As a South African, I can attest to not thinking Americans shag animals... Still, its strange, in my part of the world virgins past 18 are a bit uncommon. Past 25 is downright weird. 30 is practical a wizard. I'm stuck at 20, so I at-least would sympathy for a pointy eared male with such a tragic back story.

Charlie wrote:As a South African, I can attest to not thinking Americans shag animals...

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...Fat people however

Still, its strange, in my part of the world virgins past 18 are a bit uncommon. Past 25 is downright weird. 30 is practical a wizard. I'm stuck at 20, so I at-least would sympathy for a pointy eared male with such a tragic back story.

a fair amount of those virgin past 18 are people who are asexual like me.

A couple of questions:

Loroi had siege engines in the past (Iron Age/medieval times) ?

Mathematics without zero is really a liability to them ?

And there is something really wrong with the shuttle cockpit, its look too small for one loroi (or two) to fit there...

Onaiom wrote:Loroi had siege engines in the past (Iron Age/medieval times) ?

There were some instances of walls and siegecraft, but for much of "civilized" Loroi history, combat was real but ritualized, conducted in the open field rather than cowering behind walls and civilians. Part of it may have had to do with the vulnerability of siegeworks to telekinetic attacks.

Onaiom wrote:Mathematics without zero is really a liability to them ?

Not since they have computers, not really.

Onaiom wrote:And there is something really wrong with the shuttle cockpit, its look too small for one loroi (or two) to fit there...

It's larger than a real jetliner cockpit. Those things are really small.

Why don't loroi just use B as shorthand for zero?

Carl Miller wrote:Why don't loroi just use B as shorthand for zero?

I don't think they really need one.

Which I find odd, since they have shorthands for every other digit. Maybe I just can't grasp the true form of Giygas' attack a race being able to reach the stars without zero.

Carl Miller wrote:Which I find odd, since they have shorthands for every other digit. Maybe I just can't grasp the true form of Giygas' attack a race being able to reach the stars without zero.

Zero isn't a digit in the Loroi numeral system, so there is no need for a single-character "shorthand". The only time you need to display a null value is when the whole value of the multi-digit number is nothing, in which case you can use the whole multi-digit display to write "BISHIRES".

The Egyptians built the pyramids without a zero, the Chinese built the Great Wall without a zero, and the Romans built a pretty impressive engineering empire without a zero. The only thing that mathematics with zero does for you is to make arithmetic easier. Higher math (algebra, calculus, tensors) has got very little to do with arithmetic, and once you have computers, arithmetic is irrelevant.

Hello, new blood to the forum and all that, so excuse me if this question is a rehash. Also, apologies if my question seems a bit strange, but unlike a lot of other topics that arioch has addressed pretty extensively in Insider essays and what I've read of the forum discussions, I haven't really seen this one get touched much on.

I was just wondering about the mechanics of Loroi attraction, particularly for female Loroi. Basically, I can easily see how a male Loroi would be attracted to a female human, since female humans are basically just Loroi females with a palette swap and weird ears.

I'm having a harder time seeing how female Loroi would be attracted to male humans, since male humans seem to differ from Loroi males in several more substantial ways. My impression of Loroi males is that they tend to be rather child-like or waifish in appearance, certainly smaller and much less physically imposing than a human male. To me at least, that would suggest that Loroi women would at the very least be confused or perhaps even unsettled by Alex, who has a build more similar to a female according to their perspective. That's not even going into the fact that there are quite a lot of larger, more muscular, and/or less shaven human males than Alex. I sort of get the feeling that human males would fall into some sort of uncanny valley for loroi females.

Just wondering what other people's thoughts were on the issue.

It's been discussed before, Arioch has usually kept his statements vague which leads me to believe that it will come up in the comic at some point (he prefers not to discuss things that are going to be directly addressed by the comic).

My thoughts are that broadly speaking you are correct and human males won't be seen as preferable (or even desirable) mates, at least early on. Attitudes may change later with greater exposure, however that won't help Alex much.

That being said I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for humans to be considered "exotic" by some of them or "good enough" by others, nor do I think it's impossible for a relationship to develop without physical attraction on the Loroi side ending with "You're ugly as sin...but I like you so let's stop by my quarters."

hi hi

I believe it was stated that the human male's large, muscular frame is enough outside the norm for Loroi attractiveness standards that it would seem quite alien. But in the end, it would have to depend on the individual, since attractiveness doesn't play a primary role in pairing for most Loroi, and their cultural bias towards xenophobia could stop consideration before it starts.

Most human males wouldn't fit the Loroi standard of manly beauty. However, I think there is always going to be some personal variation on what is attractive and what is not. Some human females are attracted to large, muscular men, and some are attracted to feminine pretty-boys.

What about human women?

Most human males wouldn't fit the Loroi standard of manly beauty. However, I think there is always going to be some personal variation on what is attractive and what is not. Some human females are attracted to large, muscular men, and some are attracted to feminine pretty-boys.

Well, there goes the final hope that we could sell ourselves into sex slavery to avoid regular slavery or extermination. Oh well, humanity is doomed.

So much for death by Snu Snu for Alex.

So much for death by Snu Snu for Alex.

Yeah, I know right? I thought it would be a "any port in a storm" or "any beverage after a week in the desert" but it looks like humanity won't be getting preferential treatment due to anything in the looks department.

Maybe our lively personalities will endear us to them. "Did you know that we have been killing Millions amongst ourselves for thousands of years?"

Arioch wrote:Most human males wouldn't fit the Loroi standard of manly beauty. However, I think there is always going to be some personal variation on what is attractive and what is not. Some human females are attracted to large, muscular men, and some are attracted to feminine pretty-boys.

Well.. I wouldn't exactly call Alex 'large or muscle bound'. He's attractive with his cornstalk-colored hair and lean physique. He's a little more robust than your classic 'pretty-boy' but he could be fancied into the realm. Plus I think the Loroi females might take his feisty, semi-aggressive 'non-loroi male' "femininity" as cute. Sort of like how we human males might find a tall feisty, aggressive redhead human woman to be the smoking hot beauty that she is!

If Loroi males started a football team Alex could be an offensive lineman. He's not big by OUR standards.