Special actions will be able to boost their stats. Ensign Izumi, for instance, got a fairly large boost to diplomacy for effectively acing her rolls when you asked her what do and she more or less completely stole the show.
Colonel Pierce has a storyline in the wings if you play your cards right that can boost his stats too.
Otherwise, most of your crew have personal issues, quirks, or things to learn that when you spend time on them may cause them to grow. You yourself can also grow, and once you hit a certain point you'll be able to choose a career path such as Colonial Governor or Fleet Admiral... from an old set of notes, the career paths were:
Admiral (Martial bonus)
Governor (Stewardship Bonus)
Ambassador (Diplomacy Bonus)
Doctor (Learning Bonus)
Director (Trade Bonus)
Anyway, on with the interlude.
Ice and Fury
Your next meeting with the Loroi covers things both great and small.
You begin by telling them the history of mankind. The broadest of strokes come first, where humans first arose from ape-like ancestors, the waves of human migration across the world, the struggle against hominid rivals from Homo Erectus to Neanderthal until only a single hominid species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, remained.
You tell them of the rise and fall of city states and empires, paying somewhat more specific attention to the Roman and British Empires, followed by the post-imperial era and the struggle for dominance between the USSR and the USA as world super powers. You detail the first steps towards spaceflight and the early colonisation of the solar system and beyond to the six worlds of humanity.
More recently, you tell them of the Aldean crisis and the birth of the TCA. You tell them about growing up on a nameless colony world and growing up eating nutrient paste and hiding in air ducts, before you joined up, and then tell them about your military career. They laugh out loud at several of your academy stories, which you think of as odd but humanising, and finish off by detailing your rise through the ranks and assignment to your ship. They seemed a bit disappointed that you hadn't seen much action though.
Regardless, the Loroi drink up all your words like a dry sponge exposed to water and opt to share their own knowledge of history.
Spear details in her halting English the history of the Loroi as she understands it.
History, for her, begins roughly a thousand years ago in the time of exile. A few thousand colonists on their way to the heaven of Minzan were struck down for their arrogance and outcast to this desolate space to suffer for all eternity.
And suffer they did. She says that her ancestors struggled, first against starvation and death, and then against predatory raiders called the Meshiir. Spear states that one of the reasons they are being patient with you is because they recognised that you were at this point, struggling to survival all alone as their ancestors did. For them, this struggle lasted for four centuries, until finally the last of the Meshiir was dead and at last the Loroi had resolved their resource and food shortages.
Yet what should have been a time of plenty and rejoicing became one of recrimination and mistrust. Pride and prejudice coloured the great people of the time, each wanting to take their people in a different direction from the rest. These people convinced others that theirs was the correct way, and without a powerful external enemy to unite them, they splintered into the Great Houses of Shereil, Tanir, Mizeis, Solzan, Paloz, Logein and Inzos.
For two centuries the houses fought one against another, with alliances forged in the heat of the moment and betrayals executed at the drop of a hat. It was only with the death of the last of the founders of the Great Houses, Tanir herself, that the most intractable opponent to unification was swept aside.
Even so, unity for the houses was difficult. Identities had been forged in battle, oaths of vengeance had been sworn. The seeds of discord were ready to bloom when a grand compromise was struck. The great houses forged a mutual defence pact called the Loroi Confederation. House identity and structure would not be affected, but no war would be tolerated between the houses, great or small, and all the houses would defend against external threat.
This grand compromise was solidified by exchanging highly valuable males between the groups in something like a seven way marriage alliance. At first, no Loroi would risk the males of their house over so petty a thing as hatred. Later, war became more and more unthinkable, as the houses became increasingly related by blood.
You think it's quite fascinating, but you're not sure why males are so highly prized by the Loroi. When you ask they look at you strangely, as though the answer to that should be obvious. You shrug and leave it as a question for another time.
You soon find yourself listening as they tell you the founding of House Arilad. Spear's face becomes both solemn and rapturous as she speaks, as though she is reliving the events as she recounts them.
The story begins two centuries ago, as a young warrior, Rilnizar, came of age and petitioned for her rightful access to a male to the leaders of house Tanir.
She was denied, told that she had yet to prove herself in battle. This was not an unprecedented thing for the Loroi. Spear explains that population controls were put into place, and only those that could prove themselves were allowed access, lest there be a population crisis.
So the young Rilnizar set forth. As a powerful telekinetic warrior there were few opponents she could not best in the ritualised combat where young warriors fought for the right to have children. She rose inevitably to the top and again petitioned the leaders of house Tanir for her right.
And again she was denied. This time no reason was given, and no avenue offered for what she sought. It soon became apparent to Rilnizar that the leaders of her house both feared and hated her. Spear explains that had she been born in House Shereil she would have been deeply honoured, worshipped even, but she was of House Tanir. Rilnizar was effectively trapped by a web of politics. The house leaders refused to allow her to leave, and refused to give her what she wanted.
She could have left on her own, but this would have caused her great shame and shunning in society. She could have easily stolen the access she desired, but she would not survive the punishment that this would ordinarily accord. And so she waited for an opportunity to escape her fate.
That opportunity came in the form of a Nafen scout. The lone vessel had penetrated into Loroi territory and destroyed a mining outpost. Outraged, it was to be met with no less than three of the mightiest fleets that House Tanir could bring to bear. Rilnizar was assigned to a frigate within the third fleet in a supporting role. It was assumed that a show of force would be enough to cow the Nafen into leaving.
They were wrong. The Nafen were not deterred by the Loroi 1st Fleet. Nor was it by the 2nd Fleet after it was done shredding them. The 3rd Fleet attempted to run, but the Nafen hunted them down one at a time, using their organisation and discipline against them. Rilnizar, half mad with grief at the fallen, half mad with rage at her pathetic circumstances, forcibly took command of her frigate and rammed the Nafen scout with all that her ships engines could muster.
It wasn't enough. The collision lodged the vessel in the side of the Nafen scout, slowing it, but not destroying nor incapacitating it as she had hoped. Desperate and mad, Rilnizar pulled together a strike force and boarded the Nafen scout. Using her telekinetics to their fullest extent, Rilnizar tore apart strange nodules, carved hallways, and oddities of alien architecture that no Loroi had seen before nor since. Where she found the Nafen she ripped them to pieces even as they killed her crewmates who fought with fury and desperation. It was only because of their spattered entrails that anyone has ever determined that the Nafen were silicon based.
When the last of the Nafen died, the scout entered a termination sequence. Bloodied and alone, Rilnizar contemplated welcoming death with open arms. At this point, Spear's voice becomes low, as though she were telling a ghost story. She says that Rilnizar saw death itself come, and instead of taking as it was meant to, it simply pointed down a hallway, before turning its back on her.
Not one to refuse a gift, Rilnizar ran down the hallway, ripping through bulkheads with sheer telekinetic force to find herself back on her own ship. Tearing her way through the ruined vessel, she managed to find a barely functioning shuttle and escape as the Nafen scout seemed to drink itself up and wink out of existence.
She was one of only a hundred to survive the encounter with the Nafen. She endured months of recovery, both mental and physical, from the experience, and had become an overnight legend amongst Houses both great and small. But while Rilnizar's star was on the rise, Tanir's was sinking. The loss of three fleets and untold thousands of warriors was a stain that simply would not wash off. They were criticised for treating the battle as though it were the ritualised combat that took place between houses, called incompetent, and ultimately labelled incompetent.
Amidst this great shaming, Rilnizar, bloodied and proven, once again requested her rightful access to a male. With furious anger the leaders of Tanir blamed her for the loss of the fleets. Blamed her for the death of so many warriors. Accused her of colluding with the enemy and worse. It was hoped that this would incense Rilnizar into striking them down, that way the House would preserve their status and honour and the stain would transfer to the traitorous Rilnizar.
Instead, she stood there, impassively listening until the last bitter recrimination echoed across the room and uttered two words that had become legendary, 'I see'. She then turned and left with nary a hint of the rightful rage.
It had become glaringly apparent to Rilnizar that the leadership of House Tanir were more concerned about their position and power than the good of the house or the Loroi Confederation, that they had become corrupt and effette. There was nothing to be done but rebel.
And rebel she did. She visited the males of hourse Tanir without permission and spoke to many of them, told them of the treachery and deceit with which Tanir's leadership were acting, told them of what had been happening in the outside world. She spoke to three hundred of them, each one promising to use what leverage they had to try and convince the leaders of Tanir to change their ways.
But Rilnizar was growing desperate. The leaders would not listen to the males of their own house about public policy. The actions of the males would, at best, only be symbolic. It would accomplish nothing.
But one male had a different idea. A bold idea. A dangerous idea. He proposed it to Rilnizar, who was so impressed with his audacity that she could not contain herself. On that fateful day, she not only gained access to a male for the first time, she also eloped with him.
In the ordinary course of events this would be a crime punishable by death. But Tanir had become so notorious in those days, and Rilnizar so famous, that she found supporters wherever she went. Houses both great and small turned a blind eye to the affair and when at last Tanir had recovered from its nigh apocalyptic fit of apoplectic rage at the sheer insult, it was too late. Rilnizar had petitioned the six other Great Houses to recognise and accept both herself and her male as the beginning of a new minor house, named for that bold male who had made it all possible; Arilad.
Over the years, house Arilad grew from just the two of them to thousands as young warriors sought out the young house to find their fortunes, even attracting a few males from other houses. House Tanir, unable to ignore their males in the wake of such an event, went through a great purge and reformation into a more effective martial house. Though at first the two houses were fierce rivals, both of them being martial houses in addition to their history, Spear explains that relations between the houses today are that of friendly rivals and had even traded males with one another, a very good sign of warming relations. The only real action the last few decades had been Arilad moving from the central regions as a mercenary martial house to the periphery as a guardian martial house.
As for Rilnizar, Spear explains that she leads house Arilad to this day alongside Arilad himself, and that she has more than earned the name Rilnizar, 'Icefury'.
The way Spear speaks, you're certain that there's more than just pride in her House there. She practically beams with it.
You then ask about her and her friends directly about their life in House Arilad. You watch as that pride becomes an awkward kind of modesty. She explains that there's not much to tell, that they had grown up together, and hadn't had much of a chance to do anything very exciting in their seven years of life.
You double take at that. Seven years! Spear looked to be on the cusp of eighteen. And you gathered from her story that they could live to be two or three centuries old at least. You honestly find yourself envious at that and say as much.
You explain that you yourself are 31 years old and that Ensign Izumi herself, young though she looks, is 27 and that, at the outside, you can look forward to living until you're 100 or 120 years old, depending. Spear seems rather shocked that humans could be so similar to Loroi and yet so different.
You break off from the tangent and try to put things back on track by asking, carefully, about the training mission they were on and their 'time of trials'. You emphasise that if they don't want to talk about it they don't need to, and indeed, Spear does not wish to talk of it.
Instead she turns around and lifts her shirt off. You wonder just what in the world she's doing when you see that her back isn't smooth and unblemished, but is rather a rich tapestry of tatoos.
So, this was their tradition or inking the leader of a group with their history? One of the Loroi, a girl you've internally labelled Ash on the basis of her short tufts of platinum-white hair, approaches Spear and physically touches Spear on an image of a ship.
Spear explains that ship was their training vessel, the Lightning Comet, a lightly armed vessel intended to make the run from Arilad space to the Berai fleet anchorage and back again with a fixed amount of supplies and pre-placed challenges, tricks, and traps, each aspect of which was intended to teach them patience, cunning, frugality, intellect, precision, vigilance, and a host of other virtues seen as good and perfect for warriors.
Ash's hand trails upward to a relief of two faces, one is Spear's, the other... is also Spear's. Spear explains that this was her twin sister. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Spear's sister didn't survive.
The hand moves again and indicates an accurate depiction of the collars you helped the Loroi out of. From the look of the ink, it appears to be a fairly recent round of tatoos, no doubt from the materials you gave them. Spear explains that the collars stopped them from being able to communicate telepathically, even by touch, and that this turned them upon each other.
The next image in the tapestry on Spear's back is once again Spear and her twin sisters faces, but where once they were pleasant and facing away from one another, now they faced each other with angered expressions. Beneath them, smaller stylised Loroi pulling at collared necks stumble about in confusion and despair.
Spear explains that, being truly separated from her sister for the first time, ever, had changed something in her. They couldn't agree on anything. They couldn't rely on each other for anything. Where once there was love and trust and respect, there was now only hatred and bitter resentment that Spear simply could not understand. Her sister began heaping blame and hatred upon Spear... and became the leader of the stronger group of Loroi.
The next tatooed image is of rail thin Loroi, wasting away. Three Loroi stand angelically over their own broken bodies as depraved figures feast on their mortal remains. It's incredibly morbid to your senses, and Spear explains that this image commemorates the three that gave their lives to save them all and the shame they felt at falling so low.
Things begin to get very familiar after that point. First is an image of Spear drinking with Ensign Izumi, the Loroi rejoicing as they throw their collars to the ground, and the beginnings of a new image, one that still isn't finished. There are small welts where the tatooists needle has yet to finish its work.
Ash removes her finger from the latest line of work and Spear pulls her shirt back on, explaining that what happens now is up to you. Her back is already quite full of imagery, but she thinks her tatooist can fit in a few more images. Ensign Izumi mentions that the Loroi practice seems to resemble Irezumi, both in quality and in the fact that not a scrap of skin is wasted in the process.
By the end of your many and numerous discussions with the Loroi about your histories and personal lives, Spear approaches you with a request. She, along with others, would like to be able to leave their enclosure from time to time. She's under no illusions that they'll have free reign on your ship anymore than you would if the positions were reversed.
At length and after some discussion with Colonel Pierce, you grant this request, on the provision that only four can leave at any one time, and that each of them must in turn have two marines as escort.
Spear agrees to this quite happily.
Rewards
Histories, Ancient, Recent and Personal exchanged.
Knowledge that Loroi males are important for some reason.
Knowledge that Loroi make use of population control.
Knowledge of Rilnizar, 'Icefury', leader of Arilad.
Small insight into Loroi politics.
Knowledge of Spear and her sister.
Loroi gain more of an insight into humanity.
Additional 1d100 for Spear to learn English per diplomatic action / learning action.
Additional 1d100 + 1d20 for Ensign Izumi to learn Trade per diplomatic action / learning action.
Gained personal actions with regards to Spear.
Stuff that I may have forgotten or missed.
Spear's English: 1112 + 12 + 25 = 1149 / 3000
Loroi: 838 + 33 + 3 + 18 = 892 / 3000
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Several months ago my brother and I rolled him using nothing but infantry in Red Alert 3 while he had access to the full arsenal. 
The tears were glorious, especially when contrasted against his cocksure claim that he could best the both of us. 
