Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[Hālian]

The gray areas on the southern edge of the map of Mestirot — are those sea ice or another continent or?

[Arioch]

The gray areas on the southern edge of the map of Mestirot — are those sea ice or another continent or?

Ice.

[Dahak]

You haven't factored the Loroi's force field generators into your calculations. That's something the Bellarmine doesn't have.

Not noticably something that is considered usable crew space and thus doesn't affect the conclusion. Unless you are suggesting the Loroi use them to extend atmosphere over the outer hull so they can hold parades and meetings outside under the stars (which wouldmeans they have less need for large meeting spaces inside.).

The conclusion being that the Loroi can assign a smaller percentage of their hull to crew and still have more space per person because Loroi warships have a lower crew per volume than the Bellarmine does.

I.e. It would appear that for two identical sized ships a Loroi warship would have rather a lot less crew thean a Human scoutship.

[Hālian]

You say in Dramatis Personae that Torret Bilosin is the thirty-fourth great-niece of Azerein Ramarinzil. Do you mean to say that she's a 34th-generation descendant of hers, or that she's the 34th of Ramarinzil's great-nieces?

[dragoongfa]

You say in Dramatis Personae that Torret Bilosin is the thirty-fourth great-niece of Azerein Ramarinzil. Do you mean to say that she's a 34th-generation descendant of hers, or that she's the 34th of Ramarinzil's great-nieces?

Considering the access to males scheme the later is the only possible explanation. Even if the Emperor herself could get unfettered access for most of her life that doesn't mean that all of her descendants would get the same access quick enough for them to crap out 34 generations in less than 400 years.

[Arioch]

You say in Dramatis Personae that Torret Bilosin is the thirty-fourth great-niece of Azerein Ramarinzil. Do you mean to say that she's a 34th-generation descendant of hers, or that she's the 34th of Ramarinzil's great-nieces?

The latter; Ashrain's grandfather (Dawnstar) is Ramarinzil's nephew. I think we would call her a great grand-niece, but the Loroi have a more complicated system; there are lots of nieces.

[Hālian]

You say in Dramatis Personae that Torret Bilosin is the thirty-fourth great-niece of Azerein Ramarinzil. Do you mean to say that she's a 34th-generation descendant of hers, or that she's the 34th of Ramarinzil's great-nieces?

The latter; Ashrain's grandfather (Dawnstar) is Ramarinzil's nephew. I think we would call her a great grand-niece, but the Loroi have a more complicated system; there are lots of nieces.

I've only ever heard “great-great-niece”.

Also: Are there any civilizations on the “other” side of the Ninnil Gap? What about up-arm? If so, would it be possible for you to tell us something about them? Pretty please?

[saint of m]

Most of the combatants seem to have a firm control of their emotions (or at least have a decent Pokerface). Is this typical of all the Loroi, this is them in a high strung position near a battlefield, or when we see more civilian Loroi they will be more open with their emotional displays.

[Arioch]

Also: Are there any civilizations on the “other” side of the Ninnil Gap? What about up-arm? If so, would it be possible for you to tell us something about them? Pretty please?

There are civilizations in both directions, but there's not much I can say about them at present.

Most of the combatants seem to have a firm control of their emotions (or at least have a decent Pokerface). Is this typical of all the Loroi, this is them in a high strung position near a battlefield, or when we see more civilian Loroi they will be more open with their emotional displays.

What sort of emotional display did you have in mind? I wouldn't expect veteran crew (human or Loroi) to burst into tears in the middle of a fight.

[Mackus]

What sort of emotional display did you have in mind? I wouldn't expect veteran crew (human or Loroi) to burst into tears in the middle of a fight.

He probably meant minor stuff like occasional clenching of teeth or fist. Involuntary muscle reactions that would betray inner tension.

[saint of m]

They also tend to have a general look of disinterist. With the exception of the one red head and still storm on the bridge (both looked irritated), most don't seem rto react to things. Even on the elevator both kinda saw our favorite unsheathed chucking Jardin as if it was uneventful. Its almost vulcanish in parts, that's all.

[thicket]

in 113 (yay! new comic), Spiral says "it was all bleeding-like red..." now it sounds to me like she was surprised at the color? maybe Loroi blood isn't red? what color is Loroi blood?

[Arioch]

in 113 (yay! new comic), Spiral says "it was all bleeding-like red..." now it sounds to me like she was surprised at the color? maybe Loroi blood isn't red? what color is Loroi blood?

Blue.

[GabrielGABFonseca]

Arioch, first let me congratulate you on your work. I've known Outsider for around what, five years now? And I must say, from all the webcomics I've read, this is definitely one of my top 3 all-time favourites.

I love the story, the characters, and the world you've built. And if you'll allow me, I'd love to make some questions about said world!
I apologise if some of these have already been asked before, but I'm still grinding my way through this thread (I'm currently at page 34)...

Ok, so here we go!

First, I'd like to ask, now that a significant fraction of the main cast (judging from the Character Mosaic art) is united on a shuttle for the next 5.824 hours (19200 Solon) and then 20 days more on Clearbrook, what are your plans for the comic? Sitcom, or more of a Romcom?

Ok, ok; jokes aside now, I'm rather curious about the meaning of the text below the Loroi Emblem, as seen on page 50, at the right side of Beryl's head. My attempts to read it have been rather fruitless - I could only make out the third word with absolute clarity: "Community". I also believe that the last word means "Rage", but I'm not 100% sure of it.

--//--

The second question I'd like to ask regards the holographic battle map on page 83. Actually, I have two questions about this map; the first one being why would the Loroi be using the astrological symbol of the Cancer constellation as the symbol to represent the enemy advance on this battle? If there's one thing I've learned after reading the Insider three times over, is that you don't do stuff without a purpose. There must certainly be a reason behind this, you surely wouldn't just slap a symbol native of Earth on a Loroi battle map!

The second second question, then, would be regarding what is written on the green arrow - if my Trade doesn't fail me, it reads "diorar boiner" on said arrow, meaning "enemy group", correct? If that's the case, then I believe there might be a typo - the text on the page reads "diorar", while the Lexicon has "doirar" listed as the word for 'enemy'. I wonder which one is actually the correct spelling?

--//--

My third and final question (for now! ) regards the Trade language. I've been struggling to translate to trade the phrase "Heavenly Messenger of War from the Dead River". The process I use to translate phrases is to break it down to individual words, and then assemble those broken down bits, with their translated equivalents into the fully translated phrase, like this:

[Heavenly] [Messenger] [of] [War] [From] [the] [Dead] [River]

Working with the words available in the Lexicon, what I currently have is the following:

[Heavenly] [Messenger] [of] [War] [From] [the] [Dead] [River]
[Sizet (noun)] [Detobodí (A messenger is an 'announcer' or 'proclaimer' after all...)] [--N/A--] [Nen] [Mi] [--N/A--] [Tonon] [Sarad (A 'stream' or 'brook' is not as impressive as a river, but it'll do)]

Now, I rearrange the words to properly follow Trade grammar and modify the appropriate words. The first difficulty I've faced is how to convert "Sizet", a noun, into an adjective. I've decided to simply go with "from heaven" to simplify things. The second difficulty is, again, how to turn "Tonon", a noun, into an adjective. Now; the suffix -das allows one to turn a verb into a noun or adjective - to use it to turn a noun into and adjective is a very wonky and quirky move, but... it's the best I can do. So the final product, I believe, would be:

"Nen detobodí sizet mi mé tonondas sarad mi".

Where the underlined part is the subject, the italic is the object and the bold is the verb.

[Nen] [Detobodí] [Sizet] [Mi] [Mé] [Tonondas] [Sarad] [Mi].

Is this translation correct, or do you think I need to go back to the Scout Corps' Trade 101 course and give this a try again next semester?

--//--

Thank you for taking time to read this! Keep up the good work.

[Arioch]

Ok, ok; jokes aside now, I'm rather curious about the meaning of the text below the Loroi Emblem, as seen on page 50, at the right side of Beryl's head. My attempts to read it have been rather fruitless - I could only make out the third word with absolute clarity: "Community". I also believe that the last word means "Rage", but I'm not 100% sure of it.

The passage is the second half of the Loroi motto "Rozain ronnei pelor dezon. Moriet tonirrir lishradil dezon," which translates as "Victory from duty only. Ascension through community only."

Which is probably grammatically incorrect, now that I think about it. These phrases were written a long time ago, before Trade had a distinct grammar.

The second question I'd like to ask regards the holographic battle map on page 83. Actually, I have two questions about this map; the first one being why would the Loroi be using the astrological symbol of the Cancer constellation as the symbol to represent the enemy advance on this battle? If there's one thing I've learned after reading the Insider three times over, is that you don't do stuff without a purpose. There must certainly be a reason behind this, you surely wouldn't just slap a symbol native of Earth on a Loroi battle map!

Well, I did. I grabbed an alien-looking glyph and stuck it in there, without being aware that it's the symbol of the Crab. Random irony.

Officially, it's an alien glyph which just happens to be the same as one of our symbols. It was bound to happen.

The second second question, then, would be regarding what is written on the green arrow - if my Trade doesn't fail me, it reads "diorar boiner" on said arrow, meaning "enemy group", correct? If that's the case, then I believe there might be a typo - the text on the page reads "diorar", while the Lexicon has "doirar" listed as the word for 'enemy'. I wonder which one is actually the correct spelling?

It's quite possible that I misspelled it. It's easy to do when writing backwards.

My third and final question (for now! ) regards the Trade language. I've been struggling to translate to trade the phrase "Heavenly Messenger of War from the Dead River". The process I use to translate phrases is to break it down to individual words, and then assemble those broken down bits, with their translated equivalents into the fully translated phrase, like this:

[Heavenly] [Messenger] [of] [War] [From] [the] [Dead] [River]

Working with the words available in the Lexicon, what I currently have is the following:

[Heavenly] [Messenger] [of] [War] [From] [the] [Dead] [River]
[Sizet (noun)] [Detobodí (A messenger is an 'announcer' or 'proclaimer' after all...)] [--N/A--] [Nen] [Mi] [--N/A--] [Tonon] [Sarad (A 'stream' or 'brook' is not as impressive as a river, but it'll do)]

Now, I rearrange the words to properly follow Trade grammar and modify the appropriate words. The first difficulty I've faced is how to convert "Sizet", a noun, into an adjective. I've decided to simply go with "from heaven" to simplify things. The second difficulty is, again, how to turn "Tonon", a noun, into an adjective. Now; the suffix -das allows one to turn a verb into a noun or adjective - to use it to turn a noun into and adjective is a very wonky and quirky move, but... it's the best I can do. So the final product, I believe, would be:

"Nen detobodí sizet mi mé tonondas sarad mi".

Where the underlined part is the subject, the italic is the object and the bold is the verb.

[Nen] [Detobodí] [Sizet] [Mi] [Mé] [Tonondas] [Sarad] [Mi].

Is this translation correct, or do you think I need to go back to the Scout Corps' Trade 101 course and give this a try again next semester?

In Trade, you can use any noun or prepositional phrase as a modifier for a noun just by placing it in front of the noun; no conjugation needed. This can get ambiguous if you stack multiple nouns in this way (such as with "death river heaven war herald"), so I think the clearest way to phrase it would be using prepositions thus:

"war herald of heaven from death river"
[death] [river] [from] [heaven] [of] [war] [herald]
Tonon taton ronnei sizet mi nen mallas

This is just a fragment of a sentence with no verb and so no need for subject or object markers.

[GabrielGABFonseca]

Now that I've seen that you'll answer these sort of questions, I can finally open my Little Questions Notebook and flood this thread with an unceasing stream of inquiries!

While I know you don't really like to elaborate on topics that are too relevant to the story, this needs to be asked. We have to know the answer to the most important question of all regarding outsider: While Alex was being held on the detention cell on the Tempest for up to a week... How did he go to the bathroom? I know this is surely the single most vital plot point of the comic, but we need to know, Arioch. The cell doesn't seem to have any sanitation facilities whatsoever, and while the Loroi surely are very efficient organisms, even magic space elves need to have a restroom somewhere on that ship. Was he periodically escorted by the guards through the cellblock to the nearest 'Biological Relief Facility', or maybe the Apollo-era 'space diaper' is still standard Scout Corp equipment, or even something else? (I put my money on the Apollo Diapers )

And still regarding the topic of sanitation and the elapsed time, how come Alex's beard didn't start growing after a whole week of being left unattended? It must surely have started to grow back by now... To the utmost surprise of his escorting Loroi company, an event which would be rather amusing to see.

SpoilerShow

~~ Beryl: "Good morning Captain Jardin, I hope you have slept we-"
*Sees a sleepy Alex scratching his stub beard*
Beryl: "Captain Jardin! Are you feeling unwell?!? Oh no, what is happening, there seems to be hair growing on your face!"
Alex: "Oh, uhm, yes... We humans, specially the males, have this thing called facial hair that happens to grow with time. We normally tend to style it, and some, like me, prefer to trim it, but as I lack the proper utensils to do such onboard..."
*Tempo walks into the room*
Tempo: "Excuse me, Captain Jardin, I hope you have had a good res-"
*Upon seeing Alex, Tempo puts on her best diplomatic poker face*
Tempo: "Are you feeling... alright, Captain Jardin?"
Beryl: "It is just facial hair, Mizol Parat, no reason to be preoccupied."
Tempo: "... I see."
*Fireblade walks in, all turn around to look at her. She slightly raises her eyebrow, quirks her lips into the faintest spectre of a smile, then turns around and leaves*

*A moment later, the most powerful telepathic burst of laughter ever recorded is detected by Farsensers from all around the Union's territory* ~~

[JQBogus]

The beard question has been asked before, and, as I recall the answer was that the Scout Corps has long lasting depilatories.

[Arioch]

While I know you don't really like to elaborate on topics that are too relevant to the story, this needs to be asked. We have to know the answer to the most important question of all regarding outsider: While Alex was being held on the detention cell on the Tempest for up to a week... How did he go to the bathroom? I know this is surely the single most vital plot point of the comic, but we need to know, Arioch. The cell doesn't seem to have any sanitation facilities whatsoever, and while the Loroi surely are very efficient organisms, even magic space elves need to have a restroom somewhere on that ship. Was he periodically escorted by the guards through the cellblock to the nearest 'Biological Relief Facility', or maybe the Apollo-era 'space diaper' is still standard Scout Corp equipment, or even something else? (I put my money on the Apollo Diapers )

I'll preface these comments by saying that while I consider the issue of sanitation when designing the environments (and you will occasionally see an appropriately-marked door), in the grand tradition of space opera, I don't plan to show much of these facilities' use. While one could certainly argue that there is some potential interest and humor in seeing the workings of an alien bathroom on an all-female ship, there is also great danger of falling into the abyss of fanservice, so this is an area where I will tread carefully (if at all).

The bathroom facilities in the detention block are located in the cell bay, and not in the individual cells; the guards have to open the door to feed him, and will have to do the same to allow him to take care of business. Loroi cells need to telekinesis-proof, and having access to plumbing connections can present a danger. The prisoner is closely supervised when using the facilities.

And still regarding the topic of sanitation and the elapsed time, how come Alex's beard didn't start growing after a whole week of being left unattended? It must surely have started to grow back by now... To the utmost surprise of his escorting Loroi company, an event which would be rather amusing to see.

In addition to the general bathroom policy, beard stubble is difficult to draw in the cel-style of the comic, and so Alex simply won't be growing a beard. We can infer that he has had some kind of longer-term or semi-permanent depilatory treatment.

[GabrielGABFonseca]

The mere fact that there are bathrooms already satisfies me, there's no real need to see one of them in use. Other opportunities for "fan service" will surely present themselves!

Now that the topic of sanitation has been dealt with and appropriately crossed from my Little Questions Notebook, the next topic seems to be... Loroi! So, questions for the questions god, answers for the answer throne!

Regarding Loroi culture:
- You have stated on this very thread that Talon's facial mark is a tattoo. Seeing that Spiral also has the same marking, I recon it must have a deeper meaning other than simple decoration. Is it their original squadron symbol?

- Given the rather impressive length of Fireblade's hair, how come she put on a closed helmet in case she needs to go on an EVA or the compartment depressurises? (This surely has been asked before, but I haven't stumbled on the answer yet)

- Will the motivations behind Stillstorm's apparent hostility (dare I say outright rage) towards Alex be further explored in the comic? (I'd believe that it will, but it's worth asking!)

- Now, this question was actually filed under my 'joke questions' sub-list, but thinking about it, I actually do wonder... Would Loroi find the board game 'Guess Who?' amusing? I can see it's value as a training tool for young Loroi-lings to train their abilities to block their thoughts from other individuals while having fun, as well as training their subversion and deception techniques. Maybe it's something Humaniti could export to the Union in exchange for ship screen technology! (Yeah, right...)

- Do Beryl and the other Listel members mind being glorified Flash Drives?

- What kind of utensil (if any) do Loroi use to nomnom their meals? (I reckon this would vary with each subculture? And I do seem to recall you saying shipboard Loroi prefer the takeaway kind of nomnoms due to practicality...)

Regarding Loroi Psi abilities:
- Could a very powerful PK, seeing that they can to some extent control EM Radiation, 'bend' light around her like a metamaterial in order to become invisible in a given spectrum? (My hunch is "no", but then again, who knows?)

Regarding Loroi biology:
- What is the range of Hair and Eye colours that the Loroi present? So far I've seen the normal human range and gold and red for eyes, and I don't want to even begin listing the myriad hair colours! It's also worth asking if said hair colours are natural or artificial, like we humans sometimes have?

Regarding Loroi Style:
- If, hypothetically speaking, the shuttle our Fearsome Foursome now find themselves on was, oh, I don't know, hit by an Umiak EMP missile, would Alex be indiscernible in the darkness due to the terrible human oversight of not having cool glowy-bits on their uniforms? (A vital flaw, I say!)

Regarding Loroi Tech:
- If Loroi use particle beam sidearms in-atmosphere, how do they deal with the residual radiation shower from the beam interacting with the atmosphere? (I imagine they just wave their hands really really fast and the problem goes away, and honestly? I personally don't mind)

And finally, a classic "Versus" scenario - who would win a full-blown battle of telepathic wits; Tempo or a Cat demanding to be fed?

[Arioch]

I generally don't answer hypotheticals or situations which will be directly addressed in the comic, so I hope you don't mind that I will decline to answer those questions.

- You have stated on this very thread that Talon's facial mark is a tattoo. Seeing that Spiral also has the same marking, I recon it must have a deeper meaning other than simple decoration. Is it their original squadron symbol?

All the members of Talon & Spiral's Taben Tenoin training band got the same tattoo, and most of the members of the original squadron were drawn from the same band.

- Given the rather impressive length of Fireblade's hair, how come she put on a closed helmet in case she needs to go on an EVA or the compartment depressurises? (This surely has been asked before, but I haven't stumbled on the answer yet)

Although the way I draw it makes it look impossibly large, Fireblade's hair only goes down to her butt and has a relatively small mass. It could be condensed and rolled into a bun that would fit in a helmet if the situation called for it.

- Will the motivations behind Stillstorm's apparent hostility (dare I say outright rage) towards Alex be further explored in the comic? (I'd believe that it will, but it's worth asking!)

Her hostility is fairly straightforward: she believes there is a good possibility that he is an enemy spy. But we will see a good deal more interaction between Alex and Stillstorm, if that is the question.

- Now, this question was actually filed under my 'joke questions' sub-list, but thinking about it, I actually do wonder... Would Loroi find the board game 'Guess Who?' amusing? I can see it's value as a training tool for young Loroi-lings to train their abilities to block their thoughts from other individuals while having fun, as well as training their subversion and deception techniques. Maybe it's something Humaniti could export to the Union in exchange for ship screen technology! (Yeah, right...)

I'm not familiar with the game. I can imagine a telepathic offensive/defensive training regime in which one participant draws a card, and the other is tasked with determining its content.

- Do Beryl and the other Listel members mind being glorified Flash Drives?

It's their job... and it beats digging latrines.

- What kind of utensil (if any) do Loroi use to nomnom their meals? (I reckon this would vary with each subculture? And I do seem to recall you saying shipboard Loroi prefer the takeaway kind of nomnoms due to practicality...)

Most Loroi use their fingers and sometimes a knife to eat.

- Could a very powerful PK, seeing that they can to some extent control EM Radiation, 'bend' light around her like a metamaterial in order to become invisible in a given spectrum? (My hunch is "no", but then again, who knows?)

I suppose it's within the realm of possibility, but we won't see anything like that in the story.

- What is the range of Hair and Eye colours that the Loroi present? So far I've seen the normal human range and gold and red for eyes, and I don't want to even begin listing the myriad hair colours! It's also worth asking if said hair colours are natural or artificial, like we humans sometimes have?

Both hair and eye pigment can be any color in the visible spectrum. Most of the hair colors we see are natural, with a few exceptions (like Talon's dyed bangs).

- If Loroi use particle beam sidearms in-atmosphere, how do they deal with the residual radiation shower from the beam interacting with the atmosphere? (I imagine they just wave their hands really really fast and the problem goes away, and honestly? I personally don't mind)

I'm aware that particle beams create radiation in atmosphere, but I don't accept Nyrath's blanket dismissal of such radiation being a "lethal dose" without even addressing the specific composition, power or duration of the beam. I ran the numbers at one point and wasn't overly concerned.