Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

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JQBogus
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by JQBogus »

Kittens, Horses, chocolate*, and five times as many menfolk as they're used to?

If these things are as popular with Loroi women as they are with human ones, it is a good thing Loroi don't lie, Otherwise many of them would dismiss stories of Earth as the fevered dreams of some lonely young warrior!

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Tamri »

The fact that they are able to control their reproductive cycle, I understand, and the fact that they have feelings for affection as children and the partner, although the latter is more likely rudiment and the public isn't encouraged. And like Loroi works desire mechanism and libido? Either independently, as in humans, or these aspects, they are also able to limited manage?

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Tamri wrote:The fact that they are able to control their reproductive cycle, I understand, and the fact that they have feelings for affection as children and the partner, although the latter is more likely rudiment and the public isn't encouraged. And like Loroi works desire mechanism and libido? Either independently, as in humans, or these aspects, they are also able to limited manage?
Love and sex are mostly two different things for the Loroi. Loroi mating encounters last only a few days, before and after which the two mating partners will probably never meet again. Love for Loroi is a platonic relationship between relatives and close friends.

raistlin34
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by raistlin34 »

Arioch wrote:
Tamri wrote:The fact that they are able to control their reproductive cycle, I understand, and the fact that they have feelings for affection as children and the partner, although the latter is more likely rudiment and the public isn't encouraged. And like Loroi works desire mechanism and libido? Either independently, as in humans, or these aspects, they are also able to limited manage?
Love and sex are mostly two different things for the Loroi. Loroi mating encounters last only a few days, before and after which the two mating partners will probably never meet again. Love for Loroi is a platonic relationship between relatives and close friends.
So if hypothetically a human wanted to form a romantic relationship with a Loroi, the later would be confused to the very concept of "romance" ?

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by cacambo43 »

raistlin34 wrote:
Arioch wrote:
Tamri wrote:The fact that they are able to control their reproductive cycle, I understand, and the fact that they have feelings for affection as children and the partner, although the latter is more likely rudiment and the public isn't encouraged. And like Loroi works desire mechanism and libido? Either independently, as in humans, or these aspects, they are also able to limited manage?
Love and sex are mostly two different things for the Loroi. Loroi mating encounters last only a few days, before and after which the two mating partners will probably never meet again. Love for Loroi is a platonic relationship between relatives and close friends.
So if hypothetically a human wanted to form a romantic relationship with a Loroi, the later would be confused to the very concept of "romance" ?
It would say something about the interplay of Loroi origins, psychology and biochemistry if a Loroi did end up having romantic-type feelings for a human (or another Loroi). A huge part of human sexual relationships seems to be a biochemical one that leads to a psychological bond (and I'm sure the more rigidly rational ones here would not even make a distinction). If that biochemistry is totally missing in Loroi, then that could explain it one way. If the lack of romance is largely psychological and cultural, it's possible a bridge could be made. Whether or not Alex could be that bridge is another matter entirely ;-).

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Arioch
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

raistlin34 wrote:So if hypothetically a human wanted to form a romantic relationship with a Loroi, the later would be confused to the very concept of "romance" ?
Not "confused" exactly, but Loroi males and females don't normally pair bond or have any kind of long term relationship. There are well-known tales in which a female became obsessed with a particular male and the two became a sort of couple (friends who also have sex), but these are the kinds of tales in which the main characters usually don't survive to the end.

Having the potential for a long-term relationship with a member of the opposite gender might seem to a Loroi like a fantastic opportunity to have her cake and eat it too, but there might also be alarm bells going off (both for the individual and her associates) that something is about to go terribly wrong. However, since we're dealing with aliens in the case of humans, all bets are off.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Tamri »

While thinking about the concept, I got one more question:

- How ancient Loroi times between the fall of the old and the creation of a new civilization controlled their population size? And why traces of these mechanisms in their today's culture does not appear?

Simply, according to information from the author, ~ 90% of the population Loroi - capable of childbearing women. Moreover, they are quite hardy, relatively unpretentious and have the potential to live long. Plus, according to the author's information, the Deinar's and Taben's biospheres quite tolerant to Loroi.

In connection with the above, there is a natural conclusion: Loroi population at the worlds above required some trouble-free internal mechanisms for control the population size, and this mechanisms aren't related to the culture (for the simple reason that it didn't have Loroi was). If we draw an analogy with humans or Earth species, they are should have been so actively destroying each other that surplus population if formed, then a small, or their wild society was to form the education like a wolf pack that reproduces only the alpha pair and all other members of the pack provide them with food and protection

The main problem with all these assumptions - neither mechanism that I have come to mind, isn't reflected in contemporary culture Loroi. If, again, to draw parallels with the people that we sometimes responding behavioral mechanisms that have arisen in our ancestors more 200-300k years ago (for example, seasonal monogamy and xenophobia). If you follow this logic chain further, the societies that cultured on Deinar, Taben and Perrein couldn't be similar. In my estimation, the most "democratic" traditions should be, oddly enough, on Perrein as Loroi, live there, there was no need to further control their numbers due to a dangerous environment. The most "cannibalistic" should be Taben tradition, due to strongly limited territory and resources. Well Deinar is something in between: on the one hand, the territory and resources scarce, the other - the problem of overpopulation anyway-time on-time was to appear.

The idea is that since Loroi occur (presumably) artificially, and considerable time there in the form of interstellar civilization, modern culture Loroi must be a fusion of partial elements of their culture before the fall, the survival mechanisms of the times of savagery and culture, which they created anew, by rebuilding their modern civilization .

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Tamri wrote:How ancient Loroi times between the fall of the old and the creation of a new civilization controlled their population size? And why traces of these mechanisms in their today's culture does not appear?
For the most part they didn't control population sizes, and that's part of why they were unable to maintain a stable civilization.

Most of the nascent early Loroi civilizations would develop some kind of population control -- usually a variant of the caste system that the modern Loroi use, which controls population through regulation of mating access. But the biggest problem during the Reign of Chaos was not city population size, but rather the huge populations of "barbarian" Loroi who lived in the countryside. These wild Loroi tribes had no population control, and so they would grow until they couldn't feed themselves, and they they'd destroy everything.

It wasn't until the wild tribes eventually adopted the caste system and learned to control their own populations that the city Loroi were finally able to establish civilizations that could survive.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Tamri »

Arioch wrote:
This limiter, not of the control mechanism. If things were so, then the population Loroi at Deinar and Taben have virtually all of their time in a state of permanent over-population and the catastrophic shortage of resources. For example, the number of people in similar circumstances have limited for disease, harsh living conditions and low lifetime. At Loroi on the above worlds have nothing. They are, in fact, were all his prehistoric (or, rather, between historical) period were the dominant species on the planet, which was supposed to capture all the available space for life, and then all of the available territory, and having exhausted the available resources, to begin an unprecedented competition for them with his tribesman. And this conflict was to last permanently, according to your history, about 100-120k years. And it must be accompanied, in theory, constant hunger and the lack of living space.

Yes, result of all this stuff could only fully frostbite militarized civilization ...

Extrapolating this analysis further, we find that the Mizol caste as caste of spies and saboteurs, which likely would have occurred at the same Taben or Deinar than Perrein because there this was a vital necessity, whereas Perrein, from my point of view more like the role of a certain homeland caste diplomats and negotiators, as in aggressive fauna, hostile flora and lack of resources, coordination of efforts and consolidate resources are more profitable way of interaction than the continuous wars for these resources.

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saint of m
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by saint of m »

Two Questions:

One is courtship.

A very large number of animals on Earth have some sort of courtship rituals, or what apears to be that, to see who is worthy of mating.

Be it shows of strength, intelligence, creativity, or simply impressing her enough not to bite his head off before the deed, these are all ways for perspective females to judge who is the best set of genes to go with hers. Conversly its also a measure to scare off or impress other bachlors.

Do th the Loroi have something similar? And no I am not talking about love, just the hooking up to roll in the hay part.



2. How will humans be of service? Fast breeding cannon fodder ala goblins?

A warrior race on par of the Klingons for them to use?

Or my personal favorite, why the Asgard wanted to ally with the Humans: After countless generations of genetic modification, they are no longer able to think on any level other then hyper intelligent, which has in a way handicapped them. So they need someone who literaly thinks much simpler then they can to get a new perspective.

Or to use the show:

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by sunphoenix »

Oh Gods! Richard Dean Anderson's one-liners in that show were a scream! :)

And the 'END' of the Asgard as a race was so heart-wrenching in the end, I actually felt sad, and shed a few tears for them. The Asgard left ALL their technology to mankind in the form of their last space dreadnought warship~ because they felt of all the races they had met... mankind had proven itself worthy of their legacy and trust as 'true' friends. It was the last episode of "STARGATE SG-1", they made and I was heart-broken at the story, not the end of the series.
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Tamri wrote:This limiter, not of the control mechanism. If things were so, then the population Loroi at Deinar and Taben have virtually all of their time in a state of permanent over-population and the catastrophic shortage of resources.
There was no equilibrium, it was cyclical. The hunter-gatherer tribal societies would start small and grow, and some of them would found permanent settlements and make some advances toward civilization. Meanwhile the wild tribes continued to grow and consume resources and fight amongst each other and raid the settlers (who usually had more food). Eventually the barbarians would destroy the settlers, and then most of those who weren't killed in the conflict would starve, and the population would collapse. Most of the progress of the settlers would be lost. Then the food flora and fauna would recover, and the hunter-gatherer population would start to grow again, and the cycle would repeat.

Taben and Perrein had more challenging or limited ecosystems that kept Loroi populations under constant pressure, but Deinar was a hunter-gatherer's buffet table, with semi-domesticated game animals and gene-tailored self-sowing supergrains, fruits and nuts growing wild.
saint of m wrote:A very large number of animals on Earth have some sort of courtship rituals, or what apears to be that, to see who is worthy of mating.

Do the the Loroi have something similar?
Sort of. Loroi individuals do not choose their mates; society does. And so it's society that a prospective mate has to impress in order to win the right to mate. She does this by succeeding at the tasks that society sets for her, such as completing warrior trials, or reaching career milestones, or gaining sufficient power and influence.
saint of m wrote: How will humans be of service?
You don't really expect an answer to this question, do you? :D

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Krulle »

We do, in comic form, within the next decade, if üossible!
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by thicket »

saint of m wrote: How will humans be of service?


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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by saint of m »

Arioch wrote:
saint of m wrote:A very large number of animals on Earth have some sort of courtship rituals, or what apears to be that, to see who is worthy of mating.

Do the the Loroi have something similar?
Sort of. Loroi individuals do not choose their mates; society does. And so it's society that a prospective mate has to impress in order to win the right to mate. She does this by succeeding at the tasks that society sets for her, such as completing warrior trials, or reaching career milestones, or gaining sufficient power and influence.
saint of m wrote: How will humans be of service?
You don't really expect an answer to this question, do you? :D
First one makes sense, propositin head of household kind of a deal.

Second one: Should have expected this one, but its hard to see how it can turn out.

As is the only things I can think of at the moment that wouldn't be too cliche beyond redemption is we just happen to be at the right time at the right place to turn things around and we just get lucky, or the Loroi Evil Overlord list will now include: Must have a pinky on every planning meeting. If there is a flaw they can spot, put the plan back to the drawing board.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by SVlad »

saint of m wrote:How will humans be of service?
Deinar needs men! :lol:
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Hālian »

Deinar needs dads, even. ;)
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Luge »

Hello!

I came back to Outsider after a long time away to see if it was still here. I'm pleased that there has been some progress! I've been watching on and off since the early days.

I have a few comments questions and requests. I've searched a bit for and found some answers, but please forgive me if these questions have been answered.

What, exactly, is the Well of Souls and what does it look like? I came here originally to visit Homeworld Shipyard many, many (many) years ago, so I believe there's a connection there. If there is, it's been lost in the mists of time. I know Arioch has mentioned it exists in the Outsider universe somewhere. So what it is in Outsider?

Outsider Page 26:
Why is Fireblade the leader of the interrogation team, and do the other two have names or titles yet?
It would seem logical that someone like Tempo would be more suited to reading telepathic information from a subject rather than Fireblade, who is more likely to accidentally squish their cranium. Tempo certainly has more powerful and more subtle telepathic skills on her GURPS sheet, including telesense, confusion and others which would be useful for interrogation.

Outsider Page 32:
No one else think it funny that Loroi "Do not do these things" signs are the same as 20th century human ones?

Outsider Page 36:
Beryl looks huge in the first panel! #justsaying

Outsider Page 72 and 101: I really like page 101 102, and 103. For a race that don't do physical contact, the Loroi seem fine with getting into Alex's area of personal space. See also Beryl on Page 72. Is this artistic impression or is her curious nature driving her to examine him at every opportunity? Seems like Fireblade doesn't need to be so close, given she could punch him in the stomach from the other end of the room.

Page 73: This is a really good page. In particular, I like the part with Stillstorm in the bottom left. Stillstorm's features are a lot sharper than most Loroi. It gives her a "wicked witch of the west" kind of look. Could someone please remind me why Nova (in charge of Winter Tide) has a different uniform to the others? I think I saw something about her being brevited up temporarily?
Why does Ashrain get a fancy earpiece?

Page 76: Stillstorm gestures a lot. See also page 22. Do Loroi not telepathically say "over there" much?

Page 84: :( Was Winter Tide lost with all hands?

General
Speaking of which, are some of Tempo's skills blacked out on her GURPS sheet because she's lost them or to avoid revealing too much at this stage?
How bad is Perrein cuisine by human standards? Are we talking about eating snails and squid tentacles or are we in Galaxy Quest territory, consuming live blood ticks in acid?

Thanks, and keep it up!

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by dragoongfa »

Hi Luge, welcome back :P

I think that I may be able to answer some of your questions:
Why is Fireblade the leader of the interrogation team, and do the other two have names or titles yet?
Fireblade is the ranking Teidar of Tempest and is probably older than the other two Teidar as well. I am certain that one of the two Teidar is 'Mothwing' (The purple haired perhaps?)

Tempo is certainly occupied elsewhere and it looks like she didn't even know about Alex until after the interrogation, which means that she was either somewhere which precludes telepathic contact with the rest of the ship or was sleeping and no one saw fit to wake her up. I am leaning towards the first scenario and that the whole interrogation was something orchestrated by Stillstorm who wanted answers here and now.
No one else think it funny that Loroi "Do not do these things" signs are the same as 20th century human ones?
It is a fact that certain human mannerisms are universal, the heightening of ones voice is universally a sign of anger for an example and waving is a sign of friendly intentions. It stands to reason that certain mannerisms are common with the almost identical Loroi.
Beryl looks huge in the first panel! #justsaying
She is closer to the POV and Alex is on a lower plane.
For a race that don't do physical contact, the Loroi seem fine with getting into Alex's area of personal space. See also Beryl on Page 72. Is this artistic impression or is her curious nature driving her to examine him at every opportunity? Seems like Fireblade doesn't need to be so close, given she could punch him in the stomach from the other end of the room.
Beryl is described as a xenophile, extremely curious and with a bad reputation, I think that she doesn't care about the usual taboo in regards to Alex. I am almost certain that Fireblade has been ordered to keep an extremely tight leash on the Alien who is intruding in the bridge during a fleet battle. Her being close and monitoring him could also be interpreted as an attempt to find a telepathic echo from him now that he is awake and 'not resisting'.

EDIT:
Could someone please remind me why Nova (in charge of Winter Tide) has a different uniform to the others? I think I saw something about her being brevited up temporarily?
Why does Ashrain get a fancy earpiece?
Stillstorm and the other officers are of the Torrai caste which is the leadership caste of the Loroi military. Nova is still a Soroin in command of Winter Tide, the Torrai in charge of Van squadron had her ship damaged and had to leave the field, leaving Van squad to Nova.

I think Ashrain's earpiece is some form of an amplifier.
Stillstorm gestures a lot. See also page 22. Do Loroi not telepathically say "over there" much?
The Loroi are a very visual heavy species, it stands to reason that hand gestures play a similar role to their communications with ours.
Was Winter Tide lost with all hands?
Antimatter explosions don't leave anything behind.

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