Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

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

Moderator: Outsider Moderators

User avatar
cacambo43
Posts: 301
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:39 am
Location: The Space Coast
Contact:

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by cacambo43 »

Apologies if this has been addressed before:

What actually happened after Alex is escorted off the bridge at the end of Chapter One? Strike Group 51 was facing off with a huge Umiak division that had the ability to cloak itself from farseeing. Did the fleet flee? Did the Umiak forces leave once Bellarmine was destroyed (utterly)?

CJSF

entity2636
Posts: 339
Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:53 am

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by entity2636 »

cacambo43 wrote:Apologies if this has been addressed before:

What actually happened after Alex is escorted off the bridge at the end of Chapter One? Strike Group 51 was facing off with a huge Umiak division that had the ability to cloak itself from farseeing. Did the fleet flee? Did the Umiak forces leave once Bellarmine was destroyed (utterly)?

CJSF
I think it's safe to say that SG51 withdrew towards their base in Azimol but docked at Leido instead, both to rearm and refuel and because Clicky's fleet seriously outgunned them, and also to forward the intel about umiak stealth fleets. I would not directly use the word "run", more in the way of an orderly retreat. Clicky did follow them after a while, though. He doesn't appear to be in any particular hurry and comes across as fairly confident they have already won.

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

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Stillstorm ordered the destruction of the Bellarmine wreckage because she intended to withdraw. This done, SG51 promptly withdrew from the system via the route illustrated in blue on page 118.

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

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by boldilocks »

Arioch wrote:Stillstorm ordered the destruction of the Bellarmine wreckage because she intended to withdraw. This done, SG51 promptly withdrew from the system via the route illustrated in blue on page 118.
I assume Stillstorm didn't destroy the Bellarmine to keep any technology out of the hands of the umiak but rather to keep human existence secret so that the umiak don't manage to grab another client species?

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

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

boldilocks wrote:
Arioch wrote:Stillstorm ordered the destruction of the Bellarmine wreckage because she intended to withdraw. This done, SG51 promptly withdrew from the system via the route illustrated in blue on page 118.
I assume Stillstorm didn't destroy the Bellarmine to keep any technology out of the hands of the umiak but rather to keep human existence secret so that the umiak don't manage to grab another client species?
It's just standard procedure to destroy anything you can't take with you rather than let the enemy get it.

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

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by boldilocks »

I seem to recall you saying that loroi metabolisms are very effective (because they are designed that way, presumably), and that they can work full days on very small meals.

At first I thought "oh they don't get fat, typical elf stuff", but then I thought about it again, and doesn't that work the other way? That is, if their metabolism is effective enough to get a lot of energy out of very little food, wouldn't they get fat very easily?

User avatar
dragoongfa
Posts: 1944
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
Location: Athens, Greece

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by dragoongfa »

boldilocks wrote:I seem to recall you saying that loroi metabolisms are very effective (because they are designed that way, presumably), and that they can work full days on very small meals.

At first I thought "oh they don't get fat, typical elf stuff", but then I thought about it again, and doesn't that work the other way? That is, if their metabolism is effective enough to get a lot of energy out of very little food, wouldn't they get fat very easily?
That's why they eat smaller portions and why they don't have a food culture (with the exception of Perrein's cuisine), we humans also have the natural inclination to over eat from when we were hunter gatherers; entrusting our bodies to preserve the food with body fat. As a bio-engineered species Loroi may not have such an inclination, with their instincts not pushing them eating much beyond what's necessary since the designers would have taken care of the logistical side of eating.

But yes, a Loroi would get fat QUICKLY if she was thrown into the modern food culture, thankfully they have a warrior ethos and as such they should be able to control themselves from eating too much.

entity2636
Posts: 339
Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:53 am

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by entity2636 »

boldilocks wrote:At first I thought "oh they don't get fat, typical elf stuff", but then I thought about it again, and doesn't that work the other way? That is, if their metabolism is effective enough to get a lot of energy out of very little food, wouldn't they get fat very easily?
I suppose they would and some probably do get fat quickly if they don't spend their energy. So far we have only seen how military loroi look and it is safe to assume that they all train regularly to stay fit - you don't see fat soldiers with the exception of senior staff officers in the real-life military either. May be different with the civilians, particularly those who don't do physical work too much.

Then again, with telepathy being a thing, peer pressure would be immense and most loroi would likely do anything to not get fat and be telepathically mocked all the time by everyone within range.
dragoongfa wrote:with the exception of Perrein's cuisine
Tempo's quirk "Perrein cuisine" probably means that Perrein loroi back at home eat things that would make a klingon sick to his stomach, and that they find it entertaining to watch foreigners' reactions to their food. But yes, I second that Perrein loroi likely have a rich food culture given all the wildlife they have back at home *thank you for putting the mental image of that glow-in-the-dark tree-climbing octopus thing that likes to lay it's eggs inside one's fatty tissue while one sleeps into my mind, no brain flushing can get it out anymore*

User avatar
icekatze
Posts: 1399
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:35 pm
Location: Middle of Nowhere
Contact:

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

Given that the Loroi are an engineered species, I think it is safe to say that all bets are off when it comes to their metabolism. They could very well have mechanisms inherently built in so that they stop being hungry when they don't need to eat, and if they keep eating anyway, their body stops uptaking calories.

Even the amount of exercise they need would be up for review by whatever engineer made them. There are animals on Earth that maintain a huge amount of muscles with very little exercise. Tigers, for instance, sleep about 15.8 hours a day (65.8% of the time), and they are still incredibly strong. Humans on the other hand seem to be evolved to put a high value on conserving energy, and that plays a role in muscle atrophy over time. Clearly, there are differences in strength between Loroi like Beryl and Fireblade, but I wouldn't be surprised if any given Loroi could sit in a chair all day and still maintain a respectable physique.

If they were engineered for life in space, then resisting atrophy would be a critical trait.

User avatar
cacambo43
Posts: 301
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:39 am
Location: The Space Coast
Contact:

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by cacambo43 »

(someone may have already said this)
Am I the only one who can't help but hear Talon's and Spiral's voices with stereotypical "eastern European" accents? I know that's a bit USA-centric of me, but I can't help it! :)

CJSF

Sweforce
Posts: 546
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2015 12:00 am

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Sweforce »

cacambo43 wrote:(someone may have already said this)
Am I the only one who can't help but hear Talon's and Spiral's voices with stereotypical "eastern European" accents? I know that's a bit USA-centric of me, but I can't help it! :)

CJSF
Draenei voice from World of Warcraft? ;)

User avatar
CF2
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:02 pm
Location: On your PC as a background program.

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by CF2 »

cacambo43 wrote:(someone may have already said this)
Am I the only one who can't help but hear Talon's and Spiral's voices with stereotypical "eastern European" accents? I know that's a bit USA-centric of me, but I can't help it! :)
Looking at the pronunciation of the various Trade Language characters in the Insider, the U, V, W, and Y sounds are absent so it isn't quite a phonetic parallel with a stereotypical Slavic accent. We're getting it all translated via Alex's perspective, but I imagine it sounds a bit like a Far-Eastern language with more limited phonemes based on the construction of the words listed in the Lexicon. All the words there have a kind of consonant+vowel+either repetition to their spelling and don't have much in the way of the consonant+consonant combinations you hear in Slavic languages.

I'd imagine to a Loroi familiar with speaking Trade Language, English will sound almost like English with an Indian/Arabic accent would to an English speaker. Particularly the use of soft consonants like H V W Y, the way consonants & vowels are pronounced from the back of the mouth as in the case of words like "you", and the way English pronunciation of phonemes aren't all done in one location but rather use the whole range of the mouth. By contrast the Insider lists the Trade Language alphabet's sounds, all of which are pronounced in the front or middle of the mouth, and none from the back.

As to whether that means English will sound ridiculous or fascinatingly-exotic, only future updates will reveal.
Image

Luge
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:52 pm

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Luge »

cacambo43 wrote:(someone may have already said this)
Am I the only one who can't help but hear Talon's and Spiral's voices with stereotypical "eastern European" accents? I know that's a bit USA-centric of me, but I can't help it! :)

CJSF
I think you're picking up that Spiral and Talon perhaos aren't as fluent in Trade as the other Loroi we've met so far. On page 113, Spiral refers to Alex/his suit as an "it", which feels a little odd.

On page 114, Talon says, "What is this you are trying to do?", which a long-winded way of saying "What's this for?"

In the final panel of page 115, Spiral says, "Do not meet Spiral with hands! I am busy piloting this shuttle." - again, it's an unusual phrasing for her to refer to herself in the third person.

So, I see where you're coming from. It reminds me of Pitr Dubovich from the webcomic Userfriendly, who adopts a fake slavic accent - Which is difficult to pull off in a webcomic, but it works!

L.

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

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by orion1836 »

Here's a thought...

If there was such a thing as a non-Loroi telepath, be it the result of a rare genetic fluke or an artificially-induced trait, would a Loroi be able to understand them? Or, would the inherent difference in thought/brain structure render telepathic communication unintelligible, like a foreign language?

I know the Loroi can read (with varying degress of success) other races, but to my knowledge, they haven't encountered another telepathic race.

Absalom
Posts: 718
Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:33 am

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Absalom »

cacambo43 wrote:(someone may have already said this)
Am I the only one who can't help but hear Talon's and Spiral's voices with stereotypical "eastern European" accents? I know that's a bit USA-centric of me, but I can't help it! :)

CJSF
Luge is probably right, but I half-recall Arioch saying that all Loroi sound Eastern-European.

entity2636
Posts: 339
Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:53 am

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by entity2636 »

Got a question about Loroi military procedure. It didn't occur to me earlier when our Fearsome Foursome departed the Tempest so I'm asking it here.

Is it normal for Loroi to send important people or strategically important assets across dubious star systems during wartime in lone defenseless shuttle craft, like our team traveling across Leido in the Captain's yacht without a starfighter escort?

In my opinion, a Mizol Colonel and reasonably high ranking Listel science officer, especially if they are traveling together, would be considered quite important people just by themselves due to everything they might know, not even taking into account that they are accompanying an alien representative and the shuttle possibly also carries alien artifacts and intel.

Would the Empress, a regional governor or an Admiral get an escort when traveling in a shuttle from her planetside residence to her ship, or, say, when going planetside for a ribbon cutting ceremony or something or, say, to another allied ship for a meeting or inspection?

Granted, one could wave it off to the Loroi farseer not seeing any hostiles in Leido, the system being considered safe Loroi territory, or two starfighters being useless against an invading Umiak battle group, etc., but it still looks either like procedural idiocy, Loroi arrogance or carelessness because sh!t can happen to important people even in completely "safe" places and there are bound to be all sorts of crazies, terrorists, pirates or enemy agents out there.

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

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

They're behind friendly lines. Leido is an uninhabited but fairly well-controlled system with significant military infrastructure; for what should be obvious reasons, each of the jump points is monitored, and any unidentified craft in the system would be challenged. There are no terrorists, pirates or enemy agents at hand. No one in the system outside of the Tempest has any knowledge of what's being transported on board the shuttle. There was no intelligence that suggested the possibility that there might be enemy forces in the system. SG51 was preparing to return to action; any interceptors sent with the shuttle would not have been able to return to SG51 before they jumped. And, well... let's just say that Tempo and Stillstorm are not the very best of friends, and that concern for Alex's safety is not likely to keep Stillstorm awake at night.

If there are no known threats, how do you measure what kind of protection is needed? Even if Highland-7 had been given a fighter escort, I'm not really sure what a few interceptors would be able to do against two Umiak divisions.

If a well-known public figure is traveling in an inhabited system to a well-publicized event, then naturally there is going to need to be some kind of security.

User avatar
icekatze
Posts: 1399
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:35 pm
Location: Middle of Nowhere
Contact:

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

To be fair, Alex does have a pretty significant escort in the form of Fireblade and company. Should some random Loroi be overcome with paranoid rage at the sight of Alex, Fireblade is probably going to be able to handle them.

entity2636
Posts: 339
Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:53 am

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by entity2636 »

I mostly agree with your reasoning, but just as a precaution I in Stillstorm's place would have given the Highland at least two to four starfighters as escort, just to be sure they reach their destination in one piece or at least force anyone with bright ideas to think twice. It would also signal the Clearbrook that the shuttle is important, but may also attract unwanted attention, it all depends.

I did get the impression that Stillstorm was expecting her Captain's yacht back from the Clearbrook with replacement pilots to take Talon and Spiral's place, so it wouldn't damage her schedule to wait also for the fighters to return. If that is not the case and I was in a hurry, I'd ask for escort fighters from one of the starbases or boarder guard posts. I understand very well that Stillstorm doesn't like Tempo much and it's kind of logical, I mean who in their sane mind likes spies and intel people, but still an Intelligence Colonel is a very important war asset even if she silently wishes Tempo to have a freak accident.

I would argue, that onboard the Tempest almost everyone knows who and what are on board the shuttle with the exception of maybe the rank and file greenshirts, same would apply to the other ships in the battle group and possibly also the crews of the supply convoy. The way Loroi telepathy works and *khem* women being women, regardless of what race or species, I find it hard to believe they haven't spread the news around to pretty much everyone. Plus there are also third parties within the Union that know about the Bellarmine incident and that Alex is being transported to Seren onboard the Tempest.

As to what a couple of starfighters could do to protect the shuttle - not much when faced with two Umiak divisions, but enough against a reasonable enemy/opportunist/psycho force, say, another starfighter, a boarder guard vessel or even a frigate. Forces that one should be expecting even in "friendly" systems. Or the Loroi have a lot to learn from the primitive Terrans :D

Icekatze - I really do not believe Fireblade and her marines are there to protect Alex from other paranoid Loroi. Alex is their prisoner, guilty until proven otherwise, and they are his convoy.

User avatar
icekatze
Posts: 1399
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:35 pm
Location: Middle of Nowhere
Contact:

Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by icekatze »

hi hi
entity2636 wrote:...at least force anyone with bright ideas to think twice.
Who would be getting bright ideas? If the Loroi are to the point where their own warships are firing on each other, then they've got bigger problems than worrying about the lone alien ambassador.
entity2636 wrote:The way Loroi telepathy works and *khem* women being women...
Telepathy doesn't work over long distances. If Stillstorm ordered radio silence on the subject, then it is entirely possible that the information is limited to Strike Group 51, and possibly wild, unfounded rumors being circulated by a Barsam agent. (Also, human women talk less than human men in professional settings, so I don't know how that supports the conclusion.)
entity2636 wrote:even if she silently wishes Tempo to have a freak accident
I'm not sure she can keep that thought silent, even if it is on her mind, given the way telepathy and Tempo operate.
entity2636 wrote:I really do not believe Fireblade and her marines are there to protect Alex from other paranoid Loroi.
They're certainly not only there for his protection, but unless Beryl is an excellent liar, they are there for his protection. Fireblade and Reed certainly aren't geared up in heavy combat gear because they're concerned about the unarmed human overpowering them. Especially not Fireblade, who is confident enough to guard him without a sidearm.

Post Reply