Insider, Updates

[yoman]

Oh my commission . Expect more in the future

[Mikk]

Going perhaps a bit off topic here, but I really liked that avatar I don't recall seeing before.

[Michael]

so, did anyone here go to the dA meet yesterday in Hyde Park, London?

[ed_montague]

Considering the fact that I live across the pond...nope. Sorry.

[Trantor]

Two Files are updated, but i can´t find the updated details?

[Arioch]

Are there by any chance any readers here of the indy comic Tinpot Hobo? If so, is there any information on the species of which M'Shindi is a member? I can't find anything at all about it on the net.

[Count Casimir]

Do muscular male loroi have a fetish following like muscle girls do here on Earth?

[Karst45]

Hey you should add, if there not there already, the Elfanoid (name will probably be changed by the autor) from Wonder of the universe!


Meet Lin'zee starshine if you havent already

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8rgEWhn ... plpp_video

[Arioch]

Do muscular male loroi have a fetish following like muscle girls do here on Earth?

I don't think bodybuilding would be considered a normal pastime for most Loroi males, and the Loroi don't really have a media culture to support that kind of thing. But I suppose with a population as large and diverse as the Loroi have, anything is possible.

[Count Casimir]

Do muscular male loroi have a fetish following like muscle girls do here on Earth?

I don't think bodybuilding would be considered a normal pastime for most Loroi males, and the Loroi don't really have a media culture to support that kind of thing. But I suppose with a population as large and diverse as the Loroi have, anything is possible.

You know, I wanna ask more about Loroi fetishes, but I just cannot convince myself it's a good idea.

I am interested in the civilian side of things, though. Maybe it's odd, but the "no media culture" is probably one of the most difficult things to wrap my mind around, just because it's such an integral part of our own culture.

[Arioch]

I am interested in the civilian side of things, though. Maybe it's odd, but the "no media culture" is probably one of the most difficult things to wrap my mind around, just because it's such an integral part of our own culture.

Is it really that integral, though? Our mass media subculture is only about a hundred years old, and there are still plenty of places in the world where it doesn't reach. Also, I know quite a few people who are almost totally unplugged from it; they don't watch movies or TV at all. They read newspapers and books and spend time with other people, and don't mind that they're not up on the latest catchphrase or don't know who the hell "Snooki" is.

I think the elements most working against acceptance of a mass media culture for the Loroi are:

1. Telepathy trumps audio/visual media, and its limited range makes interchange and entertainment a local and somewhat insular thing. Any performances will be something they'll want to attend in person, which limits the mass appeal of any one brand of entertainment or any one personality.
2. Loroi civilians are second-class citizens, so a) they are not considered a fit subject for idol worship, and b) nobody cares what kind of media they want to consume for themselves. And the Loroi government is a military dictatorship that would have no problem taking action if it appeared that the civilians were getting out of their place.
3. Loroi consider fiction to be a form of lying, which they're not on board with, so any performances will need to be abstract, and/or representative of actual events (or events that are at least believed to be true, as in the retelling of the heroic myths).

[Suederwind]

So the Loroi would have some kind of a telepathic bard telling/sanzai their equivalent of the Iliad (or maybe just Stillstorm fighting space bugs)? Some kind of civilian Listel caste maybe?

[Arioch]

So the Loroi would have some kind of a telepathic bard telling/sanzai their equivalent of the Iliad (or maybe just Stillstorm fighting space bugs)? Some kind of civilian Listel caste maybe?

Yes, very much so, except they're males. This is one of the functions of the male philosopher caste.

[Karst45]

[...]don't mind that [they] don't know who the hell "Snooki" is.

Is that really a bad thing?

[Count Casimir]

What about less insidious media, like news (although news shows are fairly insidious too these days, I think you know what I mean)? How much does the average Loroi civvy know about the Big Space Fightin'?

I imagine there's a lot of propaganda on the streets, but do they buy into it?

[daelyte]

2. Loroi civilians are second-class citizens, so a) they are not considered a fit subject for idol worship, and b) nobody cares what kind of media they want to consume for themselves. And the Loroi government is a military dictatorship that would have no problem taking action if it appeared that the civilians were getting out of their place.

A mass uprising, or civil war, or even passive resistance would weaken the Loroi empire too much. Totalitarian governments don't last long without some form of entertainment to keep the civilians pacified, and the more oppressive they are the more propaganda they need.

Mass entertainment would exist to serve the Loroi government's needs, so the focus would be on troop morale and military propaganda.

1. Any performances will be something they'll want to attend in person, which limits the mass appeal of any one brand of entertainment or any one personality.

Most likely physical venues then, such as theatres and amphitheatres.

Rome had athletes and performers with personality cults.

3. Loroi consider fiction to be a form of lying, which they're not on board with, so any performances will need to be abstract, and/or representative of actual events (or events that are at least believed to be true, as in the retelling of the heroic myths).

Given the martial culture and the preference for non-fictional material, there could be:
1. historical plays and heroic myths (as you mentioned)
2. wargames
3. full-contact team sports with heavy discipline and tactics
4. individual sports such as athletics, wrestling, fencing, shooting, piloting, ...

So the result might look like the romans, spartans, medieval europe, ....

[Count Casimir]

I admit I'd love to see a tabletop Loroi wargame.

[Arioch]

What about less insidious media, like news (although news shows are fairly insidious too these days, I think you know what I mean)? How much does the average Loroi civvy know about the Big Space Fightin'? I imagine there's a lot of propaganda on the streets, but do they buy into it?

There actually won't be much outright internal Loroi propaganda, because most Loroi communication is telepathic, a person-to-person medium in which it is very difficult to deliberately mislead someone. The government will have their own official telepathic channels (networks of individuals) through which information is dispensed, and they can try to shape or spin a message by limiting what is or isn't released ("it is not a lie to keep the truth to one's self"). But the telepathic rumor mill will always be running in the background, and it will have the added weight of telepathic truthfulness, so uncomfortable truths will spread like wildfire, and they will be very difficult for official sources to deny once they get out. As a result, it's in the government's interest to be pretty frank about the state of current events, and the majority of the Loroi population knows that the war is not going very well.

I think there will also plenty of text or audio/video outlets for news and information, but I think these will be very straighforward, or else aimed mainly at alien audiences, as I don't think the Loroi population will have much appetite for them. Loroi will be very skeptical of information delivered through a non-telepathic source, and the limited range of telepathy means these sources will be local and decentralized. There won't be a Loroi Walter Cronkite.

A mass uprising, or civil war, or even passive resistance would weaken the Loroi empire too much. Totalitarian governments don't last long without some form of entertainment to keep the civilians pacified, and the more oppressive they are the more propaganda they need. Mass entertainment would exist to serve the Loroi government's needs, so the focus would be on troop morale and military propaganda.

Well, the truthfulness of telepathy cuts both ways; it's very difficult to plan opposition to the government without them finding out about it, especially when the secret police can also read your mind. Armed civilian uprising would be a difficult proposition (the warrior class is almost half the population, trained to kill from childhood), and even passive resistance would be dealt with very severely -- calling a strike in wartime would be a serious crime, as you can probably imagine. Totalitarian governments can last a very long time using fear to keep their subjects in line, if they have the right tools and use them effectively. But we're overstating the issue in the case of the Loroi, so let me back up.

What I meant before was that entertainment isn't tailored to the tastes of the civilian class because they aren't a separate culture; the civilians are raised in the same warrior-hero-worship culture as the warriors are, exposed to the same mythic warrior sagas and watching the same warrior athletic competitions. Even though it's made clear to the civilians that they are a subordinate part of the society, the message is still clear that they are a part of that society, and I think most civilians accept that message. There can be a shared sense of pride in the accomplishments of the ruling class, even by those not of that class. British commoners are not part of the nobility and can never become part of it, but that hasn't stopped them from obeying and even idolizing the nobility.

Most likely physical venues then, such as theatres and amphitheatres. Rome had athletes and performers with personality cults. Given the martial culture and the preference for non-fictional material, there could be:
1. historical plays and heroic myths (as you mentioned)
2. wargames
3. full-contact team sports with heavy discipline and tactics
4. individual sports such as athletics, wrestling, fencing, shooting, piloting, ...

So the result might look like the romans, spartans, medieval europe, ....

Yes, the Loroi will certainly have these kinds of events. The emphasis will be mostly on locally-attended events, rather than mass-media, and the idolized athletes and performers will nearly all be warriors. However, such events will, of necessity, have been significantly scaled back since the start of the war.

I admit I'd love to see a tabletop Loroi wargame.

You will. The Loroi equivalent of chess is explored in some detail.

...or did you mean a real wargame about the Loroi?

[Count Casimir]

Now that you mention it, it would be pretty awesome to set up some minis. Seems like it'd be hard to do anything ground-based in the current war that doesn't defy canon, but might be neat to come up with some odd scenarios.

I'm excited for Loroi chess, though. If Alex plays, I look forward to seeing how he does.

Does the Loroi rumor mill suffer the same way the human one does--that is, does information warp the more minds it passes through? Or is sanzai a little more exacting in its transmission?

(Just call me the questions guy)

[fredgiblet]

I was thinking it would be awesome to get Fireblade made by Reaper when their Kickstarter was up. Would have cost WAY too much though.