Page 134: For Science!

[boldilocks]

Is it too late to have a picture of Yoda and Say the Ship Wars, They Have Begun?

I love the intimately blown literally apart by incoming torpedo.

As for The Harpy, do you think she may have left an imprint on him somehow, or an mental dent at the very least?

He's seeing the equivalent of the imprint of your buttocks on the pillow of a sofa.

[Scynix]

I'm thinking rather than an imprint, humans have some kind of passive resistance to telepathy techniques, but not telekinesis.
Alex mentions humans only know of it in 'old stories', so it's possible thousands of years later because of a lack of telepaths humans developed a kind of passive defense.
I think that's why redhead shows up differently than the other Loroi. She's a telekinetic warrior. Everyone else around Alex is using telepathy for communication/etc. She never speaks, and it's implied her cast doesn't.

Tempo says Alex doesn't show up *even as he's standing in the room* which implies humans could simply be 'invisible' because the either lack or have some passive resistance to telepathic scanning.

It's also possible a species could develop a resistance to something they shunned genetically in their species. Usually species do evolve natural defenses given enough time and potential danger.

Obviously I'm speculating, though... it just really stood out to me that she may have been incapable of scanning Alex with telepathy but is still capable of throwing him around- and that's exactly the one person he senses right now.

I guess an easy answer would be whether or not the other Loroi can also use telekinesis without the training. If Beryl lacks the ability completely, maybe that's why she doesn't show up at the moment?

[entity2636]

@Scynix

With the year being 2160, Alex's "old stories" are our present day Star Wars and similar sci-fi stories that feature telepaths and telekinesis.

Sanzai (telepathy) works faster than the speed of light (it's pretty much instant across interstellar distances as in case of Farseers), is not physically measurable by loroi science and the mechanism how it works exactly is also unknown. My own interpretation is some sort of quantum entanglement.

Telekinesis on the other hand, while taking energy from a source unknown to loroi science and being reactionless in regard to the user, causes real physical forces to act on any object, alive or not and the forces can be directly measured.

Not all loroi have telekinetic abilities, actually the vast majority of them haven't and it's hereditary. You either are born with them or without, you can't learn them. The Mizol have some telekinetic abilities (able to manifest forces equivalent to a few Newtons) while the Teidar have quite pronounced telekinetics, able to apply forces up to several kN, cause molecules to heat up to combustion (basically manifest fire), manipulate EM fields, etc. if wearing an amplifier.

[saint of m]

Ok, if Fireblade didn't leave an imprint on him, is he able to sense her because of her power level? Say the difference between seeing a flashlight and fog light in power level between the two.

From what I understand, in skill and power level Beryl is the average person that might shoot the occational hoops every now and then, while Fireblade is Seth Curry.

[fredgiblet]

I would expect if that were the case that he would see SOMEONE else. Tempo is very powerful as well, and Beryl is literally sitting in his lap.

[dragoongfa]

http://well-of-souls.com/outsider/image ... eblade.png

Remember that Fireblade has trouble controlling her powers, untrainable and 'telepathically talks' in her sleep. For all intents and purposes it could be something as simple as 'telepathic leaking', i.e. she isn't fully able to lock down her mind the way other Loroi are since a very early age.

To put it in a way we humans could understand: Every human needs to breath but we don't hear each other's breathing unless it's very quiet and we actually focus on hearing it. However a human with problems in their respiratory track always let out some very distinct sounds when breathing and they will snore like hell when sleeping. Those around them will ALWAYS hear them and it will take some getting used to in order to cut off the noise.

In short, Fireblade can't help but telepathically snore and Alex may be picking up the noise all other Loroi have been trained to not let out since an early age. It sounds ridiculously simple not to pick this up but from a Loroi perceptive it's something they have mentally cut off since childhood so they are bound not to think about it unless someone actually points it out.

[Zarya]

Is talking in her sleep so bad that it should be called ‘has trouble controlling her powers?’
She’s the only one wearing an amplifier, ancient tech to which Alex somehow may be sensitive, which the Teidar wouldn’t be wearing if she was psychokinetically incontinent.

[dragoongfa]

There are some other character traits that are proving that Fireblade has several personal issues: Bloodlust, berserk, post combat shakes, stubborn, rarely smiles, uncomfortable near Seren, talks in sleep.

If she was a human she would be classified as having at least a nasty case of PTSD, severe depression due to her PTSD would be highly likely. The key factor however is that she is 'untrainable' in psychokinesis, if this is due to her personal issues then her telepathy should be affected as well. Both telepathy and psychokinesis are affected by the user's mental state.

[harlequin2262]

I assume the untrainable element is simply referring to the trait being an innate one.

It's not a skill so much as a natural attribute like height, or weight, or eye colour. Each Loroi has a given natural degree of psychokinetic power.

[Zarya]

There are some other character traits that are proving that Fireblade has several personal issues: Bloodlust, berserk, post combat shakes, stubborn, rarely smiles, uncomfortable near Seren, talks in sleep.

Issues or minor blemishes? Although not exacty Zen, I can imagine “a certain amount of hatred” for this enemy. It may even be productive. Berserker behaviours could also be translated as highly motivated, though without a healthy dosis of luck she probably won’t live very long. Post combat shakes shows that she’s not stupid while being stubborn is not necessarily a personality issue IMHO.

If she was a human she would be classified as having at least a nasty case of PTSD, severe depression due to her PTSD would be highly likely. The key factor however is that she is 'untrainable' in psychokinesis, if this is due to her personal issues then her telepathy should be affected as well. Both telepathy and psychokinesis are affected by the user's mental state.

My take from the dramatis personae is that she’s a strong lady. Tried and tested and highly competent, otherwise she wouldn’t be in the position of Security Chief. She’s also responsible for Alex’ security, something she’s probably very serious about. Could be she’s just keeping an eye on him.

[saint of m]

SO ALex seeing her brighter then the son with his eye's closed is because she's psycicly snoring?

[dragoongfa]

It would be funny if it is so

[novius]

It would be funny if it is so

There's one thought even worse than this: She stands out in his mind's eye because she is such a troubled soul, with a boatload of mental health issues.

[orion1836]

How much you want to bet that the actual reason he sees Fireblade is something none of us have guessed?

[inxsi]

How much you want to bet that the actual reason he sees Fireblade is something none of us have guessed?

Preposterous! (Okay, probably true.)

I was struck by a thought - if I'm not wrong (and I could be misremembering, and I'm pretty sure I can't source it for any of the non-dramatis personae and maybe not even for Talon), Fireblade is the only Loroi on the shuttle who has not had a child. No idea what to make of it but thought I'd throw it out there (waits for someone to chime in on what I missed ).

[novius]

Preposterous! (Okay, probably true.)

I was struck by a thought - if I'm not wrong (and I could be misremembering, and I'm pretty sure I can't source it for any of the non-dramatis personae and maybe not even for Talon), Fireblade is the only Loroi on the shuttle who has not had a child. No idea what to make of it but thought I'd throw it out there (waits for someone to chime in on what I missed ).

Feel free to go a step further - her probably being the only Loroi who has absolutely no interest in any 'male encounter' whatsoever. Be it by personal preference or because of being oathbound to stay away from distractions...

Come to think of it, yes, she's the only Loroi who interacted with Alex on a regular base (apart from Stillstorm, but she had a good reason to be distrustful) who is not acting on a scale from cordial and friendly towards somewhat flirtatious towards him. Apart from a single panel she never hestitated to make her displeasure to be around him known.

So yes, there's that pink alien that looks that close to their own males to make that slip of a Listel Tozet go gaga over him. Figures she might be slightly hacked off by her behavior (and, by extent, maybe Tempo's too - why stay friendly if a good application of force may turn up some truthful statements, too?) and in turn makes her displeasure painfully clear to Alex.

[fredgiblet]

No idea what to make of it

Born on an occupied world IIRC. Probably not much chance at reproduction in between dodging Umiak patrols and the like.

I doubt it has to do with why she shows up on Alex's psidar though.

[entity2636]

I was struck by a thought - if I'm not wrong (and I could be misremembering, and I'm pretty sure I can't source it for any of the non-dramatis personae and maybe not even for Talon), Fireblade is the only Loroi on the shuttle who has not had a child. No idea what to make of it but thought I'd throw it out there (waits for someone to chime in on what I missed ).

Fireblade certainly has enough mental problems for five people, which probably is the reason why Alex sees her during meditation, but here's a thought. The mental state and/or mindset of human women changes considerably with pregnancy and childbirth, many turn into completely different people although they themselves may not notice or believe it. May very well be the same with loroi women.

[Zarya]

How much you want to bet that the actual reason he sees Fireblade is something none of us have guessed?

Preposterous! (Okay, probably true.)

I was struck by a thought - if I'm not wrong (and I could be misremembering, and I'm pretty sure I can't source it for any of the non-dramatis personae and maybe not even for Talon), Fireblade is the only Loroi on the shuttle who has not had a child. No idea what to make of it but thought I'd throw it out there (waits for someone to chime in on what I missed ).

Fireblade is just thinking about HIM, someone proposed it has something to do with jealousy but there may also be a link with the amplifier she’s wearing. That said, it’s pretty hard to guess

[boldilocks]

So alex is seeing her baby-alarm going off 24/7?