Well of Souls Forums

Hālian wrote:who is the empress (or emperor) of Zaral? Also, what sort of government does Arran have?

Most Deinar nations have a similar oligarchic government which consists of a legislative council of elders with a twin executive (effectively consuls). One consul is elected by the council, and the other is a governor appointed by the Emperor. Each consul can veto actions of the council. Members of the council (Elders or Toza) are appointed by the consuls; they must be Torrai, and in some nations are traditionally drawn mainly from certain hereditary families.

The Imperial government was created when Zaral conquered Arran at the conclusion of the Deinar World War in 842 CE. The Deinar Emperor was also Imperial Governor of Zaral, and therefore permanent consul of the Zaral council of elders. The Diadem, which is the Torrai council of elders (each warrior caste also has such a council), serves as a board of admiralty and a cabinet for the Emperor, and can appoint or impeach the Emperor, but is not itself a legislative body.

In 1199 the Axis Pact was signed between the three Sister Worlds, which created a new supreme government, the Axis Assembly. This was a legislative body with delegates sent from each of the Sister Worlds based on population, with triple consuls (one from each Sister World). As you can imagine, Deinar with the largest population always had the majority of delegates, but each of the consuls had veto power, and so not much got done.

At the conclusion of the Splinter Wars in 1402, First Loroi Emperor Loremark dissolved the Axis Assembly and created a new Imperial Senate, in which the Emperor was permanent consul (the other still being elected by the senate).

In 1557 the Loroi Union replaced the Imperial Senate with the new Union Assembly, which operates in some ways similar to the old Axis Assembly. The Union Assembly has two consuls, one appointed by the Loroi Emperor, and one elected by the Assembly. Loremark appointed herself the Loroi consul, but subsequent emperors have since delegated the post. The second consul is by custom never Loroi, though the full Assembly (including the Loroi delegates) votes for the selection.

Zaral is still the seat of the Loroi Imperial government, so the long-winded answer to your first question is that Emperor Greywind is the Imperial Governor of Zaral, and therefore still one of the consuls of the ruling council of elders of Zaral (though there is a lieutenant governor who fulfills her duties most of the time).

Arran is governed by a similar council of elders, though it is larger and more Byzantine in its complexities and procedures than most, as Arran still upholds many ancient traditions in its current government. The Imperial Governor or Arran is always appointed from among Zaral candidates as a reminder that Arran is technically a vassal of Zaral, but otherwise Arran functions according to its own laws and customs.

Does Arran have most of the same castes as Zaral?

Eluvatar wrote:Does Arran have most of the same castes as Zaral?

Yes.

What castes, if any, has Arran that Zaral hasn't?

Hālian wrote:What castes, if any, has Arran that Zaral hasn't?

They're the same. The castes were standardized across most of the empire when the Axis was dissolved and clan rule was abolished.

What, if anything, is the significance of the symbolism depicted here?

Hālian wrote:

What, if anything, is the significance of the symbolism depicted here?

Somebody saw the Starburst of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and thought "Hrmmmmm... Needs more spikes."

Hālian wrote:What, if anything, is the significance of the symbolism depicted here?

The main figure is the minnir, the insignia of the Loroi military. The three stars represent the three Sister Worlds. The glyphs towards the bottom are bits of heraldry associated with Tempest (also seen on the command deck crest here)

So sort of protective wings shielding the worlds of the Loroi.

I personal was thinking of the Hiigaran symbol, with the angel moon protected by the wings. Not so dissimilar to this one, with the wings of the Stillstorm protecting the 3 Loroi homeworlds.

Of course, given Arioch's background, I'd say this wasn't coincidental.

How do the member races of the Loroi Union regard the idea/practice of self-uplift or genetically engineering your own species? It appears that the previous empire was fine with engineering variants of existing species so does that set a positive precedent in the minds of member races?

CF2 wrote:How do the member races of the Loroi Union regard the idea/practice of self-uplift or genetically engineering your own species? It appears that the previous empire was fine with engineering variants of existing species so does that set a positive precedent in the minds of member races?

I think that at this tech level, a certain amount of baseline gene tailoring is considered basic medicine. That is, the suppression of genes associated with disease and genetic disorders. There is a large gray area here, as the alien equivalents of male pattern balding can be viewed either as a disorder worth correcting, or as dangerous tampering with the universe.

I think the only society in which wholesale genetic self-modification is entirely uncontroversial would be the Umiak. Most Union societies readily accept the scientific evidence that many if not most of their ancestors were tampered with in some fashion during the precursor era, but I don't think this has necessarily made them more favorable towards self-engineering. In particular, many Barsam believe that their ancestors were engineered by divine intelligences, and many Loroi believe that they are descendants of "superior" beings, and so neither group is eager to tamper with these "designs." But, as in our own society, not everyone is of the same mind on controversial subjects. Some individuals will be for it and some will be against it.

There were attempts by the Loroi to try to increase the commonality and power of psi abilities through gene tailoring, but these efforts did not meet with any measurable success.

There was a brief Delrias eugenics program (after the war with the Loroi) that looked into mitigating the biological imperatives for violence in their own species, but this was discontinued after public knowledge of the program (ironically) triggered violent unrest.

Is there a particular reason why Alex is reacting so badly to Loroi food, or is the indigestion just reflective of how far removed the food is from what his body is used to digesting? Would the Loroi have similar issues with Human food?

hi hi

Given that Loroi telepathy is still a relatively unknown quantity, even for them, I'd say the fact that their genetic tailoring attempts didn't lower commonality and power of psi abilities might be cause for some cautious optimism. As my pre-med illustration teacher used to say, "Well, you're not making it any worse."

What are the privacy norms for the Loroi given their telepathy?
How often are we going to see Alex's various alien shipmates walk in on him changing simply because they didn't sense him?

CF2 wrote:What are the privacy norms for the Loroi given their telepathy?
How often are we going to see Alex's various alien shipmates walk in on him changing simply because they didn't sense him?

Don't worry, I bet the Loroi 'little rooms', like their Earth equivalents, can be locked from the inside.

GeoModder wrote:

CF2 wrote:What are the privacy norms for the Loroi given their telepathy?
How often are we going to see Alex's various alien shipmates walk in on him changing simply because they didn't sense him?

Don't worry, I bet the Loroi 'little rooms', like their Earth equivalents, can be locked from the inside.

I'm not even sure if they passively sense each other or if they actively have to "look" for sentient minds to detect them.

In the former case it would happen frequently that, for example, he'd bump into a Loroi on turning around a corner, just because she didn't expect someone to be there.

novius wrote:

GeoModder wrote:

CF2 wrote:What are the privacy norms for the Loroi given their telepathy?
How often are we going to see Alex's various alien shipmates walk in on him changing simply because they didn't sense him?

Don't worry, I bet the Loroi 'little rooms', like their Earth equivalents, can be locked from the inside.

I'm not even sure if they passively sense each other or if they actively have to "look" for sentient minds to detect them.

In the former case it would happen frequently that, for example, he'd bump into a Loroi on turning around a corner, just because she didn't expect someone to be there.

That could be a problem, specially if the Loroi is Unsheated.
Better for Alex to keep himself near Beryl all the time.

CF2 wrote:What are the privacy norms for the Loroi given their telepathy?
How often are we going to see Alex's various alien shipmates walk in on him changing simply because they didn't sense him?

Aboard ship, Loroi are in close quarters and most facilities are communal, so there is not a lot of privacy. Loroi are accustomed to sensing each others' presence in close quarters.

Alex is a novelty and so it's unlikely at this stage that there will be any Loroi in his vicinity who don't know exactly where he is at all times. It's a little bit like a famous female rockstar using the men's bathroom in your office... chances are you're going to hear about it before you have a chance to "accidentally" walk into her.

raistlin34 wrote:Better for Alex to keep himself near Beryl all the time.

For some reason I am reminded of the advice to campers to always make plenty of noise so that the bears know where you are and can give you a wide berth.

Arioch wrote:For some reason I am reminded of the advice to campers to always make plenty of noise so that the bears know where you are and can give you a wide berth.

I think almost all advice concerning bears is applicable; at the very least to Fireblade.

Keep your food in a secure place away from where you sleep.
If you encounter a bear talk to it until it loses interest and wanders out of sight.
Most importantly: if attacked play dead.