Page 169: The most messed up!

[SaintofM]

Would Beryl be in mother hen mode with Alex then? The birthing mother may not have much to do with the raising and training of her child, but there might be some residual instinct to protect her young back in the days when her kind had to worry about rival tribes or predatory threats attacking.

[novius]

Would Beryl be in mother hen mode with Alex then? The birthing mother may not have much to do with the raising and training of her child, but there might be some residual instinct to protect her young back in the days when her kind had to worry about rival tribes or predatory threats attacking.

That, and some "other interests" in a male don't necessarily exclude each other in a Loroi. After all, they do see their males as something needing protection (and sort of guidance, because they might be too flightly and whimsical when left on their own) even when being grown up.

So yes, Beryl seems to be switching between those two modes, but to a Loroi "I'll take very good care of you" may count as a flirtatious remark as well, given that background.

[raistlin34]

Would Beryl be in mother hen mode with Alex then? The birthing mother may not have much to do with the raising and training of her child, but there might be some residual instinct to protect her young back in the days when her kind had to worry about rival tribes or predatory threats attacking.

That, and some "other interests" in a male don't necessarily exclude each other in a Loroi. After all, they do see their males as something needing protection (and sort of guidance, because they might be too flightly and whimsical when left on their own) even when being grown up.

So yes, Beryl seems to be switching between those two modes, but to a Loroi "I'll take very good care of you" may count as a flirtatious remark as well, given that background.

I don't think Loroi even undertand the concept of "flirting". They don't exactly court their males; instead they have "Government approved encounters" aka wait-your-turn-for-nookie."

[Arent]

I don't think Loroi even undertand the concept of "flirting". They don't exactly court their males; instead they have "Government approved encounters" aka wait-your-turn-for-nookie."

Which might still involve various rituals, for example gifting the men flowers to "compliment their beauty" , writing sappy poems, showing off your muscles to the "weaker sex" etc.

[Werra]

I don't think Loroi even undertand the concept of "flirting". They don't exactly court their males; instead they have "Government approved encounters" aka wait-your-turn-for-nookie."

Which might still involve various rituals, for example gifting the men flowers to "compliment their beauty" , writing sappy poems, showing off your muscles to the "weaker sex" etc.

I'm sure there are quite a lot of intricate ways to court the females that do decide such things.

[raistlin34]

I don't think Loroi even undertand the concept of "flirting". They don't exactly court their males; instead they have "Government approved encounters" aka wait-your-turn-for-nookie."

Which might still involve various rituals, for example gifting the men flowers to "compliment their beauty" , writing sappy poems, showing off your muscles to the "weaker sex" etc.

According to Beryl, Loroi males are too horny for simply caring about preambles.

[asaenvolk]

Somehow the idea that the Loroi don't know what flirting is sounds off.

There would be LOTS of reason for "peacocking" in a races where there are few males and lots of females, even if the males are promiscuous. The number of males are just too low for the females to not have some internal drive to attract male attention for them. Remember its not just about ANY mate, its about the BEST mate, and the males are already rare. Loroi culture might mitigate this, but it would be unlikely to eliminate this behavior.

Then there is the fact, that in the comic, the Loroi are doing it. Talon, Spiral, and Beryl have all been acting like hormone driven teenagers, which, on some level, is what they are.

This is not a bad thing.

[boldilocks]

Then there is the fact, that in the comic, the Loroi are doing it..

Are they? It sounds more like the commentariat here in the forum are writing slash fiction in their head every time a new page comes out, scrutinizing every panel to theory-craft about how those slutty space elves are going to jump the human bone any moment now...

[Arent]

Then there is the fact, that in the comic, the Loroi are doing it..

Are they? It sounds more like the commentariat here in the forum are writing slash fiction in their head every time a new page comes out, scrutinizing every panel to theory-craft about how those slutty space elves are going to jump the human bone any moment now...

On one side, you are right, on the other, the comic is actually heavily promoting it. The best example are Beryls antics about "mating encounters" which are nothing but a slutty space elves teenager fantasy

[boldilocks]

Then there is the fact, that in the comic, the Loroi are doing it..

Are they? It sounds more like the commentariat here in the forum are writing slash fiction in their head every time a new page comes out, scrutinizing every panel to theory-craft about how those slutty space elves are going to jump the human bone any moment now...

On one side, you are right, on the other, the comic is actually heavily promoting it. The best example are Beryls antics about "mating encounters" which are nothing but a slutty space elves teenager fantasy

Actually that's probably something you'd ask if you are of a species where the male is heavily emotionally dependent on frequent mating encounters. She was also looking into his eating habits and so forth.

[raistlin34]

I think, beyond motherly instincts and gender dynamics, Beryl may be looking for her career. A new spacefaring race which looks a lot like Loroi? Being the first to document data about their society could get an otherwise unremarkable Listel into the Hystory books if only as a footnote.

[orion1836]

Being the first to document data about their society could get an otherwise unremarkable Listel into the Hystory books if only as a footnote.

I wonder if "historian" in trade is the same as the name the Historians give themselves and, if so, why is it that the Historians see themselves as such?

[kiwi]

... It sounds more like the commentariat here in the forum are writing slash fiction in their head every time a new page comes out, scrutinizing every panel to theory-craft about how those slutty space elves are going to jump the human bone any moment now...

Yep. It’s called motivated reasoning, and we all do it sometimes.

I think, beyond motherly instincts and gender dynamics, Beryl may be looking for her career. A new spacefaring race which looks a lot like Loroi? Being the first to document data about their society could get an otherwise unremarkable Listel into the Hystory books if only as a footnote.

Damn straight. I reckon that “keep the information source alive” is very high on her priority list. Especially when those are apparently her orders, too.

She also seems to be a naturally cheerful person, which helps. Talon and Spiral, too. Still waiting on more character interaction with Tempo, Fireblade et al.

[Arioch]

I wonder if "historian" in trade is the same as the name the Historians give themselves

Yes.

and, if so, why is it that the Historians see themselves as such?

A partial answer is that they see themselves as passive observers of history more than active participants in it. Their "civilization" (if you want to call it that) predates the fall of the Soia, and they've basically been watching the rest of the races recover and rebuild without really helping them or intervening. Kind of like the monasteries in Europe during the Dark Ages, collecting and hoarding knowledge. The Umiak invasion really caught them off guard... despite being much more advanced, they just weren't ready for it... a little bit like those same Christian monasteries that were suddenly being plundered by Viking raiders who weren't Christian and weren't awed by their ancient mystique.

[asaenvolk]

Those same Historians have had, what 2? decades now to rearm? This could be bad for the others if they decided to flex.

[SaintofM]

on the topic of flirting: They may not be like how humans do this, but most animals will try and impress a mate.

Frogs sing.
Birds of Paradise dance.
Elk strut and fight to prove how strong the are.

So while Loroi may not have pickup lines or wear toxic levels of Ax Body Spray they will try to look and act more impressive than the others around them trying to get a male's attention.

As for Historians: if they decide to. Right now they are siding with the Loroi simply because they are their best bet at survival. Neier spac elves nore Historians like eachother very much from the looks of things and are sticking togeather simply out of survival. Alex, and by extention humans may tip the scale here tp one side or the other

[Krulle]

Those same Historians have had, what 2? decades now to rearm? This could be bad for the others if they decided to flex.

Luckily they seem to be benevolent watchers.
With a strict non-interference policy.

Using their superior technology to hode away, and secure their borders, and observe.
But it failed once.
We don't know if any mechanism preventing the Umiak from getting their hands on any technology, or reverse-engineerable artifacts, worked.
We don't know if the Umiak gained technology, or knowledge, from the Historians during their stint in the Historian space.
We don't know if the Umiak gained the hiding tech from Farsensing from the Historians (or sufficient knowledge to find the workaround themselves).
The Historians know the Umiak will want more technology from them, if they are able to break in again.
So the next time the Umiak come, they should fing the Historians better prepared. Either in "here they come, get out of their way", or in active pushback military.

Also, last time the Historians did not provide much resistance, IIRC.
They simply moved out of the way, deflecting the Umiak.

Which sounds much like the Historians are not going for any form of hoarding of materials, ships, colonies,.... Their economy seems to be a minimalist economy, to provide necesssities, and sufficient surplus to pursuit the target of archiving history in the local bubble. But not to expand the population, colonies, power, ..., apparently not even to prevent any military incursions from others.

The tech transfer the Historians provided to the Loroi may actually be a counterbalancing tech, to allow the Loroi to counter the Technology the Uniak gained during their military stint in Historian space.
Because having failed to protect knowledge from one side may be seen as "intervening".
So they intervened again to counter the effects a bit.

I wonder if we'll see more "interventions" by the Historians, besides the emissary (Pocket Historian(TM)) telling Alex to shut up.

[orion1836]

A partial answer is that they see themselves as passive observers of history more than active participants in it. Their "civilization" (if you want to call it that) predates the fall of the Soia, and they've basically been watching the rest of the races recover and rebuild without really helping them or intervening. Kind of like the monasteries in Europe during the Dark Ages, collecting and hoarding knowledge. The Umiak invasion really caught them off guard... despite being much more advanced, they just weren't ready for it... a little bit like those same Christian monasteries that were suddenly being plundered by Viking raiders who weren't Christian and weren't awed by their ancient mystique.

Fascinating - I had never quite pieced that together. I knew they were advanced, but was always under the assumption that they simply had recovered faster after the fall.

[Arioch]

Fascinating - I had never quite pieced that together. I knew they were advanced, but was always under the assumption that they simply had recovered faster after the fall.

That's not to say that they weren't affected by the fall, but they didn't suffer a complete breakdown of their civilization or complete loss of technology. They still had to rebuild their infrastructure more or less from scratch, and that did take some time... the Historians not being terribly industrious or handy in the absence of ultra-tech infrastructure.

[orion1836]

Fascinating - I had never quite pieced that together. I knew they were advanced, but was always under the assumption that they simply had recovered faster after the fall.

That's not to say that they weren't affected by the fall, but they didn't suffer a complete breakdown of their civilization or complete loss of technology. They still had to rebuild their infrastructure more or less from scratch, and that did take some time... the Historians not being terribly industrious or handy in the absence of ultra-tech infrastructure.

Do they have a an accurate account of the time before the fall? Do they perhaps know the truth of the Loroi/Barsam/etc's origins?