Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[GabrielGABFonseca]

Nah, I don't mind. I didn't really expect you would answer the glowy-bits one... It was worth a try, tough!
But wait... You also didn't mention who would win the Telepathic battle! Loroi-Feline War confirmed!!1!!!!1!!11!

Well, almost all of my questions have been answered by you already, and I imagine you must be fed up of me asking these, so let's finish up this batch once and for all (Really, I promise!)

- At the very beginning of Chapter One, Alex, while unconscious, "sees" a light/explosion lingering just in front of him. When he is later forcefully probed by Fireblade & Friends™, a suspiciously similar visual representation is used. Could it be that Alex was sensing the Loroi? (I don't really expect this to be answered, it would seem to be an important plot point.)

- While the ships use the propellant tanks as heat sinks, they seem to visually lack heat radiator panels as we know them. An example of tech too advanced for our feeble minds to comprehend, or just 'nah. Looks cooler like this'? (Because it certainly does!)

- As far as can make it, ships seldom would travel at speeds above 5% that of the speed of light. Hyperspace travel also seem to happen 'beyond time' as we normally perceive, so would there be any noticeable difference on a planet-bound clock and a ship's own clock? (My hunch would be no.)

- You once mentioned way back in this thread that were a Loroi Warrior ship to crash on Earth, one of the jobs the Loroi aboard would find completely out of question of ever doing is advocacy. So, were Humaniti to join the Union, would the Loroi purge our society of it's twisted and wrenched amoral elements before membership acceptance? The Loroi-Lawier wars would certainly be a strife worth of Senzai Tale!

- Without spoiling it's contents to the non-Trade speaking readers of the forum, can you confirm that this classic human playground taunt is properly phrased in Trade?
Tauntingly: "Enzin tii Eilis mé, ranii sibreg à lanzei..."

- And lastly, would a Barsam Preacher and a Jehovah's Witness be able to peacefully coexist, or would they get at each other's throats over who gets to knock on who's door first?

Welp, that completely empties the Little Questions Notebook! It will take quite a while to fill it up again, so for the time being, you're free from my inquiries. I hope I haven't been too much of a pain to you, and thanks for taking the time for answering. I deeply appreciate it!

[dragoongfa]

The big blue panels visible on the ship are the heat radiators of the Loroi, don't know what the Umiak use.

[Arioch]

While the ships use the propellant tanks as heat sinks, they seem to visually lack heat radiator panels as we know them. An example of tech too advanced for our feeble minds to comprehend, or just 'nah. Looks cooler like this'? (Because it certainly does!)

The surface of the struts and the large fins outboard of the engine nacelles are used as radiating surfaces. Since there's a lot of heat to get rid of, I think we have to imagine that the Loroi can use some kind of field to increase the radiating capacity of a surface. The blue panels dragoonfa refers to on the prongs and drive vanes are actually the field outlets for the defensive screens and floater drive fields, respectively, but it's possible they could also play a role in heat dissipation.

The Umiak have more efficient drives that produce less waste heat, and they use more efficient heat sinks to catch and reuse more of that energy. They also care less if their crews experience some long-term negative effects from radiation, and so their engines tend to be enclosed within the hull rather than out on nacelles.

As far as can make it, ships seldom would travel at speeds above 5% that of the speed of light. Hyperspace travel also seem to happen 'beyond time' as we normally perceive, so would there be any noticeable difference on a planet-bound clock and a ship's own clock? (My hunch would be no.)

I think you have to get to a very high fraction of lightspeed for such effects to be noticeable by a human. However, even modest differences in velocity and depth in a gravity well are signficant enough to require GPS satellites to correct for time dilation, so it is a factor that systems must take into account.

You once mentioned way back in this thread that were a Loroi Warrior ship to crash on Earth, one of the jobs the Loroi aboard would find completely out of question of ever doing is advocacy. So, were Humaniti to join the Union, would the Loroi purge our society of it's twisted and wrenched amoral elements before membership acceptance? The Loroi-Lawier wars would certainly be a strife worth of Senzai Tale!

Unless humanity were to "join" the Union through occupation and it was determined that lawyers posed some kind of existential threat, the Loroi don't much care about the internal practices of other Union members.

Without spoiling it's contents to the non-Trade speaking readers of the forum, can you confirm that this classic human playground taunt is properly phrased in Trade?
Tauntingly: "Enzin tii Eilis mé, ranii sibreg à lanzei..."

The taunt as I remember it goes something like, "Alex and Beryl, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Unfortunately both the spelling-out of a word and the resulting rhyme would be lost on a Loroi speaker. If we want to go for:

"Alex and Beryl, kissing under a tree!"

That would be:

[Alex and Beryl](subject) [tree] [under] [kissing]!
Enzin tii Eilis me sibreg ranii to lanzedad!

And lastly, would a Barsam Preacher and a Jehovah's Witness be able to peacefully coexist, or would they get at each other's throats over who gets to knock on who's door first?

No known sentient beings are able to peacefully coexist with a Jehovah's Witness, and that's a short fight that the Barsam wins decisively.

[Krulle]

huh? Would the Barsam even knock on a door of a Jehova's witness, or just ram it in?

Thank you both, for the entertaining questions, and the even more entertaining answers...

[GabrielGABFonseca]

Oh god, I just can't hold myself - I feel like a kid at the Natural History Museum, running around pointing at things and asking what's this? What's that? I didn't expect the questions to pile this fast...

Anyway, I'll again bunch them up by topics:

- Loroi

While Loroi quote-on-quote "fiction" consists mostly of their own mythology (itself based on distorted historical re-tellings), I do wonder, do they have or have had any kind of Cinema? Not like our blockbuster-based industry, but something like George Méliès' work? Or, if they have one at all, is their cinema solely made of NatGeo/Animal Planet documentaries? ("The Arboreal Bioluminescent Squid is a ferocious predator that...")

Do Loroi have poetry? If not written, a Senzai form of it, perhaps?

Do you believe that, the same way certain Loroi were converted to the Barsam's religion, some Loroi would find value in a few of our myriad religions? Which of our doctrines do you believe would be the most appealing to the average Loroiwoman?

Do you believe the average Loroi would enjoy the nonsensical humor of Monty Python's Flying Circus? (At least, the sketches that don't rely too heavily on knowledge of Earth's culture, like the first 16 seconds of this, for instance)

How can humanity ever hope to be on par with a race that smells like Vanilla Candles if most of us smell like old socks?

- Historians

Does the Historian Construct have a name? Or at least something we can call it by other than "Historian Construct"?

And related to the above, are the Constructs "individuals", in the sense that each has it's own saved state, or are they all just vanilla installs of a program, no different from each other at all?

- Other Aliens

While it is known that the Historians will play a large part on the story, will the other Union races also get to appear? I'd love to see a Polpsid hanging (floating?) around and getting to interact with Alex.

Were the Orgus simply a narrative device, or we'll meet (them) again some sunny day?

If current Human technology is largely reverse engineered from the Orgus' fugitives own tech, would this imply they were also early on the T10 level? Or maybe the ship they used to flee their space was just that Ill equipped and ragtag? (It's the Battlestar Orgustica!)

Will more about the precursor races be revealed in the future, or are they not really that relevant to the current story?

Do Barsam give hugs? And if so, would they be bear hugs?

- Miscellania

How long has poor Alex gone without a shower now? I hope this won't impact his ambassadorial efficiency given his newfound, uhm... 'olfactory qualities'.

Will/could we get to see a ship's reaction thrusters firing in the future?

When it comes to your drawing style, would you say you rely heavily on body language to convey unspoken meaning? Because it surely seems to be the case, and there are some very, very interesting instances of such 'unspoken meaning' in the comic...

And finally, am I being too incovenient by asking this many questions in this short a time? (I don't want to be a burden!)

[Arioch]

While Loroi quote-on-quote "fiction" consists mostly of their own mythology (itself based on distorted historical re-tellings), I do wonder, do they have or have had any kind of Cinema? Not like our blockbuster-based industry, but something like George Méliès' work? Or, if they have one at all, is their cinema solely made of NatGeo/Animal Planet documentaries? ("The Arboreal Bioluminescent Squid is a ferocious predator that...")

The Loroi use video for communication (two-way communication and one-way announcements), news and coverage of live events, education, documentaries and other nonfiction subjects. I can see some Loroi visual artists experimenting with abstract art cinema, but I doubt it would be very popular; most Loroi like to consume their art (performance or otherwise) in person.

Do Loroi have poetry? If not written, a Senzai form of it, perhaps?

Not really. The closest thing would be telepathic presentations, such as of the ancient sagas.

Do you believe that, the same way certain Loroi were converted to the Barsam's religion, some Loroi would find value in a few of our myriad religions? Which of our doctrines do you believe would be the most appealing to the average Loroiwoman?

I think some modern new-age religions that are inclusive and welcoming to the idea of aliens (similar in some ways to the Barsam teachings) could get a few followers. Most other traditional human religions would not translate well to aliens, and I think many would be openly hostile to the very concept of aliens. Some would probably view Loroi as devils.

Do you believe the average Loroi would enjoy the nonsensical humor of Monty Python's Flying Circus? (At least, the sketches that don't rely too heavily on knowledge of Earth's culture, like the first 16 seconds of this, for instance)

Physical stuff like the Ministry of Silly Walks would translate well, but I don't think most Loroi would be skilled enough in spoken language comprehension to even follow most of the dialogue in a Monty Python skit.

Does the Historian Construct have a name? Or at least something we can call it by other than "Historian Construct"?

And related to the above, are the Constructs "individuals", in the sense that each has it's own saved state, or are they all just vanilla installs of a program, no different from each other at all?

The exact nature of Historian constructs is not common knowledge, but this ground will be covered in the story.

The Loroi have seen multiple constructs that look distinctly different, but they do not generally identify themselves to outsiders by any sort of name other than a title (such as "Emissary" or "Ambassador"). Individual constructs usually refer to themselves with the plural pronoun "we."

While it is known that the Historians will play a large part on the story, will the other Union races also get to appear?

Yes.

If current Human technology is largely reverse engineered from the Orgus' fugitives own tech, would this imply they were also early on the T10 level? Or maybe the ship they used to flee their space was just that Ill equipped and ragtag? (It's the Battlestar Orgustica!)

Orgus technology is similar to but slightly ahead of human technology in some areas. Contact has been too recent for Orgus tech to have had any impact on the items that Alex's crew had with them.

Will more about the precursor races be revealed in the future, or are they not really that relevant to the current story?

They factor into the story in some way.

Do Barsam give hugs? And if so, would they be bear hugs?

Yes.

How long has poor Alex gone without a shower now? I hope this won't impact his ambassadorial efficiency given his newfound, uhm... 'olfactory qualities'.

The toilet facilities in the detention block also included some means for Alex to wash himself.

Will/could we get to see a ship's reaction thrusters firing in the future?

Maybe. Realistically, they would probably not be visible under most circumstances.

When it comes to your drawing style, would you say you rely heavily on body language to convey unspoken meaning? Because it surely seems to be the case, and there are some very, very interesting instances of such 'unspoken meaning' in the comic...

I try to use facial expression and body language as much as I can, especially considering that most of the Loroi characters speak very little if at all.

[Eluvatar]

I'm surprised that you'd expect many human religions to view aliens so negatively.

[Arioch]

I'm surprised that you'd expect many human religions to view aliens so negatively.

The major religions have historically not reacted well to developments that challenged their existing world views. There is no mention of aliens in any of these traditions, and so the appearance of aliens will, at the very least, trigger doctrinal conflicts in how to interpret their existence. Taking Judeo-Christianity/Islam as an example, aliens are definitely not human, therefore not created in God's image; they might be interpreted as animals, angels, or devils, but the question of whether they have a soul and are subject to God's grace and welcome in the kingdom of heaven will be a significant debate. Religions like Islam which claim to be the final and unalterable revelation of God will probably take issue with alien preachers spreading the teachings of an alien prophet.

I expect that most rank-and-file followers of mainstream religion will have no problem with the idea of aliens, but these folks (who probably don't really believe all the assertions of their religion and may not have even read their own holy texts) are not the ones who will be making the decisions about the official policies of the faith.

[Diodri]

And, traditionally speaking, humans in general have a poor track record of treating other humans with differing beliefs justly.

[Razor One]

I'm surprised that you'd expect many human religions to view aliens so negatively.

The major religions have historically not reacted well to developments that challenged their existing world views. There is no mention of aliens in any of these traditions, and so the appearance of aliens will, at the very least, trigger doctrinal conflicts in how to interpret their existence. Taking Judeo-Christianity/Islam as an example, aliens are definitely not human, therefore not created in God's image; they might be interpreted as animals, angels, or devils, but the question of whether they have a soul and are subject to God's grace and welcome in the kingdom of heaven will be a significant debate. Religions like Islam which claim to be the final and unalterable revelation of God will probably take issue with the teaching of alien preachers spreading the world of an alien prophet.

I expect that most rank-and-file followers of mainstream religion will have no problem with the idea of aliens, but these folks (who probably don't really believe all the assertions of their religion and may not have even read their own holy texts) are not the ones who will be making the decisions about the official policies of the faith.

Maybe for fundamentalists it's a problem, but mainstream religious institutions are more pragmatic.

For example:

Not all sects of Christianity are so diametrically opposed to the idea of any sort of extraterrestrial life, though. For instance, Father Jose Gabriel Funes, the current director of the Vatican Observatory, has said that "not believing aliens could exist would be putting limits on the creative freedom of God." Which is generally how most Christian groups deal with the question of whether or not other sorts of life could exist in the universe.

The immediate question for many Christians is, could aliens be converted? And the answer, at least as far as Catholics and the Vatican are concerned, is pretty much why the hell not.

Judaism is, again, delightfully open to interpretation. As Weintraub explained in an interview with Live Science, "In Jewish scripture, there's pretty much nothing there. You really have to over-interpret to find anything that you can marginally say might have anything to do with extraterrestrial life."

But if we're really looking, in that same 1340 CE text, Crescas concludes that in a universe where multiple inhabitable worlds can exist, "nothing in physics and nothing in scriptural or Talmudic writings can deny the existence of extraterrestrial life." So, aliens? Sure, why not.

The religion most explicitly accepting of alien life by far, at least according to Weintraub, would be those of Muslim faith. Because while they believe that "Islam is a set of practices designed only for humans on Earth," that doesn't exclude the possibility of other types of life elsewhere in the universe. In fact, Weintraub argues that "the discovery of extraterrestrials should only strengthen a Muslim's faith in the presumed infinite power of God."

Granted, that's not taking into account centuries of changing thoughts. The idea of colonising worlds was religiously controversial in the 18th and 19th centuries, but now nobody really has an issue with it except for perhaps a very select group of fundamentalists. Granted, the pendulum might swing the other way before we meet aliens.

[icekatze]

hi hi

If Christianity can deal with having Easter be about a rabbit that hides chocolate eggs around in the grass, and Christmas be about a jolly old fat guy in a red suit flying around with magic reindeer, well, I get the feeling any discovery of aliens will probably lead to some silly and possibly unpredictable changes.

[Arioch]

Maybe for fundamentalists it's a problem, but mainstream religious institutions are more pragmatic. Granted, that's not taking into account centuries of changing thoughts.

Aye, there's the rub. If ~150 years from now the percentage of people who identify as being religious continues to decline, some religious institutions may become more pragmatic, but I think others may become more radical.

[Eluvatar]

I would point out that the Loroi are in the same shape as humans.

[Mackus]

Well, religions with strong universalist or missionary traditions, will of course have very heated discussions. Whereas the lesser focus of spreading their lord's will, the less presence of alien will be of relevance to them.
Take Yazidis for example. They do not proselytise, and pretty much never accept converts. The might speculate whether aliens have souls, but this would not be very heated discussion, because result would not affect their policy. That means there is a lot of room for "We can agree to disagree" between followers.
Highly hierarchical religions will have official doctrine decided on eventually, so regardless the final decision of their pope-or-equivalent, the clergy and laymen would have to get in line, or risk excommunication if they'd be particularly loud in their heresies. Individuals would defect, but religion as whole would not fracture.
Very autonomous religions, like most Protestants will get very divided, with every denomination and every preacher having his own opinion. Especially since evangelization is such big deal for them. So its serious issue where no single authority that can force followers to adapt single doctrine.

I think that, from the least affected and divided by reveal of aliens to most affected into arguing whether fully embrace them or kill them all, religions would go something like this:
Hinduism, Buddhism, Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Catholicism, Shia's, Protestantism, Sunnism.

In any case, since some years had already passed since discovery of first non-sentient life, many religions would already made their mind as what to do in case sentient aliens were discovered in future. I'd like to think that when Orgus arrived, whomever was pope just dusted off Encyclical draft prepared by last Vatican council.

[dragoongfa]

How long has poor Alex gone without a shower now? I hope this won't impact his ambassadorial efficiency given his newfound, uhm... 'olfactory qualities'.

The toilet facilities in the detention block also included some means for Alex to wash himself.

Something struck me with this, do Loroi have the social decorum of 'looking the other way' in regards to nudity?

In before 'certain guards now have wet dreams about the first human male they ever saw'

[Arioch]

Something struck me with this, do Loroi have the social decorum of 'looking the other way' in regards to nudity?

Probably, but in a security situation it's required to watch the prisoner carefully, decorum notwithstanding.

[GabrielGABFonseca]

Arioch, I was talking to Nyrath the other day and mentioned your calculations regarding Particle Beam weapons. He was really interested and asked me to ask you for those equations - do you still have them, or have they been lost in the wells of time?
And if they have been lost, could you point us as to how you made them? Thanks!

[Arioch]

Arioch, I was talking to Nyrath the other day and mentioned your calculations regarding Particle Beam weapons. He was really interested and asked me to ask you for those equations - do you still have them, or have they been lost in the wells of time?
And if they have been lost, could you point us as to how you made them? Thanks!

I can't find the figures or equations in my notes; they were probably written on a scrap of paper somewhere that is long lost. My recollection is that two factors were key: first, that each shot is going to be in very short pulses of a tiny fraction of a second; and second, that the resulting radiation will be generated in a cone directed away from the firer.

I did find a link to this reference, and here's my post about small arms that I think triggered the investigation, but neither has much in the way of numbers about radiation.

[Sweforce]

I came to think about the stuff the salvage crew found the Bellarmine wreckage. This could be a source of alternate clothing for Alex, things like clean underwear and whatever he need to wear when his uniform are washed. Maybe they could even have found a dress uniform or two for use on official occasions. They also ranked him up to captain so rank insignia could also be added that way.

[Mackus]

Nah. I think they ought to have at least one crewmember on entire ship that has set of skills that would effectively make her tailor.
How difficult it would be to quickly make something for him that would fit his frame? It's literally just "clothes like for Loroi male, but taller and sturdier"