Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[kfcroc18]

Well, plants are the color they must be to get sunlight. I'm asking about the animals and people.

[Ithekro]

You are what you eat, I suppose.

[Arioch]

Well, plants are the color they must be to get sunlight. I'm asking about the animals and people.

Well, there aren't any Soia-Liron "peoples" known beyond the three we've already seen. Of the surviving vertebrate animals, they also have blue blood and blue-tinted flesh, but which is covered in fur (in the case of Miros) or scales and quills (in the case of the Tirriti). "Natural" coloration of the external covering varies depending on the environment, but they can be bred with brighter colors similar to Loroi hair.

I imagine that the Soia-Liron plants have both blue and green light-reacting pigments, to allow for more flexible light collection in systems with yellower or redder suns, so depending on the environment they may appear green or blue-green.

You are what you eat, I suppose.

Perhaps, but eating plant matter all day doesn't make me green.

[Ithekro]

If I remember from other blue species (fictional, of course) they tend to have cobalt based blood. Though in nature, the octopus has blue blood that is copper based.

[Arioch]

If I remember from other blue species (fictional, of course) they tend to have cobalt based blood. Though in nature, the octopus has blue blood that is copper based.

Molluscs and arthropods use different versions of hemocyanins, which are copper-based proteins that turn blue-green when oxygenated (whereas iron-based hemoglobin turns red). I think that the vertebrate Soia-Liron organisms use some fairly complex blood proteins which are more efficient at lower temperatures; I wouldn't want to speculate on exactly what the chemical makeup of those proteins are (since I'm not a molecular biologist, and it's not really relevant to the story), but it makes sense to me that they might use more than just one.

PBS Eons has a very informative episode on the evolution of Earth blood proteins.

[kfcroc18]

Eating too many carrots will turn you yellow. Is all the Loroi hair color real, or do some of them dye their hair? Does Fireblade really have red hair or does she just dye it?

[Werra]

Some of them use hairdye. And I just noticed that Talons eyebrows and main hair colour doesn't match. Is the blue the hair dye?

[Arioch]

Eating too many carrots will turn you yellow.

Beta carotene is a nutrient retained by our bodies, but chlorophyll isn't.

Is all the Loroi hair color real, or do some of them dye their hair? Does Fireblade really have red hair or does she just dye it?

It's really red.

And I just noticed that Talons eyebrows and main hair colour doesn't match. Is the blue the hair dye?

The blue is the normal color.

[kfcroc18]

Beta carotene is what turns you yellow if you have too much of it. It builds up in the skin and turns us yellow and I guess will turn a Loroi green? But for that to happen you will need to eat a lot of it.

[kfcroc18]

Do the Loroi us tanks in ground battles?

[Arioch]

Do the Loroi us tanks in ground battles?

Yes, they would have a variety of armored fighting vehicles. This is addressed to some extent in the article on Ground Warfare.

[kfcroc18]

Thank you, it is amazing how well world builded the Loroi are. It is like you lived with them of like five years or something.

[tpkc_klick]

Thank you, it is amazing how well world builded the Loroi are. It is like you lived with them of like five years or something.

I'd say its more like twenty years, of the dates on some the entries on his website are any indication.

[kfcroc18]

We reuse names a lot. Since kindergarten I have gone to class with someone else that had my name, my sister too. And give the crew size of the Bell probably more than one Alex was on board. How would the Loroi react when they learn that?

[Arioch]

We reuse names a lot. Since kindergarten I have gone to class with someone else that had my name, my sister too. And give the crew size of the Bell probably more than one Alex was on board. How would the Loroi react when they learn that?

When it comes to spoken names, at least, there are surely more Loroi than there are words in their language, so it's not possible for each Loroi to have a unique name either.

[kfcroc18]

I didn't think about that. What about someone who is named the fifth. like Henry V, not the king just some rando.

[Arioch]

I didn't think about that. What about someone who is named the fifth. like Henry V, not the king just some rando.

It's important to consider that the Loroi have been exposed to numerous alien cultures, so they have seen practices that differ from their own. The Barsam in particular reuse names frequently, differentiating individuals with modifiers like "the Younger" and "the Elder."

In the English speaking world, I've never heard of a commoner with a naming numeral higher than III, but we do have some quirky naming conventions. My father is from the South, and in his father's family, all three of the boys were named after their father, William, but each had a different middle name and was often called by that name (my grandfather William Fisher was often called "Fisher"). My father was also named William Fisher, and so he was called Junior (formally, William Fisher Francis Jr.). If I had also been named William Fisher, I would have been William Fisher Francis III, but instead William is my middle name.

[Ithekro]

Typically one would have a name with a number only if they are of one family that continues to reuse a name. Sometimes its for bookkeeping purposes, especially of multiples of them are alive at the same time (Albert Smith, Albert Smith, jr, and Albert Smith III, as a three generation example.) Others is someone names all their children the same just with numbers on the end....Note: George Foreman has 12 children. While his seven daughters all have different names...all five of his sons are named George Edward Foreman (jr, III, IV, V, VI) He says it so they will always have something in common as some have different mothers.

[Arioch]

I realize that it's a tradition, but I think that in the modern world, naming your children after yourself reeks of ego. I wouldn't have minded being William III, but I think the tradition my parents chose was better; my brother and I were given middle names from my paternal and maternal grandfathers, respectively.

[tpkc_klick]

I realize that it's a tradition, but I think that in the modern world, naming your children after yourself reeks of ego.

The paternal side of my family had something of the opposite tradition, an almost superstitious avoidance of naming children directly after living relatives. Having my father's middle name and maternal grandfather's first name as my first and middle names respectively was OK, but my paternal grandmother freaked out when my parents wanted to give my brother the same first name as one of my uncles because she thought it was bad luck.

More broadly, not having multiple people in the same immediate family sharing the same name does have the advantage of not having to use "Junior" or "the third" to specify which Bob Smith you're talking about. Also, if the family in question is part of a culture that uses patronymics, it avoids weirdness like Bob Bobson, Bob Bobopoulos, Bob ben Bob, or Bob Bobowicz.

[Edit]
This does bring up a question: how would the Loroi deal with a situation where two or more Loroi have the same spoken name and the same caste (especially if it involves communicating with non-Loroi or over long distances, and thus sanzai is out of the question)?