Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[Snoofman]

Do Loroi have lawyers or advocates? I understand that Mizol might fill this role, given their education in law and diplomacy. Perhaps Torrais are also trained to advocate for themselves. But are there private lawyers or advocate firms in Loroi society, both for warriors and civilians? If so, what is the Trade name?

[Arioch]

Do Loroi have lawyers or advocates? I understand that Mizol might fill this role, given their education in law and diplomacy. Perhaps Torrais are also trained to advocate for themselves. But are there private lawyers or advocate firms in Loroi society, both for warriors and civilians? If so, what is the Trade name?

The Loroi courts, legislatures, administrations and law enforcement agencies are all military, and they're similar to other military units in that they have a variety of specialists from different castes that handle different tasks. They mostly consist of Soroin with Torrai officials and magistrates, with Listel and Mizol specialists for things like keeping track of records and precedents, investigating and securing accurate testimony. There isn't a general "lawyer" profession that handles all legal matters like in our system. They'll all have specific titles that I haven't bothered to work out.

Being telepathic means that a) matters of fact and intent can be ascertained with some degree of certainty, as it's very difficult to provide false testimony, and b) the Loroi do not have the reverence for "the letter of the law" that our system does. so they are more concerned with the spirit of the law than technicalities of how it is worded ("this is not a court of law, it is a court of truth"). This can mean that application of rules can sometimes be somewhat subjective, but the Loroi consider this to be a benefit rather than a shortcoming. In the criminal justice system, the accused doesn't really need an advocate; the investigators will determine the facts, and the magistrates will decide whether what happened violated the rules. There are systems for appeal, etc., but they can be navigated without professional legal counsel. Advising individuals about what the law is and what options they have falls to the equivalent of human resources administrators.

Civil disputes can be resolved in the military court system, but civilians fare better when they stay out of the military's hair, and so I think most ordinary disputes are resolved through an elaborate private arbitration system. There will be a variety of private professionals and consulting firms to facilitate this, and those will be more like the legal firms that we're familiar with.

[Demarquis]

Well, I just found out what profession I would follow were I a Loroi.

[Quickdraw101]

Do we have names for all the Loroi bridge crew of the Tempest on oage 52 or no?

[Arioch]

Do we have names for all the Loroi bridge crew of the Tempest on oage 52 or no?

Not all of 'em.



2. Soroin Mallas Lazal-Serran (Rune-Laurel)
3. Tenoin Seinen Lona (Forest)
5. Soroin Nedeil Tizel (Cobalt)
6. Soroin Tiris Ronsarad (Redriver)
7. Listel Tozet Beitil (Antimony)
8. Teidar Ragan Rimiltoniin (Razorthorn)
9. Mizol Parat Sedel (Tempo)
10. Soroin Nozotel Megel (Curve)
12. Tenoin Baistil Dashri (Hope)

[Demarquis]

So who's that chick standing in the middle?

(Just kidding)

[Snoofman]

How strong is a typical Teidar's PK shield? Could it stop a bullet? Could it stop something stronger?

[Bamax]

How strong is a typical Teidar's PK shield? Could it stop a bullet? Could it stop something stronger?

Arioch will weigh in on this if I know Arioch (and I should by now).

What he has said so far if I recall right is that bullets are too fast for the eye to track typically, without special goggles or equipment to track bullets in midair a Teidar is not stopping one.

In theory they could if they could see the bullet and react in time.

It happens so fast though that bullets can and do go faster than the speed of thought (realizing a shot went off takes time in of itself).

So Teidars are like glasscannons. A gun can kill them like anyone else, but if you need to draw a gun and a Teidar sees you then you have already lost.

[Snoofman]

How strong is a typical Teidar's PK shield? Could it stop a bullet? Could it stop something stronger?

Arioch will weigh in on this if I know Arioch (and I should by now).

What he has said so far if I recall right is that bullets are too fast for the eye to track typically, without special goggles or equipment to track bullets in midair a Teidar is not stopping one.

In theory they could if they could see the bullet and react in time.

It happens so fast though that bullets can and do go faster than the speed of thought (realizing a shot went off takes time in of itself).

So Teidars are like glasscannons. A gun can kill them like anyone else, but if you need to draw a gun and a Teidar sees you then you have already lost.

I see. I wonder then how high-ranking officials would protect themselves from assassins or snipers. Aside from the plot armor of, “a society without secrets”.

[Arioch]

How strong is a typical Teidar's PK shield? Could it stop a bullet? Could it stop something stronger?

Fireblade does have the ability to use her PK as a shield of sorts, and so I put the GURPS ability "PK Shield" on the character sheet to represent this, but it doesn't really work the way I have in mind. The way Fireblade uses it is very specific... well, you'll see... but it's not to stop bullets.

The GURPS version of PK Shield provides 1 point of Passive Defense (which helps in deflection to avoid taking damage altogether) and 1 point of Damage Resistance for every 2 levels of PK power. For Fireblade (a best-case scenario), that's 20 DR when she's wearing the amplifier. For reference, a .44 bullet does 3-24 points of damage. So if we go with that, it might be able to stop a small arms bullet, but not anything very powerful. And PK won't do anything against beam weapons, which are the most common threat you're going to face at this tech level.

However, the Loroi do wear armor. Even the regular uniform offers 15-30 DR depending on where you hit it, and the combat armor that Teidar and other marines wear offers significantly more protection than that. So even the GURPS "extra DR" version of PK Shield is really not going to be much of a game-changer on the battlefield.

The trick for any soldier, Teidar or otherwise, is not to get hit. Armor serves mainly for protection against indirect or area-of-effect damage; it is usually not proof against a direct hit by a powerful weapon (whatever age or tech level you're in).

I see. I wonder then how high-ranking officials would protect themselves from assassins or snipers. Aside from the plot armor of, “a society without secrets”.

Modern-day high-ranking human officials do not usually wear armor nor have psychokinetic shields, nor telepathic super-spies to protect them, yet they are not commonly taken out by assassins or snipers.

[Demarquis]

I imagine that the PK ability would be better employed on oneself, to assist dodging.

[sunphoenix]

In GURPs 3e a M-60 inflicts 7d6 with a Rate of Fire of 11 or so. 20 DR of even a high power PK shield won't completely stop much of that but it could blunt a partial or glancing hit or two {low damage roll}. But I wonder if it would be more efficient and effective for a high powered Psychokinetic to not try to 'catch' or deflect the incoming projectiles as instead use their PK shield to focusing on stiffening or bolster their physical Bioplas armored jumpsuits to deflect or absorb the impact of projectile rounds?

Even still a PK shield of 20 DR would mean no hand to hand physical blow - punch or kick is likely to have ANY effect considering punch damage is 'Thrust-2' and kicks are 'Thrust' damage with a +1 for booted feet. Against melee weapons like swords and axes it would be also just as effective needing extremely high levels of physical might to even scratch the protected PK shielded Teidar.

But yes with TL9-TL11 blaster technology that can inflict 9d of damage and divide armor by 2... even an equally powerful 20 DR EK shield if it were possible in the Outsiderverse would do very little to stop energy weapons. Best not get hit!

[Arioch]

But I wonder if it would be more efficient and effective for a high powered Psychokinetic to not try to 'catch' or deflect the incoming projectiles as instead use their PK shield to focusing on stiffening or bolster their physical Bioplas armored jumpsuits to deflect or absorb the impact of projectile rounds?

Bullets travel much too fast for an unaugmented Loroi or human to perceive under normal conditions, so it's not really possible to target it directly for a "catch" or other direct manipulation. If we were going to get into it, I think passive deflection would be much more valuable than absorbing the impact (PD vs. DR). You'd form the shield as a wedge to increase the chances of deflection.

But like most modern armor, these damage mitigation strategies are mostly going to be useful against shrapnel and fragments, and not a direct hit by small arms.

[CatColonist]

The insider says that sanzai is not direct sharing of thoughts, but more like spoken language with a lot of extra information added on. Does this mean that there are different dialects of sanzai? Would two Loroi from very different cultures have trouble understanding each other when "speaking" telepathically?

Unrelated to the last question, how do warriors normally enter the administrative track of the Torrai caste? Are there low-level administrative castes that feed into it? Do most of them come from the support castes and Soroin who work desk jobs instead of more combat-focused roles?

[CatColonist]

How often do male and female Loroi interact in a non-sexual context? The insider says that male Loroi with training as psychologists, physical therapists, etc, often provide their services as a supplement for sex, but do they ever provide these services non-sexually? If they do, are the non-sexual sessions more common than the sexual ones?

[Arioch]

The insider says that sanzai is not direct sharing of thoughts, but more like spoken language with a lot of extra information added on. Does this mean that there are different dialects of sanzai? Would two Loroi from very different cultures have trouble understanding each other when "speaking" telepathically?

There are dialects of a sort, in that groups that structure their thoughts differently may be harder to understand, but for the most part it is analogous to mutually intelligible dialects of a language. The more alien the mind, the more difficult communication is. Since Loroi are of the same species, they don't structure their thoughts that differently.

Unrelated to the last question, how do warriors normally enter the administrative track of the Torrai caste? Are there low-level administrative castes that feed into it? Do most of them come from the support castes and Soroin who work desk jobs instead of more combat-focused roles?

Entrants into the Torrai admin track are appointed by a Torrai patron, which may be a relative or a high-ranking officer on whose staff the warrior has served. It's a way for senior officers to reward and fast-track favorite staffers, and/or as a political move to curry favor with powerful relatives. They come from all castes (except maybe Teidar), but they are exclusively administration and support personnel.

How often do male and female Loroi interact in a non-sexual context? The insider says that male Loroi with training as psychologists, physical therapists, etc, often provide their services as a supplement for sex, but do they ever provide these services non-sexually? If they do, are the non-sexual sessions more common than the sexual ones?

They're not all sexual, and the non-sexual sessions are more common than the sexual ones... but there is usually still a "Loroi male experience" involved. If you visit a geisha, in many or most cases you're not going to be allowed to have sex with her... but the experience is still always sensual.

(Though, in this case the geisha are nymphomaniacs, so there is always the chance that they may just grab you anyway.)

[Snoofman]

…
(Though, in this case the geisha are nymphomaniacs, so there is always the chance that they may just grab you anyway.)

Bow chicka honk honk

[Rninjax]

I really want to ask. How does the concept of hyperspace work in the Outsider universe? There’s not really much details on the technology itself. Doesn’t have to be a realistic explanation, I just want to know how it works

[Arioch]

I really want to ask. How does the concept of hyperspace work in the Outsider universe? There’s not really much details on the technology itself. Doesn’t have to be a realistic explanation, I just want to know how it works

There's a description here: https://well-of-souls.com/outsider/forum_ftl_tech.html

Or was there something more specific that you wanted to know?

[CaptainChaos]

I really want to ask. How does the concept of hyperspace work in the Outsider universe? There’s not really much details on the technology itself. Doesn’t have to be a realistic explanation, I just want to know how it works

There's a description here: https://well-of-souls.com/outsider/forum_ftl_tech.html

Or was there something more specific that you wanted to know?

is hyperspace in outsider more like the warp from Warhammer 40K / Event Horizon film - OR - is it more like the hyperspace in Babylon 5