Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[Hālian]

This is a long-winded way of saying that almost all normal terrestrial planets in an Earthlike orbit will have the same rotation direction as Earth: that is, rotating toward the East. This includes Deinar, Perrein and Taben.

Now I feel like an idiot for making Daia (the main planet in my own worldbuilding project) have retrograde rotation. Yay /s

[Arioch]

This is a long-winded way of saying that almost all normal terrestrial planets in an Earthlike orbit will have the same rotation direction as Earth: that is, rotating toward the East. This includes Deinar, Perrein and Taben.

Now I feel like an idiot for making Daia (the main planet in my own worldbuilding project) have retrograde rotation. Yay /s

There are always exceptions. If the primordial collision that formed our Moon had been a little bit different, Earth might well have ended up with a retrograde rotation.

[Urist]

Question on the pre-spaceflight (or pre-return-to-spaceflight, I guess) knowledge of loroi:

On the three Sister Worlds, what was the loroi's understanding of their place in the universe?

E.g. in human history, it took a while to realize first that the world isn't flat, that the sun revolves around it, then that other planets exist, then that other planets might hold *life*, and then that that life might be mentally equivalent to ourselves (e.g. extra-terrestrial intelligent aliens). Until that last step, people (at least in written literature) seemed to think that the most 'alien' being possible was essentially just a weird form of human (centaurs, giants, mermaids, etc.) with no real understanding that 'being from another planet' might not look like them.

Given that the loroi had access to a fair amount of soia relics, would that have included/inspired the idea of what alien life might be like (in a non-loroi form)?

[Arioch]

Question on the pre-spaceflight (or pre-return-to-spaceflight, I guess) knowledge of loroi:

On the three Sister Worlds, what was the loroi's understanding of their place in the universe?

E.g. in human history, it took a while to realize first that the world isn't flat, that the sun revolves around it, then that other planets exist, then that other planets might hold *life*, and then that that life might be mentally equivalent to ourselves (e.g. extra-terrestrial intelligent aliens). Until that last step, people (at least in written literature) seemed to think that the most 'alien' being possible was essentially just a weird form of human (centaurs, giants, mermaids, etc.) with no real understanding that 'being from another planet' might not look like them.

Given that the loroi had access to a fair amount of soia relics, would that have included/inspired the idea of what alien life might be like (in a non-loroi form)?

Loroi heroic mythology makes frequent references to travel between worlds and to other beings who were not Loroi. In some places among artifacts and ruins there were descriptions and visual depictions of non-Loroi beings (especially on Deinar, which was previously inhabited by the centaur-like Mozeret). However, what was made of this evidence varied among different groups and individuals across time.

Some viewed these tales and this evidence as mere fancy, some as evidence of real alien or supernatural non-Loroi beings, and some as tales of Loroi or Loroi-like peoples that had grown exaggerated in the retelling over thousands of years. However, the general idea that there were multiple worlds and different people living on them was central to most of the Loroi belief systems, so it was not a surprise to them when they began to rediscover the tools for venturing beyond their planetary homes, even though they weren't quite sure what they would find there.

Probably the biggest culture shock on reunification was for the Loroi on Perrein, where very few artifacts had survived, and where the challenge of staying alive had consumed most of their creative energies. There more than anywhere else, many had dismissed their ancient history as mythology, and this was part of what had led to the development of formal religions in some areas.

[Snoofman]

We have heard stories of animals like miros wandering Deinar's wilderness. But what sort of predators live there? Especially predators that might pose a threat to a lone wandering Loroi?

[Arioch]

We have heard stories of animals like miros wandering Deinar's wilderness. But what sort of predators live there? Especially predators that might pose a threat to a lone wandering Loroi?

Deinar doesn't yet have any native terrestrial animals, only descendants of imported domestic animals. Feral miros are the only animals large enough to be dangerous to a Loroi.

[gaerzi]

E.g. in human history, it took a while to realize first that the world isn't flat

Actually, it took a while to imagine that the world could be thought to be flat. The consensus about the shape of the Earth has been historically like this:
- From at least the 3rd century BC to the 20th century AD: Earth is a sphere
- Since the 21st century: Earth is flat, and also birds are not real

[SaintofM]

E.g. in human history, it took a while to realize first that the world isn't flat

Actually, it took a while to imagine that the world could be thought to be flat. The consensus about the shape of the Earth has been historically like this:
- From at least the 3rd century BC to the 20th century AD: Earth is a sphere
- Since the 21st century: Earth is flat, and also birds are not real

Same. Knowledge of dinosaurs being extinct animals is older than the oldest flat earther. Most modern people think Columbus sailed the ocean blue to prove the world was round because A. Bad education system, and B. a belief that because people did not know what we know today they are automatically stupid.

[Arioch]

Well, "what people knew" was never a single monolithic entity; different cultures and individuals had different world views. And there was the same proportion of charlatans and lunatics within humanity before the internet as after.

[Urist]

A few questions related to loroi regionalism:

1) Does sanzai have any form of regional 'accent,' as in some marker that can let one loroi tell where the second one was raised by how she sends her thoughts?

2) How universally-understood was spoken Trade among the pre-unification loroi worlds (and perhaps the continents on them, if the details go that deep)? As in, when the first scouts reached first Perrein and then Taben, was there any difficulty in communicating in spoken Trade? (I'd assume that sanzai is at least universally-understandable)

[Arioch]

1) Does sanzai have any form of regional 'accent,' as in some marker that can let one loroi tell where the second one was raised by how she sends her thoughts?

While a listener might be able to tell the regional origin of a sender from the various qualities revealed through telepathy, it's not due to the formatting of the message. So I wouldn't call it an accent or dialect.

2) How universally-understood was spoken Trade among the pre-unification loroi worlds (and perhaps the continents on them, if the details go that deep)? As in, when the first scouts reached first Perrein and then Taben, was there any difficulty in communicating in spoken Trade? (I'd assume that sanzai is at least universally-understandable)

There were and continue to be a variety of dialects of Trade among the Loroi, though most have fallen into niche use (like the study and publication of historical archives) since reunification. Since Trade is not used as a conversational language, its use is very niche and academic, meaning a) having a good vocabulary was relatively rare, like being a monk who could read and write in an illiterate society, and b) the versions of Trade used were fragmentary and varied, some not even really constituting a full language. By the time of contact with Perrein, Deinar was in its post-industrial period and so there had been substantial standardization of Trade, but Perrein was politically and technologically a bit of a mess at the time, and so the versions of Trade in use were not mutually intelligible with those known on Deinar.

[SaintofM]

I am looking back a few panels where Alex is in the middle of a pile of Loroi crewmen (a internet nerd's dream come true, yes). Considering they are at a lower body temperature than he is, and vice versa, would this add or detract from their comfort of each other more than say two of the same species would? Or would it be no worse than girlfriend puts cold hands/feet on your flesh when you don't expect it kind of deal?

Or is the difference so miniscule, its not noticeable?

[Arioch]

I am looking back a few panels where Alex is in the middle of a pile of Loroi crewmen (a internet nerd's dream come true, yes). Considering they are at a lower body temperature than he is, and vice versa, would this add or detract from their comfort of each other more than say two of the same species would? Or would it be no worse than girlfriend puts cold hands/feet on your flesh when you don't expect it kind of deal?

Or is the difference so miniscule, its not noticeable?

Alex isn't in skin-to-skin contact with them in the pile; Loroi are not so much cooler than humans that he would notice it through the various layers of clothing. If you search for "body temperature" there is some discussion of specifics in this thread.

[Urist]

What about “Fuck around and find out.”?

Lozen me leri tennai, dirorod pennio. ("If you act foolishly, there will be consequences.")

Bedein sal babiio. ("Do not anger the furies.")

Sal lastaro. ("Don't.")

Is the second quote ("Bedein sal bibiio") a common 'saying' among loroi? Perhaps somewhat similar to the old American phrase "Don't tug on Superman's cape" in being a reference to common folk mythology?

[Arioch]

What about “Fuck around and find out.”?

Lozen me leri tennai, dirorod pennio. ("If you act foolishly, there will be consequences.")

Bedein sal babiio. ("Do not anger the furies.")

Sal lastaro. ("Don't.")

Is the second quote ("Bedein sal bibiio") a common 'saying' among loroi? Perhaps somewhat similar to the old American phrase "Don't tug on Superman's cape" in being a reference to common folk mythology?

It's not exactly a "saying" (as Loroi don't normally speak), but it's a way that a Loroi might say that.

[Urist]

Hehe, excellent! That's *definitely* going into my notes for a fan-work sequel...

[gaerzi]

I am looking back a few panels where Alex is in the middle of a pile of Loroi crewmen (a internet nerd's dream come true, yes). Considering they are at a lower body temperature than he is, and vice versa, would this add or detract from their comfort of each other more than say two of the same species would? Or would it be no worse than girlfriend puts cold hands/feet on your flesh when you don't expect it kind of deal?

Or is the difference so miniscule, its not noticeable?

Cats have a higher body temperature than humans. (38-to-39°C for cats, 37°C for humans). Do cats still enjoy curling up on a human's lap? Yes. The human might be colder than the cat, but is still warmer than the sofa. And in the other way around, while some humans do not like having a cat on their lap because they're strange weirdos, it's still not an uncomfortable thing. Unless you want to stand up because you've got things to do but cannot bear to disturb the kitty.

[Said2k]

How fast is the average loroi in long distance or short distance running compared to the average human? I assume that because they're shorter than humans they cannot really run faster than humans except in short distances.

[Urist]

How fast is the average loroi in long distance or short distance running compared to the average human? I assume that because they're shorter than humans they cannot really run faster than humans except in short distances.

At a guess, it might actually be the other way around. Loroi are a bit shorter than the human *male* average, but that still puts loroi warriors at about the same height and build as ~50% of humanity. Couple that with their Soia-tuned biology (loroi eat a lot less than humans, which implies a much more efficient system for converting chemical energy into mechanical energy) and they might plausibly be able to keep running at a decent pace even over the longest (by human standards) marathons.

Not to mention that the majority of the loroi populace are *warriors*, and proud of it. Even for the ones working what we would consider 'civilian' jobs (government bureaucrat, naval accountant, hospital nurse, etc.), they probably keep themselves in better shape than most humans do nowadays. (And, again, Soia-tuned muscles might not lose strength/tone with disuse as fast as human ones do.) Either way, an average loroi put into a footrace against an average human would probably have a lot more personal drive to *not* lose, and thus push herself harder.

[Arioch]

How fast is the average loroi in long distance or short distance running compared to the average human? I assume that because they're shorter than humans they cannot really run faster than humans except in short distances.

In most categories of physical performance, Loroi females are comparable to human females. Human males, being taller and stronger, can be faster. Loroi have better endurance on average than humans, but there are some humans with exceptional running endurance.