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Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:14 pm
by Luge
I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up before (or has it?). What exactly is the significance of the glowing tabs (neck and shoulders) on the various Loroi uniforms?
I'm pretty sure its first seen on one of the welding technicans in panel 42, and then on the bridge crew in 55. All of the vessel captains that report in had glowing tabs.
I thought it might be Arioch's way of subtly indicating that the wearer is using telepathy, but I've found pages where telepathy is being used but the tabs aren't glowing. I'm thus left conclude that they indicate the Loroi in question is using an audio/video communication device, but there are plenty of panels where the individual isn't speaking yet their tabs are glowing.
Its just bugging me
L.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:24 pm
by Grayhome
Armor is the badge of office for the warrior class. Each caste has its own armored uniform of distinctive style and color (for example, silver and green for Soroin, bronze and teal for Teidar, white and purple for Listel). Each caste uniform has additional variations based on rank and title, the most obvious of which are the light-up colored tabs on the wrist, shoulder and collar. The rank tab colors generally follow a pattern from lowest (white) through blue, green, yellow, orange and red to the highest (purple, worn only by the Emperor).
Taken from the
http://well-of-souls.com/outsider/loroi_ranks.html
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:29 pm
by Luge
Grayhome wrote:Armor is the badge of office for the warrior class. Each caste has its own armored uniform of distinctive style and color (for example, silver and green for Soroin, bronze and teal for Teidar, white and purple for Listel). Each caste uniform has additional variations based on rank and title, the most obvious of which are the light-up colored tabs on the wrist, shoulder and collar. The rank tab colors generally follow a pattern from lowest (white) through blue, green, yellow, orange and red to the highest (purple, worn only by the Emperor).
Taken from the
http://well-of-souls.com/outsider/loroi_ranks.html
I'm aware of what the colours mean. I was specifically asking about under what circumstances they actually light up.
L.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:32 pm
by Grayhome
Oh! Sorry about that, I believe it's when battle is imminent or in progress.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:46 pm
by Mayhem
Luge wrote:I'm aware of what the colours mean. I was specifically asking about under what circumstances they actually light up.
To indicate that person is on duty IIRC.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:57 pm
by Luge
Mayhem wrote:Luge wrote:I'm aware of what the colours mean. I was specifically asking about under what circumstances they actually light up.
To indicate that person is on duty IIRC.
Possible, but Tempo and Stillstorm spend a fair bit of time on the bridge doing things yet their tabs are unlit until panel 72. I'm also thinking that the Doranzer medical technicians present when Alexander wakes up would be "on duty" if they're present in the infirmary. Fireblade's haven't been lit yet, and I'm quite sure she's on-duty in her capacity as marine/security personnel
L.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:22 pm
by Tash
Luge wrote:
Possible, but Tempo and Stillstorm spend a fair bit of time on the bridge doing things yet their tabs are unlit until panel 72. I'm also thinking that the Doranzer medical technicians present when Alexander wakes up would be "on duty" if they're present in the infirmary. Fireblade's haven't been lit yet, and I'm quite sure she's on-duty in her capacity as marine/security personnel
L.
On duty usually means manning a station during combat if I recall properly, which is what they're doing when tictac-27's skirmishers arrive.
Fireblade isn't manning a security station; she's guarding a diplomat, which is something she'll likely be doing for a while whether combat is on or not.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:26 pm
by Luge
Tash wrote:On duty usually means manning a station during combat if I recall properly, which is what they're doing when tictac-27's skirmishers arrive.
Fireblade isn't manning a security station; she's guarding a diplomat, which is something she'll likely be doing for a while whether combat is on or not.
Recall from where? On-duty is on-duty, i.e. not off-duty. A medical technician is on-duty when she's doing the duties of her role. i.e. medical things. A marine is on-duty when not asleep (sleep-talking
) in her quarters.
The welding technican in panel 42 wasn't manning a station.
L.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:29 pm
by Wintermute
It's to reduce confusion and raise on-bridge/ship visibility in low-light situations. The lights are dimmed on the bridge during combat.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:45 pm
by fredgiblet
Arioch wrote:Yes, the glowing rank tabs has been a design element since the very early versions of the uniform designs. I always imagined the bridge environment as very dark, and the lit rank tabs are part practicality to prevent people walking into each other, part formality to show which officer ranks are on duty, and part cool.
Glowing stuff is cool.
If you take a closer look at the third panel of page 52 (or the enlarged version thereof), hopefully you can see that the rank tabs of all the officers except Tempo are lit.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:58 pm
by Luge
fredgiblet wrote:Arioch wrote:Yes, the glowing rank tabs has been a design element since the very early versions of the uniform designs. I always imagined the bridge environment as very dark, and the lit rank tabs are part practicality to prevent people walking into each other, part formality to show which officer ranks are on duty, and part cool.
Glowing stuff is cool.
If you take a closer look at the third panel of page 52 (or the enlarged version thereof), hopefully you can see that the rank tabs of all the officers except Tempo are lit.
Good find! Where was it?
L.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:29 pm
by fredgiblet
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:13 pm
by captainsmirk
Arioch wrote:The rank tabs are lit as a sign that the officer is on duty at a bridge position. Prior to that point, Stillstorm was just standing/sitting listening to the diplomatic discussion. Note that Tempo's, Beryl's, and Fireblade's tabs are also not lit.
Answer to when I asked a similar question in this thread
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... p?f=4&t=42
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:41 pm
by icekatze
hi hi
On duty as far as the Loroi are concerned in this case is referring to specific bridge roles that more than one person could be filling.
Officers on duty at certain important positions on the bridge keep their rank tabs lit, partially to indicate that they are active at that post (whether or not they are actually in their seats at the moment), partially to make them easy to find at a glance.
In any case, glowing eyes is a visual cue for telepathy I think, or at least strong telepathy.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:59 pm
by TrashMan
Given that Loroi can literaly sense eachother, having glowing tabs is redundant - if their purpose was low-light enviroment.
They are for show methinks.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:03 pm
by icekatze
hi hi
They can sense each other, assuming they're not distracted by other things, but the tabs are essentially broadcasting a status message beyond just "i am alive."
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:09 pm
by flarecde
It might be easier to use vision rather than telepathy to sense local individual positions, at least for some individuals, particularly in combat conditions. Just because Loroi have a sixth sense, doesn't mean they should ignore the other five they have if they prove useful.
There's always the cool factor too. As Arioch said, glowing is cool
.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:27 am
by fredgiblet
icekatze wrote:In any case, glowing eyes is a visual cue for telepathy I think, or at least strong telepathy.
Arioch wrote:Yes, the glowing eyes are a cue for the reader that there is a psi ability in operation. Whether or not it is real or perceived is an open question.
TrashMan wrote:Given that Loroi can literaly sense eachother, having glowing tabs is redundant - if their purpose was low-light enviroment.
They are for show methinks.
They can sense each other yes, but they don't necessarily know who is on duty. Consider: Teidar on duty stands up to check another station, new loroi walks on to the bridge, which Teidar is on duty? She can ask, or she can look at the tabs. One of these requires bothering someone who might be doing something important, the other doesn't.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:28 am
by Luge
icekatze wrote:hi hi
They can sense each other, assuming they're not distracted by other things, but the tabs are essentially broadcasting a status message beyond just "i am alive."
At first I wasn't keen on the idea, but when I read this is makes sense. A culture that's traditionally used telepathy to sense each other must have problems when they evolve into a starfaring race where room space is at a premium and they have to look for each other and keep track of who is in the room. Humans are more used to keeping track with eyes and ears.
Its worth pointing out that in very dark environments, the rank tabs won't tell much unless you could also see the uniform colour as well, thus indicating the subcaste.
L.
Re: Glowing Uniforms?
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:52 am
by NOMAD
Luge wrote:icekatze wrote:hi hi
They can sense each other, assuming they're not distracted by other things, but the tabs are essentially broadcasting a status message beyond just "i am alive."
At first I wasn't keen on the idea, but when I read this is makes sense. A culture that's traditionally used telepathy to sense each other must have problems when they evolve into a starfaring race where room space is at a premium and they have to look for each other and keep track of who is in the room. Humans are more used to keeping track with eyes and ears.
Its worth pointing out that in very dark environments, the rank tabs won't tell much unless you could also see the uniform colour as well, thus indicating the subcaste.
L.
Well that is very true as well, but one benefit of a telepathic crew is that the majority of crew knows who most of the officers are and even if, say, the light went out on the bridge, most of the crew could tell who is who from sensing each other passively (also visually seeing where the higher ranks does add some confidence, hey these are trained and disciplined warriors). As well, given the speed of Loroi non-verb communications, all the crew could know who is who within a few seconds (side note I'm believing that each individual loroi has a certain "telepathic" signal that would allow for easy identification IE in a similar manner to how whale and dolphins has a unique sound for each individual member of a "pack").