Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[JQBogus]

The problem the Loroi have isn't producing enough bodies. It is (I think) training them, and building enough ships to fit them in.

Even if your estimate that only 10% of the overall population or 50 billion Loroi can give birth to a new warrior in any given year, that means they could be producing 5 billion new warriors a year, who, after 8 years, will begin reaching maturity, 5 billion per year.

Even if only 25%* of them are actually assigned to shipboard duty (the rest being shore establishment, spare crews, etc) then that's 1.25 billion new crew per year.

A Loroi war cruiser has a complement of 450. To assign those 1.25 billion new Loroi warriors to ships as crews would require that the Union build ~2.75 million war cruisers per year.

I am pretty sure the fleets aren't that big, so the Loroi reproduction isn't really much of a factor in this kind of war, I think.



*The US Navy and Marine Corps combined have shipboard berths for about 30% of their total personnel.

[GeoModder]

*The US Navy and Marine Corps combined have shipboard berths for about 30% of their total personnel.

Given that officers and likely noncoms as well have their own cabin/berth, 30% isn't enough to accomodate all personnel.

[Arioch]

*The US Navy and Marine Corps combined have shipboard berths for about 30% of their total personnel.

Given that officers and likely noncoms as well have their own cabin/berth, 30% isn't enough to accomodate all personnel.

I think he meant that 70% of all sailors and Marines don't actually serve aboard ship, but instead on shore.

[GeoModder]

*The US Navy and Marine Corps combined have shipboard berths for about 30% of their total personnel.

Given that officers and likely noncoms as well have their own cabin/berth, 30% isn't enough to accomodate all personnel.

I think he meant that 70% of all sailors and Marines don't actually serve aboard ship, but instead on shore.

That'd make sense.

[Mr.Tucker]

Eureka: http://www.nbos.com/products/astro/astro-features.htm . Only took me about 9 months.....

[TrashMan]

So in general the Loroi are Over Powered and the only ones more OP than them are the Orks from 40K?

Since the Umiak reproduce artificially at essentially any rate they choose, I don't think so.

Not that I really understand what is meant by "overpowered" in the context of a fictional story. Outsider isn't a strategy game in which every faction has to have equal balance with all the others.

I think he means that one side/character appears TOO good (too many virtues, too strong) AKA "authors favorite".
I could be wrong tough.

[RedDwarfIV]

So in general the Loroi are Over Powered and the only ones more OP than them are the Orks from 40K?

Since the Umiak reproduce artificially at essentially any rate they choose, I don't think so.

Not that I really understand what is meant by "overpowered" in the context of a fictional story. Outsider isn't a strategy game in which every faction has to have equal balance with all the others.

I think he means that one side/character appears TOO good (too many virtues, too strong) AKA "authors favorite".
I could be wrong tough.

Which is weird because in this case, I'm pretty sure the underdog in this war is the author's favourite.

[dragoongfa]

I think he means that one side/character appears TOO good (too many virtues, too strong) AKA "authors favorite".
I could be wrong tough.

Partially correct, despite the semi-serious answer I gave a couple of weeks back, I like to play with other author's ideas on my head. It makes it easier to come up with ideas for my original fiction (yet unpublished).

The 'authors favorite' trap, (i.e. overpowered in order to artificially inflate tension, envy and 'what if' thinking it's great in paper but the approach is a doubled edged sword that a lot of writers get wrong) is very real but I don't think that the Loroi are 'author's favorite' in this case. Although they have certain advantages I do see numerous disadvantages and one HUGE weakness that directly relates with their telepathy and artificially created roots.

Arioch's favorite is humanity in this story and the hint for that is Alex's rant when he is about to run out of oxygen.

And as a follower of the 'Humanity Fuck Yeah' way of storytelling I think that that's awesome

[Hālian]

The page on loroi warship classes states that the Inzil Lerrai carries two RXS wave-loom devices. What does RXS stand for? And it's more or less obvious that one is located in the "hat", but where's the other?

[Arioch]

The page on loroi warship classes states that the Inzil Lerrai carries two RXS wave-loom devices. What does RXS stand for? And it's more or less obvious that one is located in the "hat", but where's the other?

The two wave-loom devices on the flagship are each located in the Tempest-style sets of prongs on the port and starboard of the vessel.

I'm not really sure what RXS stands for.

[Twinkee]

Please do not tumble dry

SpoilerShow

[Arioch]

Please do not tumble dry

SpoilerShow

Sounds like good advice to me.

[Mr Bojangles]

Please do not tumble dry

SpoilerShow

Sounds like good advice to me.

Turning a shirt inside out is indeed a good way to protect any printed logos. Sage advice, that.

[GeoModder]

SpoilerShow

Sounds like good advice to me.

Turning a shirt inside out is indeed a good way to protect any printed logos. Sage advice, that.

And, in China, removing the child prior to washing enhances the parents' chances at elderly care after said child joined the workforce.

[GeoModder]

On page 59, where Tempo explained the tactical situation to Alex, we see these two arrow bars pointed towards the Naam system. Assuming the left bar represents strike group 51, does the right bar represent the predecessor groups (appearantly 44 and 6B)?
If so, I wonder if the label "6B" means this particular group was more of a battle formation (the B part), or a subgroup from a normal-sized strike group.

[Arioch]

Yes, the right bar represents the other two strike groups, 44 and 6B.

I'm not sure what I had in mind in regards to the "6B" designation. It's possible that I just selected two random characters, without bothering to remember whether "B" was a numeral. My notes suggest that Strike Group 44 is supposed to be a different group that appears later in the story, which reinforces the "random characters" theory. At the time that this page was made, the pages were still being displayed at the lower 660x960 resolution, and the characters would probably have been unreadable.

[Hālian]

Wherefore the use of the Cancer symbol to represent Umiak forces?

How do they even know what it is if it's a human contrivance?

[dragoongfa]

This is going to be...

Artsy...

So, lets take human art; the definition of art as we know it is 'the expression of someone's creative inner world through their works'.

Loroi are creative, the males are described as philosophical while the militant females have demonstrated numerous times their natural proclivity for having their stuff looking good. Their ships are symmetrical with nice, menacing lines, their armors are form fitting meant to emphasize the superior martial prowess of their bodies (I am not joking here, look at ancient Greek and Roman ceremonial armors and how they emphasized the male body as a comparison) while they certainly have some proclivity for visual art, if we take the tempest fresco into account.

However their natural psychic abilities may have taken art in a different way than what we understand as human.

Let's take music for example, it comes to reason that the Loroi would have musical instruments, all human warrior societies had an advanced musical tradition; however would they have vocal singers or telepathic singers?

Beryl described vocal speech as awkward for many Loroi, so it comes to reason that vocalists wouldn't be seen as a necessary addition to music like our singers. However the direct, sentimental and truthful nature of Sanzai would allow for some heartbreaking telepathic singing when accompanied by musical instruments. I imagine the silent Teidar having a proclivity for such type of art but maybe I want to know if Fireblade has a softer artsy style behind those emerald eyes

With the above in mind, theatrical performances with spoken and telepathic speech come to mind as well. Maybe the Loroi proclivity for hearing the truth would limit their telepathic performances but I think that the Loroi would be more than able to distinguish truth from fiction even when the telepathic lines sound true; perhaps their greatest performers would be so skilled that they would be able to confuse the audience in that regard.

However I doubt that they would have developed cinematographic entertainment (Movies and TV series) because the Loroi don't have a way to pass telepathic speech through machinery and spoken speech is seen as awkward. It would break their suspension of disbelief to only hear spoken speech. I think that lighthearted comedies could take a pass but I doubt it.

Which brings me to the last.

How do the Loroi tell jokes? They laugh and they certainly understand comedy but would the jokes be said in telepathic or spoken speech?

[Zakharra]

I think in music, the Loroi have instruments, and use it, but their singing is limited to maybe some screaming (as in an accompaniment to a musical piece), like a war cry. Nothing like we have with singers. But that said, the Loroi have heard the music of other species that do have singers more like what we know, so they aren't unfamiliar with songs being sung rather than just played. It's just not really a part of their musical traditions.

[Sweforce]

I think in music, the Loroi have instruments, and use it, but their singing is limited to maybe some screaming (as in an accompaniment to a musical piece), like a war cry. Nothing like we have with singers. But that said, the Loroi have heard the music of other species that do have singers more like what we know, so they aren't unfamiliar with songs being sung rather than just played. It's just not really a part of their musical traditions.

Came to think about it. They know about vocal singing even if they avoid to do it themselves but do they enjoy to listen to vocal singing? And how forgiving i Loroi society for sub cultures among their own? Would an individual that have taken to like to listen to Barsam gospels be considered just a bit weird or completely insane or what? Or If Sabaton would make a song about Still-Storm and her ship named the "The Tempest Fury", would it have a chance to become a hit in the empire?