Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[Jagged]

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.

I was named after my father ... but apparently that was my mother's decision

ps: My mother calls us both "David" but somehow through years of conditioning, we've always known which one she was after.

[GeoModder]

Back in my youth, it was often custom to give second and third names after your godparents. So on my passport, I have my given name first, then comes the full given name of my godfather, and since the character space ran out, the first letter of my godmother's name.

[Ithekro]

One of my grandfathers was suppose to be named after his father, but most people had called by great-grandfather by his initials...so when the doctor's asked they gave the initials....so my grandfather's name became D W, jr. My grandmother had an awful time writing to him during World War II, as the post office wouldn't send packages to people in the military if you just used their initials...but that was his name, so she had to write D W (last name) (initials only) on the package so it would be sent.

[CNW]

Do the branches of Loroi military have any sort of interservice rivalry? Hardly anything serious like Imperial Japanese Army vs. Navy (or they would've lost the war already), I'm thinking more along the lines of "I know we're on the same side, but these gals don't wash themselves below the collar line"..

[Arioch]

Do the branches of Loroi military have any sort of interservice rivalry? Hardly anything serious like Imperial Japanese Army vs. Navy (or they would've lost the war already), I'm thinking more along the lines of "I know we're on the same side, but these gals don't wash themselves below the collar line"..

Sure. For the most part, the responsibilities of the various castes are very specific, so there is not as much overlap of responsibility as in the example of the WWII Japanese command structure, which was a hot mess. The Loroi military encourages an element of rivalry that boosts esprit de corps, encouraging pride in one's own unit or caste, but the emphasis is in the unit over the caste. As an example, Beryl takes no less pride in the elite status of Tempest and SG51 merely because she's a Listel and is not directly in the command loop.

But, inevitably, conflicts will arise. Most notably in the line command elements (Torrai) and those responsible for receiving and disseminating orders (Mizol). This is why the arbitration of command disputes is placed in the hands of the senior Teidar, who commands the physical force to enforce arbitration decisions, but is (mostly) ineligible for direct command of fleet units (so they cannot simply place themselves in command.)

And while there is competition for a share of limited resources between services, there is not much dispute that the fleet must have the highest priority and the lion's share of production efforts.

[MBehave]

Did/do the Loroi use animals with their power, controlling a bird and being able to see what it sees would make for a pretty effective hunter, using animals that are controlled could also be used to inspect parts of a ship for damage where its harder for people to get to(eg cat type animal)
Much like humans and wolves became intertwined to the point we live together, did something like that happen with the Loroi and a type of animal that was bred for its acceptance/capability of physic link with a Loroi?

[Arioch]

Did/do the Loroi use animals with their power, controlling a bird and being able to see what it sees would make for a pretty effective hunter, using animals that are controlled could also be used to inspect parts of a ship for damage where its harder for people to get to(eg cat type animal)
Much like humans and wolves became intertwined to the point we live together, did something like that happen with the Loroi and a type of animal that was bred for its acceptance/capability of physic link with a Loroi?

Some powerful Loroi telepaths can command creatures with their telepathy, but this usually requires the physical link provided by touch to be effective, and so it has limited useful applications (as opposed to the "warging" of Game of Thrones where birds or wolves can be used as remote scouts).

A variety of past and modern Loroi animal handlers use this ability to better control their animals, but in the pre-starflight era there was a scarcity of useful animals. There was a Deinar group that bred Miros that were just large enough to ride, and telepathy helped to control the otherwise temperamental animals, though this didn't have much use beyond performance and light transport. There was a case in which a guerrila group was using such miros to move quickly through the forest, but the miros were never large or strong enough to ride in battle as cavalry.

On Perrein there are a variety of different types of "wormhanlders" that use different species of sori for various purposes, especially for seeking and sensing, similar to hounds. The sori involved are bred for this purpose, but they can't really be called "domesticated" as Perrein organisms have very deep genomes, and so aggressive behaviors are difficult to breed out of them, and they can never really become "safe."

[Mk_C]

Is the Union known to have noteworthy secret societies, aside from open political opposition, such as the Axis? Do Loroi, Neridi or Barsam have or had their equivalents of Freemasons, Illuminati, Rosicrucians and Thule Society, be they centred around political, martial or mystical issues? If they do - what is the Diadem's stance on them? Does the Loroi sanzai rumour mill have it's share of conspiracy theory speculation, especially seeing that mind control is a thing among powerful Loroi telepaths?

SpoilerShow

-10 [_______]

[Arioch]

If I said they didn't, you would assume I'm part of the conspiracy.

More seriously, I'm not sure how a conspiracy (or conspiracy theories) can be maintained if lies are nearly impossible. However, the questions I can answer are mostly limited to what is common knowledge, and a conspiracy is pretty much by definition outside that boundary.

[Mk_C]

If I said they didn't, you would assume I'm part of the conspiracy.

You're evading the question like you're a part of the conspiracy.

[Arioch]

I think I've said before that there persists a criminal underground in Loroi society, comprising people who can either lie convincingly or avoid answering the wrong questions without raising suspicion. But, almost by definition, this is not something that anyone Alex comes into contact with would know anything about.

And if by conspiracy theory, you mean any belief in contradiction to known fact... I'm sure there are still Loroi who believe that Greywind engineered her predecessor's death, despite the lack of evidence to back it up. Just like there are some Loroi who believe in the Barsam religion.

[Mk_C]

I'm sure there are still Loroi who believe that Greywind engineered her predecessor's death, despite the lack of evidence to back it up.

Neat

[Mk_C]

And if by conspiracy theory, you mean any belief in contradiction to known fact...

Wait, would that include believing that the actual Soia of the Loroi were the Anunnaki pink binzers with iron-based blood pigments?

[Sweforce]

Humanity have domesticated a lot of animals and breeded them to be very different from the creatures that was initially domesticated. For instance a reason for chariot warfare was horses too small to be used for mounted combat.

Now for Soia-Liron creatures I suspect while domesticating them is possible breeding them to become something else without using modern genetic engineering is probably difficult it they have, as I suspect of genetically engineered species very stable and probably narrow genes. Is this true? Would a Soia-liron equivalent of an early horse be difficult to simply by breeding turn into powerful mounts for cavalry warriors and heavy duty work animals useful for farm work?

[Arioch]

Humanity have domesticated a lot of animals and breeded them to be very different from the creatures that was initially domesticated. For instance a reason for chariot warfare was horses too small to be used for mounted combat.

Now for Soia-Liron creatures I suspect while domesticating them is possible breeding them to become something else without using modern genetic engineering is probably difficult it they have, as I suspect of genetically engineered species very stable and probably narrow genes. Is this true? Would a Soia-liron equivalent of an early horse be difficult to simply by breeding turn into powerful mounts for cavalry warriors and heavy duty work animals useful for farm work?

Soia-liron organisms, including the sentient ones, still reproduce via sexual reproduction, which means they are deliberately swapping genes to improve diversity and adaptation. So yes, they can be bred or adapt to changing environments, and individuals have distinctive characteristics. Their genomes have much less garbage information than non-tailored organisms do, and so it's less likely that gene swapping or random mutation will produce a viable new trait, but they can still change and adapt. If you wanted to completely prevent change, you would probably design/choose an asexual organism that reproduced through parthenogenesis (asexual cloning); that way the only change would be through mutation, which probably can't be completely eliminated... though you could reduce the effect of gene replication errors by including some kind of parity-checking mechanism. But this would mean that all of the individuals would be clones, with limited ability to adapt, and shared vulnerabilities. Which is probably not ideal for domestic organisms meant to inhabit alien worlds.

There is fossil evidence that there were larger Soia-liron animals on Deinar before the bombardment, but everything larger than a miros went extinct shortly after. In addition to the damage to the ecosystem, being hunted by the feral Loroi survivors probably didn't help either. There were cow-like organisms apparently used for meat, but an ultra-tech farm probably wouldn't have much use for horse-like animals (no need for riding or animal power). Whether the regressed Loroi could have bred their "cows" into riding animals is open to speculation.

[GrandAdmiralFox]

Quick question Arioch, what sort of propellant does the Loroi use? From the looks of it in your comic, it looks like your average hydrogen propellant at immense thermal energies. If I somehow missed the answer, I must apologize for it.

[Arioch]

Quick question Arioch, what sort of propellant does the Loroi use? From the looks of it in your comic, it looks like your average hydrogen propellant at immense thermal energies. If I somehow missed the answer, I must apologize for it.

I'm not certain, but I think it might make sense if it's supercooled hydrogen and/or helium, which could help keep the taimat stable as well as be used as extra reaction mass.

[GrandAdmiralFox]

Quick question Arioch, what sort of propellant does the Loroi use? From the looks of it in your comic, it looks like your average hydrogen propellant at immense thermal energies. If I somehow missed the answer, I must apologize for it.

I'm not certain, but I think it might make sense if it's supercooled hydrogen and/or helium, which could help keep the taimat stable as well as be used as extra reaction mass.

Good to know. Then again I keep in touch with various SciFi communities and you wouldn't believe the flame wars that asking what is the best propellant for a nuclear rocket would be.

[tpkc_klick]

Quick question Arioch, what sort of propellant does the Loroi use? From the looks of it in your comic, it looks like your average hydrogen propellant at immense thermal energies. If I somehow missed the answer, I must apologize for it.

I'm not certain, but I think it might make sense if it's supercooled hydrogen and/or helium, which could help keep the taimat stable as well as be used as extra reaction mass.

Good to know. Then again I keep in touch with various SciFi communities and you wouldn't believe the flame wars that asking what is the best propellant for a nuclear rocket would be.

The "best" option for a propellant is usually extremely case-specific, and depends heavily on the mission and operational goals of a vehicle, the logistical and industrial capacities of whoever is building and fueling it, and the design and configuration of the engine itself. Thus, there is no one "best" proellant for any given type of engine (so of course people have pointless internet nerd fights about it...)

I do think hydrogen has one huge advantage as reaction mass for an advanced space-faring species like the Loroi: its easy to get in huge quantities from just about anywhere (most abundant element and all that). It also bonds nicely with other elements to form things like water, which does things like freeze, making it easy to collect. It means that keeping ships supplied with hydrogen reaction mass practically can't turn into a strategic choke-point, which is a risk for potentially more efficient but much rarer proellant (like xenon, for example).

[kiwi]

Possibly this should be in the Terran tech thread , but for those interested in rockets, Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants is a surprisingly fun read.