Yeah, I bought some stuff on my own because the army didn't provide for them when I was drafted. Everyone got mainly underwear and shocks but I did get a compass, a weapon cleaning kit and some face paint. Some officers had bought some peripherals for their rifles as well.

What's the tolerable temperature range for Loroi -- bare to the elements and no windchill, since clothing expands on that sort of thing dramatically.

I know that when I was in, my unit would allow us to purchase a firearm of our own, we just had to keep it in the armory when not in use, but as far as training and qualifications we still had to certify using the basic equipment everyone else was issued. No purchasing advantages at the firing range.

It's very similar to the human range. The Loroi have a lower baseline temperature, but the limits at the extremes are mostly the same.

Why is the bridge of Tempest so cold? Alex remarks on it that it even pricked his nostrils and he seems to be shivering. Is the Loroi armor/uniform compensating, and there's a good reason for the bridge to be so cold? The rest of the ship doesn't seem to be that cold - Alex is effectively in his underwear in his holding cell.

CJSF

Comfortable human temperature is around 26 to 27 degrees Celsius, that's where we work best without sweating too much and that's where Loroi body temperature is.

If the Loroi have a similar preference of working best in lower temperatures then their ideal would be 16 to 17 degrees Celsius. Cold enough for humans to notice but not too cold. Following the same logic temperatures at the 26 to 27 range could be non ideal to the Loroi, not in the same way that 36 to 37 degrees are to humans since we are getting close to heat stroke territory at those ranges, especially for people who are not used to them.

If the 26 to 27 range is only slightly uncomfortable for Loroi then it would make sense that the Brig and holding cells would be at that range. As a form of punishment and not hot enough to put the prisoners in danger of getting a heat stroke like we would be if the ambient temperature was that high.

This implies that Soia Liron biochemistry is both very efficient but also very resilient if it is able to work efficiently at ranges that are a good 10 to 15 degrees above and below their natural body temperature.

Most Loroi are accustomed to a colder climate (and dress accordingly); normal shipboard room temperature is around 50-60°F or 10-15°C. It's not quite cold enough that you can see your breath, but it's noticeably cold to most humans.

Would loroi have marching band music or would that be unneccesary for them? (Ie, if they have parades or to keep morale up like the british or other militiaries did when marching and firing in lines?)

They probably have several styles of music that evolved from battlefield signaling (originally drums and horns, mostly).

Are there psychic arts in Loroi culture? Poetry, music, painting, or interpretive dance? Or if it is sensed in a kinetic fashion, artistic massage?

Apologies if this has been addressed before:

What actually happened after Alex is escorted off the bridge at the end of Chapter One? Strike Group 51 was facing off with a huge Umiak division that had the ability to cloak itself from farseeing. Did the fleet flee? Did the Umiak forces leave once Bellarmine was destroyed (utterly)?

CJSF

I think it's safe to say that SG51 withdrew towards their base in Azimol but docked at Leido instead, both to rearm and refuel and because Clicky's fleet seriously outgunned them, and also to forward the intel about umiak stealth fleets. I would not directly use the word "run", more in the way of an orderly retreat. Clicky did follow them after a while, though. He doesn't appear to be in any particular hurry and comes across as fairly confident they have already won.

Stillstorm ordered the destruction of the Bellarmine wreckage because she intended to withdraw. This done, SG51 promptly withdrew from the system via the route illustrated in blue on page 118.

I assume Stillstorm didn't destroy the Bellarmine to keep any technology out of the hands of the umiak but rather to keep human existence secret so that the umiak don't manage to grab another client species?

It's just standard procedure to destroy anything you can't take with you rather than let the enemy get it.

I seem to recall you saying that loroi metabolisms are very effective (because they are designed that way, presumably), and that they can work full days on very small meals.

At first I thought "oh they don't get fat, typical elf stuff", but then I thought about it again, and doesn't that work the other way? That is, if their metabolism is effective enough to get a lot of energy out of very little food, wouldn't they get fat very easily?

That's why they eat smaller portions and why they don't have a food culture (with the exception of Perrein's cuisine), we humans also have the natural inclination to over eat from when we were hunter gatherers; entrusting our bodies to preserve the food with body fat. As a bio-engineered species Loroi may not have such an inclination, with their instincts not pushing them eating much beyond what's necessary since the designers would have taken care of the logistical side of eating.

But yes, a Loroi would get fat QUICKLY if she was thrown into the modern food culture, thankfully they have a warrior ethos and as such they should be able to control themselves from eating too much.

I suppose they would and some probably do get fat quickly if they don't spend their energy. So far we have only seen how military loroi look and it is safe to assume that they all train regularly to stay fit - you don't see fat soldiers with the exception of senior staff officers in the real-life military either. May be different with the civilians, particularly those who don't do physical work too much.

Then again, with telepathy being a thing, peer pressure would be immense and most loroi would likely do anything to not get fat and be telepathically mocked all the time by everyone within range.



Tempo's quirk "Perrein cuisine" probably means that Perrein loroi back at home eat things that would make a klingon sick to his stomach, and that they find it entertaining to watch foreigners' reactions to their food. But yes, I second that Perrein loroi likely have a rich food culture given all the wildlife they have back at home *thank you for putting the mental image of that glow-in-the-dark tree-climbing octopus thing that likes to lay it's eggs inside one's fatty tissue while one sleeps into my mind, no brain flushing can get it out anymore*

hi hi

Given that the Loroi are an engineered species, I think it is safe to say that all bets are off when it comes to their metabolism. They could very well have mechanisms inherently built in so that they stop being hungry when they don't need to eat, and if they keep eating anyway, their body stops uptaking calories.

Even the amount of exercise they need would be up for review by whatever engineer made them. There are animals on Earth that maintain a huge amount of muscles with very little exercise. Tigers, for instance, sleep about 15.8 hours a day (65.8% of the time), and they are still incredibly strong. Humans on the other hand seem to be evolved to put a high value on conserving energy, and that plays a role in muscle atrophy over time. Clearly, there are differences in strength between Loroi like Beryl and Fireblade, but I wouldn't be surprised if any given Loroi could sit in a chair all day and still maintain a respectable physique.

If they were engineered for life in space, then resisting atrophy would be a critical trait.

(someone may have already said this)
Am I the only one who can't help but hear Talon's and Spiral's voices with stereotypical "eastern European" accents? I know that's a bit USA-centric of me, but I can't help it!

CJSF

Draenei voice from World of Warcraft?

Looking at the pronunciation of the various Trade Language characters in the Insider, the U, V, W, and Y sounds are absent so it isn't quite a phonetic parallel with a stereotypical Slavic accent. We're getting it all translated via Alex's perspective, but I imagine it sounds a bit like a Far-Eastern language with more limited phonemes based on the construction of the words listed in the Lexicon. All the words there have a kind of consonant+vowel+either repetition to their spelling and don't have much in the way of the consonant+consonant combinations you hear in Slavic languages.

I'd imagine to a Loroi familiar with speaking Trade Language, English will sound almost like English with an Indian/Arabic accent would to an English speaker. Particularly the use of soft consonants like H V W Y, the way consonants & vowels are pronounced from the back of the mouth as in the case of words like "you", and the way English pronunciation of phonemes aren't all done in one location but rather use the whole range of the mouth. By contrast the Insider lists the Trade Language alphabet's sounds, all of which are pronounced in the front or middle of the mouth, and none from the back.

As to whether that means English will sound ridiculous or fascinatingly-exotic, only future updates will reveal.

I think you're picking up that Spiral and Talon perhaos aren't as fluent in Trade as the other Loroi we've met so far. On page 113, Spiral refers to Alex/his suit as an "it", which feels a little odd.

On page 114, Talon says, "What is this you are trying to do?", which a long-winded way of saying "What's this for?"

In the final panel of page 115, Spiral says, "Do not meet Spiral with hands! I am busy piloting this shuttle." - again, it's an unusual phrasing for her to refer to herself in the third person.

So, I see where you're coming from. It reminds me of Pitr Dubovich from the webcomic Userfriendly, who adopts a fake slavic accent - Which is difficult to pull off in a webcomic, but it works!

L.

Here's a thought...

If there was such a thing as a non-Loroi telepath, be it the result of a rare genetic fluke or an artificially-induced trait, would a Loroi be able to understand them? Or, would the inherent difference in thought/brain structure render telepathic communication unintelligible, like a foreign language?

I know the Loroi can read (with varying degress of success) other races, but to my knowledge, they haven't encountered another telepathic race.

Luge is probably right, but I half-recall Arioch saying that all Loroi sound Eastern-European.