Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[Arioch]

You haven't answered the following question to your post btw:

As I said, I'd rather not lock down population census numbers. Sorry.

[ShadowDragon8685]

The carbines are quite compact and well-suited to close-quarters shipboard combat; you have to remember that the characters holding them are only ~170-175 cm tall.



Measuring the height of the characters against the length of the weapons gives a figure of about 650mm (25.6") for the length of the carbine. Compare to:

P90 505 mm
MP5 (fixed stock) 680 mm
MP40 (stock folded) 630 mm
Thompson (fixed stock) 810 mm
M4 (stock folded) 756 mm

Riiiiight! Thank you, I am such a derp. For some reason I was thinking the average Loroi female was 5'11" or so.

So, do Loroi have full rifle/battle rifle versions of those weapons, then?

[e]Also, Fireblade and Jardin look to be about equal in height. Is Jardin short, or is Fireblade an elevation-privledged statistical outlier?

You haven't answered the following question to your post btw:

As I said, I'd rather not lock down population census numbers. Sorry.

It is kind of a tall order. Taking the census for just one small nation-state is a huge undertaking in (relative) peacetime, taking a full census of an empire spanning 150+ planets with populations as large as Ethiopia or greater would be monumental. Especially since given the extreme rapiditiy with which Loroi reproduce and die, in wartime, you'd pretty much need to run the census every like, three or four years or so.

Source: I took the U.S. Census in 2010.

[Arioch]

So, do Loroi have full rifle/battle rifle versions of those weapons, then?

There's not much need; a slightly longer barrel doesn't really benefit a beam weapon. And you can tune the power up and down as the circumstances require.

Also, Fireblade and Jardin look to be about equal in height. Is Jardin short, or is Fireblade an elevation-privledged statistical outlier?

Alex and Tempo are about the same height (5'8"). Beryl is two inches shorter and Fireblade is two inches taller.

[ShadowDragon8685]

So, do Loroi have full rifle/battle rifle versions of those weapons, then?

There's not much need; a slightly longer barrel doesn't really benefit a beam weapon.

Fair enough.

Also, Fireblade and Jardin look to be about equal in height. Is Jardin short, or is Fireblade an elevation-privledged statistical outlier?

Alex and Tempo are about the same height (5'8"). Beryl is two inches shorter and Fireblade is two inches taller.

Really? Huh. I need to look more carefully, then. I thought Fireblade and Alex were the same height.

[sunphoenix]

Yeah, I never got the impression that Alex was really tall.. not short mind you ..but not noticeable tall.

I'm like 6'2"..and I notice most of the people I'm around in general are shorter than me.. many significantly shorter.

[Absalom]

Is it unusual that worlds are as densly populated as earth?

I remember Arioch previously saying "yes" to this question, at least for the Loroi. I think the Neridi had higher population densities than the Loroi though, so you'd need to search for the original forum post (probably several pages back in this thread).

[ShadowDragon8685]

Is it unusual that worlds are as densly populated as earth?

I remember Arioch previously saying "yes" to this question, at least for the Loroi. I think the Neridi had higher population densities than the Loroi though, so you'd need to search for the original forum post (probably several pages back in this thread).

At this point, I'm very tempted to comb this entire bloody thread into a series of Google docs named "Thus sprach Arioch" divided into topics such as sociology and technology, and including context. Such would be a real work.

[ShadowDragon8685]

In the Insider's forum quotations, I found the following:

No. Ranged weapons are useful both at close range and long range; melee weapons are useless at anything but point-blank range. You will see some swords and knives among the Loroi, but these are purely ceremonial items. (Obviously, troops will have a variety of utility cutting tools that can double as emergency weapons, but I don't think that was the question.)

What would Loroi ceremonial swords/knives tend to look like? Colors, level of decoration, level of practical function if pressed into use in an emergency, etc? What sorts of materials would they be made of; traditional steel, modern alloys; hand-forged, machine-made?

[Hālian]

How many tibos in a Deinar tozon?

[Hālian]

Here, have a Terran ↔ Loroi calendar converter that I made. It only supports nistil tozon for now. If it's inaccurate or buggy, let me know.

[Arioch]

What would Loroi ceremonial swords/knives tend to look like? Colors, level of decoration, level of practical function if pressed into use in an emergency, etc? What sorts of materials would they be made of; traditional steel, modern alloys; hand-forged, machine-made?

As with human swords, there is a wide variety based on subculture, period and function. Traditional weapons are made from steel, but modern weapons could be made from more modern materials. We'll see a variety of them in the future (Stillstorm has a collection), and you can see the hilt of Stillstorm's dagger in the comic, but I don't have much else at present; I did some rough concept a long time ago that I'm not particularly happy with today.

How many tibos in a Deinar tozon?

Roughly 8,000; I don't seem to have a firm value for the length of the Deinar year.

[ShadowDragon8685]

What would Loroi ceremonial swords/knives tend to look like? Colors, level of decoration, level of practical function if pressed into use in an emergency, etc? What sorts of materials would they be made of; traditional steel, modern alloys; hand-forged, machine-made?

As with human swords, there is a wide variety based on subculture, period and function. Traditional weapons are made from steel, but modern weapons could be made from more modern materials. We'll see a variety of them in the future (Stillstorm has a collection), and you can see the hilt of Stillstorm's dagger in the comic, but I don't have much else at present; I did some rough concept a long time ago that I'm not particularly happy with today.

Well, damn. I missed that Stillstorm was strapping a knife.
Page 50 has that awesome mosiac of Tempest, for whom the ship was named, wielding something that looks a little like a scimitar, and page 62 has Stillstorm's dagger.

Looks like gold-ish crossguards and pommel are somewhat popular, at least.

[ShadowDragon8685]

Has the other armored Loroi on the shuttle - the one who is not Reed - been named?
Page 102 appears to have the best image of her face - she's behind Fireblade to Fireblade's right (the reader's left.)

I'm pretty sure the green-suited "shoe girl" is Cloud, and also went with them on the shuttle, unless I'm badly mistaken.

[Arioch]

Has the other armored Loroi on the shuttle - the one who is not Reed - been named?

Yes, her name is Flint. (Soroin Pideir Alain)

I'm pretty sure the green-suited "shoe girl" is Cloud, and also went with them on the shuttle, unless I'm badly mistaken.

That's right. (Soroin Paset Nial)

[ShadowDragon8685]

Has the other armored Loroi on the shuttle - the one who is not Reed - been named?

Yes, her name is Flint. (Soroin Pideir Alain)

I'm pretty sure the green-suited "shoe girl" is Cloud, and also went with them on the shuttle, unless I'm badly mistaken.

That's right. (Soroin Paset Nial)

Cheers.

Hrm...

Two meatheads, a telekinetic ubermeathead, a diplomat, an overvolted eidetic analyst, two adass pilots, one hapless schlub, and a gofer.
What an ensemble cast! I love it.

[Krulle]

We all do.
Hence we're hanging around fiddling with Arioch's world until he cannot recognise it anymore....

[ShadowDragon8685]

We all do.
Hence we're hanging around fiddling with Arioch's world until he cannot recognise it anymore....

It almost sounds like the ensemble cast of a below-decks episode of Star Trek Voyager; you know, the ones where they went "we need two episodes, but we only have enough time to film like, 1.2 episodes. Solution: Grab a bunch of our extras who've already had speaking roles and throw 'em together, we can have a few of the main cast drop by for parts of the episode."


Also, for some reason, now I am picturing Cloud armed and armored like a certain other Cloud...

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Come on, it would be funny!

[Sweforce]

When we are into armor I have noticed that apart from different cast colors the armours are very similar but with subtle differences. A colorblind comparison between let's say Beryl, Stillstorm & Fireblade yields interesting results. Especially Fireblades teidar armour are very different from others. That not everyone use all pieces are one thing but some armours are obviously different in design, especially teidar stands out. Is this due to an ongoing shift in armour models or does each cast contract manufacturers individually and most casts tend to choose the same one, hench their similar apperance?

[ShadowDragon8685]

When we are into armor I have noticed that apart from different cast colors the armours are very similar but with subtle differences. A colorblind comparison between let's say Beryl, Stillstorm & Fireblade yields interesting results. Especially Fireblades teidar armour are very different from others. That not everyone use all pieces are one thing but some armours are obviously different in design, especially teidar stands out. Is this due to an ongoing shift in armour models or does each cast contract manufacturers individually and most casts tend to choose the same one, hench their similar apperance?

Comparing Fireblade, Stillstorm and Beryl is a crapshoot, since they're all different Castes. Compare Fireblade's armor with that of Mothwing and Razorthorn.
They're the same Caste, so their armor is largely identical, although Fireblade, for reasons known only to her (and Arioch) appears to refuse to wear her sidearm. The things on their heads are psionic amplifiers, and are custom-made for the individual (by nessessity,) and the armor trim bits are different colors to denote rank.

However, there are some notable differences with a certain uniform - the Torrai caste.
Page 73 is a perfect example.
From left to right, at the top, we have Moonglow, Ashrain and Arclight; and of course, at the bottom is Stillstorm.

Moonglow is a Torrai Mazeit, equivalent to a Commodore, which would seem to have her being overpromoted to be skippering just one ship. Ashrain's rank isn't clear in the Insider, but her uniform decorations appear to be the same as those of Arclight, who is a standard-issue Torrai Torret. Stillstorm is a Torrai Lashret. Each discrete step up - Arclight/Ashrain -> Moonglow -> Stillstorm leads to greater decoration and armor elaboration. I imagine by the time it gets to Torrai Azerein, aka Emperor Greywind, she'd have to be wearing huge World of Warcraft pauldrons.


[e]Wow, I was joking, but holy crap.

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She kind of is wearing armor that looks like she's about ready to storm the Frozen Throne next to a Draenei and a couple of dorfs. She'd be right at home in Heroes of the Storm...

Not to mention hair that looks like she needs her own Cloud to carry it. I mean, I get that hair length denotes age among the Loroi, but that just seems impractical.

[e2]Actually, how fast does Loroi hair grow? Human hair grows ~6 inches a year. I imagine their medical technology could accelerate this if so desired?

[ShadowDragon8685]

Come to think of it, I have another question: about Loroi Spoken Names.

Some Loroi have one-word spoken names; Beryl, Tempo, Talon, Spiral, etc. Some have two-word spoken names that are concatenated into one word, like Ashrain, Redriver, and Stillstorm. And at least one has a two-word non-concatenated name, that being Rune Laurel.
(Fireblade is kind of a wildcard, since "Fire" and "Blade" are their own words, but her name is the singular word for "Blade-of-fire" in the Lexicon.)

I'm presuming this is probably partly due at least to the culture they were raised in. (Am I wrong about that?) But anyway, my question:

If you were vocally communicating with a Loroi who had a two-word name that did not concatenate, like Rune Laurel, and you achieved some degree of comfortable familiarity with them, would you abbreviate their name? IE, addressing Rune Laurel as "Rune," or "Laurel"?