Page 97

[icekatze]

hi hi

Holy buckets thats creepy! but not in a bad way, more of a "totally appropriate given the circumstances," kind of way. Honestly, I have a feeling this might be an opportunity for Alex and Beryl to discuss the two species' views on death and luck. I seem to recall Loroi having their own views on luck that may or may not be a defensive reaction to survivors guilt.

Also: Alex also knew the name of the Loroi too without any prompting from them. Once he saw them having their silent conversation, he asked if they were Loroi without being told.

[NOMAD]

man Alex must be having some from of survivors regret or PTSD-like

man that must be hard on him, being the only one left AND having to be the loroi only contact for now. Man i would need a few days for that.

however, from page 96, its look like Alex was at least partially lucid enough after the aft section blew to hear Ellen. I guess we'll find out later

[Drek]

Who cares if he mentioned the Loroi or the Umiak? He's speaking the trade language, which pretty much guarantees he's in contact with someone involved in the current astro-political situation. That basically guarantees he's at least heard of the Loroi and Umiak. Now, if he'd played dumb for a few months while he "learned" trade, that's be another thing, but I don't think homo sapiens has that kinda time.

[Michael]

probably not + makes for poor story

[JeroOfBaconGrease]

I keep looking at the face inside Ellen's shattered helmet on the page, I can't determine what I'm looking at? Is that... Is that facial muscles with the skin cooked off? Or maybe we're seeing the only way humans can be effected by the telepathic powers of races & that's a Umiak face in there... (By the only way I mean they can influence our dreams, if I've gleaned up what comes through correctly. Now I'm starting to wonder if Umiak keep psycho-active species as slaves to do psychological warfare.)

Hey, I'm back. Is Umiak the plural of Umiak, I forget.

[Arioch]

Hey, I'm back. Is Umiak the plural of Umiak, I forget.

Welcome back. And yes.

[JeroOfBaconGrease]

Hi Arioch, love the enigmatic silence.

[Karst45]

I mean they can influence our dreams

hmm interresting point. but the question should be: do the lotai (mask/psychick *wink wink* shield) become less effective when we sleep? Is it innate; they cant just read our mind pattern (had a D&D game were goblin were immune to mind affecting spell. how can you affect something that dont exist

The other possibility is that it an active (thus shall not read!) or passive ability we dont require concentration to maintain.

[CaptainChaos]

Hey Arioch, first off let me say you've got a webcomic and I'd gladly follow it for another 10 years! Anyhow, I was reading the prior posts in this tread and I was wondering are the Lolori still trying to mind scan Alex (when he walks by in the hall, while he's asleep?) or have they just accepted that he's immune to mind probes and stopped trying?

[Arioch]

The first rule of Lotai Club is: You do not talk about Lotai Club.

These are questions that Alex doesn't know the answer to, so it's not really appropriate for me to discuss them now. They are addressed, to a certain degree, in the forthcoming pages of the current chapter.

[Voitan]

If a Loroi touches him without any context, or reason to do so, she's probably trying to probe him.

[Imbrooge]

If they do that then it's obvious that they can't probe his mind well, if at all, from a distance. Also, something tells me that the singing is going to kickstart some interesting things this chapter.

EDIT: My money is on Cloud whats-her-name being the one trying to wake Alex up.

[Michael]

Beryl or an unnamed character im thinking

[JeroOfBaconGrease]

I'm pretty sure it's Beryl, she seems to have become something of a liaison of sorts. And since she did refer to him as Captain when they left the bridge, I don't see the Beryl doesn't call Alex captain argument holding water. I wonder if we'll be seeing more of her inscrutable sense of humor.

[Grayhome]

Of course it's Beryl! The Loroi need to record every second of this contact so they can invent an excuse to invade Terran space later. Obviously.

[Durabys]

Of course it's Beryl they need to record every second of this contact so they can invent an excuse to invade Terran space later. Obviously.

One small error in your theory. At this moment the message/info package of a First Contact with the Terrans is probably "just" reaching the Loroi inner colonies - perhaps not even the Homeworlds.

It may take days before even a preliminary political/dimplomatic message response is send to the Tempest Group.

Weeks before an Intel team will be detached to the Tempest to properly debrief the Terran *I anxiously await watching the following fireworks when an Intel gal tells Fireblade that her mind probing was "inadequate". *.

The Loroi won't invade someone out of the blue - at least not immediately in a span of months - they will have to make logistical preparations, ground forces and ect. also somehow account for the fact that humans are "nils" on the psionic side of things will hinder and slow down any preparations and so some of the more hard-line naval chiefs of staff may therefore want to glass us from orbit immediately *just to get rid of the future frustrations and headaches of hunting down Terran ships - with psi-invisible occupants* ... which will in turn create a flame war of epic proportions with the side/group of officers that promote caution and when we count in the Loroi "sincere" *at least to their own kin* nature we can count on battle-chalanges being thrown around not long after that, which will prompt the Loroi ruler to shout to shut them up.

Simply, they will want to analyse this situation to hell and back and then it is still the Empress Regnants decissions that carries the day.

[Grayhome]

The Loroi won't invade someone out of the blue

Yes. Yes they will. Absolutely they will. The Loroi are a militaristic, arrogant society that has managed to make the entire galaxy their enemy. Invading without planning is what they did to the Morat, it is what they did to the Tithric and it is what they will do to the Terrans. Arrogance is like that and the Loroi will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again until they lose the war or until that arrogance changes.

The society the Loroi have seems to be a cross between Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, and the Sith empire. I do not expect an intelligent decision out of the Loroi, especially after we have witnessed Stillstorm's inept handling of first contact with Humanity. She tortured the frigging ambassador to a neutral power she met all of five minutes ago and knows nothing about in a time of war when her nation is losing said war. Badly. The Loroi need every ally they can get, but they do not seem willing offer anything to would be allies other than the old "serve us and you get to live" reward that tyrannies like to hand out as payment for enslaving smaller and weaker nations.

[GeoModder]

The Loroi won't invade someone out of the blue

Yes. yes they will. Absolutely they will. The Loroi are a militaristic, stupid society that has managed to make the entire galaxy their enemy. Invading without planning is what they did to the Morat, it is what they did to the Tithric and it is what they will do to the Terrans. Arrogance is like that and the Loroi will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again until they lose the war or until that arrogance changes.

It's hard to plan an invasion when you're reacting to the deployments of a superior force.
If they hadn't counter-attacked through Morat -and Tithric territories, they likely would have been defeated by the time the Outsider story began.

[Grayhome]

It's hard to plan an invasion when you're reacting to the deployments of a superior force.
If they hadn't counter-attacked through Morat -and Tithric territories, they likely would have been defeated by the time the Outsider story began.

And had the Loroi been clever enough to make the Morat and the Tithric into allies they would have won by the time the Outsider story began. The Loroi are not asking for friendship from their neighbors, they are demanding slaves. That has a tendency to provoke a negative reaction in a neutral nation, especially when they note that the Loroi have been losing the war for 25 years. BADLY.

[Mjolnir]

And had the Loroi been clever enough to make the Morat and the Tithric into allies they would have won by the time the Outsider story began. The Loroi are not asking for friendship from their neighbors, they are demanding slaves.

The other members of the Loroi Union are not slaves. The Golim are the closest to such a thing, but not through any deliberate action by the Loroi, and the Loroi have actually taken steps to maintain a Golim population not influenced by Loroi telepathy...not really in character for your arrogant bloodthirsty slavers. It sounds like the Morat sided with the Umiak only when it looked like they were about to win the war (which would in fact have happened if the Historians hadn't intervened), and the Loroi actually tried a diplomatic approach with the Tithric first, but the Tithric government stalled while apparently aiding the Umiak, who were performing mass exterminations of Loroi on captured colony worlds. They aren't perfect neighbors, but your description of them seems wildly inaccurate.

That has a tendency to provoke a negative reaction in a neutral nation, especially when they note that the Loroi have been losing the war for 25 years. BADLY.

They've been at a stalemate overall, with some losses and some gains. Things don't look good, but if they were losing badly, they wouldn't still be around after 25 years. "Losing badly" isn't something you can sustain for decades.