Well of Souls Forums

Werra wrote:The Loroi send their Dirals into a lot of different environments. What is their approach to variance in the natural hazard levels? I imagine a nice piece of land with year long harvest is easier than some ice world or similar.

The goal of the diral experience is to apply pressure to the band so that its members have to adapt and cope. In some locations, the environment does that on its own (and in some especially harsh environments the bands must be accompanied by adult guides just to keep them alive), but in others the environment is not much of a factor beyond simple isolation, and the pressure has to be applied externally, through methods that graduates of human boot camps would probably recognize -- harsh discipline, rigorous tasks, short rations, sleep deprivation, etc. But there's no guarantee that all diral band experiences are equally hard; it's a shared rite of passage and a test of temperament more than it is really formal training. Diral is kind of the like the preschool of Loroi warrior training, getting the students used to the rigors of military life; if the students actually learn something beyond that, that's a bonus.

Werra wrote:When Loroi call Alex 'captain' are they using 'torret' or a word that's not also a Loroi fleet rank?

It's probably a different word.

Regarding diral survival in the wild, of some funny reason I came to think of "lord of the flies".

I saw black painting on one of the Loroi ships.
What is it meaning?
Is it honor, or punishment, like when palpatine ordered to paint Booster Tarrik star destroyer in red as a symbol of his crimes?

That's Ashrain's ship, the black markings are meant to highlight that it is part of the Imperial Guard.

What I am curious about are the yellow and black stripes on Moonglow's ship. They look like human 'warning' markings but I wouldn't be surprised to be honor markings marking her ship as an Umiak Killer, the Umiak exoskeleton being Yellow and black possibly representing 'the End'.

EDIT:Duh, both Moonglows and Ashrain's ships have the yellow/black stripes so they both earned the honor, if it is indeed an honor.
EDIT2: Nope, all ships in the 51st have the yellow/black stripes so it is either meant to highlight they are part of the frontline strike groups or it is meant to be a Unit citation.

dragoongfa wrote:EDIT:Duh, both Moonglows and Ashrain's ships have the yellow/black stripes so they both earned the honor, if it is indeed an honor.
EDIT2: Nope, all ships in the 51st have the yellow/black stripes so it is either meant to highlight they are part of the frontline strike groups or it is meant to be a Unit citation.

It looks like these markings are nearly always in areas near the heaviest weapon mounts on ships (blasters&pulse cannons) where the hull doesn't angle away from the weapon's arc of fire. Maybe its a sort of warning for blast damage if a mount is fired in an angle too close to those hull parts.

I thought the same at first but neither Clearbrook or Gora Station have those markings near their weapon mounts.

Mmm.
Clearbrook's blasters seem to be placed on a raised part of the hull.
And Gora relay's blasters are either pointed up/outwards or the hull angles away as well.

The yellow and black stripes are hazard marks for the main batteries where the muzzle flash may be close to the hull.

The hulls missing them (I think there are only two) don't have any obvious place to put such markings, so I omitted them.

Why loroi demonstrated Alex to their allies?
If loroi were able to hide the fact, then they would have more freedom in what to do.

For example they could wipe out humans to:
1. Seal problem with barsam creation idea forever. No one will question loroi position as soia successor.
2. Get one really good planet. (not that much after bombardment)
3. Get rid of specie immune to loroi telepathy.

Or something different.
Now they can't do that because their allies won't accept that and they will probably have bureaucratic problems if humans will decide to join union.

Zorg56 wrote:Why loroi demonstrated Alex to their allies?
If loroi were able to hide the fact, then they would have more freedom in what to do.

For example they could wipe out humans to:
1. Seal problem with barsam creation idea forever. No one will question loroi position as soia successor.
2. Get one really good planet. (not that much after bombardment)
3. Get rid of specie immune to loroi telepathy.

Or something different.
Now they can't do that because their allies won't accept that and they will probably have bureaucratic problems if humans will decide to join union.

"The Loroi" didn't do this; Tempo did. The Loroi are not all of one heart and one mind, any more than humans are. Lack of FTL communication means that the Loroi authorities are only just now (as of page 147) receiving courier messages informing them of humanity's existence... and they are kind of preoccupied at the moment with bigger problems. The decisions up to this point have been made by individuals on the spot, and not all of these individuals are on the same page when it comes to their personal agendas.

As a diplomat, Tempo surely knew that granting Alex diplomatic credentials in front of allied witnesses would make it harder for him to be quietly disposed of... one might even infer that this is exactly why she did it. Tempo's job (or one of them, anyway) is to pass a new alien envoy along to higher authorities so that they can decide what to do with him; she can't accomplish this if someone kicks him out of an airlock.

Arioch wrote:

Zorg56 wrote:Why loroi demonstrated Alex to their allies?
If loroi were able to hide the fact, then they would have more freedom in what to do.

For example they could wipe out humans to:
1. Seal problem with barsam creation idea forever. No one will question loroi position as soia successor.
2. Get one really good planet. (not that much after bombardment)
3. Get rid of specie immune to loroi telepathy.

Or something different.
Now they can't do that because their allies won't accept that and they will probably have bureaucratic problems if humans will decide to join union.

"The Loroi" didn't do this; Tempo did. The Loroi are not all of one heart and one mind, any more than humans are. Lack of FTL communication means that the Loroi authorities are only just now (as of page 147) receiving courier messages informing them of humanity's existence... and they are kind of preoccupied at the moment with bigger problems. The decisions up to this point have been made by individuals on the spot, and not all of these individuals are on the same page when it comes to their personal agendas.

As a diplomat, Tempo surely knew that granting Alex diplomatic credentials in front of allied witnesses would make it harder for him to be quietly disposed of... one might even infer that this is exactly why she did it. Tempo's job (or one of them, anyway) is to pass a new alien envoy along to higher authorities so that they can decide what to do with him; she can't accomplish this if someone kicks him out of an airlock.

I assume the Barsam were already aware of the wreckage before the loroi could have destroyed it, so it's possibly in the diplomatic interest of the Loroi to assure their allies that they didn't just wipe out a first-contact vessel from an alien species, whether they actually did so or not, and in that case a statement of "oops we found no survivors" is strategically less optimal than a "we didn't do it but look we rescued one of them!"
I mean, considering the long term prospects of the war and the, I assume, shaky grounds between the Loroi and their union allies at the moment.

And/Or, you know, maybe most Lorois (is plural with an "s"?), like most humans, aren't evil.

CJSF

What kind of water and food rations does a small transport typically carry?
Are they equipped to recycle waste water and air, or are they only loaded with the bare essentials needed to reach a point of resupply?

CF2 wrote:What kind of water and food rations does a small transport typically carry?
Are they equipped to recycle waste water and air, or are they only loaded with the bare essentials needed to reach a point of resupply?

It would depend on the configuration and number of passengers, but for a mission like this I would expect them to carry at least a week or two of reserve supplies.

They'll have some robust and redundant rebreather/scrubber systems, so I don't think oxygen will be a problem, or at least not the long pole in the tent. The air conditioning system (assuming it's running) will need to be able to dehumidify the air, and they will be able to recapture and reuse that water, but I don't think a mission like this would be equipped with waste water purification systems, so they're gradually going to lose usable water.

cacambo43 wrote:And/Or, you know, maybe most Lorois (is plural with an "s"?), like most humans, aren't evil.

Doesn't really matter if you're evil or not, when it comes to diplomacy. If you get a bad rep you're in trouble, that's why propaganda and media control is so important.

Arioch wrote:..., so they're gradually going to lose usable water.

On page 135 one of the loroi says "this is no safe heaven"

Do loroi have religion?

Zorg56 wrote:On page 135 one of the loroi says "this is no safe heaven"

Have you meant "haven"?

Oh i misreaded that, sorry.

There's an Emperor. Are there also lower ranks of nobility for the Loroi?

Would say the position of secretary of state come with a (nominal) duchy?