Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

[GeoModder]

You're welcome. The picture is now removed from that page.

[Arioch]

I removed the image because it's no longer accurate. It's not a problem if people see it, but they should be aware that it contradicts other official maps (both now and in the future).

[boldilocks]

I removed the image because it's no longer accurate. It's not a problem if people see it, but they should be aware that it contradicts other official maps (both now and in the future).

That's why I believe even more that it's the real map. Anything else is just the Woman trying to keep us misinformed. Well, the Loroi KGB isn't going to get the best of this good ol' boy, I've been doing nothing but drinking disinfectant and wearing acrylic for the last 2 weeks!

[Werra]

God, I hope you're serious.

[SVlad]

What would Loroi do if their scout reached humanity now?
I mean, when there is no Umiak and they leave in peace for 200 hundred years.

[GeoModder]

What would Loroi do if their scout reached humanity now?
I mean, when there is no Umiak and they leave in peace for 200 hundred years.

We'd be an opposite case of the Golim. Quarantained for the Loroi's good, rather then Humanity's.

[Arioch]

What would Loroi do if their scout reached humanity now?
I mean, when there is no Umiak and they leave in peace for 200 hundred years.

Alternate history hypotheticals are always problematic. The flow of history is like the weather; it depends on countless seemingly unrelated, seemingly minor factors.

If the question is, "would Loroi destroy humanity?" I don't see any reason why they would. In 2020, the Loroi were still busily colonizing the Seren region, during which period they met many new alien civilizations. The Loroi were more like the Spartans than the Romans; even under an expansionist leader like Eighth Dawn, it was not their first impulse to attack or conquer. We would have to construct an alternate history to determine what Loroi scouts were doing past the Great Wasteland and what they wanted there, but barring some special circumstance, I would expect the Loroi to treat humanity the same as the many other races they met in this period; they would most likely attempt to establish trade relations and learn what we had to teach.

Discovery of humanity's telepathic resistance would be a concern, but the Loroi were pretty confident in their power in this period, and we were still a single-planet pre-starflight civilization; certainly no threat to them. The Loroi had also met the Historians at about this time, who represented a far more serious threat to Loroi power than humanity ever could. I think of more concern would be our physical appearance and the implications to the Loroi beliefs of their own origins. While this might impact diplomatic relations in unforeseen ways, it's hard to imagine a sequence of events that would trigger a Loroi attack over the issue. It's unlikely that the Loroi would be colonizing in such a remote region, so there probably wouldn't be the kind of pressures that led to de-facto annexation of the Golim and Nibiren.

[Ithekro]

We are quite out of the way, politically speaking, form Loroi interests in our present day. With what is presumed to be a hundred or two lightyears of less than ideal star systems between their space on the Sol System.

What categorizes that region as the Great Wasteland anyway? Is Sol an oasis in the Wasteland, or are we just on the other side of it?

[dragoongfa]

We are quite out of the way, politically speaking, form Loroi interests in our present day. With what is presumed to be a hundred or two lightyears of less than ideal star systems between their space on the Sol System.

What categorizes that region as the Great Wasteland anyway? Is Sol an oasis in the Wasteland, or are we just on the other side of it?

IIRC the Great Wastelands are mostly metal poor star systems with everything that entails in terms of biological diversity (certain metals are of paramount importance in terms of biochemistry, without Iron for example there can be no red blood cells) and industrial exploitation.

[SVlad]

Arioch, thank you for the detailed answer. I was interested in the general direction of Loroi actions (would they invisibly observe, technologically enlighten, etc) not a full alternative history.

[Arioch]

What categorizes that region as the Great Wasteland anyway? Is Sol an oasis in the Wasteland, or are we just on the other side of it?

It's a region without much in the way of habitable planets, indigenous life or signs of previous precursor activity. The area is not precisely defined; they stopped sending surveying teams past a certain point.

Arioch, thank you for the detailed answer. I was interested in the general direction of Loroi actions (would they invisibly observe, technologically enlighten, etc) not a full alternative history.

Well, like I said, a lot would depend on the circumstances of the encounter and the reason that Loroi scouts were there in the first place. It would be a story unto itself.

[Dorfington]

It's a region without much in the way of habitable planets, indigenous life or signs of previous precursor activity. The area is not precisely defined; they stopped sending surveying teams past a certain point.

Whilst the great wasteland harbors few habitable worlds, is there much in the way of useful resources when compared to the rest of the star map shown? Or do the Loroi and the various other powers have enough within their spheres of influence already?

[Krulle]

Once you're building star fleets the size of Loroi and Umiak fleets, gatehring ressources seems like a minor task, for large semi-autonomous machinery.
Asteroid/planetoid mining likely. And seeing the size of our solar system and the wealth of ressources distributed all over it, ressource depletion seems like a real minor issue.
Having habitable spaces seems more valuable, and a planet is large, and comparably cheap in making habitable, if the biosphere is compatible.

You'll need a lot of people living around the large manufacturing bases.

And seeing the need for expensive jump drives, I cannot imagine mining elsewhere and jumping the heavy mass good back to your manufacturing bases in your home systems.

[Werra]

And seeing the need for expensive jump drives, I cannot imagine mining elsewhere and jumping the heavy mass good back to your manufacturing bases in your home systems.

That depends. If your resources come from the edges of the solar system, you'll spend a lot of time and effort ferrying them around. It can be more economical to set up a minig and refining operation alongside some basic industry on a dead planet in a neighboring system.

[Arioch]

Whilst the great wasteland harbors few habitable worlds, is there much in the way of useful resources when compared to the rest of the star map shown? Or do the Loroi and the various other powers have enough within their spheres of influence already?

In terms of minerals, any high-metallicity solar system (of the sort likely to harbor life) will contain what you need; even "rare" metals will be plentiful in asteroids. At this tech level and scale, I think resource extraction is mainly about infrastructure, and so you want that infrastructure to have the best possible access to both the work force and the other links in the supply chain. There probably isn't much value in setting up a mining colony in an otherwise uninhabited system, unless the resource is some special "unobtanium" that's unavailable anywhere else, and I don't think we have any of those in Outsider.

The most limited resources are probably biological in origin; things like fossil fuels (used probably more for manufacturing than for energy) aren't found on lifeless worlds.

[GeoModder]

The most limited resources are probably biological in origin; things like fossil fuels (used probably more for manufacturing than for energy) aren't found on lifeless worlds.

With the Bulan Conflicts in mind, perhaps there are lifeless worlds in the Local Bubble which had a thriving ecology back in those days which collapsed due to said conflicts.

[Sweforce]

Astronomers have location found systems that are a bit odd hinting that was is extremely rare normally can be more common in other systems. It could thing like a former gas giant that due to it's proximity have had it's gas layers blown of exposing the core for instance. Also, super novas, and worse hyper novas eject starmatter. Sometimes, due to the specifics of the former Star thease remains, when captured in another star system, thease could have materials otherwise hard to come by.

Note: Hypernovas are such a overpowered type of supernova that there is a chance that there may not even be a stellar remnant left at the core. No neutron star, no black hole, just NOTHING. Rather cool actually.

[Arioch]

I can think of two possible examples where superabundance of resources might warrant an exploitation colony in the absence of other habitation. Unfortunately they're both hypothetical (as far as I'm aware) with no known confirmed examples. But rarity could make them even more valuable.

The first would be the above mentioned iron planet or "cannonball"; an exposed core with solid metal right on the surface. There are all kinds of potential hazards to collection on a world like this; it will be very dense and so with a higher surface gravity for its mass; it would most likely be very close in to the primary and so very hot; and if it has an atmosphere it could be highly toxic, with a "hydrosphere" of iron pentacarbonyl instead of water. Whether such a world would be economical to mine (compared to less efficient conventional iron ore mines located much closer to the sites of production) would depend on the degree of hazard... a rare cannonball that wasn't too hot or massive or unreasonably toxic might be a real treasure house, especially if there were also a more habitable world in the same system.

The other would be a "carbon planet"; a terrestrial world formed from a proplyd that was carbon-rich and oxygen-poor. It would be similar in structure to a terrestrial world, with a metal core and rocky mantle, but with a surface of diamonds and silicon carbides, and an atmosphere and hydrosphere (if any) of hydrocarbons. As with a cannonball, a carbon planet might be very dense and/or quite toxic, and the only proposed candidates formed around supernova remnants, and so would be intensely irradiated.

[Ithekro]

While on a planetary or system scale, I can't think of a substance off the top of my head that would be needed for such things, there have been plenty of minor territorial claims and even wars fought over tiny islands were the only resource being gathered come from bird droppings (Guano). Nitrates. Chile had at least one war over that. the United States and Germany nearly had a war over one. The British, French, Germans, Americans, and just about anyone that could boost even a small ocean going navy would have a claim on ones or more such islands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It could even be something that is used to make taimat for drive engines. It could be semi-rare, but easier than making antimatter. it may not even be needed in large amounts, unless you need to field a large number of ships. One system may be enough to last hundreds of years normally, but during a total war, perhaps one needs two or three such systems to keep up with the demands of the wartime shipbuilding.

[Arioch]

If I needed some kind of macguffin material, I could say that the catalyst which makes taimat production efficient is some kind of super-rare exotic material. But I don't think the story needs that kind of thing.