Forum Digest: Loroi

Biology

The Loroi are remarkably humanlike in appearance, though with blue skin and pointed ears, and unusual range of hair and eye color. They are slightly smaller and more slender than humans; the average female stands 170 cm (5'7") tall, and males rarely more than 150 cm (5'). Nearly 90% of Loroi births are female. Most Loroi are left-handed. Loroi possess a unique form of telepathic communication known as sanzai ("sending"). A small percentage of Loroi also possess psychokinetic abilities.

Despite their outward similarity, Loroi and humans are very different biochemically and genetically. Loroi blood is blue, based on the same transport mechanism (most likely an exotic form of hemocyanin) as the other known Soia-Liron species. Loroi internal body temperature is lower than humans', about 27ºC (80ºF), and Loroi metabolism is highly efficient; adult Loroi normally eat only once per day. Young Loroi mature rapidly, reaching physical adulthood in 8 years, but age slowly, potentially living for 400 years or more. Loroi do not show significant signs of aging until shortly before they die. There is a small amount of growth in bone and cartilage throughout a Loroi's life, so an older Loroi is likely to be taller, and have longer ears and nose than a younger Loroi. Older Loroi often grow their hair longer, as well.

Would the Loroi home world have very low UV? After all, if you can see the color of their veins through their skin (just like people from really far north), then they'd sunburn real easy.

In humans, our white skin is given pinkish color from our blood, and tan or brown color from melanin (the UV protective pigment). In Loroi, their skin is also white, tinted blue by blood. Loroi also have an anti-UV pigment, which gives the skin a slightly grayish-brown tint, which can be seen in the darker-hued Loroi (Fireblade being the notable example). Shipboard Loroi do tend to be pale, as they don't get much sunlight.

A 10-to-1 split between female & male? That's pretty skewed. Don't most higher animals with two sexes pretty much split it right down the middle?

Yes, but on Earth, "higher animals" generally means mammals, which all use a similar (X-Y) sex determination scheme. Other classes of Earth life can use very different schemes, including dynamic ones based on environment or behavior, which can result in substantial differences in gender population ratios.

Or are the Loroi sort of like bees, with a high percentage of sterile "female" drones in the population?

No, all the females are fertile. This combined with the large percentage of females and rapid maturation of offspring is potentially explosive from a population growth point of view; however, the social structure of the Loroi normally puts tight restrictions on the access of females to the males. The Loroi view this as an important adaptation for a warrior species, as they have the flexibility to rapidly increase their population growth (or stagnate it) as the situation demands through social controls.

Assuming a male Loroi has a "sexual career" somewhat equal to a human (call it 40 years - yes I'm an optimist), then he has the potential to see six generations go by before he "retires." That'd be his great-great-great-great grand daughter.

Male Loroi can be reproductively active for hundreds of years, and generations can be very short;  Loroi are physically adult and reproductively viable by age 8 or 9. Other than injury or health problems, Loroi don't age much outwardly until shortly before they die, and are physically and sexually active throughout most of their lifespans, though their fertility may decline as they age (especially for females). It can be hard to tell a 30 year old Loroi from a 150 year old Loroi, so they don't have the same age-gap sex taboos that we do. So yes, a Loroi male could potentially father many thousands of children in his lifetime. Female Loroi can also potentially give birth to many children during a long lifetime, but female fertility declines markedly with age.

However, there is a "generation gap" of a different sort. Under peacetime conditions there must clearly be limits on Loroi population growth; the Loroi live a long time. Prior to the start of the war, in much of established Loroi territory, it was only the older, high-status Loroi who were permitted to reproduce (to replace individuals dying of old age). So what you had prior to the start of the war was an older Loroi population and relatively few younger Loroi. When the war started, the population limits were lifted, and so now 25 years later what you have are a group of Loroi who are very young, and a group of Loroi who are much older, and very few in between.  

Are Humans and Loroi sexually compatible? Could they produce hybrid offspring?

While Humans and Loroi are outwardly very similar, their biochemistries are quite different and incompatible. It doesn't take much to be physically sexually compatible (after all, even human men can have sex with other men), and Loroi and Humans could certainly engage in the physical act of sex, but such unions could not possibly produce viable offspring. However, aside from the biochemical incompatibility, Loroi and Humans have essentially the same concept of male and female, and essentially identical sexual apparatus. The Loroi females carry the zygotes that are fertilized by gametes from the males, and the females carry fetuses to term and deliver them in live birth.  

Do Loroi females have monthly or yearly reproductive cycles? I'd bet yearly, since with the scarcity of males there's likely to be a lot of "lost opportunities" otherwise.

Loroi females don't actually begin their reproductive cycles until after they are fertilized, so they don't have monthly "periods." The Loroi female's body must be able to preserve the male gametes until her reproductive system can get up to speed (which would probably take several weeks). There is ample precedent for this in terrestrial organisms -- for example, an ant queen is fertilized only once, and can preserve the sperm for her entire lifespan of several decades. The reason behind this feature is that for Loroi females, opportunities for copulation with a male are infrequent and often unscheduled; having regular menstruations to stay ready for the possibility of fertilization would be wasteful and debilitating, especially since females are the warrior class. By being able to store the male gametes and begin the reproductive cycle after insemination, Loroi females can be constantly prepared for the possibility of fertilization, without the costly monthly "curse."

Which is a good thing for the galaxy, if you think about it.

Since Alex has no breathing apparatus aboard the Loroi ship, why isn't he a) choking on a poisonous atmosphere, or b) dying of infection from alien microbes? 

Luckily, this is the sort of convenient space opera universe where most of the species breathe the same basic nitrogen-oxygen mixture. I think this is not all that unreasonable an assumption, given the chemistry of oxygen and carbon dioxide on a planet with photosynthetic plants, which is a good place to start for any alien biome. As for naughty Loroi microbes, I must assume that the Loroi had sufficient medical technology and concern for Alex's health to have considered these issues before they cracked him out of his suit.

It is very possible that Earth and Deinar were 'seeded' by the same thing; there is evidence that a Mars-rock carried over the original RNA to the earth. Of course, that would just mean that the base-pairs (right usage of term?) are the same (except perhaps 't').

Seeded DNA might account for similar genetic structures or biochemistry, but it wouldn't result in such similarity of external form. Evolution doesn't work that way; all creatures on Earth evolved from the same primordial DNA, but that doesn't make humans and cuttlefish look anything alike. The Loroi didn't originally evolve on Deinar anyway; it's not known where the Loroi originated from.

Society

As a warrior culture, Loroi society is heavily stratified, and its institutions and customs can be very rigid. Details of specific traditions and rituals can be diverse, having progressed in parallel on three separate splinter colonies, and having since spread to dozens of additional worlds. There are, for example, many diverging dialects of the Trade Language that the Loroi jointly inherited from their Soia predecessors. Most of the core features of Loroi society are, however, common to most of the sub-cultures, and in almost all cases, society revolves around the warrior class. Loroi society is sharply partitioned into three segments: the females of the warrior class, the civilian females, and the males. The warrior class, accounting for roughly half of the population, fill nearly all military and governmental functions, and are themselves subdivided into numerous specialized castes that are similar (in division of duty) to our armed services. The civilian population is considered to be inferior in rank and importance to the military, but they are organized by profession in a similar way into groups that resemble trade guilds. Civilian institutions exist almost solely to support the military. The males, roughly one tenth of the population, exist mostly outside the normal structure of class, family and caste. Excluded from many professions and under pressure from the practical demands of reproduction, males nevertheless form an important element of the Loroi social machine.

Prior to reunification, many Loroi nations were ruled by matrilineal oligarchies based on clan relations. At the conclusion of the Loroi civil war in 1402, when the new Imperial government replaced provincial feudal authorities, many of the traditional clan names were abolished -- a Loroi warrior's spoken name is now preceded by her caste name in place of the traditional clan name. Many regional institutions that were dominated by single families (including some starships) were forcibly "diversified." Despite these measures to increase central authority, extended family affiliation continues to be a strong social force.

So, how does the caste system work? Can the Loroi choose what they want to do for a living, or are they assigned to their castes at birth?

As the name implies, the castes are mostly hereditary -- the daughter of a member of a warrior caste is normally expected to follow in her mother's footsteps. For the military castes, some movement is allowed, but it is very limited. A female child is formally assigned by her family to a caste at about age six; normally this is the same caste as her mother (see the article on Warrior Rites). Some of the warrior castes have very specific genetic or psionic traits as requirements, so often being qualified means being the child of a caste member, but it sometimes means that a qualified individual in a sought-after specialty might be admitted regardless of her heritage. In time of war, the government may preempt family choice to fill needed roles. Membership in a warrior caste is considered a sought-after privilege; those who refuse or are unable to complete warrior training are "demoted" to civilian life. A warrior may have the option to switch specialties after completing the warrior training of a different caste, subject to the approval of the caste bureaucracy.

The rules for civilian guilds are less restrictive, as they do not depend on passing warrior trials at a young age, and there is more movement between specialties. However, civilians are not normally eligible to join the warrior castes, even in time of war.

Gender, Mating and Sexuality

Males make up only a small percentage of the Loroi population, and are considered to be technically outside the caste and class system, and are excluded from all military and most civilian careers, but their role in Loroi society can be influential. In addition to the direct influence of the male philosopher orders like the Nedatan, the indirect influence of males in connecting the bloodlines of otherwise disparate clan groups can be significant. Mating between a male and female usually consists of a number of encounters spread across several days, but matches are temporary, and after that it's very unlikely that they will ever meet again, even if the female becomes pregnant and bears offspring. Most Loroi subcultures have no concept of marriage. Thus, the Loroi concept of family is a broad one encompassing a female Loroi's sisters, cousins, aunts and other close relatives.

Do the Loroi have a specialized sex industry?

All sexual access to males is restricted by law and must be arranged through various kinds of formal matchmaking; a male and female can't just meet at the mall and decide to have a date. So in that sense, all of the males are part of a sex industry. But in most cases a female can't just show up at a location and pay for sex; access to a male usually has to be earned through status and rank.

All Loroi males are wards of the state as regards sexual access; administration of this access (matchmaking) is delegated to various entities, including local governments, some caste bureaucracies, some civilian guilds and orders, and in rare cases individual Loroi. Usually, sexual access is administrated by whatever guild or order to which the male belongs, as many professions for males are directly or indirectly tied to their sexual function. For example, males who are philosophers or spiritual advisors or psychologists or physical therapists or telepathic therapists usually provide these services to the female "clients" they're matched with as a supplement to the actual sex. Lower-ranking males without advanced training or skills might spend more time on the sex part, and I suppose these would be the closest thing the Loroi would have to our idea of a sex worker.

In some cases, a very influential private group or individual may be able to secure long-term access to the rights to a male. One example of this would be very high-ranking military officers who sometimes receive such access along with the military title. However, this is not used solely by the officer to secure sexual rights to a male for herself, but often instead to control who gets access to a very high-status male. Sometimes high-ranking females secure access to their own male relatives, so that they can be matched with political allies. This is one of the few situations in which males may function as part of a female "family."

There will certainly be an industry around the "red light districts" in which the mating encounters happen. Though I think the emphasis will usually be on an upscale experience, since everything is very official and sanctioned, and most of the clients will be of high social status. I imagine something like the Japanese hanamachi districts in which the courtesans were quartered: very ornate and expensive, and surrounded with much ceremony. It's possible that some mating rituals might involve the females bringing ritual gifts, but since neither party chooses his or her partner, I doubt such gifting has reached the industrial levels it has in Western society.

How does this matchmaking work and what kind of attributes are influencing the matchmaking, except status, mental and physical health? Caste membership?

There are certain career milestones that will provide almost everyone with "encounter time", such as graduation from warrior trials or the civilian training equivalent. Beyond that, it's a question of male availability and female priority/status. Warriors have priority over civilians, and rank/social status increases priority. Priority determines not just how much time, but which males are allocated; high-status males like Nedatan (philosopher) order members with a pedigreed parentage are a lot harder to get time with than a more common stud-farm male with few additional skills -- in addition to a nicer experience, the goal here is pregnancy, so pedigree will matter.

Males that are administrated by castes/guilds/orders will often be allocated to members or clients of that organization. Males administered by small groups or individuals can be allocated to anyone they choose (usually friends, cronies and prospective allies).

Are there different forms of matchmaking for each Loroi culture and what kind of differences are there?

I don't imagine too much variation because the core problems will be essentially the same, and because everyone will have to conform to some basic standards set by the central government (as these rules are used for global population control). Some subcultures might ritualize the matchmaking process more than others. Some might be more lax in easing restrictions, such as in colonial areas where population growth was encouraged even in peacetime. Some might make a lottery out of it. If there was anywhere that a female could actually go and buy sex, it would probably be in the Maia system.

Can a male refuse sex?

Yes, certainly. Sexual rights to a male can be transferred, and he generally has no say in who he is matched with, but males are not slaves, and sex must always be consensual; he always has the right to refuse sex if he doesn't approve of the partner. A male who is not interested in sex at all (for whatever reason) can refuse to be matched at all. As you might expect, it's difficult for a female to force herself on a male in any meaningful way beyond pure physical abuse. However, such a refusal would be pretty rare; Loroi males are very good sports (and most Loroi warrior females are healthy, fit, good-looking people).

If the males are not part of these female "families", do they have some kind of similar "family" connection between them? Like father, son and grandson?

Parent-child relationships are often not very strong in Loroi of either gender, because the parent usually takes very little direct role in raising the child, and so your mother is usually not very distinct from the numerous aunts and cousins and other adult women you grew up around. Parents who take a particular interest in their children may develop strong friendships with them, but there is usually not that automatic bond between mother and child that we are accustomed to. This relationship is probably even less common between fathers and sons, as fathers will rarely meet any of their offspring, unless perhaps the son joins the same local caste/order and they become acquainted that way.

Given the low male birth rates, brothers will be very rare. Most Loroi brothers are probably twins, who would have a special relationship above and beyond family. But again, this would be rare.

What are the Loroi concepts of love? For a species in which pair bonding is likely nonexistent, I can't see them having a concept of romantic love. That could change, though, depending on Loroi attitudes towards homosexuality. As the Loroi do have family units and warrior crèches, I can see them having concepts of familial and platonic love.

Love is permitted and even encouraged, but attachment is not. Loroi females enjoy the mating encounters, and not just the physical aspect of them, and can develop strong affection for the male mating partner and remember the interaction fondly for many years thereafter, during the long periods in which she will be expected to go without having sex. However, because the males must be shared with other females, there are taboos against infatuation and jealousy. While healthy rivalry is encouraged between warrior females in nearly all matters, jealously over a male is considered a repugnant trait on par with dishonesty. Even just requesting a second encounter with the same male would be seen as a warning sign of potential attachment.

However, rules are made to be broken, and a female with sufficient power and privilege can, if she wishes, see a particular male more than once, or even have him allocated exclusively to herself. There are cases where male and female form permanent emotional attachments, but these are subjects of the kinds of tales that don't end well, resulting in high body counts and fallen kingdoms. When a female becomes obsessed with and refuses to share a male, this is viewed as a signal to her friends (and to her enemies) that she's about to go off the rails. So, if the female is still sensible, such things must be handled quietly, behind closed doors.

For their part, Loroi males are very emotional and feel very intensely, but they are often fickle and changeable, with short attention spans. Which I suppose is not that different from many human males.

Because attachment to a male is discouraged, the most important emotional attachments for a female Loroi are to her female friends and relatives. Sisterly affection can be very intense (as it is among humans), and this intimacy is increased by telepathic contact, especially when physically touching. This kind of contact is how most females satisfy their need for intimacy and emotional fulfillment. It is this telepathic stimulation (not sex) that is the primary glue that binds Loroi social groups together. This can be difficult for humans to appreciate, because of our tendency to think of intimacy exclusively in sexual terms.

Because telepathic contact satisfies this need for intimacy, homosexual activity is relatively rare, though in any biological system there will always be deviation. The idea of a "homosexual relationship" wouldn't make much sense to the Loroi, since they don't really have heterosexual "relationships" and they are not inherently monogamous. Instead, a homosexual female might have a "normal" intimate friendship with one or more females, to which a sexual element was added.

How often do they have sex (males with their caretakers)? Is it even allowed ?

It happens -- if one of the lecherous little buggers grabs you, you're not supposed to say no -- but there are rules. If a female caretaker monopolizes too much of her charge's time and energy, or gets pregnant, this is usually grounds for dismissal. Some orders require that the caretakers be sterilized (which, at this tech level, is reversible). The caretakers tend to be older, well-disciplined Loroi who already have adult children.

What is the attitude of Loroi society toward homosexuality?

I think the view of society will vary depending on subculture. On the one hand, Loroi traditions can be very rigid, and deviation from the norm is usually very unwelcome. On the other hand, such activity would be viewed by the Loroi as just a private behavior, whereas in our culture it is usually viewed as choosing a completely alternate lifestyle. And for the Loroi, sex is almost exclusively a private subject; public displays of sexuality (of any kind) would be very unusual and unwelcome. I think that in warrior culture, homosexuality might be considered a problem, not necessarily because there is anything "wrong" with such activity, but because in the military it's important to feel that the warrior next to you has your back, and is not going to either a) give preferential treatment to her sexual partners, or b) confront you at inopportune moments with unwanted sexual advances. And because the nature of telepathy makes it difficult to keep such things secret.

Do they have a taboo on sex between relatives (incest)?

Loroi males are separated from the females at birth and are usually raised completely separately, so often a male may have very limited contact with his mother, and may never meet any siblings he has. When he fathers children, he will rarely meet them either. So there's no social sense of "taboo" against sex with blood relatives, because they don't really know each other and there's usually no sense of "family" between males and females. However, I suspect that having offspring with close relatives is not ideal from a genetic point of view, so this practice is probably discouraged. Whoever is doing the matchmaking between males and females will presumably keep this in mind.

Do the Loroi make use of artificial insemination/cloning ??...seems like a fairly natural development given their need for rapid reproduction and limited number of men to go around.

Because of the combination of rapid maturation and long lifespans, the Loroi face overpopulation problems unless reproduction is limited by law. There aren't enough males to have regular casual sex with every female, but there are more than enough males to get all of the females pregnant (if that was desirable). The number of men is not the long pole in the tent (if you will pardon a crude pun). I think the bottleneck in population growth for the Loroi will be not fertilization or even pregnancy term, but rather the time and infrastructure it takes to raise and train a warrior to adulthood. The Loroi child care and schooling systems are probably completely saturated at this point in the war.

Do female Loroi believe/think that Loroi males are inferior/lower class?

Not in general; on the contrary, males enjoy relatively high status in Loroi society. Males are smaller and physically weaker than females, but since physical strength is not a Loroi strongpoint, this is not especially relevant -- in terms of valued telepathic and psychokinetic powers, a male is as likely to be powerful as a female. Males have different roles than females and their behavior is governed by custom and biology, but they are rare and the females have a biological imperative to protect them. It's similar in some ways to how human adults treat children: we're programmed to be fiercely protective of them, and we often treat them in a patronizing manner, but we don't expect adult behavior from children, and so when they act silly or need help, there is rarely a value judgment attached to that.

Another analogue to consider is the status of a European gentlewoman of the 18th century; women had rigidly defined roles and very little power or personal freedom, but courtly manners required men to defer to women, at least socially, to a large degree. Men had a patronizing attitude toward women, perhaps, but not necessarily a negative one.

Government

The Loroi are a charter member of the Interspecies Union (also called the "Loroi Union"), which is an international treaty organization that includes nine member species. The Union was created in 1557 CE at the conclusion of the Third Loroi-Mannadi War. Member nations contribute delegates to the Union Assembly, which is a multiple-house legislative body that handles a variety of interstellar affairs. The assembly is led by an executive consisting of two consuls, either of whom can veto any measure passed by the assembly. Each consul is elected by a vote of full assembly, but by tradition one consul is always Loroi (and appointed by the Loroi Azerein), and one is always non-Loroi. Each member nation retains its own government, which may operate as it sees fit as long as it abides by the laws and policies set forth by the Union government. The Assembly meets at the planet Moro, which is a Pipolsid world with a large multi-species population.

The Loroi required a number of special provisions as a condition of their participation in the Union: the first was the permanent consulship. The second was that Loroi military would have the sole responsibility for protecting all Union territory; other national militaries would be reduced to the status of local police, militia and patrol organizations. The third was that no foreign courts would have any jurisdiction over Loroi citizens; all cases against Loroi nationals must be tried in Loroi courts.

Supreme executive authority over the Loroi themselves is held by a Loroi Azerein (Emperor) who is commander in chief of the military; she is selected by the Diadem Council (the council of elders of the Torrai leadership caste, which functions like a cabinet or an Admiralty Board) and rules for life, or until she is removed from office. Given the long lifespan of Loroi, it is not unusual for an Azerein to be in power for more than a hundred years. In the more than 750 years since the inception of the office, there have been only four Loroi to hold the title, and only the first one (Loremark) died of old age. The second (Swiftsure) was removed from office by a vote of the Diadem, but this was a formality following her defeat in a civil war. The third (Eighth Dawn) was killed in combat against the Umiak, and the fourth (Greywind) is still in office.

The Imperial capital is located on the cool, arid world of Deinar. In time of war, the Emperor and much of her government conduct their business from aboard flagships of the Imperial Fleet rather than the traditional palaces at Toridas on Deinar.

Individual Loroi worlds are mostly run by oligarchic governments in which the legislative body is a council of elders consisting of high-ranking military officers, with a twin-consul executive, one elected by the council, and the other who is the Imperial governor appointed by the Azerein.

Isn't the female ruler of an empire called an Empress, not an Emperor?

I'm using "Emperor" because in our culture, an Empress is the wife of a ruler of an empire, and rarely a ruler herself. Using a feminine form also implies that there may be a corresponding male counterpart, which isn't the case for the Loroi. I don't view "Emperor" as any more exclusively masculine than "Senator" or "Governor" or other such titles that we routinely now apply to females.