Insider: Loroi Economy

Data File Updated: Sunday, March 29, 2026

Warning: this is an incomplete work-progress entry that is currently just a cleaned-up pastiche of notes and forum posts, presented here for reference. Please pardon the mess.

Prior to reunification, most Deinar national economies were run under a mercantilist system, in which the economy is heavily managed by the state to be used as a tool of power against other states. Nations enacted protectionist policies that limited free trade, seeking to monopolize markets and achieve trade surpluses. Industries were allowed and even encouraged to organize into guilds and monopolies.

Guilds were the civilian version of warrior clans and castes, in which individuals of a particular trade were organized into a social unit to pass on and protect trade secrets and to control the market for their goods or services as much as possible. On the small scale, they became surrogate families for the civilians cast out by their biological warrior families, and on the larger scale, they became an important vehicle through which civilians exerted influence on Loroi society. In the post-industrial era, some guilds combined into massive conglomerates that spanned multiple industries. These monopolies were powerful but very inefficient.

With starflight, Loroi reunification and exposure to alien economic systems, the Deinar economies found themselves at a disadvantage to those built around free markets, such as the Neridi and some Taben nations. Many colonial nations now embrace most free market principles, but the conglomerates on Deinar and Perrein still cling to the traditional systems. Many companies throughout the empire still organize themselves as social systems similar to the old guilds, even when they are not monopolies.

The Guild System

A Loroi guild is an association of companies in a particular trade which have banded together to operate as a single entity. They have had a tendency to grow over time, assimilating all businesses in a similar field and extending to other types of businesses outside that field. In that sense they are not very different from large conglomerate corporations. The chief difference is that they often operate as de-facto monopolies, and that they are self-contained communities with a great deal of pseudo-legal control over their own workers and properties, with very little interference from the military government. Guilds provide most living expenses and services to their workers, at the cost of giving their workers fairly small allowances for personal spending.

Not all Loroi companies operate as guilds. Deinar and to a lesser extent Perrein are still dominated by the guild system, but guilds have had difficulty extending along with the proliferation of new colonies, and it is much harder to maintain monopolistic control over dozens of worlds with different local governments. The Loroi also gained the benefit of observing the examples of the economic systems of their alien neighbors. One of the reasons Seren became an economic powerhouse was that it adopted a less restrictive economic system.

Civilian devices will have various company-assigned designations, and there is not a global set of rules regarding nomenclature. Some companies will give utilitarian names, and others may give flashy names to products, depending on the market they are trying to appeal to. The Loroi do not have a media or consumer culture, so company name recognition and reputation are important, but ad campaigns and “brands” less so. It is kind of like Western advertising before mass media: ads were conservative and products were usually modestly named. In many locations companies are still operating under a remnant of the mercantilism system, in which companies in the same trade are part of a guild that is supposed to cooperate and minimize competition with each other.

Warrior Property and Commerce Rules

Warriors receive some kind of stipend, but most of their needs are provided as part of their duty to the state, and there are limits regarding how much personal property they can keep around, so there is not a lot for them to spend money on. These stipends tend to be small, especially for the lower ranks. Higher-ranking warriors will often receive a larger stipend, and depending on the nature of their post may receive some perks like access to above-average housing or use of private vehicles.

Warriors are prohibited from owning or bearing most forms of weaponry, and are barred from most commercial activity. A warrior may not collect rents or fees for use of properties under her control, or for her services or for those under her control. A warrior may buy or sell real assets, but this will trigger an audit from regulators if she sells an item for more than she bought it for. A warrior may not normally own any financial asset other than currency, so that excludes ownership of stock, equity, contractual rights, patents, etc. A warrior may not normally own real estate, except indirectly through a trust in special cases. Warriors are frequently allocated semi-permanent use of a residential property without direct ownership, but they are not allowed to collect rent from such properties.

A warrior may inherit property or funds from relatives under some circumstances, but property must usually be placed in some kind of trust, and the rules restricting how such property can be accessed are complicated. A warrior may sometimes acquire property as an official gift from a local or foreign government, or through seizure in combat, or discovery (such as a found ancient artifact), but if it is over a certain value it must normally be placed in trust. All items owned by a warrior above a certain value must be registered with the authorities, as must all transactions above a certain value.

Once a warrior has obtained a certain level of seniority, her option to be honorably discharged as a civilian expires. A warrior may still be expelled from the warrior class past this point, but she will in effect be a convicted criminal, and there will be restrictions on her financial activity and on any civilian organization that employs her or conducts business with her.

The rule concerning warrior property and commerce originated as a Deinar practice. While the Taben and Perrein systems differed in some respects, elements of it are still preserved today.

Civilian (Worker) Society

The majority of civilians are born to warrior mothers, but who later decline, quit or fail warrior trials. This means that at least to a certain age they were raised in the warrior culture, and have similar core values to those of the warrior class. When a warrior child becomes a civilian, she is separated from her warrior family and friends. In more traditional cultures, this is taken to extremes in terms of being completely ostracized by warrior society. Nascent civilians are introduced into a new educational system. In some localities this is handled by the guild system, and in others it is handled by other government or private entities. The child is aided through the transition and steered into a vocation appropriate to her abilities and the local needs.

Civilian culture is more of a sub-culture of the warrior culture than a completely distinct one. They were born to the same parents as the warriors and raised in the same crèches. They consume the same arts and media and have most of the same traditions and heroes. Civilians have a complicated view of the warriors. It is analogous in some ways to the relationship between European commoners and aristocracy; there may be equal parts resentment and admiration. Except if most of the commoners were actually disinherited aristocrats. The warriors are both master and kin.

Civilians are prohibited from owning or bearing most forms of weaponry, and are barred from military service (which includes most local government and administration). But other than that, there are few blanket restrictions on civilians. In particular, they can own many kinds of property and engage in many kinds of commerce that warriors cannot. Most civilians do not have the right to mate with males, and therefore do not have children. There are a few exceptions for very influential individuals. Children born to civilian mothers are automatically considered civilians and do not have the right to enter the warrior trials. There are also a few exceptions here (mainly for children manifesting powerful psionic abilities).

The traditional guilds have complex and sometimes rigid social hierarchies, and so those civilians in the guild systems do not have as much personal freedom as some civilians living in less regimented circumstances. The guilds provide more social services, but allow less personal freedom. Guilds are similar to the military in that they provide for most living expenses and services, at the cost of giving their workers fairly small allowances for personal spending.

Civilian fashions vary, but the universal commonality is that they wear their hair very short so as to distinguish themselves from warriors. This is partly in deference to the warrior class (and in some conservative localities it is enforced by law), but it is also partly in pride of being civilian. Civilians form their own social groups of close friends, who replace the social role of family. Often these are co-workers. Sometimes these groups include financial as well as social ties. Sometimes small guilds become effectively large families.

Both local and federal governments are military by definition, but many if not most local governments include some kind of representation for civilian interests. This may take the form of a sort of guild “chamber of commerce,” or a more formal assembly analogous to the Roman Council of the Plebeians. Local governments will also employ civilian contractors for various duties and services. In more traditional societies, taxation is built into the guild system. In more modern societies, civilians may have to pay individual income or property taxes.

Civilian Loroi vary as widely in wealth and circumstance as humans do, and their accommodations vary accordingly. Most live in rental properties or guild-provided housing, but some may own their own lodging, which can be whatever they desire and can afford. Warriors generally will not have any need to own personal vehicles, and in cases where they are needed, they will be provided by the state. Residents of urban areas will mostly use public transportation, but personal vehicles will be widely used and heavily licensed. Personal vehicles will be more necessary in rural areas, but even there flying vehicles will be strictly licensed like aircraft today, as they can cause a lot of damage.

Although civilian Loroi are not under the same legal restrictions as warriors, they are part of the same culture, and so materialistic display is muted. There are still fabulously wealthy collectors and hoarders of expensive objects, but such displays of wealth are mainly limited to private displays for a small audience. Warriors accommodations tend not to be very grand, as they are usually owned by the state, and there are many cases in forward deployed units (like aboard warships) in which space is limited. Aboard ship, sleeping space is merely where the warrior sleeps, and off-duty time is usually spent in one of the ship's facilities rather than in one's room. For the lower-ranks, this means small bunks (and in some cases of very small craft they may have to “hot bunk,” or share sleeping space in shifts).

A civilian worker in the lower echelons of a guild or company may also live in communal accommodations, but in general a civilian receives a larger amount of pay than a warrior of analogous rank.

Regional Variations

A few Deinar guilds set up shop in Beleri to help modernize the locals after contact, as they were in a fairly primitive state, but the Taben Loroi were and are fiercely independent, and refused to grant the guilds the status as monopolies that they were accustomed to, so their expansion was limited. Taben has a major fleet base and shipyard facilities, as well as the main Tenoin academy, but these are operated by the government, and the shipyards are mostly supplied from outside the system. There are also a few interstellar shipping companies headquartered here.

The southern Amenal islands had a long tradition of cooperation and free trade before contact, and this continued afterward. Amenal is a center for technology and research & development, and one of the Listel academies is based here. The Pipolsid also have a science academy in the shallow southern waters; there are nearly as many Pipolsid living on Taben as there are Loroi.

The main exports from the North are marine goods, harvested and exported by a few guilds, a bunch of diverse local companies, and a community of independent ship operators.

Research and Academia

The Listel form the sort of “substrate” of academia (teaching, investigating records, managing organizations, analyzing data, writing reports), supporting or supported by specialists from other castes. In the case of “pure” research like archaeology (which has little or no direct application), the researchers would be mostly Listel, perhaps coordinating with specialists in history from Nedatan or other groups. In the case of researching artifacts with an eye toward reverse-engineering them, there would usually be Soroin, Gallen and/or civilian engineers involved. Ordinary commercial research is most often done by civilian groups, especially if there is no direct military application. There are civilian Loroi with Listel-like capabilities, and they perform a similar role in research, although they are not unified in a single caste like the military versions are.

Population and Reproduction

Warriors are less than half of the female population, but not that much less. Males are only about ten percent of the total population, so even if less than half of the females reproduce, each having 2-3 kids is more than enough to keep the population growing. Males and worker females have 2-3 times the average lifespan of warrior females, so the average number of offspring per warrior female required for zero population growth is less than 2. The vast majority of Loroi, including males and worker females, are born to warrior mothers. Loroi children are raised communally, and some warrior females do not even carry the infant for the full gestation term, so it is not a huge burden for a warrior female to have a bunch of children if the need calls for it.

The population bottleneck for the modern Loroi is their child-rearing and education infrastructure, which is currently saturated. It is easy as humans to underestimate the potential impact of a 10 year generation length coupled with such a long reproductive lifespan.