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Sage
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Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« on: August 19, 2003, 04:57:27 pm »

This was a project I worked on about a month ago (before my webspace crapped out and vanished until recently). I wish to revive it but time constraints prevent me from doing this solo. Though currently incomplete, I figure this is the best place to spark discussion and hopefully gain some contributions...

If you disagree with any of this, have anything to add (I know I missed a few that I do know the meanings of, or are just really obvious...), or anything else, please discuss and your contributions will be noted.

NOTE: Any mention of the Dynarri might possibly be replaced with "Taalo" instead. Since the Orz were very vague in thier talk of the *Playground* I just made the first assumption I could.

*people energy*: Though this is only used once, it is entirely possible that this is the most truth that can be found in the Orz's garbled communications. Records taken from the Androsynth homeworld indicate research into several things paranormal (ghosts, poultergeists, and the like). *People energy* is likely some indication of a spirit, or some sort of trace of a being that is echoed through several dimensions. The Orz indicate that we are only able to see *light reflections* of them, but that this is not the totality of the Orz.
*germinate*:
*dancing*: Ship to ship combat.
*party*: Viewed by the Orz as a good thing, but only done with *campers*. There is talk of the *biggest party*, but what this entails is unknown.
*bright*:
*smooth*:
*hurt*:
*frumple*: Anger.
*house*: Homeworld.
*better*:
*camper*: It would seem that a *camper* is someone who is friendly to the Orz. There may be more to it than that though. For instance, the Dynarri are "better *campers* than you (Zelnick)". *Campers* gain access to many things at the disposal of the Orz, including, but probabably not limited to alliance, ship specifications, and access to Orz *secrets*.
*spit*: Exchanging of words in *slow time*
*piece*: A unit of time?
*secret*: For *campers* ears only.
*think*:
*lonely*:
*juicy*:
*bubbles*: *Campers* seem to be made of *bubbles*, yet Orz are not.
*squirt*:
*inside*: The dimension currently being occupied?
*outside*: Another dimension.
*alliance*:
*slow time*: The dimension all *campers*, *not campers*, and *sad animals* seem to occupy. When transmitting, the Orz must speak to the residents in *slow time*, which apparently strains them. Though it is obvious that the Orz exist in *slow time*, they seem to indicate being able to exist on multiple *levels* at onces, for they mention *spreading* into *pretty space* at certain *gravity centers*, most notably the Taalo *playground*. *Slow time* *walkers* apparently are unable to experience whatever phenomenon exists here, and so it is not fun there.
*now space*: Sphere of influence, or perhaps Hyperspace?
*happy spices*:
*smell*: Sensing something across dimensions?
*expand*: Expression of joy.
*squishy*: A good thing.
*anticipation*:
*the middle*: same as *in between*?
*funny*:
*see*: By usage, this seems to be a straightforward translation. Effectively how we sense the *light reflections* of the Orz.
*light reflections*: The part of the Orz we are able to *see*.
*fingers*: Reaches into *heavy space*, with the effect of *seeing* *Orz bubbles*.
*heavy space*:
*pretty colors*:
*game*: Any activity to pass time.
*Playground*: The only known *playground* is the homeworld of the now extinct(?) Taalo. The Orz claim to see the Taalo in *pretty space* while in orbit of this particular *playground*. There, they make *time jokes*.
*silly*:
GO! GO!: Orz marines.
*other*: Ones being attacked by Orz marines.
*happy time*: Any time in which the Orz are not *frumple* because of the questions of *not campers* and *sad animals*.
*pleasent combinations*:
*successful*:
*levels*: One of any dimensions or groups of dimensions the Orz occupy.
*play*:
*friends*:
*open*:
*spread the wax*:
*quick babies*: the Arilou.
*below*: the origin of the Orz.
*above*: the origin of the Arilou.
*jumping in front*: Interfering. This likely has to do with the Arilou's comment of "changing your smell" so that you could not be found.
*fat*:
*special things*:
*time*:
*space*:
*colors*:
*sticky*:
*slide*: Something the Arilou, Taalo, and Orz have in common. But Orz are better, of course. Though Hyperspace  technology (read: dimensional travel) is common among almost all sentients, the Orz seem to indicate *sliding* is some sort of inherant ability of thier kind. Sadly the Orz make little sense on this subject, and the Arilou are (as with everything else) closed mouthed on the subject.
*in between*:
*pull*: Whatever they did to the Androsynth. Indicates taking them to another *level*
*connected*:
*good news*:
*happy town*:
*slippery places*: Weaknesses in the local dimension, allowing for a *smell* to be detected.
*silly cows*:
"*squeeze* the *juice*": Orz are only doing this while *frumpling*.
*happy*:
*become*:
*tired*:
*toy*:
*tell stories*:
*sick*:
*happy days*:
*cousins*: Other Orz.
*sisters*: Allies.
*connected*:
*together*:
*desert*:
*round*:
*lumpy*:
*dissolve*:
*take*:
*other house*:
*fun time*:
*juicy*:
*snappy fun*:
*extra sick fish*:
*special training*:
*special*:
*spicy games*:
*celebration*:
*relatives*:
*peppers*:
*conclusions*:
*Orz puppies*:
*sad animals*:
*sauce*/*special sauce*: Seems to be created by or is a byproduct of *dancing*. When the Orz are angry with Zelnick, they tell him that they will make *special sauce* from him after *dancing* with him. When Zelnick is friendly with the Orz, the Orz always wish him well by reminding him to *enjoy the sauce*.
*friend*:
*sorry*:
*joke*:
*dead*:
*strange*:
*picnic*:
*nice colors*:
*quick time*:
*pretty space*:
*gravity centers*:
*time joke*: The (extinct?) Taalo are making these at thier homeworld. Perhaps a loop of thier final moments before the Dynarri-controlled Ur-Quan arrived?
*chase*: The Orz wish to, or are doing this to the "sleeping" Dynarri. As a whole, the Dynarri are no longer sentient. Why the Orz would seek out the Dynarri is anyone's guess.
*hard*:
*words with fluid*:
*walkers*:
*friendly days*:
*terrified*:
**HYUIVBHJHG**: Some form of travel.
*heavy*: Occupying *heavy space*?
*enjoy the sauce*:
*absorbing*:
*new town*:
« Last Edit: August 19, 2003, 05:00:07 pm by sageallen » Logged
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2003, 07:18:49 pm »

Quote
*bubbles*: *Campers* seem to be made of *bubbles*, yet Orz are not.

I've always taken *bubbles* to mean molecules, or possibly cells. We are made up of many molecules (or cells), but Orz are projections (*fingers*).
Quote
*heavy space*:

I assume this is normal space (not hyperspace or anything like that).
Quote
*quick babies*: the Arilou.

I wonder about that. The Orz call the Arilou "Arilou *quick babies*", not simply *quick babies*. I wonder if *quick babies* has a different meaning.
Quote
*silly cows*:

Seems to be related to *not campers*.
Quote
*sick*:

Make Orz *frumple*?
Quote
*dissolve*:

dying?
Quote
*juicy*:

Containing good *people energy*. At least the kind Orz are interested in.
Quote
*picnic*:

Make an expedition. They only seem to use this in reference to visiting the surface of the *Taalo playground*.
Quote
*quick time*:

Opposite of slow time?
Quote
*gravity centers*:

Planets. Where melees occur.
Quote
*words with fluid*:

Meaningful words?
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2003, 08:31:44 pm »

Remember that your translation computer couldn't translate these words, they were lingual best-fits for concepts we don't have words for.  So, every translation here should either be multiple paragraphs, or like many above, have another asterisk-paired word in its translation.

Examples:
*bubbles*: Seperate *people energies*.  Since Orz is only one *people energy*, it calls humans *many bubbles*
*camper*: Psi-capable *people energy* which exists on only one *level.*  Maybe only *heavy space*
*dancing*: *finger* movements which appears to be ship combat.  Orz seems to enjoy this, but also does it when it feels extra *frumple*
*lonely*: Unable to have a *party* with other *people energy.* *Campers* will not always be *lonely.*  Something to do with psionics again?


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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2003, 09:27:47 am »

The psionics theory is a good one that I neglected to mention before, but it seems somewhat likely that the Orz seek out psi-capable creatures. If this were the case, I imagine that would provide a partial (if unresolved) answer to the Orz purpose. Perhaps they would also take to the Syreen as well, since they seem to be at least somewhat psionic.

*Bubbles* = cells? I recall having that theory myself when I first encountered SC2 (not having played it but watching as a friend did).
*Quick babies* baffles me...I realize that they never call anyone else this, but there are times (I think...would have to check my reference material) that the Orz simply call them "Arilou".
*silly cows* = reference to Precursors?
*juice* could have something to do with *sauce*. Then again they get very *frumple* while *squeezing juice*.
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2003, 11:36:53 am »

You forgot the most fundemental word of their language. Allow me to rectify this mistake.

Orz: A being of the highest known concentration of awesomeness.
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2003, 12:27:20 pm »

I believe *now space* is truespace.
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2003, 02:26:46 pm »

AAAAAAAAAAA..! Shocked

Sorry, it's just... Embarrassed

AAAAAAAAAAA..! Shocked

Had to get that out of my system. Damn *happy campers*.

Let's not dwell on how easily, uh, startled I am by the Orz. On topic, *smooth* IIRC relates to the state of people in Truspace.

*new town* may just be a new planet.

I don't recall *germinate*, but would this be when they "invade" a new *town*?

*quick time* might be the Quasi Space the *quick* Arilou inhabit.

I actually forgot *spread the wax* (spread the news? melt the IDF walls? sorry, it's cold, i'm tired, and the dynarri are after me)

Oh, and... AAAAAAAAAAA..! Shocked

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« Last Edit: August 20, 2003, 02:31:57 pm by pakopako » Logged

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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2003, 02:41:32 pm »

All the Orz "words" I took to make this document come from the uqm's orz.txt, which I converted from unix format. This file may be found at http://www.customc.net/staff/sage/orz.txt. For the most part the words were taken in order from that document. *Germinate* is the second best-fit found in this document, and thus is second in this list.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2003, 02:42:22 pm by sageallen » Logged
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2003, 06:54:32 pm »

I'm not sure, but I think I saw someone on the site mention their theory that the Orz are actually ONE organism as opposed to many, in a sort of Borg Collective sense.

I seem to remember one of the conversations with the Orz in which the Orz used the pronoun "I" but not "we".

Are they individual ... thingys, or do they exist as a sort of larger interdimensional consciousness?
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2003, 01:48:13 am »

We have a player over at StarConRPG, named Nargle, who has compiled an ORZ dictionary.  I'll let him know about this and see what he has to say. Smiley

http://www.starconrpg.com
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #10 on: August 29, 2003, 06:08:40 am »

It had been my personal theory that the Orz was one creature which existed in some alternate dimentsion and extended *tenticles* to touch our reality.  I based that on the refrences to *bubbles* and *tenticles* that the Orz makes.  I took *bubbles* to mean "atoms" rather than "cells", based on the comment that Orz makes about light reflections.  I dont feel like digging up the quote right now, but it was something like "silly campers, you think Orz is giving off light reflections, but Orz is not".  

The image in my mind of what the Orz actually is could be convayed by analogy: think of an octopus touching a piece of paper, perhaps in several places.  To a creature living on the 2-d paper the tenticles (which are 3-d but have a surface area which can be considered 2-d) appear to be coming from nowhere, but can be accepted as real.  Similarly, the Orz is some sort of 4-d creature which touches our 3-d space and projects volumes into it.  The *bubbles* could be the atoms that Orz has to extend into our 3-d space to make itsself "real" to us.  Orz might need one *tenticle* per *bubble* (atom), which would be a lot of *tenticles*, or the entire biological complex which manifests itsself as the Orz creature could be one *tenticle*.

As for Orz comments about the Taalo, I kind of think that the way the Korh-Ah describe the destruction of the Taalo implyed that the Taalo didnt really care about their destruction.  Rather than bother to resist, they simply streached out their biological process to the point where they were indestinguishable from natural geological processes.  If thats what happened, only someone able to look at events on a really really long timescale would even be able to notice the Taalo, and seeing as the Orz comment that "*time* is many" to them (it, whatever), they should be the only thing capable of seeing the Taalo in their "slow-time" lives.

I dunno though, thats just what I thought.  The nice thing about the Orz is that an observer can impose whatever assumptions they want over the mistranslated words and get different meanings out.

I still wonder what the hell *enjoy the sause* is all about though.
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #11 on: August 29, 2003, 12:44:27 pm »

"Have a Nice Day"?
"Live Long and Prosper"?
"Try not to get Gruesomely killed Captain"?

Always seemed like "Hello", the made-up greeting we all think means something.

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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #12 on: August 29, 2003, 02:03:02 pm »

Quote
Rather than bother to resist, they simply streached out their biological process to the point where they were indestinguishable from natural geological processes.  If thats what happened, only someone able to look at events on a really really long timescale would even be able to notice the Taalo, and seeing as the Orz comment that "*time* is many" to them (it, whatever), they should be the only thing capable of seeing the Taalo in their "slow-time" lives.

That makes even more sense when you consider what the Orz say about the Taalo home planet being no fun in *slow time*. For us, nothing is happening down there. However, the Taalo could be a lot more fun if you could actually say "Hi!" to them without dying of old age before the response.

I think the Orz are actually trying to tell you this:

Quote
At this *Playground*, Taalo are making *Time jokes*. It is too funny for the Orz.
Taalo are in *heavy space* and next what?
They spread to *Pretty Space* because Dnyarri are chasing them.

On the other hand, the *pretty space* part sounds like they moved out of our *space* too, instead of just going slow. On the third hand (don't ask), different timescales could seem like different *spaces* to the Orz.
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2003, 06:12:02 am »

Hmm... anyone who has finished Starflight 1 here?
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Re: Work in Progress: Orz Translation Guide
« Reply #14 on: September 12, 2003, 11:58:18 pm »

I've always taken "Don't forget to *enjoy the sauce*!" as "Happy hunting!"
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