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Valaggar
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Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« on: July 03, 2007, 12:18:14 pm »

After Paul made the Orz so ambiguous, he went on to revealing important pieces of his nature, first in the 1998 IRC chat ("In regards to the Androsynth: They were snagged by the entity who/which projected its fingers into our dimension (which looked to us as the Orz.)"), then in the 2007 chat ("The Orz is part of Them, the projection of Them into TrueSpace."). Doesn't this look suspect to you? Are you sure that he isn't, in fact, leading us on a wrong course to increase our astonishment when we discover, in the sequel, that the Orz was completely different from what we imagined?
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2007, 07:40:57 pm »

I think the Orz could be a Servant of some sort under rule by some kind of Empire/Entity. In order to escape this rule, they fled to our Universe, and the Androsynth were their ticket here...
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2007, 09:01:26 pm »

I think The Orz is a being who has more than one body, and eats Sentient Life (Sort of like the Eternal Ones of SC3, but doesn't devour the whole Universe at once). the Orz must have liked the taste of the Androsynth a lot, and realized that they were clones of the Humans, and so is lulling them into a false sense of security so that it can eat them when they least expect it. At least it's trying to, but it's bizzarre speech doesn't help.

Perhaps "They" are an alliance of aliens who eat dimensions in this way, and Orz is always the first one to go out and test the water, so to speak. This seems to go along with those quotes.

I got a little off topic: to answer you're base question, I doubt Paul would deliberately lie to throw us off track like that, and remember that this was just something he said in chat and maybe he'll change his mind.
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Lukipela
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2007, 10:09:10 pm »

While it may seem boring, I've always liked the idea that the Orz are so different that we cannot comprehend where they come from, and what they do. That is, we can see the effects in our universe, but can never truly begin to comprehend the cause. As such, should you in any game be able to venture into *below*, things will have to be very strange indeed, almost random.
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2007, 04:34:40 pm »

Naturally people are going to ask questions about the Orz, like we have, and kick up a load of conspiracy theories. If the Orz really are part of the same entity that snagged the Androsynth, then the matter is settled. I mean it's fairly obvious that they're heavily involved, being in Androsynth space, and with the logs from the Androsynth computers and so on. Obviously it may just be a smokescreen to hide what the Orz really is, but then maybe that's what Paul would -want- us to think, in which case we're doing all the work for him.

A cunning plan.
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2007, 10:20:37 am »

I was always wondering something... well, several things:

1) I'm wonder if the theory that the Orz "ate" the Androsynth is meant allegorically or literally. In the case of the former, maybe "eat" meant absorption of their essence and physical form. It's hard for me to imagine an Orz actually eating someone... especially since they have to breathe ethanol and live in a liquid environment. As for the former allegorical interpretation of "eating" the Androsynth... I wonder how it happened. Any ideas?

2) If the Orz are sinister and extensions of "Them", then why on earth are their corporeal forms so ridiculous? They look too ridiculous to be evil, and their theme music even reflects this Tongue And their language, of course (which does drop some cool hints and clues, but still turns out kind of silly). What gives?
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Valaggar
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2007, 12:52:01 pm »

1. The Spathi say that the Orz ate the Androsynth, but this theory of them is only inspired by their fear, they don't have any concrete evidence. Being eaten is simply something which scares Spathi badly.
2. Different races have different notions about what is ridiculous and what is not (the Umgah don't think that they are ridiculous...) - and maybe it's in the best interest of Them to appear ridiculous, so as not to instill fear in their victims - not to reveal Themselves. Also, They are not necessarily evil - the Arilou say so, but maybe the Arilou are the evil ones. Or maybe both are evil. Or they just don't trust each other. Or what is evil in a dimension is good in another one.
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2007, 07:00:08 pm »

I still believe the Androsynth are now the Orz. Several reasons why I think this:

1) They're clones, and by 'knowing' it does something to your physical makeup, which is why only Bukowski was attacked by the Orz and that if the others were 'seen' the Orz would go after the other crew members. Because all were clones, the entire Androsynth race would come under attack by Orz themselves if even the scientists revealed themselves as every Androsynth has the same *smell*.

2) The desperation of the Androsynth and the consequent war meant that everything from poltergeists was being looked at, so these poltergeists probably possessed the Androsynth on the planet. The Androsynth fought back and failed, and in the end this counts for why there is no more Androsynth, even no corpses.

3) The Arilou said 'the Androsynth revealed themselves, and now there are no more Androsynth. Only Orz.'

4) Orz I believe is a single overmind which uses *fingers* which is in a sense uses the host Androsynth bodies from which it communicates and fights. The Androsynth are dragged *below* by Orz so perhaps they still remain, yet they can't do anything about it while Orz is occupying them. The *fingers* probably are changed because of this, assuming Orz identity and appear as fish-like creatures, and I guess if it was reverted with the Androsynth being freed, they would turn back into normal human clones.

That's what I think Tongue
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Sheridan
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2007, 04:30:01 pm »

4) Orz I believe is a single overmind which uses *fingers* which is in a sense uses the host Androsynth bodies from which it communicates and fights.

That's what I think Tongue

Something I agree with. The way Orz refers to itself and talks about *fingers* rather than *many bubbles* leads one to believe it's a single entity with many projections. Imagine an artificial intelligence on a mainframe; that's Them/Orz-Brain down *Below*, where it can't physically interact with anything. The *fingers* are the security cameras, automated turrets and maintenance robots, if you will.
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2007, 08:27:55 pm »

OH NO! G'or returns!....ok, noone will get that unless you've played Eradicator.
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2007, 08:30:02 pm »

Something I agree with. The way Orz refers to itself and talks about *fingers* rather than *many bubbles* leads one to believe it's a single entity with many projections. Imagine an artificial intelligence on a mainframe; that's Them/Orz-Brain down *Below*, where it can't physically interact with anything. The *fingers* are the security cameras, automated turrets and maintenance robots, if you will.

If you assuem that many bubbles are conciousness yes. But what if bubbles are atoms? Then the Orz isn't a silly light projection like us, but something very different. Something that shouldn't exist here.
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #11 on: July 19, 2007, 02:13:28 pm »

Just Kaelos' two cents, but.. Presuming that the "many bubbles" are molecules/atoms, it strikes him that fingers could either be direct telepathic projections, /or/, (a bit of a stretch, he knows, but bear with him), perhaps waves?

Structures of pure energy waves/radiation? That would explain the "solid" comments from the Arilou.. Like, humankind (and presumably the other TrueSpace races) are living in a dimension that contains both waves and particles, and perhaps QuasiSpace is sheer particles, and whatever the Orz come from is simply waves? (Not ver' good at physics, so Kaelos isn't even sure if this makes sense. And it probably isn't helping that he talks in the third person.)

Heck, could even be both.. Telepathically-created constructs of waves o.O;; Dunno. Just bored and up late, so wanted to contribute to the lovely out-of-the-Orzinary conversation Cheesy
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Sheridan
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2007, 12:50:01 am »

Something I agree with. The way Orz refers to itself and talks about *fingers* rather than *many bubbles* leads one to believe it's a single entity with many projections. Imagine an artificial intelligence on a mainframe; that's Them/Orz-Brain down *Below*, where it can't physically interact with anything. The *fingers* are the security cameras, automated turrets and maintenance robots, if you will.

If you assuem that many bubbles are conciousness yes. But what if bubbles are atoms? Then the Orz isn't a silly light projection like us, but something very different. Something that shouldn't exist here.

And yet does.

*dramatic chord*

Though one would think that if something tried to pass into our dimension, which had massively different rules from it's home dimension, that the thing in question would just be unable to. Like a human trying to survive underwater with no oxygen tank or method of getting air from the water, and no shelter, but far more drastic, or something.
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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2007, 02:46:46 am »

While it may seem boring, I've always liked the idea that the Orz are so different that we cannot comprehend where they come from, and what they do. That is, we can see the effects in our universe, but can never truly begin to comprehend the cause. As such, should you in any game be able to venture into *below*, things will have to be very strange indeed, almost random.
Something I agree with. The way Orz refers to itself and talks about *fingers* rather than *many bubbles* leads one to believe it's a single entity with many projections. Imagine an artificial intelligence on a mainframe; that's Them/Orz-Brain down *Below*, where it can't physically interact with anything. The *fingers* are the security cameras, automated turrets and maintenance robots, if you will.
If you assuem that many bubbles are conciousness yes. But what if bubbles are atoms? Then the Orz isn't a silly light projection like us, but something very different. Something that shouldn't exist here.
Luk, so far you've nailed the Lovecraftian origins I feel PR3 was homaging with the Orz and the Ur-Quan.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2007, 09:36:27 pm by guesst » Logged

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Re: Orz ambiguity (or "Conspiracy theory")
« Reply #14 on: July 20, 2007, 06:26:06 am »

Though one would think that if something tried to pass into our dimension, which had massively different rules from it's home dimension, that the thing in question would just be unable to. Like a human trying to survive underwater with no oxygen tank or method of getting air from the water, and no shelter, but far more drastic, or something.

Depends on how different I suppose, and how much of it. For a (somewhat flawed) analogy, I have no trouble dipping my fingers into water. But I can't exist in an underwater enviroment without some help. I can also exist for short periods of time in quite hostile enviroments, as long as i don't overdo it and especially if I just stick non-essential parts in there.

Also, I'm not sure what you're doing guesst. Are you simply agreeing with the quoted posts, or do you feel there are inconsistencies, or what?
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