Talk: The Race

Discrepancy in describing space travel

The technology section claims that the Race travels through interstellar space at 0.015C. This conflicts with the invasion of Earth, which was described as needing 20 Earth years to travel from Home to Earth, requiring an average speed of .595C (11.9 LY distance/20 years). 50.98.111.185 07:03, January 27, 2018 (UTC)Anonymous

Incorrect reference removed

Removed reference to the Race having FTL travel, at the end of the series they still don't (although Humans due)... Ralph 19Jan05

Sorry my mistake - Redem

map

someone should add a map of the race's conquest of earth - Chaos128

"They are tact in many ways."

I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. TR 03:49, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Really? It should be obvious.

I took out that "The Race is not evil" paragraph. It was out of place in the section it was in and in the article in general. We're not here to editorialize. Actually I'm a bit surprised we're here at all now that we've got the Community Wiki to play with. Turtle Fan 11:00, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

The one does not preclude the other. TR 03:22, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

True, but I recall you recently saying that everything you enjoyed about working here and more was available at the other one, that you thought of this place mainly as an obligation and that that obligation was one you were trying to break. Turtle Fan 15:18, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

I said that it was feeling like an obligation, and that I would take a break for a week or so, nothing else. Sporadically popping in and out has slowly renewed my interest here to some extent. The stress of work and changing habitat has also made this place feel a little more relaxing. TR 18:04, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, must have lost track of the time. You're moving? Or remodeling? Turtle Fan 18:35, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Moved yesterday the big stuff yesterday. Renting a two-bedroom condo rather than a one-bedroom apartment. Still have piddling crap at the old place, but don't need to get that out for weeks. TR 23:20, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Why the expansion? Forgive me for saying this but on the surface of it it seems frivolous to take on added expenses in this economy for the sake of greater creature comforts. Going to be adding any members to the household? If I'm prying, tell me to fuck off and I won't be offended. Turtle Fan 18:21, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

You're not prying--no expanding family.

Actually, the expenses will decrease. $875 for rent, utilities, and basic cable. The apartment's rent was going to increase come July, and since our utilities always go up in the summer, we'd have been spending much more. Based on my calculations, we'll be paying $100 less at the new place.

So we get the cake, and even get to take a bite or two. TR 19:00, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Less on a two-room than a one, no shit. That's a great deal. Congrats.

I guess the housing bust is good if you want to buy low. A friend of mine is fucking buying a house, in East Brunswick no less, for bargain-basement prices. 22, he is. Turtle Fan 20:09, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

The Race

Here's my artistic take on The Race. Note the chameleon-like eyes and the short tail stump, as decribed in the books. I haven't come up with a body paint concept yet, but give me time.

Keep us posted. TR 17:09, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Aren't they more properly bipedal, with the torso just slanting forward rather than nearly perpendicular to their legs, as though quadrupedality was quite recent? Turtle Fan 17:17, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Literary Note

Is that section really necessary? Doesn't it pretty much all go without saying? Turtle Fan 14:54, September 18, 2010 (UTC)

Let's let Blaise defend it. TR 17:31, September 18, 2010 (UTC)

Aber naturlich. Turtle Fan 18:15, September 18, 2010 (UTC)

I don't delude myself that I have discovered something compltely new and senational that nobody ever thought of before. On the other hand, I also don't think it is comepletly obvious and self-evident to each and every one who reads and likes the Worldwar series. I think that it is interesting and useful for this kind of people - for whose sake this Wiki exsists - to set out the literary contraints which led this quite remarkable sentient race coming to have its fictional existence.Blaise MacDuff, the Purple Dragon 23:03, September 19, 2010 (UTC) useful

I don't know--I've seen Wikis with far more extensive commentaries than we use, and I've never seen anything like this. And I'm really, really leery of talking about what went on inside the author's mind when we have no access to his thought processes, and are in fact just guessing. Turtle Fan 03:24, September 20, 2010 (UTC)

I think that here it is quite straightforward. We have a series based on the premise that aliens invaded Earth during WWII and that the war between humans turned into a war of humans aginst aliens in which both had a chance to win. You don't need to into the author's mind in order to know that this is what he wanted; the fact that he wrote it, and at very great length and detail, is proof enough. There are very specific objective constraints which the aliens' culture and technology had to fit into, otherwise this basic premise just would not work. The Race's culture and technology as described do fit very precisely into these constraints. What more do you want? Blaise MacDuff, the Purple Dragon 03:53, September 20, 2010 (UTC)

What more do I want? See above. We don't posit what Turtledove was thinking unless we have access to first-hand descriptions of the thought process, in memoirs or interviews or epilogues. It doesn't matter how self-apparent you feel the thought process is--and by the way, the more you argue for its obviousness and straightforwardness, the closer you come to conceding that this section goes without saying.

TR, your thoughts? Turtle Fan 04:35, September 20, 2010 (UTC)

Turtledove himself has given interviews and written on the matter. Appropriate footnotes may redeem this paragraph, but without them, this paragraph is unnecessary. Arguing based on obviousness is a losing proposition in this context. TR 16:57, September 20, 2010 (UTC)

So I'm guessing,one of us made the same article on Wikipedia?76.69.65.161 15:34, July 1, 2013 (UTC)Zhukov15

Possibly. It wasn't me.

Thanks for reminding me that that pointless lit note was still there. Blaise never did add the footnotes TR requested, and he hasn't been here at all in some time, so I for one feel justified removing it. Turtle Fan (talk) 17:28, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

I think we should change the bit about the Race disliking eggs. Nesseref had no propblem eating them in Second Contact for breakfest and compared eating eggs from Home, they were more sulfurous and needed salt. The server gave them to her without a second thought.

I went ahead and deleted, largely because it's such trivial detail. TR (talk) 18:09, August 25, 2016 (UTC)

My take on the Race

This my my take on the Race 24.77.154.120 03:56, March 28, 2019 (UTC)

It looks a bit unfinished, but seems promising.JonathanMarkoff (talk) 04:00, March 28, 2019 (UTC)

Not bad. Turtle Fan (talk) 02:36, March 29, 2019 (UTC)

Colorized 64.231.192.241 00:03, May 4, 2019 (UTC)

Interesting gif

https://www.deviantart.com/evanimations/art/A-Male-of-The-Race-705946174 Matthew Babe Stevenson (talk) 22:31, July 2, 2019 (UTC)

I didn't find it interesting at all. Turtle Fan (talk) 04:02, July 3, 2019 (UTC)