ok
plan now shows a central masonry support
then rings of posts and beams(girts) at 8 and 16 feet of radius
the porch now has two rings of posts, one buried in the outside of the strawbale wall and a ring at the outside of the porch

The hips (principal rafters) are on top of the posts(through mortise and tenon)
The girts have moved down at least 6" from the hip/post connection (i'm considering timberlinx for the girt connections, they only need a shoulder connection plus a 1 1/8" hole and they can be tightened anytime-the trick will be assembly, the last timberlinx in a ring will have to have a very long hole to the outside face of the girt)
I see common roof purlins with hopefully a dovetailed ring at the 12 foot raduis or so...
I'm thinking 32 braces downstairs and 19 upstairs
The 5 northern posts at the 16 foot radius should be continuous to second floor

We would use dragon beams(or corner ties) on the inner ring if the client's budget allows....

Another word on the posts
i can see taking off the 22.5 degree cuts on the outside face of the posts(similar to the top cuts on a hip) but why remove more wood than that?
why not save the strength and cut sloped shoulders?
this may be something i see because of my layout technique, i use end level lines and quadrant snaplines between the timber ends, all layout as far as shoulders go is done with snaplines...so an angled shoulder is possible(although harder to cut)
i suppose the 11.25 degree post sides would look better?(except where the post meets the hip?)

ok
more later i'm sure
i'll probably exchange the design plans for the framing plans on the webpages when i'm done.
THANKS again to everyone who has helped me grapple with this, especially will truax and mark gillis
-M.