Albia’s Circle of Life
Written onBera aged into quite an adorable Forest Norn, although I failed to show off her new look until now. Clearly the cute little old lady look came complete with some senility: What is it with the deathcap mushroom?! Her life force plummeted to about 45% in a matter of moments, and I feared that little Bera would be the next death. Fortunately, she had enough sense to devour a few carrots. She had already experienced a lot of Albia: Was this something she felt she had to do before her time was over? Well done, Bera! At least she would stay away from the deadly weed in the future… Hopefully. It really is one alluring delicacy that tends to do a lot of harm.
Arik and Eydis found their way back to one another and spent some quality time together. They had been quite the couple: Out of five of her eggs, Arik was the father of four. His progeny was much the same, with only one unborn baby mothered by someone other than Eydis. I provided them with a plethora of food, in the hopes that it might increase their fertility. Arik was producing just enough testosterone to make me believe that a final pregnancy was possible. They seemed uninterested in my brilliant idea, though! It still was pleasant to see the first two Norns together again.
Creatures 1 went on as usual for a time, and I almost was lulled into a sense of security. That is, until I was alerted to a death. With her beloved Arik by her side, Eydis passed away quietly at the age of 11 hours and 56 minutes. The bees left her alone in death, yet I still recalled her failed attempts at becoming a Creatures 1 beekeeper. Those had been wonderful times in Albia, and now they would not return again with her. Although her death was far from unexpected, it still hurt just as much. Goodbye, Eydis.
Shortly after the passing of Eydis, I was surprised to learn that Ingelill and Ranulf had an egg on the way! She had laid her last egg long ago, and I thought that Ingelill would never conceive again. At about seven and a half hours old, she was no spring chicken! All the same, the pregnancy brought some happiness into Creatures 1 amidst the impending mortality. I hoped to see several more pregnancies before the last first generation Norns passed away. The one problem was that Ranulf was the only male with a high enough fertility. It was time to see if Folkvar or Valborg could enter the gene pool again!
Aw, the hardest passing is always the first Norn you hatched. Eydis will most definitely be dearly missed. If she had to go, I’m glad she could go with her lifelong partner by her side. And we have many of her children to meet; that will help.
Her passing wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be: I think part of it was because I knew it was coming. As you said, too, Eydis has many children to continue her legacy! It was nice to have Arik right there with her at the end, and she looked quite peaceful when her eyes closed for the final time. I still hate to have to say goodbye to everyone, yet I’m looking forward to moving on to some birth announcements soon!
I look forward to seeing the next generation! All these old norns are so adorable, though, it’s sad to see them go. But such is the circle of life.
I felt inspired today and played my new C3/DS world a little. I’m separating generations too, so all newborn norns get exported. My two norn couples (Civet + Zebra and Fallow + Bruin) managed to produce 16 offspring between them in just a couple of hours! …I’m considering trying C1 again too, instead! I mean… my Civet Alice was getting pregnant every 10 minutes. The only reason she took a break was that she went off on adventures and left her mate behind. It’s ridiculous!
Are you using the 24 norn world, btw? And you’re running the GOG version, right?
I’m glad you got the chance to play a little C3/DS today! Those Norns really do breed like rabbits, though… I rather like the challenge in C1, since Norns kiss pop when they are fertile and infertile. Alice sounds like she was in breeding machine mode! Ha ha! I find that’s one of the big downsides for me: It just seems too easy for Norns to get pregnant, which seems a bit unrealistic. Personal preference, though!
You know I’m heavily biased in favor of C1: You should definitely give it another go! I’m actually using the 24 Incubator and 24 Breeding COBs: I think they do the same thing as the 24 Norn World COB, though. Only thing to keep in mind, which I’m sure you know, is that the observation kit tends to crash when there are 18 or more Norns in a world. And yes, I’m running the GOG version of The Albian Years! Highly recommended!
I agree, I really liked the challenge of breeding in C1 too. It’s far too easy in C3/DS (and to a degree, it is in C2 as well), and any positive mutations related to breeding become irrelevant. :(
Where are these 24 incubator/24 breeding COBs, if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve tried the 24 world one before, but it seemed to crash my game. :( Not sure if it was a coincidence or not.
I haven’t bought the GOG version, though I’ve got the original C1 installed on a virtual machine running Win2k. I’ll probably use that one for now. Good to know the GOG version works well, though!
Well said, Tarlia! I’m always on the lookout for helpful mutations, and any related to breeding in C3/DS are pointless. I often wish for mutations that will keep a Norn from breeding too quickly! Ha ha!
You can find the 24 Incubator and 24 Population COBs at TreeSprite’s Creatures Grove. I was a little mistaken about the second COB, which is not related to breeding, but allows eggs to hatch naturally in the wild. I can’t recall if I also injected the 24 Norn World: I haven’t had any issues with breeding when there were 12 Norns in the world, though.
I miss the Emergency Kit from the original C1! Good luck with it: I look forward to hearing more about your world in the future!