Love is (Literally) in the Air

With plenty of other Norns to introduce into this generation, I made the decision to find the next egg in line to be hatched. On a side note, the process I take to choose the eggs to hatch for each generation is actually fairly complex. First, I try to make sure that each Norn from the previous generation has a few offspring represented, but not so much to make the gene pool too similar. I also look through the genetics of each unhatched Norn to find a good mix of appearances, Norns with few to no mutations, and Norns with a couple of interesting mutations. I actually forgot about the mutation this little guy had! Meet Manakin, the son of Gurgi and Llyan. Time to put the microscope on those genes!

Reactions

Chemical reactions define rules for individual chemicals and chemical combinations. These genes can also state the rules for how chemicals are used up, and each reaction has a defined half-life to determine how often it occurs.

Default: 142 Emb B MutDup 1*Starch => 2*Glucose; half-life=64
Mutation: 142 Emb B MutDup 1*Starch => 2*Glucose + 3*Pain-; half-life=64

Note that the default state of this gene can also state that one unit of starch creates two glucose and one unit of hunger decrease. In a standard Norn, this gene merely states that starch is converted into glucose. Most food items in Creatures 1 contain starch, so this is the important conversion process to change starch into glucose. Remember that glucose can be converted into glycogen, which is a Norn’s long-term energy storage. Manakin experiences a slight benefit when eating foods with starch: He experiences a small pain decrease. Perhaps he is the perfect definition of a “comfort eater!” Since Norns are unable to overeat and gain weight, this might encourage him to eat when he is in pain. This is still a very small amount, though, so it likely will not affect his behavior. All the same, it isn’t so bad!

Manakin was a wonderful baby to teach: He was not easily distracted, and even had his eyes glued to the glowing computer screen for almost his entire lesson. Plus, he was just about the cutest little Norn to hatch in a long time! I had to leave him alone while I checked up on the rest of the Norns and Grendels, yet he was pretty well stocked up for an infant. A pot of honey and a ball usually keep the little ones happy! Manakin looked like he was already turning into an independent baby. It actually happened rather quickly, as with all of the others. He seemed so helpless at birth, and just a few minutes later he was ready to take on the world. Oh Manakin: You grew up too quickly!

In the garden, Blackcap was still determined to keep Junco company. The latter’s life force had fallen to about 30%, due to a mixture of a mutation and a missing gene. Junco would never feel hunger, and also could not focus on an object for longer than half a second. My hopes were high when he picked up some food a few times, but both Blackcap and I could not convince him to actually lift a carrot or radish to his mouth. The positive side to Junco’s lethal eating problem was that he never felt hunger, so he almost always had a smile to flash at anyone who looked his way. I was determined to make sure Junco was comfortable and happy.

As valiant as he was, there was still something that caught Blackcap’s attention: Cotinga! She stole him away from Junco, although it seemed that he understood. Male Norn code and all. Even after having this generation alive for several hours, Blackcap and Cotinga were the parents of the lone egg of the next generation. A wink and a kiss later… And they were soon expecting another! Part of me had hoped that Junco was the father, but it would be devastating to have another Norn with the same condition. These two had a good chance of having a baby Norn who would be able to eat properly. What a joyful pair the parents-to-be made!

Call it sabotage, but I was rather alarmed with how the males and females had almost entirely segregated themselves from one another. At this rate, there would only be two eggs to hatch for the next generation. So I kidnapped Astrapia and Adaon to reunite them with a small group consisting of Arianllyn, Drongo, and Hypocolius. Maybe it was this mayhem that Astrapia had tried to escape from: She was appalled by the sudden crowded conditions! Yet my work did pay off, for Astrapia and Drongo soon had a little egg on the way. I mostly let nature take its course… Let’s just say the vehicles and lifts were possessed.

Apparently Albia knew I was not without blame, for I was served up with the amazing floating egg glitch with Cotinga’s egg. So much for my theory that this happened more often in a world filled with unhatched eggs! This was not the first time this happened early on in a Creatures 1 world, so I wasn’t too worried about it. I just plan on making additional backups as I play. The worst thing is having a world get corrupted, which happened to me at one point. Not very fun.

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