One Disaster After Another in the Land of Albia

Oh, wonderful Albia! It was about time for some bacteria to have its day, and Forvika was soon infected with an illness. This was a relatively simple infection, though, which only involved an antigen and fever toxin. Antibody 6 is one of the antibodies which increases very quickly: Some antibodies take at least two or three times longer to combat an infection. Forvika was also not contagious, since she did not have any traces of either histamine. She was off on her own at the time, as if she had preemptively quarantined herself! It was only a matter of minutes before she fought off the infection and sent the bacteria on its merry way. I was about to find out, however, that this was just the calm before the storm. Creatures 1 tends to operate in just that sense… All seems fine, and then something ghoulish waltzes into the world. How absolutely lovely!

Naturally, I had impeccable timing with the addition of another Norn! This adorable female is known as Jetvika. She is the daughter of Folkvar and Bera. Her genome looked like at least one mutation would slow her down, but I was pleasantly surprised when she began her lessons at the learning computer. A discussion of her genetics will follow in the next one or two entries: As can be seen below, there were many more pressing matters in Creatures 1! Suffice to say that Jetvika has a brain lobe mutation which affects her attention lobe and where her type 1 dendrites receive their input source. She also possesses a mutation that creates coldness instead of tiredness when she coughs. I was ready to dive into her genes, until I noticed that Forvika was ill again. I ignored it for a minute, since many of the Norns had been eating the weeds. Soon, though, I had to leave Jetvika on her own.

Forvika may have looked peaceful as she took a nap, but inside she was fighting a dangerous battle. She had contracted a serious illness that contained a mixture of antigen 7, two different unknown toxins, sleep toxin, and histamine B. The last chemical was the worst, because this meant that the illness could be spread. Minor contagious infections are often low on the danger scale, but this brought back horrifying memories of the first plague from so long ago. I hated those memories with a melancholy passion.

I was unable to keep Dalselv from coming in contact with Forvika, before I whisked her off to the abandoned docks. It would suffice as a quarantine zone for the time being. What complicated matters was the fact that she had just become pregnant from Erikstad, which would put an additional strain on her energy reserves. I could only hope that Dalselv was strong enough to fight off an infection and incubate her second egg. If she wasn’t, she would take her unborn baby with her. I was unaware that the infection had already mutated and become much more dangerous.

Forvika was just moments away from fighting off the infection, and I assumed the same would be true for Dalselv. It was at this moment that Husby and Glein kiss popped, and another egg was on its way. I left Dalselv to check on the newly expectant mother, and to see how little Jetvika was faring on her own. Although many Norns were in need of some rest, all seemed to be quieting down. This might look like a crazy snapshot of the world, but compared to other instances, I felt comfortable.

After a tense few minutes of waiting, Dalselv laid a beautiful egg and eased some of my nerves. However, she promptly coughed on it. Thank goodness those eggshells are tougher than anything! I was perplexed as to why she was so ill, though, since Forvika had recovered long ago. I was horrified when I discovered that Dalselv possessed all of the chemicals, save for antigen 7. Somehow, she had been infected with antigen 0, which has one of the slowest acting antibodies. Even after all this time, Dalselv was nowhere close to fighting off the infection. I brought her as many carrots as I could.

I could not keep my eye on Dalselv forever, since there was another pregnant Norn to care for, as well as a new baby. Naturally, she traveled across the ocean to meet up with the three Norns on the other side. Forvika was a bit further away, but Bolga and Erikstad were greeted with coughs right in their faces. I sent Erikstad across the ocean as quickly as I could, but Bolga could not escape the bacteria. She was soon in a deep slumber, brought on by the sleep toxin. I was determined to help her live. There was always a chance, and hers seemed to burn strongly in her heart.

I spent the next ten minutes watching over Dalselv and Bolga like a hawk. They were not the only ones on the desert island, but luckily Forvika and Halvor were preoccupied in the lower levels. I shoved carrots and parsnips in their faces, desperate for them to keep up their strength. I watched the life force of Dalselv fall to a dangerously low level of 39%, which Bolga stayed at about 55%. The pregnancy had taken a toll on Dalselv, but she eventually recovered. Just before I left Albia, Bolga was almost rid of the bacteria, as well. Success! However, this easily could have been a fatal illness if it had spread to other creatures. It took all my attention to keep just two Norns alive and well. At least everyone had survived this serious infection! Take that, bacteria!

Not to be forgotten, Erikstad never contracted the infection. He easily could have spread it to the majority of the group, since I only had time to quickly screen him for antigens and toxins. He did, however, decide that this was a perfect time to sample the deathcap mushroom! His life force dipped to about 45%, but a carrot or two was all he needed to recover. Erikstad fell asleep in the garden with a cheeky look on his face: I almost wanted to topple him over! Everything had happened so quickly, and we were lucky to have avoided an absolute catastrophe. Many of the others had no inkling of what had just occurred, nor the danger they could have been in. My Norns had triumphed, and would live to tell the tale.

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