One Up, One Down: A Steady Norn Population

With Orddu and Orgoch already fully grown, it almost felt all too quiet without a baby Norn to bring some life into Albia. Therefore, I hatched another egg! This is Orwen, the daughter of Korgen and Hopen. She is also the last female to hatch this generation, with just two males to finish out the third generation. I was rather sad to see that Orwen greeted the world outside her shell with a terrified look, rather than the usual hopeful smile. There was one genetic mutation that had some promise as being the culprit, though Orwen was a rather shy Norn to begin with.

Emitters

Chemical emitters define specific conditions within a Creature in order to affect chemicals. Some examples include experiencing stress from excessive drives, becoming cold due to environmental conditions, and more.

137 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, Air is this hot, chem=SexDrive, thresh=0, samp=24, gain=49, features=Analogue

This chemical emitter normally states that when hot air is felt in the environment, the hotness chemical will increase by a certain amount. In Orwen, her sex drive will increase in response to hot air. Quite an odd effect! However, this also means that she may have trouble warming up, since her body will not be able to feel hotness from the environment. I may take a closer look at just how this mutation changes the way Orwen acts, although I doubt if it will drastically change her life.

Stimuli

Stimuli genes define the chemicals that a Creature expects to receive in response to an action. These actions can range from interactions with the hand to involuntary actions like coughing or sneezing.

102 Emb B Mut ‘Object comes into view‘ causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0 => 8*Boredom++

In the standard Norn genome, this stimuli gene controls what happens with the stimuli ‘I am quiescent’. I remember when I first played Creatures 1 long ago, and had no idea what this crazy word meant! It’s simply another way of saying that a Norn is doing nothing, or staying still. This stimuli is supposed to slowly build up boredom, which would eventually influence a Norn to seek out something to do. Orwen’s mutation means that she experiences this buildup of boredom when an object comes into view. While learning verbs and nouns, this seemed to be true: Although she was quick to pick up the language, Orwen seemed preoccupied the more time she spent focusing on new objects. I labeled this as a neutral mutation because this could mean that she will be more inclined to rest, since she should not become bored. Yet another gene to take a look at later on!

Sadly, Orwen’s entrance into the world was tempered by the departure of another. Eilonwy went off into the land of never ending slumber beneath the gentle crackle of a flame. Although she spent the latter half of her life in a somewhat depressed state with no taste for food, nor adventure, she ended up living for an impressive 12 hours and 15 minutes. Her four eggs were fathered by different males, which would certainly help with diversifying the gene pool. Despite my annoyance at constantly tending to Eilonwy, I already missed her. She was a big part of this generation, and losing her was a sad moment. Rest in peace.

Gurgi. Last I spotted him, he was still with Melyngar after she laid her first egg. I thought he was still celebrating another egg… Yet I found him hanging out with Orddu and Orgoch. And, to no surprise, another egg was on its way at his very capable and fertile hands. Orgoch, pictured on the far left, was the recipient of this special Norn love. Gurgi then disappeared, like some crazy fertility ghost that popped up for just a moment every now and then! He was closing in on a record: This was his ninth child! Quite the busy bee Norn he was.

Shortly thereafter, Orddu headed off on a little adventure with Gwydion. He had been absent from the main population for a time, while he enjoyed spending time with the late Eilonwy. I thought these two would share a birth announcement, yet they resembled close friends more than anything else. I could hardly complain: There were Norn eggs to tend to, and Ellidyr and Achren were suddenly expecting their thirteenth egg! It was nice to simply see my Norns enjoying their time in Albia, without needing to concentrate on the next generation. I left Orddu and Gwydion beneath the gently dancing flags, which sent one off into a pleasant sleep.

2 Comments
« Previous Post | Next Post »