Everyday Happiness in Albia

It’s always pleasant to be greeted with happy Norns! I found Doli and Dwyvach enjoying a little vacation on the desert island. Although they were quite friendly towards one another, this was not an occasion to make another egg. Other Norns, and even the Grendel couple, found their way to the island in no time! Word must have traveled quickly that it was a very favorable place… The submarine was jam packed, and even the little boat had a guest or two to ferry across the water. Food was in a bit of short supply, but I didn’t mind refilling the honeypots and bringing some carrots over. They were eaten up very quickly!

Eilonwy went into a bit of shock after her illness and pregnancy: Both took a toll on her, and she deserved a very long rest. Fortunately, she was one of the best eaters in the world: I barely had to wave a carrot around before she grabbed it and gobbled it up! She spent some time with Coll, who was the polar opposite of her: At just a few hours old, his testosterone levels were very low, and he refused to eat. I had a challenge ahead of me, but it would not be impossible to rehabilitate him. At least I hoped so! Eilonwy enjoyed her time away from everyone, and was quickly reunited with her friends. I was proud of her for taking such good care of herself.

With Albia fairly settled and no immediate problems, it was time to hatch another third generation Norn! Out of a spotted blue egg emerged Fflewddur, the son of Mevik and Pettvika. He had a couple of genetic mutations, although nothing seemed too out of place. However, I feared that he had a brain lobe mutation when he refused to move for several minutes after he was born. He turned about, focused on different objects, and spoke, yet he seemed glued to the floor! Fflewddur finally took his first steps after I gave him a gentle slap… It was a last ditch effort, and the only slap he received. That helped bring him out of a haze, and he passed his vocabulary lesson with flying colors! Now, to have a quick look at his mutations and what they translate to in Creatures 1.

Receptors

Chemical receptors define parameters for a certain chemical. When these parameters are met, an element in the Creature is affected. These genes can increase drives, define life stages, control fertility, and more.

54 Chi B MutDupCut Creature, Drive Levels Boredom, chem=Boredom, thresh=2, nom=0, gain=255, features=Analogue

This gene normally controls how the boredom drive is affected by the boredom chemical: It’s important to note that these are actually two different things. In the standard Norn genome, this gene switches on at the embryo life stage, and has a threshold of zero. Fflewddur actually has a double mutation in this one gene, which often happens in later generations. First, this gene will not switch on until childhood: As a baby, no matter how much boredom chemical he has in his system, he will never experience boredom. When he becomes a child and can feel boredom, he will be able to tolerate one unit of boredom chemical without being bored. The second part of this mutation is extremely minor, and should have no noticeable effects. The life stage change could be detrimental to his learning, though, since the most important lessons are often learned when Norns are babies. Still, I have yet to find a baby Norn who became extremely bored: The main issues normally involve eating and sleeping!

Half-Lives

Chemical half-lives define the decay rate of each chemical. In the absence of any reactions, a half-life defines how long a chemical will remain. Half-lives can range from fractions of a second to an entire lifetime.

1 Emb B MutDup Glucose 130

Half lives can be a nightmare to understand, since every chemical is crammed into one gene! It can be tough to go through when a standard Norn genome is mixed with that of some of the newer breeds, such as the Purple Mountain Norn or the Forest Norn. Half lives differ significantly between these two, yet I don’t consider these mutations. For Fflewddur, his half life for glucose was mutated to have a value of 130, rather than 128. In the Genetics Kit, 130 is actually not a valid value: It is automatically reverted back to 128, even though it still appears as 130 in the D-DNA Analyzer. It will be interesting to see if this actually passes along, or if the Genetics Kit corrected it. The difference seems fairly minor, but a value of 128 corresponds with 5 hours, while a value of 136 corresponds with 10 hours. This could mean that glucose would remain in Ffleddur’s system for a longer period of time than usual. A longer half life for glycogen would have been much more useful!

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.

97 Emb B Mut ‘I bump into wall’ causes sig=0 GS neu=2(I’ve bumped a wall) int=255, Sensed Even When Asleep => 25*Pain++ + 0*NFP

In the standard Norn genome, bumping into a wall creates a sharp increase in pain. Fflewddur has a very minor mutation, where the second chemical was changed from NONE to need for pleasure (NFP). This still has a value of zero, but with a further mutation, this could cause a Norn to receive another incentive to not walk into walls too much. Pain should be enough, but I think we’ve all experienced constant wall bonking!

Ellidyr decided to watch over Angharad as she slept peacefully in the garden. I managed to catch her in a rare eating mood, and she wolfed down about four carrots! I was ecstatic as I watched her life force climb to a healthy 77%. She even had a better score than some of the other Norns! It was still very hard to find her in an eating mood, but it was nice to see Angharad doing so well. Ellidyr acted like her little protector, and he flashed her a smile whenever he could. He had left Achren with some other Norns for some time, but I had a feeling he would seek her out again. Albia needed another Grendel egg!

Doli and Dwyvach continued to enjoy their time on the desert island! Dallben also stuck around: One might barely catch a glimpse of his ear in this photo. Along with Coll, he had turned into one of the worst eaters. It was probably just a phase, but it meant another round of rehabilitation for another male. My female Norns never seemed to have this problem… Maybe the males were just more forgetful when they turned their attention to kisspopping! Doli probably fared very well because he was not too focused on kisspops: He just enjoyed spending time with Dwyvach and eating honey under the sun. What a happy Norn!

After about ten minutes or so went by, I managed to free Dallben from the desert island and begin his alone time. However, I was surprised to find Angharad so far from the incubator and garden! She rarely strayed too far from the places she knew well. As tired and hungry as he was, Dallben remembered his first romance with Angharad, and she soon found herself pregnant! Sadly, this unborn Norn inherited all of her mutations, and even had a new one affecting a brain lobe. Still, it was a happy occasion for the pair! Amazingly, Achren and Ellidyr had become pregnant about a minute beforehand. It was quite fitting, since Ellidyr and Angharad had been such close friends. I braced myself for the dual egg watch that lay ahead.