A Whole New World

Wonderful news: A new Creatures 1 world was successfully created! I experienced no issues, despite the last world file becoming corrupted. We lost some Norns along the way, yet everyone was still able to live for at least an hour and a half. With just four more Norns to hatch and finish out the second generation, I fervently set about my task. The injector kit is not accessible until one has a Norn or Grendel living in Creatures 1, so my initial world setup mainly involved setting up the favorite places and moving food around. Albia was so quiet! I enjoyed the peace and wished it could last, yet the Norns would ultimately complete it. I held my breath and let out a satisfied sigh: This was the daughter of Ranulf and Kari! In keeping with the naming theme, I chose to call her Hopen. She possessed one mutation, and it was minor.

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.

138 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, Air is this cold, chem=Coldness, thresh=0, samp=24, gain=48, features=Analogue

This gene controls how much coldness is injected in a Norn in response to cold air. The standard Norn genome defines the gain at 50. This variable is simply the amount of the chemical that will be injected when the parameters have been met. In essence, Hopen will not experience as much coldness as other Norns. Since the scale ranges from 0 to 255, however, this is quite a marginal difference. Perhaps it will aid her, though, and possibly result in further mutations! Her descendants might be immune to cold air one day.

I could not keep Hopen all alone in the world for long! She was an excellent little student, and dutifully learned her vocabulary and ate every carrot I brought to her. I felt a little guilty for leaving her in the garden to tend to a new egg, but I was hopeful that she would make a new friend very soon. With a few crackles and a lot of struggling, out popped Inndyr! He is the son of Ranulf and Kari, and is actually the final child from Kari. Amazingly, he is also the first of Ranulf’s male children to have a Forest Norn head! Would he attempt to follow in his father’s footsteps and try to beat the record of thirteen children? Anything but that! Although Inndyr was not as enthusiastic as his sister, he excelled during his lessons. He had one mutation automatically corrected, while another remained.

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 Testosterone 106

In the standard Norn genome, the half life for testosterone is 104. This is a relatively minor mutation, but remember that half lives are exponential. A half life of 104 means that the chemical will break down in 40 minutes, while a half life of 112 corresponds with a rate of 80 minutes. Chemicals do not necessarily remain in a Norn’s system, though: They often are used up in chemical reactions and other processes. I still believe this could be useful, especially since male Norns tend to have decreased testosterone production in response to stress. Proper care will be key for Inndyr, yet he might have a slight advantage in naturally warding off infertility.

As I progressed through the new world with Inndyr and taught him all there was to know, I noticed that the observation kit had marked Hopen as sick. I had last seen her in the vicinity of the Baobab weed, and most youngsters have a taste of it. I assumed she had just taken a little bite, and the notification was in response to the short-term toxins that would leave her body within a minute. Yet Hopen did not get better: I hated to leave a budding mind on its own, but Inndyr was quite happy playing with the lift and spinning the top.

Ouch! Not pictured here is another unknown toxin that was attached to this illness: That made three out of four unknown toxins present. I was struck with fear at the sight of this: Hopen was barely fifteen minutes old, and she was forced to battle it out with a nasty illness. Amazingly, she had no other toxins in her system, and her life force stayed between 76% and 77%. What a nice way to welcome a baby Norn into the world! Hopen recovered very quickly, and often looked at me, wondering why I was so worried. “I’ve got this!” she seemed to say. Many have commented that unknown toxins are associated with mutated antigens and illnesses, and appear after a world has been around for some time. This one struck in a world that was maybe 30 minutes old, with everything brand new. Scary! C1 illnesses can be dangerous and deadly.

Albia would never be the same without a Grendel! While Hopen was recovering, a new baby Grendel entered Creatures 1. This is Alfhild! I was hoping for a male Grendel to get my mind off of Skuld, but the randomness decided on a female again. Alfhild was so tiny, and seemed barely able to lift the honeypot. What a little darling! She made her home in the treetops, and began a journey to the east. Perhaps she enjoyed the heights, or simply had no idea what a lift could do. Alfhild would eventually meet the Norns, yet it was nice to watch her enjoy her young life with plenty of apples, honey, and toys.

The first meeting between Inndyr and Hopen was hilarious: They had a staring contest that lasted for a long time, at least in Norn standards! I thought that they were sizing one another up and figuring out when to throw the first slap. Luckily, all of the staring resulted in a lovely friendship filled with kind words and kisses. I also made sure to keep them friendly: It’s very difficult to teach Norns social skills, since they tend to learn on their own. At least they were off to a good start.

Like a child with bedtime stories, I just had to hatch one more egg! This one contained the child of Ranulf and Ingelill: Indeed, this was the final child from her, and this egg was laid in the very twilight of Ingelill’s life. As a tribute to her mother, a beautiful female popped out who almost entirely resembled her mother: Junkerdal! She had no mutations, although she did have a mixture of Forest Norn genes and standard Norn genes. I was very pleased with the diversity in these Norns, even though they all had the same father. There was just one more Norn to go in order to complete the second generation. I am also very happy to say that the random injections of starch have stopped: That glitch was absolutely terrible! Now everyone can live happily and naturally. Hurray!

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