Attack of the Clones, Creatures Style
For a time, the White Haired Pixie Norn look was most prevalent in Albia, since the healthy adult females all had these strong traits. Recently, however, the Horse Norn traits have taken a more dominant role, despite the fact that all three original C1 breeds are represented. With my new-found way to use the incubator past the eight Norn limit, I figured there would be some interesting babies. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
This is Asrea, the daughter of Evria and Rafin. I was thrilled to discover that he had fathered another Norn, since it seemed like he hadn’t really got around. Previously, only Azdira and Enterra were his connection to the future. This lady flew out of her egg: She was moving around before she even hit the ground! She exhibits the more common female appearance, with a Horse Norn head and White Haired Pixie Norn body. I quickly brought her up to the computer before I made a mad dash for the next egg.
Meet little Hestin! This little guy was more of a surprise than I had anticipated. I keep a list of all of the unhatched Norns, with at least their mother’s information on hand. I had somehow forgotten to record Hestin’s egg, and had a wonderful revelation when I saw the birth certificate. His mother is Avira, who had only had one child. Oddly enough, that was Rafin, who is also Hestin’s father. Inbreeding plays no role, thank goodness! He is an exact copy of Rafin, and I’m quite happy to have discovered a very close tie back to my original Adria.
Finally, I plopped the third egg into the incubator, and out popped Jorand. He is the son of Evrietta and, amazingly, Rafin! I had thought that he was being beaten out by the other males, but he most certainly made his mark. All of his children bear a very strong Horse Norn appearance. Jorand’s birth also represents the end of the original unhatched eggs: All the rest have been fathered by Brennis or Windren.
I still haven’t gotten my male White Haired Pixie Norn, but I’m certain that he’s on his way! The learning process is quite difficult when dealing with three babies… When one is focused on something, the others tend to look at something else, so that teaching nouns becomes a nightmare. Eventually, everyone gained a general understanding of most words, and they are now off enjoying themselves with the group!
I’m curious, I don’t suppose any of the original Norns and their immediate children are still alive? It’d be nice to see a “family tree”. And maybe a “Graveyard” post (or page), with an age, name, short description, and picture of all the Norns who pass away.
Lol, those last two guys could well be clones, except for the little boots on Jorand. If he were my norn he’d probably be called Bootface, or BlackBoot the Pirate. ;)
I thought you had probably made an update, and you did!
I’m very happy that you were able to find those connections to your tribe from before the Plague!
For me, I can’t wait till you get some pigment mutations!
Have you considered getting your hands on the super speech toy? It would make teaching your Norns a breeze. The down side is it would make you less involved in that early stage of your Norns life. The plus side is you get to teach them emotions and feelings. No more “emm bibble”. They’ll actually tell your they’re hungry.
You know I just have to ask this but: what exactly is the general plan you have when you’re teaching a baby norn? I don’t seem to be having much success with my Wood Norns XD
Wow, thanks for all the comments!
Moe, I think you’ll be very happy with a little surprise I have in the works… It probably won’t be ready until early August with my crazy schedule, but I’ll be documenting everyone in the world, past and present!
Ha ha! Those are great names, September_rain! I especially like Blackboot the Pirate… I do believe that will be Jorand’s official nickname!
Thanks, Silvak! I’m looking forward to the pigment mutations, too! I love when Norns are a little bit different, since it’s easy to pick them out in a crowd and also makes them seem more unique. Hopefully a little bit of color will come about soon enough!
ArchDragon, I have considered the super speech toy, since it cuts down the learning process a whole lot. But as you said, it greatly diminishes the involvement in the very early stage of life, which I seem to be obsessed with! For other worlds I plan on creating, I definitely plan on using it since my focus will be more on the scientific side of the game, rather than the nurturing side. For now, though, I’m hopelessly involved in every aspect of Norn life. Ha ha!
Razgriz, I could write up an entry about my method of teaching baby Norns. I usually spend under 10 minutes with each one, focusing on the verbs and then trying to teach them some of the more important nouns, like food and toy. Some Norns are difficult to teach, though, since they get so easily distracted. I love hatching a baby who listens all the time and soaks up the words: Not a common occurrence, but quite the welcome change!
That would be awesome Jessica. May I make a quick COB suggestion? Using Slink’s 24 norn incubator COB might help when it comes to worrying about the amount of norns in the world. You can find the COB here: http://creatures.treesprite.com/Slink6.html#E
How in the world did I not know about these COBs sooner?! Thank you so much for sharing, Razgriz! I had heard of issues with upping the population, but not in relation to these actual COBs. Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with using them? I’ll use both in upcoming worlds, and will definitely consider it in this world: I’m just an overprotective one! Ha ha! Truly, though, thanks so much for the link!
Just letting you know I looked through all of your entries today, and I love this blog! It made me want to get Albian Years off GoG so I can play C1 again (the setup won’t run from my old disc on my Windows 7 laptop).
Thank you so much, Emzie! I’m glad to find another fan, which makes me want to write more and more often. I hope you continue to check back and enjoy!
My version of Creatures actually comes from my original disc, which was probably purchased back in 1998. Regretfully, I let my brother tinker with the installation process on his own, so I’m not positive about the steps involved. I would be happy to try to help out, though!