Is That Another Horse Norn?

In the peacefulness of the temple, beneath the flickering torches, Brennis passed on from old age. He was, in a way, a savior for Albia. Without him, many of the females would not have had the opportunity to become mothers until very late in their lives. Although none of his eggs have been hatched yet, he will live on in future generations and always be remembered for his part. Farewell Brennis.

Fortunately, with the first natural old age death in Albia, mourning didn’t last for long or linger on for a time. However, Brennis was one of the last Norns in the world who did not have a Horse Norn head. Indeed, I ended up exporting Onessa after she reached an exceptionally old age. Meanwhile, the Horse Norns have been enjoying their role! Enterra had a wonderful ride across the ocean on her way back to reuniting with the group. The male-to-female ratio has actually flipped around, with males dominating the population at this point. Bringing the fertile females to them has become my desperate past-time, since the boys seem a little afraid of the girls.

Case in point: Jorand. Thanks to a comment by September_rain, he is secretly known as Blackboot the Pirate! Unfortunately, getting him near the ocean and island seem impossible. Time and time again, he retreats to the garden for a bit of honey and carrots. Admittedly, it sounds like a tasty meal, but it seems like a lonely existence. Maybe he’s hiding his pirate things where I can’t find them… With all of the males, it’s surprising for me to say that there have only been a handful of eggs laid. Brennis set the bar pretty high, but at least these guys have a decent amount of time left.

One of the biggest reasons for the lack of pregnancies is Olennia. Recall that she has a genetic mutation that causes her progesterone and estrogen levels to feed off of one another, so when she became pregnant for the first time, she became permanently pregnant. She hasn’t suffered, but whenever she is in a group of females, she is always the one whom the males kiss-pop with! After aging a bit more to sport a new hair color, Olennia made her way to the desert island of Albia on her own. Mostly due to her advanced age, I exported her as a substitute for natural death. Only Brennis and Windren have updated genomes that allow them to die of old age.

I must admit that elder female Horse Norns look very beautiful: Look at those long eyelashes on Azdira! I neglected to take many photos of her as she was growing up, and I’m finding that the uniform appearances often make me believe I’ve photographed a Norn many times. Azdira was something of an outcast for her adult life, often being looked over when she was fertile and ready to make an egg. I normally would have exported her, but with the diminished number of females and the fact that she’s only laid two eggs, I decided to keep her in the world for a bit.