The Start of the Fifth Generation in Docking Station
Nestled quietly in Veridia were the first two eggs from the fourth generation alpha couple, Topin and Davira. Someone thought very carefully about where to lay these eggs: I could almost imagine a nest being formed! The tiny inhabitants would mark the beginning of the fifth generation, which was amazingly further than I had ever reached with a single population. Someone has started over way too many times in Docking Station! I started the patient wait paramount to hatching Norn eggs.
Topin was still only a youth, yet he and Inlex soon were awaiting their own set of eggs. The massive amount of food has been very beneficial to these Norns: Thanks to a few agents and one of Amaikokonut’s beta releases, food sources have never been a problem. Since I have taken on a fairly invisible role, I enjoyed watching everyone eat on their own without any prompting. The only downside was how the rest of the females seemed to get rooted to the same spot on the other side of Veridia. Topin would have to make a long journey to meet them!
With only Inlex’s eggs to watch out for, I made a mad dash to hatch the first two eggs from the alpha couple. I was thrilled to meet Athik, a little male! He was a nice mix between his parents, although he made me think of Topin. It might look like he was abandoned in an unforgiving room with no food sources, but again, a beta release of a wonderful creation from Akaikokonut means that food is growing in all sorts of places! Athik appeared to be a very robust and happy little baby Norn, although his adventurous side had yet to come out. All I could look at were his ears, which looked like they could take let him fly and glide. That made me realize that most C3/DS Norns have large ears that seem quite propeller-like. Maybe I just needed more sleep!
A little while later, the second egg hatched to reveal another male, whom I named Benwit. He was far more curious than his brother, and he also looked almost exactly like his father. I hoped that Davira would pass along her appearance genes at some point, since the alpha male has begun to take on a similar look over the last couple of generations. At least these two would have a playmate from the beginning! I also chose not to teach them the language, just to see what this would do to the population. The incessant cries of dislike have made me cringe a few times.
On the exact opposite side of Veridia, three of the females had formed a sort of home base for themselves. Unfortunately, Yenki came down with an illness that completely baffled Poplis and Hiara. This trio had been together for a long time, and I hoped that the ill Norn could recover. I knew I would eventually step in if conditions did not improve: So much for letting nature take its course! At least there was enough food to go around many times. Get well soon, Yenki!
Topin reached adulthood, and I finally remembered to change his mark to a proper crown. I was happy to see Kiarya spending time with him: She was the only one who was carrying on the Harlequin Norn line, and only her legs and tail had this appearance. Maybe she knew this, or maybe it was pure luck, but when she became pregnant, it was not with just one egg. Nor two. Nor three. Kiarya was ready to have her own large family of four babies! Perhaps this would change the tide a bit for the next generation, where more females would carry the green leaf mark. On the other hand, she might get extremely unlucky and have all or mostly males. Time would certainly be the judge. Naturally, Topin was a very proud alpha male!
You might like to pair Amaikokonut’s recent Magic Words Room Edits module with Veridia, to link the different levels of the treehouses and help encourage migration.
http://naturingnurturing.blogspot.com/2012/05/magic-words-room-edits.html
Not teaching them the language will make the empathic vendor not respond to their cries of hunger – as a direct consequence. :)
I’ve considered it, Malkin, although I imagine it will take me a bit of time to learn. Seeing how dispersed the Norns are at the moment, I almost want to encourage them to never travel into the treetops! Ha ha! But I’ll most likely use the Magic Words Room Edits when I set up the next generation. At the rate this is going at, it probably won’t be too long!
Ah, good point about the empathic vendor. Fortunately, there’s not too much use for it with the way I’ve set up food sources. But it’s definitely a point to consider for the future, when it might be vital to survival!
It’s good to see you back and with you, your two lovely worlds. :)
As far as the empathic vendor goes, I always turn off its ability to produce food when the norns complain – I prefer for them to learn to push the machine instead. I think all the normal norn breeds (or at the very least the Chichi-based ones) have an instinct to push dispensers when they are hungry for fatty foods so they shouldn’t be too hard done by. Though results on this may vary – I think my perception is a bit off from all my City Norn tests because they do love using dispensers! It doesn’t sound like your norns need the vendor at all though – is that the Garden Box you are testing out? :)
Thank you for the welcome back! I haven’t used the vendors that much, although I do love to watch the occasional creature figure out how to vend lots and lots of food at once! And then he or she proceeds to ignore all the food when eating is imperative to survival… But that’s another issue.
Yes, indeed! That’s the Garden Box being tested. Hopefully it will be available sometime soon. Veridia doesn’t have any of its own food sources, and I love the customization. And fungi growing on metal floors? Definitely necessary. Ha ha!