The Norn Autopsy Feature of CrEd32
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I would be posting a few tutorials about the features of CrEd32, which is a program for Creatures 1. Thanks to everyone who responded to the survey! It seems I have some work on my hands, but one of the most popular features was the Norn Autopsy. This basically provides a way to determine the cause of death of any deceased Creatures, although it is a little more powerful. Jump on in to find out more about this feature!
This is the basic screen when the Norn Autopsy is opened. You may need to scroll down, but the real magic comes in when clicking on the “Scan” button. I ended up with two deceased Norns in my world, which form the basis for the following two examples. This feature will only work if there is at least one deceased Creature in your world. It takes a few minutes for a Creature’s body to disappear, though it is ideal to run a scan as soon as possible.
Our first example comes from Melyngar, who passed away at 12 hours and 25 minutes. Logically speaking, one would assume that her cause of death was old age. CrEd32 stated that her probable cause of death was from stress. In my experience, the program is unable to properly diagnose a natural death from old age. With a little practice, however, the probable cause of death can be ignored! The list of chemicals are those which had at least one unit present in the Creature’s system at death. Nothing too surprising stands out here: Melyngar had a brain chemical mutation that left her unable to eat, nor make decisions, for several hours. She was with two females who were a little violent when she died, which explains the crowdedness and fear.
After scrolling down, we can see that she still had some glycogen (life force) in her system, which rules out a death from starvation. Melyngar must have also been fertile when she died, based on the level of estrogen in her system. There was a small amount of adrenaline in her system, but it was the lack of the aging chemical that led to her demise. Aging decays beginning at birth, and typically reaches the threshold for a natural death somewhere between one and eight units. Stress was probably a contributing factor to Melyngar’s death, but it was not the true cause of her passing. Again, taking a look at her life and her environment help to shed some light on the report from the Norn Autopsy. It only works when a Norn’s or Grendel’s body has not disappeared, which makes it less than ideal for wolfling runs. It’s still very useful for many players, though!
The second example from the Norn Autopsy comes from Orddu. She passed away at 11 hours and 43 minutes, yet she was also suffering from a fairly nasty illness at her death. The program offers no insight as to the cause of her death, which gives us an opportunity to solve the mystery! Her drives are fairly normal, considering the circumstances. She stopped eating during her illness, and also had sleep toxin in her system to keep her sleepy all the time. Orddu was also fairly bored, yet between sleeping all the time and staying still to conserve her energy, it all made sense. Her aging chemical is the giveaway here, indicating that she died of old age. It’s still worth a look to see the rest of her chemicals, just to be sure of our assessment! It never hurts to take a look at everything before coming to a conclusion.
Orddu still had a decent amount of glycogen and glucose in her system, which would rule out a death from starvation or an illness. Remember that producing antibodies is the way a Norn or Grendel combats antigens, and this process uses up energy. Notice all of the chemicals related to her immune system: Sleep toxin, unused toxin 1, unused toxin 4, antibody 0, and antigen 0. Talk about an illness! Unused toxins, also called unknown toxins, typically mimic antigens and show up with them. They do not require separate antibodies to be beaten down, but I’ve noticed that their presence sometimes extends an illness. In any event, Orddu also passed away due to old age, though she was very ill at the time of her passing. Luckily, the sleep toxin ensured that she was sleeping peacefully when she died.
One important note about the Norn Autopsy feature in the Creatures Editor 32 is that it is not limited to just Norns: It also scans Grendels! The only other cause of death I have seen with the program is one that mentions either glycotoxin poisoning or starvation. This occurred when a Grendel had a feast of deathcap mushrooms, which led to his glycogen level and life force reaching zero. The probable cause of death provided by the Norn Autopsy is not always accurate, but I’ve always found the chemical breakdown to be most useful! I recommend using the Norn Autopsy as close to the time of death as possible. From my few experiences, it looks like chemicals continue to decay in a deceased Creature. Hopefully this provides some insight! Enjoy playing the Creatures coroner!
