The Silent Killer of Norns and Grendels
I left my new baby Norn, Thrennion, all alone with a very sad look on his face. I felt bad for leaving him, but there was trouble in Albia. Before I could jump into the heart of the problem, my eyes stopped on an unexpected addition to the desert island. Nildeleer had just laid an egg! She and Dahloi went their separate ways some time ago. Apparently my absence brought them back together! Nildeleer watched over her new creation with all of her maternal instincts. Although she had nothing to fear, there was something in the air that she wanted to protect her baby from at all costs: An antigen. The illness was contagious, not contained, and ready to take over my world.
Some may think that Grendels are immune to diseases since some references state that they ooze toxins and spread diseases, but they’re just as vulnerable as Norns. A fun place on the island quickly turned into the sick ward. Nildeleer, Dahloi, and Preetar were all coughing and feeling worse by the minute. Fortunately, Preetar hadn’t lost his senses regarding food! It looked like Dahloi and Nildeleer were also eating enough to keep up the production of their antibodies.
The Science Kit gave me the opportunity to have an up close and personal meeting with this infection. Antigen 3 was the main culprit, although it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The main problem was the presence of Histamine B, which meant that anyone infected with it would cough and pass it along to the next unsuspecting soul. Although antibody 3 rose rather quickly, Preetar’s life force started to drop as his body used up a lot of glucose to fight off the infection. My attention was focused on him, since he decided to pass right by Pfeffablel and risk infecting her. Luckily, she must have been holding her breath when Preetar ran by! I was, however, completely wrong about one thing: Preetar was not in the worst shape. The Observation Kit didn’t give me an overview of my Grendels, and I assumed that they were healthy.
Dahloi was in excellent shape, but poor Nildeleer’s life force was at just 10% when I found her. The pregnancy took its toll on her, and she was too tired to eat. I tried desperately to coax her into eating a carrot, but I was too late. I stayed by her side as she let out her last breath with a sad groan, which was far sadder I thought it would be. I hate it when I lose a Norn or Grendel to an illness, and this time I felt extra guilty for spending so much time with Thrennion. Maybe if I had divided my attention a little better, Nildeleer could have been saved. She lived for about 11 hours, although that was only about middle-aged from her modified genome. She and Dahloi had four children to carry on their legacy, yet I still missed Nildeleer already.
A lot of epidemics in Albia these days…
I think I just have the worst luck! I’ve gotten better at my quarantine procedures so that I don’t lose many Norns and Grendels, although it seems like the antigens are just out to get me. Good thing they have no effect on the hand!
Hand confirmed to be immortal.
Indeed! Although I think it would be funny to see the hand “age” or get silly. On that note, though, I do have some plans for a release related to that in the future!
Do most of your Norns get sick on the island? I swear that’s where most of mine get sick, Back when I was trying to see if wolfling runs were possible in C1 I would always have some sort of sick Norn on the island. Being a wolfling run, there wasn’t much I could do but watch them die. It was so sad I decided to just stop the wolfling run after most of the population died. They were just too adorable not to help.
Even now, most of my Norns get sick around the island. It’s a popular spot, but it still makes me nervous.
That is an interesting theory. I’m actually getting really interested in illnesses within Creatures 1: Might sound boring on the surface, but each one is very unique! I was also thinking about this the other day, in terms of where illnesses start. I don’t have anything except a general idea, but I do think that a good number of illnesses I’ve encountered started on the desert island. The garden is another pretty common area for the antigens to pop up.
Come to think of it, I’m also a bit nervous about the island due to all of the illnesses that start there. It isn’t terrible enough to make me want to keep everyone away from it, yet I’m often on my toes when a lot of Norns and Grendels are hanging around there!
Hmmm……….do you think it is the weed that dwells on the island?
Companula is not too dangerous, although you might be onto something! The fever toxin could certainly make a Creature more vulnerable to picking up an illness. Since food is pretty scarce on the desert island, I’ve seen many Norns and Grendels take a bite out of it. However, many illnesses on the island begin on the lower levels, where the weed doesn’t grow. Just seems like a very unlucky spot, when it normally would be a lovely vacation zone!
Possible quarantine?
Part of the reason why this particular illness was so deadly was due to a failure on my part to have a proper quarantine immediately. The island is a pretty good area for setting up a quarantine, though, since there are multiple exits and ways to move the sick ones away!