Discover Albia

A Complete Picture of Albia

2011-12-03T21:26:00.000-05:00

As predicted, Pettvika and Mevik soon found themselves expectant parents! It was still amazing how Mevik almost always had a gigantic smile to share with me: Many Creatures 1 Norns are not very talented when it comes to caring for themselves. They often wear desperately depressing frowns during much of their lives. The Garden Mushrooms, from Brood's Island Garden and updated by Muppetboy, made the desert island a little more enjoyable!

The oldest Norn in Albia, Leira, needed a little extra attention before she was back to her happy self. The hootch was not part of her recovery program, though! Since excess stress often leads to a shortened life span, it is important to keep Norns happy and healthy whenever possible. Leira had a nasty habit of traveling down to the dark basement of the temple and doing absolutely nothing. She seemed to only eat once she returned to the main level of Albia. The darkness and isolated feeling of the area could have attributed to Leira's uneasiness. There is at least one gene connected to recognizing the level of light, but it does not directly tie in with eating habits.

Over in the garden, Ramsvika and Oppeid played a game of monkey in the middle with little Ure! It was devoid of any slapping for a long time, which was a relief. Oppeid eventually headed off on his own, leaving Ramsvika and Ure together. They became an inseparable duo, although they seemed to delight in slapping one another! They both ate many carrots and generally were in good spirits, so I intervened as little as possible. Sadly, as soon as Ramsvika became an adult, she was whisked away by Oppeid. Ure appeared not to notice, but the budding friendship came to an abrupt halt.

Still feeling happy after all of the attention, Leira crossed paths with the handsome Oppeid. She held out a lemon and placed it on the ground, while her companion suggested I take a look at it. It was not the citrus fruit that created a surprise: Rather, it was Leira's second pregnancy! Indeed, at over nine hours old, she had only laid one egg during her lifetime. She had a reason to be excited about her upcoming bundle of joy! I, on the other hand, had three pregnant females to keep watch over. I'm still convinced they plan these things!

Nordmela, pictured on the right, had already successfully laid her egg before she found Pettvika. They enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of the beach, which was perfect with some added food sources. When Pettvika was ready to lay her first egg, Nordmela stayed close by to offer some comfort. Laying an egg causes a great deal of pain and discomfort for female Norns, and Nordmela knew all too well what that was like! In moments, Pettvika delivered her first egg, which was virtually the same color as the radio. Egg patterns are random, yet there are some coincidences where females appear to camouflage their eggs. Pettvika was no exception!

Another friendship had blossomed in the lowest level of the island between Skuld, the Grendel, and Stokka. The gentle green lady decided to utter an excellent phrase that sounded like a bit of gibberish! Stokka looked at her with a bewildered expression. At least they had the honey to keep them occupied: This certainly was no place for an intellectual discussion between Grendels and Norns! Imagine what that would be like...

An Early Holiday Season in Creatures 1

2011-12-02T19:26:00.000-05:00

With the holidays just around the corner, the next unhatched Norn certainly planned his entrance carefully! This adorable little second generation Norn is Ure, the son of Ranulf and Nordis. He popped out of the Creatures 1 incubator looking a lot like his mother, who was a Santa Norn. Ure's little Forest Norn legs looked a bit like gift wrap: A bit early for the holidays, of course, yet he was definitely ready to enjoy Albia! The real cause for celebration was the lack of any genetic mutations. Ure inherited a nice mixture of standard Norn genes and Forest Norn genes. In a flash, he had embarked on his exploration of the world!

Elsewhere, another Norn found herself the center of attention. Stokka and Leira could not help but notice how Nordmela's sapphire eyes glowed a little more brightly. Oppeid played the curious bystander, although he was part of the reason for all of the intrigue! Nordmela's little secret was a pregnancy: The first in quite some time! I had a feeling eggs would soon be appearing all across Albia.

Deadly Genetics from Creatures 1

2011-11-27T08:40:00.000-05:00

As Stokka finished up her vocabulary lesson, I learned that there was a new death in Albia. A quick visit to the island told me what I had expected: Kleppstad had passed away at 10 hours and 52 minutes. He had been King of the Norns for a time: All seven of his children were conceived in a row with no competition from the other males! Kleppstad's death seemed a little untimely, though, since other Norns were living well into their eleventh or twelfth hours. I would miss the joyful presence of Kleppstad: It was only a matter of time before his offspring had the chance to carry on his memories. Rest in peace.

Pettvika certainly grew up very quickly: She was an adult before she reached 50 minutes old! With a little coercion, I brought her to Mevik, in the hopes of a first pregnancy. Oddly enough, Mevik seemed terrified of Pettvika! He constantly ran away from her, and he even escaped via the undersea cart. Bringing Pettvika to the other side was a nightmare, since she seemed convinced that she had to push the left button. I was surprised she was not feeling nauseous by the time she made it to the settlement!

My Grendel, Skuld, had also taken up residence on the desert island. She was a very social creature, yet I figured she needed a little peace and quiet from the Norns. There was no indication that any eggs were on their way, so I took the time to help Skuld gorge herself and find a little more happiness. She was a very adventurous Grendel: I had spotted her near the incubator only a few minutes before she made it to the desert island. Skuld had also made friends with many of the Norns. There was still the anomaly of the kisspopping that seemed to happen with her and the male Norns, although I had yet to confirm it. In any event, she was a happy Grendel!

With no pregnancies, I decided to hatch another second generation egg. Sadly, this was the one which contained the last child of Bera and Folkvar. One mutation changed the initial concentration of glycogen to starch. A lack of glycogen is grounds for death, and I feared that would be the case with this Norn. Sure enough, as soon as the egg began to heat up in the incubator, the observation kit indicated that the unborn Norn was not alive.

This little one would have been named Toften. As his egg hatched, he actually did have a smile on his face for the split second before his body collapsed. I still remembered the moment when Bera became pregnant with him on the docks. Poor little Toften. Such is the way with Norns sometimes, since genetic mutations can not be controlled. He would have been a welcome addition to Albia, since the number of males had dwindled significantly. More than that, though, Toften would have been a joy to raise and get to know. His genetics held another interesting mutation, aside from the one that meant his early demise.

REACTIONS
174 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Glycotoxin + 2*Glucose => 2*Pain++ + 2*Sleepiness++; half-life = 72

This gene controls how glycotoxin affects a creature. In the standard Norn genome, glycotoxin reacts with glycogen to create pain and sleepiness. Toften's genome indicates that glycotoxin interacts with glucose, which is far easier to replenish than glycogen. Effectively, had Toften lived, glycotoxin would not be as dangerous to him. It still would have been very unpleasant, but his glycogen and life force would not have plummeted from a taste of the deathcap mushroom. If only he could have lived!

INITIAL CONCENTRATIONS
147 Emb B MutDup Initial Concentration of Starch is 122

Here is the gene which spelled the death of Toften before he could break out of his egg. A standard first generation Norn is born with a decent concentration of glycogen, or long-term energy. Toften had all of the mechanics to produce glycogen, but he was born with nothing to build upon. Even if he had a very small initial concentration of glycogen, he would have survived long enough for me to cram some food in his mouth.

There was a subdued mood around Albia, as if some of the Norns could sense the sad death of Toften. Nordmela and Oppeid had recently reached adulthood and made a very pretty couple. Their kisspopping had been fruitless so far, but they took a little break just to enjoy one another. Even though he had just entered adulthood, Oppeid had experienced almost a complete loss of testosterone production after stressing himself out. Males tend to need a little extra attention to keep them healthy and fertile. At least the Norn population was spread out with a male close to most of the mature females. Still, I hoped that another young male would hatch soon to ensure the next generation.

A Case of Mistaken Identities

2011-11-26T17:20:00.000-05:00

The passing of Forvika and Jetvika was still fresh in the history of Albia. I got ready to hatch the next egg, though, so that life could continue on. To my surprise, the impatient little one hatched all on her own without a trip to the incubator! Granted, I left her egg for a short time, but apparently she could not wait for me. Meet Ramsvika! She is the daughter of Valborg and Bera. It was almost like seeing Jetvika again: After all, these two were half-sisters. Ramsvika was full of life from the moment she burst forth from her red and yellow egg, but I was lucky enough to steer her towards the learning computer! Her genetics were a tad bit interesting.

REACTIONS
280 Ado M DutDupCut 1*Adrenaline + 1*NONE => 2*Anger + 1*Sleepiness; half-life = 64

In the standard Norn genome, this gene controls the reaction associated with alcohol in males. Since this is a gender-specific gene that only affects males, it will have no bearing on Ramsvika. However, it is an interesting mutation when applied to males. With this altered gene, a male Norn will not become angry and sleepy after drinking the hootch. Instead, he will experience this reaction due to adrenaline. This could certainly prove to be an issue with a stressed out male, who would become very angry and sleepy. Time will tell if Ramsvika will pass along this gene to a son or two!

STIMULI
243 Emb B Mut 'Invol 2='sneeze'' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , , => 32*Pain + 8*Tiredness + 8*Fear + 18*Hexokinase

This stimulus gene should look familiar, since Ramsvika inherited it from her father, Valborg. In the standard genome, only sixteen units of hexokinase are produced. This chemical uses up energy, so Ramsvika should tire from sneezing more quickly than most other Norns. The change is fairly minor, though, and perhaps she will never be sick enough to experience this change! One can only hope, though.

245 Emb B Mut 'Invol 4='shiver'' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , , => 16*Hotness++ + 32*Coldness- + 16*Coldness + 16*Fear

An interesting coincidence here is that Jetvika had a genetic mutation with gene 244 that replaced tiredness with coldness. With Ramsvika, she had the exact type of mutation, only in gene 245. A little spooky! This genetic mutation is not quite as helpful as Jetvika's mutation, which cooled her down when she coughed, which could have indicated a fever. Norns typically shiver when they are cold to warm themselves up: Notice how this stimulus produces an increase in hotness and a decrease in coldness. Unfortunately, rather than being tired out by shivering, Ramsvika experiences further coldness. The changes in her body temperature should still warm her up, but it will take her much longer to warm up. Although this extra shivering will not make her tired, her fear should skyrocket. Time to petition for Norn sweaters in the name of Ramsvika!

As if knowing about her connection to Jetvika, little Ramsvika stood up in virtually the same spot that her half-sister had napped in not long before her death. She uttered the word "rest" and I almost thought that this little one was the reincarnation of Jetvika! It was all a coincidence in Albia, yet the similarities seemed uncanny. Hopefully Ramsvika would not develop awful eating habits late in her life. She was enjoying every morsel of food that came her way, and I was happy to have another baby Norn in Creatures 1.

No more eggs had been laid, since Mevik decided to confine himself to the desert island. Even on his own, though, I rarely caught him without a smile. He was probably the happiest Norn I had ever seen, and none of his genes really explained why he was always so happy. Even without a concrete explanation, I was thrilled! I left him to his own devices, although I decided to coax a few females over to him in the near future. Better to have too many eggs than a shortage! On second thought, I convinced myself to leave him alone for a tad bit longer. I had another egg to hatch, and it would be better if Mevik just enjoyed his solitude!

Could this be another half-sister to Ramsvika? Not quite! This adorable little Forest Norn, named Stokka, is the first child of Ranulf, and the last child of Dagny. Having trouble remembering who Ranulf was? Never fear: He left us fourteen eggs to hatch! Only thirteen of those will be hatched here, as one was provided to the CCSF 2011. Still, Albia should soon be overrun with little Ranulf look-alikes! Stokka inherited a combination of standard Norn genes, along with a few of the updated Forest Norn genes. Aside from a few minor changes that would have no effects, her genome was quite normal. Perhaps she would inherit her father's extremely fertile state and put me to work collecting eggs! Oh, dear.

A Pair of Old Norns with a Common Fate

2011-11-24T08:44:00.000-05:00

Soon enough, the youngest Norns of Albia began to grow up and explore their world in more detail. Little Pettvika decided to make a feast of whatever she could get her tiny hands on. Norns are notorious for their terrible eating habits, yet when they decide to eat, it's often difficult to keep them from eating anything and everything! Pictured in the upper right corner is the Blue Fruit Tree from Muppetboy. The downside to this added food source is that it actually includes a dose of glycogen. I was alarmed when Pettvika and a few others suddenly had life forces around 90%! Even with high life forces, though, they were not happy for too long and required another meal.

Jetvika looked very peaceful in the shade of the giant sunflowers. She had refused food for a very long time, but seeing her settle down to sleep was an accomplishment. At least she was taking care of one need! Perhaps her dreams made her believe that she was full. Sleeping on an empty stomach with a gnawing hunger could not have been very comfortable for Jetvika. I carried every type of food to her at various points, but the only progress she made was to pick up something from time to time.

Another Norn who had stopped eating altogether was Forvika. She must have remembered her youth, for she went back to the learning computer for a few more lessons. With luck, I coaxed her into eating a carrot for the first time in hours! Sadly, she passed away just minutes later. Hers was not an untimely death, though: Forvika lived for 13 hours and 17 minutes. Although she spent a good deal of her life incessantly hungry, she ended up with a peaceful smile and a satisfied stomach. Rest well. We can remember Forvika through her three children of the next generation.

As I was saying my final goodbyes to Forvika, I noticed that Jetvika had fallen asleep in a precious pose. She reminded me of a teddy bear, and she had even headed off to the land of dreams with a honeypot in tow! Still, there was no indication that she would finally begin to eat. In her old age, I was worried that something might happen to cut her life short. As if reading my mind, the Observation Kit alerted me that Jetvika was ill. It was less than perfect timing. Perhaps it was something minor, or just the product of her dreams. When she awoke, she had to be healthy. Her low life force could not handle an illness at this point.

Naturally, my worst fears were realized. Jetvika had picked up a nasty dose of antigen 4, an unknown toxin, and Histamine A. With such a slow buildup of the corresponding antibody, I came to the realization that she would not be able to survive this. I brought her extra food, but in vain. The energy to fight off the infection was much more than her body could produce. I watched as her life force fell from about 25% to 15% in a matter of minutes. I felt absolutely helpless: All she had to do was take a bite out of something! Yet Jetvika had seemed depressed for some time, as she refused to do much of anything. I settled on giving her lots of tickles and telling her how good she was. The only thing to do was to wait for the end and make it comfortable.

Luckily, Jetvika fell asleep before death enveloped her. She passed away peacefully in her sleep, with a carrot clenched in her hands. It was a sad end to this Norn, who had only managed to produce two eggs during her 11 hours and 15 minutes. I was thankful for those two eggs, though, for Jetvika easily could have lived a life devoid of any pregnancies. I stayed with her in her final moments, which made her death a little easier. Yet she completed the proverbial circle of life by succumbing to her illness near the incubator. Goodbye, Jetvika, and may you finally rest peacefully.

Creatures 4 Delay, Screenshot, and Community Involvement

2011-11-22T19:42:00.000-05:00

A new update about Creatures 4 was posted on the Fishing Cactus Blog earlier today! I have been patiently awaiting the next bit of news regarding the game and its content: Most of us have, actually!

The first part of the update was the disappointing news that Creatures 4 would be delayed until Q2 2012 with no official release date. However, the delay has its merits: The developers are not simply sitting back and taking their time to build a failure. It takes time to develop a game, and the original concept has evolved over time. The best part of this is that it is not solely Fishing Cactus that has decided where to take Creatures 4. Comments and input from the Creatures community have been taken into consideration. This clearly can never be a game that will be perfect for every gamer, yet I have been very impressed with the level of involvement we have!

Make sure to check out the Fishing Cactus update to view a beautiful screenshot of the Hatchery! The details are fantastic, and the natural feel to the environment is quite awesome. Take a careful look around: The background makes me wonder what will be in store for us in Creatures 4. There appear to be many possibilities!

Perhaps the most important piece of this news about Creatures 4 are the two questions that have been posed to Creatures players by the development team:

What is the coolest or the most advanced thing you’ve ever done, tried to achieve or wished you could do in one of the previous Creatures game?
Inversely, what is the most boring/frustrating/disappointing experience you had?

Make sure to respond over at the Fishing Cactus Blog! This is an excellent opportunity to voice opinions and share a few ideas that could help shape the game. Keep in mind that Creatures 4 is still in development. It's difficult to pick a side and say that it will either be an amazing game, or simply terrible. This is still our chance to infuse life into the entire Creatures series with the publicity from Creatures 4. Of course, I'm on the optimistic and hopeful side of the coin about this new game! Thanks again to Fishing Cactus for taking on this project, and especially for opening up a dialogue with current Creatures players!

Odd Relationships in Creatures 1

2011-11-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

One creature who had adjusted quite well to the new world was Skuld the female Grendel! As with many C1 Grendels, she was quite good at taking care of herself independently. Oddly enough, I heard a kisspop when she was alone with Mevik. The only other adult male, Kleppstad, was isolated from everyone else at that point. Was there a bit of Grendel-Norn love afoot? I was utterly perplexed, although Skuld just wanted to enjoy a nap in the jungle.

In the garden, Oppeid corralled several of the females together! Namely, Leira, Pettvika, and Forvika joined his little group. They went back and forth from one end of the garden to the other. Naturally, being Norns and all, they completely ignored the abundant food and never heard my incessant suggestions. At least they were getting their share of a workout! They certainly made a nice picture of many of the different Norn breeds.

Nordmela formed a bond with Jetvika, although it was more of a stalker relationship, Jetvika seemed very lost and forlorn, and had been for some time. Regardless of what I did, she usually found a corner to sit in and just stare off into space. Nordmela was smart enough to bring along a honeypot and have a bit of food every now and then. I ended up separating her from Jetvika, hoping that this odd behavior would not influence the youngster. Nordmela seemed ready to seek out Jetvika, but with a lot of distractions, she moved on.

Skuld loved her naps! She continued to hang out with Mevik, where they traveled under the ocean in the submarine. Kleppstad joined the journey a few times, but he might have gotten a little sea sick. He chose dry land as his place of residence, at least for the time being. I was glad that the Norns were enjoying the company of a Grendel: Many of those before Skuld could be social, but preferred to keep to themselves. At least she was more interested in these strange creatures. Mevik was her favorite, yet no one seemed able to resist his charm! This happy guy still had yet to wear a frown for more than a minute.

New Norn Eggs and a New Illness

2011-11-12T11:26:00.000-05:00

What better way to celebrate a new world than a new birth? This adorable little Norn is Nordmela! Her father is Folkvar, and her mother is Dagny. Interestingly enough, Dagny only produced three eggs during her lifetime: Forvika was her first, and one more will eventually hatch. Nordmela is unique in that both of her parents were Banana Norns, so she inherited the same appearance. I was fortunate in that she had one mutation from her father which could be quite desirable if it mutated further. As usual, I wanted to cover her genetic mutations: Never fear, because these are quite simple and short!

HALF-LIVES
1 Emb B MutDup decASH1 1

In the standard Norn genome, the half-life of decASH1 is 0, which means it instantly drops to half of its value. It should leave the system almost immediately in this manner. A half-life of 8 would correspond with 0.4 seconds, so it would perhaps take one or two second for the chemical to reach a negligible amount. With Nordmela, a half-life of 1 should have the smallest of changes of decASH1, and it should not be noticeable.

STIMULI
97 Emb B Mut 'I bump into wall' causes sig=0 GS neu=2(I've bumped a wall) int=255, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 25*Pain++ + 0*NFP + 0*NONE + 0*NONE

Remember that this gene originally appeared with Folkvar, and has been passed down already. The standard Norn genome simply defines the second chemical as NONE. This mutation will not actually affect Nordmela, since there is no need for pleasure (NFP) that is actually produced. However, with a mutation that increased the value to one or more, bumping into walls would cause even more discomfort and might occur less often.

Just as I settled in Nordmela near the learning computer, I noticed that Kleppstad had become ill. I hoped it was just the random ingestion of a weed: My Norns tend to enjoy those nasty plants! Unfortunately, Forvika and Jetvika soon became ill and took a turn for the worse. I knew it had to be something contagious. The illnesses had stayed away for a long time: I was not surprised to find this one, but it came at an awful time. I set out to play the doctor! Fortunately, it was not too serious of an illness. There were no nasty toxins like fever toxin, although Histamine A reared its nasty head. This causes sneezing, and I always mix up whether sneezing or coughing makes the illness contagious in Creatures 1. It looked like sneezing was contagious in this case! Kleppstad was the first to recover, and he did so fairly quickly. The two females had turned into terrible eaters, and they looked like they might succumb to the illness. No amount of reinforcement could get them to eat anything.

Jetvika sat herself down and fought off the illness with her stillness. Her life force was low, but was not in the danger zone. In her mind, what was the best way to celebrate her recovery? Why, getting pregnant, of course! Mevik pulled some ninja moves and was gone in an instant, while an egg was on its way. Jetvika survived her pregnancy and delivered an egg, but not at a further drain on her system. She looked so tired and old, and I felt sad for her.

Back near the incubator, I was relieved to find that Nordmela had developed quite well in my absence. We spent some more time learning new words, and I showed her the garden. She must have loved the wide open area, for she broke out into a joyous run that took her from one end to the other! She was quite smart, and listened to everything I had to say. Hopefully she would keep those qualities throughout her life: Norns sometimes tend to get less intelligent with age. Peer pressure from other less intelligent Norns, perhaps? Ha ha!

With Nordmela in the care of some of the older Norns, I raced off to hatch another egg. I was hoping for another male, and my wish came true! Meet little Oppeid, the son of Valborg and Kari. He inherited a nice mix of appearance genes, and it would be nice to have a little Purple Mountain Norn influence in the population. Oppeid had mostly standard Norn genetics with a couple of mutations. He also inherited the Geddonase genes from his mother, along with the genes which reduced boredom and need for pleasure with dancing. Maybe he would start up his own dance company: It looked like he was already wearing little dancing boots!

LOBES
121 Emb B MutDup Lobe #= 7 Relax State Rule: end end end end end 0 end end

The rule with state variable rules (SVRules) is that they disregard any codes listed after an end code. Having one end replaced with a zero will have no bearing whatsoever on Oppeid.

STIMULI
105 Emb B Mut 'I've Deactivated' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , , => 2*Tiredness++ + 0*NFP + 0*NONE + 0*NONE

I am not entirely sure what event "I've Deactivated" corresponds with. My best guess is that it means stopping or turning off an activated object, such as a spinning top, a bouncing ball, or the jukebox. Normally, three of the chemicals are set as NONE. Oppeid will not be affected by the inclusion of need for pleasure (NFP) since its value is 0. However, like Nordmela's mutation, if this value becomes a positive integer at some point, the Norn would learn to avoid deactivating an object. Not entirely useful in the grand scheme of evolution, but it is something!

Oppeid made a few strange poses, and even froze in place during his entire lesson at the learning computer! Maybe it was a side effect of his dancing genes, although reaching up and staying in one spot hardly constituted a dance. Or maybe he was just stretching to warm up for his big event! Oppeid was very happy to have the hand as company, which might have been where his reach really came from. I was able to convince him to move around when I brought him the spinning top. That can get any Norn's attention very easily!

With the two youngsters settled, I decided that one more egg would be a good idea while Albia was relatively quiet. Meet Pettvika! She is the daughter of Folkvar and Ingelill. I was very happy to have another Horse Norn in the world, or at least a Norn with a lot of the Horse Norn appearance genes. To my dismay, I discovered that the random starch infusion problem was still ongoing. Pettvika had yet to taste her first meal, yet her life force began to slowly climb. Madness! It only happened with the selected Norn, so I decided to try not to cycle through everyone too often. The second generation would just be known as the mysterious starch generation! Pettvika had just one mutation.

EMITTERS
125 Emb B MutDupCut Brain, Decision i/ps, # Loose dens/cells type 1, chem=decASH2, thresh=0, samp=1, gain=253, features=Analogue/Clear Source

In the standard Norn genome, the gain value of this emitter is 255. Having this at 253 would most likely not make any difference to Pettvika. This gene is still a bit of a mystery to me, but it appears to have something to do with loose dendrites in the decision lobe, and controls how much decASH2 will be emitted. With such a small mutation, Pettvika should remain unchanged in the grand scheme of Creatures 1.

Two Norn Pregnancies at the Wrong Time

2011-11-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

No one seemed more excited to be back in action again than Kleppstad! He had reached his last life stage some time ago, but still seemed fairly intent on taking care of himself. Perhaps he remembered what a fertile young Norn he had been back in his prime! Kleppstad also wanted to show off his superior balancing skills as he stretched out and reached for a carrot. What a silly Norn! He also had a bit of fun with the gadget, known as the flibberty-jibbert. Good thing "gadget" would suffice... What a disaster it would be if creatures used a huge word!

Before I knew it, another death occurred in Albia. Husby passed away at 10 hours and 48 minutes, and she had lived a very fulfilling life. She had five unhatched eggs to continue her legacy. She was not alone in her final moments: Hidden almost completely out of sight was Leira, who had only witnessed her beloved Arnes dying a short time ago. It must have been very confusing for her to watch her companions stop moving all of a sudden. It was some comfort that Husby was not alone, though. Rest in peace.

I took the time to move Leira away from the area where Arnes and Husby had recently died. With a few distractions and a lot of carrots, she was soon back in good spirits! She had isolated herself from most of the others, and I was surprised to find out that Leira had only been pregnant once. She seemed very content around the beehives, but with a move to a new world on the horizon, perhaps she would be lucky enough to cross paths with Mevik. She certainly deserved the chance to have another baby after all the death she had seen.

Speaking of Mevik, he wasted no time in tracking down Forvika while she was fertile! I immediately was nervous about this pregnancy, though, since Forvika was over ten hours old. I was fairly certain that she would live long enough to deliver her egg, but a handful of my Norns had already passed away at ten hours of age or less. This is always the danger with older females in Creatures 1: Rarely, if ever, do they become completely infertile. The males seem to be more affected by stress, and easily become infertile. Mevik must have known this, and decided to give me a scare. Thank you, sir!

As if Forvika's pregnancy was not worrying enough, I was alerted that Bolga was pregnant! This tough lady was over twelve hours old, and I had no idea how she would hold out. I could only hope. I was also fooled, since I thought Kleppstad had pulled off a miracle and become fertile. Nope: Mevik pulled some crazy move and ran away instead! Oh my.

Forvika and Bolga both managed to lay their eggs, although a little bit of luck had to have come into play. I stayed with Bolga afterwards, since her end was imminent. She had a constant supply of delicious honey and all the entertainment she could ask for. Just before she collapsed, she had an enormous smile painted across her face. Bolga lived an amazingly long life of 12 hours and 44 minutes, during which time she produced six lovely eggs. It was a sad occasion to watch her pass away, but she was surrounded with happiness and love. Rest well.

With Bolga's death, I decided to export the remaining Norns and move them to a new world. Remember that this one has seemed very glitchy, with Norns experiencing automatic spikes in starch without eating. A new world would hopefully end this oddity, among others. I was a little nervous, though, since imported Creatures 1 Norns have a tendency to become corrupted or die from time to time. It's quite uncommon, yet the danger existed. Hopefully Forvika, Jetvika, Kleppstad, Leira, and Mevik would make the virtual journey well. And, not to be forgotten, Skuld the Grendel would also be joining her friends!

CCSF 2011 Contributions from Discover Albia

2011-11-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

Although not strictly that exciting, I wanted to quickly outline my CCSF 2011 contributions and some of the ideas behind them. There are still a few days left in the Creatures Community Spirit Festival 2011, so make sure to participate while this annual event is still going on! This is our time to show what we can come up with!

The Tolthian Tales: Book One Prologue
I had an idea for a story featuring Norns, but set on a completely different world with a possible evolution path. I worked out the various regions of the world and the different subsets of Norn breeds. I have high hopes for this story, and have already begun to think up the main storyline. Note that I kept this labeled as just the first book. Hopefully I will be able to devote some time to this and write a few intertwined tales! Everyone knows how much I can write in a sitting. Ha ha!

Updated C2 Canny Ettins
Earlier this year, I decided to dive into the mysterious world of Ettins. I was directed to some excellent Colorful Canny Ettins, but I soon discovered that they had no way of naturally producing sex drive. There was a problem with one of the genes, and I updated this gene through a pair of breedable Ettins. They certainly were difficult to complete, since this involved going through a bunch of genes and figuring out what in the world each one did.

No-Mutate C1 Norns
As most of us know, mutations pop up almost constantly throughout every generation of Norns. My beloved Creatures 1 Norns have experienced many serious mutations, particularly in their brain lobes. Since mutations usually are either passed down through each generation or further mutate, I had the bright idea of creating a Norn genome which was incapable of any sort of mutations, aside from pigment changes. The result was the No-Mutate C1 Norns! Included in the pack are the Banana, Horse, and White Haired Pixie Norns. Please feel free to let me know if there is any interest in other breeds with this genome: I would be happy to share it! Note that its base is the updated Forest Norn genome, so these Norns have a slightly better system that the original Norns.

Discover Albia C1 Norns
It was a difficult decision, but I wanted to share some of the relatives of my Creatures 1 family with the community as a whole. This pack of Norns includes two second generation babies, along with a pair of third generation youngsters. They were difficult to part with, yet I hope they will go on to lead some interesting lives in other C1 worlds! I also included descriptions of their genetic mutations as a helpful reference, and also as a little something to possibly stir a little interest in Norn genetics. Any questions about them are most welcome! I would also be interested to know if additional Discover Albia Norns would be wanted. I have more than enough for the next generation already, and we're less than halfway through the second generation!

A very special thanks goes to Laura for organizing this event! Every day of releases has been amazing, and I love the mix of different things available each day. Thank you, as well, to everyone who has contributed and participated! Just another reason to show how amazing our little community is. Perhaps it won't be so little in the near future: Long live Creatures!

Babies, Babies, and More Babies in C3/DS

2011-11-09T14:44:00.001-05:00

I had quite a few eggs to hatch in my world, and it was only moments before the first Norn popped out! This is Torvo, the first of Lamna's triplets to hatch. Since Lamna was not lucky enough to be the alpha female, all of her sons would join her in the land of exported Norns. Torvo was an adorable little guy, yet he headed off in file format for the time being. Any ideas on what to do with these Norns?

Not long after, the second of Lamna's identical triplets hatched. This handsome Harlequin/Zebra Norn cross is Knear. I felt guilty for exporting him along with his brother, but it was a much better alternative to my original plan of killing the sons of inferior females. Lamna had just one more opportunity to pass along her genes, or there would be no Harlequin Norns in the near future. I had my fingers crossed for her! Even though these were identical babies, their genders could be different.

Success! Out of the final egg to hatch, which was actually the first to be laid, was an adorable female whom I named Jorie. She looked a little startled about her surroundings, but I was pleased that the green feather marker would continue to be worn! Jorie had just one mutation, which changed one instinct from associating food and hunger for protein with eating, to associating food and pain with eating. Hopefully it would not keep Jorie from enjoying her life in C3/DS!

Before I had a chance to do much of anything, Nevorria's five eggs decided to begin hatching! First to enter the world was a little female named Livya. What a full head of hair she sported! As with her sisters, she would wear the pink star mark to indicate her standing as one of the alpha female's daughters. Livya had one genetic mutation which changed a chemical receptor involved with injury and antigen 3 from analogue to inverted analogue. No idea what that means, though! I plan on holding off on any C3/DS genetics discussions for a bit.

The next egg hatched to reveal an almost opposite female: She only shared her tail in common with her sister! I decided to call her Amina. She had no significant mutations, and she joined the other ladies in the safety of the Norn Meso. At this rate, it could easily be overrun with females, but I planned on moving over the youths, or even adolescents, as soon as possible. Another population control method could be to alternate between forced single births and multiple births, depending on the circumstances. Thank goodness for CAOS.

Thankfully, a little boy emerged from the next egg from Nevorria and Brenlee. Pictured here is Xerman, who was born without any real mutations. In Creatures 3 and Docking Station, there are a lot of genes that can be altered in many ways. Often, these mutations create little to no changes in how a Norn lives his or her life. Xerman would also begin his alpha male succession test. I had to change a few of the parameters, but it seemed to be working decently well. Hopefully Xerman would succeed!

As I was waiting for the eggs to hatch, Nevorria somehow decided that it was time to throw another pregnancy at me. Surprisingly, but fortunately for me, this was a single birth event! For one reason or another, this egg raced to hatch and actually beat out the two remaining eggs from Nevorria's last litter. Meet little Neddor! He was the exact opposite of Xerman, and they kind of reminded me of light vs. dark. However, Neddor would not be able to produce prostaglandin until childhood.

Another egg hatched in what seemed like a neverending sequence. Little Evrien, a female, decided to learn the language right after she was moved to the Norn Meso! She certainly looked like she enjoyed herself. Evrien had a couple of insignificant mutations, although she had an almost identical mutation as Livya: Rather than her antigen 3 receptor, though, her antigen 2 receptor was set from analogue to inverted analogue. Perhaps she would never become ill so I would not have to figure out if this was good or bad!

Finally, Nevorria's final quintuplet decided to make his way into the world! This is Menrik, who would join his other young brothers in the alpha male succession test. Hendar, his oldest brother, had already been granted access to the Norn Terrarium. I was happy that Menrik had no significant genetic mutations: They can be kind of nasty, as we've witnessed on numerous occasions! It would be interesting to see if having multiple males together would change the test: Hendar had done very well, but would other Norns have been a distraction?

True love found its way to the alpha male and female! I was hardly surprised: These two had been glued to one another for a long time. Although they were producing babies like crazy, they were not solely interested in the kisspopping. They spoke with one another and tried to offer some helpful suggestions when the other was in need of something. Amazingly, they did not constantly chatter away like most Norns! Definitely a good decision... Especially for my ears!

Need I explain what tired these two out? Three more eggs were on their way! Thank you, Brenlee and Nevorria. One part of this concept I will probably change is what happens to the alpha female when a new alpha male is chosen. Rather than keep her in the population, she will be exported. Judging by Nevorria's example, she should not have any problem with passing along her genes! Before this newest litter, Nevorria had four sons and four daughters. Only one of her sons would be able to breed, but he would become the alpha male. Better idea? I think so.

The one Norn who separated herself from everyone was Seyon. She has been eating seeds constantly and sleeping. Kind of boring, in my opinion, but she never seems to be upset. It probably means that she will never have any babies, unless she or Brenlee decides to take a journey. We will have to see! I wanted to gently nudge her towards Brenlee and Nevorria, yet that would kind of go against the whole feral run idea. I accidentally tickled a couple of the babies already. Moving Norns is supposed to be limited to separating them into specific groups.

Future updates about this C3/DS concept will span much more, and I do not plan on covering every singly birth. It's impossible for me to keep up with them already! I will share some observations and Norn updates on a more generalized scale. My goal here is to develop this concept into something that others can use and tweak: Parameters are easy to change, thankfully! I feel like its current state has a few flaws which I hope to work on. It's always fun coming up with these scenarios! Comments and suggestions are always welcome, of course!

A Little Bit of CAOS

2011-11-08T20:26:00.000-05:00

I have meant to post some of these helpful codes more than once, and it continually slips my mind. Fortunately, I remembered this time! CAOS stands for Creatures Agent Object Script, and there are a lot of codes that can be used in Creatures 3 and Docking Station. Not only can these affect individual agents, but they can also alter many of the game conditions. The Creatures Wiki has an excellent section dedicated to CAOS and some very nifty codes. In this entry, I quickly wanted to cover a few that I often use. Remember that these codes can be entered via Ctrl+Shift+C in-game, but they can also damage a world if not used correctly.

Note that the quotation marks (") must be included in these codes when typing them in-game.

setv game "engine_multiple_birth_maximum" 6
Want to control the maximum number of births during a single pregnancy? Here is the CAOS code! In looking at various sources, it looks like 6 or 7 is the maximum that the game can handle. Six is the default value in a new C3/DS world: I would recommend only reducing this number. Norns have a penchant for reproducing quite quickly! With the codes listed below, it is also possible to guarantee a certain number of eggs per pregnancy. Note that if this value is set to one, multiple births should not be possible and the following codes will have no merit. I have not tested this to see if having a maximum of one egg per pregnancy creates a problem when the chance of multiples is guaranteed. Best to set up realistic parameters!

setv game "engine_multiple_birth_first_chance" 0.04
This CAOS code determined the percentage change of having twins. When a female gets pregnant, it is immediately determined how many eggs she will have: There is usually a single pregnancy icon, since Norns typically have single births. There will be multiple pregnancy icons when a female is pregnant with more than one baby Norn, though. The 0.04 value corresponds with a 4% chance that a female will have twins, at least in a base world. This can take on any value from 0.0 to 1.00. So we can control whether a female will always give birth to one Norn, always give birth to twins, or have a certain chance of twins occurring. Remember that 0.04 corresponds with 4%, and 0.4 corresponds with 40%

setv game "engine_multiple_birth_subsequent_chance" 0.01
This code is very similar to the previous CAOS code related to twins, but it defines the percentage chance of every birth beyond twins, up to the maximum number of births per pregnancy. The standard value is 0.01, or 1%, which means that triplets are extremely rare, and anything beyond is almost impossible. Keep in mind that this does not mean that there is a 1% chance of having triplets, quadruplets, and so on: First a Norn has to be lucky enough to be in the standard 4% bracket to produce twins, and then has a 1% chance from there to have three eggs at once. So this actually means that a Norn has just a 0.04% chance of having triplets!

setv game "engine_multiple_birth_identical_chance" 0.5
As this CAOS code implies, it defines the likelihood of having identical genomes when a multiple birth occurs. Normally, this is set at 0.5, or 50%, which means that every instance of twins or more has a 50/50 chance of producing identical siblings. As with the other multiple birth codes, the value can be anywhere from 0.0 to 1.0 to control how often a multiple birth with result in identical or fraternal siblings. This means that the genomes will be identical, but one can still end up with a mix of males and females. This is because a genome is created at conception, but the gender of each egg is not determined until it hatches. I actually believe the gender might be determined as the egg begins to hatch, if that timing difference means anything. In my next entry, I actually have a case of identical triplets who ended up being two males and one female.

Somewhat related to this is the fact that Creatures 3 and Docking Station actually have seasons, which are not actually visible. However, this plays an effect on the probability of having males and females at different times. During springtime, an egg has a 75% chance of hatching into a female, and autumn ushers in a 75% chance of eggs hatching into males. The summer and winter seasons have an equal chance of producing males or females. Amaikokonut of Naturing :: Nurturing created the No Season Gender Bias, which equally balances the chances of males and females throughout every season. Pretty nifty, as her downloads tend to be!

ject "xxx.cos" 1
ject "xxx.cos" 4
ject "xxx.cos" 7
This set of CAOS codes has different effects on the installed .cos files. The first code, ending with the value of 1, removes a .cos file completely from the world. I use this for the Snotrocks: As cute as they are, I always seem to have a population that eats all of the Tuba Plants. Those are supposed to be for the Norns! I simply replace "xxx.cos" with "snotrock.cos" and they disappear into thin air! The code ending with a value of 4 has the opposite effect: It injects that .cos into the world again. I sometimes use this when my Gnarler population gets a bit low, thanks to a dormant volcano. "xxx.cos" simply is replaced with "gnarler.cos" and another one pops into the desert! Finally, the code with the ending value of 7 resets a particular .cos file. I have not used this one very much, though, since the other two often allow me to keep a good balance. Not every item in the world has its own unique .cos file: Best to look through these before typing in something that could be incorrect.

There are many other helpful CAOS codes, but I find these to be the most helpful in setting up my C3/DS worlds. It's very fun to be able to change the chances of multiple births. Be warned that this creates a lot more work when managing a population: It's at least twice the work to keep up with the youngsters! However, the multiple birth CAOS codes could be quite valuable during wolfing runs where Norns often die off quickly and keeping the generations going is a must. Have fun creating some real CAOS! Ouch. Awful pun to end the day.

A Plethora of Norn Eggs in C1toDS

2011-11-07T19:48:00.000-05:00

Nevorria was bursting with pride after she became the alpha female! This photo was captured at the moment she laid her first egg and solidified her place. Whereas every other female would be exported after bearing a litter, Nevorria would be able to bear as many litters as she possibly could. This would theoretically ensure a good number of males to begin the alpha male succession test, and also allow her genes to be passed along through her daughters. I hoped that her first litter of two eggs would both be males, although the course was untested, and could prove treacherous and in need of some tweaking. Brenlee certainly wanted to pass along his genes!

Just to show off her pride a bit more, Nevorria practically glowed as she laid her second egg. Her tiara was hidden in the last shot, but there is no mistaking the alpha female! I could hope for two daughters from these eggs, but the trouble is that if she and Brenlee take a long time to breed again, there will be no natural alpha male succession. If Brenlee dies before he is succeeded, I will start with another first generation male. Yet this goes against the idea of evolution in C3/DS. It would be an agonizing wait to see who popped out of the two eggs!

The pace of the game soon quickened, and I could barely keep up with all of the events that began to occur! Brenlee fell asleep immediately after he successfully kisspopped with Aurianna. Although she could not become the alpha female, she seemed quite excited to have a litter of her own! I failed to capture it, but Lamna was soon pregnant, as well. The interesting element with was that she had identical triplets on the way! Identical babies only have a 20% chance of occurring to keep the gene pool diverse, yet I was excited to meet these little ones. Even though they will be identical, they could be different genders.

Aurianna followed Nevorria's example and laid her first egg near the warm fire. As an inferior female, Aurianna would be exported after laying her eggs. My original plan was to kill off the inferior females, but I felt guilty just thinking about the airlock, bacteria, or even cyanide injections. Even when Norns act obstinate and downright stupid, I never feel the urge to end their lives. Aurianna was quite excited to be a mother, and how could I cut her life short just because she no longer fit in with the world conditions? Call me a softhearted fool, but all of the inferior females and their sons would simply be exported. I would leave the piranha pool for another day!

In a few moments, Aurianna plopped herself down to deliver her second and final egg. I bid her farewell as she was exported. I would have to think of what to do with her later. It would be in her best interest if both of her babies were females. Males would automatically be exported, since the next alpha male had to be born to the alpha female. Aurianna would be lucky if she yielded two daughters, since this would ensure her genes and Bengal Norn appearance throughout at least another generation. I could only hope that both eggs would not be males, since it would effectively remove Aurianna from the history of Remniova forever.

One matter which I had not worked out was where the eggs would hatch. I originally pictured Nevorria's eggs hatching with the main group, and possibly being raised with everyone. However, with four already laid and Lamna's three eggs quickly growing in her tummy, I decided to hatch the eggs in a secluded spot in C1toDS where I could watch them.

The first egg to hatch resulted in an adorable male, whom I named Hendar! All potential alpha males will sport the blue sword. This might change, depending on the number of males, but hopefully this little fellow will pass his grueling test. The Siamese and Zebra Norns certainly can produce attractive mixes! Hendar looked like he was perfectly put together. Aside from a few minor pigment mutations, Hendar was practically identical to his parents' genomes. Good luck to him!

Out of the second egg hatched a beautiful female, soon named Relbia. On the surface, she appeared perfect in every way! Unfortunately, a quick look at her genetics dismayed me. She only had two mutations, but one of them looked like it would render her completely infertile. The receptor that made her become fertile was no longer tied to estrogen: It was tied to chemical 47. This is an unallocated chemical, as far as I know, and would never enter her system. Relbia had another mutation that made one emitter associated with fertility and libido lowerer switch on at adolescence, rather than youth. I immediately remembered Signe.

I decided to let Relbia grow up in the Norn Meso, and I would check her fertility when she was older. I had a horrifying thought that this could be the only daughter that Brenlee and Nevorria had. They read my thoughts, apparently, for the alpha female's second litter was on the way! My excitement turned into panic when I counted the number of indicators... Five?! I was getting used to the two or three Norns to a litter, but Nevorria apparently had to outshine everyone else! What did I get myself into?

There was no time for me to think, for Aurianna's first baby fought her way out of her egg. Meet Meena! She will proudly wear the same mark that her mother did, so that Aurianna will be remembered. Look at all those stripes! Meena inherited most of her looks from her mother, but Brenlee's arms and tail can clearly be seen. Aurianna herself had quite a different genome than the other Norns, and she passed many of these modifications onto her daughter. In a nutshell, Meena should experience more injury to her organs from all of the antigens and glycotoxin. Her threshold for dying from wounded is also slightly lower.

To my delight, Aurianna's second egg hatched to reveal another female! I named her Iollis, and she also will bear the mark of her mother. She also inherited the genes which would cause more organ injury from antigens, but Iollis differed from her sister in that her initial concentrations of antibodies were slightly lower. Additionally, she lacked one gene related to belladonna, as well as three gain genes related to arousal potential and alcohol. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, though.

The alpha male and female were quite proud of themselves! They wore their respective crown and tiara happily as they posed in the garden. With such an influx of eggs, I decided to change the pregnancy variables slightly: An initial multiple birth would still be 80% probable, but each subsequent birth would be reduced to just 40%. The maximum number of babies in a litter would also be decreased from six to four. Perhaps these would change again, but I had eight unhatched eggs to keep an eye on already! Chances were fairly good that little Hendar would not be the only one going through the alpha male succession test. Control yourselves, Brenlee and Nevorria!

A Case Study of Dee the Norn: Part III

2011-11-07T12:25:00.000-05:00

Our journey through Dee's genetics is almost completed! I highly recommend at least glancing through Part I and Part II of this case study. I briefly want to cover her modified instincts, appearance genes, and pigments. Further along, I will be including some observations about her behavior in Creatures 1 as it relates to her genetics. Remember that she can be downloaded at The Creatures Repository for anyone who would like to take a closer look at her genome! As a part of Albia, she certainly loves to have fun and explore. Not even that odd scarecrow can scare her! This case study was suggested by Malkin, and I know I learned quite a bit throughout these explanations.

INSTINCTS
163 Ado B MutDupCut Drive i/ps SexDrive + General Sensory i/ps IT is opposite sex + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Push => 207*Reward
164 Ado B MutDupCut Drive i/ps SexDrive + General Sensory i/ps IT is opposite sex + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Pull => 112*Punishment
NEW 404 Ado B MutDupCut Drive i/ps SexDrive + General Sensory i/ps IT is opposite sex + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Pull => 255*Punishment
NEW 405 Ado B MutDupCut Drive i/ps SexDrive + General Sensory i/ps IT is opposite sex + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Push => 255*Reward
NEW 406 Ado B MutDupCut Drive i/ps SexDrive + General Sensory i/ps IT is opposite sex + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Run => 170*Punishment

The standard Norn genome only rewards male Norns for kisspopping, at least in terms of instincts. Dee's modified genome states that this reward, indicated in gene 163, will be experienced by both genders, thus reinforcing breeding. Gene 164 originally only applied to males, and actually rewarded them for hitting (pulling) members of the opposite gender. Now this gene applies to both males and females, and punishes them for slapping Norns of the opposite gender. No help here for males hitting males or females hitting females, though! Genes 404 and 405 seem to reinforce the originally altered genes: I wonder why both instances are present, but a large quantity of reward or punishment will be received when a Norn kisspops or hits a member of the opposite gender. Another new gene in this group is gene 406: It simply states that if Dee sees a male and runs away, she will be punished. This should encourage her to stay around the males longer and not want to run away from them. Coupled with the other sex drive genes, she should be an excellent breeder.

NEW 396 Emb B MutDupCut Drive i/ps Hunger + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Stay => 127*Punishment
NEW 397 Emb B MutDupCut Drive i/ps Hunger + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Push => 127*Reward
NEW 398 Emb B MuDupCut Drive/ips Hunger + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Pull => 127*Reward
NEW 399 Emb B MutDupCut Drive i/ps NFP + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Stay => 127*Punishment
NEW 400 Emb B MutDupCut Drive i/ps NFP + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Push => 127*Reward
NEW 401 Emb B MuDupCut Drive i/ps NFP + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Pull => 127*Reward
NEW 388 Emb B MutDupCut Drive i/ps Hunger + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Stay => 127*Punishment
NEW 391 Emb B MutDupCut Stim source i/ps Food + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 255*Reward
NEW 393 Emb B MuDupCut Drive/ips Hunger + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Stay => 127*Punishment
NEW 408 Emb B (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + Drive i/ps Hunger + Stim source i/ps Food and I Push => 255*Reward
NEW 409 Emb B (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + Drive i/ps Hunger + Stim source i/ps Food and I Come => 255*Reward

Genes associated with instincts might look daunting, but most of this information is empty, much like the NONE included in chemical reactions. This set of genes basically involves what happens when Dee experiences hunger or need for pleasure (NFP). She will be punished if she stays still and takes no action, or she will be rewarded if she pushes or pulls something. Granted, this does not explicitly cause her to interact with food when she is hungry or toys when she desires something pleasurable. With learning and experience, though, she should have a pretty good grasp of what to do when either of these drives is too high. Note that genes 408 and 409 reward Dee for approaching food and pushing (eating) it. There also appear to be some duplicated, or very similar, genes.

NEW 389 Emb B MutDupCut Stim source i/ps Herb + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 127*Reward
NEW 390 Emb B MutDupCut Stim source i/ps Weed + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 127*Punishment
NEW 411 Emb B Stim source i/ps Herb + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Push => 40*Alcohol
NEW 412 Emb B Stim source i/ps Weed + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Push => 40*Alcohol

The first two of these genes should be fairly familiar: They are present in the Forest Norns. Basically, when Dee approaches an herb she will be rewarded, and when she approaches a weed, she will be punished. These effects are supposed to aid in the learning process, where Norns learn that herbs are good and weeds are bad. Genes 411 and 412 alter the effects of every herb and weed, in that Dee will receive alcohol from them all. Quite an interesting modification! Since alcohol has no serious detrimental effects in Creatures 1, this should only serve to make Dee stagger about if she decides to eat too many herbs and weeds.

NEW 392 Emb B MutDupCut Drive i/ps Sleepiness + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Rest => 255*Reward

This gene should be fairly easy to understand: When Dee is sleepy and decides to rest, she will receive a massive dose of reward. Yet another gene that should help her become a master of sleep!

NEW 395 Emb B MutDupCut Drive i/ps Fear + General Sensory i/ps IT is approaching + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Run => 255*Reward

This is an interesting gene in Dee's genome. When she is fearful and another creature is approaching, she is rewarded for running away. Very interesting! This seems pretty clear, but it also means that Dee will not seek out the company of other Norns to ease her fear. I suppose it assumes that it's those Norns themselves who create the fear! This is possible through excessive slapping, of course.

NEW 402 Emb B Stim source i/ps Ugly + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Pull => 255*Reward

I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the word "ugly" included in this gene! In the Genetics Kit, it appears to simply correspond with ID 37. In reading the description of the Yin Yang Norns, this appears to be the gene which rewards Dee for pulling (hitting) a Grendel. This would be perfect for C3/DS Norns, but with such a gentle Grendel from C1, I almost feel like this gene continues the awful stigma associated with Grendels. Perhaps this gene would have made more sense if it tied in with fear or pain in some way: As it is, Dee is rewarded simply for a hitting a Grendel on a whim.

NEW 403 Emb B MutDupCut Stim source i/ps Maker + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Push => 255*Reward
NEW 410 Emb B Stim source i/ps Maker + Drive i/ps Hunger + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Push => 255*Reward

I was completely mystified over what a maker was for a little bit, until I realized that it corresponded with a vendor. The main vendor in Creatures 1 is the carrot vendor on the desert island, although there are many other vendor COBs. Unlike a standard Norn, Dee is rewarded for pushing (activating) a vendor at any point, and especially when she is hungry. This should help reinforce her eating habits when there are vendors scattered about. They provide an unlimited food supply: Better to keep the Norns interested in them!

NEW 407 Emb B (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/37) + General Sensory i/ps I've bumped a wall and I Come = 204*Punishment
NEW 413 Emb B (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/37) + General Sensory i/ps I've bumped a wall and I Run = 255*Reward

One quick note here is that the lobe is defined as 0, but there are instances where the cell (neuron) is defined as 37. In my experience, a chosen neuron only has an effect when a lobe has been defined with a value between 1 and 7. These two genes will encourage Dee to move away from a wall after she has bumped into one. Remember the incessant head bonking? These should reduce the chances of Dee continuously running into walls: She is punished when she continues to approach it, and rewarded when she moves away.

APPEARANCE
Rather than list the genes, I figured a short description might be easier to understand. Dee has gender-specific appearance genes, meaning that males and females appear differently. A standard Norn will have a single breed chosen for the head, body, legs, and arms. The only difference between males and females is the set of sprites used. A White Haired Pixie Norn will always appear as a White Haired Pixie Norn, whether male or female. With Dee, she has appearance genes for males and females. As we can see from her photo, her head and body are of the White Haired Pixie Norn, while her arms and legs use the Banana Norn sprites. A male with the identical genome would actually use all Horse Norn sprites! This opens up the possibility of having the closest thing to recessive genes as is possible in Creatures. Remember, the genetic structure of Norns, Grendels, and Ettins does not use dominant nor recessive traits. However, imagine if Dee had a daughter who inherited these gender-specific appearance genes, and passed this along to her own daughter. Barring any interference from the male mates, these females would look like Dee. Yet they would have the possibility of giving birth to male children who look extremely different. Quite an interesting idea!

PIGMENTS
Again, listing the actual genes involved is not necessary to understand what is going on with Dee. In the description of the Yin Yang Norns, one can discover how the pigments tie in with the name of this breed. Females have every pigment set to the maximum intensity, which results in a very light coloring. Remember that the C1 sprites have a base color applied to them, so it is impossible to get a completely white Norn without modifying the sprites. As with the appearance genes, pigments are gender-specific. A male with Dee's genome would have all of his pigments set to an intensity of zero, so that he would appear very dark. Again, it is impossible to get a completely black Norn with the colored sprites in Creatures 1. The first thing I noticed about Dee was the fact that she did not appear to have a normal cycle, yet she also was not pregnant. This graph reminded me of some of my infertile males whose testosterone levels disappear due to stress. Aside from this, Dee seemed to be enjoying herself in C1! She ate up the cheese, enjoyed spending time with the hand, and quickly developed a love for the spinning top. She actually was not forced to obey my commands, as I thought might be the case with her lobe modifications. She did listen much more intently than most Norns, though!

Before long, I watched Dee make her way to the temple region. Although it looked like she was interested in testing out the hootch, she fortunately decided that the piano player was much more interesting! She passed by the herbs and weeds without hesitation, even though I expected her to take a nibble out of something. One can never know what these Norns will decide to do, though! Even with an improved genome, Dee seemed to have some classic Norn behavior of becoming distracted and not napping when she was getting tired. One of her genes converts tiredness into sleepiness to improve her sleeping habits, but this doesn't mean she will automatically fall asleep. Dee still had to make the decision on her own. Perhaps free will still exists for creatures: Most of the behaviors can not be fully determined!

When Dee still not produce estrogen, I injected her with cough medicine, which acts as a sex booster according to her modified genes. Here it is represented by the sudden spike. I thought that perhaps she had some painkiller in her system, which acts as a sterilizer with her altered genes. Her gonadotrophin remained exceptionally high, with no sign of slowing. I am still at a loss for an explanation: The half-life of gonadotrophin is 96, which means it should fall to half its value in 20 minutes. Still, I spent a good amount of time with her and saw no change. Any thoughts on what could possibly be going on? Dee continues to be filled with interesting genes... As well as a mystery in and of herself!

A Case Study of Dee the Norn: Part II

2011-11-06T23:26:00.000-05:00

In Part I, we had a look at the genome of Dee, a very interesting Creatures 1 Norn who is descended from the Yin Yang Norns. Special thanks go to Malkin again for suggesting Dee as a case study! She can be downloaded from The Creatures Repository for anyone wishing to take a look at her in more depth, and even bring her into Albia!

We last left off with several more categories of mutations and modifications to cover. These are the chemical reactions, instincts, appearance genes, and pigments. The last two will be covered briefly, although there are some interesting gender-specific genes. I will only be covering the chemical reactions in this entry, although there are a ton of them! Brace yourself for another adventure into the land of genetics! REACTIONS
57 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Pain++ + 1*NONE => 1*Pain + 4*Punishment; half-life = 8
58 Emb B MutDupCut 1*NFP++ + 1*NONE => 1*NFP + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8
59 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Hunger++ + 1*NONE => 1*Hunger + 6*Punishment; half-life = 8
60 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Coldness++ + 1*NONE => 1*Coldness + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8
61 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Hotness++ + 1*NONE => 1*Hotness + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8
62 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Tiredness++ + 1*NONE => 1*Tiredness + 3*Punishment; half-life = 8
64 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Sleepiness++ + 1*NONE => 1*Sleepiness + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8
65 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Loneliness++ + 1*NONE => 1*Loneliness + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8
66 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Crowdedness++ + 1*NONE => 1*Crowdedness + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8
67 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Fear++ + 1*NONE => 1*Fear + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8
68 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Boredom++ + 1*NONE => 1*Boredom + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8
69 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Anger++ + 1*NONE => 1*Anger + 2*Punishment; half-life = 8

There are a lot of modifications here, but they are all related. In the standard Norn genome, one unit of a chemical increase (i.e. NFP increase or hunger increase) produces one unit of that chemical (i.e. NFP or hunger) and one unit of punishment. Effectively, a Norn is punished when a need is increased, which aids in teaching them that it is important to try not to increase these needs whenever possible. In the case of Dee, the amount of punishment is much higher for these reactions: Up to six times, in fact! This should help deter her from bad behaviors a bit easier. Is it any surprise what the next set of chemical reactions will be?

72 Emb B MutDupCut 1*NFP- + 2*NFP => 2*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
73 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Hunger- + 1*Hunger => 7*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
74 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Coldness- + 1*Coldness => 2*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
75 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Hotness- + 1*Hotness => 2*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
76 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Tiredness- + 1*Tiredness => 4*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
78 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Sleepiness- + 1*Sleepiness => 3*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
79 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Loneliness- + 1*Loneliness => 2*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
80 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Crowdedness- + 1*Crowdedness => 2*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
82 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Fear- + 1*Fear => 2*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
84 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Boredom- + 1*Boredom => 2*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
85 Emb B MutDupCut 1*Anger- + 1*Anger => 2*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8
111 Emb B MutDup 1*Reward + 1*NONE => 2*Reinforcement + 2*RewardEcho; half-life = 16

All of these chemical reactions involve what happens with chemical decreases, such as hunger decrease. The standard Norn genome defines a reward level of one unit for all of these reactions, save gene 111. Effectively, Dee receives a much greater level of reward when she finds a way to reduce a drive. Coupled with the punishment modifications listed above, she should certainly have the capability of learning quite well! These are also natural reactions, so she should have a better time learning on her own. The final mutation is in gene 111, which is related to this group: This controls the levels of the short-term learning chemical, reinforcement, as well as the long-term learning chemical, reward echo. Good decisions give Dee a positive boost immediately and down the road. Just another reason why she should be a very smart Norn!

142 Emb B MutDup 1*Starch + 1*NONE => 5*Glucose + 8*Hunger-; half-life = 64

The standard C1 Norn genome states that one unit of starch yields two units of glucose. However, starch itself is not tied in with hunger decrease, which seems a little counter intuitive. Dee has the added benefits of increased glucose production from starch, as well as a significant decrease in hunger. This hunger decrease would probably not be beneficial if Dee could not produce a lot of glucose from starch: It would be as though a small bit of starch would make her feel full, yet her body would not really be satisfied. With the increased glucose reaction, this is a very useful gene for teaching Dee how to eat! Coupled with the fact that hunger decrease is tied in with reward, she should have no problem understanding that food is good!

158 Ado F MutDupMut 1*Gonadotrophin + 1*Estrogen => 3*Gonadotrophin + 1*NONE; half-life = 40
312 Emb B 1*Gonadotrophin + 4*Glucose => 1*Gonadotrophin + 1*NONE; half-life = 96

These two genes are directly related to the pregnancy hormone, gonadotrophin, which is present in female Norns. Gene 158 differs from the standard in that it uses less estrogen and produces more gonadotrophin. In simple terms, this means that Dee's pregnancy will progress faster and allow her to have the chance to have more offspring during her lifetime. Gene 312 counteracts this "super breeder" status a little bit: It states that gonadotrophin uses up four times the standard amount of glucose. In other words, Dee will have to consume more food in order to sustain herself and her unborn child during each pregnancy. So although her pregnancies go by more quickly, each one takes more out of her than a standard C1 Norn pregnancy.

One interesting side note: Gene 312 is specifically related to gonadotrophin, which only occurs in females during pregnancy. Even in the standard Norn genome, it applies to both genders, rather than just females. With an odd mutation, males could actually produce gonadotrophin in their systems and feel some of the effects of pregnancy! Kind of interesting, at least to a science nerd like myself. Ha ha!

70 Emb B MutDupCut 1*SexDrive++ + 1*NONE => 1*SexDrive + 5*Reward;half-life = 8
86 Emb B MutDupCut 1*SexDrive- + 1*SexDrive => 6*Reward + 1*NONE; half-life = 8

In the standard Norn genome, sex drive increase actually resulted in one unit of sex drive and, oddly enough, one unit of punishment. A Norn was punished for an increase in sex drive, which certainly sounds counterproductive to evolution! Gene 70 is updated in Dee to produce a large amount of reward, so that she is encouraged to raise her sex drive. This should definitely help in making her an excellent breeder. Gene 86 is similar, but this affects the level of reward produced when lowering sex drive. Dee receives six times the level of reward than a standard Norn, so kiss popping should be something she really enjoys! Note that although she is rewarded for both reactions (an increase and a decrease), she experiences more reward from decreasing her sex drive. Effectively, although she will seek to raise this drive, she should feel more compelled to lower it, when given the opportunity.

280 Ado M MutDupCut 1*Alcohol + 1*NONE => 3*SexDrive + 1*Sleepiness; half-life = 64
281 Ado B MutDupCut 1*Alcohol + 1*NONE => 3*SexDrive + 2*WakeUpPill; half-life = 64

The first gene listed here, gene 280, controls the effects of alcohol in male Norns who are adolescents and older. This will not have any bearing on Dee, but it basically differs from the standard genome in that it produces sex drive, rather than anger. Normal male Norns become angry after drinking alcohol, but this change means that a male with this genome would become more interested in kiss popping. Gene 281 normally only affects females, but it has been altered to affect both males and females. The major difference is that the Wake Up Pill chemical replaces sleepiness. Remember that the Yin Yang Norns have different reactions to the injections. Wake Up Pill is actually called Happy Juice, which reduces most drives and adds a bit of starch to a creature. For Dee, alcohol is actually quite pleasant!

313 Emb B 1*Energy Shot + 1*NONE => 1*Energy Shot + 5*Glycogen; half-life = 32
NEW 364 Emb B 1*Energy Shot + 1*CoughMedicine => 1* Energy Shot + 6*CoughMedicine; half-life = 73
NEW 365 Emb B 1*Energy Shot + 1*Painkiller => 1*Energy Shot = 6*PainKiller; half-life = 73

Here is the definition of one of the altered injections, called the energy shot. In the Yin Yang Norns, this chemical is known as ambrosia. It immediately raises the level of glycogen in Dee when injected, according to gene 313. This is a way to artificially keep her alive, but since it comes from the science kit, one can choose to never use this. The two new genes involve two other injectable chemicals: Cough medicine corresponds with sex booster, and pain killer is known as the pill. Gene 364 states that if Dee is injected with both the energy shot (ambrosia) and cough medicine (sex booster), she will become a super breeder. Conversely, if she is injected with the energy shot (ambrosia) and painkiller (the pill), she will effectively be sterilized. I rarely, if ever, use the injections in Creatures 1, but this is interesting to see how their effects can be altered!

314 Emb B 1*2XAdrenaline + 1*Energy Shot => 2*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32

Note that the reason why this injection is called 2XAdrenaline is because there are two instances of adrenaline in C1: One is more of a natural chemical that is caused by stress and can have negative effects, while there is an injection also called adrenaline. Adrenaline is known as mortalizer, and it simply removes the energy shot (ambrosia) from Dee's system. Note from above that gene 313 does not remove the chemical during the reaction, so she could stay alive indefinitely with just one shot. A shot of adrenaline (mortalizer) simply removes this from her system and returns her to a more normal state.

315 Emb F 1*PainKiller + 1*Estrogen => 1*PainKiller + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 357 Emb M 1*PainKiller + 1*Testosterone => 1*PainKiller + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 358 Emb B 1*PainKiller + 1*SexDrive => 1*NONE + 2*SexDrive-; half-life = 32
NEW 359 Emb F 1*PainKiller + 1*Progesterone => 6*Progesterone + 1*NONE; half-life = 32

Again, painkiller is actually the pill for the Yin Yang Norns. It can clearly be seen how this chemical will reduce sex drive for both genders, since it converts one unit of painkiller (the pill) and one unit of sex drive into two units of sex drive decrease. Gene 357 states that it will remove testosterone in males, while genes 315 and 359 help in keeping females infertile. The first gene removes estrogen from her system, stopping her cycles, while the second gene converts a small amount of progesterone into large amounts. Quite an accurate description! 316 Emb F 1*CoughMedicine + 1*NONE => 1*CoughMedicine + 2*Estrogen; half-life = 32
NEW360 Emb F 1*CoughMedicine + 1*Progesterone => 1*CoughMedicine + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW361 Emb M 1*CoughMedicine + 1*NONE => 1*CoughMedicine + 3*Testosterone; half-life = 32
NEW362 Emb B 1*CoughMedicine + 1*NONE => 1*SexDrive + 2*SexDrive++; half-life = 32
NEW363 Emb B 1*CoughMedicine + 1*PainKiller => 1*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32

Here we can see another new injection: Cough medicine is known as sex booster, and the name is quite fitting! Note how gene 316 raises the level of estrogen in females, whereas gene 361 raises the level of testosterone in males. Some who are familiar with the cycles in female Norns might be curious as to why an increased level of estrogen would make her any more fertile. Females are fertile when their estrogen levels are falling, but not rising. The reason for this is because an unfertilized egg is released when a female's estrogen reaches its peak: Effectively, Dee could release many more unfertilized eggs since her estrogen would constantly peak. Gene 362 simply converts cough medicine (sex booster) into sex drive and sex drive increase. Lastly, gene 363 is a chemical reaction that will neutralize the two injections when they are both present in Dee's system. So if she was injected with cough medicine (the pill) but I wanted to return her to a normal level, an injection of painkiller (sex booster) would mitigate most or all of the effects.

318 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*Pain => 2*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 349 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*NFP => 1*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 350 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*Hunger => 8*Starch + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 351 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*Coldness => 1*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 352 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*Tiredness => 1*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 353 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*Sleepiness => 1*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 354 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*Loneliness => 1*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 355 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*Fear => 1*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32
NEW 356 Emb B 1*WakeUpPill + 5*Boredom => 1*NONE + 1*NONE; half-life = 32

This set of genes represent the final altered chemical injection. This is normally known as the wake up pill, but with this altered genome, it becomes happy juice. It reacts with pain to produce nothing, which essentially decreases pain in Dee's bloodstream. Additionally, wake up pill (happy juice) reacts with almost every drive to reduce it. The exception is hunger, which is reduced, but an infusion of starch is also added to the target Norn. Lucky Dee! I find that this could make the game too simple, although players have the option of ignoring the injections entirely and never introducing them into Creatures 1.

NEW 319 Emb B 1*AntiOxidant + 1*NONE => 1*Ageing + 1*NONE; half-life = 56

This gene is actually included in the genomes that come with Creatures 1: They were removed with Tarlia's Updated C1 Hatchery Genetics. Make sure to scroll down for the updated genomes for all of the official breeds! This gene keeps a Norn alive indefinitely by allowing antioxidant to be converted into the aging chemical. Dee could therefore be immortal if she found a source of antioxidant: To the best of my knowledge, however, this is not a naturally occurring chemical in C1. Some COBs have been known to include it, though, so this puts Dee at a slight disadvantage from a realistic standpoint.

NEW 324 Emb B 1*Dancing + 1*NFP => 3*Dancing + 1*NONE; half-life = 128
NEW 325 Emb B 1*Dancing + 2*Boredom => 1*Boredom + 1*NONE; half-life = 112

Dancing Norns are always a funny sight, but they often do not dance very often. Dee has the benefit of having her need for pleasure (NFP) and boredom reduced by dancing. This should make her more apt to dance about, although toys and other distractions could take precedent. At least she can attempt to be a dancer!

NEW 326 Emb B 4*Antigen0 + 1*Antibody0 => 3*Antigen0 + 2*Antibody0; half-life = 48
NEW 327 Emb B 4*Antigen1 + 1*Antibody1 => 3*Antigen1 + 2*Antibody1; half-life = 48
NEW 328 Emb B 4*Antigen2 + 1*Antibody2 => 3*Antigen2 + 2*Antibody2; half-life = 48
NEW 329 Emb B 4*Antigen3 + 1*Antibody3 => 3*Antigen3 + 2*Antibody3; half-life = 48
NEW 330 Emb B 4*Antigen4 + 1*Antibody4 => 3*Antigen4 + 2*Antibody4; half-life = 48
NEW 331 Emb B 4*Antigen5 + 1*Antibody5 => 3*Antigen5 + 2*Antibody5; half-life = 48
NEW 332 Emb B 4*Antigen6 + 1*Antibody6 => 3*Antigen6 + 2*Antibody6; half-life = 48
NEW 333 Emb B 4*Antigen7 + 1*Antibody7 => 3*Antigen7 + 2*Antibody7; half-life = 48

These are some of my favorite new genes that Dee possesses! One of the few downsides to creature genetics is the fact that there is no realistic immune system. Antibodies simply build up in response to antigens, which effectively means that antigens produce antibodies. Aside from the initial concentrations of antibodies at birth, Norns can only produce antibodies when they are ill. There are also a few other reasons why their immune systems simply do not exist realistically, but it's time to move on! Dee actually has all of the standard antibody and antigen reactions. These new ones, however, state that each antibody reacts with its corresponding antigen to both decrease the antigen and increase the antibody. This models a more realistic immune system, where the body really fights off the infection, rather than having the infection solely produce its matching cure. This is a vastly improved design! The nice thing about these genes is that they can not be mutated, cut, nor duplicated.

NEW 334 1*Antibody0 + 1*Glycotoxin => 1*Antibody0 + 2*Glucose; half-life = 64
NEW 335 1*Antibody1 + 1*Glycotoxin => 1*Antibody1 + 2*Glucose; half-life = 64
NEW 336 1*Antibody2 + 1*Glycotoxin => 1*Antibody2 + 2*Glucose; half-life = 64
NEW 337 1*Antibody3 + 1*Glycotoxin => 1*Antibody3 + 2*Glucose; half-life = 64
NEW 338 1*Antibody4 + 1*Geddonase => 1*Antibody4 + 2*Glucose; half-life = 64
NEW 339 1*Antibody5 + 1*Geddonase => 1*Antibody5 + 2*Glucose; half-life = 64
NEW 340 1*Antibody6 + 1*FeverToxin => 1*Antibody6 + 2*Glucose; half-life = 64
NEW 334 1*Antibody7 + 1*SleepToxin => 1*Antibody7 + 2*Glucose; half-life = 64

This set of new genes is another improvement on Dee's immune system. Whereas each antibody usually only fights off its corresponding antigen, these new genes allow antibodies to fight off and remove certain toxins from the system. Antibodies 0, 1, 2, and 3 all can attack glycotoxin and produce more antibodies and glucose in the process. Antibodies 4 and 5 help fight off geddonase, while antibody 6 has the power to remove fever toxin from the bloodstream. Finally, antibody 7 counteracts sleep toxin. This means that antibodies serve more important purposes than just ridding the system of antigens: They also fight off these dangerous toxins. Therefore, Dee has a highly effective immune system capable of curing her much more quickly than a standard Norn's immune system! Note again that these genes can not be mutated, cut, nor duplicated.

NEW 342 Emb B 2*Tiredness + 1*Sleepiness => 2*Sleepiness + 2*Tiredness-; half-life = 210
NEW 343 Emb B 4*Coldness + 4*Hotness => 2*Hotness- + 2*Coldness-; half-life = 16
NEW 344 Emb B 4*Loneliness+ 4*Crowdedness => 2*Crowdedness- + 2*Loneliness-; half-life = 0
NEW 345 Emb B 4*SexDrive + 4*Boredom => 2*SexDrive- + 2*Boredom-; half-life = 0
NEW 346 Emb B 4*Fear + 4*Anger => 2*Fear- + 2*Anger-; half-life = 0
NEW 347 Emb B 3*Fear + 2*SexDrive => 1*SexDrive + 1*NONE; half-life = 182

Again, these genes come from the Yin Yang Norns and are new when compared with the standard Norn genome. Gene 342 converts tiredness into sleepiness, which should help Dee sleep much better. She should rarely, if ever, get to the point of exhaustion without feeling very sleepy. This is a common problem with Norns: Often they feel extremely tired, but not sleepy enough to rest. Genes 343, 344, 345, and 346 are all drive neutralizing reactions. For example, coldness and hotness react with one another to reduce both drives. This makes sense: A Norn should not be able to feel extremely cold and hot at the same time. Dee can still feel coldness and hotness, as well as the other drives: This just helps to ensure that she does not experience the opposite ones at the same time. Lastly, gene 347 is quite similar to these drive neutralizers. It states that when Dee is fearful and has a high sex drive, her sex drive will be reduced. Makes sense: Why would a Norn want to kiss pop in a scary situation? These are excellent additions!

NEW 349 Old B 4*Glycogen + 4*Glucose => 5*Glycotoxin + 5*Sleepiness++; half-life = 4

At first glance, this gene might seem completely out of place. Why in the world would glycogen and glucose react to create sleepiness increase and, of all things, glycotoxin?! Note the life stage that this gene kicks in: Old. In reading more about the Yin Yang Norns, one can see that this gene is used to peacefully kill very old Norns. Dee herself can withstand a certain amount of glycotoxin in her system with her improved immune system, but this can only go on for so long. This should mean that she will not pass away at the oldest age she could attain. However, her death would be fairly painless, since she should, in theory, be asleep.

Had enough? I know I have! This concludes the discussion of all of Dee's new and altered chemical reactions. There is a lot of information to take in, but I hope that this will be useful to anyone delving into the genetics behind creatures. Note that most Norns do not have an enormous list of mutations or modifications that Dee does: Most of these were purposefully included in her genome to attain the desired results. She is certainly a fascinating Norn to study! The final part of her case study will conclude with a few observations of how these genes affect her in Albia. I promise that it will not be as text heavy!

Determining the Alpha Female Norn in C3/DS

2011-11-06T14:06:00.000-05:00

Have a look at the second part of the introduction to the C3/DS world concept I've been working on! The main feature of this video is the determination of the alpha female. Again, every female will have the opportunity to breed, but only the alpha female will be able to have more than one litter. I will follow up with some more details at a later date: Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise! I would greatly appreciate any comments on whether these types of videos would be fun to watch. I might turn this into a weekly series and capture at least half of the action in real-time videos. Thanks again to all who have taken the time to watch and comment!

Lamna: Female Harlequin Norn (Green Feather)
Seyon: Female Magma Norn (Yellow Bell)
Aurianna: Female Bengal Norn (Red Spiral)
Nevorria: Female Siamese Norn (White Star)
Brenlee: Male Zebra Norn (Blue Sword)

Watching the C3/DS World Come Alive

2011-11-05T21:08:00.000-04:00

Meet the Norns from my C3/DS world of Remniova! This video features a look at some of the gameplay elements, and goes through some of the concepts associated with the conditions of my experiment. It offers a rather quick look into the lives of these Norns. I will be posting its continuation in the upcoming days: Hopefully there are a few viewers out there who are looking forward to finding out who the alpha female will be! Any guesses or preferences on who the lucky female will be? Check back soon to find out!

Lamna: Female Harlequin Norn (Green Feather)
Seyon: Female Magma Norn (Yellow Bell)
Aurianna: Female Bengal Norn (Red Spiral)
Nevorria: Female Siamese Norn (White Star)
Brenlee: Male Zebra Norn (Blue Sword)

A Case Study of Dee the Norn: Part I

2011-11-05T14:44:00.000-04:00

Back in September, Malkin suggested a very interesting Norn of hers as a possible case study. Dee is a C1 Norn descended from the Yin Yang Norns. These were a genetically engineered breed created by Muppet Boy and based on some of the existing genes from breeds such as the Purple Mountain, Forest, Ron, and Wood Norns. Dee can be downloaded from The Creatures Repository, for anyone who would like a first-hand look at her. According to Malkin and my research, Dee may very well be the only available Norn who is related to the Yin Yang Norns! Get ready for a long list of genetic mutations, although the descriptions should be fairly straightforward.

Note that the gene numbers will probably not correspond with the standard Norn genome, since Dee has a lot of additional genes. She actually has a total of 413 genes, whereas the standard Norn usually has about 320 genes. For this reason, this case study has been split into multiple parts to make it more manageable for everyone!

LOBES
117 Emb B Lobe#= 3 at X=53 Y=15 is 1 neuron wide and 16 neurons high. Perflags=2

The main difference here is that the verb lobe is located at different coordinates in the brain. In examining the coordinates of the other lobes, we can see that the decision lobe is located under these new coordinates. Effectively, the verb and decision lobes overlap one another. I am not entirely positive how lobe locations affect the brain, but the description at Geatville seems to imply that this will aid in the Norn's obedience. My assumption is that a spoken verb (i.e. push) will be copied to the decision lobe so that Dee will have to obey. Even though the width and height of the neurons is different, the original genome defines the width as 2 and the height as 8. Both of these calculations arrive at 16 neurons. This mutation is identical to the setup in the decision lobe.

121 Emb B MutDup Lobe #= 7 State Rule: state PLUS type0 PLUS type1 end end end WTA= 1, Loss= 1

This mutation is only listed as a mutation from the standard Norn genome: It is almost identical to the Forest Norn gene. This allows the the attention lobe to take into account dendrites between both the stimulus lobe (type 0) and the noun lobe (type 1). The original Norn genome only linked to the dendrites between the stimulus lobe. For a nice description of this, have a look at Creatures Great and Small! The loss variable is usually set to 0 in the standard genome: Dee's mutation should not affect her because there is no corresponding loss state rule. I omitted this to save on space, but it includes the end codes in every slot. Suffice to say this gene is unaltered.

118 Emb B Lobe #= 4 at X=44 Y=30 is 5 neurons wide and 8 neurons high. Perflags=0

This mutation is generally identical to that in gene 117. In this case, for Dee's noun lobe, the new coordinates match up perfectly with the attention lobe. The same is true with the setup of her neurons: In the standard Norn genome, the width is 20 and the height is 2. She has not gained, nor lost, any neurons: This ensures that the noun and attention lobes overlap. Whenever Dee hears a word (i.e. food) her attention is instantly snapped to that object. When we combine the mutations in genes 117 and 118, Dee should obey the hand's every command.

RECEPTORS
NEW 321 Emb B Creature, Circulatory, floating chem 2, chem=Glycogen, thresh=0, nom=0, gain=255, features=Analogue

For the best explanation of this receptor and its corresponding emitter, which will be discussed shortly, have a look at Creatures Great and Small. In essence, this new receptor means that the level of glycogen is stored in Dee's system in such a way that it can be recognized by its corresponding emitter. A linked receptor-emitter pair is like a team: By themselves, each gene has no purpose. It is when they come together that something happens. Keep this in mind when we reach its corresponding emitter: Gene 322.

EMITTERS
309 Old M MutDupCut Creature, tissue 6, locus 0, chem=Testosterone, thresh=0, samp=49, gain=6, features=Digital This gene is used to control fertility and testosterone in older male Norns. Just as a female becomes less fertile in old age, the same is true for males. Since this is a gender-based gene, it will not affect Dee. However, it could be passed along to any of her sons, which could affect them in old age. To be honest, I am still perplexed by this gene. In the Genetics Kit, the tissue corresponds with Drive Levels, and the locus matches up with pain. It should be Sensorimotor, Permanently Active. Rather than sense the level of testosterone in an elder male's system, it appears that this mutation will release testosterone when a male is in pain. Compare this with the emitter that defines how stress from excess pain is handled: It has the identical conditions (Creature, Sensorimotor, Permanently Active) and states that when pain reaches a certain threshold, adrenaline is produced. This could actually be beneficial to older male Norns, in that they might stay fertile a bit longer. In the case of Dee, she will have no effects from this... Unless she spontaneously turns into a male!

NEW 322 Emb B Creature, Circulatory, floating chem 2, chem=Hunger, thresh=0, samp=5, gain=1, features=Inverted Analogue

Here is the corresponding emitter gene that I mentioned a short time ago when looking at gene 321. This new gene indicates that hunger will be emitted when the glycogen level in Dee's system is low. Imagine if she was well fed, but decided to eat a Deathcap Mushroom. Her hunger would already have been satisfied by a previous meal, yet her glycogen level would begin to plummet. A standard Norn would not even notice this process, and could die feeling full. Dee's body would recognize the falling level of glycogen, and would emit hunger to encourage her to seek out food. Quite a useful system in allowing Dee to care for herself!

NEW 323 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, Light level, chem=Glucose, thresh=0, samp=114, gain=1, features=Analogue

I previously mentioned that receptors and emitters work in tandem with one another, like a team. There are certain emitters that no do not require a corresponding receptor, since they focus on outside elements. This new emitter examines the light level, which is not stored in a Norn's body, but comes from the outside environment. Other examples include "I'm Asleep" or "Crowdedness." This interesting new gene means that Dee actually produces glucose in her system when the light level is high enough! This comes from the Yin Yang Norns, and this gene in particular is what Muppet Boy titled the photosynthesis gene. Dee could live in a very light area her entire life and never have to eat! Not the ideal scenario, of course, but this is another way that she might gain nutrition in an interesting way.

INITIAL CONCENTRATIONS
NEW 366 Emb B MutDupCut Initial Concentration of Antibody5 is 130
NEW 366 Emb B MutDupCut Initial Concentration of Antibody6 is 147
NEW 366 Emb B MutDupCut Initial Concentration of Antibody7 is 140 These three new genes are very simple. A baby Norn with the standard genome receives an initial concentration of antibodies 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. This creates an initial immunity, although as many might be aware, the standard Norn does not have anything resembling a real immune system. Dee has quite a few mutations and modifications that simulate a much more realistic immune system. These will be discussed later on. Suffice to say that these new genes simply added the missing antibodies to her system at birth, in standard concentrations.

STIMULI
91 Emb B Mut 'Pointer pats me' causes sig=32 GS neu=0(I've been patted) int=255, , , Sensed Even When Asleep =>64*NFP- + 16*Pain- + 16*Loneliness- + 30*Reward

The standard Norn genome states that when a Norn is patted or tickled by the hand, he or she will experience some very pleasant effects. The normal value of reward is 16, but this different gene nearly doubles the value. In effect, Dee can be rewarded in a much easier way. This also means that she might respond better to being rewarded from tickles, rather than words.

93 Emb B Mut 'Pointer slaps me' causes sig=32 GS neu=1(I've been slapped) int=255, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 75*Pain++ + 32*NONE + 50*Anger++ + 16*078

This gene is the converse of the previous, with a few differences. This is the stimulus for when a Norn is slapped by the hand. In the standard Norn genome, this creates 75 pain increase, 32 fear increase, 16 anger increase, and 16 sleepiness decrease. Dee does not receive any fear increase, nor sleepiness decrease. Note that chemical 078 is not defined, so it can be considered another instance of NONE. The anger she receives from a slap is also very high, with its concentration more than three times the standard amount! Effectively, a slap from the hand results in a lot of pain and anger, which can certainly help in deterring bad behavior. Just be careful: Dee is not afraid of the hand!

94 Emb B Mut 'Creature slaps me' causes sig=128 GS neu=1(I've been slapped) int=255, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 80*Pain++ + 32*Fear++ + 16*Starch + 16*NONE

This is an interesting mutation! The gene in question is fairly similar to the other stimuli genes we have covered: This one controls the reaction of Dee when she is slapped by another creature. The standard Norn genome defines the chemicals as 80 pain increase, 32 fear increase, 16 anger increase, and 16 sleepiness decrease. In this mutation, the sleepiness decrease has been removed: Slaps from other creatures do not make Dee feel any less sleepy. The most startling change is that rather than creating anger, she actually creates some starch! Creatures can almost "feed" Dee simply by slapping her, which they usually have a knack for! I find this to be a very unrealistic gene, though. The photosynthesis gene discussed earlier made some sense, since it created glucose from light. This one, however, seems a little out there. Still, it's quite an interesting gene modification!

242 Ado F Mut 'Invol 1='lay egg'' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , , => 190*Pain + 160*Tiredness + 224*CoughMedicine + 32*Hexokinase

At first glance, the changes in this gene may make no sense. Why in the world would laying an egg create cough medicine in a Norn?! The answer lies in the chemical reactions, which will be covered later on. The Yin Yang Norns actually do not react to the injection chemicals in the same way. I will cover this at length, but suffice to say that cough medicine is actually known as sex booster. When injected, it increases estrogen and sex drive, while lowering progesterone. In Dee's case, her body naturally produces it after she lays an egg. With such an enormous dose, this should mean that it will take her a short period of time to recover from a pregnancy.

Time to take a break! The remainder of Dee's modified genome will be explored in one or two parts. Thanks again to Malkin for suggesting her! In later parts, I will also observe and report on how these genetic modifications affect Dee in Albia. It's one thing to explain them here, and quite another to see them at work.

A Social Experiment in C3/DS

2011-11-05T07:56:00.000-04:00

It took a bit more planning and thinking, but I was soon ready to put my C3/DS world concept to the test! I had originally planned on a very different writing style for these entries, as compared with my Creatures 1 world. However, something miraculous occurred: I began to get somewhat attached to the Norns! Although there will be a decidedly experimental overtone and I will not be following Norns throughout their lives, this world might not seem as terrible as I first pictured it. I also have a feeling that I will not kill any Norns on purpose: Perhaps they will instead find their way through the Warp, or as downloadable files!

The stage was finally set, and I chose four females to begin this world with. Although limited, recall that new first generation females will be introduced from time to time to keep the gene pool varied. These little eggs looked so peaceful in the Norn Meso, where they were surrounded by virtually everything they could possibly need. I planned on playing an invisible role, or the role of the watcher. These Norns would have to fend for themselves in order to survive. Yet in this environment, they had little to worry about early on in their lives! I waited patiently for the eggs to hatch and unleash the loveable chaos.

To my sheer surprise, one of the Norns decided that learning was of the utmost importance: She visited the Holistic Learning Machine directly after she popped out of her egg! All of the Norns introduced into this world will have CFE genomes. Norns are at a disadvantage at the best of times, and any helpful genetics can certainly be of the greatest help! I should also note that I use the HLM Patch created by Sgeo, which limits each Norn to using the machine once during their lifetime. In a few test runs, I have witnessed Norns use this over and over again, while the real benefit only occurs the very first time. Since all of the young females will spend their lives here, this patch should certainly come in handy! It prevents some Norns from hogging the Holistic Learning Machine from others.

Here are the very first Norns to hatch in my world, which I've named Remniova! On the left is a female Harlequin Norn named Lamna. Beside her is a female Magma Norn, whom I call Seyon. She was the one to use the Holistic Learning Machine, and ended up being the only one. Seyon showed an aptitude for a lot early in life: She was the first to use the lift, and the first to explore all the levels of the Norn Meso. Could this be the first Alpha Female? Lamna struggled at times, although she also ventured forth to the other levels of the room.

Notice the funny symbols above their heads? This is an agent in development by the amazing Amaikokonut of Naturing :: Nurturing. These are the marks, although there is also a series of auras. They basically help distinguish one Norn from another, and they also allow players to mark specific Norns with ease. My main use for these will be to clearly mark the Alpha Male and Female, as well as their offspring. I figured it would be rather nice to use the marks with the females, though, as it helps me remember who is who a little more easily! I assigned the bell to Seyon, and felt a little guilty afterwards. Being a Magma Norn, she often shivers since the Norn Meso is a little on the cold side for her. Each time she does so, her bell moves about like it's ringing!

Is there another reason for the marks? Maybe so... It's easy to distinguish each Norn in still photos, but what about in another media format? I might have a little surprise up my sleeve! Moving on...

The other two females were quite close at birth, and it was difficult to separate them enough to capture their images! The napping female Bengal Norn is Aurianna. Her partner in crime is a female Siamese Norn known as Nevorria. Note that these names have no meaning, and came from the recesses of my mind. As odd as it is, naming Norns can sometimes hold me back from jumping into a world. At least I was pleased with the ones I chose! Everyone seemed to agree, thankfully.

I allowed the females to live for about ten minutes before I hatched the Alpha Male. This will ensure that they are all fertile by the time they are introduced to him. In theory, this should give them all an equal chance at becoming the Alpha Female. In moments, I welcomed a male Zebra Norn in Remniova: This is Brenlee! He was an active creature from the moment he hatched, which was a good sign. He was an excellent eater, and an even better sleeper. Perhaps he had an inkling of what his role would be! I chose a male Zebra Norn because the males and females are quite different in appearance. And who doesn't like striped Norns?!

Brenlee became obsessed with the Blue Intelligence Core! This agent is part of the Portal Pack created by Ghosthande for the CCSF 2011. Suffice to say I have most of the items scattered about: They're quite amazing! Clearly, Brenlee agreed. He learned his vocabulary very easily in this way, but still took the time to eat a balanced diet in the Norn Terrarium. Part of me feels like he might suffer from separation anxiety when he moves to the C1toDS meta room! Never fear: One of these is located in the region, and perhaps Brenlee will be able to find it. Yet again, it's about time he left it alone. Get on with it, Brenlee!

Just for reference, here is a quick rundown of the starting Norns and their marks:

Lamna: Female Harlequin Norn (Green Feather)
Seyon: Female Magma Norn (Yellow Bell)
Aurianna: Female Bengal Norn (Red Spiral)
Nevorria: Female Siamese Norn (White Star)
Brenlee: Male Zebra Norn (Blue Sword)

The females will be moved to the C1toDS meta room as they reach the youth life stage. Brenlee will be introduced to the room after he has become either a youth or an adult: Still need to decide! Recall that I have edited the chances of multiple births so that Norns have a very high chance of producing "litters." The chance of twins is 80%, and each subsequent birth has a 60% chance of occurring. There is a maximum size of six Norns in each litter, but my test run revealed that two to three babies at one time is most typical. I also reduced the chances of identical sets to just 20%: The idea is to have genetic diversity amongst each litter, although identical Norns will still be possible. These parameters may change as I continue through this experiment: We shall see!

An Illustrated Guide to the Creatures 1 Weeds

2011-11-04T16:18:00.000-04:00

Inspired by Creatures Medicine 101: Toxins at Naturing :: Nurturing, I decided to set out and create an illustrated guide to the weeds of Creatures 1. Most of this information is already common knowledge in the Creatures community, yet I hope that there are a couple of hints and tips that will be helpful to those who play C1!

Although not repeated for each weed, quarantine is necessary for each, except the Ugly Tomato. Although only Laburnum contains Histamine B and the ability for a contagious element, quarantine is necessary so that ill Norns can be easily cared for and not distracted. Every weed should be avoided, since Norns can not distinguish one weed from another: In their minds, all weeds are created equal! Note that all information about the dangers of each weed apply to first generation creatures. Genetic mutations can make weeds less harmful, or actually beneficial, in some cases. For the most part, though, the following information should apply to the majority of C1 Norns and Grendels.

Name: Baobab
Location: East of the lemon trellis
Appearance: Thick green stems with at least five medium to dark blue flowers
Edible Parts: Middle two flowers
Chemical: 90 Starch, 100 Histamine A, 100 Sleep Toxin
Most Dangerous Effect: Tiredness and sleepiness

Baobab is one of the first weeds that newborn Norns can come in contact with. It actually provides a large amount of nutrition through starch, but this comes with a price. Histamine A causes a Norn to sneeze, which in turn creates pain, tiredness, fear, and hexokinase. This last chemical is involved with the usage of energy: Hexokinase reacts with glucose to create carbon dioxide. Baobab also includes sleep toxin, which is converted directly into sleepiness and tiredness. Ingesting this weed should not be lethal to the average Norn, but he or she will become extremely tired and worn out. Both Histamine A and Sleep Toxin should exit the system fairly quickly. The best course of treatment is a healthy diet and a good nap.

Name: Pyrethium
Location: Between the garden and the ruined temple
Appearance: Thin green stems with at least three large, pale blue flowers
Edible Parts: Largest flower
Chemicals: 90 Starch, 100 Hunger, 100 Pain
Most Dangerous Effect: Sudden hunger and pain

Pyrethium is another weed located fairly close to the incubator and garden. It contains a large amount of starch, yet its other chemicals offset this nutritional benefit. Even though a Norn receives a lot of healthy starch, he or she also experiences a sudden spike in hunger and pain. This can be counter intuitive when developing good eating habits, since starch should not be linked with hunger, nor pain. Fortunately, pain has a very short half-life, which means it will dissipate in under a minute. Depending on whether the Norn recently ate, hunger may or may not dissipate as quickly. The best treatment for the ingestion of Pyrethium is a hearty meal: If the affected Norn already had a healthy amount of starch and glucose, a snack from the honeypot would be best for quickly decreasing hunger. If the affected Norn had not been eating healthy previously, a hearty mean of carrots or cheese would be best for satisfying hunger and maintaining glycogen.

Name: Night Shade
Location: To the east of the clock on the top floor of the jungle
Appearance: Thin green stems with three oblong, dark blue fruits covered in pink spots
Edible Parts: Middle fruit
Chemicals: 90 Starch, 100 Tiredness, 100 Sleepiness
Most Dangerous Effect: Instant tiredness and sleepiness

Night Shade is tucked away in the jungle, although it is quite close to where the Grendel hatches. As with other weeds, it contains a lot of starch that can sustain a Norn in a pinch. Its downside, of course, is that it also contains an enormous dose of both tiredness and sleepiness. Any creature who takes a bite out of Night Shade is almost guaranteed to fall asleep. On one hand, this causes unnecessary sleep and can disrupt the normal activities of Norns. On the other hand, Night Shade can be useful in getting obstinate Norns to take a rest. This course of action is not recommended, although this is a fairly harmless weed. The only course of treatment is to allow the Norn to enjoy a good, long sleep. Since Night Shade contains starch, even a Norn who had not eaten in some time should not need to worry about falling asleep.

Name: Ugly Tomato
Location: Next to the lift that is to the west of the boat dock
Appearance: Medium green stems with three red, spherical fruits covered in yellow spots
Edible Parts: Largest fruit on the left side
Chemicals: 90 Starch, 100 Sex Drive Decrease, 10 Adrenaline
Most Dangerous Effect: Reduced sex drive

The Ugly Tomato is located near the boat dock, and is often passed by many creatures. Its classification as a weed is hotly contested, since it actually serves a useful purpose. Its natural starch provides nutrition to Norns, and can be consumed in dire circumstances. The Ugly Tomato's most potent chemical is its high dose of sex drive decrease: It effectively causes any creature to become uninterested in kisspopping. This can be useful for selective breeding, yet encouraging its consumption can lead Norns to try other, more dangerous weeds. It also contains a small dose of adrenaline, which results in a shorter lifespan at large quantities. The Ugly Tomato is only slightly dangerous to the breeding population, since it will slow down the number of pregnancies. The treatment is to either feed the affected Norn a Tomato, which contains sex drive increase, or to allow sex drive to naturally increase. Norns are quite good at regaining their own sex drive, though!

Name: Deathcap Mushroom
Location: The lowest level of the jungle, to the lower west of the submarine bay
Appearance: Bright blue, red, and yellow mushrooms with white spots and stems
Edible Parts: Blue mushroom cap
Chemicals: 100 Hunger, 100 Hotness, 100 Pain, 100 Glycotoxin
Most Dangerous Effect: Death

The Deathcap Mushroom is the most dangerous weed in Albia, for good reason. This is one of two weeds in Creatures 1 which offers no nutritional value: Only harmful chemicals. Its hunger, hotness, and pain can be quite uncomfortable for the target Norn. All at once, he or she will feel extremely hungry and hot, while also suffering from pain. These three chemicals, however, are the least of the problems with the Deathcap Mushroom. Glycotoxin is the most deadly toxin, for it eats away at the long-term energy store of glycogen. When a Norn has little to no glycogen in his or her system, death is immediate. The ingestion of this weed is not immediately fatal for healthy Norns: It usually takes at least two Deathcap Mushrooms to kill a relatively healthy Norn. The best and only course of treatment is an immediate feast of foods which are high in starch, such as cheese or carrots. Starch is converted to glucose, and glucose is converted into glycogen. Since glycotoxin reacts with glycogen, it is possible to save a Norn with heavy feeding. The makeup of the Deathcap Mushroom makes it slightly less dangerous, in that it makes a Norn instantly hungry. This is a benefit to treating a Norn, since he or she will be very open to eating. Just remember that stepping in shortly after consumption is imperative if the Norn is to survive. Weak Norns almost always perish, although immediate action can sometimes save their lives.

Name: Companula
Location: To the east of the first lift on the desert island
Appearance: Thin green stems with three bell-shaped fruits of orange, blue, and red coloring with multicolored spots
Edible Parts: Blue bell-shaped fruit
Chemicals: 90 Starch, 100 Histamine A, 100 Fever Toxin
Most Dangerous Effect: Weakness caused by fever and sneezing

Companula is the only natural source of food on the desert island in the base game, which is quite unfortunate. Although it delivers a healthy dose of starch, it contains two very unpleasant chemicals. Histamine A causes sneezing, which leads to pain, tiredness, fear, and hexokinase. As if that were not enough, Companula also contains Fever Toxin, which forms hotness and more hexokinase. In effect, although a Norn will receive some nutrition from this weed, he or she will soon begin to be drained of energy. This weakness is not deadly in and of itself: A healthy Norn should not be expected to die from Companlua. The starch can be converted to glucose and glycogen, so that energy is not completely drained away. However, the best course of treatment is a healthy meal of carrots or cheese and a rest. Resting is not absolutely necessary, but Norns produce hexokinase naturally while moving about. By staying still, even for a short time, his or her body can be given enough time to recover.

Name: Laburnum
Location: To the east of Lover's Leap and the wishing well near the settlement
Appearance: Brown trunk with a green bush that is covered in multicolored flowers
Edible Parts: Lightest colored flower on the upper right area
Chemicals: 70 Fever Toxin, 90 Sleep Toxin, 100 Histamine A, 100 Histamine B
Most Dangerous Effect: Weakness and contagious aspect

Laburnum is the second weed which contains no nutrition, such as starch. It is filled with harmful chemicals that make it the second most dangerous weed in Creatures 1. Its heavy dose of Fever Toxin creates hotness and hexokinase, which consumes energy. Sleep Toxin creates instant tiredness and sleepiness that often knock an afflicted Norn out. This is sometimes helpful in keeping the level of hexokinase limited in the system, since the Norn is forced to stay put while sleeping. However, the large quantities of Histamine A and Histamine B create sneezing and coughing on a grand scale. Both create pain, tiredness, fear, and hexokinase. Another downside to sneezing and coughing is the fact that it can keep Norns from falling asleep. As if Laburnum needed anything else to make it awful, the coughing created by Histamine B makes the Norn contagious. Although there are no antigens to pass along, the fever toxin and sleep toxin have a chance of being passed on to any nearby, unsuspecting creatures. The best course of treatment is plenty of food and rest, when possible.

Beneath the incubator, there is a section of the underground tunnel that appears to be overgrown with mushrooms. Never fear! These are merely a part of the scenery, and pose no threat. Creatures can not even interact with them. At first glance, I thought they might have been Deathcap Mushrooms. Thankfully, the weeds of Albia are pretty limited in terms of their locations! The effects of each one can actually act a benefit to the treatment. There are COBs out there that can make weeds invisible to Norns, or even turn some weeds, like the Ugly Tomato, into herbs. I rather enjoy the challenge of having them in my world, but everyone plays differently!

Expected and Unexpected Deaths in C1

2011-11-04T08:32:00.000-04:00

Dalselv was the next Norn to succumb to old age. She passed away quite peacefully at 11 hours and 43 minutes. Although Mevik never found her again, their little romance would forever be remembered. She herself would be difficult to forget, with seven eggs of her own. Although Dalselv was alone at the moment she died, she had a little bird who kept her company. Norns can not actually interact with the birds, aside from possibly looking at them from time to time. Still, I imagined that she was not quite filled with the sheer loneliness that can envelope a single creature. Farewell, Dalselv, and may you rest in peace.

The next death was so unexpected that I actually missed out on capturing it. Jetvika and Idonea, the Grendel, had been riding up and down the lift on a continuous loop. No amount of coaxing could get them to travel elsewhere! Since they had passed the Deathcap Mushroom on numerous occasions without a second glance, I assumed that they would continue to do so. Unfortunately, Idonea must have ingested the deadly weed a few times, for I soon realized that she was nowhere to be found. Poor Idonea: She was only a few hours old.

In all my time playing Creatures 1, I actually never witnessed the Grendel Mother laying an egg! Sure enough, a tiger striped one soon emerged. This process lasts about a minute or less, so the timing has to be perfect to actually see it. I would have been more surprised had I not seen the sprites while going through the files one day! Grendels really are forced to fend for themselves from birth, since the jungle area is not exactly known for being a safe haven. Perhaps our C1 Norns would do well to follow their example in survival! It would only be a matter of time before the newest Grendel found himself or herself in Albia, where I would be watching like a hawk.

My excitement quickly turned to despair when I discovered that Arnes had died. He also struck the odd death pose that Erikstad had adopted. Arnes lived an impressive 12 hours and 19 minutes, despite his serious genetic mutations. Leira kept him company towards the end, as did Husby. I was glad that Arnes was able to spend his last hour actually moving around and exploring. Rest well, old friend.

A lively female Grendel soon fought her way out of her egg! This is Skuld, whose Norse name means debt or future. This was also the name of one of the Norns of Norse mythology: I sometimes feel like Grendels are Norns in green costumes, so it seemed fitting! I vowed to watch over her more than I did for poor Idonea. Those little Grendel pigtails were endearing, although her detached foot was a little odd. Silly sprites and body data files!

Leira refused to leave Arnes, even after he passed away. It was a touching moment, especially since it looked like she was trying to hold his hand. An overly dramatized scene, as always, yet creatures still have the capacity to form friendships. They may be shadows of the real friendships we know, yet they exist. Arnes had just one egg to call his own, but I hoped that this child would live a full life in the same was that he did. Time to let go, Leira.

A Slight Change of Plans in Albia

2011-11-03T13:40:00.000-04:00

I set out on my latest visit to Creatures 1 with some apprehension. I knew that I would witness the deaths of many Norns. Although the ones in question had already lived for ten hours or more, it did little to cheer me up. Erikstad passed away at 10 hours and 19 minutes... In the strangest pose! I don't remember seeing a Norn die in a standing position before, but this world had been gitched for some time. Five eggs would bring forth Erikstad's children. He was the first "alpha" male in Albia, and I was sad to see him go. He was lively to the end, though!

With reluctance, I checked in on poor Arnes. He was approaching eleven hours, and I had a feeling his time would be up very soon. To my surprise, I found him walking around and smiling! He even decided to act playful and attempt to crouch and hide. No such luck, but it was thrilling to find him in such good spirits! Leira took a liking to Arnes, and made it her duty to stick with him. They even traveled under the ocean to the settlement! Quite an interesting turn of events.

Jetvika had all but given up hope on having an egg of her own. Just as I was also about to give up, Mevik ran by, stopped for a moment, and then disappeared. I thought nothing of it, until I realized that this whirlwind had resulted in a pregnancy! Jetvika would finally be able to have an egg of her own! She seemed quite forlorn, though, and kept running away from anyone and everyone who came near her. Perhaps she had not wanted an egg, but it was on its way. Interestingly enough, the unhatched baby takes all of his or her appearance genes from Jetvika!

Mevik was far from finished with his escapades, however! Remember who he first met in Greeting the Newest Member of Albia? He soon caught up with Dalselv, and another little one was on the way! I had a sneaky suspicion that these Norns planned everything: It's difficult enough keeping an eye on one pregnant Norn, but two can be downright tough! Dalselv was also nearly eleven hours old, and I worried that she could die while pregnant.

Jetvika was just about to enjoy a delicious carrot, when she realized that it was time to bring her egg into Albia! I was perplexed over why she would lay it so close to the water's edge, but this was much less serious than the previous Questionable Parenting Decisions by Norns! Jetvika was quite relieved to have concluded her first pregnancy. Although it was her first, I figured it might be her only one. Shortly after, she turned into an elder and gave up on eating. Despite my best efforts, her life force has hovered at a mere 30%. Did she think that producing one egg was her final mission in life?

A real friendship developed between Mevik and Dalselv while she was pregnant. Mevik refused to leave her side, even while she slept. He assumed his former guard pose, and stood perfectly still for minutes on end. It was quite a sweet moment, since most males abandon the pregnant females. It's not malicious or callous in any way: Just the way of Norns. Mevik himself had just recently abandoned Jetvika. Despite the happy atmosphere, I felt like it was a race against time. Would Dalselv live long enough to lay her egg? Or would we lose this special one?

As luck would have it, Dalselv laid her egg with no complications! She suddenly seemed so old and fragile, with her petite Forest Norn frame. As expected, although not as I had hoped, Mevik was nowhere to be found once Dalselv completed her pregnancy. Still, I could always remember how kind and caring he was towards her for those few moments. Perhaps Dalselv would hold that memory near and dear to her as the last chapter of her life came to an end. She still had some time left, though, and thankfully decided to enjoy it!

I should have known that Mevik would be found with the ladies! He brought his charm to Forvika and Bolga in due time: Before I knew it, they both were pregnant! Male Norns are ridiculously potent at the best of times: Remember Ranulf from the first generation? He fathered fourteen baby Norns! Mevik appeared ready to attempt to break that record. I put up a protest, but I doubt he would have understood what I meant. At least the third generation has a lot to choose from: There are nearly twenty unhatched babies! Rabbits, these Norns are: Rabbits!

This little population explosion has brought me to the realization that going through each generation in the same way will be nearly impossible, without spending months at a time on a single generation. I adore these Norns, yet I also would like to be able to follow them through many generations. I will be hatching and raising the remainder of the second generation Norns in the same way, since it would be unfair to cut them out at this point. Ranulf might come back from the dead to scold me for ignoring his hoard of children! Ha ha! For the third generation and beyond, I will only be keeping approximately twenty Norns to raise in Albia. Every egg will be hatched separately, and those who will not be raised will be made available for download. It might not be ideal, but I will ensure a good mix of interesting mutations and a varied gene pool. Choosing will be difficult, though!

Surviving the Glitches of Creatures 1

2011-11-02T14:40:00.000-04:00

With a tummy full of honey, Idonea decided that it was about time to head off into the wonderful world of Grendel dreams! She stuck right around the incubator, and got to enjoy the safety of this area as most newborn Norns do. She might have been a bit older, but it was clear that a Grendel could make this her home! Idonea had something of a sprite issue with a mostly detached head... No worries! She was perfectly well and healthy when she awoke!

Young Mevik wandered away from the group on the desert island, which was much too crowded for his tastes. He soon decided that it was lonely being the only Norn around: Riding the lift up and down turned out to be boring for him, so he attempted to share his deepest thoughts with the clock. First, Mevik's thoughts were not all that deep. Second, the clock was not the best companion. I quickly jumped in with a toy and some food to brighten his mood!

I was fortunate enough to move Bolga away from the rest of the group on the island. It only took her a few moments to gobble up a couple of parsnips! She was actually holding one while she posed for her post-meal picture. With her lively spirit, it was difficult to pick out the wrinkles that were etched upon her face. Bolga was certainly getting up there in age, yet she had lived her life in Albia to its fullest. I left her to herself for a little rest. She deserved a little peace after I followed her around for some time, offering her parsnip after parsnip!

Jetvika perched herself near the waterfall, and seemed to listlessly watch the water as it fell. She was aging quite gracefully, yet she had not had the opportunity to experience a pregnancy. Although Kleppstad watched over her carefully, there was still no hope for her: He had lost all traces of testosterone as his stress level increased. In the worst turn of events, Kleppstad had apparently forgotten how to eat. He just stared at food, and sometimes got as far as picking up a carrot, yet he never ingested anything. Raising Norns can be such a frustrating and worrisome task! Perhaps Jetvika would find her last hope in Mevik, who would soon be approaching adulthood. I could only hope for the best!

The starch glitch returned, although it did not appear as active as it previously had been. I have been noticing some strange things, though, such as the fact that Mevik never grew hungry and had his glucose level stuck at the maximum amount. There is no genetic reason for this, so I have the sneaky suspicion that this world has become glitched. My plan is to wait out the deaths of the next few Norns, and then export the remaining five or six into a new world. Idonea will also be moved: Never can forget my Grendels! The second generation will then continue: Just be prepared for a slew of deaths in the next entry from Creatures 1. As much as I hate losing creatures, their deaths are a natural part of Albia, and will help usher in the next Norns.

Creatures 1 Tour: Part II

2011-11-01T20:15:00.000-04:00

Have I ever been great at holding back content? Certainly not! The second part in the Creatures 1 tour has been uploaded! This has a few more tips in it, and also features a couple of random blunders on my part. It all just adds to the experience of being a commentator or narrator. I highly encourage anyone to make just one Creatures video and test out the waters. I can just imagine the possibilities when there are actual Norns and Grendels running about the world! Stay tuned for more videos in the upcoming weeks!

Creatures 1 Tour: Part I

2011-11-01T16:45:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the wonderful Creatures 2 videos made by Lusewing, I made my first attempt at a Creatures video! This is the first in a two part series about Albia in Creatures 1. It's basically a tour of the world, without any Norns or Grendels. I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback! The content is a little less exciting without any creatures in the game, but I enjoyed the slow pace for once. The second part is pretty much all set to go: I'm just curious if videos would be enjoyed by the community. Any type of feedback is most welcome: Yes, I would like to know if my voice makes you go insane! Ha ha! If all goes well, I hope to make some more Creatures videos. Thanks for taking the time to go on a tour of Albia!