Yet Another Year Passes

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!

Oh Happy Day

I was scrolling through the norns to see how everybody was doing when I zoomed past the desert area and had a double take! I returned to find Xenia there! How she had managed to make her way from the forest floor, through the transporters without my seeing is curious, let alone all the way to the middle of the desert! It is very late, cold winter and so perhaps she sought out the warmth that the desert can provide. Xenia is very content to sit among the only plants that grow there 24/7, the colorful mushrooms. I know mushrooms are only supposed to grow where there is a lot of moisture, but i'm unable to remove them and so these particular mushrooms prove to be special in that they seem to thrive in dry desert sands.

Two of the banana brothers successfully made it to the norn meso and in doing so passed the IQ test. I quickly transported them to the forest floor of Nyrn where they indulged in the rich fruits and seeds around them! They stick out like a sore thumb since there are no other norns in the world that look like them, but everyone accepts them very well anyway! I hope they can manage to find Xenia or the next queen and pass on their cute banana genetics.

Anruin also has passed the IQ test after a very loooong period of time being lost on the ship. Anruin was one of the many male norns that kept going in and out of the warp room door, being confused as to where he was or should go. It looks like eventually he decided to follow his nose to the food coming out of the meso room door though, which i'm happy to see! Welcome back Anruin! Even though he spent so much time without food he doesn't look much worse for wear.

The hatching of another egg brought forth the birth of Arrille. Arrille immediately took a liking to the shee toy not far from where he hatched, only a few steps, and began to play with it preventing me from getting  a decent picture.

I tried again and got a little bit of a better one, yay! He is a handsome little baby norn isn't he!

Unfortunately the one banana norn brother that didn't pass the IQ test passed away soon after the birth of Arrille. I was sad to see the tiny cute little banana body laying still in the warp room, now in a peaceful forever sleep. It was nice knowing you Arihito, the little time you were here.

 The death of Arihito brought the hatching of another newborn in Nyrn. This is Arver. He was one of the eggs to hatch on the ground and just like Arrille shares Xenia as a mother. As you can see, Arver has really taken a liking to the friendly treehugger tree! The friendly hugs from the tree comfort him and he doesn't even notice that creepy scarecrow looming over him!

 Life goes on in the world of Nyrn and norns happily go on about their lives, grazing in the lush vegetation, even if it is a little bit foggy. Many eggs wait to be hatched so that the tiny norns inside can start their lives and discover new adventures! Halloween prepares to debut... all just as spring arrives in Nyrn.

Surprising New Arrivals

Soon after I started my world up today I received from the warp a little visitor, a baby banana norn by the name of Adalhard. I barely had time to examine him and get to know him when two of his brothers followed behind him, popping into existence in my warp!

I fell instantly in love with them at first sight because they're so adorable! I love all C1 norns, their sprites just seem so much cuter than any DS or C3 norn i've seen. I didn't let the adorableness stop me from checking them over quickly for any illnesses and examine them to see who they are. They appear to all be generation 1 norns from someones world who was just starting out. They were born today! Huraay! Congratulations guys! Welcome to the world! I set them all in the bottom level of the warp room to begin their IQ test.

Back in the forest Xenia has layed another egg, this one in the treehouse. I believe that the previous queen has only 1 egg left unhatched in the treehouse, while all the rest are Xenia's. Even so, I am still going to check the babies when they hatch. Xenia is getting along really well in the world and has displayed nothing but happiness. This is a welcomed relief from the constant whimpering her sister did due to her chronic state of pain.

A little girl norn named Arvama has been exploring the scaffolding above the swamp. She's accompanied by three santa norns (heads only) so she's got plenty to keep her company. Together, as if a team, they enjoy poking around the scary pumpkin and sipping from the honey pot. Ironically their attention rarely if ever shifts to the toy car, which was actually the only thing purposely placed there for play. All of their play goes to the other objects around them. Still, i'm glad to see Arvama getting along with the male norns so well. One day she will be mating with their descendants.

Another little girl has decided to also become very brave and explore. Aryni has found herself in the little cave where the norn tribe's ancestors first set foot in Nyrn! I don't think she knows just what she had found, though. All of her attention was on the little bugs and leaves laying on the ground, though I guess I can't expect much more from such a young norn.

Meanwhile, Arvama and two of her santa norn headed friends decided to move on to other places, leaving one norn behind. He was too distracted with the sweet jar of honey to notice his friends had slipped off. Lord knows if he would have even cared! The honey is so yummy I often see norns become addicted to it, yet it's nutritious so I don't mind all that much.

Arius was minding his own business just grazing in the tall grasses by the treehugger tree when he saw to his amazement, a herd of pumpkin pies pass before his eyes! His mouth watered and he quickly gave chase! One pie disappeared with a gulp, then two, while late winter clouds floated above his head. It looks like Arius has a sweet tooth for food that can walk!

Andil had been lost in the maze that was the Docking Station ship and found himself in the room I call "the trap" in relation to the IQ test. This room I left open so that they can choose to ignore the food smell (that they are supposed to be following) if they wish. Andil has found himself a victim of this trap and has died because of it. I do have memories of watching Andil wander around and explore in the forest of Nyrn, so i'm sad to see he didn't pass the test. Rest in peace Andil.

Soon another death followed Andil's. Arnand met his fate near the swamp bridge. He was not yet elder, and not sick. I can only guess his death is due to a self imposed sort of starvation. Rest well Andil.

Will the three banana brothers make it through the IQ test and pass? Will they get to see the light of day? Xenia finds herself in a surprising location, and new arrivals are on the way! Stay tuned for the next update.

Current norn population: 18 plus girls

Xenia Gets Started

Nestled in the green grasses of the forest floor by the swamp, where very little light graces the environment, appears a mysterious, pale egg. It is not yet known what norn sleeps in this egg. What will come out? Only time will tell. 

Back in the warp room another norn has subcommed(Spelling?) to the harsh reality of the IQ test. Anarenen was another norn I knew well and I am sad to see he has not passed. He has lived a full life of over three hours and now rests with his brethren.

With Halloween just around the corner I decorated the world of Nyrn with Halloween treats and ghostly things! When I set the pumpkins down and planted the jack-o-lantern scarecrow into the ground norns flocked all around from afar! The smiles on their bright faces showed they loved this new idea of free food and new toys to play with! Even if some of them were a little bit scary.. I watched them for quite a while and was pleasantly surprised to see these norns don't seem nearly as afraid of the scary toys as norns of previous halloweens. Xenia even felt comfortable enough around the scary pumpkins to take a nap.

When Xenia awoke the cauldrons were calling her name! I showed her briefly how to use them and she took to pushing them quite naturally! Soon candy apples were littering the ground. Try as I might, I could not get her interested in the popcorn though. Xenia must just not be a popcorn gal.

Soon Xenia's friendliness brought her to her second pregnancy ever and after a short while of waiting and stomach growing, she layed a beautiful, golden egg near the cauldrons and next to her previous blue mottled egg. Xenia now has two eggs in waiting while the previous queen, Fiken, still has four eggs in the treehouse above that will hatch first. It may be a little bit of a wait, but we'll get there eventually. Anruin is the lucky father of this one!

Anarenen's death brought the hatching of one of those eggs and a little boy popped out all energetic and eager to start his life! I named him Arsyn (pronounced Arsin, but you can pronounce it anyway you want.) He spent a little while playing with some of the toys amongst the other two eggs up in the tree house before finally deciding to take the lift down to the ground and join the other norns.

A few norns have gotten brave and decided to explore the glass tubes together. I thought some had been missing from the norn party on the ground. I found an adult norn showing some children through the tubes. I can tell by the way he smiles through the glass at me that they're having a great time!

When I returned to check on Xenia she had once again become pregnant! While I don't wish for another baby boom like what Fiken gave me, I am still very happy to see Xenia breeding so freely. Wanic and the other norns who were unable to lay eggs have shown me to be thankful for the norns that can! A cream colored egg rests in the grass beside it's mothers warm body while she rests after the work of laying it. I can't wait to see what Xenia's offspring will look like!

Current population: 16 (plus baby girls)

A Look At Xenia

In keeping with tradition it's time to look at the genetics of Xenia. Xenia's proves to be a little of a challenge to me. There are a ton of changes, though most minor. Some of them are a little confusing and I'm unsure of them. Let's take a look:

First it seems like in Xenia organ 4 is immune to atigen 6 because I saw in a normal norn antigen 6 affected organ 4 while in Xenia organ 4 was affected by a different antigen. Antigen 6 was not listed anywhere in her genetics as having anything to do with organ 4. Unfortunately, I still don't know which organ 4 is.. In fact, I wish I had a list of what all of the organs are! Organ 4 also has the same situation with antigen 5 so it may also be immune to that too.

Xenia interestingly enough gains far less injury from antigen 7 than the average norn. A positive mutation of resistance?

Another thing I found interesting was that protein seems to have the affect in Xenia that amino acid does in a regular norn. I am a little unsure as to the affect amino acid has, but protein was listed instead of amino acid and had all of the same affects. (Sorry that sounded a little repetitive there.)

Xenia experiences more fear from grendels than an average norn does. Thankfully, there are no grendels in my world.

Here is something interesting I found:

 112 Different in file 1 104   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 5, 1*Crowded + 1*Loneliness => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 30
 111 Different in file 2 104   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 5, 1*Crowded + 1*Crowded => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 30

The top one is of an average chichi genome. The bottom is Xenia. I interpreted this to mean that Xenia may be immune to feeling crowded? In the first it says basically 1 crowded plus 1 lonliness cancel eachother out, which makes sense. How can you feel like there are too many people around while wanting to socialize? Xenia's gene says feeling crowded plus feeling crowded cancels eachother out. It is a little confusing and my deduction may be wrong. Feel free to correct me!

This next gene is another mutation of one that is supposed to cancel itself out:

331 Different in file 1  95   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 1*Carbon Monoxide + 1*Oxygen => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 30
 331 Different in file 2  95   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 10*Carbon Monoxide + 1*Oxygen => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 30

A normal chichi genome says that 1 carbon monoxide plus 1 oxygen cancels itself out, which also makes sense. In Xenia, she needs 10 carbon monoxide to cancel out 1 oxygen (or 1 inhale of oxygen produces 10 carbon monoxide instead of one?). This affects the way her system works with oxygen/breathing. I don't think it'll affect her health though, as oxygen is limitless in the invironment.

Xenia needs more fear toxin than an average norn to produce an affect. Also, in an average norn fear toxin produces fear, but in Xenia it produces anger.

Xenia needs more sleep and muscle toxins in order to feel their affects and become sick by it. She is resistant to these. (yay!)

Another curious gene has me wondering if she is immune to cyanide.

338 Different in file 1  73   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 1*Cyanide + 1*Energy => 1*Cyanide + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 9
 338 Different in file 2  73   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 1*Cyanide + 1*Energy => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 9 

In a normal chichi it states 1 cyanide plus 1 energy equals a cyanide. In Xenia it equals nothing, produces nothing. It's as if Cyanide does nothing.

Xenia becomes friendly when consuming alcohol. She also obtains more alcohol from one drink than an average norn.

Xenia obtains more carbs, fat and starch than the average norn from eating plants.

Another interesting thing is that Xenia seems to be more resistant to some illnesses, requiring more of it to become sick than the average norn. I found this scattered throughout her genome:
340 Different in file 1  75   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 1*Geddonase + 1*Adipose Tissue => 5*Glucose + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 32
 340 Different in file 2  75   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 10*Geddonase + 1*Adipose Tissue => 5*Glucose + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 32 

 341 Different in file 1  78   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 1*Glycotoxin + 1*Glycogen => 4*Glucose + 4*Coldness; half-life = 32
 341 Different in file 2  78   0 Chi B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 10*Glycotoxin + 1*Starch => 4*Glucose + 4*Coldness; half-life = 32 

 342 Different in file 1  79   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 1*Glycotoxin + 1*Arnica => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 31
 342 Different in file 2  79   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 10*Glycotoxin + 1*Arnica => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 31 

 345 Different in file 1  85   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 2*Antigen 0 + 1*<NONE> => 12*Antibody 0 + 1*Histamine B; half-life = 40
 345 Different in file 2  85   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 20*Antigen 0 + 1*<NONE> => 12*Antibody 0 + 1*Histamine B; half-life = 40 

 347 Different in file 1  86   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 2*Antigen 1 + 1*<NONE> => 12*Antibody 1 + 1*Histamine A; half-life = 41
 347 Different in file 2  86   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 20*Antigen 1 + 1*<NONE> => 12*Antibody 1 + 1*Histamine A; half-life = 41 

 349 Different in file 1  87   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 16*Antigen 2 + 1*<NONE> => 12*Antibody 2 + 2*Coldness; half-life = 42
 349 Different in file 2  87   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Organ# = 18, 60*Antigen 2 + 1*<NONE> => 12*Antibody 2 + 2*Hotness; half-life = 42
As you can see, there is a running theme.

I found something significantly interesting to me, and super puzzling at the same time. As you can see in the pictures of Xenia it looks as if she has no tail at all. Then when looking through her genetics I found this:
444 Different in file 1   5   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Tail is of type D, species Norn.
 444 Different in file 2   5   0 Emb B MutDupCut        128   0 Tail is of type N, species Shee
Shee tail?? Shee's don't have tails.... or maybe they do and they're just invisible! :O This made me gasp when I saw it, I've never seen anything like it before. I didn't even know it exists! What does this mean? How can a norn mutate a shee tail? Is it even real? Needless to say my only main response can be "WTH?"
Would anyone happen to have an explination for this?

P.S. New poll :P

New Queen Difficulties

As promised, here is a picture of our new queen. Wanic is a norn that is very easy going and doesn't get into trouble. She seems very innocent. Wanic's first activities in Nyrn were to introduce herself to the near by norns, unfortunately they all happened to be babies which didn't go over so well. All of the little baby girls were too busy playing hide and seek in the grass, and sleeping.

Wanic found her way over to the adult norns eventually and was greeted with opened arms. While everyone is sad about the loss of Fiken they are still very accepting of the new queen. No longer do all of the adult male norns have Fiken to turn to whenever they feel friendly, but now they have a new norn. It isn't long before Wanic happily joins a fellow adult norn in friendliness kisspopping. Her very first pregnancy was right away! I must admit when she became pregnant so soon I was worried that this would end up like another Fiken scenario where I would have too many norns!

Little did I know I had nothing to worry about in that respect, though. Minutes passed with no egg, and so I checked on her with the hoverdoc. Yup! Just as I thought, another stuck pregnancy. Wanic is unable to raise her progesterone high enough to actually get the egg layed. This is highly unfortunate! She's still a good, deserving norn and so I don't have the heart to just kill her.. which I scolded myself for. I'm suppoed to be the shee that has confessions to confess! I'm not supposed to be all sappy with my norns... Usually I would just send the norns away in the warp to a new home and a good life, but the warp has been down for weeks. With no other choice, I confined Wanic to life in the warp chamber with the food dispenser.

A new queen was then introduced into Nyrn to hopefully do what Wanic can not. Xenia entered a very different world from what she remembered. She tends to stick to herself and many of the norns don't even bother to come and kisspop her. Xenia is sister to Machiki, Fiken and Wanic. She is the fourth daughter in a family of seven, to mother Chiyoe.

Finally, one of the eggs in waiting has hatched yet another son of Fiken. This one was not yet named, but popped into this world and was welcomed by sorrounding norns. Welcome to the world little one! Your future fate fortells of adventure in far away lands and kisspopping with Xenia!

An unfortunate occurance. Death has claimed the existance of yet another norn in the warp room. Another who did not make it out is An-zaw. I am sad to see it be a norn I know so well. Rest in peace.

Soon to follow An-zaw is Ano. Ano didn't get to live quite as long a life as An-zaw but it was a full life in spite of that. Rest in peace little one.

The death of these norns brought into the world another life as norns leave room for more eggs to hatch. From the next egg hatched a little girl norn eager to explore her immediate sorroundings! Normally I don't post the births of the girls, or even talk much about them... but this time was different because soon after she hatched she also perished. I looked into her genetic file to see if there was anything I could spot that would cause such an unfortunate death.. but nothing stood out to me. Either it's because i'm not yet good enough to recognise what it was that killed her, or it was something not specific. I'm sorry little one. I hadn't even gotten to name her yet. Still, she would have been the 13th daughter of Fiken, who has plenty of daughters already. It's just her bad luck to be the 13th norn, perhaps that's why she died!

Xenia didn't waste much time in getting aquainted with some of the male norns, or rather, should I say the male norns didn't waste much time with getting aquainted with her? Xenia's first pregnancy was on the way! I hoped for the love of shee that she would have a normal reproductive system that would allow her to lay eggs, unlike her sister!

From one of the many eggs in waiting popped another little boy. Meet the newest addition to Nyrn, Arrinis. I'm happy to say Arrinis seems to be a normal little boy, happy and healthy! Arrinis is the one peeking around the back of the two remaining eggs there.

Yay! Xenia successfully layed a single, blue and white egg among the mushrooms! Success at last! I just hope she doesn't keep this up like Fiken did! We have enough norns right now!

Changes..

Some major changes have happened recently. I want to discuss them before I get on with the blog. First of all, I have recently switched to a new hard drive as the one I was previously using was simply an emergency backup and temporary until I got this one. In the event of switching (which I have done some weeks ago successfully) I did not also save the spritebuilder program I use to collect the death and birth photos from my DS game. The reason I didn't save the program was because I was confident that I could simply go download it again at another time. Well, that time came and I found the download location no longer works, so I'm without a sprite builder. This presents problems for me. 

One of these problems is simply solved by taking a fraps snapshot of the death screen when a creature dies, as you'll see in this post. Another problem, however, is that I am unable to capture the very first picture of a baby when it's born. I'll do my best in the future to capture a fraps snapshot of every creatures birth, though I can't promise much since it's in my manual hands instead of the games automatic hands.

Secondly, as always, when the sheer number of norns soars out of control it becomes time to "cull the herd". Sadly, this always almost certainly means losing some of my norns. As much as I pray and wish for all of my norns to pass the IQ test I have never had that happen. The norns are never forgotten though, and will be honored in sacrificing themselves for the greater good of the future of the Nyrn tribe. These "evil" things I do are why I call this blog "confessions" of a shee :P

Because i'm unable to retrieve the birth and death norn pictures, I shall list them now. New to this world are: Arius, Arius (accidentally named two norns the same thing. It's a first for me!), Arlowe, Wanic and Arnand.

Leaving this world are: Aldaril, Alds, Vando and Arathor.

Let's get started shall we?

Andil, the resident exploration expert of the tribe of Nyrn has braved the vastness of the desert while the temperatures had dipped low enough to snow and found himself in an abandoned, broken down temple. Here he dropped his pot of honey for a little lunch while enjoying the old architecture that has long since been abandoned. I can tell he is really enjoying himself and I am happy he's making new discoveries! He can carry  his new knowledge of what lies beyond the forest back to his tribe and tell them everything he's discovered when he's done!

On the way back to the dead tree where his friend patiently waits Andil discovered a shiny golden disk. Upon touching this ancient artifact he has been bestowed with infinite knowledge, just like his queen! What he does with this knowledge is entirely up to him. The first time he touched it and recieved all of the knowledge he didn't really know what happened, and so had to touch it a couple more times to be sure! Then he promptly picked up his honey pot and continued on.

Halfway through the desert he began complaining of being hungry for starch. Being the kind and thoughtful shee that I am I pushed the cactus dispenser, dispensing some seeds into the air. Andil watched them float down to the ground with delighted wonder! Try as much as I did, I could not convince him that pushing the dispenser himself was alright, though. 

I flipped back to the forest to check on the rest of my norns. There were so many eggs! Fiken has been quite busy with the males!

Andil was still busy playing with the cactus seeds. None of them would grow into an actual plant though, it was still too cold in the desert. In the winter, the desert also gets very cold, down into the teens even, though the snow that falls there on rare occasions still never sticks.

This is the new way I choose to record my deaths in Nyrn. It's quite informative to my blog readers I think and more efficient. Anas's death was due to self imposed starvation I believe. He did live a very long time for a norn, rest in peace.

Finally, Andil makes it back home with his friend who had been peacefully taking a nap in the shelter of the dead tree. The dead tree has become their new fort and base of operations. What a smart decision too! It's safe from the weather, any wild animals that may be around and has a source of food.

In the tubes I found another brave future explorer or two. When they get old enough I hope to see them also making wonderful discoveries just like their counterparts. This is Arara (the little girl in the tube) and her friend who watches over her. Arara is very curious in the unknown and is always running off one way or another. She hasn't yet gotten the courage up to stray past the other side of the tubes though.

Her friend helping her to explore is named Areas. I can't help but be amused at the name he had, what a coincidence! He will be explore new "areas". XD

The cause is unknown, but my beloved Fiken, the wonder of the biological world with her unusual boredom = pain = friendliness system, has passed away. The possibility is she may have just been too distracted with making eggs to eat. She left behind a legacy of children and when it comes time for her daughters to be integrated into the world one at a time it will take forever to get through them. Good job Fiken. She has left behind a good number of sons, and 11 daughters. Fikens biological wonder has also been passed on to many of her children.

I took this opportunity to send all of the male norns on an IQ test, before introducing the new queen into the land. The females will be exported to join the rest in stasis until it is time for their turn to come when they come of age. Not everyone will pass this IQ test, but of those males who do they will have the gift and honor of passing on their genetics to the next generation. May only the smart survive.

The first norn to successfully make it out of the warp room was little Arethan. Arethan was soon followed by a sibling who appears very upset about all of this. Hopefully they will both make it all the way through.

Aaand, Arethan HAS made it through! Yay! Congradulations young one! I am happy to announce young males are making it through quite quickly. As they do I plop them back into their home forest. I have introduced the queen, but due to the mishap with the spritebuilder software I don't yet have a picture of her. Fear not, many will come in the future! The queens name is Wanic, sister of Machiki and Fiken, Daughter to Chiyoe, and one of 7 sisters all together.

The first casualty of the IQ test is Angoril. He died quite early, so it wasn't due to starvation from the test alone. If it was starvation, he had been starving himself for quite some time already. Rest in peace Angoril.

Many norns have made it through already. Of those who don't you will see their death windows like this. How many will not make it through? Stay tuned to find out.

Current population: 16