Genetics Discussion: Forest Norns Part 2

Continued from here.

Half-Lives

1 1 0 Emb B MutDup NFP 248 Hunger 248 Sleepiness 248 Glucose 248 Glycogen 248 Hexokinase 248 Dancing 48 Activase 48 Turnase 56 Collapsase 56
1 1 0 Emb B MutDup NFP 88 Hunger 144 Sleepiness 255 Glucose 128 Glycogen 176 Hexokinase 56 Dancing 255 Activase 255 Turnase 255 Collapsase 255

Forest Norns have some changes to their half-life gene. Mostly, this adds half-lives for previously unused chemicals like dancing and Activase. The preexisting drive chemicals need for pleasure, hunger, and sleepiness have different half-lives -- all of them have been set to 248, which is close to the maximum value of 255. Glucose and glycogen also have higher half-lives. This means that these chemicals decay more slowly, except sleepiness, which hasn't actually changed because the Genetics Kit sees half-lives of 248 and 255 identically. I suspect the developers wanted the half-lives of the drive and energy chemicals to be meaningless on the scale of our short-lived Creatures -- a chemical with a half-life of 248 would take 52 years to reach zero. 

Stimuli

92 1 3 0 Emb B Mut 'Creature pats me' causes sig=80 GS neu=0(I've been patted) int=255, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 48*NFP-- + 16*Loneliness-- + 31*Crowdedness++ + 8*<NONE>
92 3 0 Emb B Mut 'Creature pats me' causes sig=80 GS neu=0(I've been patted) int=255, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 48*NFP-- + 16*Loneliness-- + 16*Crowdedness++ + 8*SexDrive++

Forest Norns react differently to being tickled by another Creature. They experience a lower increase in crowdedness and no increase in sex drive compared to other Norns. Maybe this was an attempt to reduce the "breed like rabbits" syndrome!

98 9 0 Emb B Mut 'Object comes into view' causes sig=255 GS neu=255 int=0, Modulate Using Sensory Signal, ,  => 12*NFP-- + 12*Boredom-- + 12*Loneliness-- + 3*SexDrive--
98 9 0 Emb B Mut 'Object comes into view' causes sig=255 GS neu=255 int=0, Modulate Using Sensory Signal, ,  => 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>

99 10 0 Emb B Mut 'Unrecognized word' causes sig=16 GS neu=8(Audible event) int=128, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 12*NFP-- + 12*Boredom-- + 12*Loneliness-- + 3*SexDrive--
99 10 0 Emb B Mut 'Unrecognized word' causes sig=16 GS neu=8(Audible event) int=128, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE> + 0*<NONE>

Forest Norns react to seeing a new object or hearing a new word by becoming less bored and lonely. They also experience a decrease in sex drive, possibly because they are really, really easily distracted by shiny things.

Forest Norns also have a couple other stimulus changes that are part of the Ron Norn fight-or-flight package. Without the associated reactions, I don't believe these have any effect on the Creature, so I'll be discussing those when I get to the Rons. 

Instincts

328 20 0 Emb B MutDupCut Stim source i/ps Herb + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 127*Reward
329 21 0 Emb B MutDupCut Stim source i/ps Weed + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 127*Punishment

Forest Norns have two additional instincts involving herbs (good plants) and weeds (poison plants). The "herb smells good" gene rewards them for approaching herbs;  the "weed smells bad" gene punishes them for approaching weeds.

330 22 0 Emb B MutDupCut Stim source i/ps Food + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Come => 255*Reward
331 23 0 Emb B MutDupCut Drive i/ps Sleepiness + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) + (Lobe/Cell=0/0) and I Rest => 255*Reward

These last two new instincts should make Forest Norns better eaters and sleepers than normal Norns. The first rewards them for approaching food. By default, Norns are only rewarded when they eat the food. The second rewards Norns for sleeping when sleepy. Normal Norns are only rewarded for sleeping when tired.

And... that's all for the Forest Norns! Did you notice anything strange about every one of these changes? I pointed it out with the brain lobe gene, but it goes for all of them. None of these genes are gender-specific! Despite the way the official description tells it, Forest Norns are no more sexually dimorphic on a genetic scale than regular Norns. This one goes in the rumor pile right alongside the myth that Grendels are evil!