Two New Arrivals

Using the wonderful Multiple Grendel Button cob (available from Treesprite's Creatures Grove), I was able to select my world's Grendel! This is Mithos. He uses an updated Grendel genome that includes the fight-or-flight and die of old age genes. I also have the third-party baby Grendel sprites (available from the Universe of Ettins). And I accidentally altered his color, making him much darker and grayer than a normal Grendel. Grendels have long been misunderstood by Creatures fans. The manuals always paint them as heartless, red-eyed monsters bent on the torment of your kind, furry Norns. In the first two games especially, this is a complete lie! Grendels are more prone to anger than Norns, but, given the chance, they can prove to be just as lovable as their more traditionally cute cousins.

Mithos spent a great deal of time hanging around in the treetops near the grendel mother, happily chowing down on honey. When it was empty, I took it to the beehives to refill it. I'm sure he thought I was stealing his precious honeypot permanently! When I returned it a moment later, he promptly went to sleep, as if to show he was never worried at all.

Meanwhile, my second first generation Norn hatched from a nice green mottled egg! This is Regal, who has normal Norn genes with only the few edits I made to all my starting genomes. He's supposed to have a very little bit of a greenish tint, but he doesn't seem to have turned out that way! As soon as the little horse Norn hatched, he sat down and struck this contemplative pose. He was slightly slower at learning his verbs than Kratos was, but he seems to be a less reluctant sleeper.

Regal is learning to multitask! Here he is picking up a piece of cheese and playing with the ball. I've never started a world with a male Norn before, and due to the theme I chose, now I have two! Because females mature more slowly and tend to be somewhat fertile even into old age, people generally recommend starting with a female, but I wanted to mix things up!.

When he grew into a child, Regal took off to explore the temple and caves below. He seems to be a budding entomologist, as much time as he spends watching the butterflies and chasing the bees! Even being repeatedly stung didn't deter his investigations. He would grab at the bees, get stung and cry "ouch!", the turn to me and frown, as if it were somehow my fault! Maybe he will learn eventually?

Regal also contracted a brief illness, but recovered quickly after eating several carrots and pieces of cheese. I was surprised at how quickly his heath began to drop, but luckily it never even dipped much into the 60s. I think Mithos was also ill but had an easier time shaking it. While all this excitement was going on, Kratos was far away on the island, watching the sealife. I've been bringing him food frequently, as the coconuts that grow on the island don't constitute a balanced diet on their own.

Kratos is now over an hour old! I'm not worried about breeding my Norns -- males are generally fertile until at least seven or eight hours old, I think. The next Norn I hatch will be a female, though! I hope they all get along.