Genetics Discussion: Purple Mountain Norns

"Down from the mountains of Albia, these purple Norns have developed differently. Indeed, these Norns even have some new genes."



The Purple Mountain Norn (PMN) was the first official breed to have a distinct genome from the original three breeds. (Although the original Santa Norn was infertile, he didn't have any novel genes to discuss.) Those changes were later carried over to the Life Kit breeds, the Forest and Ron Norns. Purple Mountain Norns were available as a download from Cyberlife's website, and some later copies of the game (like mine) came with them as part of the hatchery. The second Norn I ever hatched was a PMN named Aaron, by the way.

Below are excerpts from the output of a dDNA Analyzer comparison of a PMN genome (top) to a default Norn (bottom).

121 6 0 Emb B MutDup Lobe #= 7 State Rule: state PLUS type0 <end> <end> <end> <end> <end>, WTA= 1
121 6 0 Emb B MutDup Lobe #= 7 State Rule: state PLUS type0 PLUS type1 <end> <end> <end>, WTA= 1

This is a change to the seventh brain lobe, the attention lobe. Those commands are the State Variable Rules (SVRules) that affect how that lobe functions. As I understand it, the normal Norn's braid combines information from both type 0 and type 1 dendrites, while the PMN uses only type 0. Dendrites, connections between brain lobes, store information. In the attention lobe, type 0 dendrites connect to the stimulus source lobe, which identifies external stimuli (ex. "that is a Norn"), while type 1 dendrites connect to the noun lobe, which stores words the Creature has learned. By default, a PMN is therefore unable to make the connection between a word spoken by the hand and that it should look at the associated object. As described on the Creatures Developer Resource, this is a mistake made in very early copies of the game! Apparently, the executable itself was modified to work around this, which is why Sheena and Kratos don't have any trouble understanding when I want them to pay attention to the food I brought them, but the gene persists!

274 40 0 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, stagger, chem=Dancing, thresh=86, nom=0, gain=173, features=Analogue
274 40 0 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, stagger, chem=Alcohol, thresh=106, nom=0, gain=255, features=Analogue

This is an altered receptor gene that makes PMNs react to a new chemical -- chemical 80, "Dancing," also known as "Purple Mountain Alcohol." As you can see, it replaces the normal alcohol receptor. Like regular alcohol, it causes PMNs to "stagger" -- however, in these Norns, "stagger" has been replaced with, you guessed it, dancing. This also necessitated several changes in pose genes. The dancing concept was carried over into C2 through the Golden Desert Norns and Boney Grendels.

The following reaction genes are all novelties in the PMN.

308 51 0 Emb B Mut 1*Hunger-- + 1*Hunger => 1*<NONE> + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 32.

This gene, labeled "Hunger Reaction from Purple Mountain Norns" in the Genetics Kit, is present in addition to the regular hunger-reducing reaction, which goes 1 Hunger Decrease + 1 Hunger => 1 Reward. The two genes together mean that hunger decrease reduces the hunger drive more efficiently without triggering the release of any more reward than in a normal Norn. I suppose the same effect could have been achieved by altering the existing gene -- I can't really think of a good reason to have an entirely new gene.

321 60 0 Emb B MutDupCut 5*Geddonase + 5*Glucose => 5*Geddonase + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 72.
322 61 0 Emb B 2*Geddonase + 3*Glycogen => 1*Geddonase + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 88.

This is a very dangerous set of reactions, and the reason I've refrained from adding the cave fly cob to my world. Geddonase is a poison that has no effect on normal hatchery Norns; in PMNs, however, it reacts with both glucose (suger) and glycogen (long-term energy storage and the chemical behind a Norn's life bar). This makes geddonase quite dangerous, but luckily I believe there are no non-cob sources of geddonase in C1. Geddonase is also present in C2 -- it's injected by those irritating red gnats from one of the biodomes -- but, due to the more complex digestive system of C2 Norns, it's far less dangerous. Note also that the geddonase-glycogen reaction is set to be immuatable, un-duplicatable, and un-deletable.

323 62 0 Emb B 1*Dancing + 1*NFP => 3*Dancing + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 128.
324 63 0 Emb B 1*Dancing + 2*Boredom => 1*Boredom + 1*<NONE>; half-life = 112.

These two genes make dancing fun! It reacts to reduce need for please and boredom.

1 Half-lives 1 0 Emb B MutDup Dancing 48
1 Half-lives 1 0 Emb B MutDup Dancing 255

This is a change to the half-life gene. This gene describes the half-lives all the chemicals in the game will have in that particular Norn. A half-life is exactly what is sounds like: the time it takes for half of the amount of the chemical to decay. In real life, half-lives come up most frequently when radioactive materials are being discussed. That's how carbon dating and other radiometric time proxies work -- by measuring the relative amounts of different radioactive chemicals and working backwards to find out how much time it would take for them to decay that much. Impromptu science lesson! Anyway, in PMNs, this gene includes a half-life for the dancing chemical. Since chemical 80 was unused in the original Norns, it simply had the default value of 255 in them.

And that's it! Those are all the genetic changes made to the Purple Mountain Norns. The other two genetically modified official breeds, Forest and Ron Norns, have more complicated changes that maybe I'll address at a later time.

The Last of Gen 1 and an Illness

Kratos may have isolated himself from the other Norns on his island, but that hasn't saved him from Albia's many diseases! I think he's gotten sick more often than any other Norn so far -- but saying that is almost certainly asking for trouble. This disease caused Kratos's health to fluctuate oddly. Just when his glycogen returned to normal and his status in the Observation Kit would switch to "Healthy," his life force would start dropping and he would go back to being sick.

Here you can see the oddly irregular fluctuations the level of Antigen 0 took in Kratos's system and the speed at which he built up Antibody 0. I suppose the troughs of that line may have dipped below the amount required to qualify as "Sick" to the Observation Kit, but I hadn't considered what the threshold could be until now. Something to keep in mind -- the Observation Kit is useful, but not to be trusted completely!

Luckily, the disease didn't seem to be contagious, as Mithos has apparently avoided infection, and with a bit of extra attention Kratos was able to fight it off permanently.

 In the midst of all this, the youngest of all the first generation Norns hatched. This little white-haired Norn is Genis! He is almost completely normal except for his improved Forest Norn brain. Because I was distracted with Kratos, I wasn't able to fuss over him as much as I would have liked before he reached childhood. He was perfectly content to stay near the learning computer and watch the bees, though!

Genis eventually made his way to the temple area, where he met Seles, Emil, and Marta. However, he didn't seem terribly impressed by the older Norns and soon retreated to the garden with his bees. Why are Norns so interested in bees? You'd think they would eventually learn to stop getting stung.

Now that all twelve first generation Norns have hatched, I hope to make future updates more detailed. So far, each has covered about an hour of playtime on average. I'd like to shorten that to 30 to 40 minutes. If I write it here, maybe I'll actually do it instead my usual "Oh, five more minutes won't hurt!"

Like Night and Day

Albia saw two new additions this time! These are some of the last first-generation Norns -- thankfully, since the world is starting to get a bit crowded! C1 Norns are generally quite self-sufficient, but caring for 11 Norns is still getting to be a bit of a stretch.

Our first newcomer is Forest Norn Emil, shown here with Mithos, his first contact with other Creatures! In addition to the regular Forest genes, Emil has the "flight" half of the Ron Norn fight-or-flight genes. He also has an addition emitter that causes him to become frightened when very crowded. I'm curious how this will affect his personality. Will it cause him to avoid getting stressed over crowding, or just make him a loner?

Our second baby Norn is Marta, a Banana Norn who arrived with an enormous smile. The first Norn I ever hatched was a female Banana Norn (named Kay), so I have a special attachment to them. Marta has a few little genetic tweaks that make her more of a people-person -- or a Norn-Norn, I suppose. She becomes crowded slowly and has an extra instinct gene that encourages her to seek out others when bored. I wonder how she and Emil will get along?

After a short time with Marta and Seles, Emil had to go take a rest on his own. He goes off alone more frequently than the other young Norns. After leaving them to check up on the others, I often return to find he's gone to the garden or kitchen to get away from it all. He doesn't seem very interested in adventuring much beyond the temple. His personality definitely reflects his genes!

I was glad to see that Emil was able to get along with others, at least in small doses. The Forest Norn expression really suits him -- he looks so uncertain about this situation! Should he run, or would that offend her? On an unrelated note, look at those adorable little pointed ears of his!

Marta, too, acts much like I'd expected based on her genes! You can barely see him, but here she's cornered Emil in the garden area. She was very pouty before this, but when she found someone to play with, she perked up immediately! (Seles, meanwhile, had the good sense to escape to the treetops.)

Here's one last picture of these two. As you can see, Emil is a tad older. That doesn't stop Marta from bossing him around. He seems tolerant of it -- I'm glad he's able to smile even while running away!

Behavioral Observations

 A miracle has occurred! For the first time since childhood, Kratos left the island, completely on his own! I was very surprised to find him out for a walk in the jungle. He is now over seven hours old -- at least six of those hours were spent on an extended island vacation! Unlike many of the other first generation norns, Kratos doesn't have an unique genes that would discourage or encourage him from spending time with the others. I guess it's just his personality! Not all Norn behavior can be chalked up to genetics, after all. Maybe he just learned that I would bring him all the carrots he could eat while he was there.

Speaking of odd Norn behavior, Presea is one of the worst eaters I've ever had in C1! Her life force regularly drops into the low 60s or even the 50s, but she always comes around and eats before she would starve. Presea has also turned into quite a loner, spending all her time between the wishing well and cannon. She doesn't even seem interested in the lift or any company aside from the goldfish in its bowl. Remember that she has a genetic alteration that makes her become lonely more slowly than normal, but I didn't expect her to be a hermit!

Raine made her way to the island, where she met up with Mithos. Unlike Kratos, Raine seems to be smart enough not to munch on weeds every few minutes! Maybe it's her Forest Norn genetics at work -- her breed has some additional instincts that make herbs seem attractive and weeds repulsive. Purple Mountain Norns and the three breeds that came with the game all lack these instincts, although I have tried to teach everyone that weeds are bad news!

Seles also has a tendency to keep to herself, although she spent some time with Raine, riding the boat back and forth between the island and dock, before the later got seasick and returned to land. She seems to like the area around the Great Tree the best -- I hope she's smart enough to avoid the deathcap mushroom at its base. Seles does seem slightly more inclined than the average Norn to slap, but she isn't exceptionally violent at all. She has yet to show any interest in boy Norns though -- maybe it's for the best for now, if she's a tad slap-happy.

On his way through the caves under the music room, Kratos encountered Zelos, and the two seemed to be sizing each other up. Zelos even stood as tall as possible, no doubt trying to make himself look tough! Kratos had no need for such showiness and soon moved on. Notice the copious amounts of cheese at their feet -- I was experimenting with cobs and ending up with a ridiculous surplus of it! I have no doubt all these hungry Creatures will eat it up sooner or later. Zelos and Colette in particular are excellent eaters and have been hanging around in this area.

Kratos completed his circumnavigation of the world... and ended up right back on his island! Luckily he brought some company this time, in the form of the second-oldest Norn, Regal. The two of them took ill shortly after arriving in the island caves. Luckily, they had already quarantined themselves! They both recovered quickly enough that I'm not even sure what illness they had.

Sheena has been hanging around the beehives for some time. She often gets company from Lloyd, Colette, and most frequently Zelos. She still slaps him on a regular basis, but it seems to make her happy and doesn't discourage him at all! Note that his life force still hovers around 90%. There's no genetic reason for it. Seles, the other Wood Norn, shares almost all of his genes and has a normal life force. Is he just that good at taking care of himself?

It wouldn't be Albia without another birth (egg?) announcement! Colette laid her first egg, fathered by Lloyd. It has a very cute red and yellow shell, like its father, but unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it! Colette's life force didn't drop below 75% the whole time she was pregnant, and then only dipped into the high 60s after she laid her egg. I was very impressed, as the other girls -- especially Sheena and Presea -- suffered much more from their pregnancies.

I had to separate Lloyd and Colette so they could get some sleep. They are constantly distracting each other when they're together! Lloyd spend his nap time in what I'm sure he thought was a better way, playing with a ball in the music room. He did eventually try out the harp, but he didn't seem as enthused as he was over the ball! As expected, Lloyd does seem to be more distractable and easily amused than the other Norns. It's both annoying and endearing.

Three Smiling Babies

First, there are a couple new introductions to make! It's about time I got around to these two. This is Lloyd, a red Banana Norn. He gets bored more quickly than your average Norn, but to counter this, he gets more enjoyment out of pushing and pulling objects. He also has additional instincts that encourage him to travel and use lifts when bored. He gave me such a huge grin when he popped out of his red and yellow egg! It took several seconds to get his attention, he was so focused on smiling for the camera.

The second newcomer is happy little blonde Colette! She also has several minor genetic changes. First, when slapped, she gets less angry than other Norns. In addition, in her system, pain decrease reduces pain more effectively. Finally, her reward/punishment system has also been slightly tweaked -- she converts the chemical "punishment" (short-term learning) into more "punishment echo" (longer-term). Will this make her learn better, discouraging her from bad behaviors more quickly? I teach mostly though tickles, not slaps, so in practice, this will probably affect very little!

Regal fell sick yet again while I was teaching Colette, forcing me to leave her alone for several minutes. He recovered quickly and the disease didn't spread. Luckily, Colette didn't prove very adventurous, choosing to stay near the computer and play with the top! Maybe she likes the way it spins and spins and spins.

Raine laid two more eggs around this time, one fathered by Kratos and one by Regal. She has since moved into the garden area and taken to playing with the youngsters! She may be disappointed her eggs won't hatch soon, but she seems to enjoy playing the role of mentor. I'm still surprised she isn't more self-sufficient, as she's a Forest Norn. She eats when told, but frequently needs to be reminded to do so, especially when other Creatures are around.

Regal, too, has taken to hanging out with the youngest Norns. He currently has three eggs by two mothers. I had hoped to control their breeding a bit more carefully -- not their choice of partners, which I've influenced very little, but the number of offspring produced. All of these Norns include a gene based on one from the Conservative Norns that reduces sex drive when they slap each other, but seems to have slowed their reproduction only slightly.

At this point, Sheena is slightly behind in the competition for the title of Champion Egg Layer with two eggs, both fathered by Zelos. These two are the most cheerful Norns in Albia right now, with rarely a frown on their little faces. (Except when Sheena feels "gaa" over laying an egg!) However, Sheena had a little rendezvous with the youngest male in Albia, Lloyd, and is currently pregnant again, so she may pull ahead yet!

Zelos seemed surprised to find a little almost-clone of himself in the temple area! This is yet another new first-generation Norn, Seles, who is also a Wood Norn. Seles is sort of an experiment because she has only the "fight" half of the Ron Norn fight-or-flight genes. I find this suite of genes especially interesting, hence why I've included them (or modified versions of them) in several of my Norns. How will they pass down? Will Seles have a mean streak and/or be unlikely to run from danger?

Speaking of Zelos, have a look at his life force. When he hit adulthood, it seems to have shot up to around 90 and stayed there! 76-78% is far more normal for a Norn without one of several immortality-granting mutations. Could it be some trait of the Wood Norn genome? We'll have to see if Seles turns out similarly. Notice also that Presea's life force is unusually low; she continues to eat poorly, even when offered Slink's Strained Carrots, which I've used to get stubborn Norns to eat in the past.

I've now hatched nine of the twelve Norns I intended for the first generation. Caring for many Norns at once is challenging, and it means that each individual gets less attention. I've spaced out hatching new Norns by about 40-50 minutes instead of the recommended 20-30, which I think has helped me get to know them a bit better, even though there are now nine of them. Mostly, they seem to care for themselves effectively and keep their drives low. Hopefully things will continue to go well as the last three first generation eggs hatch!

A Tsundere Norn

Kratos and Mithos have now spent multiple hours on the island and show no sign of wanting to leave. Every so often Kratos will take a bite of the ampanula weed and scare me by showing up as "sick" on the Observation Kit for a few minutes. He never learns! But then again, he never learned to sleep well either!

Unlike Kratos, Regal is an excellent sleeper! In fact, I've repeatedly been worried that he's gotten into something containing sleep toxin, he sleeps so often. However, he too hasn't proven himself to be too adventurous, preferring to stay in the area around the lighthouse. I sometimes catch him quietly watching the fish in its bowl.

Of course, things couldn't remain quiet for too long! This is Zelos, one of two new additions to Albia. Zelos is a Wood Norn, a third-party breed by Frimlin available, once again, from the amazing Treesprite's Creatures Grove. The Wood Norn genome has some tweaks to their drive chemical reactions, which Zelos maintains.

He also has the fight-or-flight genes, which some small changes. In his system, the Turnase reaction occurs slightly more quickly than normal. Recall that Turnase converts fear to anger and is produced when a Creature is cornered. He also has an extra emitter that produces Turnase when his level of pain gets high. Theoretically, I think this means he will run from danger until actually attacked, in which case he'll quickly become angry and fight back. He doesn't seem very prone to anger, though! While I was off worrying over Raine and Presea, he was exploring the garden and cellar. Judging by that adorable grin, he was having a great time!

 The next first generation Norn to be hatched was another Purple Mountain Norn, a female named Sheena. She has slightly altered temperature-related emitters -- she gets hot more slowly than the average Norn, but is more susceptible to the cold. In addition, like Zelos, Sheena has the complete set of fight-or-flight genes. However, hers are unaltered. In fact, other than those small changes, she has a Ron genome.

After they both grew up a bit, I let Zelos and Sheena meet in the temple area. Can you guess how Sheena reacted?

She slapped him!

I couldn't make this stuff up. It didn't really seem to faze him at all, though, and they started to get along a bit better after that rocky start. I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that, while I may be theme-naming my Norns, they make their own decisions, especially about interacting with each other.

Presea has finally come out of her bout of depression and begun eating again! She also laid another egg, this one also fathered by Regal, and recovered far more quickly from this pregnancy! Hopefully, we won't have another scare like that with her. Like her first egg, this one also appears to have no mutations! Compared to the confusing mutations detailed in my last entry, no mutations is a pleasant surprise.

A Tale of Two Eggs (and Their Mutations)

In a short but exciting period, my Albia has seen its first two eggs! The blue one is the child of Kratos and Raine, and the green one is Presea's and Regal's. I don't intend to hatch any second generation Norns until I get through all the first generation genome files, so we won't be seeing what's inside these for a while. However, in C1, the .gen file is created at the moment of conception, so we can take a peek at what's in store!

The Norn in the first egg has some very strange mutations. Here is the dDNA Analyzer output comparing the new baby Norn's gene (top) with its father's (bottom):

305 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, Invol 5='sleep', chem=Sleepiness, thresh=230, nom=1, gain=255, features=Analogue
305 Emb B MutDupCut Creature, Sensorimotor, Invol 5='sleep', chem=Sleepiness, thresh=230, nom=0, gain=255, features=Analogue

This is a receptor gene that triggers an involuntary action, sleep, when the Norn is very sleepy. According the the write-up on receptors at the Creatures Developer Resource, the nominal value "defines the default or base value used to stimulate the locus." Since this is only a change of 1 out of 255, I would generally write this off as a minor mutation, but since it's gone from 0 to a positive value, there may be something to it.

124 Chi B MutDupCut Brain, Decision i/ps, # Loose dens/cells type 0, chem=decASH1, thresh=0, samp=1, gain=255, features=Analogue/Clear Source
124 Emb B MutDupCut Brain, Decision i/ps, # Loose dens/cells type 0, chem=decASH1, thresh=0, samp=1, gain=255, features=Analogue/Clear Source

This is a mutation that affects learning. In Creatures, learning is quite complex, and my understanding of it is limited, but here goes. The gene involved is the decASH1 emitter. DecASH1 is short for the very cumbersome decision layer atrophy suppressing hormone, which seems to have the fairly uncomplicated role of freeing up dendrites in the brain's decision lobe so new connections can form. In an unmutated Norn, this gene switches on when the Norn is born. However, this mutation causes it to be dormant until childhood, which begins at about 20 minutes old. I think this Norn will have difficulty making decisions, but only as a baby.

226 Emb B MutDupCut 2*Antigen0 + 4*Glucose => 1*Antibody1 + 1*Hotness; half-life = 88.
226 Emb B MutDupCut 2*Antigen1 + 4*Glucose => 1*Antibody1 + 1*Hotness; half-life = 88.

This mutation causes the Norn to produce Antibody 1 in response to Antigen 0 instead of Antigen 1. This leaves him or her with no defense against an infection that produces Antigen 1.

109 Emb B Mut 'I've stated need' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 66*Tiredness-- + 77*Sleepiness-- + 16*Boredom++ + 16*Coldness++
109 Emb B Mut 'I am sleeping' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , , Sensed Even When Asleep => 66*Tiredness-- + 77*Sleepiness-- + 16*Boredom++ + 16*Coldness++

This stimulus mutation is really weird. It means that, instead of receiving a decrease in sleepiness and tiredness from sleeping, this Norn gets the same benefits from complaining about high drives! I can't decide if this is helpful or not. On the one hand, the Norn shouldn't need to sleep, just complain about being tired. On the other hand, he or she will still have instincts to sleep when tired. In addition, I've read that Creatures process learning and instincts while asleep, like real animals, so sleep is a necessity for other reasons than satisfying needs. Coupled with the sleep-related mutation above, I'm just not sure what to think.

244 Emb B Mut 'Invol 1='lay egg' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , ,  => 32*Pain + 8*Tiredness + 8*Fear + 16*Hexokinase
244 Emb B Mut 'Invol 3='cough' causes sig=0 GS neu=255 int=0, , ,  => 32*Pain + 8*Tiredness + 8*Fear + 16*Hexokinase

Did I say that last one was weird? No, this mutation is weird. This replaces the stimulus "cough" with "lay egg." I think this means the Norn gets no discomfort from coughing, but feels the effects of coughing when laying an egg. The other "lay egg" gene is intact as well.

Whew! Now on to the green egg. It has... absolutely no mutations! There, that was painless.

Raine recovered quickly from her pregnancy and took off on a journey back across the ocean to the caves. The Norn in the blue egg is hers and Kratos's. I'm glad there will be some Purple Mountain/Forest crosses in the next generation. Surprisingly, Raine is one of the worse eaters so far. As a Forest Norn, I had expected her to eat more readily, but I often have to remind her what to do with food. I suspect she simply feels she has better things to think about.

Presea has not fared so well. She doesn't look it here, but she must be suffering from post-postpartum depression, because since laying her egg, she refuses to eat! I've brought her carrots and cheese, and she's currently living right next to the beehives, but she won't touch any of it. She just wanders back and forth, watching the bees. Her health has dropped all the way to the low 40s, becoming a serious cause for concern.