Hera: New Blood

There are still two groups of spliced creatures that I intend on eventually pulling offspring from, but I was really eager to introduce these two girls into Hera. I decided to start them off in the little glass domes under the sea, a place untouched in the world by creatures until now. They seemed pretty happy until the realized there was nothing to do there, and proceeded to whine about being bored.

I kept suggesting they pull the elevator, but they paid me no mind... I thought this might be the beginning of another episode of frustration, when I remembered that this dome was located right on the world-wrap seam, meaning they might not even be able to see the elevine at all. Sure enough, when I led them over so the vine was in their view, they were more than happy to listen. That was way more of a relief than I expected it to be. I'm still having nightmares about retraining norns to listen to me.


The girls were off, and traveled their way eastward and upward until they ran into Amina. Looks like they're not shy at all about meeting the natives! I was a little surprised to notice that both of them had aged pretty quickly-- Elm especially, who had already advanced to youth age at a very young 25 minutes. Even though she's of age now to put her genes forward, she's got a bit of work to do to lower her score. I'm not sure that anyone will be able to compete with Amina though; she's probably going to keep mothering little ones as long as she's walking.

Trusting they could care for themselves now, I went to briefly check in on the status of the other creatures. Lilac was hanging out near the bridge, taking a nap. Ever since I put my bias aside and gave her some attention, she's been doing pretty well, hanging mostly around the tree, where she has access to a well-balanced diet and a nice variety of toys. Her score is pretty respectable too. Considering her slow-aging, I think she'll be with us a long time.

Rishi was still hanging out in the incubator den, feeling a bit lonely (my, this looks familiar) but otherwise satisfied as she stuffed her face with bramboo berries. That den seems to be a bit of a trap for creatures, doesn't it? It's too full of delicious things for anyone to want to leave, yet it's such a lonely place.

Speaking of lonely though, little Kayla is still aimlessly wandering the swamps, seeking companionship. You know, it's a little sad that norns can't sniff each other out when lonely like they can when they're searching for food. Norns emit a CA smell, but sadly a norn can't tell the difference between her own norn smell and the smell of other norns. But it got me wondering-- might a lonely norn not know any better and still try to "approach norn" by scent? This could go a long way in explaining why poor Rishi and Kayla tend to sit in one spot as they grow more and more lonely. It might warrant further research!

Lastly, Kindi has already reached youth, and is hanging out with Amina (and you can't see it, but Elm and Cyana are just off to the left side of the screen; they didn't seem to want to come together for a group shot.) I'm not too alarmed by her high-ish score yet-- since it gets automatically set to 100 at youth age, she's still working it down to something reflective of her true survival abilities.

It's kind of funny how we have about half the creatures grouped together, and the other half completely strewn about the world. We'll have to see how this develops!