Hera: Ups and Downs Continue

Sigh... It really is a joy to see happy creatures--especially when they've given you so much trouble.

PinkiePie and Stella have both had the lowest scores as of late, generally taking great care of themselves, and it even seemed things were looking up for Amina, whom, despite her solid 100, found her way to the other side of the volcano and stared with all hope at the beach before her. I worry for her still, but at least she is getting somewhere.

I turned my attention to Loorea, who seemed rather bored and depressed. Upon encouraging her to push the elevine to go elsewhere, I realized that her large wings and tail were preventing the elevine from properly teleporting her upwards into the narrow elevator shaft. A little position adjustment though, and she was on her way. Eventually she met up with Stella, and the two happily munched some fruits together (Just hoping Stella doesn't get any ideas about munching her...)

Finally, finally the joyous alert appeared-- Lilac was pregnant! It was fitting that she would be chosen to carry the child, as she was still hanging out in the swamps, furthest from the general population. I did design the script to chose the creatures out on their own as the childbearers in some attempt to spread the population out as much as possible. But who were the genetic parents?

As soon as I saw that siamese head pop out of that strangely grendelish egg, I was honestly astonished. Is that a mutation, or...?

 Believe it or not, our newborn, whom I named Ginger, was a cross of Amina and Stella's genetics! I couldn't believe it; I thought something must have gone very wrong with the script. But when I went to check on Amina, sure enough, her score had dropped to a fairly respectable 68. I was seriously impressed! That beach trip must have done her a world of wonder.

I want that mini-story to end here, I really, honestly do. I want to go on to tell you how much fun Lilac had with a child to care for, how the lived happily ever after as best friends in the swamp. But sadly.... so very sadly things were not to be for little Ginger. Not even a few minutes out of the shell when she inexplicably dropped dead. No sign of disease or anything, just sudden death, out of the blue. Why? Just bad genetics are my only guess. We may never know, but I did save her genome, so maybe some day when I have time, I'll investigate and try to figure out just what went wrong.

But life goes on, as it usually does. It wasn't long after Ginger's untimely demise that Lilac found herself pregnant yet again. This young one, whom I've named Rishi, is also of Amina and Stella's genes. She's an eager one indeed, scrambling from her egg almost instantly down the elevine to feast upon the triffids, bramboo and carrots that flourish around the waterwheel. I certainly hope that she doesn't have the same complications her sister had; I don't think I could stand to lose another. I guess that's something I didn't entirely think through when putting together this initial six together -- I have no idea how genetically compatibly these creatures are. For all I know, they might produce many more crippled and handicapped creatures due to my own carelessness. I certainly hope not.

I'll finish this post with a cute picture of Amina and her new best friend PinkiePie, as they sit together in the tree, happily approaching each other to stave off loneliness. I'm really glad Amina managed to turn around and find a friend, even mother(?) a child! I think next I'm going to focus my attention on helping Lilac out, who seems to be following Amina's old trend of having the worst score possible. Rishi, meanwhile, doesn't have to worry about being scored until she becomes a youth, so until then, she's free to explore her world, make mistakes, and learn all she can in the meantime.

I can't remember the last time I had a world this....dramatic! I think the combination of the strange scenario and the variety of creatures from different sources is making for a very interesting world so far.