Stardate 0412.26: Amphibi-Dracs

Today I spent a lot of time coddling the young, tender amphibious draconian norns. I was about to give up when the male slapped the female to death. But perhaps it was better to work on one before doing two at once.

The draconians seem to stick together when they are first hatched, which makes it a little hard to see which one is doing what. The females seem a little easier to keep content than the males -- but that just may be the two individuals I now have. Draco, the male, is always becoming very bored or very hungry.

Feeding them is another problem; they are carnivores. But there is no "meat" classification of food. The fish dispenser and the meat dispenser put out "food." When the dracs are hungry for starch or protein, it's difficult to know what to tell them. Should they eat just "food," or should they go ahead and have some "fruit" as well?

They also devour critters and bugs for their sustenance. I may have to move them to the Forest, where there are more critters, as they have practically decimated the norngarden pond, and the tomgeckoes. Or I just need to add a Bounty Bugs hive. (Which I hesitate to do, as all those little grubs no doubt make my machine go slower.)

They are quite the little critter hunters. I also managed to get some of those butterflies to live in the norngarden. Hopefully, the caterpillars will not all be eaten, and the population will stabilize. Dracha, the female, likes the butterflies. Draco stalks the tomgeckoes, and tries to figure out how to stuff a portle in his mouth.




Once again, I've transported Gala and Goliath to the far reaches of the norngarden 2. I expect they will migrate back, though. Why? Things are just perverse that way.

I'm having trouble with the grendel eggs -- they're hatching gargoyle norns! This is not how I intended to fix my grendel problem....!



Berna and Blithe are reaching adulthood, and I've gone ahead and let another Narnian egg hatch. This one is Bayli, a golden bengal/fallow mix. She's got a golden bengal head and fallow spots of white on a golden background.

Stardate 0412.24: Quiet day today.

Quiet day today.

Punky the pink poodle ettin died today, not surprising considering she only sat in the empty Docking Station hub, doing nothing. Pinky also died, but I am not sure why. No bacteria or toxins were found in her autopsy, nor any severe hunger. Her body was surrounded by ants, so my best guess is they bit her? Now Yullie is all alone, although an ettin egg has appeared under their Christmas tree.

I was going to turn the population up to let it hatch, but then I realized... There are two Narnian eggs waiting to hatch, plus my two amphibious draconian eggs, and one gargoyle egg. No telling which one will hatch first! D'oh! I may have to make egg storage plans....

I moved Gala and Goliath into Norngarden 2 today, along with the steam rock and nornhome scent emitter to give them a new nesting area. I was going to leave them in there to deal with the weeds and such, and leave the Norngarden for my upcoming amphi-dracs.
But they moved back. D'oh!



Personal Log Supplemental: Those Pokle doggie creatures from the Norngarden Xmas room are TOO cute! I put one in Narnia and one in Norngarden 2. They roll over for tummy scritches when you push them! I only hope they don't make fruit too scarce.

ScreenGrab seems to only work when DS is in windowed mode. ::sigh:: At least I can take lots of snapshots.

Stardate 0412.21: Plan? What Plan?

Is *anything* going to go the way I planned on this crazy project?

My inventory has decided to hide. Ctrl-3 opens it, but the tab is gone when it is closed. Would be nice if I could figure out how to hide the other two tabs over there, the ones I almost never use...!

I've got Norngarden 2 installed. And Xmas Norngarden! I like that little doggie. Gala *loves* to play in the snow. She is having the time of her life. I've also got Norngarden isolated from Narnia proper by door hiders. So, technically, now I have three worlds linked together. Or, rather, kept apart, -- for now.

Since everything was more-or-less working, I decided to go ahead and hatch my amphibious draconian norns. So I raised the breeding limit by two. But did my dracs hatch? No, they were beaten out by Zebra's twins: Berne and Blithe!

Berne is a female with zebra body and golden bengal limbs and head. Blithe is a male with golden bengal limbs and body and zebra head. So far, everybody loves Berne. In fact, they couldn't stop talking about how much they liked her. Blithe is more of a loner.

So, I have my first generation 2 Narnian norns. And still no amphibi-dracs. Um... and no pictures, since ScreenGrab somehow failed to produce any. ::sigh::

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Stardate 0412.18:

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The best laid plans....
I decided to put the hardmans on ice (cryogenics), and instead raise a pair of draconians. That way, I'd have some adult dracs who were tough enough to handle the hardman babies. Draconian babies are very delicate, actually.
I found Gaia hanging out in the jungle, staring happily at all the hanging arkwood creeper flowers. I dragged her back to meet the new draconian babies, and she immediately headed the other way. "what?" I said. "retreat norn!" she said. Great.
So I told her "approach norn," which she gamely tried. She got along with the nice baby dracs until she was tired and cranky and wanted to sleep without so much activity around her. So she snuck off again. I guess she didn't read my project plans to have a motherly adult norn around here.

Then Draco, the male, died. I got him to eat a few bugs, but I think he starved anyway. Draga, the female also died of mysterious causes. I say mysterious, because she had no toxins or infections or hunger. She did die in the pond, but these are *supposed* to be amphibious draconians!
Then Gaia died suddenly. I found she was infected with bacteria, probably picked up in the jungle, and had ATP decoupler poisoning. Now I have no mother and no babies.

At least Aslan and his harem in Narnia are doing well. They have all reached adolescent stage. The fallow norn is very graceful and beautiful in a quiet way. I rather prefer the male zebra norns, with the black stripes and mane hair to the females with brown stripes and goldilocks hair. Hmmm... ::wonders if switching these gene file names will... naaah!::

I have the gargoyle egg agent, but I can't seem to get gargoyle eggs. Speaking of eggs, an ettin egg actually popped out of a yuletide cracker! At first I thought it was some kind of chocolate egg, but no, it grew, and turned into a creepy metallic thing like those barrels in "Phantasm." Apparently, this is where ettins are hatched from. It did finally hatch, and now I have a male poodle ettin, named Yullie.


Continued...

I found the gargoyle eggs! Gala and Goliath are very happy in the Norngarden. The gargoyles are quite easy to raise (a blessing after the problem children of hardmans and draconians), and very intelligent. They seem to be born knowing how to speak already. Goliath refers to himself as "me," which I understand is a sign of high intelligence and self-awareness.
I've built a mini-norn home in the Norngarden lower level, with a steam rock and a norn-home scent emitter. It makes a nice creche for eggs and hatchlings. In fact, I think I will try raising my next draconians there, instead of in the harsher Avantasia. It should be easier, since the stinger nest is no longer in Norngarden (and the heavy-metal-bearing stingers), and I've got a fish and meat dispenser to feed them with. And butterflies for them to eat. I only hope this easy living won't soften them for their adult forays into Avantasia.
As for the hardmans... perhaps I'll revive them from cryogenics and let them grow up on their own in Avantasia. They should prove hardy enough for that. I hope.

Stardate 0412.16:

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Stages one and two complete. I have also managed to replace normal ettins with the pink poodle variety, so I have no worries of exporting normal ettins and hatching poodles. I am keeping the population low to start with. Hopefully I won't go nuts like I usually do!

Generation 1:

Aslan:

Male golden bengal of Narnia.

Astra:

Female astro of Narnia.

Fayli:

Female fallow of Narnia.

Zebra:

Female zebra of Narnia.

Gaia:

Female pre-trained chi-chi of Avantasia. (I was a little surprised not to get a bruin!)

Athena:

Female hardman of Avantasia.

Achilles:

Male hardman of Avantasia.

Punky:

Female pink poodle ettin of Avantasia.

Pinky:

Female pink poodle ettin of Avantasia. (I have no idea why I have two females this time!)

They aren't kidding when they say hardmans are angry young norns! They are a handful. I dragged Gaia back from the peaceful Aquarium to care for these two kids. She took one look at Athena and Achilles, snarling and stomping, and she said, "No *way*! I am outta here!" So much for tempering my hardmans with a mother-figure...! ::rummages around for that hardman care guide that is supposed to be here somewhere...::