Veldin

The concepts of Veldin, Lombaxes, and Nanotech as it is presented here (in Creature-ized form, of course) are taken from the video game Ratchet & Clank by Insomniac Games.

Metaroom
Veldin itself is a metaroom. On the far left side of the room is a tiny freshwater pool - not large enough for anything really, but there just the same. Past the pool is a cave which is the door to the room. In the center is a tree which serves no function besides looking like a large, spikey tree from the Kyzil Plateau. On the far right is an open dome, a cutaway of the spherical structures found across Veldin.

Inside the dome is a moveable vendor which creates Nanotech drinks, and the "door" which leads to the cave in the rest of the ship is actually a stone which can be pushed and used as a teleporter.

Nanotech
Nanotech is a cure-all for your Norns, which could be either a good thing or a bad one, depending on your feelings about survival of the fittest. One sip of a Nanotech cola contains:

0.10 each of Antibody 0-7

0.10 Medicine One

0.10 Antioxidant

0.10 EDTA

0.10 Sodium Thiosulfate

0.10 Arnica

0.20 Antihistamine

0.10 Dehydrogenase

1.0 Prostagladin

0.50 Vitamin E

0.50 Vitamin C

0.75 Water

0.50 Energy

0.25 CA Smell 11

0.025 Reward

Lombax Norns
Lombax Norns are yellow with brown stripes (males are a few shades darker than females, with more stripes, so they're easy to tell apart), with huge ears and green eyes.

They have fairly normal eating habits, requiring food, fruit, and seeds. At the Youth stage, they gain the instinct to eat bugs when they're hungry for protein. Bugs give them a large amount of protein and a moderate amount of fat. They are also capable of eating critters (with similar food values as bugs), but they have no instinct for this. Interestingly enough, when they are Babies or Children, they "crave" fat by producing small amounts of Hunger for Fat constantly, even though they may be chowing down on Food all day. Females who are pregnant will also crave protein in a similar manner, but she actually does need the extra nutrition.

Unlike many Norns, who find machinery and lifts to be absolutely fascinating and the answer to all their boredom problems, Lombax Norns actually become a little bit more bored when they push or pull buttons and the like. This is to ensure that elevators are only used when the Creature feels too high or low, and not just to occupy itself when it's bored. They find toys to be the best answer to their boredom, though once they reach the Adult stage, they may discover that mating is almost as fun (sadly, Youths don't enjoy it quite as much and don't get any reduction in their boredom). Eating flowers also produces a slight reduction in boredom, but this instinct only activates while a female is pregnant, so if she doesn't get a chance to test this instinct during her pregnancy, she won't learn it.

They don't like the smell of standing bodies of water, and will retreat from it if it's too great. However, this instinct isn't high on their priority list, so they're not adamant about it: if there's a really fun-looking toy that just fell in, they'll still wander in to fetch it! Due to their desert heritage, they also have problems with drowning, and their Pyruvate is converted to Lactate twice as fast as other Norns, so they drown more quickly.

They are a long-lived species, with a Life halflife that is only 75% the speed of a normal Norn. However, they grow up at the same rate, due to the fact that their age thresholds are higher. (For example, if your average Norn has a Life chemical halflife of 1 minute and ages from Baby to Child at .9 concentration and from Child to Adolecent at .75, then a Lombax Norn would have a halflife of 1.5 minutes but age at .925 and .8) Once they are Adults, however, the age thresholds are the same as normal, so both they and an average species would have the Elderly threshold at .25 (or whatever it is).

They don't become homesick when pregnant, but all of them produce minute amounts of Homesickness every several ticks. Their answer to this is first and foremost CA Smell 11, which reminds them of the smells of the Kyzil Plateau (a region of Veldin). However, because this smell is not readily available in all areas, they also use Norn Home Smell as a remedy, though with only half as much effect.

Despite not becoming homesick very much, they do get lonely rather easily, and this, coupled with the hormone cycles described below, makes them rather poor solitary Norns.

Hormones
At the Youth stage, their hormones begin to kick in just like any other Norn. However, they somehow seem to maintain a constant level of 1.0 Testosterone or Estrogen! But, for whatever reason, they also produce a constant stream of small amounts of Libido Lower, making it difficult for them to find mating interesting enough to keep at it. However, they can and will produce Arousal Potential and Opposite Sex Pheremone just as any other Youth (interestingly enough, both males and females produce Arousal Potential, unlike the female-only production of normal breeds), but often find that rather than fumbling with a mating, it is easier to just leave the other Norn alone and allow their body to clear the hormones naturally.

Once Adult stage hits, though, the constant producion of Libido Lower stops, and their bodies settle into the normal cycles. Males cycle just like the males of any other species, with the exception that he can also produce his own Arousal Potential. Females, on the other hand, have a totally different system...

A female will cycle between 0.00 and 0.75 Estrogen. From 0.00 to 0.25, she will produce Libido Lower in small amounts, and at 0.00 Estrogen, she will also do a once-a-cycle "dump" of 0.25 Libido Lower. Once her Estrogen level reaches 0.50, she begins producing Arousal Potential - oddly enough, though, she isn't fertile at this level! She becomes fertile at 0.70, and at this time she will begin to produce small amounts of Sex Drive, all on her own without the presence of a male. At 0.75 Estrogen, at her most fertile, she will have a second "dump" of 0.50 Sex Drive - she wants a mate, and she wants him NOW. Female Lombax Norns do not make good solitary Norns for this reason, because she becomes frustrated and stressed if she can't find a male. Rather like an animal in heat, isn't she? As her Estrogen levels fall again, she once again switches back to Arousal Potential and then off to Libido Lower.

The most interesting part of a female Lombax Norn's cycle, though, comes from what can only be described as a form of PMS. If she has less than 0.10 Estrogen and a male pushes or pulls her, she actually gains some anger from this! She's likely to turn around and slap the guy who got a little fresh with her...and then she'll want him back when her cycle rises again, of course.

For Adult Norns, a kisspop results in the reduction of Sex Drive, Boredom, Loneliness, and Anger, and gives a tiny amount of Reward. They will learn from all of these. It also reduces their Crowded drive, but they don't learn from that - what's the use of making more Norns if you think there are too many already? Youths, however, only experience the reduction of their Sex Drive, which would have happened anyway had they ignored the other Norn.

Contributors/Workers

 * Norn Sprites, Vendor and Potion Sprites, Metaroom: Sandy87

In need of: Geneticist