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Life stage

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Revision as of 00:18, 12 June 2005 by 220.237.30.150 (talk)
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A life stage (or just stage) is a period in your creature's life, whether they are a norn, grendel, ettin or geat. Their needs will change as their life stage changes; some breeds, like the MerNorns, gain or lose abilities as they age.

A Creatures funeral

The seven life stages are:

  • Baby
  • Child
  • Adolescent
  • Youth
  • Adult
  • Old
  • Senile

There is a certain chemical (called Ageing in Creatures and Life in later games) which controls when creatures enter different life stages and ultimately die. An initial quantity of this chemical is injected upon creation, and the level decays from that point on. A series of genes is present to switch life stage at appropriate levels of the chemical, and eventually one of them triggers death. The change between one of these stages is called a life event. All genes controlling these transitions are subject to genetic mutation (or deliberate tampering).

The "die of old age" gene was left out of the original Creatures, including the Horse Norns, Brown Mouse Norns, White Haired Pixie Norns, Purple Mountain Norns and the Santa Norn released in 1996. Steve Grand says in his Creation book that this was accidental, and that his intention all along was to have forced euthanasia.

If you wish a creature to live longer, you can inject it with some more of the appropriate chemical. It will not grow visibly younger, but the transition to the next life stage (or death) will take place later than it normally would.

Most sprite sets - including those shipped with the games - do not contain separate sprites for each life stage. In the case where there is no sprite set for the current life stage, the previous set is used.

All the world's a game,
And all the norns and grendels merely creatures:
They have their birth events and their death events;
And one norn in her time plays many parts.
Her act being seven stages. At first the baby,
Rocking and cracking on the birthing hot-plate.
Yearning for the light of life.
And then the curious norn-child, bright-eyed
And hungry, devouring cheese without a pause;
Save to bounce the ball. Then the adolescent,
Kissing and pulling, running and hiding,
Exploring and learning, laughing and wailing;
Extending her bounds. And then the youth,
Touching and fleeing, giggling at a push;
Pursued, caught, and kiss-popped at last.
Seeking the egg's immortality
Even o'er the piranah pool. Then the adult,
Burdened with children, laying and playing,
And laying again. Crafty in battle,
Beloved of the hand. The sixth stage warps
Into the graying and old-age'd norn,
With uneven gait and failing organs
Her youghful hair, a faded mop
Atop her bowed head; and her musical voice
Now cracking and failed. Last stage of all,
That ends this tortured fearful parody,
Is second egg-hood and mere senility.
Sans fur, sans cheese, sans life, sans everything.
-- GreenReaper (apologies to Shakespeare :-)

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