Genetic Studies 0

Genetic Studies of Aboriginal and Free Norns

When you hatch an egg from the Hatchery, the egg's parents aren't actually around of course. But the genetic patterns used to create the new creature are in the Genetics directory as usual, in the "mum" and "dad" GEN files. If you hatch the leftmost egg in the hatchery, its genes are produced by "mating" the mum1.gen and dad1.gen files. The second egg uses mum2.gen and dad2.gen, and so on. You can confirm this by looking into the GEN file for a first-generation norn: the 02_01_01 gene, that holds the genetic monikers of the creature's parents, will say (for instance) "mum1dad1".

In exploring the genetics and natural history of Albia, we pointed the GCOMP program at the mum and dad genes in our Genetics directory. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the only genes in which any of these GEN files differ from each other are the 02_02 and 02_06 genes, the genes that determine basic body type and coloration. In all other genes, all those coding for biochemistry, instinct, neural structure, and so on, all the aboriginal GEN files are completely identical. Mutation, therefore, is the only source of variation in the first generation of norns (except for body type and coloration, of course, which can be fun and amusing).

Hypothesis: all mum and dad GEN files shipped with a given version of Creatures are identical. That is, my mum3.gen is the same as yours, and so on. I'm using the U.S. version of Creatures; I don't know if there are shipped subversions within that. I've installed the 1.0.2 upgrade, but that doesn't do anything to GEN files as far as I know.

Some support for this hypothesis comes from the Six Free Norns that appeared when we registered Creatures with Cyberlife. Examining the genetics of these norns showed that they are first-generation norns, one produced from each pair of aboriginals: one from mum1 and dad1, one from mum2 and dad2, and so on. Using GCOMP to compare these six norns with our own copies of the aboriginal (mum and dad) GEN files gave completely plausible-looking results; in fact, two of the six norns were true and mutationless copies of the corresponding aboriginal GEN files. This suggests that the mum and dad GEN files that Cyberlife used to produce these norns are identical to the ones in our own Genetics directory.

Question: Did everyone else who got Six Free Norns get these same six?

The mutations found in the Six Free Norns, relative to our mum and dad GEN files, are as follows. (For some of the mutations found in our own naturally-bred norns, see the documents filed under the Dig at Tsing-Doh.)

DION, child of mum1 and dad1, has mutations in

The 00_00_06 gene, the Attention Lobe gene: an 04 instead of an 00,
The 00_00_07 gene, the Concept Lobe: 2A instead of 28 near the beginning,
The 01_00_11 gene, which is the Receptor called "inhibit dec0 atrophy" (wonder what that means?): a 34 rather than a 35 near the end,
The 02_05_0F gene, an instinct that geNorNics lists as "verb rest": an 0B instead of an 09 in the middle.

Note that these are all one-bit changes.

BUFFY, child of mum2 and dad2, has mutations in

The 01_03_01 gene, decay rates: an EF instead of an FF somewhere, and an FD instead of an FF elsewhere,
The 01_02_20 gene, the drive raiser for sex drive: an interesting one! Instead of taking one sexdrive++ and one 00 (nothing) to one sexdrive and one punishment, it now takes one sexdrive++ and one 02 (need for pleasure) to one sexdrive and one punishment. So while the creature is still punished for things that increase net sexdrive/frustration, and sexdrive still goes up at that point, the process also reduces "need for pleasure." Behavioral consequences? Not clear.

Again, all are one-bit changes, although there were two in the same gene.

MELVIN, child of mum3 and dad3, has mutations in

The 01_03_01 gene, decay rates: an FD instead of one FF,
The 01_01_0B gene, the emitter called "energy consumption (hexokinase)": an 09 instead of an 01 somewhere,
The 02_05_0D gene, the instinct "verb drop": a 10 instead of an 00 somewhere,
The 02_05_12 gene, the instinct "avoid overcrowding": a 0A instead of an 08 somewhere.

More one-bit changes.

JARVIS, child of mum4 and dad4, has no mutations at all.

SHARLA, child of mum5 and dad5, has mutations in

The 00_00_06 gene, the Attention Lobe gene: an 08 instead of an 00,
The 01_02_2A gene, immune response to Antigen 7: a 3A has changed to a 2A. The result is that instead of using up glucose to convert two Antigen 7 into one Antibody 7 and one hotness, Sharla has to use up fear-- instead. I originally thought this would be a bad thing (since it'll take her much longer to get rid of the Antigens), but in fact I think it's good; although the Observation Kit will show her as sick for much longer, and the sickness will interfere with her being less afraid, the disease will not hurt her glucose levels, and will not deplete glycogen and hence life force. So in fact she's sort of immune to Antigen 7! Sort of.
The 01_02_2B gene, the fever reaction: a 52 instead of a 50 in the last byte; she will burn up fever toxin quicker than the average Norn, but probably not enough faster to matter.
The 02_06_03 gene, blueness at birth: a B7 instead of a B5 at the end; Sharla may be slightly bluer than her parents.

All one-bit changes.

TEESHA, child of mum6 and dad6, has no mutations at all.

Norns: http://users.aol.com/dmchess/www/norns.html
Home: http://users.aol.com/dmchess/
David Chess, dmchess@aol.com