A New Base Genome: Tentative Conversion Plans

 I've been taking somewhat of a break from Creatures in the days since finishing the RAS ChiChi genome. I guess my brain's tired of thinking of dev and wants to do other things for a while. But nevertheless I'm still having thoughts about where to go from here and what to tackle next. 

In my breakdown of the final RAS ChiChi genome, I mentioned wanting to do a full set of RAS conversions for the official breeds. In this time of indecisiveness, I figured I might as well talk about what my plans would be for each breed. Maybe in the process I'll figure out where to go from here. 

First and foremost: when I first spoke about what my plans for RAS ettins were, I mentioned I'd be basing them on the RAS ChiChi genome as opposed to porting all the RAS changes onto the 2017 Ettin genome. Well, it's not just the ettins I'd do that for; it's my plan for all of the official breeds. It might be a bit more work, but in this way I can design the RAS versions as I see fit, avoid some of the pitfalls the original genomes made, and perhaps give them their own unique flair. 

 For the former mall breeds in particular (Bondi Norns, Hardman Norns, Treehugger Norns, Toxic Norns, and Banshee Grendels), I'd also put special focus on replicating their behavior from their respective chapters in the DS story and making sure they can make use out of all the agents in their respective packs. 

As for each breed individually....

• Bruin, Bengal, and Civet Norns: Believe it or not, the C3 breeds have a slightly different genome to the ChiChi Norns. Their immune systems are considerably weaker than ChiChi Norns, they have a few different poses, and they lack instincts to use portals (since those don't exist in C3 standalone). My plan for these...would basically just be backporting these differences to the RAS ChiChi genome. No really unique plans here, though I'm considering reducing their desire to play with machinery in favor of toys and tools (what the powerups in C3 standalone are called). 
• Interestingly, Civet Norns have one slight difference from Bruins and Bengals: the weight on their Happy Expression gene is slightly higher. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but I figure that's also worth replicating in the RAS version.
• Ettins: To quote the aforementioned post about ettins: "Basically, I want my ettins to build upon vanilla ettin behavior. I'd like them to be independent sorts, who wander the ship doing their own thing and only really seeking each other out to breed. They still steal gadgets as the vanilla ettins, but they also enjoy playing with the gadgets they hoard and also with machinery they happen to find. I'm also thinking they'd enjoy travel for travel's sake even if they're not seeking anything in particular. And while they wouldn't be as cowardly as vanilla ettins, they're still very wary of the other two species."
• By "only seeking each other out to breed," I'm planning on having ettins not be susceptible to loneliness most of the time. Instead, ettins have the sexual cycle run through both males and females (where in norns the females have a cycle while the males just wait for the females to initiate things). It's only when they're fertile that they start to feel lonely, and from there will either seek out other ettins or make their way back to the ettin home to breed. 
• Ettins can only breed upon reaching adulthood, though if possible I'd like them to be able to kisspop naturally upon reaching youth. 
• Since ettins spook easily, their fear overwhelmsion organ won't overwhelm sex drive (as in the original 2017 genome, RAS creatures don't have their hunger drives overwhelmed by fear).
  
• Ettins also almost never get angry, similar to their vanilla counterparts. They can still feel angry and have instincts related to it, but the situations where they'd get angry as opposed to scared are very uncommon. 
• Ettins are not particularly inclined to violence. They will still lash out if angry, but hitting other creatures makes them feel afraid (and this is something they can actually learn from, unlike vanilla ettins). 
  
• Ettins don't have a proper fight-or-flight organ like norns and grendels, where they'd feel braver if other members of the same species are around or more cowardly if they're outnumbered. Being mostly solitary ettins aren't particularly comforted by other ettins, and thus will always prefer to flee. 
• Ettins live about as long as norns do, but they have a quicker start. This means that they age up to adulthood quicker, and a lot of instincts that come in at adolescent or later in norns come in at childhood in ettins. 
• Ettins generally prefer playing with gadgets or machinery (or stealing them) over other avenues of entertainment. The instinct to play with toys is weakened and they have no instinct to mess with bugs or critters at all. They also like using doors when bored, as opposed to just when crowded like in norns. 
• Whether or not they'll have instincts to use portals is still on the table. On one hand I do feel it makes some sense for them, but on the other hand they didn't exist in C3 standalone (and while I've yet to check out Natsue or any other project that brings the Warp back online, I definitely remember people not liking species other than norns coming through the warp back in the day). 
• Grendels: Grendels get special treatment from me, not just for being my favored species and thus their RAS versions are going to get by far the most use out of me personally, but also to account for different attitudes regarding grendels. They get two RAS versions, which I'm calling Type A and Type B.
  
• Type A act like how you'd expect grendels to act. They're cranky and prone to beating up norns and ettins as well as gadget and machinery, like to steal eggs, etc. However, they're not actively predatory like the vanilla grendels (for example, they aren't angered by the smell of norns in and of itself like how the norns are scared of grendels), moreso just defensive and territorial. If they're overly hungry or crowded, that's when they get mad. I don't like the "Always Chaotic Evil" trope in general and I definitely don't like shoehorning grendels into it by virtue of being grendels. Plus, doing it this way makes more sense from a realism standpoint and gives people who like the challenge of taming grendels to live alongside their norns a better success rate.
• Type A grendels are a bit like the C2 boney grendels in that their response to being hit is to get scared and retreat rather than fight back. These grendels are not out for norn blood most of the time; they're hungry and/or crowded and want these intruders off their turf, and will back off if they bite off more than they can chew. 
• Type A grendels have a lifestyle I'd call "live fast; die young." They are the shortest lived of the RAS genomes and age the fastest. They also breed faster than the other RAS genomes, perhaps the fastest of them all (if still not quite at the pace of a pre-CFF genome). That being said, their sexual cycles work like how it does in norns as opposed to how it does in ettins.
• As with ettins, grendels can't breed until adulthood, though they can kisspop starting from youth.
  
• Type A grendels aren't as solitary as ettins and will seek each other out sometimes, but they still aren't incredibly social. 
• Being natives of the Jungle Terrarium, Type A grendels can safely play with pests and beasts and like doing so, perhaps favoring interacting with the nastiest parts of nature over hitting machines and gadgets. 
• Type A grendels are also generalist omnivores, having equally strong instincts to consume any of seeds, fruit, food, bugs, and/or critters. They get more nutrition out of animal meat than norns and ettins do.
  
• Type A grendels have no or reduced instinct to use teleporters or portals.
• Type A grendels have a stronger immune system than norns, requiring less glucose to manufacture antibodies, producing more antibodies in response to antigens, and taking less damage from antigens and other toxins as a whole. 
• They're resistant to ATP Decoupler and Cyanide (at least, these two toxins won't kill an otherwise healthy grendel on their own) and outright immune to Glycotoxin and Geddonase. 
• This also includes being more resistant to wounding than norns, getting hurt less by slaps and having their prostaglandin heal wounds faster. 
  
• Type B is based on Type A, sharing their shorter life spans, stronger immune systems, and love of nature with their original counterparts. However, where Type A grendels are cranky and territorial, Type B grendels are friendly and generally social at around the level of norns. They also live longer and age slower than Type A grendels, but also breed slower. 
• Type B grendels aren't scared of norns the same way norns are scared of grendels, but they are a little more on edge around norns than they'd be otherwise, which can lead to stronger fear or anger responses. 
• Type B grendels also prefer critters and bugs over beasts and pests and are hurt as expected by the latter two categories. 
• Though they act a little more norn-like, Type B grendels are still grendels. 
• Bondi Norns: RAS Bondi Norns are basically the norn version of the dodo. They're a breed that found themselves in a place with no predators or any real major threats to worry about, and as a result worry about very little. 
• Like their vanilla counterparts they live longer and age slower, and are not susceptible to stress. 
• They also lack a fight-or-flight response, but are not scared of grendels, and in fact lack any response to grendels whatsoever. They're rarely angry or afraid, and their responses to both drives is generally friendly interaction with their fellow norns.
• Their desire to play with gadgets or machinery is basically non existent, compensated with a desire to play with critters and bugs instead. 
• Also like vanilla Bondi Norns, they have strong instincts to eat critters and get more nutrition out of animal meat than other kinds of creatures except grendels. They generally do lean more towards carnivory than grendels, however. 
• They also retain the ability to hold their breath for longer periods of time, perhaps holding their breath for even longer than their vanilla counterparts (anywhere between five to ten minutes). That being said, they still aren't truly amphibious and will still drown if they stay underwater for too long.
• Bondi Norns don't feel homesick when pregnant, though unlike vanilla Bondis they might still approach the Norn home when lonely. 
  
• Hardman Norns: RAS Hardman Norns are perhaps the official RAS conversion that diverges the most from their vanilla counterparts. They still maintain the original profile of a hardy grendel fighter, but the way they go about it is a little different. In fact, RAS Hardmen are more comparable to the Osiris Norns (a breed I inadvertently channeled when making the RAS ChiChi genome) than they are to vanilla Hardmen. 
• Generally speaking, RAS Hardmen are more even tempered when there's no grendels around. They are more prone to getting into inter-species conflict than other RAS norn breeds, but they aren't angry all the time like vanilla Hardmen. 
• Younger Hardmen are still scared of grendels and prefer to retreat from grendels. They don't start getting angry and fighting grendels until adolescence. 
• Hardman Norns do retain their strong immune systems from their vanilla counterparts. While they aren't immune to any toxins like grendels are, their general immune response is even stronger than a grendel's, and they are also even more resistant to physical wounds. 
• In particular, Hardmen have the ability to manufacture their own antihistamine rather than requiring it from an external source.
  
• Hardman Norns retain their shortened lifespan from their vanilla counterparts, though they still live longer than either grendel type. They also breed somewhat faster than other norn breeds. 
• Like Type A grendels, Hardman Norns can interact with beasts and pests safely and even have instincts to do so. 
• They also share their diet with grendels, having instincts to eat many things and getting equal nutrition from them all. 
• Hardmen also favor the Jungle terrarium/Grendel home over the Norn terrarium/Norn home.
  
• In short: Hardman Norns have a lot more in common with Grendels than either species would like to admit. It's convergent evolution in action; similar pressures resulting in similar adaptations. 
• Treehugger Norns: Vanilla Treehugger Norns...were not very well tested. So while RAS Treehuggers are similar in many ways to their vanilla counterparts, they also have some key differences.
•  First and foremost: RAS Treehuggers maintain their navigational instincts, unlike vanilla Treehuggers. However, they won't turn to using elevators or doors when crowded unlike most RAS breeds. Instead, they have considerably stronger instincts to use teleporters and portals, and these instincts kick in at an earlier lifestage.
  
• If Hardman Norns were convergent with grendels, Treehuggers are convergent with ettins. Both are generally solitary and rarely feel lonely or angry, and both lack a proper fight-or-flight response in favor of picking the flight option every time.
• Unlike ettins, who only feel lonely when ready to breed, Treehuggers are solitary up until breeding age, at which point they're more inclined to seek each other out (though they're still less social than other norns).
  
• Also similar to ettins, Treehuggers feel afraid when they hit another creature. Unlike ettins, treehuggers have no instincts to tell them to lash out.
  
• Treehuggers start diverging more from ettins when it comes to their lifespan. They live a little longer and age a little slower than normal norns, similar to their vanilla counterparts. 
• Treehuggers are also more prone to stress than normal norns and have an overall weaker immune system. 
• Treehuggers favor interacting with nature and have little instinct to play with gadgets or machinery. 
• Like Bondi Norns Treehuggers don't feel homesick when pregnant. Also like Bondis, Treehuggers might return home for other reasons.
  
• Toxic Norns: RAS Toxic Norns take a bit of inspiration from Malkin's Modified CFE Toxic Norns. They're also more built around the idea of having a symbiotic relationship with bacteria than simply having an upside-down biochemistry. 
• RAS Toxic Norns still break down toxins into helpful chemicals, to the point a heavily infected Toxic Norn lacks the need to eat. However, they aren't injured by antibodies or other cures; the risk instead comes indirectly, posing a threat to their colonies of bacteria.
• Should a Toxic Norn not have any bacteria on them, they have a strong preference for eating detritus like vanilla Toxic Norns. However, they don't limit themselves to just that and will also eat normal food, as well as critters and bugs. 
• Toxic Norns can play with beasts, pests, and weeds safely and even have instincts to do so.
• Toxic Norns are about as resistant to wounds as Type A grendels are. They do have a unique defensive response in that a sufficiently scared Toxic Norn will start coughing and sneezing in an attempt to fling their bacteria onto their attacker.
  
• They favor the Jungle Terrarium/Grendel home as their home, as opposed to the Norn terrarium/Norn home. However, unlike vanilla Toxic Norns they're wary of grendels.
• Magma Norns: Magma Norns are interesting. The idea behind the vanilla genome is that they'd favor warm areas since they get cold very easily and suffer more consequences for being cold. However, RAS creatures are like vanilla creatures in that they don't feel environmental heat based on CA (instead they feel hot/cold based on their stimuli, and some outside sources like the volcano in the Ettin desert, the chili peppers from the Hardman pack, etc.), so I'm not entirely sure how to translate the concept with that thought in mind. This is definitely a concept that the TWBs/TCBs are much better at executing.
• I have more or less decided that their adaptations are geared towards surviving an environment like the C2 volcano, as per their story. To that end, they're immune to Heavy Metals and Fever Toxin, and they're less prone to dehydrating due to hotness. 
• I'm also thinking that they call the Desert terrarium/Ettin home their home, and generally feel warmer around it and thus have an instinct to return home when cold in addition to the other reasons RAS creatures have to return home. 
• Zebra, Astro, Harlequin, Fallow, and Siamese Norns: Change the appearance genes in the RAS ChiChi genome appropriately and call it a day. 
• I am somewhat tempted to do something different for the Fallow Norns and Siamese Norns, as they were discovered independantly in the DS Story rather than being variants of the ChiChi Norns (granted, the Fallow Norns weren't so much discovered as they were recreated with ChiChi genetic material); alas, I don't have many ideas for either breed that wouldn't significantly overlap with one of the mall breeds (though I will say that I'd probably make the Siamese more like pampered pet cats).
  
• However, the Siamese Norn story mentions that they came in different colors, and there was even an official download for colorful Siamese Norns (and another one for Siamese Norns that use the mall breeds' genomes, though that's more an aside). So even if I don't give the Siamese Norns a unique genome, I'd still like to provide RAS versions of the colorful variety. 
• Banshee Grendels: As per their story, I'd base the RAS Banshee Grendel genome on the RAS Hardman Norn genome. Beyond that, unlike either variety of normal grendel RAS Banshee Grendels are actively predatory; they're angered by norns and will actively seek them out.
• Like their vanilla counterparts, Banshee Grendels only become truly vicious upon adulthood. They might be a bit cranky in a manner akin to normal grendels before then, though.
  
• Like RAS Hardman Norns, RAS Banshee Grendels aren't angry all the time if there aren't any norns around.
  
• Unlike young Hardman Norns, young Banshee Grendels aren't scared of norns; similar to type B grendels, they're only a little bit antsy around them.
• Banshee Grendels have the same instincts to play with beasts and weeds that Hardman Norns and Type A grendels do, and they love eggs like normal grendels, but they also have a fascination with gadgets and machinery, even carrying them around in a manner akin to an ettin. 
• Banshee Grendels live longer than Type A grendels and around the same amount of time as Type B grendels, though like the vanilla Banshee Grendels they take longer to reach adulthood. 
• Banshee Grendels are not inclined to run away when hit, unlike either variety of normal grendel. 
• Similar to vanilla Banshee Grendels, RAS Banshee Grendels also use teleporters and portals. However, the instincts to do so only kick in upon adulthood. 

Well, writing them down sure helped me figure out some problems to think over (particularly what the equivalent for heading home the Bondis and Treehuggers should have, since that's how RAS handles getting lonely creatures to do something about their loneliness) and some ideas came to me in the process.

 In some ways, I do feel this is less a bunch of distinct breeds and more a list of features I arbitrarily assigned to each breed. "Okay, Ettins get this, this, and this, while Hardman Norns get this, this, and this...." and so on. Maybe that feeling will fade when/if I start working on these. 

Again, I make no promises as to whether or not I'll be able to complete all of these. It's quite a bit of work, especially since I plan on going the extra mile and redoing all the genomes from the original ChiChi genome as opposed to copying the RAS edits onto the original 2017 genomes. As I've said before, I hope to at least get the ettin and normal grendel genomes done. 

Until the next one, folks.