As soon as I opened up the world this morning I immediately saw Barbas, Delphine and Aela huddled in the corner. Barbas had finally reached adolescence, but unfortunately neither Delphine or Aela were yet pregnant. I did noticed Delphine shivering quite a lot, which made no sense as the incubator room was fairly warm, and it was summer! I've figured that it is most likely genetic, just like her lack of tail and yellowish tint.
After a short while I heard a kisspop, signalling that someone had mated successfully. Yep, Delphin was finally pregnant! Unfortunately the only downside is that she and Barbas may not be genetically compatible, which could result in a few stillborn babies. If they do survive, however, hopefully they'll inherit some of the pair's more interesting traits, such as Barbas' adventurousness and Delphine's lack of a tail.
A while later Delphine laid two eggs. In case anyone is wondering, I downloaded Mike L Anderson's Reproduction COB Pack to allow multiple births depending on what condition the female Norn is in - essentially, the better she is feeling, the larger her clutch of eggs will be. The COB also has several other optional features, including livebearing and the ability for Norns to lay identical twins. I highly recommend it for wolfling runs and/or realism!
A while later both of the eggs hatched. Sadly, both babies collapsed unconscious within seconds of their births. At this rate I might have to consider removing Delphine from the world, as her genes clearly aren't compatible with Barbas'. I decided to call the two stillborn norns Brittany and Alf, and watched them float away towards the sky. I'm hoping that if Delphine and Barbas do have another clutch of eggs at least one of them will survive. Remember, breeding Canny Norns with Nova Subeterra or regular hatchery norns is NOT recommended.
After a short while, Delphine became pregnant again, this time laying only one egg. Thankfully, the baby wasn't stillborn this time. Named Louie, he was quite adventurous and loved playing with the toy dog and the slinky. He appears to get frightened and lonely sometimes, however, most likely due to genetics. Still, I think he makes an excellent addition to Albia!
A while later Delphine and Barbas had yet another child, this time a little girl whom I named Jade due to her striking colour. Like Louie, she also shares her parents' intelligence, and I'm now quite surprised I've had two more babies that haven't been stillborn.
Imagine my surprise, however, when I found that Aela had laid not two, but
six eggs! Hopefully this will make up for the fact she isn't a very good breeder and only seemed interested in Barbas once Delphine had left for the desert. Once all of the babies were hatched, I named the females Leisha, Keish, Meesha and Nisha, and the males Simon and Garfunkel. Unfortunately this means the incubator cavern is getting rather crowded, but hopefully the norns will leave to look for other areas to live in as they grow older.
No sooner had I hatched all of the Norns, Aela decided to lay another five! This time however I decided to keep the eggs unhatched in case of an emergency, and also because I am finding it quite difficult to keep track of so many births at once. I do wonder where Aela gets her strength though!
I hope everyone has enjoyed reading today's entry of Back to Albia. Stay tuned for the next update soon!
