#ettins

[fagpepper]

Creatures 2 gifset, All taken from the creatures 2 intro video.

[creatures-of-albia]

An identical gait mutation in two ettins. They’re capable of walking forward but frequently get stuck in this loop

[computer-pets]

Setting up Creatures Exodus: My setup

I am installing the GoG version of Creatures exodus today, and for anybody’s future use, including my own, I am recording my process.

 When using the installer, set the install path to C:\Users\"your name”\Documents\Creatures

Otherwise half your game will be installed there anyway.

When running the game don’t let it “update to the newest version” that will break it.

Install the official breed packs (I will post about these)

Install Vampess’s CFE creatures and Docking Station and Creatures 3 fixes,  also her portable learning machine

Install C1toDS. (This also allows Docking Station to play offline)

Amaikokonut’s Advanced muco

 Install Albian Warp , this can be a bit awkward for people who aren’t used to modifying their games, it can be done at a later date.

I don’t want this to get too long and tiresome, so i’m leaving it here for now.

[prahlrus]

it is GOBLIN WEEK 2018, DAY SIX

as a special goblin week treat, i am going to detail the goblin life cycle and the peculiar way it interacts with the human one.

clockwise from upper left: troll, goblin, elf, human and ettin

Our general term for a person of any intelligent species as a wight. These we distinguish between seelie and unseelie. Seelie wights live in societies with each other, while unseelie wights live mostly solitary existences and seek each other out only for specific purposes.

The umbral species is made up of two very different alternating generations. Large, deliberate trolls meet and mate and lay huge clutches of eggs, from which hatch many small, energetic goblins. Goblins are sexless, but those who manage to live and thrive for long enough (and most do not) die when they begin to germinate into an infant troll.

Though trolls grow to be massive and can have a great variety of adult shapes (and some are have even been known to change their shape), goblins are short, lithe bipeds with little hair or cartilage but many sharp teeth. Their complexions range from tallow yellow to sea-green and are often mottled or speckled with other hues. 

The complex mismatch between generations of the umbral species means that trolls are uniquely ill-suited to caring for their goblin children, and goblins ill-equipped to the task of raising the occasional infant troll. The peculiar demands of umbral reproductive labor is responsible for the existence of the Penumbral Exchange.

The terms of the penumbral exchange require that an infant troll be given in exchange for an infant of another species. The exchange itself is an ancient piece of blood magic that causes these changelings, called ettins (or occaisionally giants, on account of their somewhat-above-average size) to take after their adoptive parents. After the first few weeks are past, they look for all the world like rough-cut versions their adoptive species. Ettins are still biologically trolls, however; they are unusually long-lived, cannot reproduce with their adoptive species and have troll internal anatomy.

Although stories abound of children stolen from their cradles and replaced by unscrupulous goblins or elves, the blood magic that enables changelings to survive the exchange requires the human parents (if living) to knowingly accept the bargain.

The penumbral exchange is an exchange; the seelie infant taken is raised by trolls on drops of their blood and undergoes goblinization. Humans, as seelie wights, often take part in the penumbral exchange; a goblinized human is called an elf. The child of two elves will be an elf, and so they are able to populate their own communities, only occasionally bringing in fresh blood in the form of changeling-elves. 

Most elves are brought to live among their own kind in remote places. The most important duty of these elfin communities is to tend the warrens where goblin eggs incubate and to retrieve and care for any germinating trolls.

[monstergili]

Does anyone Remember the Creature Games?

When I was younger, I would play this game called Creatures 3.

Besides the Norns, there were other creatures; the Ettins and the Grendels. It was part of the Creatures series that involved taking care of an artifical intelligent critters known as Norns.  It was pretty sophisticated for its time and sure the AI for the creatures wasn’t the best but it was still good.

I loved this game as a kid. I would spend hours playing it and I really enjoyed experimenting with the norn breeds, teaching them how to speak and trying to help them survive and be entertained. I managed to play the older versions (Creatures 1 and 2) as well as the spinoff (Creatures Village). But as computers began changing, I eventually wasn’t able to play Creatures anymore. Not many games these days I would play on hours for and I still wish there was more games like Creatures.

When I visted GOG.com though, guess what I found?

That’s right, I found a version of Creatures I could play again! My brother payed for the game and now I have it on my laptop. After so many years, I still enjoy the game and it doesn’t feel much different to what I had originally. I admit that I didn’t expect the new norn breeds but I’m not complaining.

I even made a family tree that I am working on.

As you can see, there’s quite a lot of creatures. >3>

Anyway, I might capture some screenshots if I can of the game and post them on tumblr if I have something good.

[creativerogues]

A Guide to Great and Gargantuan Giants: VOLUME 2

Legends of old tell of times of hiding, when the hills began to rumble. When walking through mountains quaking, boulders began to tumble…

Tales of the warriors of old, sending mighty dragons to their tombs and from above sending deadly lightning down with mighty booms.

In these tales of dreamers, crafters and kings, death is the only thing a giant brings…

Okunn, The Blade in the Fog (By arkion-king-of-clubs)

While little is known of Fog Giants, tales have been told of massive behemoths able to melt into the fog, showing great cunning and stealth for creatures of such incredible size. Fiercely loyal and protective of their Cloud Giant cousins due to their ability to summon fog and mist, Fog Giants are adept hunters and warriors, preferring to ambush their prey in the pre-dawn hours, when heavy fog rolls off the mountains they call home. The most noteworthy of these creatures is the one called Okunn, renowned throughout the land as not only a cunning warrior, but an accomplished assassin and theif.

Okunn stands only 15 feet tall, with milky white skin and piercing ice-blue eyes, framed by silver hair. Considered to be the runt of his band, and given a low place in the ordning because of it. Turning his resentment at his low rank into ambition, Okunn worked tirelessly to perfect his unique style of combat. Knowing that he could never beat his kin in a battle of strength, he learned to use his opponent’s own weight against them, preferring to stay light on his feet and redirect or dodge a blow rather than simply take it. He preferred shortswords to the clubs and hammers most commonly used by his kin (a shortsword to a giant would be equivalent to a human warrior’s greatsword). He would sneak around the valleys of his mountain home during all hours of the day and night, becoming quite good at remaining unseen.

He began to work his way up the ordning and up the ranks of his tribe, through the amassing of wealth as his Cloud Giant cousins do, and through the fulfilling of contracts given to him, which he keeps bound in a massive tome in his home cave, more of a proper house than an alcove crudely hewn from rock.

Eventually becoming his chieftain’s right hand, Okunn was gifted with a set of white dragonhide armor and a pair of ornately carved, ivory-hilted shortswords from a Cloud Giant benefactor. These swords contain lustrous pearls in the hilts capable of generating massive clouds of fog, in order to aid Okunn on his missions.

So when a Cloud Giant is in need of more material wealth, is coveting something that another Cloud Giant has, or needs someone or something taken care of, an offering and a contract are given to Okunn in exchange for his services. So if you manage to draw the ire of those towering creatures that live high above the land, fear the morning mists, for you know not what lies within…

Brifur, The Blade Returned (By arkion-king-of-clubs)

In his youth, Brifur was a frost giant gifted with immense size and strength. Standing head and shoulders above his peers at 25 feet tall, Brifur earned a high rank within the ordning due to his immense strength. It was always Brifur that would provide his herd with the most food and gold from every raid, always being the first in and the last out. He would train daily to hone his skills to a razor’s edge, as he was constantly being challenged for his rank in the ordning.

Brifur was undefeated, routing his challengers with relative ease due to his size and sheer power. With every victory, his pride would swell, Brifur thinking himself invincible. His arrogance would prove to be his downfall, as a few of his brothers went to a local human settlement to make a deal.

The next day, that very village was raided by the herd, Brifur at the front as always. Everything went as it usually did, except the humans seemed to put up even more of a fight then usual. Brifur relished the challenge, taking arrow after arrow but never faltering. Like always, the village was taken and it’s supplies taken back to the herd. It was then that Brifur began to feel quite strange. Waving it off as exhaustion, he continued about his duties.

It was then that one of the runts of his herd, a low-ranking giant named Grimin, had the audacity to challenge Brifur. Brifur accepted, thinking that this would be the perfect way to shake off his tiredness.

As Brifur stood, he could tell something was not right. He could barely keep a good grip on his ax, and his breath was labored, every exhale sending pain racing through his body. Even in his weakened state, Brifur fought with all of his might, but it was not enough. Grimin claimed victory, and Brifur was exiled from the herd, thrown out into the frozen wastes to die.

He wandered the tundra in search of a place to rest, so he could regain his strength and take revenge on the humans that poisoned him, and the giants who had wronged him.

As he crashed to the hard white floor of the tundra, Brifur prepared himself for death, his hatred burning white-hot but unable to move his body. Before he succumbed, he heard a whisper in his ear. The voice promised revenge and power beyond his wildest dreams, and Brifur got up one last time to heed the voice’s call. He stumbled his way into an ancient cave, where a massive, black-bladed ax lay next to the long-dead bones of another giant. Before Brifur slipped away, his hands closed around the haft of the ax….

He awoke in the cave, his body dead, but his soul and eyes alight with primal fury. He was alive yes, but he only had one goal in mind. Revenge. Donning the massive black plate armor worn by the previous bearer of this cursed blade, he charged out of the cave with a roar that seemed to shake the very heavens, the ax itself burning with the fire of his fury. He now raids both human and giant settlements, determined to seek his revenge…

[creatures-of-albia]

I must be too used to norns. I really struggle with the behavior patterns of ettins. I expected them to be a copy-and-paste of norns with different sprites, but boy was I wrong.

Here’s what I know so far:

- They have a behavior that I refer to as “fetching”. They often grab gadgets and bring them back to their home in the desert. I’m training myself to recognize this behavior as a healthy ettin behavior but I still think it’s annoying right now. I’m starting to think scattering the gadgets is fun, so I’m hoping I just accept it

- My two ettins, A11 (male) and A3L (female) don’t often engage in the fetching behavior since they usually play with each other or with the volcano in the desert

- Their mating system is weird. So far it looks like both get sexually aroused until they meet, but the female’s sex drive and arousal potential plummets in response to opposite sex pheromone. That means there’s a tiny window of time where the female is actually fertile.

- The female ettin has a short pregnancy and cooldown time in comparison to norns (I think).

- I theorize female ettins have “periods” like humans do, due to an occasional spike in estrogen that kickstarts their arousal potential and sex drive

- My male ettin is learning to impregnate the female and leave rather than getting stuck in an infinite loop of kissing. That makes him smarter than me, because he can figure out the mating system and I’m still struggling

I just don’t get it yet. But I’ll keep updating this post as I begin to understand more

[creatures-of-albia]

Playing around with ettins in C3/DS mostly for behavioral purposes. I often find ettins a nuisance because they steal all my gadgets, but I’m enjoying scattering the machines around for the ettins to find and return to their home in the desert