Genetic Challenge: Beirut the Slider

And here I deliver my promise of something actually Creatures related! Today's post subject is Beirut, a little male norn who is half Chichi, half Bondi. Out of the second generation in my rather haphazard breeding program in Docking Station he is fatal mutation #3. To clear any future confusion I number my fatal mutations by birth order instead of death. There were five fatals and two other mutations in store for me in those eggs, but they all were very surprising to me and very much welcome. Back in those far-off days, any notable evolution on all of my Arks were painfully slow without throwing someone else's mutated creature into the mix. This group's second-generation eggs were quite the change. I blame the two oddities on having my roleplay haunt on my brain as I hatched and named all ten first generation norns, as three of them were named after particularly evil characters. Why I mention this is that, well, my two surprises happened to have spontaneously acquired grendel parts, one of said surprises happens to have the same sire as poor little Beirut, and said sire was one of those three "evil" norns. In fact as of now he is still alive and kicking around my Nornal-Ish ark at the dusty old age of eight and a half hours old.

Bah!

With that out of my system, let's move on to poor Beirut and my blog title, yes? See, in my time with this series I have never in my life done more with them than care for and breed my creatures and install world  customizations. Oh, I wished I could build my own worlds, objects and breeds, and look into their genes of course; but at the time if the tools weren't free they read to me like they were written in Ancient Greek, especially without use tutorials. And the official programs that had free tutorials? Well, without the programs to look at as I read along those were practically useless to me. Nowadays that's not much of a problem and I have been tinkering a little in the genetics department. Even though it is deviously simple Creatures 1 has boggled me, so I moved to the more recent and I believe I have fared so much better. I think with a bit more time and some more challenges to get my hands dirty with I should be able to understand Creatures 1 when I get back to it; as I have some interesting norns I want to look at and figure out for myself!

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So, about Beirut besides being listed as fatal mutation #3. He is the the first and longest living out of my five fatal mutations; a creature afflicted with a genetic condition called Slider Syndrome. For me, perhaps the most perfect case to get my hands dirty with in the official Creatures 3 Genetics Kit. I am not content with dipping my toes in by tweaking pigments and pigment bleeds and correcting the cycle of ATP/ADP. And oh how right I was when I looked at his genome in CDR's Gene Compare utility. But first, I must answer the question that must be burning in the back of the minds of new or otherwise unfamiliar:

What is Slider Syndrome?

Slider Syndrome is a genetic condition where most often the culprit is that the genes responsible for a creature's pose and gait are entirely missing. The Pose and Gait genes important in that they allow all four species to move and interact with their environment. Without them, a creature cannot even feed itself when hungry or flee when afraid. On a visual inspection the most obvious symptoms of Slider Syndrome would be the creature appears stuck in one pose, often facing the camera, and "sliding" instead of walking when being taken by their little paw and led around. The lifespan of a slider depends on the presence and severity of other mutations within its genome. Immortality is quite possible, but so is dependency on chemical injections to sustain life. While it is possible to force-age and breed them; there are those who would rather not go through the trouble and heartache and just export or euthanize them. While a video clip would be the best way of showing Slider Syndrome in action, below is a picture showing an example of a norn with the condition. In fact the little fellow with his paw up as if being held is Beirut himself, standing next to his aged pure Chichi sire.

I, out of fascination, chose to keep him on the Nornal-Ish ark until he passed away upon reaching the age of adolescence. It was sad to see him just standing there, responding with only his voice to the three remaining first generation geezers that kept him company throughout his short life. But like all of my hatchlings in the haphazard program I had his genome written down for when I decided to open the Genetics Kit and go meddling. And may I repeat myself? Boy was his genome absolutely perfect for actually getting my mitts dirty! I will let this short, simple summary from Gene Compare do some of the talking.

Total number of genes: 435
Total number of lobes: 0
Total number of brain organs: 0
Total number of brain tracts: 0
Total number of receptors: 175
Total number of emitters: 42
Total number of neuroemitters: 0
Total number of reactions: 99
Total number of halflives: 1
Total number of initial concentrations: 25
Total number of stimuli: 0
Total number of genus records: 1
Total number of appearance genes: 4
Total number of poses: 0
Total number of gaits: 0
Total number of instincts: 0
Total number of pigments: 13
Total number of pigment bleeds: 56
Total number of facial expressions: 0
Total number of organs: 19

Yes, ladies and gentleman, I have myself a bigger challenge than anticipated and I couldn't possibly be more thrilled! He is more than just a Slider, but also the norn equivalence of an Anencephalic. You know what that means? I get to not only give him his mobility back, but also hum and sing brain-related tunes as I build this little guy a thinker! In fact I have a tune started right now. See if you can guess what it is. Edit: Revised definition of Slider Syndrome just a bit.