To Tiana

I'd like to dedicate this post to my very first Norn, who came to life around fifteen years ago (as of 2020, at least).

When I was about eight or nine, I received an Amazon gift card for my birthday from my aunt. I was in the second grade, and having not spent much time online (especially not by myself), I had no idea where to start. But I'd always liked animals, and video games, so after my parents helped me search for "virtual pet" games - all the rage at the time, you see! - we came across a game called Creatures 3.

Creatures 3 was my first real computer game, and it led to my first foray into the vast world of the Internet. I would spend my computer time looking at different Norn breeds, reading everything I could about the game and all of its parts, even reading threads on the official Creatures forums. Those posts were from other people, real people somewhere out there in the world, who liked the same thing I did!

I remember at one point my parents caught me talking to strangers on a Creatures fan-site, and I was grounded for a while. There was an area underneath the house with a concrete wall, and I spent my no-computer-allowed days drawing a nine-year-old's version of the Norn Terrarium in chalk so that I could pretend I was still playing.

Now, I'd like to introduce Tiana.

(This picture is not of the real Tiana, but for the sake of the story, we can pretend!)

Tiana was a female Bruin Norn who, if I remember correctly, was one of the "starter parents" I chose when beginning my first world. Being historically terrible with names, I named her after my best friend at the time. Her male counterpart was named Nice, because I thought he looked like a nice little fella.

Tiana and Nice lived a simple life in the Norn Terrarium. They were my only Norns, and I was happy just to watch them walk around, talk to each other, eat things, chase butterflies, and generally do the things Norns do. I thought it was just about the coolest thing I'd ever seen. These were my pets, and I loved them very much.

They lived easy for a long while, until one day, Tiana became pregnant!

Eager to make sure I took the best care of the now soon-to-be-mother living inside my computer, kid me used the teleporter to take Tiana to the Medical Bay, where I was sure I could give her some medicine that would keep her healthy and strong. In order to do this, I proceeded to put her in the Medical Pod and inject her with the first thing that came up on the screen. 

I'm pretty sure it was Lactate. Years later, I was mildly horrified to discover that Lactate is the chemical that makes Norns feel like they are choking, in order to alert them to the fact that they are suffocating or drowning.

After I felt I had sufficiently given her enough "medicine", I led Tiana further downwards into the Medical Bay, curious to explore more of the various machinery and bits towards the bottom of the Bridge. It was then that I was drawn towards the room with the big green button in it...

I clicked the button. The door locked. The lights turned red. The alarm sounded. Tiana had absolutely no idea what was going on until her last breath.

And then my Norn became space dust.

I think some very valuable lessons were learned that day.

As for what became of Nice after that day, I don't really know - I think my father suggested I start a new world over again, and maybe didn't launch Norns into space this time. But for years afterwards, and to this day, I've always named the starter couples in my personal worlds Nice and Tiana.

(No Norns were harmed in the making of this post, by the way - "Tiana" is just fine!)

- Pixis