Dwarfins

Our Little Dwarfin Family

I hold breedables in absolute contempt, but I have to say Dwarfins are oh, so cleverly and skillfully made!

Sweetie and I noticed them on display at one fair or another at Christmastime. I was impressed. She wasn't, but only because her ancient Macbook wouldn't rez them (she refuses to give it up because Agent 99 once owned it and scratcher her initials into the back. When I suggested that perhaps she was reading it upside down and it had actually belonged to Agent 66-- well, you wouldn't believe the look she gave me.

So anyway, we ran across them again at the Fantasy Fair and joined the group to get a free Dwarfin. We both drew females, so Sweetie bought a female and a rock for the dwarfins to worship. I bought food for them to eat-- for, you see, you're in perpetual hock to the creator for grub; the dwarfins turn into stone if not fed. The food lasts for a day or more, depending on how much you spend. Food is a ham, which dwindles away as it is consumed.

So yeah, it's a racket, but it's a nicely-crafted racket, and we've had fun playing with our dwarfins this week. Our little dwarven dwarfin family of three has now grown to four-- there's a newly-created rock on the sea decks on Whimsy Kaboom with a newly-minted dwarfin ready to be chiseled out so she (it's a girl!) can begin life. That'll (hopefully) give my male a mate.

My Dwafin Obsidius (Yes, You Can Name Your Dwarfin!)
Keeps Watch Over the Birthing Stone

Our dwarfins each came with a campfire, a chair, and a supply of food that lasted a day or so. There are extras one can by and special-issue dwarfins. Sweetie's female is a priestess of some sort.

The dwarfins are sculpted, or perhaps mesh. I suspect the former, for the land impact is low. They sit immobile about half the time, which is good for the sim, and at other times walk about, sit by the fire, sit in their chair, worship the stone Sweetie bought, or eat a portion of the ham hock I laid out for them, thanks, no doubt, to Puppeteer. Occasionally the prims get a bit out of line, but only rarely on Kaboom.. Surprisingly, the eyes move and blink.

Touching a dwarfin yields its statistics and allows the owner to send it commands. The scripting is well done, allowing the drarfins to interact with their environment.

Like all breedables, newly-born dwarfins inherit traits from their parents. Cleverly, they follow the laws of Mendelian inheritance; there are dominant and recessive traits, and, I suppose, the occasional mutation. Subject to a dwarfin's energy level, he or she can be commanded to mine or read up on dwarfin birthing science. Mining yields gold and jewels; reading increases the possibility of high-value traits in offspring.

Dwarfin offspring can be sold, and those with exceptional traits are highly valued by the sorts of people who believe in perpetual motion machines and pyramid schemes. Low-value dwarfins can be given to the god Andronicus (thus doing away with the cost of feeding them).

We won't keep the dwarfins out for long, or allow our little family to grow beyond four, but we'll probably buy food enough to keep them alive for another week or so, just in the name of science.