The Fourth Dynasty of Kevan
September 7, 2004 - October 16, 2004
Contents
Ascension Address
A petri dish was prepared containing an even layer of nutrient agar, and a 1cm² grid marked on the underside in black marker. The remains of Specimens from earlier experiments had previously been grown to a size of 75mm² in separate dishes, and several new and untested Specimens were cut to a square 100mm² - these Specimens were placed together in the gridded petri dish, at least one square away from each other. The sealed petri dish was then placed in an incubator at 30°C, and closely monitored.
Players
Kevan, ChronosPhaenon?, TrumanCapote?, Josh, Knightking, Aaron, Simon, Orson, Brendan, Dirk, Combustable, ChinDoGu?, WildCard?, ShadowSliver?
Final Ruleset
- (This dynasty's ruleset has yet to be recovered.)
Proposals of Interest
Enzyme Frenzy (Kevan 9/7/2004) - Laid down the rules for Breathing, a system where Specimens could select strategic Elements to attempt to gain size.
Population Control (Kevan 9/8/2004) - Introduced the Population statistic, which was combined with the Size to determine Biomass and cause all kinds of problems. Also changed Specimens to Strains.
The Virus (Josh 9/8/2004) - Literally taxed us for breathing. Didn't get really vicious until near the end, actually, but it was always lurking, like an angry spider. A really small angry spider. Living in a petri dish. Hmm.
Size Matters (Simon 9/9/2004) - Allowed for knockout blows against Strains whose population or size hit the bottom by zeroing the other statistic as well. Eventually became a mechanism for the victory condition.
Frenetic Code (Orson 9/10/2004) - Introduced the Enome, which later allowed for the conversion of several columns worth of GNDT data into a convenient six-letter licence plate. Note how it was unanimously passed; if you ever want some free points, just propose something that cleans up the GNDT.
New Ruleset Wiki (Kevan 9/10/2004) - Repeated complaints from would-be admins who couldn't create Wiki accounts led Kevan to create a new one on his own webspace for storing the rules. You feel sorry for the old Wiki. That's because you're crazy. It's just a Wiki, it has no feelings, and the new one is much better.
Woah! Strain & Specimen Confusion (Orson 9/13/2004) - Mass confusion reigned for a few days due to inattentive ruleset changes and weird misinterpretations; Kevan would later be called in to fix everything again. Oddly enough, when the dust settled, all the errors cancelled each other out and the changes were allowed.
Heavy Breathing (Kevan 9/13/2004) - A major rule that changed Breathing so it relied on both Size and Population to determine how much Size could be gained. No size gain cap was instituted, allowing a few Strains (Simon, Knightking, Orson, and TrumanCapote) to use population splits and breathing to gain huge amounts of biomass.
Elbow Room (Orson 9/15/2004) - Enforced a cleanup of the petri dish whenever it got too crowded, which was daily due to the massive uberstrains who had expanded themselves after Heavy Breathing passed.
Positive, Negative (Simon 9/17/2004) - Changed the mechanics of breathing so that the size limit was hit after subtracting losses, not before. Vitally important due to the uberstrains who could've otherwise sucked the life out of you.
Shallow Breathing (Kevan 9/19/2004) - "Maybe we just need a cap on huge and ridiculous breathing." Couldn't have said it better myself, Kev. Limited breathing gains or losses to 10 Size.
Feeding Frenzy (Orson 9/21/2004) - Created the Food Chain. Large Strains would now be Plants, upon which the smaller Strains would feed as Predators.
Bad Breath (Kevan 9/24/2004) - Took out breathing once and for all. The Food Chain was now officially the order of the day.
Efficient Virus (Chronos 9/27/2004) - Turned the Virus from a benign critter into a serious irritant; since nobody was ever affected by its pollution, it could now dine [k]nightly on Knightking.
Affliction Gene (Simon 9/28/2004) - Created Afflictions, debilitating diseases which could be given to enemy Strains via the enome code. Eventually inspired other enome values that could be self-applied for offensive or defensive purposes.
Hybrids, mark II (orson 9/29/2004) - Several Hybrid ideas had been tossed around, but this is the one that finally got passed. Of course, it got unpassed a week or so later and had to be passed again...
East of East St. Louis (Aaron 10/6/2004) - Of all the failed proposals in the history of BlogNomic, this is probably the most tragic of all. The fate of cheese has never been determined; is it truly awesome, as Aaron suggested? Or is it bland and unsatisfying? What about the relative merits of different kinds of cheese? The world may never know...
Boreness (Chronos 10/7/2004) - Between lingering remnants of confusion in the rules and an inability to agree on anything, a CfJ proposed that Kevan come back and fix everything for the second time. This time, instead of tinkering with stuff, he just threw the whole thing out. Certain likeable rules (Population, the Enome, Afflictions in the guise of Abilities, and Hybrids) were re-enacted soon after.
Victory Condition (Chronos 10/9/2004) - And so we entered endgame. Last Strain standing would win.
Hybrid Request: Chronos, Knightking (Chronos 10/15/2004) - The birth of Knightphaenon, whom Knightking would use to take over the dish.
Ascension
Knightking took control of super-predator Knightphaenon and used it to devour every strain in sight. As the last living original Strain, he then became the victor.
Commentary
Miscellaneous
This Dynasty followed the almost completely insignificant lives of a group of Specimens - later called Strains - as they attempted to overflow a petri dish. The eventual aim of the mysterious scientists who controlled the experiment was never really clarified, though they did eventually create a sort of self-mobilized Lysol. The main statistic became Size, and Kevan was the Control Specimen/Strain.
