Creatures Caves

Hello everybody... figured I should probably should stop lurking and try to get some feedback on my current project from the community^^

I finally feel comfortable in my modeling skills (Maya+Mudbox) to try to make my own breed: the Barbary Norns. I'm still in the 'brainstorming' part of the project, so nothing is really set in stone yet.

I figured that since we already have norns based on tigers and bears, why not create a breed based on lions... hence the idea for the Barbary Norns was hatched. For the curious, they are named for an extinct subspecies of lion.

I am still working on some concept sketches for what I want the breed to look like. Newborns of both genders will be born with spots. Females will be born a lighter cream color with dark spots, and males will be born a darker tan with light spots. As they mature, their markings will fade. Mature males will develop an impressive, probably darkly colored mane (the mane will begin to develop at adolescence, reach it's peak in adulthood, and grow sparser/lighter in color in older norns)... while females will develop more subtle hair-dos (I was thinking something similar to C1s female horse norns).

Genetically speaking, I'd like to try to mimic some of their namesake's social behavior. I'm planning for the females of the breed to be very social (if possible, I'd like them to be especially fond of the company of female norns), and suffer less from crowding than standard norns. Perhaps loneliness may even have a negative effect on their health or fertility. The males on the other hand, are more solitary creatures. While they enjoy and seek out the company of female norns, they dislike the presence of other adult males makes angry (perhaps even to the point where they will kill other adult males). This tendency will begin in adolescence and reach its peak in adulthood. In addition to targeting other male norns, adult male Barbary norns respond strongly to grendels-- and will attack and who stray too close to them. I haven't really decided how the best way to go about this is: I might have to add a "same sex pheromone" chemical in order to accomplish this (behaving differently towards members of their own sex). While I'm pretty familiar with norn genetics... I haven't been able to get the genetics kit to work with my game (GOG version of creatures exodus). I'm planning on trying to run the game/genetics kit on Windows 7 to see if that works... but if it doesn't I may need some help writing the genome.

I am also undecided if I want them to have your standard norn diet, or if I want them to be more "carnivorous" (getting more nourishment from critters than fruit/seeds/ect... or perhaps even making them get nourishment from hitting ettins/grendels) OR what breed slot they would occupy... any suggestions?

I hope to post some concept sketches, and the first sprites very soon.