FALLING USER MEETS RISING NULL:
SPRITE BIOLOGY

The Net is home to a variety of Sprite species, all of which have to share a common Program relation as all turn to Nulls when Games are lost. As of 2003, we know of the following five species in the Sprite family (Homo Digita):

* Data Sprites (Homo Digita Datoid). Mainly humanoid in form, though not neccessarily human as Lens the Codemaster and the Spectrals showed, and animal Sprites like Friskett are in existence.

* Binomes (Homo Digita Binary). Either One or Zero- blocky short creatures.

* Media Sprites (Homo Digita Cultura). So far we've only seen Mike the TV, but there are probably others.

* Service Sprites (Homo Digita Servitudia). An odd species out, being related to the others through Code but instead of being born they are constructed for specific tasks by other Sprites & Virals. Examples of this species include Cecil and Hack & Slash.

* Numerals (Homo Digita Numero). Ranging from all single-digit numbers above one and also ranging to ampersand, these creatures are slightly more common than Sprites but less so than Binomes. A close relation are Characters.

* Game Sprites (Homo Digita Combata). Designed solely to survive in Games, this species rarely interacts with other Sprite species.

* Web Sprites (Homo Digita Extremis). We only have Ray's word on this, but these are supposed to be intelligent Web-living Sprites unrelated to the degraded Sprites that enter from other systems. If they do exist, they are most likely very dangerous and violent creatures.

* Viruses (Homo Digita Infectious). At first glance, they have no relationship to the other species- but Hexadecimal showed they can be turned intp Sprites, suggesting some vague link in Program.

One thing that is immediately apparent is that Data Sprites are a lot rarer than Binomes; similarly, we have hardly seen Numerals outside of Mainframe and I can't even think of a specific time we ever saw one. Also note that the SuperComputer has an entire security force (Guardians) seemingly composed entirely of Data Sprites, unlike other Systems where Binomes make up a good portion of the CPU or equivalent thereof.

The theory here is that the amount of Data Sprites is directly dependent on the power of and amount of programs in their System. Data Sprites are personifications of programs and the more a computer has, the more the Binomes (data & functions) upgrade to Sprite. Mainframe is rather an old system and had few Data Sprites in residence even before the Twin City's destruction. The ones that did exist mainly lived in the Twin City, and only a bare few lived outside it (the Matrix family). If there had been a larger amount, more would have been in Mainframe at the time of the explosion either for business or residency. The SuperComputer is a highly advanced System and so consists of many more Data Sprites.

This would explain the absence of Numerals outside of Mainframe. Their body structure, rarity even in Mainframe and an evolutionary chart seen in The Medusa Bug shows they are the evolutionary step between Binome & Data Sprite. In an older System they wouldn't exist, and in a more advanced one they'd upgrade quickly; only in a few systems can they still thrive in their current configuration.

This leads to more questions- for one, interbreeding. Data Sprites and Game Sprites would have no problem as far as it can be seen, but how would it work Data Sprite/Binome? Anatomically, they don't even seem to fit together. It could probably be done but the child would most likely be a Binome, and concieving would be difficult. As for Numerals, they could probably manage it with both Binome & Data Sprite.

With Viruses, it would be impossible. They don't even reproduce, being created either by User or the splitting of another Virus.

This doesn't mean they couldn't copulate. Ability to coprocess young would have no bearing on sex for pleasure. The only thing halting that would be social constraints, and presumably this is only in place in advanced Systems where Data Sprites outnumber everyone else and could easily view themselves as the superior race. In an older System like Mainframe, you could probably get away with it- female Data Sprites have been seen perving over male Binome strippers.

Viruses would get the short end of the stick, of course. Mating with a Virus would be frowned upon by all other Sprite species due to the inherent destructive nature of most Viruses and the fear of them. This could go a long way to explaining why they're historically so ticked off.

The Net is breaking down all this though. As Systems gain access to it, their inhabitants seem to leave and join groupings based around skill rather than species. Sprites want to be Codemasters, Web Surfers, Hackers, Traders, Guardians- not Data Sprites or Binomes. This phenomenon of Internetisation has the potential to rewrite the Sprite genus as we know it. For example, if Hackers tend to mate with each other regardless of species and raise their young within their own subculture, how long will it be before Hacker is seen as a viable species of its own?

The Net, as always, changes everything. And it will be interesting to see how Systems react to this.