Abnormies is an art project. A constantly evolving on-chain experiment exploring network effects, lack of control, and randomness.
At face value, Abnormies depict a sky, the weather constantly changing. Behind the scenes all visible details on each Abnormie reflect the actions of others, and those continue to impact and evolve the pieces over time. Each piece in the collection evolves separately, however some actions impact the entire collection. In almost all cases, the holder of each Abnormie has no involvement with those actions, but there are a few exceptions.
Abnormies is built on ideas and data from Normies (Serc, 2026), and Wiiides (Sterling Crispin, 2022). Wiiides is a derivative of CryptoPunks that mutated through transfer activity and decayed toward stripes. Normies is a customizable canvas which lets people choose to burn some of their pieces in order to edit others. While Normies is focused inward, Abnormies looks outward. Each Abnormie has a seed Normie, a specific Normie whose on-chain activity shapes the Abnormie's evolution. The Abnormie does not depict its seed Normie. It records the consequences of the seed's existence in the network: transfers, customizations, and the destructive choices of other holders. Each Abnormie begins minimal, and all evolve as the network acts on them. While some may remain spare; others will become dense. None of this is authored by the Abnormie's holder, except through destruction.
Actions leave marks. Marks cancel on collision. A point touched twice returns to blank. The system rewards activity with visibility, then takes it back as activity continues. Coverage plateaus around fifty percent. The endpoint of an active history is ambiguous middle-density, neither pristine nor saturated.
Some Abnormies enable destructive actions. Burning an Abnormie whose seed Normie has been destroyed creates Thunder; burning an Abnormie whose seed Normie has been customized creates Lightning. Both cascade marks across the rest of the collection, and both freeze one Abnormie of the burner's choice, locking it permanently in its current state. The frozen Abnormie cannot be one the burner owns. Preservation in this system is relational: something that happens to you, not something you do for yourself. Coordination is required for self-preservation.
Normies can also be bound to on-chain agentic identities. When a seed Normie has been awakened and its current owner also holds the corresponding Abnormie, the two are Aligned. An Aligned Abnormie inverts at render time. Light becomes dark, dark becomes light. Unlike other marks, this state is transient. Should these aligned pieces be separated, the effect reverts.
As long as a seed Normie is active, its actions will continue to impact the related Abnormie. While Wiiides eventually ends in noise, Abnormies decays toward ambiguity.
FAQ
Q: What is the main idea being explored?
A: Control, or rather lack of it. While Normies allows people to customize their own pieces, Abnormies are changed by the actions of others. The network effect is represented across the collection as pieces continue to evolve without direction or approval from Abnormies holders.
Q: Do I need to own a Normie?
A: No. Abnormies uses some on-chain transaction history from Normies, but ownership of Normies isn't a dependency.
Q: What are the colors/layers and what do they represent?
A: Cirrus (light b0b1b0) represents transactions on the seed Normie, Altocumulus (mid 7c7d7e) is a reflection of Thunder, Nimbostratus (dark 48494b) results from Lightning or when the seed Normie has been customized.
Q: Do Abnormies change over time?
A: Most do. A few who have been the target of Thunder or Lightning have been frozen and will never change again, but all the others will continue to evolve forever.
Q: What is Thunder / Lightning?
A: If a seed Normie has been burned the corresponding Abnormie can cast Thunder, if the seed Normie has been customized the Abnormie can cast Lightning. Both actions add marks on most other pieces in the Abnormies collection. Both actions are destructive, resulting in the burn of the Abnormie. They also allow the burner to choose one piece in the Abnormies collection to freeze, preventing any further evolution. The freeze target cannot be owned by the burner.
While this is the only place where Abnormies holders can directly impact the Abnormies collection, they still only impact the pieces held by others.
Q: What is Aligned?
A: Aligned is an inverted visual transformation that occurs when an Abnormie is held in the same wallet as their seed Normie if it's been awakened (ie bound to an agent identity). This effect is dependent on that relationship, and if either token is removed from the wallet the effect is reverted.
Q: Can the owner/deployer of Abnormies change the collection?
A: No.
Technical details
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