Post by ShadowReine on Sept 28, 2008 13:55:07 GMT -5
Pern was colonized centuries ago by a group who wanted to turn their back on high technology and complex politics. In addition to the humans, a small group of dolphins came along, for Pern's seas were perfect for them.
The intent of the Charter was to establish an agrarian society of independent families that would have certain basic rights established. For professional skills, an apprenticeship system was established that would eventually become Pern's Crafts.
The survey had indicated that Pern was the perfect planet for them. It had only sufficient metal to support such a society, and no transuranics or exotics, although it did have large deposits of gemstones.
The colonists landed, settled and began to spread out across the southern continent. They domesticated Pern's dominant species at the time, large and beautiful avians that resembled miniature dragons, keeping them as pets and couriers...their ability to teleport making them perfect to transport letters and small packages.
Then one day, the dragonets (sometimes called firelizards, and the latter term eventually won out) went crazy and herded their 'owners' into caves and buildings Thread fell.
The survivors knew they had to do something...and it had to be a non-technological solution.
And so, they bred the dragons, using genetic engineering to increase the size and intelligence of the native firelizards. The intention was to create a biological, renewable air force manned by men and women who volunteered to become dragon partners. When Landing was threatened by a great volcano, the colonists moved to the stabler Northern Continent.
As the dragons grew, the Weyrs were founded, first Fort, then the others, to house the great beasts. The Charter, though, twisted from its original intent. As technology was lost and history forgotten, Pern became a feudal society. The rights of women ebbed away. At first, most greenriders were female, but their role was slowly taken over by homosexual men until it was forgotten that a woman could ride any dragon except gold. Plagues and Thread reduced Pern to a truly Medieval world.
The ninth Pass came, and the dragons had been all but lost. Then riders from Benden Weyr found the original landing site. And the original AI.
AIVAS guided them through actions intended to adjust the orbit of the Red Star so Thread would never come again.
It did not work. Time traveling dragons did manage to nudge the orbit, causing the Long Intervals, and eventually...eventually, Thread will fall no more, but not immediately as hoped. Long centuries will pass before its end is seen.
But other changes came to Pern. Electricity was rediscovered, although the resources did not, yet, support its widespread use. Landing became the center of a university of sorts, studying the ancient technology. And a green dragonet on the Sands at Benden chose a young woman from the audience for her rider.
During the Interval since, women have slowly begun to regain their status. A good proportion of the greenriders are now female, and women have entered most Crafts, with varying degrees of success.
The south was being explored by the riders, and two new Weyrs were founded...Southern and Monaco Bay...to cover the new holds in the South.
The Starcrafters predicted that the tenth pass would begin in three Turns and the Weyrs began to prepare. The golds laid their clutches and the dragon population grew.
Then a group of riders exploring the South found something they hadn't bargained for. Their firelizards became sick.
The pets quickly recovered from the flu-like illness, but then...then the dragons began to show symptoms.
And the dragons began to die. By this time, the riders had returned to multiple Weyrs and the regular inter-Weyr traffic had spread the plague.
Pern had dealt with plagues before. This one seemed easy...except that it spread so rapidly. The Healer Hall used ichor from exposed firelizards, made a vaccine and vaccinated the dragons.
It was a little late. Igen, from which the bulk of the riders had come, was down to less than a dozen riders, who temporarily transferred to other Weyrs. High Reaches had lost all three of its golds. Not all of the sick dragons recovered even with the vaccine.
The real price, however, did not immediately become clear. The golds rose to mate, one after another...and not one egg was seen on any Weyr's Sands. Either the disease or the vaccine had rendered them infertile. The hope of Pern lay in one fragile package. Ista's Nyorath had laid a clutch while sick, then died before the Hatching. That clutch contained a gold egg...but would that young queen be as barren as the rest?
When Hatching day came, half of the eggs were duds. The gold, though, hatched a beautiful, delicate queen, and if she was a little smaller than average, then there was still a sigh of relief. She chose Yselka, granddaughter of Ista's Lord Holder.
Now Yselka's Lyeth is old enough to rise to mate. But will she clutch? And with the Pass less than a Turn away...
Will Pern survive?
The intent of the Charter was to establish an agrarian society of independent families that would have certain basic rights established. For professional skills, an apprenticeship system was established that would eventually become Pern's Crafts.
The survey had indicated that Pern was the perfect planet for them. It had only sufficient metal to support such a society, and no transuranics or exotics, although it did have large deposits of gemstones.
The colonists landed, settled and began to spread out across the southern continent. They domesticated Pern's dominant species at the time, large and beautiful avians that resembled miniature dragons, keeping them as pets and couriers...their ability to teleport making them perfect to transport letters and small packages.
Then one day, the dragonets (sometimes called firelizards, and the latter term eventually won out) went crazy and herded their 'owners' into caves and buildings Thread fell.
The survivors knew they had to do something...and it had to be a non-technological solution.
And so, they bred the dragons, using genetic engineering to increase the size and intelligence of the native firelizards. The intention was to create a biological, renewable air force manned by men and women who volunteered to become dragon partners. When Landing was threatened by a great volcano, the colonists moved to the stabler Northern Continent.
As the dragons grew, the Weyrs were founded, first Fort, then the others, to house the great beasts. The Charter, though, twisted from its original intent. As technology was lost and history forgotten, Pern became a feudal society. The rights of women ebbed away. At first, most greenriders were female, but their role was slowly taken over by homosexual men until it was forgotten that a woman could ride any dragon except gold. Plagues and Thread reduced Pern to a truly Medieval world.
The ninth Pass came, and the dragons had been all but lost. Then riders from Benden Weyr found the original landing site. And the original AI.
AIVAS guided them through actions intended to adjust the orbit of the Red Star so Thread would never come again.
It did not work. Time traveling dragons did manage to nudge the orbit, causing the Long Intervals, and eventually...eventually, Thread will fall no more, but not immediately as hoped. Long centuries will pass before its end is seen.
But other changes came to Pern. Electricity was rediscovered, although the resources did not, yet, support its widespread use. Landing became the center of a university of sorts, studying the ancient technology. And a green dragonet on the Sands at Benden chose a young woman from the audience for her rider.
During the Interval since, women have slowly begun to regain their status. A good proportion of the greenriders are now female, and women have entered most Crafts, with varying degrees of success.
The south was being explored by the riders, and two new Weyrs were founded...Southern and Monaco Bay...to cover the new holds in the South.
The Starcrafters predicted that the tenth pass would begin in three Turns and the Weyrs began to prepare. The golds laid their clutches and the dragon population grew.
Then a group of riders exploring the South found something they hadn't bargained for. Their firelizards became sick.
The pets quickly recovered from the flu-like illness, but then...then the dragons began to show symptoms.
And the dragons began to die. By this time, the riders had returned to multiple Weyrs and the regular inter-Weyr traffic had spread the plague.
Pern had dealt with plagues before. This one seemed easy...except that it spread so rapidly. The Healer Hall used ichor from exposed firelizards, made a vaccine and vaccinated the dragons.
It was a little late. Igen, from which the bulk of the riders had come, was down to less than a dozen riders, who temporarily transferred to other Weyrs. High Reaches had lost all three of its golds. Not all of the sick dragons recovered even with the vaccine.
The real price, however, did not immediately become clear. The golds rose to mate, one after another...and not one egg was seen on any Weyr's Sands. Either the disease or the vaccine had rendered them infertile. The hope of Pern lay in one fragile package. Ista's Nyorath had laid a clutch while sick, then died before the Hatching. That clutch contained a gold egg...but would that young queen be as barren as the rest?
When Hatching day came, half of the eggs were duds. The gold, though, hatched a beautiful, delicate queen, and if she was a little smaller than average, then there was still a sigh of relief. She chose Yselka, granddaughter of Ista's Lord Holder.
Now Yselka's Lyeth is old enough to rise to mate. But will she clutch? And with the Pass less than a Turn away...
Will Pern survive?