“If you’d like to listen to the poem I’ll read,
Spun out of ancient stories, set down by honest men
With bold words
And faithful pens.”

The settlers came. They came from very far, traversing star and the blackest of nights, distances that we can no longer imagine – they themselves could hardly understand. They were a strong people, fleeing tyranny, casting out into a brave new world and searching for something… more.

And so, there was Pern.

The people thrived, raising families with their crops, worshipping their newfound home. But peace can only last so long. Gray rain fell from the skies, devouring all it touched. Thread, it soon became called, the deadliest tapestry ever beheld by man. But the planet produced salvation. On jeweled wings of Gold and Bronze, the settlers were saved, and an age of hope struck fire into the hearts of the young. Flown by Bronze strength, those Golds laid, producing many fine, strong beasts of Green, Blue, and Brown. As the dragons multiplied, so did the population of dragonmen; these selected few required lodgings of their own, away from the common people. Headquarters of their own where dragonmen could attend to dragonmen business.

Thus, the six Weyrs were created. Six gathered to save Pern. Six created to sear Thread from the sky.

We all have heard this story; we all know it to be true… Our brave dragonmen taking to the sky without a selfish thought to defend us down below from the silvery monster.

But in that chaos of creation and new birth, there came another Weyr...
Born of secrecy, nestled in solitude, it was deemed protector of the skies – a hidden monarch, to safeguard Pern even from itself.
And so, history was written, a vital part concealed within its pages.
Anytime when the power shifted, when the hands were shuffled and the cards tilted, Orolais was the eyes that saw and intervened. Revolts, uprisings, battles, and victories – all twisted and chosen through the influence of a select few. History was molded, through the grasp of the secret Weyr.

80 years have passed since Landing. The complex technologies of those people are nearly lost to Pern.

But Orolais lives on...