General Pern Information, For the "Never-Heard-of-it" Role-Player

This document was written by Akavyan, though she by no means takes credit for the words typed here. The research was done by painstakingly reading and re-reading the novels written by Anne McCaffrey, as well as the Dragonlover's Guide to Pern, written by Jody Lynn Nye. Any credit must be given to them, who provided the information used. Akavyan is only taking credit for typing this out in her own words, as well as small portions of Part Four and all of Part Five. You have been informed.

Current dragon pixels by Arreilon

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Part One: A Brief History on Pern

Pern is the fictional planet created by Anne McCaffrey, author of numerous novels, around twenty or more of these situated on Pern itself. The planet is located in the constellation Sagittarius, the "Archer", and orbits a star that is known by several different names. The Greek astronomers designated it Alpha Sagittarii, while the Arab astronomers named it Rukbat al-Rami, or "the Archer's knee".

Long before actual colonization, an EEC team traveled to this planet, then unnamed, and evaluated it for the possibility of becoming a colony planet. After a few days on the planet's surface, the small team designated the third planet in the Rukbat system P.E.R.N. This stood for "Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible", as this planet was almost exactly like Earth, excepting the unusual animals.

The animals of Pern are what make it truly unique. These were like nothing the EEC team had ever seen before. Large, six-limbed avians dominated the sky, including a carnivorous beast they dubbed "wherries". They also noted several smaller avians in various colors flitting from tree to tree, and a breed of pest they called "crawlers", which looked like six-legged geckos. There was also a native species of spider, along with several native pollinators. Trundlebugs, the most annoying of these pollinators, is a varied-colored beetle who walks in straight lines, not caring where exactly they go. They have been known to tread water, and could make it over large bays if they truly wanted.

Perhaps the most intriguing creature on the planet was a small creature that resembled the Western Dragon of Terran mythology. This being had four legs and two wings, forked tonges and tails, and had smooth hide instead of scales. These little beasts, the length of a person's arm from shoulder to fingertips at their largest, possessed different color hides based on gender and size. From largest to smallest, the colors classified were gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green. The gold and green ones seemed to be female, while the ones in between seemed male.

It was discovered after colonization that a rogue planet captured in Rukbat's gravity well carried a voracious spore in from the nearby Oort Cloud. This planet, called the Red Star by modern Pernese, brought in the greatest threat known to Pern...Thread. This silvery stuff eats organic material upon contact, and many of the first Pernese lost their lives to the first few Threadfalls.

The colonists soon discovered that the little dragon-like creatures, then dubbed fire lizards, could breathe fire after chewing a phosphine-bearing stone. It was then that the biogeneticists got the idea of making these flying creatures large enough to carry a human passenger, as well as mentally and emotionally bonding with a human partner upon hatching. And thus were born the dragons of Pern.

Part Two: The Dragons

Dragons are the result of early Pernese biogeneticists altering the DNA of the fire lizards to make them better able to combat Thread. Dragons are notably horse-like in facial appearance, with large eyes and headknobs instead of ears. The dragons, like firelizards, have a sort of natural hierarchy based on size and color. This usually goes in this order, from highest-ranking to lowest:

Gold: Female dragon, female rider
Bronze: Male dragon, male rider
Brown: Male dragon, male rider
Blue: Male dragon, male rider
Green: Female dragon, rider is either male or female

In other words, no dragon from bronze on down to green would dare to disobey a gold. Color ranges within these different colors depend on the makeup of cobalt, nickel, and iron in their blood and skin. Golds range from pale yellow to a burnished gold. Every bronze has a green-gold cast to them, but run from pale bronze to nearly brown in color. Browns run from tan on through to chocolate, while blues and greens run nearly the entire spectrum of those colors.

A dragon's eye is faceted like an insect's, and the color of the eye will change depending on their mood. Eye colors and their meanings are found below:

Red = Anger or Hunger, Rutting Agitation when in mating flight
Yellow = Fright
Green/Blue = General shades, could mean anything from Contentment to Curiosity
White = Danger
Purple = Worry
Grey = Anxiety or Stress

Pern's dragons, like their fire lizard ancestors, can chew a phospine-bearing rock and, after a short digestion period, can breathe flame. Greens, who are quick and speedy but lack the stamina for long flight, produce shorter bursts of flame than browns or bronzes, who have the highest stamina of the fighting dragons. The golden queens have the highest stamina of any dragon, but are unable to chew firestone. To supplement the problem, queens and their riders fly in a low-altitude Wing, the riders equipped with flamethrowers to catch any Thread the higher Wings happen to miss.

Dragons and their riders live in extinct volcanoes, dubbed "Weyrs" by the dragonriders. A Weyr will house on average around three hundred dragons, but if crowded, will hold more than five hundred of the flying beasts. As a result of the isolated location, the dragons and their bonded humans rarely get sick, with the exception of a plague every few hundred Turns (or years) and the occasional alcohol-related illness.

Dragon Colors, Ranks, and Sizes

Green: Female (26-31 feet). The smallest and most numerous of the fighting dragons at around half the population, greens are the sprinters of dragonkind. Greens are capable of short bursts of speed and flame, and are swift and agile, making them invaluable to a fighting Wing. A green dragon tends to be very passionate, enthusiastic, or temperamental in personality, making them rather emotional dragons. These dragons have the highest sex drive of any female dragon, and rise to mate around three to four times a Turn. Greens are rendered sterile through a sex-linked disability involving the use of firestone (which is why goldriders don't let their queens chew the stuff), and are thus unable to lay eggs. This is probably for the better, as greens are generally forgetful and are not exactly the mothering type. Even then, a green is lucky to lay a clutch involving a brown, with no metallic colors (bronze/gold).

The color range for greens runs from extremely pale shades to near-black shades.

They generally Impress to female humans of any sexual orientation, as well as to male humans that are either "effiminite" homosexual or bisexual.

Blue: Male (31-38 feet). The lowest ranking male dragon, blues are small, but aren't as maneuverable as their nimble green sisters. Blues make up about one-third, or 30%, of the dragon population. Blues tend to be calm and balanced, making them rather quiet creatures when put next to their larger brothers. Blue dragons are capable of sustaining flame a little longer than greens and possess greater stamina, capable of lasting an entire Threadfall.

Colors generally range from palest sky blue to pale blue-gray and on down to deep midnight blue.

Blues usually Impress to bisexual or homosexual males, but will on extremely rare occasions Impress to a bisexual female.

Brown: Male (38-51 feet). The workhorse of the dragons, browns are of medium length, though larger browns can compete with most smaller bronzes. Browns are a bit rarer than the blues and greens, making up about 15% of all dragons. Browns are capable of sustaining flame longer than both blues and greens, and are fully capable of last the entire six-hour Threadfall. These dragons are generally kind and patient, but there are exceptions to this rule. Browns generally mate with green dragons alongside blues, though they are well able to participate in a gold's mating flight. They are able to catch the golden queens, but this type of mating is discouraged in senior queens, as gold/brown matings produce few, if any, bronze or golds.

Brown hides generally range from pale tan to a deep chocolate in hue, though some cases of almost reddish or greenish browns have been noted.

Browns Impress solely to men of any sexual orientation. Homosexual and bisexual brownriders are strictly of the "masculine" type.

Bronze: Male (45-60 feet). The highest ranking male dragon overall, bronzes tend to possess an almost regal posture, standing proud, firm, and confident of their positions. Bronze dragons tend to have strong, calm, and leader-type personalities, as bronzes are the ones that generally mate with the golden queens. Bronzes, able to sustain flame and stay airborne longest, always hold Wingleader positions. Bronzes are also the rarest male dragons, their numbers only making up about 5% of the dragon population. The senior bronze is always the one that manages to catch the senior queen in a mating flight, and his rider becomes Weyrleader alongside the senior queen's rider, who is the Weyrwoman.

Colors range from light greenish/golden bronze straight down to deep golden bronze.

Bronzes Impress solely to heterosexual male humans.

Gold: Full Female (52-60 feet). Golden dragons, also known as queens to the general public, are the highest ranking dragons overall. No dragon would dare to disobey a queen's orders, often going against even their own rider's wishes to avoid angering a queen. Gold dragons tend to be impatient, bold, and impetuous, and some queens are even a bit self-centered. Golds are the rarest dragon, making up only about 1% of all dragons. The fertile females, gold dragons are actually incapable of chewing firestone at all, regurtitating it soon after swallowing. A gold rises to mate about once a Turn during a Pass, and rise less often during an Interval, often not mating but once every four or five Turns. Clutch sizes vary depending on if it is a Pass or not, but normally run between 25-50+ eggs. Queens lay more eggs during Passes, when the dragon death tolls run higher than during the calmer Intervals. Intensely motherly, a gold dragon will often lash out with tooth and claw at whoever dares to disturb her eggs.

Hide colors range from pale yellow to a deep burnished gold in color.

Golden dragons Impress solely to heterosexual female humans, and many Weyrfolk tend to think that they prefer those who weren't raised within the Weyr.

Part Three: Draconic Cousins

Fire lizards

These graceful little beasts are the start of it all. Their DNA provided the blueprints for both dragons and their cousins, the whers. Like dragons, they have faceted eyes that change color depending on the creature's mood. They also have varying sizes, dependent on their gender and color. Greens are the smallest at around one and a half feet long, and golds are the largest at around three feet. Impressable by anyone, fire lizards are in high demand among the commoners of Pern. In recent years, fire lizard clutches became harder and harder to find, making it nearly impossible for any but the highest-ranking Pernese to acquire one of the little beauties.

Fire lizards possess greater intelligence than many Pernese creatures, capable of abstract thought and organized play. However, they are not capable of speech like dragons are, instead communicating through feelings. Bronzes and golds, which are capable of greater concentration, can sometimes send images to their Impressed humans.

Whers

Whers were created by Wind Blossom Ping, a descendant of the creator of the dragons, Kitti Ping (Wind Blossom is either her daughter or granddaughter...the books have never been entirely clear on this), after Kitti's death. Whers are horse-sized, malformed, heavily muscular beasts. They have smooth, varying-colored hides and varied sizes like the dragons, but that's about where the similarities end.

In an attempt to smooth out the natural faceting of the eyes, Wind Blossom accidentally made the whers photophobic, their sensitive eyes seeing well at night, but are in pain when any form of bright light is nearby. Some Hold children find it funny to throw bright glows into a wher's den while it's sleeping and listen to it scream. Whers also have short, stubby wings that can only support it in extremely short glides in the thicker night air.

When it comes to intelligence, the whers are not much smarter than fire lizards. They are capable of very limited speech, and talking to a wher is like speaking with a three-year-old human. Short, broken English is all the whers have been able to accomplish, and most of their communication is done like fire lizards; the sending of emotions to their human partners. When Impressed, a wher becomes savagely protective of their human partner, and have to be highly trained to avoid any nasty accidents.

Whers that hatch away from human habitation tend to go feral, as they do not rely solely on a human partner as in their larger cousins.

Part Four: Pernese Society

The society of Pern has drastically changed over the years. It started out as a very Terran-like society, with ample technology. That all ended when Thread appeared, and by the Second Pass in the year 250 After Landing, such luxuries as computers vanished from existence due to a thunderstorm. Ever since, Pern has thrived on a feudal-like system, placing the dragons and their riders in a warlord type position when Thread fell. After them were the Lord Holders and Craftmasters, followed by their subordinates. The drudges, the working class of Pern, were always at the bottom of the list, but they live that way by choice, not force.

The heart of Pern's society lies in preserving the dragons and their riders. After all, it is the dragons that protect Pern from the hazardous Thread. Living separated from much of Pern in their Weyrs, dragonriders are a very healthy lot, and can live well into their hundreds. Of course, there are some dragonriders who don't live that long at all, either because of Thread (during a Pass), or various health conditions (such as a heart disease).

During the Ninth Pass of the Red Star, when the colonist's AIVAS (Artifical Intelligence Voice-Activated System) was discovered, computers and the like were rebuilt, with help from the AIVAS itself. Unfortunately, those didn't last much longer than the first ones did. An earthquake in the Third Long Interval (about two hundred years after the end of the Ninth Pass) destroyed the massive data bank the Pernese had managed to develop, effectively ending another era of computers on the planet.

With the destruction of the computers, Pern returned to its former feudalist society, with the exception that they now had solar panels and working electricity.

Part Five: The Start of a New Age

The Third Long Interval, which lasted over one thousand years, took a lot out of all Pernese. With the loss of the new computers, a lot of useful data in healing was wiped clean. Thankfully, they managed to maintain the solar panels and the technology used to make new ones, so at least the new light bulbs, among other electronic luxuries such as space heaters, still worked.

The whole of Pern is in danger of being eradicated by Thread, though the dragonriders struggle to ensure the prosperity and future of their world. Two Weyrs remain in the North, High Reaches and Ista. The Southern dragonriders were ousted from the remains of Southern Weyr due to a recent earthquake. They resettled on the largest island in the Sea of Azov and are still in the process of building effective buildings for their new home.

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