#weyrleaders

[antisocialxconstruct]

behold

ooouuughghhd THANK YOU LOOK AT IT 😭😭😭

[fergus-cousland]

charlotte do you know where the video in which eleanor is talking to a few people and then cousland comes up in bikini armor with neon hair and makeup is… i cant find it 😭

I know exactly which video you're talking about and thought it was lost to me too but I have found it!

[auntieoneandauntietwo]

A thing we need to talk about more is that weyrleaders are, sorta by definition, guys who think they’re the best and should be in charge of everything cause they’re the Biggest Strongest Man but weyrwomen have more power than them by virtue of being women. Like that must lead to the most insaaaaaane power dynamics

[weyrleaders]

thinking about looking for a pern rp forum again but idk the things i would want in one are Really Specific and also with my characters as they are none of them would be a good fit for a forum

[ranticore]

hits u with my dragon beam

tha boys and their dragons from the au i am self-indulgently messing with. green, bronze, and brown. these are scaled to their actual sizes relative to one another & their riders.

reasoning/more info under the cut. when i say 'niche audience' i mean the approximately One Person who knows my characters and has also read a pern book (me. i'm the one person it's me)

Féiix is a green rider obvs. I think it's really generous of dragons to have a colour specifically for bottoms. Her name is Estibarith and she ends up committing matricide by stubbornly rising at the same time as queen Lenath, to protest the weyrwoman's abusive treatment of her rider. Estibarith is legendarily short-tempered and protective, and although her rider might continually reassure her that his arrangement with the weyrwoman (as her personal spy; he is an ex-harper) is healthy, Estibarith has other ideas. She is quite good at precise hops between, which is how she manages to bait Lenath into flying head first into a mountainside.

Islin's bronze Taranth is very big, very gentle, and completely unwilling to do his duty as a bronze in any capacity at all. He has a... complicated relationship with Lenath and endures a good amount of ridicule, but Islin is adamant that he will never make a bid for weyrleader as this involves sleeping with the weyrwoman and queen (he'll settle for being wingleader). A strong disagreement over Félix's spywork and loyalty to Lenath leads Islin and Taranth to walk out from their weyr, and operate out of a different base for years before Lenath ultimately dies from failing to compete with Searrath on a mating flight. He is the only bronze rider who is not originally from a weyr.

Francis's brown Nllath was almost killed by Lenath when he hatched. As the son of the newly-ousted ex-weyrleader, Francis could have easily impressed a bronze and ousted the current weyrleader, so the weyrwoman conspired to prevent it from happening. Lenath broke Nellath's leg during the hatching, and only the invervention of Francis's father's bronze saved both himself and the injured hatchling from what appeared to be the queen's random fit of infanticidal rage. Nellath recovered well and became a very popular brown dragon and an impressively good shot with his flames. He has attempted several times to chase a queen (usually one of the juniors, still a little wary of Lenath), and has even succeeded more than once. Francis and Nellath support one of those junior queens during an attempted ousting of Lenath and the weyrwoman, but never expected that Félix's loyalty to the weyrwoman would separate them for years (until Lenath goes out carcrash style against a mountainside, as previously mentioned)

It's my first time trying to write a full conspiracy over the course of the characters' lifetimes so it's pretty fun!

[tasam1075]

A New Name

Scott followed the experienced dragonrider, still in a state of shock, as he and Lucenth made their way together towards the weyrling barracks, he was still struggling to believe that he'd been chosen, that he now had a role and a future.

Lucenth 'waddled' as quickly as the hungry dragonet could manage (surely someone had some food for him) him head butting against Scott's leg every other step, a reassuring presence for the young man.

It wasn't until he was hand feeding Lucenth, controlling the rate at which Lucenth was attempting to 'inhale', the small chunks of raw meat that he truly realised what had happened.

He had been chosen.

He was now a dragonrider.

That pause in food supply, caused by that minor epiphany, was interrupted by an indignant nudge from Lucenth as he expressed his impatience at the delay.

"I'm hungry" the almost petulant complaint brought Scott's full attention to the task at hand, feeding 'his' dragon.

"Don't rush, there's plenty for you"

Scott smiled to himself as he remembered the last time he had to police a very hungry individual eating, at least Allie's appetite had been much smaller at the time.

He was a dragonrider, the enormity of that simple statement almost stopped him again until he realised that he now had another problem that he had to resolve - sooner rather than later.

"I need a name" he gasped as he realised.

The Scott that had stood beside the hatching ground, who stood and watched three as of his younger brothers all impressed, who had stood as a candidate twice before and failed - no longer existed…

He was now the rider of a bronze dragon, he needed a new name.

"Yes you do. What are you going to pick?"

He looked up at the experienced dragonrider who had spoken.

"I don't know, Scott doesn't contract well and I'd stopped dreaming about options after V'gil succeeded. I'd failed twice and wasn't going to try again"

He admitted, the sadness and self doubt in his voice and manner caused Lucenth to stop eating for a moment as he turned to his rider.

"I chose you" the pure love, determination and absolute conviction in Lucenth's voice almost brought him to tears again.

"Yes you did" he reassured himself, and Lucenth, as he passed the next few chunks to the still hungry mouth.

"How did you choose your name?"

"It was easier for me, I'm Werybred. Most of our names to tend to contract easily"

"Stop bragging F'lessan"

For the first time he actually looked at the dragonrider, recognising him for the first time as the only son of the Weyrleader F'lar.

"Tai, I wasn't bragging" F'lessan tried to insist as he reached over to take her hand.

"Keep telling yourself that" despite the admonishing tone he could see the genuine affection they held for each other as she allowed herself to be pulled into F'lessan's arms.

He refocused his attention back onto Lucenth as he gave the riders some privacy, almost embarrassed to see their open love for each other.

"What had you been considering?" Tai asked, genuinely curious

"I don't know" he ruefully admitted "probably a just contraction of my full name"

"What is your full name then?" F'lessan asked, also curious but genuinely concerned about the inner turmoil being faced by the new rider.

He felt Lucenth's love and support as he steeled himself, could he really trust others to help him chose his dragonrider name?

"Scott-Malcolm" he admitted "my family always had some strange naming traditions"

He was surprised when the first suggestion came from Lucenth and not from the other riders.

"S'mal" the dragon stated with a decisive tone in his voice.

He looked as Lunecth in surprise "are you sure?"

Lucenth nodded, as only a satisfied Dragon could "I'm tired"

"You are not sleeping here and I'm not going to carry you to your bed" he looked round "wherever that is" he wryly observed.

F'Lessan took sympathy on the pair "come this way" he said as he led them both to the sleeping areas of the weyrling barracks.

"Golanth approves you know"

"Of what" he was confused, was it his impression that Golanth approved of?

"Lucenth's choice"

"Rider or name?"

Both men shared a knowing look, one with a lifetime of draconic experience while the other was just at the beginning of his new lifelong adventure.

F'Lessan waited until Lucenth was settled before he answered.

"Both" he indicated the sleeping dragon and adjacent rider's area "this your home now"

F'Lessen smiled to himself as he saw the effect that simple statement had on the young man in front of him.

A young man who, in F'lessan's 'humble' opinion, had the potential to be an exceptional future wingleader (if not Weyrleader).

"Are we going up to the feast now, I think that there's a few people who need to see you".

As they came into the post hatching celebrations F'Lessan seemed to disappear into the background as the new rider looked round, his eyes quickly settling on his younger brothers.

Gordon was the first to reach him and, in typical squid fashion, quickly enveloped him in an almost crushing hug

"I knew you could do it"

J'on and V'gil were the next to reach him their congratulations, although more muted, were no less sincere.

"Somurth insisted that you'd be chosen" was all that V'gil could say as he enveloped his brother in a congratulationary embrace.

J'on, although far more restrained, was no less sincere in his congratulations.

"Where's Allie?" he hadn't seen the youngest yet, surely he was here somewhere.

"Here I am"

He braced himself as the energetic whirlwind that was Allie virtually jumped into his arms as if he was still a small toddler.

"I did it. Did you see? I did it !"

Allie couldn't contain his excitement as he continued

"Did you see my dragon? He's the best"

"What's his name?" J'on took advantage of the brief pause in Allie's excited chatter to ask one of the key questions.

"Bakhitath" Allie stood proudly as he stated the name of his dragon.

"What's your name then? We can't keep calling you Allie" V'gil asked with a smile on his face.

Allie looked almost pensive before he straightened up and stood tall.

"A'lan" he announced, looking at his older brothers almost as if he was expecting them to object.

"Sounds perfect"

A'lan looked up at his oldest brother, as if surprised by the calm acceptance from the person that he'd always looked up to.

A'lan froze as he remembered something, Scott had never impressed - what was his biggest brother going to do now?

"Scott" he almost stammered as his heart virtually broke "I did it" he knew that he had to stay in the Weyr but without a dragon what could his brother do now?

"Well done, A'lan"

That simple statement from Scott meant the world to A'lan (he'd never be Allie again) but what could his brother do now?

Scott looked over at J'on and received a nod in reply, they hadn't told Allie (A'lan now. Must remember that) about what happened.

"A'lan, WE did it"

A'lan stood frozen for a moment, surely he hadn't heard what he thought he heard.

He looked at J'on and V'gil, seeing them both nod, before turning his attention to Gordon, when Gordon nodded as well…

"Really…you really did it?"

how A'lan managed not to shout he didn't know, but somehow he managed.

Scott nodded "his name is Lucenth"

" What's your name then? "

J'on voiced the question that everyone was wanting the answer to. What was the eldest called now?

"Lucenth did suggest something"

He temporized, still not sure if Lucenth was right.

"Dragons usually know. What did he suggest?" V'gil asked

"S'mal" he admitted, not sure his brothers would react, would they accept Lucenth's choice?

"S'mal?" it was Gordon who tested the name first, thinking about everything that the name meant, a new identity and purpose for his eldest brother. Decision made he turned to his brother before speaking.

"Lucenth made a good choice, S'mal" he pulled his brother into another smothering hug, quickly joined by the others before S'mal spoke.

"Let's eat, I'm hungry"

[the-feels-assassin]

A Pern/Avengers Crossover (That No One Asked for)

So I was reading a recent popular book involving dragons and dragonriders, and thinking how much I like the Dragonriders of Pern better (lol), and of course my brain did it's thing. So here you have it. My definitive opinion on what sorts of people the Avengers would be in the world of Pern.

We're gonna start with Steve/Peggy/Bucky because I HAVE THOUGHTS:

Of course this is during a Pass, because Steve/Peggy/Bucky have to be during a time of War and a Pass is the closet we have to War in the Dragonrider sof Pern.

Steve Rogers: oh, Steve. Poor, tiny, sickly Steve. He and Bucky are fosters at a Weyr, but no one expects/wants Steve to bond a dragon because no one is confident this sickly kid is going to live through the night at any given time. So either they keep him off the sands during a hatching or he's up in the bleachers. But Steve, being Steve, we get a Jaxom or Keevan scenario. No one means Steve to Impress a dragon, but of course you can't communicate that to freshly hatched dragons. And so of course between the sheer determination of Steve pulling himself out of the infirmary (ala Keevan in The Smallest Dragon Boy) and the stubbornness of the dragon refusing everyone on the sands (ala Ruth looking for Jaxom), we get tiny Steve Rogers bonded to what will be the biggest, most powerful Bronze Dragon the Weyr has ever seen. Steve becomes a Wingleader and everyone expect he'll be Weyrleader one day when Peggy becomes head Weyrwoman. Which leads us to Peggy Carter

Peggy Carter: Peggy is a rider of a gold dragon, of course she is. She was fostered in a different Weyr from Steve and Bucky (hence the different accent), but due to injuries and deaths during the passes, she gets redistributed to another Weyr that is lean on Golds and their leading Gold and Weyrwoman are aging. Peggy will be the next Weyrwoman. She is Peggy Carter in every way, fierce and determined, and like Lessa she fights the leadership of her time to enable Gold dragons to fight. Because Peggy Carter is all about sticking it to the patriarchy.

Bucky Barnes: Bucky Barnes is solid and reliable and dependable. He Impressed one of those Brown dragons that's as big as a Bronze (ala F'nor and Canth). He is Steve's Wing-Second. And then something happens while they are fighting Thread. Bucky is hit. Thread takes his left arm and sears most of his dragon on the left side. His dragon jumps Between and never comes back. Everyone assumes Bucky went with him, dead.

Everyone, of course, assumes wrong.

So what happens to Steve?

Steve just fought Thread, the battle is over and he's beat, and he's just doing a sweep to make sure nothing got through. It's time to go home; he goes to jump Between. He accidentally jumps time. He envisioned something off--something in the stars, maybe it was a night jump?--and suddenly he's in the future. He has no idea how to get back. Steve Rogers is a bit of a legend. His arrival sends both the Weyr into chaos, but also no one really believes it's him. They need the Harpers to verify, since the Harpers hold the history of Pern.

Which of course...brings us to SHIELD.

Because we all know the Harpers are the Spies of Pern, and the Masterharper of Pern is the most powerful man on Pern (search your feelings, you know it to be true) so of course I'm saying that:

Nick Fury: Nick Fury is the mother-loving Masterharper of Pern. Look, I don't care if he doesn't sing or play an instrument that we know of in the Marvel movies. In the Pern novels, Robinton has his fingers in EVERYTHING. He is the puppet master. Nick Fury is the Masterharper of Pern. I will brook no argument on this. Which of course means all of our SHIELD agents are harpers. Yes. It's wonderful.

Clint Barton: I mean how could Clint Barton NOT be a harper? He grew up Holdless. He picked up his acrobatic, juggling, and archery skills as a Holdless kid. But a Harper (probably Fury) saw his talent and potential and recruited him to be a Harper. Sure the kid is partially deaf, but he's a natural with an instrument and a born-entertainer. He's also so darn personable. Everyone immediately likes him and trusts him and tells him things. So of course, of course he's a perfect Harper, a perfect person to collect information and brook trust with the Holdless, Holds, and Weyrs alike.

Natasha Romanoff: There isn't really an equivalent of the Soviet Union in Pern. Natasha grows up in the Southern Continent, maybe the child of an Oldtimer exiled there. I think like Menolly, Natasha naturally Impressed a whole little flight of fire lizards, because she is like that. While Natasha is raised in an environment where all those in the Northern Continent are the enemy, eventually she meets Clint Barton and is recruited to Harper Hall and to the cause of ridding Pern of thread forever (the Ultimate Goal).

Phil Coulson: Look he makes Harper Hall run. He mostly stays in Harper Hall while Fury is out doing God knows what, and it's Coulson who is keeping tabs and getting reports from Barton and Romanoff.

Okay but what about Tony and Bruce? They are the last two Main Avengers left.

Tony Stark: Obviously the youngest Master ever at Smithcraft Hall. Could be on track to be the next Mastersmith BUT you know Tony. He likes to work on what he wants to work on. He's a genius and we love him, but staying within an authority matrix or running one isn't his strong suit. Eventually he becomes the head of Computer craft, when he meets....

JARVIS: Obviously the AIVAS analog. Tony is just bitter he didn't invent JARVIS himself. In this AU, I think it's Natasha who discovers AIVAS, while messing around on the Southern continent, doing her undercover recon thing. She sends her queen firelizard (the only one with two brain cells, obviously) to report back to Fury, who immediately gets Tony down there via Dragon. And of course that Dragonrider is none other than Tony's best friend.

James Rhodes: Rhodey was raised in Smithcraft Hall, went to be fostered at a Weyr for a short period of time, mainly to learn more about the Weyr's needs and how Smithcraft Hall could better plug in and whoops, impressed a dragon. Tony is still mad his best friend "abandoned him" for a "giant lizard" (which really Tony is just incredibly jealous. Who doesn't want to be a dragonrider?).

Bruce Banner: Bruce is basically the opposite of Rhodey. He was a dragonrider and he lost his dragon fighting Thread. This has left Bruce teetering between suicidal depression and complete rage. He's found new purpose in Smithcraft Hall and has become friends with Tony, but there is just a pain in him that is indescribable and everyone who interacts with him can feel it. In this AU, General Ross is the Weyrleader of the Weyr that Bruce was in--Betty is still his daughter and a gold rider. But since Bruce's bronze dragon is dead, well, there is just really no future for him and Betty.

Okay that's it for now. I have no idea what happened to Bucky (how does he come back? What is a Winter Soldier equivalent in Pern??), and I have no intention of writing a story in this AU, but inexplicably this keeps coming to me.

[copperbadge]

How would you sort your fandom blorbos and/or OC’s as Pern Dragon colors?

Ahhh IDK, that was always the part I liked least about the worldbuilding, the hierarchy of the Weyrs. I'm not against it morally or anything, I don't think there's something inherently wrong about wanting to imagine your fave as a dragonrider and decide what kind they would Impress, I just find it uncomfortable.

Presumably the dragons somehow know which riders will make good leaders, which is why browns and bronzes Impress riders who move into leadership roles -- people find their level with the dragon's help. It's just that attached to that is the stigma of having a "lower rank" dragon and knowing what that says about you, not to mention there's no real room for advancement beyond a point based on your dragon's scale color.

And there don't seem to be any perks -- greens and blues don't have special powers, they're smaller, and I always got the sense that they weren't that bright compared to browns and bronzes. It would have made more sense to me if the smaller dragons were also smarter; if you're a natural leader, seems logical that you're strong-minded enough to manage a big dragon significantly dumber than the smaller ones, while a rider of a smaller dragon has to be smarter to keep up. Which also opens a door for more equitable advancement in leadership, depending on whether a weyr prefers a strong hand or a smart brain. Both have their advantages.

And then of course there's the weird gender stuff of a) the golds always being Impressed by a woman and b) alllllll other riders being male, although I know this started to shift in the later books. (I don't recall the quote clearly but I know McCaffrey also said some stuff about green riders being gay that implied heterosexuality is compulsory for a leadership role in a wing or a weyr, but that's not canonical to the books afaik.)

I was always much more interested in the Impression stories, the searches and hatchings, the training and such. Even the politics of the mating flights is interesting in terms of leadership changeover; it's kind of like choosing a military strategist based on which jockey wins a horse race, but there's space there for interesting exploration. But the Impression scenes were always my favorite.

(All of which is to say that if I was going to drop the Shivadhverse into Pern, Gregory would be a Lord Holder on the southern continent and really annoy Benden Weyr by courting and marrying E'de, Benden-born rider of the blue Taseth. Although what can you expect from the family that produced G'rald, the most shiftless bronze rider on Pern? He's always fucking off back to the southern continent anyway. Might as well give Shivadh Hold their own Weyr at that point, it'd get E'de out of everyone's hair and if G'rald becomes weyrleader at least he can't do too much harm down there.)

[copperdaisy]

Whoops. Got inspired by @kariachi to revisit old Pern OCs and a 700+ word ficlet fell out as a response. (The tl;dr backstory here is that my girl, Eleven, did not have the easiest life and had a metric ton of dragon related trauma and then the worst thing possible happened to her. This is the very very very belated reaction from her.) =====

The world was ending.

Perhaps not Pern itself, though the inexplicable return of Thread seemed to herald it, but Eleven's world was in tatters. The panic that tore at her insides had not abated in the slightest in the candlemarks since she had been ushered into the infirmary. Sat on a stool placed out of the flow of traffic she stared at the group of healers still huddled around the cot without actually seeing them. She wanted to run. That was what she was best at, wasn't it? Running? No. No, she was not good at running. She was actually quite terrible at it. Not once in her life had she outrun anything. Maybe if she was better at it, none of this would be happening. So many things would not have happened if she were better at it. She would not be the broken husk of a person she was if only she had been better at running.

A pathetic mewl rose above the murmur of human voices and she flinched. It was a horrible sound. So weak, so frightened. It cut to the core and she drove her nails deep into her palms in hopes that the pain would block it out. Her hands were sticky. Her arms and the front of her shirt were, too. She wanted to clean up. She needed to return to her room and hide wash up. The healers would not let her. She needed to stay, they said. One of them offered her a damp rag but her fists refused to open long enough for her to take it. He draped it over her knee instead where she could grab it when she was ready. The gap he left in the circle around the cot allowed her a glimpse of the sickly pale creature resting on it.

Green, green, green, why was it green?

Anger, scorching as the noonday sun, blossomed in her chest. She wanted to rage at the Weyrleaders. This was their fault. This was Scarlet's fault. He had been the one to shove that… that thing into her arms on the Sands. And now, now she was bound to it, a fate that she had never desired. Why did that keep happening? Why did adults always drag her into fresh levels of hell? No one even knew if the hatchling would survive the night. It was small, underdeveloped. The space in her mind it had carved for itself was silent. It could be dead by sunrise and drag a part of her with it.

The creature cried out again in its tiny whimper and her anger turned to fear. Once again she was trapped by circumstances beyond her control. What if it survived? How could she possibly love it? Green, green, green, why was it green? The beast that had hurt her so terribly had been green. She could not do this. Again the hatchling cried, its little muzzle pointing in her direction, searching for her even though its eyes could not open to find her.

Someone was sobbing. It took her a minute to realize it was her. She doubled over and pressed her face into her still balled fists. What was she supposed to do? She didn't want this. She didn't want this, she didn't want this, she didn't want this. She was falling apart, she was breaking, she was – she was losing herself.

A host of voices called to her through the haze of her fright. They echoed inside her head, one after the other, gold and bronze and brown and blue and yes, there was green, too and hints of others. Some voices she knew. Others were strangers. They coaxed her to calm, offered their strength to ground her. Inch by painful inch she uncurled herself, shaking hands clutching at the healers that had rushed to her side. She slid off the stool and had to be caught when her knees buckled, allowing the doctors to guide her over to the cot where the nameless hatchling was waiting. Its frantic panting evened out to easier breaths once she was settled next to it.

She didn't want this. She wanted to run. But she had never been good at running. Surviving was what she was best at. She had survived everything thrown her way thus far. Maybe… maybe she could survive this newest shattering of her world. And if the fragile dragon that had chosen her as its lifelong partner was anything like her, perhaps it would see its first morning after all.

They could figure things out from there...

[hamstermastersamster]

As I often am when I'm rotating in The Bad Place, I'm drawn to old loves and nostalgia for comfort, which is why I'm currently rereading the Dragonriders of Pern series.

I've already made my peace with some of the more eyebrow-raising scenes in my childhood beloved books (Anne was a 2nd wave feminist in the 60s, what can I say), but I'm up to Moreta and, oh my god it hits so different after the pandemic. AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY.

Titular protagonist Moreta, dragonlady of Pern. Such a Pernese legend that they wrote ballads about her that would be sung for generations to come.

And only now do I somehow see that she's a fucking idiot.

Seriously! She's Fort Weyr's healer, would have become a Master Healer if she hadn't become a dragonrider first. But she touches a mysteriously dying runnerbeast without any caution or even washing her damn hands afterwards (something she later admits to herself she only did to impress her new boy toy Alessan).

THEN because she doesn't want to face the fact that she may be infected, she instead questions the judgement of the fucking Masterhealer of Pern in calling a quarantine and flits about interacting with everyone as if nothing bad could ever happen. Her whole justification for this is "dragonriders are healthy, we simply won't get sick". WHAT. I'M SORRY?! You're a HEALER?! Do you know ANYTHING?!

The Pern setting is a little dark ages in the sense that, despite this being far in humanity's future, Pern's population has effectively regressed and forgotten a lot of science (and gender equality . . .). But even so, we can't pretend the healers don't know enough to understand the basic dos and don'ts of serious illnesses.

We know this because there is one person besides the Masterhealer who takes the situation seriously. And that is Sh'gall - Fort Weyrleader. He is rightly anxious about the prospect of a pandemic, he responsibly social-distances himself from other people in the Weyr because he knows he may have been infected, and he furiously enforces the quarantine, destroying his already utter lack of popularity.

And everyone, including the narrative, take the absolute piss out of him for it. Oh, silly Sh'gall! Such a worrywort. So over the top. Talk about exaggerating the risk. What a whiny pissbaby, says Moreta internally in not so many words.

Even after his concerns prove true, nobody acknowledges it. It's just "Oh well, it's done now, Sh'gall. Deal with it," from Miss I'm-Such-A-Great-Healer-I-Spread-Pandemic-To-My-Entire-Weyr.

Lmao.

Well, Sh'gall, it is years too late but I see you now. The title of this book should actually be Sh'gall: Smartest Dragonrider of Pern.

Let's hope the rest of the book redeems Moreta because at the moment I cannot like her anymore xD

[kariachi]

Three reasons my Pern AUs feature Queen Councils running the Weyrs

Makes more sense with the worldbuilding- supposedly the majority of shit in the Weyr, politically, is in reflection of how the dragons do things, but this isn't the case. While the Weyrs remain steadfastly patriarchal- even though they've been culturally quite separate from the rest of Pern for thousands of years- the dragons themselves are matriarchal. If Mnementh tells a wing to go left and Ramoth tells them to go right, they're going right, because as far as dragonkin are concerned golds outrank everybody.

Is more stable leadership- leaving aside age and injury, golds are not going to lose their position. There is only moving up and retirement. This in direct contrast to bronzes, who regularly compete to maintain the status they gain as the sire to the latest senior gold clutch. Your senior Weyrwoman has that position until something goes wrong, she gets curbed, or she and her dragon get old as dirt, your Weyrleader can lose position because his bronze slept wrong and now his wing is achy during a Flight.

Helps break the hold compulsory monogamy has on this supposedly non-monogamous culture- The relationship a Senior Weyrwoman has with her Weyrleader doesn't seem to be allowed to just be business, it's gotta be a whole Thing, especially in the 9th Pass, and that fucking rankles me. Congratulations, Weyrleaders have far less power now, and lose the 'benefits' of rank that come with said power and the 'need' to present a united front.

[fergus-cousland]

@weyrleaders: counterpoint: aeonar matters because i want to go there and explore the creepy abandoned prison full of demons 🥺

OK, that’s fair. Bioware needs to find a way to include Aeonar going forwards just for you <3

[auntieoneandauntietwo]

N’ton seems to spend a lot of time looking through telescopes and tromping around Southern with Piemur and making Jaxom feel better about himself and very little time, y’know, being Fort Weyrleader

[newtwithtdp]

Just found out that there is a minor character named Erragon in "Skies of Pern" and for me, as for Eragon (with one r) enjoyer, it is like... Kinda funny.

It's obvious that tIC was partially inspired by pern, but... Think about possibility that paolini named his main character after some background guy... Lol.

(And now i just can't help but laugh any time seeing erragon's name in the book. Man, what are you doing here, your true destiny is to be a weyrleader)

[ranticore]

the mad queen's first clutch with her last mate.. i had to do a little rough sketch showing the beak haha

Lenath (pictured in threat display, scrunching her muzzle to display the wicked point of her internal beak) later became known as the 'mad queen', but it's debatable on whether she was truly irrational and murderous, or whether she was being harshly controlled by her rider and made a scapegoat against her will.

she actively interfered in the hatching of this clutch, trying to prevent the weyrleader's enemy's son from impressing a hatchling - first by corralling the bronze babies away from the candidates, and then, when that didn't work, trying to kill the hatchling, Nelath, that eventually did show signs of impressing the kid. she snatched up Nelath in her jaws and would have crushed him to death had bronze Mercith, Lenath's ex-mate, appeared from between to fight her in the nesting grounds. Her current mate, the weyrleader's dragon, came ostensibly to subdue her, as well, but in the chaos it was impossible to tell whether he was helping or hindering her (their riders were having a fistfight in the stands probably)

the dust cleared, revealing smashed hatchlings and candidates, and Mercith dead on the ground (and his rider, the boy's father, comatose). Lenath, her rage spent, fled the arena with her mate. But within Mercith's coiled paws were both baby Nelath and his new rider, injured but alive, and protected by the bronze's last actions.

with the junior queen of the weyr being still too young to replace Lenath and the dogmatic loyalty of dragons to their queen impossible to contend with, Lenath continued her duty.

muddying the waters was the harper boy who'd snuck into the hatching and impressed a green; it was later reported that his presence, as someone who was not chosen or Searched, was what enraged Lenath and caused her to lose her wits.

in truth, it was a deliberate conspiracy by the weyrleader and weyrwoman to secure their own futures in power, cutting out any potential rivals, or their rivals' children, from being able to unseat their dynasty.

the fact that their rival's boy ended up impressing a brown dragon was his only saving grace; had he gotten a bronze, they would have found some other way to remove them from the picture.

[razzek]

More Pern thoughts: I want my fic where a young trans man with great organizational or leadership skills gets outed by his bronze on the hatching sands. I've seen some fanon rp sites that try to distinguish between cis and trans folks on this but in canon there's no reason it couldn't happen at least once. Trans men are men and that is the only canon requirement for bronze, so. Young fellow in the stands or sneaking onto the sands because nobody would let him stand over their ideas of him, gets his bronze and is just like "I told y'all so!" and goes on to be an awesome wingleader or even weyrleader with nobody remarking on it ever. :D