Dragons

Help areas on dragons: (all of these have their own +help topics on game)

candidate dragonrider
dragon parent dragon setup
dtu flights
goldrider gold hatching
instaclutches metallics
proddy search
dragon abilities

Dragon Riders

You may become a rider two different ways here in PernWorld.
1. Start a non-rider character who is young enough to be searched and seek to be searched for a hatching.

2. Start as an Insta Rider, an older established dragonrider. This can be done going through Chargen with a new character. Instariders will start out at Ierne Weyrhold, unless you have arranged with a weyr to settle in immediately. Riders will stay at Ierne until such time as they transfer to a weyr if they wish.

A. The Dragon of an Insta Rider must be a minimum of 4 turns old. The Rider age should match appropriately, depending on when they impress.
See '+Help Candidate FAQ5'

B. Some areas may allow Insta creation of NPC dragons from past clutches. Please check the area help (EX: +???help, where ??? is the weyr code)
for any rules they may have regarding transfers, and NPC->PC Dragons.

Be aware that mass creation of dragonrider characters from the same site WILL result in site banning, so do not abuse this system by trying to make too many rider characters. ALL insta gold riders must be approved by admin. Transfer or insta golds may be fertile but cannot have public hatchings unless they first are accepted as transfers into a Weyr, then they must ask the leadership of that Weyr permission to use one of the scheduled hatchings for that Weyr for a hatching.

(All fertile golds however may have OFF-CAMERA hatchings during times that their Weyr is not in a search cycle. ONLY NPC CHARACTERS may impress in off-camera hatchings! Weyrholds do not have hatching grounds. Ierne golds use Telgar hatching grounds for off camera hatchings. The NPC's remain ICly at Telgar Weyr.)

Dragonriders in this timeline no longer have to worry about Threadfall, but they do have to make a living, thus they have to work for it and often their dragons to. Often riders join Wings at the Weyrs or WeyrHolds and get paid a salary for their work. Independent riders sometimes form Wings as well, competing with the large Weyrs/WeyrHolds for business.

Possible jobs for riders are:

Delivery (couriers/mail/news-scrolls/small packages)
Exploration/Survey (Scouting out new sites for habitation or mining surveys, mapping, etc.)

Freight (large packages/freight hauling) - Busy riders who make more marks. :)
Transport (Like a dragonrider version of a charter plane service or taxi w/wings)
Firefighting (no Thread means lots of plants. Lots of trees=firehazard)
Police/Protection (no Thread also means more opportunistic types on the roads)
Search & Rescue (self explanatory)
Coastguard (Flying sweeps looking for pirate activity or ships/boats in trouble)
Craft Riders (any other craft based independant/Weyr riders) ie HarperRiders..

(see '+help craftriders' for ideas)

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Dragon Parent

The dragon parent's dbref on game is #1000.

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Dragon Setup

Accessed through '+help dragon' on game.

This is for setting up dragons. For more general stuff on dragons, use '+help dragons'.

Alright, first, how to read this +help.
Lines indented with a > are what you type.
> Like this

<blah> means that you insert whatever 'blah' is in place of it.
blah means the 'blah' is optional.

To start out,

@parent <dbref>=#1000

Next, you need to set some basic stuff.

@set <dbref>=opaque
@set <dbref>=audible
@listen <dbref>=*
&rider <dbref>=<your name>
@lock <dbref>==me
@lock/enter <dbref>==me
@ealias <dbref>=<dragon's name>
@lalias <dbref>=out;o;back;exit

Ask a wizard to make sure your dragon's size, colour, and race are set.

If its not already set, use +time/dage to help set your dragon's hatchsecs.

+time/dage <turns>.<months>.<days>
&hatchsecs <dbref>=<secs>

Now, you need to setup the description of the dragon.

&desc-dragon <dbref>=<What dragon looks like, sans straps, age, size>
&desc-straps <dbref>=<What the straps look like, when on the dragon>
&desc-rider <dbref>=<Single line, using [name(%0)], for mounted rider>
&desc-pass <dbref>=<Same, using [name(%0)], for passenger>
&desc-fl <dbref>=<Same, using [name(%0)], for FL>
&desc-obj <dbref>=<Same, using [name(%0)], for object>

Next, the messages. For these:
enter messages = 'ent'; oenter messages = 'oent'; oxenter messages = 'oxent'
leave messages = 'lv'; oleave messages = 'olv'; oxleave messages = 'oxlv'
prefix message = 'pref'; idesc descriptions = 'id'

Write messages for 'rider', 'pass', 'fl', and 'obj'

Examples:

&ent-rider <dbref>=<what you see when you enter the dragon>
&oxlv-pass <dbref>=<what the room sees when a passenger leaves>

After all that, you're nearly done.

These are optional:

&oxbtw <dbref>=<What is seen when dragon enters between>
&obtw <dbref>=<What is seen when dragon arrives from between>
&msg-puton <dbref>=<What is seen when you put on the straps>
&msg-takeoff <dbref>=<what is seen when you take off the straps>
&msg-buckle1 <dbref>=<What is seen when someone buckles themself in>
&msg-buckle2 <dbref>=<Message when someone buckles someone else in>
&msg-unbuckle1 <dbref>=<Unbuckling oneself>
&msg-unbuckle2 <dbref>=<Unbuckling someone else>

Those begining with 'msg' do /not/ prepend the person's name, but do accept substitutions.

Example:

&msg-puton #1564=After some struggle, %N gets the straps on Barneyth.

After all that… Guess what? You're done. :)

It could be worse, you could have done all the backstage code yourself. ;)

Commands:
straps on puts on the straps
straps off takes off the straps
toggle straps silently toggles the straps
buckle [<name>] buckle yourself or someone else in (no name, for yourself)
unbuckle [<name>] unbuckle yourself or someone else
view [<object>] see something outside of the dragon, while on it

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Flights

Gold dragons may only be caught in flights by bronzes (and browns over 35 meters long for Jr golds only, with prior approval from the WizStaff). A brown winning a gold flight is VERY, VERY rare.. More rare in fact then a stands impression.

Greens may be caught by blues, browns and bronzes. But note that greens rise twice a turn, often at the same time as other greens and they do NOT fight like golds do when they rise, but instead try to lure males away from each other. A Weyr consists of over 50 percent greens. A Weyr with 600 dragons has 300+ greens rising twice a turn. So on any given day, a green (or more then one) is out giving willing males a run. A green rising does not have as strong an effect on bystanders as golds do.

Riders have very little, if any control over their dragons joining mating flights when theres a female in heat nearby. Male riders do not calmly watch mating flights from the sidelines, totally uneffected. The male dragons will insist on joining if you have them too close to a proddy female. (See also: +help proddy)

Bronzeriders need to register their interest in participating in Sr flights (becoming a WL) or participating in Jr flights (fathering a clutch).

The following commands are for Bronzeriders only, So Weyrs can know if a rider is willing to take on Weyrleader responsibilities at their Weyr.

  • +flightregister for (3 letter Weyr code) : registers your interest in ALL gold flights at that Weyr.
  • +unflightregister for (3 letter code): takes you off the list of bronzes interested in gold flights at that Weyr.
  • +mybronze : lists the Weyrs you registered for.
  • +listbronzes for (3 letter Weyr code) : Lists all bronzeriders willing to participate in gold flights at that Weyr with the understanding that they are willing and able to be a Weyrleader IF they win a Sr flight there.

Existing WL's should only register for the Weyr they are WL at.

All other bronzeriders should register for any Weyrs they are willing to be a WL or fly a Jr gold at if needed.

"My weyrmate will gut me with a fork" is not an excuse. The only excuse you can use for not registering is you either have a WW alt (you will be set for flying Jr golds only then) or you are too inactive to be a WL (why did you get a bronze then??). If they go off and win a WL flight, it means they are Weyrleader.. It does NOT mean they now have to sleep with the WW every night. The WW might already have prefered bedmates and dispise the new WL ICly.. The WL's weyrmate should be proud of their mate for being the WL, not all upset cause they slept with the WW during a mating flight. Mirrim rode green and her weyrmate was the WL and rode a bronze. Showing #1. Bronzes obviously chase greens. Theres not enough golds for them all. and #2. Mirrim was NOT the WW, so her weyrmate was with the WW during the flight.

You can register for as many Weyrs as you want, even if you don't live there. If a WL idles out, the list lets the WWs know who is available to replace them. If leadership for a Weyr is replaced for whatever reason, the admin can use the list to pick the new WL from as well.

Registering for NPC Weyrs (TEW and BEW) is okay too. IF we ever open those places in the future, we have an idea if anyone wants to WL there, at least. We like to leave our options open.

The 3 letter codes for the commands are: HRW FOW EAW IGW ISW WEW XAW TEW and BEW.

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Goldrider

Guidelines for Goldriders

Goldriders are only in the Weyrs since they require a hatching ground for eggs. Retired old goldriders may seek other work elsewhere if they wish.

Sr and Jr queenriders mostly work dispatch at the Weyrs, sending riders to wherever they need to go and spending a lot of time on the radio or otherwise sending and receiving messages from all over Pern, responding to emergency calls and sending riders out to pick up and transport freight or passengers.

Players of new Goldriders are to be aware that they might be asked to take over running a Weyr. This requires either the ability to admin an active area on the Mush and/or the ability to delegate. A goldrider should know at least basic coding and building, know how to admin the Weyr's knot and be able to be actively online at least 3 days a week. They also need to realize that hatchings are done on a cycle and they may have to wait a very long time for their turn to come up.

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Gold Hatching

Guidelines for Goldriders - Hatchings

No more then 5 goldriders at a large Weyr (ie Fort) and no more then 4 at a smaller Weyr (ie. Ista). If there are too many, some should transfer out to other Weyrs or a new Weyr opened. Some tempermental golds will not tolerate more then 3 total golds in the Weyr (ie. Ramoth was this way)..
Between 5 and 15 eggs in a clutch due to timeline. Roll 5 D6 and divide by 2 for random numbers if you want. PLEASE: No more then ONE gold in a clutch and NO twins (two dragons from the same egg). Anne states that dragon eggs do not produce twins.

At least 2-3 more PC candidates then will impress. This allows alternates in case of no-shows. The rest of the field should be made up of NPCs..Between 2-3 times the number of eggs.. Between 6-8 PC candidates should impress. Golds need not go to PCs, but be aware people might be upset over a NPC getting it.

Candidates should be picked based on the quality of their applications. Be aware that once a person is searched, they remain a candidate till they get too old or are removed for IC crimes or chose to no longer stand, whichever comes first. The impressions are done using code, but with a good bunch of candidates, it doesn't matter who gets what if all are worthy of any color they wanted.

Applications for search for characters who have been totally inactive according to the +finger last login date for more then 2 weeks during the time your Weyr is searching and have no &vacation set warning they will be gone, MAY be rejected.

People who already have rider characters may be searched if there is a shortage of people applying. This is not encouraged though since alts are not always very active.

Leftover Candidates may transfer to the next Weyr in line. This can be RPed out ICly or not, depending on what the players want to do. A Weyr should not reject a Candidate without a good reason, submitted to both the player involved and a wizard (so we can be aware of any OOC complaints against that player). The Weyr may chose to not impress to any candidate, but must allow transferred candidates to stand, whether they will impress or not. Please try to be fair and give the transferred candidates consideration. Some may have stood several times and the fact they have stuck with it at least shows they are dedicated players. Please keep personal politics out of the hatchings and please do not judge people by actions they may or may not have done on other MUs. Be concerned with how a person behaves here, not there. Make an effort to get along with all players. This is a roleplaying Mush, not a battlefield.

Stand only candidates do not need to send in apps. But if they want to become a real candidate, then they must fill out the application like anyone else and submit it. It is up to the Weyr running that hatching if they change a person from Stand-only to real candidate.

When using the random code to pick impressions, run the number of PC candidates through first, then the next 2-3 are Alt 1, Alt 2 and Alt 3. Alt candidates are in case of no-shows. Better to impress to someone who shows up and RPs at the hatching then waste time impressing a dragon to someone who isn't there and couldn't arrange to be puppeted. No-show's dragons can be given to NPCs and these people can remain candidates and go onto the next Weyr and try again. This method seems to work well and result in less panic at the time of the hatching. :)

Stands impressions are very rare and almost never with metallics.

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Instaclutches

For Players who would like to have a dragon, but do not wish to go through candidacy or weyrlinghood there is an opportunity to impress a dragon on camera at Telgar, though an abbreviated candidacy and hatching cycle,. Everyone that applies for this is accepted and you must have one color choice, and answer questions so the dragon maers can make dragons. Impressions are randomly rolled. After the hatching: Each player and dragon would be aged up 4 years and moved to Ierne, or another Weyr if they have an approved Transfer. Every color may be applied for this way. However, golds born at Telgar which transfer to Ierne: all their clutches would be NPC, unless their number came up randomly for one of the Telgar clutches, or one of the other Weyrs accepted them. If more than one person wishes for a gold in this manner, the person getting it will be picked randomly.

Important: Telgar Weyr will not be opened as a weyr, and no riders would be staying there permanently. If you did not impress a dragon there, you would be moving to Ierne. This is simply for folks that while they want an insta, that don’t want to write it all themselves, or would like to actually have their impression on camera.

Rules:

  1. You must have a new alt to stand for this. You may not stand with an alt that has applied before as a candidate at any weyr.
  2. It is requested that you make your alt at least 20 turns of age. You will be asked to change, if you are younger than this.
  3. This is extremely abbreviated on the candidacy/weyrling time. Do not pick this option if you would like to rp through that.
  4. This is an insta rider. Weyrs are under no obligation to accept your transfer. You will transfer to Ierne after the hatching, unless you have arranged with another Weyr to transfer to.

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Metallic Dragon Rules

  1. No player may have two gold dragons. Players with 2 bronzerider characters may not have a gold unless they retire one of the bronzeriders beforehand.
  2. No player may be Sr Weyrwoman at one weyr, and Weyrleader at another. Certainly NEVER at the same Weyr. A goldrider and bronzerider can be at the same Weyr, but the bronzerider may not have any leadership position, not even wingleader unless the goldrider alt is retired.
  3. A second metallic dragon may be applied for as an insta. (This would be the favored method)
  4. A weyr may open a hatching up to folks trying for a second metallic, but only if they so wish.
  5. Folks trying for a second metallic do have admit it would be their second, but do not have to reveal alts.

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Search

Along with the Hatching cycle found in +help search schedule, please keep these following rules in mind:

  1. Weyrs may swap cycles with another Weyr as long as they A) have the consent of the other Weyr and b) clear it through weyr wizard.
  2. The dates set out in +help search are set - they may not be played with. A weyr may not clutch eggs, before the end of your ooc search. However the dates for mating flights or start of IC search is up to the Weyr's discretion. The last date (the hatch by date) is the deadline and you may hatch before that, if you choose. Please be aware that Greenwich mean time is the standard for the end/beginning of days. If you do not hatch by your hatch by date, the weyr wizard will destroy your clutch. There will by NO automatic extensions to hatching cycles. If you run into trouble, please contact the weyr wizard.
  3. There is a limit of six (6) impressions per hatching cycle. Some years, a weyr may get two hatching cycles. Most years, they will only have one hatching cycle. If a weyr chooses to do a completely random hatching (Verified by Zae and the weyr wizard) they are eligible for one (1) extra impression that cycle. If a weyr is willing to a random gold hatching (Verified by Zae and the weyr wizard) they are eligible for two (2) extra impressions that cycle.
  4. There is a limit of one (1) gold hatchling per hatching cycle. A Weyr may have a maximum of 5 non-retired golds.
  5. Exceptions may be made for a weyr if they are in need (either with extra gold riders or extra impression slots) and they are willing to discuss the issue with the all the wizards.
  6. Once a candidate is searched, they are considered a candidate until they are too old to stand, or are no longer allowed to be a candidate by one of the wizards. If you search a candidate and do not impress them, and the candidate also shows a preference for another weyr, that second weyr may request to take them off of your hands, for their next clutch. If there is a problem with a first weyr denying requests, the wizards will look into it. If a candidate wishes to go to a new weyr if/when they do not impress and try again, they must be allowed to. No weyr may turn down an already searched candidate, unless rule 7 applies.
  7. No weyr may search or take as a transfer candidate a person who applies to their weyr after their ooc search has closed, as this cuts into the next weyr's cycle, that follows after them. If a candidate is not sure that they will impress at one weyr, they should apply to the next in line if that is what they want, on a contingency basis. Any already searched candidate may apply stand only, at any weyr.
  8. If a person is on the search co for a weyr, they may not be a candidate, stand-only or otherwise for that weyr. If a person is caught doing this, they will be removed as a candidate and from the search co.
  9. No player may be on more than two (2) weyr's search cos in a given calendar year (From January to December). This means if you are on weyr A's co, and weyr B's co. Even if you step down from weyr A's co, mid year, you can not be on weyr C's co. If you have any question about this, please contact the weyr wizard.

Who is searched and what stops a person from being searched?

Search dragons seek out receptive minds. People who can hear them are of high interest to them over people who cannot hear them.

They will most often turn people down if:

  1. The rider overrides the search dragon (in cases of heirs to Holds or people with handicaps that would prevent them from being able to handle being a dragonrider)
  2. The person is married. A married person CAN impress in weird circumstances like stands impressions, but they cannot be searched. The rider would overrule the searchdragon as the candidacy and weyrlingship would be far too hard for the non-rider spouse to cope with. A Widow young enough to be searched still can be searched. Pregnancy will not cause a person to not be searched, but they will be expected to foster the child out soon as possible after its birth (note that Kylara was nursing her son while a candidate). If too far along during the hatching, they may ask the Candidate to wait for the next hatching if there is a possibility of them going into labor on the sands. If a person gives birth as a Weyrling later, its pretty rough on them, but Pern has painkillers and the child can be handed to a wet nurse soon as its born. A pregnant Weyrling would be grounded soon as anyone found out the fact and be put on light duty till after the birth. It may delay graduation for them. A note on this, dragons don't automatically act as pregnancy detectors. Pern has no moral problems with abortions and the right herbal infusion or spending a little too long between will get rid of unwanted births (Kylara did this after impressing just because she didn't want a kid fathered by a particular rider…)
  3. Searchriders will turn down blind, deaf, crippled, obviously psychotic or people who are terrified of dragons. ICly a Weyr has no reason to drag someone in to stand who has a 'fear of dragons'. This is not the old days before Lessa where people are kidnapped and tossed on the sands unprepared, after all. And nowadays people line up when search riders come hoping to be picked.
  4. In the case of twins, sometimes both twins will be searched. Due to the odd case of empathic twins who feel each other, the dominant twin will sometimes 'block' the other twin from the search dragon's senses. A searchrider will tend to search both twins just in case. Worst that can happen is the twin being left on the sands.

Notes: In Ever the Twain, a Pern short story in Gift of Dragons, Holder kids of the right age were asked to come out and stand in a line for the search dragons. The search dragons would go down the line and pick the people they wanted. Most, if not all Holds cooperate with the Weyrs during search these days.

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Dragon Abilities

Dragons have three abilities, which are related. Teleportation, telepathy and telekinesis. Teleportation and telekinesis require training and practice to do properly, but telepathy the dragon is born knowing how to do.

The first, teleportation is called 'going between' and is instantaneous transportation between not only locations, but time as well. Going between times is called 'timing it' and dragons are inhibited by their Sr golds from doing this as it is dangerous. This ability is instinctive, but requires training to do safely. Untrained or poorly trained Weyrlings have been found encased in rock before, having come out of between too early. You must have a clear image of the destination in mind. Dragons do on rare occasions go between without their riders in emergencies, but it is suspected they get their images from other dragons who are near where they need to go.

The second, telepathy, is the ability to communicate with others mentally, without speaking out loud. Dragons tend to only communicate this way with other dragons and their rider, rarely with other humans. Weyrmated dragons often will speak to each others rider if they like them enough. There are rare cases of humans who are natural telepaths who can hear all dragons and speak to them.

The third, telekinesis, was not discovered till after AIVAS had come and gone from the scene. It is the ability to move things with their minds. It is not a simple matter of levitation, as control of speed a thing is moved requires two dragons working as a team. One providing inertia and the other acting as a brake to slow the item. Otherwise things get flung hard in one direction or spin in one place.

Rules for telekinesis:

  • There must be nothing between the object and the dragon. The dragon must have a clear view of the item to be moved.
  • Movement is instantaneous. The object moving from point A to point B in an instant. This presents problems if there is no clear point the dragon wants the object moved to, it will smash into the first thing it encounters in the direction its traveling in.. or disappear out of sight if sent straight up.
  • The only way to control the speed an object is traveling at is for 2 (or more) dragons to work together, one acting as a brake to slow the item.
  • Living things can be moved, but should only be moved by a team of dragons so they survive the trip. One dragon moving another dragon is problematic, while the moved dragon might be able to either slow themselves or teleport back down if lifted abruptly into the air, it might end up quite angry. However, weight seems to be limiting and it takes at least two dragons of equal or better size then the lifted one to move another dragon anyways.

Due to the deadly force at which things are moved, no dragon would use this ability to harm any human, dragon, wher or firelizard. Nor would they use it on creatures who are not attempting harm to them or their rider (or other humans, dragons, whers or firelizards). Anger, fear or outrage have a lot to do with the ability to use this skill.

Not all dragons can learn telekinesis. The best method seems to have to do with trundlebugs. (see +help dic trundlebugs)

More on this ability can be researched in 'Skies of Pern'.

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