Post by Lysita on Feb 16, 2009 12:49:02 GMT -5
It was gone. The menace that nearly brought their civilization to a dead halt and a memory to only the firelizards had finally been eradicated once and for all. AIVAS had finally done what the Pernese, for all their dragonfighting might, could not. Threads were finally gone from the skies of Pern. Lessa and F'lar, glorious leaders in the conquest against Thread, were revered as heroes...for a couple of Turns.
As the generations passed, dragons continued to grow, continue to eat valuable resources and prove a now truly unnecessary burden on the shoulders of the Holders who had been faithful - or not so faithful - to the dragonmen. With no reason to tithe anymore, the Holders and the dragonriders came to a careful and flimsy agreement. The tithes would lessen and lessen over the Turns until the Weyrs were self-sufficient enough not to need them. Many Holders found themselves living in the Weyrs to help integrate them into a 'normal' society. With the queens Clutching less and less, the leadership of the senior-most gold and her bronze became less and less important.
With the Holds not only providing the means to help the 'Weyrs' become independent, but also in direct control over what little resources they still had, those in power shifted from the Weyrleaders to the Lord Holders. Instead of the Holds being steadfastly in support of the Weyrs as F'lar and his bronze Mnementh had secured Pern to be, the Weyrs eventually swore allegiance to the Holds. As the Turns went by, it became simply unnecessary for the dragonmen to continue living in the mighty fortresses of the Northern Weyrs; the dragons preferred warmer climates anyways.
In 2550, the last Turn of the Ninth Pass, all the Weyrs of Pern have been officially disbanded or turned into Weyrholds. With the dragon population in such a steady decline and with so few new strains of the gene pool, it seems as though the age of dragons had come to an end. However, dragons and their riders are a sturdy bunch and, though it came close many times, the Queens kept on producing and those who could call themselves the riders of dragons went on. By 2850, dragonriders had become little more than Pernese novelty.
With less than a handful of golds on Pern, dragonriders were on the brink of extinction once more. However, strange anomalies were beginning to take place all over Pern. The golds were Rising again and producing larger and larger Clutches, much to the dismay of the Holders whom they lived amongst. More dragons meant more food to the bottomless pits that Holders were becoming increasingly impatient with. Most Lord Holders had banished dragonriders from the Holds proper in all ways but the actual name. The riders, for the most part, lived out in sprawled open spaces on the outskirts of the Holds, surviving, but only just.
All memories of Thread had been forgotten. Unless the Hold was looking for a runaway murder or the Shunned, they really had no reason to ride Sweeps and the intricate patterns of fighting Thread were the stuffs of legend rather than proper practice. The records might have still existed somewhere, but there was no interest enough of the Archivists who held onto them to bring them out of the dusty old shelves they were hidden in.
Perhaps this is why so few have recognized the signs. The swell of oceans, the increasingly violent eruptions of volcanoes all over the South, the ravaging storms. In the North, in the dead, eerily empty Weyrs, the Red Star was lingering closer and closer to the Star Stones...
Not everyone had forgotten the lessons of the past however and with all the signs pointing to one direction, the elder dragonriders weren't afraid to speak their thoughts. Of course, the Lord Holders weren't willing to listen to the useless dragonriders and dismissed their warnings as nonsense. The Lord Holder of the new Benden Weyr told the bold goldrider that if she wished to give into her delusions of grandure and wishes to live in the 'glory' days of the Weyrs, she could go ahead and try to settle one herself.
And so the goldrider, and several of her followers, went. Many, naturally, just wanted to be free of the Holds. They had all the skills and resources to take care of themselves without the Holds. From the new Harper Hall, the dragonriders procured the barely legible records of how to fight Thread, how to heal dragons, how to treat Threadscore. Thus, Starfire Weyr was established.
Eventually, after the dragonriders passed the wisdom of the old Records through the Holds, they drew up enough sympathizers to start a Hold of their own, one who actually would support the Weyrs...if they were right about the Threads that were to come. Life had become boring and sedative for many a Holder and a chance to find their roots was too much to pass up. Tithes began to roll into the Weyr and things began to look just like they would have in the earliest Turns on Pern. Under the Harper Hall's influence, a new Hold, also loyal to the new Weyr, was founded. On the other side of the spectrum, the other Lord Holders on Pern saw these changes as a serious threat to their power.
As more dragonriders began to leave their Weyrholds for a real Weyr, the Lord Holders could feel their control slipping. If all the dragonriders rose up against them, the Holders would certainly have to bend to their wills. In spite of all the clashes riders and Holders had had in the past, it was still a deeply disturbing idea to kill a dragon. Still, in the backs of each Lord Holder's mind, they saw the end of their age of power coming and it was terrifying. Already, some of the bolder Holders were developing plans to keep this scenario from happening...
Meanwhile, in Starfire Weyr, the dragon population was bolstering. The senior Weyrleaders had died and a new queenrider had taken their place. Weyrwoman Lysita and her golden queen Rulanth had assumed power with no other junior queen in the Wings. However, unlike her dam, Rulanth has yet to produce a gold Egg. Those Holds are beholden to the Weyrs are becoming shaken. Was this a sign that Thread was really just a memory? Was all their building and abandonment of their old homes for naught? And what of Rulanth's newest Clutch? Still no queen, but a healthy lot nonetheless.
And this is just the beginning.
As the generations passed, dragons continued to grow, continue to eat valuable resources and prove a now truly unnecessary burden on the shoulders of the Holders who had been faithful - or not so faithful - to the dragonmen. With no reason to tithe anymore, the Holders and the dragonriders came to a careful and flimsy agreement. The tithes would lessen and lessen over the Turns until the Weyrs were self-sufficient enough not to need them. Many Holders found themselves living in the Weyrs to help integrate them into a 'normal' society. With the queens Clutching less and less, the leadership of the senior-most gold and her bronze became less and less important.
With the Holds not only providing the means to help the 'Weyrs' become independent, but also in direct control over what little resources they still had, those in power shifted from the Weyrleaders to the Lord Holders. Instead of the Holds being steadfastly in support of the Weyrs as F'lar and his bronze Mnementh had secured Pern to be, the Weyrs eventually swore allegiance to the Holds. As the Turns went by, it became simply unnecessary for the dragonmen to continue living in the mighty fortresses of the Northern Weyrs; the dragons preferred warmer climates anyways.
In 2550, the last Turn of the Ninth Pass, all the Weyrs of Pern have been officially disbanded or turned into Weyrholds. With the dragon population in such a steady decline and with so few new strains of the gene pool, it seems as though the age of dragons had come to an end. However, dragons and their riders are a sturdy bunch and, though it came close many times, the Queens kept on producing and those who could call themselves the riders of dragons went on. By 2850, dragonriders had become little more than Pernese novelty.
With less than a handful of golds on Pern, dragonriders were on the brink of extinction once more. However, strange anomalies were beginning to take place all over Pern. The golds were Rising again and producing larger and larger Clutches, much to the dismay of the Holders whom they lived amongst. More dragons meant more food to the bottomless pits that Holders were becoming increasingly impatient with. Most Lord Holders had banished dragonriders from the Holds proper in all ways but the actual name. The riders, for the most part, lived out in sprawled open spaces on the outskirts of the Holds, surviving, but only just.
All memories of Thread had been forgotten. Unless the Hold was looking for a runaway murder or the Shunned, they really had no reason to ride Sweeps and the intricate patterns of fighting Thread were the stuffs of legend rather than proper practice. The records might have still existed somewhere, but there was no interest enough of the Archivists who held onto them to bring them out of the dusty old shelves they were hidden in.
Perhaps this is why so few have recognized the signs. The swell of oceans, the increasingly violent eruptions of volcanoes all over the South, the ravaging storms. In the North, in the dead, eerily empty Weyrs, the Red Star was lingering closer and closer to the Star Stones...
Not everyone had forgotten the lessons of the past however and with all the signs pointing to one direction, the elder dragonriders weren't afraid to speak their thoughts. Of course, the Lord Holders weren't willing to listen to the useless dragonriders and dismissed their warnings as nonsense. The Lord Holder of the new Benden Weyr told the bold goldrider that if she wished to give into her delusions of grandure and wishes to live in the 'glory' days of the Weyrs, she could go ahead and try to settle one herself.
And so the goldrider, and several of her followers, went. Many, naturally, just wanted to be free of the Holds. They had all the skills and resources to take care of themselves without the Holds. From the new Harper Hall, the dragonriders procured the barely legible records of how to fight Thread, how to heal dragons, how to treat Threadscore. Thus, Starfire Weyr was established.
Eventually, after the dragonriders passed the wisdom of the old Records through the Holds, they drew up enough sympathizers to start a Hold of their own, one who actually would support the Weyrs...if they were right about the Threads that were to come. Life had become boring and sedative for many a Holder and a chance to find their roots was too much to pass up. Tithes began to roll into the Weyr and things began to look just like they would have in the earliest Turns on Pern. Under the Harper Hall's influence, a new Hold, also loyal to the new Weyr, was founded. On the other side of the spectrum, the other Lord Holders on Pern saw these changes as a serious threat to their power.
As more dragonriders began to leave their Weyrholds for a real Weyr, the Lord Holders could feel their control slipping. If all the dragonriders rose up against them, the Holders would certainly have to bend to their wills. In spite of all the clashes riders and Holders had had in the past, it was still a deeply disturbing idea to kill a dragon. Still, in the backs of each Lord Holder's mind, they saw the end of their age of power coming and it was terrifying. Already, some of the bolder Holders were developing plans to keep this scenario from happening...
Meanwhile, in Starfire Weyr, the dragon population was bolstering. The senior Weyrleaders had died and a new queenrider had taken their place. Weyrwoman Lysita and her golden queen Rulanth had assumed power with no other junior queen in the Wings. However, unlike her dam, Rulanth has yet to produce a gold Egg. Those Holds are beholden to the Weyrs are becoming shaken. Was this a sign that Thread was really just a memory? Was all their building and abandonment of their old homes for naught? And what of Rulanth's newest Clutch? Still no queen, but a healthy lot nonetheless.
And this is just the beginning.
