Pern: Shifting Sands

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Pern: Shifting Sands

AIVAS changed Pern. That much, I am sure, you understand. However, not long after the temperatures began to rise, unnoticed at first. Too preoccupied with finishing the Tenth Pass and expanding their holdings, the residents of Pern ignored the milder winters and warmer summers, particularly since the crops flourished. However, in 2602, the Starcrafters stumbled across an eye opening discovery. Due to the destruction of the Red Star, and likely caused by the explosions, Pern had shifted in its orbit and the rise in the temperatures could be attributed to it. Pern was shocked, but no one knew what to make of it and started to adapt their practices to this discovery. Some noticed that the rains started to fall towards the poles and less over the equator, and eventually the ice caps began to melt, adding to the gathering water at the poles. The oceans decreased dramatically, leaving but a shallow ocean along the equator with two new, growing oceans at each pole.

Then, in 2615, Pern finally settled into its new orbit with a resounding natural disaster. A global earthquake ripped through the continents, destroying Hold after Hold, Weyr after Weyr. Thousands were killed and although it took less than four candlemarks for the quake to shatter Pern, the results were profound. Dragons were killed like the Thread they used to char, from the formerly extinct volcanoes that housed them erupting and annihilating entire Weyrs to heat stroke killing overworked dragons unused to the heat. They were the saviors of the Holds, however, rescuing refugees and taking them to safe places. Fort Hold, the only Hold untouched by the Quake and the eruption that destroyed Fort Weyr, was one of these places, as was Benden Weyr and the abandoned Igen Weyr, which was left empty after an inexperienced Weyrleader and Weyrwoman took the entire Weyr <I>between</I> in their hurry to get away from the quake. Only the Weyrlings, unable to fly and forgotten by the leaders, survived and were taken to Benden Weyr. The earthquake and Pern’s final shift into its new orbit caused extreme rain along the poles and desertification along the Equator, evaporating the ocean and creating the Northern and Southern Seas. Many of the Holds were destroyed, and it took the cooperation of the Holds, Hall and Weyrs to regain some form of sanity.

Two turns later, however, and the refugees have been relocated and new Holds have been constructed through the effort of the entirety of Pern. Benden Weyr, now by the ocean, survived, as did a Weyr in the South, called Ierne. It was once a small lookout point, but grew as the need arose, becoming a full Weyr shortly before the Earthquake. Bitra Hold, renamed Benden as the Benden Lord Holder took over for the Bitran Lord killed in the Quake, Telgar Hold, moved to Igen Weyr as its former Hold was flooded by the new Telgar Bay, and the surviving Fort Hold are the only remaining Holds in the North. Ierne Hold, built on the Ierne Floodplain, Harbor Hold built at the back of Yelai Bay and New Hope Hold, a hopeful enterprise by a free thinking Lord are the only Hold in the South. Crafthalls have been recreated and moved to these Holds, although Fort’s Healer and Harper Hall were destroyed in the Quake and rebuilt elsewhere.

Three queens are spread across these two Weyrs, one retired and the other two facing high expectations as the clutch sizes grew smaller and smaller due to the heat and the lack of danger after Thread was destroyed. With thirty dragons apiece, the rest killed from the heat or the quake, they are desperate, particularly because the hatchlings are proving very susceptible to the heat, with the higher colors being more so. A golden queen even <I>betweened</i> after hatching at Benden. Some even think the heat affects the clutching capacity of the Golds, and the mothers and riders have become very careful about the temperatures the clutches are kept at, including the temperature the mother stays at while carrying the eggs. Both Weyrs, each generally feeling good will to the other, are desperate for good clutches, but the queens are rising every two turns, so their hopes are low. Even firelizards have been affected, with their clutching grounds moved, and some tried to lay them in the desert, where the mother, clutch or both were killed from the heat. Only now, fifteen turns after the Quake and the moving of the oceans, have clutches been spotted, although the firelizards are wilier now and much harder to Impress. Whers, forgotten in the Quake, were allowed to go wild as their use dropped dramatically and the heat began to limit their time out of doors.

Now, in 2630, the Pernese focus on survival and rebuilding what they can in a time of hot daylight hours, freezing nights and low population levels. Food, water and shelter are the main focuses, although the drama has begun to return to Pern as the survivors begin to settle into their lives. Rumors of a plague have started to surface, killing all but five percent of those who contract it. The survivors appear no worse for wear, however, confusing the Healers and making them wary. Now, after the desertification of Pern, things are always shifting and changing and adapting…

Welcome to the Shifting Sands of Pern. What will you make of them?

Wanted

Both Weyrleaders and Weyrseconds
Weyrlingmasters, Weyrhealers and Weyrsingers at Both Weyrs
Other Dragonriders
Lord Holders
Lady Holders
Craftmasters
Candidates (Flight and Clutch soon!)


Pern: Shifting Sands

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