Season:Summer Weather: Summer has come to Northern Weyr and with it a relief from the icy cold of the harsh winter. Fields have been plowed and stock tended to as time marches towards the fall.
Expectations: With Astoth not due to fly for another turn, and Basteth not due for two turns, the Weyr looks to try and keep their advantage over Southern.
Season:Winter Weather: With the advance of the southern winter comes the hurricanes that are expected. It seems the weather is being nice in that no storms have threatened the Weyr just yet.
Expectations: The eggs harden nicely on the sands and rumor has it they could hatch any day now.
Battle Beginning « Thread Started on Jan 18, 2009, 1:12pm »
The Ending of An Era
Aivas. A name now forgotten, known only to Harper Legends or Weyr Records. Aivas, the computer that saved Pern. Those who knew about Aivas heralded the computer as a savior. Three Hundred Turns later Aivas was all but forgotten. For Pern was in trouble once more.
The Ninth Pass finished in its’ allotted time, allowing the once Weyrbound riders to begin exploration of the Southern Continent. Only now that Thread was destroyed, the Holds felt they did not have to tithe to the Weyrs anymore. And truthfully, the Weyrleaders could not make them anymore. The riders now had the time to till their own fields, keep their own stock, be free men and women. The Weyrs began to take care of themselves, burying themselves in isolation. One gold and a few bronzes were all that kept the Weyrs going. In the end, this saved them.
With no Thread falling, no tithes being paid, the Holders flourished and the population exploded. While the Holders still believed Impressing was Honorable, fewer and fewer Holders found their way to the Sands. For Turns this is the way the world worked.
By 2802 the Weyrs were breathing their last. Weyr bred riders who felt the Holders should re-start tithing, went between to Keroon and in day laid waste to the entire Beasthold. If they could not have decent beasts for their dragons than no one could have them. Hundreds of Holders were killed while the riders suffered no casualties themselves. Though the Battle of Keroon was the bloodiest it was not the only such skirmish between Holder and Dragonrider.
In 2803 the Weyrleaders and the Lord Holders met and hammered out a treaty. The entire Southern Continent would be given over to the Holders, with only the current Population of Southern Weyr to provide services to the Holders. Those Holders in Northern would supply a half tithe to the Weyrs as long as they provided candidates. The Weyrs would put themselves at the service of the Holders.
2805 came and the Weyrs began to die. Telgar and High Reaches were abandoned, their populations dwindled the fastest and the survivors went to Benden and Fort. In 2807, Ista and Igen were abandoned. Now only Benden and Fort still lived, but Benden’s aged queen went between and without a gold, Benden would die. In the later Turn of 2810 Benden was finally abandoned. Now only Fort and Southern Weyrs remained, and only Fort, Ruatha and Southern Boll Hold tithed to a Weyr.
The isolation of the two weyrs would be their saving grace however. In 2814 a vicious pandemic began to circulate among the Holder population. It killed indiscriminately, sometimes leaving a person to suffer for days or to die within hours. By 2815 over half the population was dead or sick. A turn later, only a quarter of the population of Pern was left alive.
During the two Turns of the disease, the Weyrs were spared. The cold of between saved the riders from the pandemic. Sadly it could not save the newly named Northern Weyr from the loss of their last queen. In 2817, it was Northern’s turn to be wary for they had no gold to carry on their Weyr. And the Treaty would not allow Northern’s dragons to move to Southern Weyr.
Southern Weyr had weathered the plague well, too well in fact. With two mature queens and an egg on the Sands, Southern was flourishing. Northern asked for a queen and the prickly Southerners took exception to the tone of the asking and denied their request. Lidal Lord Holder took the opportunity to help the Northern Weyr successfully steal the gold egg. In the early winter light, a wing went between to Southern to steal the gold egg.
In the late winter Southern’s wings flew against Fort to retrieve their egg. Known as Fort Battle, the Northerners were successful in their defense. Southern dragons were unused to fighting in Fort’s rough winds and mountain terrain and Northern had more greens and blues to defend themselves with.
Eighty turns later, after the theft of the egg, Lord Lidal began to build anti-dragon weapons. Worried Southern decided to kidnap Lady Elsita of Lidal and ransom her against the weapons destruction. She was taken to Ista Hold. Little did Southern know, Elsita hated her husband, or that R’gan, Weyrleader of Northern was visiting Ista. They met and fell in love and in 2905 were married.
Lidal, who believed his wife was dead, found out about the marriage when a visiting Northern Harper came through his Hold. Furious, he demanded that Southern retrieve his wife. In the bloodiest Weyr battle, Battle of Lidal, the Southern Weyr was decimated. It lost half its’ population and both queens to the superior fighting force of Northern. Northern was barely scratched, losing one fourth their force and only one gold.
Enraged Lidal’s Lord Gaius captured Southern’s remaining Weyrwoman and forced Southern Weyr to swear fealty to him. He had his anti-dragon weapons to back up his claim and the Weyr bowed to him. He took the title OverHolder Lidal and never relinquished his hold on the Weyr. In the turn 2915 the first Northern Dragon was killed by the OverHolder’s weapons.
In 2942 Southern’s last gold died without a successor. Southern found themselves in the same boat that Northern had been in Turns before. With a young queen and an egg on the Sands, Southern asked to send candidates for the young queen. They were denied. R’lyn, Weyrleader of Southern, counseled patience. His bronzeriding wingleaders would not heed his word. Two wings went to Northern and stole eight eggs, including the coveted queen.
The eggs successfully Hatched, the gold Impressing a young Southern woman. Now Southern Weyr has the chance to continue its’ existence against the snobby Northerners.
Where We Will RP « Reply #1 on Jan 18, 2009, 5:51pm »
Southern Weyr has a gold egg and seven regular eggs on the sands. Northern Weyr has twelve regular eggs on the sand. Both will hatch soon. Candidates for both Weyrs are needed. The gold who laid these eggs is nearly catatonic, her rider having suffered a stroke.
Northern Weyr is preparing for war and hoping the stolen gold egg does not Hatch. While Southern Weyr is preparing to defend itself and the new gold dragon. Southern Weyr is the severe underdog but Lidal Hold, built next door to the Weyr, has armed the area with dragon slaying weapons.
Northern Weyr would like to destroy Lidal hold but it would take too much effort to do so. At the moment all eyes are on the Southern Weyr.
The Northern Weyr has two gold dragons, both of them quite young, both expected to rise soon. The first one up will be Senior Weyrwoman and chose a Weyrleader. The Southern Weyrleader is old and was outvoted on the matter of the gold. His time is drawing to an end.
Basically Thread Fighting tactcs have changed to fighting dragons. Sweeps become patrols hunting for enemy dragons. The Northern dragons were colors of scarlet and gold while the Southern dragons were black and white. Battles are fought in the air with flame and claw, the objective being to capture a dragon's rider.
Dragons began life as non-aggressive towards each other, except for mating queens. But only the most aggressive bronzes, (flight, skill, mental, courage-wise) won the flights. Thus the dragons evolved through breeding. Now in normal cases these advanced genes would not have been acted on but when the five Weyrs went forward, they left behind a small breeding pool, which allowed this gene, and others, to pop up. This is also how the dragons grew larger. Ramoth’s size was above and beyond the original programming.
So when the Old-timers came forward with their smaller and less aggressive dragons, the ancestors of the Northern riders already had an advantage. This created two distinct gene pools. By the time the Pass came to an end there were three gene pools. The Northern pool which consisted of larger, more aggressive dragons, the Southern pool which consisted of smaller, peaceful dragons, and the Middle pool which was either small and aggressive or large and peaceful.
The Tenth interval started with these pools. As the Weyrs were abandoned the Middle pool shrunk and gradually was outbred. The Southern pool also shrunk and was eventually bred out. Remember the Northern dragons are descended from the Southern pool. The Southern Pool queens were caught by the more aggressive (better fliers, etc.) which caused their eggs to be more aggressive. Thus the dragons are of one line now, Northern Pool, with throwbacks to the Southern Pool.
By aggressive I am talking about more daring, more courageous, more prone to protecting territory, just more of whatever they had. The dragons are also more prone to any tendencies, peace or aggression, their riders are feeling. So the rider’s personal feelings influence and shape a dragon’s warrior mindset.
Having said that. Flaming in battle is a way to either A. attack the rider or B. turn a dragon aside. Most battle is done by claw in the air, trying to drop a dragon to the ground so the rider can be captured. Riders try to capture other riders. Thus the dragon is rendered unusable. Capturing riders then fly straight back, no betweening, with their captured pair. This is where most deaths happen. Riders fall, are caught in the flame, caught by an errant claw or some such. Injuring a dragon is considered more honorable than simply killing him outright.
Most battles are fought over foodstuffs. Though the North has hold support, the Hold would still prefer the Weyr support itself. The South tries to scare the Northern holds, hoping to get them to withdraw their support of the Weyr. Most Southern raids take place in Southern Boll or Ruatha. Without it’s hold support Northern would be forced to look after itself, leaving Southern to destroy the North as it sees fit.
Most aggression is South going North, since Southern Weyr is practically indefensible with Lidal’s weapons. The North is trying to find a way around those weapons to pull Hold support from Southern. Basically it’s a stalemate which doesn’t help either side.
Re: Battle Beginning « Reply #2 on Jan 19, 2009, 1:42pm »
Time Line
9th Pass – 2508 to 2562 9th Interval – 2562 to 2803 2802- Battle of Keroon -----Dragonriders tried to forcibly remove herdbeasts from Keroon Beast hold which resulted in several riders being killed and the destruction of Keroon Hold 2803- Treaty Is signed by all Weyrleaders and Lord Holders Signing of Treaty beings 10th Pass 10th Pass 2803 onward. 2805 Telgar and High Reaches Abandoned 2807 Ista and Igen abandoned 2810 Benden abandoned 2814 Pandemic starts showing up in the large holds 2815 Half of every hold Is dead or sick 2816 The disease has run its course leaving a quarter of the population. 2817 Northern Weyr loses its last Queen who did not lay her Gold egg 2819 Northern Weyr steals Southern’s gold egg --- College moves east to the abandoned Benden Weyr 2820 Fort Battle takes place -----A brief battle over Fort skies as Southern tried to retrieve it’s stolen egg and failed. 2900 Northern and Southern are equal in number 2904 Southern kidnaps Lady Elsita 2905 Elsita marries Weyrleader R’gan 2910 Lord Gaius of Lidal orders the Southern Weyr to retrieve his wife ---Battle of Lidal takes place over Southern Boll -------The Southern Weyr was cut in half and lost both golds during this day long battle. Northern Weyr lost a quarter of it’s fighting force and one gold. 2913 Lord Gaius captures the Sr. Weyrwoman and forces Southern Weyr to swear fealty to him 2915 First Northern dragon is killed by Gaius’ weapons. 2921 Lord Gaius dies 2942 Southern’s last gold dies without laying her Successor 2945 Southern steals Northern’s gold egg.
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