The Story of Pern

[stolenhart]

.Chapter One – What Happened Next?

The discovery of AIVAS, a name all but forgotten, and then remembered only by Harpers, had a two-fold effect on the planet Pern. The good effect was almost immediately apparent, though admittedly some twenty years later. With the computer’s plan, and the riders’ doings, the threat of Thread was eradicated from Pern. The bad effect, which would not be felt for turns to come, would nearly destroy the planet.

The Ninth Pass finished in its’ allotted time, Thread slowed to a trickle and then finally stopped as it had in the past but this time the riders had promised the world that Thread would never fall again. Pern could become the utopia the original settlers had always imagined it to be. The Weyrs could turn their attention to exploring the Southern Continent, preparing the way for future settlement of the lush continent. The Holds had only to wait a few turns, and then they would be able to send landless sons to claim new titles and homes. Suddenly the future of Pern was very bright but it was only the light cast from the fiery future that marched closer as time moved forward.

[stolenhart]

.Chapter Two – A Span of Two Hundred, 2558 - 2758

It began with the Holders, as such things inevitably did. With the riders’ assurances that Thread would never fall again, and a new continent open to settlement, the Holds began to stint on their tithes. Most of the Weyrleaders could not, in good conscience, force the Holds to tithe them for a service they would no longer provide. So the now the empty fireheights and weyrbowls became the Weyrs’ fields and gardens as the Weyrs’ populations slowly dwindled and were not replaced.

While the Weyrs’ population was in decline, the Holds’ population suddenly exploded. Whole forests were decimated to provide building materials to add onto existing holds, while the land was turned into new farmland. Women no longer went to Fort Hold to learn trades, they were needed to produce more hands to work the fields. The Weyrs and the College were hard-pressed to find individuals to come to them, every able bodied person was needed for the holds. With the South open to settlement, the dramatic increase only worsened as more and more children were born.

[stolenhart]

.Chapter Three – The Fires Begin, 2758 – 2808

By the turn 2758, or what would have been the beginning of the Tenth Pass, Pern was seeing it’s largest population ever. Thousands lived in holds that had once held only hundreds, wooden buildings were prevalent now that stone was no longer needed. The Weyrs were isolated from the general population, venturing out for Searches and usually not welcomed then. In 2762, High Reaches last queen died without laying a successor, giving in to defeat the riders were divided among the six remaining Weyrs.

When it seemed as if this was the future of Pern, for the Weyrs to crumble and fade away, to become legend and myth, a terrible disease began to make itself known among the holds. The disease, known as Youngling disease, was named an epidemic in 2769. That was the turn the entire hold of Bitra was shut down. By 2770, only six months later, Youngling had become a pandemic. No one was spared, the High and Low caught, suffered, died and passed on this highly contagious disease.

Nearly seventy percent of Pern’s population died from this disease and in the first turn it was completely fatal to all who contracted it. Youngling was responsible for the deaths of an entire generation, as nine out of ten children under the age of seven died from the disease. And not only was that generation gone, some effects would continue to linger for turns afterward. Men and boys, whose fevers spiked and then later survived the disease, found it difficult in later turns to father children.

The Weyrs were spared the actual disease, isolated in their weyrs the riders watched from the skies and cliffs as whole cotholds were burned to the ground, as thousands of corpses were burned to prevent further spread of the disease. Most felt compassion for the Holders but a few saw it as a sign of their own superiority. But the Weyrs did suffer from the after effects. With so few children being born for a time, suitable Holdbred candidates were few and far between. Hatchlings went between and most of the time eggs did not even crack their shell.

In 2782 Telgar’s oldest queen finally passed. Her two young queens were sent to Fort and Igen, the rest of her riders spread out between the Weyrs as Telgar Weyr was abandoned to the elements. Just four turns later in 2786, Ista Weyr made the decision to abandon their Weyr, as they were unable to take care of themselves. Moving into the end of the Pass, only four Weyrs remained: Fort, Igen, Benden, and Southern Weyr.

[stolenhart]

.Chapter Four – Stoking the Flames of War, 2808-2815

As the Weyr populations dwindled, some of the riders began to fear for their futures. In one last final act of desperation, to try and keep their Weyr afloat, riders from Igen flew to Keroon BeastHold to do one of three things: bring back new bloodlines for their livestock, bring back candidates for their clutch of eggs, and bring back new bloodlines for the Weyr. In what would become known as the Battle of Keroon (2810), the riders took what they wanted from Keroon Hold and then burned it to the ground.

Infuriated with the Weyr, the Lord Holders tried to send armies against the Weyr in what would become known as the Igen War (2810-2812). The Weyr was able to withstand the Holders’ attacks and even began to thrive a little. Realizing defeat was inevitable if they continued, the Holders formed a Conclave and invited the three remaining Weyrs to sit in.

With Benden Weyr facing abandonment, the Holders offered an amnesty of sorts. In exchange for exacting revenge on Igen Weyr, Benden and Fort would be combined into one Weyr, to be named Northern. Ruatha, Fort and Southern Boll would tithe the Weyr until the Weyr faced abandonment. Southern Weyr would be allowed to remain open as long as they could continue to sustain themselves, though the Southern Continent would belong entirely to the Holders, to do with as they pleased.

With the help of Northern Weyr, all one hundred and twelve Igen riders were executed for murder, theft and countless other crimes, none plead innocent to the charges. The only survivors were the twelve riders who had Impressed Igen’s last clutch and the kidnapped victims kept against their will. There were some Southern riders who saw the executions as a betrayal of oaths and kinship. It was the spark that would set the kindling on fire.

[stolenhart]

.Chapter Five – Sound the Drums, 2815-Present Day

With no Thread falling, the queens produced fewer eggs and had longer intervals between clutches and flights. It came about, as it had for the other Weyrs, that Northern became stuck in between a rock and a hard place. They had a queen who had failed to rise and clutch her successor and the Weyr was looking at abandonment, a prospect they did not like because of Southern’s prevailing attitude towards them.

So the Weyrleader of Northern met with the Southern Weyrleader to come to an agreement. Should one of Southern’s three golds be caught by a Northern bronze in her next flight, the entire clutch of eggs would be given to Northern Weyr, to be Impressed by Northern candidates. In exchange, Northern would send half of its’ tithe trains to Southern equal to one turn for every egg laid.

Within the turn the youngest gold rose and was caught by a Northern bronze. When she clutched, and it was discovered she had laid a gold egg, every Northern rider was escorted out of Southern Weyr and asked not to come back. The Northern Weyrleader could not even get a Northern candidate to stand for the gold egg. So Northern did the only thing they could do, wingriders snuck into the Weyr and took the gold egg.

Taking this theft as an act of war, the Southern riders flew north and attacked in what is known as the Northern Battle (2818). The riders attempt to take the egg back failed, and they returned to Southern Weyr to plot and plan their campaign. It was at this moment that an ambitious Lord Nalank of Lidal Hold stepped forward with a proposition. He offered to help Southern Weyr continue with their war in exchange for the Weyr’s help in conquering all of the Southern Continent. He would open the Holds up to Searchriders, feed, clothe, equip and help train the riders as they fought their war.

Southern Weyr took the deal, and in 2819 the Weyrleaders bent knee to Nalank and swore an oath to obey the Overholder. It took almost one hundred turns to see it done but in 2915, Lord Garek of Lidal became Overholder Garek as the last Southern hold fell to his army of soldiers and riders.

Now it was Southern’s turn to finish the war they had started. Over the turns they had fought brief skirmishes against the Northern but they had done nothing more than stirred a bee’s nest. Now that Garek was Overholder they yearned to finally break the Northern Weyr, whose betrayal still struck at the Southern heart.

Against orders from the Overholder, in 2917 Southern riders attacked the Northern Weyr in what is known as the Battle of Northern. Despite being almost evenly matched, Southern’s wings were all but decimated in the battle. The Weyrleader and the two young golds, among others, died in the battle and the wings limped home to a furious Overholder. Garek’s hold on Southern tightened as he bent the Weyr to his will and began to lay his plans to take over Northern.

His plan was very simple and highly effective. With a multitude of daughters, he would marry into nearly every Northern Hold. Those he could not marry into he made friends of them, if they did not befriend him he hid agents and spies among the populations. But Garek would not see his plan into fruitition. In 2927 Garek took a nasty fall from a runnerbeast, dying from the injuries. It was up to his son Hallek, then just twenty turns old, to begin conquering the North.

Everything was going according to plan until Weyrwoman Gimna became the Senior Weyrwoman at Southern in 2932. She was not as amendable to Hallek’s maneuverings as her predecessor had been. Still Hallek managed to keep his control of the Weyr until 2941, when his half-brother T’ran became Weyrleader. Knowing T’ran, Hallek knew his brother would do what he could to break away from him, the Overholder poisoned Weyrwoman Gimna himself.

Though Gold Vandyith had clutched a gold egg, Hallek had no fear he could not manipulate the new Weyrwoman. With Gimna gone, T’ran was only leader if Hallek said so, and by the time T’ran garnered support the new Weyrwoman would be in Hallek’s pocket. But it didn’t work out that way, Gimna did not die and since the Hatching has actually made a partial recovery, though she still suffers from the poison. Vandyith glows brighter every day and the bronzes begin to eye her speculatively

T’ran, captured in battle by Northern, has been reported a traitor and made no move to return home. Many think he strives to become Northern’s Weyrleader, despite his position at home. Junior Weyrwoman Crescentia is constantly surrounded by politics and danger, with only weak Gimna to help her steer. But Southern isn’t the only Weyr full of intrigue.

In the North, young Weyrwoman Kaelu is trying to hold onto her position. The tiny clutch of fourteen eggs does little to cement her authority and the Weyrleader is of little help and more harm. Gold Whistwyth, Deana’s aged gold, is beginning to glow as if she might rise soon despite everyone believing her to old. Many in the North think Deana should retake her former position until Kaelu grows up a bit. Though some speculate that if another gold were laid, her rider would be better suited to running a Weyr than young Kaelu.

The Northern Holds also face perils and dangers. Lord Hybrian of Telgar seeks to emulate Overholder Lidal by conquering all of the Northern Continent, though few know of his plans. Telgar is the best breeder of watch-whers and the Wherhold grows larger by the turn. And in Benden College, the Harpers begin to mutter amongst themselves of a glowing red star and ancient signs of destruction.