Pern

[Mac]

Okay, I'm back from the Wild Wild West. Sorry I didn't post it on departures but I'm trying to figure out why my computer won't upload pictures. I'm actually in a hotel right now waiting to go to breakfast.

Pern. Ah, the peaceful planet where the native Earth starship landed with poeple, dolphins, animals galore, plants, and advanced technologies.

((I'm doing this from memory so hang tight please. O.o Breakfast. . . ))

[Mac]

All went well for a while, but eight years later burning 'Thread' began to fall that 'ate' everything in its path and only rock, metal, or water provided shelter. The Thread could also be incinerated with fire.

Small lizards with wings inhabited the planet of Pern when the Earthlings landed. And it wasn't until they were seen fighting the Thread as it fell did an idea spring in a DNA specialists mind. Kitti Ping used the fire-lizards DNA to create a larger version of the winged lizards. She called them dragons after the mythical Earth creature they resembled.

There are five canon colors of dragons.

Green: Female (20-24 meters)Smallest and most numerous of the dragons. Light, highly manuverable and agile, the greens are sprinters of dragonkind. They breath short bursts of flame. Greens are rendered sterile through a sex-linked disability triggered by chronic use of firestone. The first time they rise before using firestone, they are able to lay eggs, though not many. Though they still rise to mate even after they aren’t able to bear eggs.

Blue: Male (24-30 meters)The workhorse of the dragons. Medium-sized the blues are as tough as green but not as manuverable. They have more stamina under pressure and are capable of sustaining flame longer. Most are used onsearch for their keen sense of capable candidates. They can fly greens.

Brown: Male (30-40 meters) Larger than greens and blue, some well- grown browns are as large as small bronzes and could actually mate a queen if they so dared. the browns arethe real wheel-horses of the dragon, reasonably agile and strong enough to go a whole Fall with out faltering. They are more intelligent than greens and blues, with greater powers of concentration. Browns and their riders sometimes act as Weyrlingmasters, training the young dragons and riders. They can fly greens and ocasionally fly queens, though this is not encouraged.

Bronze: Male (35-45 meters) The laeder of the dragons. all bronzes compete to mate with gold queens; the rider whose dragon flies the oldest’s gold rider’s queen, is named Weyrleader. Bronzes are generally trained for leadership and assume Wingleader and Wingsecond positions along with browns. Bronzes and their riders often act as Weyrlingmasters, training the young dragons and riders. They usually fly queens but some have been known to fly greens.

Gold: Queen, full female (40-45 meters) The bearer of the young, the queen is traditionally mated by whichever bronze can catch her. Although browns can mate with queens- and sometimes do in the case of junior queens- this is unusual and not encouraged. The queen is fertile and bears eggs which she oversees until they hatch. Clutch sizes range from ten to forty; generally the larger clutches occur during a Pass. The senior queen, usually the dragon of the oldest queen rider, is the most prestigous dragon and is responsible for all the dragons in the Weyr and for propagation of her species.
((Directly from'The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern'))

[Mac]

Um, sizes and colors vary amoung the dragon colors. i.e. Gold dragon one might have a brilliant hide that glistens like the morning sun. While gold dragon two has a deeper golden color, and could often be mistaken for a larger bronze. Also, dragon one is double the size of dragon two, though dragon two may have laid twice as many gold dragons as dragon one.

I'm really sorry if this is confusing. Please check out any Chronicles of Pern book. I began with Lessa in Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and one other but they are considered a trilogy. There are many books out there concerning Pern, and all of them are worth reading! Anne McCaffrey wrote nearly all of them though her son Todd joint wrote one or two with her and has also ventured off on his own with Dragonsblood. A new one by him just came out though I can't recall the name.

Anyways, Kitti Ping's daughter, Wind Blossom, attempted to perfect the dragons but ended up creating another specie known as whers. They are nocturnal, with stubby wings and the power to see only heat. A good book about them is Dragon's Kin.

When I find a good site that can explain everything I will post it, but for now it's off to reply for me!

[Lali]

*dances* The semi-official fansite is

www.annemccaffreyfans.org

and contains many extra information and theories brought up in discussion threads about Pern. (as well as all the other McCaffrey books...) I'm Songbreeze on there.

And I'll have a look around for a few of the Pern sites I've seen in people's sigs. ^_^ Whoot!