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Important Information
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DRAGONS:
Huge, winged, fire-breathing creatures able to communicate telepathically with their riders, as well as to teleport instantaneously from one location to another. Originally bred from Pern's native fire-lizards, dragons come in the same variety of colors as their small forebears: gold, bronze, brown, blue, green and various assortments of colors as well.

Gold: Only the female queens are gold. By far the largest of the dragons, the gold queens are also the only ones to lay eggs and bear young. Queens cannot chew the firestone that enables the other dragons to breathe flames As it can render them infertile; they instinctively know this. Instead, their riders must use flame-throwers and generally fly a low formation to char missed thread.

Bronze: The largest and strongest of the male dragons, the bronzes are the most likely to catch the queen in her mating flight; the successful bronze not only fathers the next clutch of dragon eggs, but, if the queen is senior, is looked to as the lead male dragon (his rider assumes the title of Weyrleader).

Brown: The next largest size. Occasionally a brown will actually beat out the bronzes to catch the queen in the mating flight. They are the most well balanced with their size, speed, and stamina.

Blue: The mid-size dragons, stronger and have higher endurance then greens although not nearly as fast. The blues are the best at searching out potential candidates for impression with a queens clutch.

Green: The green dragons are the smallest dragons. Although female, they do not produce any eggs as by using firestone they are, fortunately due to their mating habits, rendered infertile. They are most praised for their speed, allowing them to destroy thread with ease. They can sometimes a bit flighty

**IMPRESSION:
The choice of rider made by a newly-hatched dragon, which occurs at a Hatching. The dragons choose their riders, rather than the other way around; their choices are made with telepathy, and the lifelong bond between dragon and rider begins with a bright smile and many happy hearts.

**BETWEEN:
The strange, cold, black area of nothingness dragons go through when they teleport.

**DRAGONRIDERS:
Particularly empathic humans chosen as partners by their dragons at Hatching. The female riders consist of the gold queen riders and the riders of the numerous greens, with a rare few blues female dragon riders; The male riders consist of Bronze, brown blue and green rider, the green riders tend to have homosexual tendencies. When a queen has laid a clutch of eggs, the dragonriders will fly out on Search, looking for likely candidates to attend the Hatching. Those chosen by the young dragons in a moment called Impression come to live in the Weyr, where they learn to ride and care for their dragons, and to fight Thread. The dragonriders are the heroes of Pern during a pass, but at an interval they often lose alot of their deserved respect.

**THREAD, THREADFALL:
Thread is the parasitic mychorrozoid organism that comes from the Red Star to fall on Pern like silver rain from the sky, devouring every living thing in its path, people, plants, and animals alike. Only stone and metal are impervious to Thread. The best way to fight Thread is to burn it out of the sky before it can hit ground. Water can also destroy the silver strands by drowning them, providing an ample meal for the creatures dweling there, while immense cold [temperatures cold enough for snow or sleet] freezes thread and turns it to dust. The dragons and dragonriders of Pern fight thread in midair to protect the land, holds, and weyrs.

**WEYRS:
The homes of the dragons and their riders, often situated in the bowl of a dormant volcano. A weyr is the living quarters of an individual dragon and his or her rider.

Weyrs::
Benden Weyr
Fort Weyr
High Reaches Weyr
Telgar Weyr
IstaWeyr
Igen Weyr
Southern Weyr
Eastern Weyr
Xanadu Weyr

**OTHER TERMS::

Klah- Coffe subsititute used and found only on Pern. has a Cinnamonish taste.

Candidate - A possible dragonrider choosen to stand on the Hatching Sands in hopes of Impressing a dragon.

Dragon - A giant fire-breathing animal engineered from Fire Lizards to preserve Humanity against the menace of Thread. Are designed to make a lifelong mental bond with an appropriate human, who will be their Rider. Has all of the qualities of a Flit, but are smarter, bigger, and will suicide upon the Rider's death. Unlike the dragons of mythology, dragons do not have scales.

Fire Lizards - see "Flits"

Flits - Miniature dragon-like creatures which can breathe fire, fly, and teleport. They live in the wild unless a person feeds them at Hatching, in which case they Impress and make a bond with that person.

Gather - A Pernese fair. Although many smaller ones are held through out the year the most notable is the Firstday Gather. Hosted by Fort, this gather is on May 5th and celebrates the founding of Fort Weyr.

Head Cook - Responsible for meals, also responsible for keeping track of stored food, and notifying the Headwoman/Lady if anything is getting in short supply. In some Weyrs, the Headwoman and Head Cook are the same person, though in more active Weyrs, the two ranks are divided to give the Headwoman more time for other imporant tasks.

Head Herdsman - Oversees and maintains the supply of livestock. At a Weyr, has responsibility for livestock that is for human and dragon consumption. Is also responsible for butchering animals for human consumption, has a crew based on the size of the herds and hold/Weyr population. Also tends to have tanners under his supervision.

Head Laundress - Usually someone with some Weaver training. She makes sure everyone's clothes are clean and--if an individual is unable to care for such things themselves--mended. Staff consists of clothesmakers, weavers, laundresses, dyers, etc.

Headwoman - The woman in charge of overseeing domestic tasks in a Weyr, Hold, or Crafthall.

Hold - A place where people live. Are usually caves, either natural or carved, in solid rock cliffs.

Holder - The person in charge of a minor hold.

holder- Someone from a hold.

Impression - The moment when a candidate and dragon form an unbreakable mental bond.

Interval - A gap during which no Thread falls, usually 200 years.

Klah- Coffe subsititute used and found only on Pern. has a Cinnamon taste.

Lady Holder - The wife of a Lord Holder, is often in charge of domestic administration.

Lord Holder - The guy in charge of a major Hold.

Pass - A period of time, approximately 50 years long, during which Thread falls on Pern on a regular basis.

Pern - A delightful world created by Anne McCaffrey, in which we are living for a little while.

Search - The process of a dragon rider looking for suitable candidates. Candidates may come from any station.

Thread - Bad silvery tinsel-stuff that falls from the sky from the Red Star. It eats anything organic, but cannot eat water, stone, or metal. Is very vulnerable to fire, and is very tasty to fish.

Turn - A Pernese Year.

Watch Wher - A failed attempt at bio-engineering Dragons from flits; they do not like light, they are said to fly at night as the air is thicker, are terribly ugly, and do not make permanent bonds with humans, instead have simple bonds with their handlers. Primarily used when digging tunnels as they are able to detect pockets of bad air, also they are handy when thead falls at night as they eat the thread that falls to the ground.

Weyr - A place of residence for dragons and their riders. Are usually caves carved into the cliff faces of dormant volcanoes.

weyr - an individual dragon's den.

Weyrbrats - Children at the Weyr. These include the spawn of Dragonriders as well as the youngsters of the drudges and Support Staff. All Weyrbrats have the right to stand as Candidates when they reach Twelve Years of age, though in some Weyrs, Fourteen is the minimum age, as a Weyrling is not permitted to fight Thread until they are at least sixteen years old.

Weyr Harper - A Weyr's entertainment/education person. The Weyrharper is usually a dragonrider, though in some cases a journeyman Harper is assigned to a Weyr. There is usually only one per Weyr; during major events such as Hatchings, journeyman or master Harpers are sent from the Harper Hall.

Weyr Healer - An individual with Healer Training who is posted to a Weyr. Is usually a master Healer with several journeymen Healers as support. Heals humans, and as they gain experience at the Weyr, heals injured Dragons. Is often assisted by riders of convalescent dragons.

Weyrleader - The male leader of a Weyr, and rider of the dragon who caught the Senior Queen in her most recent mating flight. Leads the Weyrleader's Wing during Threadfall.

Weyrleader's Second - The Wing Second to the Weyrleader's Wing and also the Weyrleader's second-in-command. Is usually a Bronzerider.

Weyrling - An immature dragon. Also, the rider of an immature dragon. They are still in training.

Weyrlingmaster - The individual in charge of training Weyrlings.

Weyrling's Wing - The Wing in which Weyrlings fight Thread until they are graduated into a regular Wing. It flies just above the Queen's Wing, and is lead by the Weyrlingmaster. It is also used as a disciplinary Wing when Riders are bad.

Weyrwoman - The female leader of a Weyr and rider of the Senior Queen of a Weyr. Leads the Queen's Wing during Threadfall.

Weyrwoman's Second - the female second-in-command to the Weyrwoman, a Queenrider, but is chosen based on experience and compatibility to the Weyrwoman instead of age.

weyrwoman - Also "Junior Weyrwoman" - Any rider of an adult Queen Dragon who is not Weyrwoman or Weyrwoman's Second.

Wherry - a bird-like creature native to Pern. They resemble something like a cross between a turkey and an ostrich, and are a preferred dragon food. Wherries have been domesticated, though wild Wherries are still common.

Wing - A part of a dragon. A Wing is comprised of 12-30 dragon/rider pairs, who fight as a unit during Threadfall.

Wingleader - The individual in charge of leading a Wing during Threadfall.

Wing Rider - A non-ranking rider in a Wing.

Wing Second - The second-in-command of a Wing.

Baffled and confused of what mood your dragon should portray? Here is where you can research (somewhat) and describe your dragons mood without the confusion...
Eye color


Blue/Green-Contentment
Yellow-Fear
Reddish-Yellow-Battle
Red/Orange-Anger
Red-Hunger
Purple-Mating Lust
White-Danger
Grey-Pain
Multi-colored- Searching a candidate's mind, or the mind of another person to determine their personality.

Agenothree: A common chemical on Pern, HNO3

Between: An area of nothingness between here and there.

Black Rock: Coal

Day Sisters: A trio of stars visible from Pern

Dawn Sisters: See Day Sisters

Deadglow: Insult meaning idiot

Fellis: A flowering tree

Fellis juice: A juice made from the fruit of the fellis tree; A soporific

Fire-stone: Phosphine-bearing mineral dragons chew to produce flame

Glow: A light-source which can be carried in a handbasket

High Reaches: Mountains on the northern continent of Pern

Hold: A place where the commoners live

Impression: The joining of minds of a dragon and his rider-to-be at themoment of the dragon's hatching

Interval: The period of time between passes, generally 200 turns

Klah: A hot stimulating drink made of tree bark and tasting faintly of cinnamon

Looks to: Is Impressed by

Long Interval: A period in time, generally twice the length of an interval, in which no Thread falls and Dragonmen decrease in number

Numbweed: A medical cream which, when smeared on wounds, kills all feeling; used as an anesthetic

Pass: A period of time during which the Red Star is close enough to drop thread on Pern

Red Star: Pern's stepsister planet. It has an erratic orbit

Rukbat: Pern's sun

Thread: Spores from the Red Star, which descend on Pern and burrow into it, devouring all organic material they encounter

Turn: A Pernese year

Watch-wher: A nocturnal reptile distantly related to dragonkind

Weyr: A home of dragons and their riders

weyr: A dragon's den

Weyrsinger: The Harper for dragonriders, usually a rider himself'

Wherries: A type of fowl roughly resembling the turkey of Earth, but Ostritch sized

I'm sorry if you are upset at the description of the watch-wher. Not everyone has read ALL of the books. The information that has been provided has come from the main stream of the books: Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, and All the Weyrs of Pern.

As for greens always being "in the mood", well, I would hardly call Zalith from the Skies of Pern "flighty". Naive like all dragons can be, but flighty, no.

Thank you for your input, but this thread provides basic for those who don't know a whole lot about Pern. This thread is ment to make things clear, not confuse them.

Cheers!

El