Post by PA on Jul 23, 2010 7:26:18 GMT -5
Welcome one and all to Pern, I have a tale to tell, a tale of pain and sadness. Let me introduce myself. I am called Reshan, I am the MasterHarper to New Benden Weyr and have been asked to tell you the sad story of our wonderful Pern. Sadly it is not so wonderful any more. It is a world of illness and despair. A world torn apart by fear and greed. It is not a good story, it tells of heart ache and pain, of grief and loss. But there is hope, there is a blinker of light that shines, promising that things may be getting better. But I am rushing ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning, 13 turns ago.
I know, I can hear you say 13 turns is not a long time, but believe me when I say it has been long enough to devastate our planet! Our life!
Early in the turn we witnessed strange lights in the sky, it puzzled us all because we werent in a pass, there was no fear of Thread. So what was it that was lighting up our skies like never before? Some said they were rocks, others spun wild tales, but whatever they were they did not seem to do much harm and they were pretty to watch. Until one hit Timor, one of our two moons. We watched in horror as the moon seemed to explode, sending chunks of rocks towards us. Towards our planet. We feared the worst, what could we do? Dragons took to the skies and they fought as they could, but this was not Thread, these were chunks of moonrock, some tiny, the size of a fist, others huge, the size of cots and dragons. Many brave dragons and riders died that night. The dragons were not able to stop them and the surface was soon under attack. The rocks from our moon struck across the Northern part of our glorious planet. The continent was set alight and mountains exploded. Those of us who could fled, but many lost their lives in those few terrifying days.
Those of us who had managed to escape made our way to the Southern Continent, we had no choice, the North was no longer habitable. Boats, ships, all manner of crafts were seen crossing the oceans. Some did not make it, some did. But the people who died that day, the amount who perished was devastating. We lost many, both human and dragon, they died horrible painful deaths. People and dragons died together, the falling rocks, fire and earthquakes were not picky.
But that was not the last of the disasters. With the loss of Timor, the planet was thrown into turmoil. The seas seemed to boil. Tides changed, the surface of the planet sifted. We did not see the sun for 3 turns, the dust was a thick cloud and people faced a new threat. Famine. Dragons now numbered in the 100s; had to eat what they could catch from the wild wherries and herd beasts, the people tried, but the planet was recovering, and we suffered more.
With famine comes illness. Firehead ran havoc through our numbers, but a new, deadly foe appeared. The illness hit all: man, woman, child, dragon, beasts, flitters. All succumbed to the terrible cough and then they bleed. The illness broke down the inner workings of the body, people literally bleed to death. The dragons betweened as soon as they realised they had this illness. For six turns we fought this illness. We fought and never gave up. We nursed those we loved as we hoped that we would not be the next to fill the beds. We survived the fire in the sky, but now we feared that we were all to die, that this illness would wipe us from existence. We did all we could , watching. waiting. Hoping!!
And then people began to recover. We watched as people got better, no one else grew ill. Then the sun broke through the clouds and we felt hope. Finally there was hope in our hearts.
That was now 2 turns ago. We have worked hard, strived to plough, toil and plant the fields. Harvests have been getting better. We have seen no signs of Fire Lizards and the last 12 dragons are all older. There has not been a clutch on the sands for over 14 turns now and our last Gold, a brave old dragon almost 50 turns old is failing. None could have imagined what happened a few sevendays ago. She rose. With a great bellow the wonderful Golden Queen rose. The last three Bronzes chased her and one, a fine fellow called Drivath caught our beloved Eeth. She could not clutch, she was to old for sure, but one surprise followed another, a seven day ago she clutched. 21 eggs lay nestled on the hatching grounds. But it was all too much for Golden Eeth, she clutched and then went between, exhausted, leaving her eggs under the watchful eye of the last 9 dragons. Two bronzes died after the flight, so now 21 eggs are our hopes. 9 dragons remain, 1 bronze, brave Drivath, the clutch father watches over them, and the rest, Brown, Blue and Green aid him. Now we search for candidates, we hope that 21 dragons will emerge. The only fear is we cannot see a golden egg. All we can do is wait and hope that in amongst the 21 is a Gold or two. But many doubt it. We will just have to wait and see. If there is no Gold, then we have tried and failed. All we do is wait, we have 4 sevendays to go. 28 days seems like a lifetime, but we will make it, and then we will see if there is a Future to be had here on Pern.
We guard the eggs carefully, the Rebels are a constant worry to us. They attack any, killing, maiming and stealing from them. They are growing in number and we fear they will turn into a serious threat. But we will do all we can to protect the eggs and give hope to Pern. After all what future is there without the dragons we so need for survival.
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Three blue rider spaces remaining.
Two brown rider spaces remaining.
A clutch hardening on the sands means any and all
Candidates are welcome. But, this great joy comes
With great sorrow, for no Golden Shell rests among them.
As are all Masters of Crafts.
Not to mention the Rebels of the Southern Continent,
The band of holdless renegades threatening to steal,
This final clutch and condemn Pern to its death.