Post by M'kel on Jun 30, 2008 1:25:55 GMT -5
Urbs Draconis: Dark Age of Pern
In the decades before the Fifth Pass, Pern's dragons began to disappear.
Queens rose less frequently and their clutches were smaller with each passing Turn. Even the eggs that reached the sands seemed cursed; too often they failed to hatch, or produced hatchlings deformed in body and mind. At every Weyr, the dragons' numbers dwindled.
Desperate to keep up their fighting strength, Pern's bronzeriders claimed weyrling pairs from their dragons' clutches and assigned them to their own wings. As central order decayed in the Weyrs, the fighting wings developed their own bloodlines, both dragon and human. The wings competed for each gold dragon that rose, asserted exclusive right to the eggs, and tried, whenever possible, to see to it that only their own riders' children Impressed. From these fighting wings-- ever more insular, more distinct-- the Houses were born.
When Thread fell from the sky, the Weyrs simply lacked the numbers to protect their territories. In the devastation that followed, Pern's Holds were abandoned. Survivors fled for succor to the Weyrs, around which the dragons could still ride 'Fall; the Blood of the Holds intermingled with the blood of the dragonmen. As the planet's resources were consumed by Thread, the Weyrs went to war with one another for the precious remainder that each could protect. From the marriage of necessity between Weyr and Hold came the Weyrhold, the City of Dragons-- the Urbs Draconis.
Pern in the Fifth Pass is a feudal world, plunged into another dark age. Dragonriders are the new nobility, and the Weyrs are their fiefdoms. Clustered about the skirts of the mountains, or huddled in caves once occupied by dragons, holdfolk live a peasant's life; they work the fields, tend the cattle, in return for protection from the ravages of Thread and rival Weyrholds. The Crafts have become guilds, serving the needs of their dragonman masters while intriguing for influence among them. In the Weyrs themselves, the Houses-- each named for a progenitor bronze-- compete for power, glory, and the most precious prize of all-- the dragon queen and the eggs she will lay.
Our story begins at Fort Weyrhold, early in the Pass. Fort's last gold dragon is old and feeble, her Weyrwoman plagued by a consuming cancer; the decrepit beast has increasingly thrown barren eggs, including the last two golds. It is widely believed that the clutch now on the sands will be her last. And there are those who whisper darkly among themselves, wondering what will befall them if the lone gold egg also fails to hatch...
We are now accepting characters of all stripes for the upcoming plots! We are a loose canon game with an alternate timeline-- the five standard colors, female riders rarely on blues and browns, and an entirely new wing system that allows for greater IC tension and politics. Riders of all colors (except gold) to fill the Houses and candidates for the clutch on the sands are particularly welcome. We cater to the plot-driven player looking to explore the potential of wars between Weyrs and inter-Weyr politics.
