Post by AVARICE on Jan 11, 2010 14:51:14 GMT -5
Our demise had been a long time coming. We should have seen it turns before it happened – but we were far too focused on the present to consider the future, and that mistake has cost us dearly.
The South was once the more prosperous continent. Huge and unexplored, it held endless opportunities for us. Once our ancestors realized the possibilities that the South offered, they flocked to it. Weyrs and Holds and Halls were built; people preferred the South’s balmy temperatures and beautiful scenery over the harsh, barren, overworked North continent, so the population swelled. More Weyrs and Holds and Halls were built, but still we did not stop.
It was not until hundreds of turns later that we realized that the food, herds and firestone were dwindling and we started to comprehend the situation we were in. We began rationing everything, but the population continued to grow until there simply was not enough room for everyone. They spilled out of the Weyrs and Holds and lived in the small bits of the jungle that were uninhabited, but the resources were so little that violence soon began erupting all over the Southern continent. The Weyrs were in the most trouble – the tithes had all but stopped, and they had little to support themselves. The Halls and Holds saw them as a parasite, so they were the first to go.
Seven years ago, those who had been pushed out gathered support from the Holds and Halls in the South and revolted against the Weyrs. If the riders did not get out in time, they were killed without a second thought; the massacres were long, bloody and continued until each Weyr was completely purged. Most of the Southern Weyrleaders, Junior Weyrwomen and Weyrseconds were slaughtered in the mess. Those who escaped fled North, leaving all of the South Weyrs empty and completely ruined. Some of the Holders and Crafters loyal to the riders went with them, seeking refuge on the now less-populated Northen Continent.
When the riders were pushed to the North, the Regime was founded, and some of the upper-level riders began to forsake their pledges to protect Pern. The Riders were bitter about what had happened on the Southern continent and, even as they built Harlen Weyr to house the influx of riders, many of them wanted revenge on the Southerners who had destroyed them. They thought themselves superior to any other Pernese person, whether Holder or Crafter. With the strongest foothold in Harlen Weyr, they are now determined to take control of the Holds and put an end to the gluttony and loose government of the Pernese people.
The Regime is also opposed to a new crop of dragons and riders. Perhaps as a result of the changing political and social climate on Pern, one of the junior queens at Harlen shocked Pern by laying 5 oddly-colored, feathered dragonets in her most recent clutch. These Outgroup riders and dragons are usually feared and/or loathed by the Pernese, especially by members of the Regime. Having just recently graduated from Training, they are housed at Harlen Weyr, but are barely considered among the ranks of the riders. To distinguish them from the rest of the riders, they are required to wear one of their dragon’s feathers on a chain around their neck, forever marking them as outcasts.
So much on Pern is unsolved, unknown and unsteady. With the introduction of the Outgroup riders, neither Weyr nor Hold knows exactly where they stand and it is only a matter of time before it all comes to a head and we once again have to face our demise.
Signed,
Tellahar
Masterharper of Pern
Harper Crafthall at Fort Hold
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kneel
on the scorched earth
in the shapes of men and animals
[/size][/color][/center]on the scorched earth
in the shapes of men and animals