History of Sundered Weyr
Perhaps it is easier to replicate science with magic than it is to replicate magic with science, or so the scientists of Pern discovered when they tried to mimic the dragon-kin’s ability to Between, using machines instead of whatever natural talent allows the dragon-kin to do it. The science teams and volunteer dragonriders (and volunteer dragons, for that matter) managed the mechanical Betweening just fine.
They discovered a whole new world, too. They just had no way to get home.
Making the best of it, they found a village near where they’d landed and established themselves. At first, in a world without Thread or Abominators, the dragonriders felt they would probably fast become obsolete. They got fearful looks from the native villagers, too, which they initially took to mean that the villagers had never seen dragons before.
It was within the week that they discovered the reason behind the fear, and were assured that they would never become obsolete.
Theirs were not the first dragons on this new world. The Pernese dragons were not even the strongest on this new world. The native wild dragons had armored scales and strong horns and fluted ridges that seemed to vary by scale color. The worst part was that these wild dragons had powerful magical abilities and the capacity to breathe more than fire, some spewing poison gas or lightning or arctic chill. The wild dragons with metallic scales seemed to be kinder, but the colorful ones would routinely lay waste to the village whenever they got bored.
Thus began the building of the original Haven Weyr, as the Pernese dragonriders fortified a position near the village from which to try and defend it.
They discovered, however, that their defenses were not absolute. Either that or the wild dragons could somehow pass themselves off as Pernese when they so wished, as dragon eggs began to hatch with young displaying traits of both Pernese and wild dragons.
The intrepid dragonriders also discovered the Illogical Field that governed this new world they’d found, which bent and broke reality on seeming whim, making entire tracts of land appear or disappear at random, making it rain marbles, turning oceans into spaghetti sauce… Anything and everything seemed possible under this unknowable force.
Perhaps less alarming than the hybridization of their dragons or the Illogical Field was the discovery that much of the native wildlife was telepathic and could be Impressed, much like they’d Impressed their dragons and Fire-lizards and Watch-Whers.
Aware that the science teams back on Pern had probably written them off as dead, the dragonriders coped with the new world, teaching the villagers about their customs and learning about the village, and their new world, in return, beginning the blending of cultures into an entirely new set of laws and traditions.
Many generations down the road, there arrived visitors from another weyr on another planet. A planet named Planet came to a catastrophic end, or so assumed the survivors who walked out of their front doors to find themselves somewhere utterly unfamiliar, with their bonded creature companions warped into new bodies.
And here stands the weyr today, named Haven Weyr by the villagers who see it as their first and last line of defense against the dangers of the world, and named Sundered Weyr by the original dragonriders, and the newcomers from Planet, who felt as though they had been sundered from their origins and something precious had been irrevocably lost.
They discovered a whole new world, too. They just had no way to get home.
Making the best of it, they found a village near where they’d landed and established themselves. At first, in a world without Thread or Abominators, the dragonriders felt they would probably fast become obsolete. They got fearful looks from the native villagers, too, which they initially took to mean that the villagers had never seen dragons before.
It was within the week that they discovered the reason behind the fear, and were assured that they would never become obsolete.
Theirs were not the first dragons on this new world. The Pernese dragons were not even the strongest on this new world. The native wild dragons had armored scales and strong horns and fluted ridges that seemed to vary by scale color. The worst part was that these wild dragons had powerful magical abilities and the capacity to breathe more than fire, some spewing poison gas or lightning or arctic chill. The wild dragons with metallic scales seemed to be kinder, but the colorful ones would routinely lay waste to the village whenever they got bored.
Thus began the building of the original Haven Weyr, as the Pernese dragonriders fortified a position near the village from which to try and defend it.
They discovered, however, that their defenses were not absolute. Either that or the wild dragons could somehow pass themselves off as Pernese when they so wished, as dragon eggs began to hatch with young displaying traits of both Pernese and wild dragons.
The intrepid dragonriders also discovered the Illogical Field that governed this new world they’d found, which bent and broke reality on seeming whim, making entire tracts of land appear or disappear at random, making it rain marbles, turning oceans into spaghetti sauce… Anything and everything seemed possible under this unknowable force.
Perhaps less alarming than the hybridization of their dragons or the Illogical Field was the discovery that much of the native wildlife was telepathic and could be Impressed, much like they’d Impressed their dragons and Fire-lizards and Watch-Whers.
Aware that the science teams back on Pern had probably written them off as dead, the dragonriders coped with the new world, teaching the villagers about their customs and learning about the village, and their new world, in return, beginning the blending of cultures into an entirely new set of laws and traditions.
Many generations down the road, there arrived visitors from another weyr on another planet. A planet named Planet came to a catastrophic end, or so assumed the survivors who walked out of their front doors to find themselves somewhere utterly unfamiliar, with their bonded creature companions warped into new bodies.
And here stands the weyr today, named Haven Weyr by the villagers who see it as their first and last line of defense against the dangers of the world, and named Sundered Weyr by the original dragonriders, and the newcomers from Planet, who felt as though they had been sundered from their origins and something precious had been irrevocably lost.