Alabaster Aerie, like many Alskyran Aeries, rests upon the edge of the sea. On the south-eastern edge of Paniya, this hold sits on a scrub desert where it meets the sea. The highest point of the Hold area is more than 2000 feet above sea level, though that is farther to the south and west of the hold itself. Most of the hold sits on land no more than 300 feet above sea level, with the quarry being slightly higher and running deeply below sea level as well.
Directly on the port of the sea, there is a smallish fishing village, but to the east of it by a stone's throw is the port where most activity happens. Ships of all sizes are welcome at Alabaster's port, and many items are imported here. Few exports leave the Hold, but those that do often fetch quite the price.
The area around Alabaster's Hold is populated with farmers and herders, though the farming community must use liberal amounts of both herdbeast fertilizer and grubs to keep out threadfall. The area directly near by the Hold can be covered with a thin chain-mail like sheeting, keeping most of the Thread off the courtyard and surroundings.
The low cotholds on the hills are usually made of the same stone as the Hold, with metal roofs and cobblestone roads leading to them. Most of the herding done around here consists of goats and wherries, both ideally suited for the climate of dry warm mixed with the occasional sea-storm.
On the sloping hills beyond the port and fishing village, the quarry where Alabaster is mined sits. Brilliantly white in the sun, this wide bowl is where the weyr is situated. Since the ground here is more stable than the surrounding scrub land, the weyrs are built directly from the marbles and other stiff stones, and are all accessable from both the inner bowl of the quarry, and the long elevator-like shafts descending into the mines from the south side. A long corridor of well-lit white marble is the usual walking method, and a beautiful one.
The weyr can continue to be mined downward, and is certainly the only one of its kind on notPern. The number of weyrs directly cooresponds to the number of riders and dragons living in the weyr, exceeding it by twenty-percent at all times. Every year or so, the weyrs are increased by about a dozen, for the permanent new members of the weyrhold, from clutches or from transfers.
The marble corridor actually extends into the Alabaster hold itself, though it is nearly 100 feet below the surface. It was excavated using tools that the Ancients used, but their power source was actually dragon-based! Many old tools are easily powered by the heat generated by the dragon's flames, so every once in a while a gathering of dragons -- mostly weyrlings learning to burn fire stone -- are called in to heat massive vats of water for the steam driven engines.
The weyrs themselves are usually rather spartan, though they are spacious and the inhabitants are given any luxury they desire -- carpets, furs, tapestries, wooden or metal cabinets, whatever. Every weyr in the quarry has its own water supply, and there is a large, artifically heated bathing room on the far south side, away from the entrances in the quarry bowl. Each weyr room has a heated slab for the dragon residing in it, turned on by pressure -- so when there is no dragon on it, it is not using precious forced-heat.
Also found in the quarry area is the demolitions crew quarters. This is not mentioned lightly -- Engell and his people experiment with many things the Ancients had, including gun powder, explosives and the like. A safe, solid walled bunker is their normal home range, though it has been known to happen that a whole new weyr room is created by accident. There is a full time healer on staff there.
The Hold itself is a tall, elegant and very remarkable building. The lower portion is large, wedge-shaped, and darker than the rest. It spreads over almost half a square mile of space! There are three levels to this bottom portion and a large, open basement area where gathers are often held if the weather or Thread does not permit outside. The building seen from above (as it often is, by flying dragon riders) is a huge trapezoidal shape, with the larger part being on the south end.
The floors here are all solid stone, as are the walls, but the doors are metal and beautifully crafted. The windows are all glass, blackened by a process only known to the crafters here. Their halls are toward the south end of the building. There are several halls, glass crafting, a machine shop and smith crafters area, as well as leather working and wood tooling in smaller areas. Metal work is carried out on this site, though in a separate building on the south. The first floor is almost 15 feet to the ceiling. The basement is more than 18.
The second floor of this low part is devoted to Harper's classrooms, and dorms. The comfort level here is much higher than that of the first floor, with more carpeting and colorful designs either etched or painted onto the walls themselves, and tapestries decorate many hallways. The second and third floors are not as high as the first, at only about 12 feet. All the on-site Harpers live on this floor, and are catered to in a similar manner to the dragonriders. The Hold supports strong water pressure, and each floor has a restroom style bathing chamber and waste is carried out almost the same way it is on earth. It however goes to a midden pit, a crevasse which has never quite been completely plumbed.
The third floor is devoted to the weyrhold's Lord Holders. All offices and such are here, and are more darkly professional than the rest of the weyrhold. Smaller rooms and more of them are the main feature of this floor. Engell's offices are not here, but higher up.
The higher floors are more narrow, a tall structure of 7 more stories towers hugely over the low hills. This building can be seen for miles, and from dragon back is an ideal feature to focus on for betweening. The roof is where the starstones rest, with complex Ancient astrolabes present for the Starcrafters. The higher stories are all 10 feet ceilings, with a stairwell near the center of the building. The higher stories have stone walls but heavy wooden interior walls and floors.
On the sixth floor is the office complex for Engell and his close Lord Holders. Their offices are large, open and fit to each of them with custom furnishings and tapestries. The seventh floor is Engell's personal playground: his family's alone. Few people are invited to this floor, and none have the guts to enter it on their own. There is an entrance from the wide slightly-sloping roof, which is in fact strong enough to support three dragons on it at once, at the very least.
Other features of the Hold are the healing and interrogation chambers, located on the west side of the 5th story, with no windows on that side, and no escape for people who have had the misfortune to cross the family.
All other floors are offices and homes of ranking families, as well as the Alabaster personnel -- dragon rider's fosterlings, the crafters families rooms, and such.
Any other information? Well, Engell won't tell you where to find his interrogator, or how far the corridors below the building actually extend... And many other secrets. He and the other Kshau Protectorate Holders and Weyrleaders often get together at the top of the Alabaster Hold, though if they are partying or plotting, who knows?
Read about why the Weyrhold is no longer on Pern
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