12/16/01
Located on the far western side of the Southern Continent, where the scrub of the desert to the east blends in with the low forested lands nearer the coastline.
Alabaster Hold is actually part Weyr, Craft Hall and Hold all lumped into one.
First settled by the Engell family and three other large Holders, a mine was set up from the local hills, and granite sent out from the southern borders where the mines still offer fine stones.
After three decades, the first of the other families began to itch for more than just a minor hold. Larenzo, Lord holder for the family, invited several craft halls to come and share with the wealth of the area. A fishing village was soon established, and a port as well followed.
A healer's Hall was needed soon, however, with a disasterous bout with poisonous fish meat. The Healers have largely left this area, but they are still generously represented.
The second family, headed by Lord Holder Niccoletti, brought a lucrative gambling and racing theme to their part of the Hold, raising runnerbeasts and hounds for sporting events. These are still popular activities, especially with the farmers and fishermen of the area.
The third family, headed by a woman named Ashenor, invested its time in the Harpers Hall, and insisted upon bringing talented historians, artists and singers into the fold.
The original Engell, Korenna, was a shrewd woman and took every advantage of her appearance and talents with song. She brought all these divergent crafts into a single building, a tall structure which still stands and is admired from afar as well as close up. Under her command the many myriad paths within the huge hall were made, as she was a talented architect as well as schemer.
The specialties of the Hall are much odder than it would first appear, however. Under the tutelege of a talented but strange Healer named Viridia, Alabaster's leadership was joined with an alliance of Weyrs and Holds, not the least of which is the Paveh Hold. She introduced elements of danger into the already borderline activities of gambling and racing, including a discreet "service" for taking care of opposing Holders or high ranking lords.
With this in mind, several generations back, Viridia and one of her offspring, Tresis, started practically advertising their work. It is always done slyly, without knowledge from the general public, and though dispised thoroughly by other Holders, they are respected and even feared.
It has only been within the last twenty years or so that Thread has begun to fall. With this new threat, their other less savory activities have been brought to a near standstill, however there are always Weyrs who need to teach errant Holders a lesson -- don't send your tithes? We'll have Alabaster rough you up and then see where you stand.
It is in the interest of maintaining their own secure autonomy, that the current leadership of Alabaster Hold, Engell (the fourth to hold the name) has completed excavations of the local quarry walls to make a small Weyr. Then, by a simple case of blackmail, Engell began recruiting Weyrs to offer hatching eggs to their young followers. In this manner, Engell has built up his own set of Thread fighting dragon riders, under his command.
He sensibly allows them to train with experienced riders, before asking those same riders to either pledge to his Hold, or go their own way without bothering them again.
Many riders have been given over to Alabaster by way of being too unruly, too dangerous to their own people, or just too strange to live in other Weyrs. Under Engell's constant supervision and charismatic leadership, they thrive and work togther like no teams of wings ever established.
Within these halls, you will find adventurers, lovers and fighters, leaders and friends, and a demanding work force the likes of which Pern has never seen.
Read the flight and last Hatching.