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 July 8, 2001
Eastern Weyr
Alternative 12th Pass
During
the 12th Pass of the Red Star, Turn 22 (1996) Eastern Weyr saw
unusually heavy rains and extremely high tides. In one of the
many coves near the Weyr, it was noticed that the sea foam and
beach were slightly orange in coloring. No one was unduly alarmed
by this and merely thought it was an odd occurrence. Normal use
of the cove for sunning and swimming continued unabated. Shortly
after this coloration first appeared, the rains and high tides
subsided back to their normal levels and the coloration was not
noticed again.
Less
than a sevenday after this coloring was gone, the first people
began to fall ill. They were initially stricken with a high fever
that quickly escalated to life threatening temperatures. Within
24 hours of the fever, large areas of flesh were apparently being
eaten by some sort of fungus. People who were lucky died shortly
after this stage. Those less fortunate suffered another two days
in which it appeared as if their internal organs melted within
them. While this outbreak caused some concern among the hold
folk, no one really expected that the Weyr would be affected.
They were proven wrong quickly however when it became apparent
not only was the Weyr struck, but a sizeable portion of the Weyr
was hit.
The
WeyrHealer, Master Darya, quickly realized that a major disaster
was in the making and called in the Master Healer of Pern and
all his assistants in an attempt to halt or slow down this deadly
viral fungus. Nothing they had ever encountered matched these
symptoms and there was apparently nothing that could be done
for the victims except hasten them to their death through an
overdose of painkilling potions. Luckily it seemed as if this
virus was not contagious after the initial exposure. After extensive
questioning of everyone in Eastern's Holds and in the Weyr itself,
the Healers tentatively concluded that the orange tide had been
the cause of this. This did not help really but at least now
the Weyr and holds knew what to look for to prevent a second
outbreak.
As
added precautions to avoid a secondary outbreak, it was decided
to burn all the bodies, clothing, bedding and anything used to
care for those who were ill. The healers, along with the remaining
senior riders at Eastern, decreed that the beach cove would need
extensive cleaning. The sand was cleaned with a watered down
version of ageenothree and all driftwood and residual sludge
was burned. Any vegetation that was thought to have been touched
by the tide was also cut and burned. Normal use of the cove was
suspended until declared safe. Most people find the cove unlucky
and have avoided it thus far.
Eastern
Weyr was hit severely by this outbreak. More than 1/6 of the
Weyr's fighting wings were lost, to include two queens. The only
remaining queen at Eastern was the young gold Boudiccath ridden
by Tamsin. The Acting Weyrleader at Eastern saw the dire straights
of the Weyr and immediately appealed to the other Pern Weyrs
for assistance. A conclave of all the weyrleaders and their seconds
was called in a meeting at Fort Weyr to determine the fate of
Eastern Weyr.
There
were several suggestions put forth in this meeting but the one
that the majority of the weyrleaders favored was sending replacement
riders to augment the thinned ranks and send two queens to provide
eggs and restrengthen the Weyr. Until the Weyr was back up to
strength, it was agreed that riders from all of the Weyrs would
fly fall with Eastern. The two queens chosen to go to Eastern
were Ailish of Southern Weyr, rider of Thehabeth and Coriana
of Telgar Weyr, rider of Selanith. Ailish was named the temporary
WW until a deciding mating flight was held since she was senior
to Coriana. L'renz of Fort Weyr, rider of Alinanth were one of
the pairs sent to help augment the wings at Eastern. L'renz and
Alinanth were a well matched pair, strong in fighting skills
and well liked at Fort Weyr, where they Impressed.
The
permanent Weyrleaders would be decided by whichever queen rose
next in an open flight. Ailish's gold Thehabeth rose on 23.01.13
and to the surprise of many was flown by L'renz and Alinath.
Eastern celebrated the hatching of the resulting 28 eggs that
included a gold.
Less
than a turn later, L'renz was injured in a Threadfall. Unable
to ride for Thehabeth's flight, R'rdan, rider of bronze Caramath,
became the new Weyrleader of Eastern. R'rdan has proved to be
an excellant wingleader and the Weyr was pleased to welcome him
as their new Weyrleader. L'renz agreed to become the Weyrlingmaster.
In another development, Coriana requested a transfer back to
High Reaches Weyr and Firielle, rider of gold Perianth, became
the new Weyrwoman 2nd. When Palisades Weyr opened, Firielle transferred
to accept the position of WeyrWoman. Tamsin, the lone surviving
goldrider from the disaster, is now WW2 with the recently graduated
Seriann and gold Faylith as Junior Weyrwoman. Denbe Weyr recently
transferred Valada and gold Jerioth to Eastern, in an effort
to improve the bloodlines in the Pass. It is hoped that a cooperative
exchange of golds will improve dragons all over Pern.
Life
at Eastern has settled into a nice routine. The 12th Pass is
now half over, the Weyr has recovered from the disaster that
hit and life is good. There is the troublesome Southern Weyr
to still contend with and it seems as if there is something nefarious
going on, but no one is sure just what. The uneasy feelings came
to pass when Ailish, the Eastern Weyrwoman, was killed during
Threadfall. Jerioth, a recent transfer from Denbe Weyr, rose,
making Valada the new Weryrwoman. In the meantime, Eastern Weyr
looks forward to many clutches from their golden queens.
Send
any questions or comments to the Weyrleaders
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