Q: How many ranking characters can I have?
A: At the moment we have no set limit. However, be aware that there are posting requirements for each ranker, and the more you have the more difficult it will be to meet those requirements. Furthermore, we are more inclined to give out rankers to members who are active and write high quality stories. We don't just give out ranking characters to anyone who wants one, and even though we don't have a specific limit for how many rankers a person can have, we do try to keep things fair and even.
Q: What is the rating of this club?
A: As mentioned in the rules section, Mirror Lake is an R-rated Weyr. Most everything is acceptable when writing posts, so long as it stops short of pornography. The basic rule of thumb is: if you could see it in an R-rated movie, then it's ok here.
Q: How do you write dates?
A: We use the Month.Day.Turn format. So the third day of the fifth month, in turn 1285 would be written as: 5.3.1285
Q: Do you allow pet firelizards?
A: According to the books, firelizards were not impressed by humans (excepting the early settlers) until F'nor accidentally found his gold on the beach in Southern. That's what the Pernese assume, anyway. Of course, F'nor's time is a very long way away from the fifth pass, and we all know how many of the earlier records had been lost by the time the ninth pass rolls around. Basically, we've chosen to alter things a little bit to make the game more interesting (lots of people seem to enjoy having characters with flits, and they certainly come in handy). There are flits on the Northern continent, just not nearly as many as in the South. For this reason, having a firelizard as a pet is not a very common thing, but it does happen. Catching one in the wild is very unlikely, but Mirror Lake has a few flits among its residents, and those who wish to acquire one can try to do so from the eggs those firelizards produce.
Q: Is there any round robin style posting?
A: No, there is not. We do only full posts here, but everyone is encouraged to contact the other members for coposts, which we do frequently. Posts can only be posted to the mailing list once they are complete, so to write posts with other people, simply send an individual e-mail back and forth between the involved writers until the post is complete, then one person can post it to the list.
Q: Does my dragonrider have to use the honorific in their name?
A: That all depends on the character. Male dragonriders are usually expected to change their names after impression, but sometimes if a boy has a name that does not lend itself to conversion (think of Jaxom in the White Dragon) the honorific will not be present. Female dragonriders do not generally alter their names, but Mirror Lake allows them to make that choice, should they wish it.
Q: Who can impress what types of dragons?
A: At Mirror Lake we are very relaxed about impression. The only real guidelines are that golds can only impress women and bronzes can only impress men. This is one of Anne's rules, and besides that, as progressive as Mirror Lake is, we just don't think Pernese culture is ready yet for male goldriders. There is also a specified age bracket that candidates need to fall inside: 14-20 for fighting dragons and 16-22 for queens. Most candidates fall somewhere in the middle of that range. Aside from these rules, it's all up to the dragon.
Q: Why don't you follow the usual guidelines on sexual orientation?
A: Well, the short version is that I have a strong educational and personal background in gender studies and human sexuality, and to be honest the biological explanation for why certain dragons will impress only those of a specific sexual orientation just struck me as pretty silly and mildly offensive, as well as just being way off the mark as far as scientific accuracy goes. I'd accept cultural explanations (ie: that's just the Weyr custom), but even in that instance it's impossible to know for sure if a rider wanted to keep that information a secret (people do it all the time in the army). In addition, human sexuality is an extremely fluid thing (much more so than many people like to believe), and just because someone classifies themselves as gay or straight does not mean they're incapable of being attracted to someone of the opposite/same gender (respectively), or even having a serious relationship with that person. You can't impose rules on the human heart.
The assumption that our club makes is that elsewhere on Pern, impression guidelines are a certain way due to tradition (not biology), and Mirror Lake has consciously chosen not to follow many of those guidelines.
Q: How does "timing it" work?
A: It doesn't. Because Mirror Lake is set during the fifth pass, a dragon's ability to make timed transfers is not known by anyone, and therefor not used.
Q: At this time, how many dragons does Mirror Lake hold?
A: Mirror Lake currently houses about a hundred dragons. There are ten wings: the queens' wing, the weyrlings' wing and 8 fighting wings (6 of which are shown in the characters section).
Q: How are the wings organized?
A: Fighting wings consist of 8-12 dragons, with a maximum of 2 bronzes, 3 browns, 3 blues and 4 greens. Wingleaders are usually bronze, but occasionally an exceptional brown is given the position. Wingseconds can be either bronze or brown. Blues and greens are not eligible to be wingleaders or wingseconds only because the smaller dragons do not have the stamina to remain in the air through the entire fall. This certainly does not mean, however, that blues and greens are not equally important and valued among the wings.
The queens' wing consists of all gold dragons, as well as injured, pregnant, older and younger riders who may not be able to safely fly with the fighting wings. The weyrlings' wing contains the weyrlingmaster and his assistant(s) as well as all weyrlings.
Q: How long is weyrling training?
A: 8 months. When weyrlings complete their training, they are either selected immediately for a wing, or (if they are still too young to join the fighting wings or in need of extra training) they fly with the queens' wing. (Generally speaking, 18 months is considered the average training period, but for the sake of player sanity, since we play in real time, we've shortened it.)
Q: How old can my candidate be?
A: Fighting dragon candidates can be between the ages of 14 and 20, and Gold candidates can be between the ages of 16 and 22.
Q: How often do dragons rise to mate?
A: Gold dragons rise, on average, once or twice a year. How often they rise and how many eggs they produce varies a bit depending upon the need of the Weyr at the time. So far the two queens at Mirror Lake seem to be rising about every six months.
Green dragons rise more often than their gold counterparts. On average, they rise every 2 to 3 months, but produce no eggs due to sterility.
Q: Does my dragonrider have to participate in mating flights?
A: If you ride a female dragon, yes. In theory you could keep a male dragon from flying females, but that would be a really bad idea in the long run, as you'd have one incredibly frustrated dragon on your hands. It's really best not to consider that as an option.
Q: How does sexual orientation play into mating flights?
A: Many Weyrs will only allow people of certain preferences to impress each type of dragon. We don't do that. However, you will certainly want to think about that when creating your character. If you make a heterosexual man who rides a green or a homosexual woman who rides gold, you're going to have to deal with the issue of mating flights. When under the influence of a mating dragon, preference goes out the window, no matter who you are. Of course, there are a number of reasons why a person may not want to sleep with the other rider involved in a mating flight, so the way to avoid this would be to arrange for both riders to have another rider nearby at the time who can serve as a substitute. This is not usually what happens in a mating flight, but it can work as a solution. Otherwise, your character is going to have sex with the rider of the other dragon, no matter who they are. There's no avoiding it. It's up to you to decide whether or not your character would be bothered by this or simply accept it as part of being a dragonrider.
Q: How often do firelizards rise to mate?
A: Gold firelizards rise about every 4 or 5 months, and produce clutches of 5 to 12 eggs depending on what color male flies her.
Green firelizards rise about as often as their larger counterparts: every 2 to 3 months. They do produce eggs, but clutches are small (3-8 eggs) and hatchlings are predominantly green and blue, with the occasional brown. Green firelizards do not produce golds or bronzes. Greens also have a bad habit of forgetting where they clutched, so it takes a diligent owner to find her eggs.
Q: How often does thread fall over Mirror Lake's territory?
A: At this time during the pass, thread falls every 14 hours on Pern. Mirror Lake, being a small Weyr with only one major hold (and a lot of forests and farmland) to protect, receives threadfall in their territory an average of once every sevendays. Falls typically last about 6 hours, and move east to west.
Q: Are there drudges at Mirror Lake?
A: There are no drudges at Mirror Lake Weyr. This is because Weyrwoman Nalia and the rest of the council has chosen to promote an atmosphere of equality and mutual responsibility. There are workers, but these are all regular Weyr residents who are treated the same as anyone else. The Hold, however, does make use of drudges in the same manner that any other Hold would.