Our Goal
To have a good time playing in the world Anne created, and writing high-quality stories about our own characters.Method of Play
Roleplaying occurs in stories sent between members via e-mail. Each member has one or two characters which they may create or adopt. Non-Player Characters (NPCs) may be used by any member in their stories. Biographies for member's characters, and for important NPCs, are posted for member viewing in the FILES section of the Yahoo! Groups website. When using another member's characters in a story, it is VITAL that you ASK FIRST, and give them first approval on the story. NO ONE MAY USE ANOTHER MEMBER'S CHARACTERS WITHOUT PERMISSION.Rules
1. This game is set on the world of Pern, as depicted in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern®™ series of novels. If you haven't read them before, it might be a good idea to do so first.2. At the request of Anne McCaffrey, use of the characters from her novels, and of Benden Weyr, Ruatha Hold, and the Harper Hall, is expressly prohibited. Your characters cannot have the same name as any from her books or close to it ("Kylana" is too close to "Kylara," for example), and no characters from her books may appear in your stories. Your characters may not be related to any of hers. Locations may be mentioned, but no action may occur there. So saying that your character was born at Ruatha and Impressed at Benden would severely limit your ability to write their backstory. We strongly discourage using them in your character's past- Pern's a big planet.
3. Dragons come in five colors: Gold queens, Bronze males, Brown males, Blue males, and Green sterile females. While dragons may come in shades of these colors (sky and midnight are still blue), they do not come in any other colors. No sport dragons (like Ruth) are allowed. No white, no pink, no silver, no red, no orange with purple polka-dots, NOTHING. There are also no twin dragons.
4. Dragons Impress their riders according to gender: Golds always chose heterosexual females. Bronzes always chose heterosexual males. Browns almost always chose heterosexual males, and very infrequently, bisexual males. Blues always chose males, either bisexual or homosexual. Greens always chose homosexual males or heterosexual females. NO FEMALE BRONZE OR BROWN RIDERS, NO MALE GOLD RIDERS. Female blue riders will be limited to members in good standing who have demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment to the Weyr. Since no female blue riders appear in the Pern novels, they will be rare here. We're writing fiction-think up a male character.
5a. While we're on the subject... River Cliffs is rated PG-13. Because of the way a Weyr works, mating flights do happen, but they don't need to happen graphically. Please use Anne's books as your guide-don't get any more explicit than the mating flights depicted there. (For examples, see Dragonflight or Chronicles of Pern: First Fall - "The Second Weyr".)
5b. As was mentioned above, homosexuality is a fact of life on Pern. Whether you approve of it or not in the real world, it's part of Pern and therefore it may come up in the course of our stories, particularly in relation to green mating flights. If you cannot handle that, Pern is probably not the universe for you. And, for those who don't mind, see above: this is PG-13. No explicit sex, of any variety.
6. No "aliens visit Pern" plots, no crossovers, no space-travelling dragons.
7. Dragonriders NEVER raise their own children. They are ALWAYS fostered to the Lower Caverns. During Threadfall particularly, riders have very little time to worry about their human family.
8. Certain plot lines will require BoD approval. These include deaths, births, mating flights, hatchings (both dragon AND firelizard) incapacitating injuries, Gathers, life-shattering events ("Raiders wipe out six holds leaving bodies in their wake," "The mine collapsed and a massive rescue opperation is mounted," etc.) basically anything major enough that the effect will be farther-ranging than your character. If it's a smaller plot but it involves another character, ASK THEIR OWNER FIRST. For example, don't write a story in which your character stabs someone else's character and wounds them unless you've checked first. Who knows, they might say yes. But if they say no, you can't do it. Also, re: mating flights-- before deciding a winner, ask the owner of the winner first! Don't write "Green Mineth is caught by Brown Yourseth" unless "Yourseth's" owner has said okay! Queen flight winners must be approved by the queen's owner, the winner's owner, and in the case of the Senior Queen, the BoD.
9a. I cannot stress this rule enough. NO STORIES MAY BE POSTED ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET. THIS RULE IS ABSOLUTE. STORIES MAY BE E-MAILED BETWEEN MEMBERS ONLY. VIOLATION OF THIS RULE IS GROUNDS FOR IMMEDIATE REVOCATION OF MEMBERSHIP. ON-LINE FAN FICTION IS ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED BY ANNE MCCAFFREY AND WE WILL RESPECT HER WISHES. Access to the Yahoo! Groups archive of posts is limited to the Yahoo Group moderator. DO NOT UPLOAD STORIES TO THE FILES SECTION OF THE YAHOO GROUP.
9b. NO ON-LINE, REAL-TIME ROLEPLAYING. The chat room feature of the YahooGroup has been disabled. ALL ON-LINE ROLEPLAY is banned by the copywritght owner. For more information, see the Offical Site FAQ.
10. Potential members are expected to understand the basics of English grammar and spelling. Don't be afraid to ask for help, but don't expect your fellow writers to correct basic mistakes, either. For consistency's sake, stories are to be written in either the third-person past tense or the first-person past tense.
11. Members must be 13 years old or older. No exceptions.
12. You don't have to RP every green you have every time, either. Greens rise 2-3 times a year, and with the majority of dragons in a weyr, that makes for a LOT of flights. Greens don't lay eggs. They were made sterile because they were engineered to be so by Kitti Ping not by chewing firestone as believed by most Pernese especially with the loss of the knowledge that was used to create the dragons. Golds can't and will not ever chew firestone...they just regurgitate a gray ash. Remember Dragonsdawn
13. Flits: Fairs of Firelizards to the extent of the size of Menolly's are very rare and will not be allowed on this game. No one will be allowed more than 3 flits per persona. We reserve the right to limit the number of metallics at any specific point as well as eggs resulting from a clutch. Bronze and gold firelizards will only available via impression from an existing clutch or on reward from the BoD. You have to earn one, two ways are available of doing so; by RP or by contribution to the game. Brown, blue, and greens are available to anyone who wants one.
14. HADs (Hearing all Dragons) is rare on Pern, just because you would like for your character to have it doesn't mean that they will be able to. We have two slots available, but you have to come up with a really good plot line for us to consider it. This matter is subject to a BoD vote. Under no circumstances will goldriders be HADs even if it is a good plot suggested.
15.We observe ALL major tenets of Pern...no religion (They don't have a word for "god."), no Talents, ESP, magic or telepathy. The only "magic" is the mind-to-mind communication between rider and dragon. Pernese strictly believe only in the amazing human ability to overcome hardships, no gods or faiths.
Copyright
All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright© Anne McCaffrey 1967, 2000, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author.The Dragonriders of Pern®™ is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited.
