Post by Rouxy on Feb 7, 2009 23:21:53 GMT -5
Ninth Pass Pern saw many changes for its inhabitants. With the discovery of AIVAS and the continual exploring over the Southern Continent's vast reaches, new Holds were established in likely locations along rivers and oceanside cliffs - places where protection against Thread was easier, bordered by water and stone.
The Ninth Pass ended another twenty Turns after the simultaneous tragedies of MasterHarper Robinton's death and the termination of AIVAS. The following Interval lasted 250 Turns, evidence that the Red Star's orbit was indeed altered from the explosion of the antimatter engines, though it would take a few Passes before the threat was completely diverted. While some of the technology gained from the AIVAS machine found niches to remain in - especially in those of the Healer and Printer Halls - many other rediscovered pieces of tech were discarded through the Turns, soothing the uneasy feelings of most of those who felt AIVAS was better named "Abomination." Dragonriders dwindled in number, as was typical for the Interval, and the Weyrs kept their own numbers fed and cared for by serving as messengers and transport as well as an emergency task force against natural and human predators.
The new Star Hall provided another avenue for riders, with Honshu as its main Hold. The rediscovered telekinetic power of the dragons was just starting to be explored, and the leaders of the time were certain that by combining their strength, they would be able to 'push' dangerous planet-bound projectiles away from possible impact and prevent another fireball disaster. A voluntary selective breeding program was started at the Weyrhold to try and develop better control and spread the ability a bit more evenly. The project leaders created a training program to go with it, allowing access to any dragon and rider with the desire to learn.
Time passed, and before they knew it the Tenth Pass was upon them. Dragons rose to fight the terrible threat of deadly Thread, gaining in numbers over a handful of Turns. As numbers grew, more Weyrs were needed to cover the growing Holds. Five Turns into the Pass, a new Weyr was established to cover Landing and Silver Cove Hold - located on the far eastern end of the Southern Continent. While the Hold was in a small, high-walled cove, the Weyr found a solid foothold in the jungle base near a dormant volcano.
Two Turns into their occupation of the new Weyr, residents began to fall ill from some unknown disease. Mild aches and cramps spiraled quickly into fever, delusion, and severe pain. Many riders were driven into madness from the pain, and a slew of them took to a swift trip between rather than suffer longer. Daily, the sorrowful keening of dragons heralded the death of yet another dragonpair.
The Healer Hall, armed with the rediscovered advances from their ancestors, approached the issue in the hopes of protecting those who remained hale - and saving those whose ailments were still treatable. It was discovered after a time that the issue was an overabundance of heavy metals and a certain poison infecting the food animals and surrounding vegetation. The Healers were stumped at every turn for a time after that, finding that everything was slowly becoming more and more infected and not in any regular pattern except that it was slowly spreading outward from the areas surrounding the Weyr. Studies done on both wildlife and vegetation - as well as domesticated animals and crops - all yielded the same results. One researcher thought to take several soil samples for study, hoping to find some chemical as being the culprit. By sheer accident he captured some of the helpful grubs known to be populous on the Southern Continent. Seeing that they were not listed on the wildlife tested for abnormalities and wishing to leave no stone unturned, he set about putting them through the routine tests...with interesting results. In the years of the Interval with no Thread to consume, a small colony of grubs had undergone a deadly mutation. Their byproducts now had a much higher content of heavy metals as well as a subtle neurotoxin that would build in the nervous system and through continued exposure induce psychosis followed shortly by death. Now with Thread falling once again, the swarm had increased and was spreading. Other Southern Weyrs and Holds which were located along the coasts or riversides had unknowingly protected their animals and crops from the water-hating grub, as sandy or very wet soil kept the creature at bay. Though it was only the unfortunate inland Weyr that suffered so, the new strain of grubs was slowly spreading outward. The Healer and Farmer Halls vowed to step up their studies of the new mutation to possibly find a way to eradicate this new menace without killing their helpful cousins, as well as a way to treat those who were slowly being infected.
These happenings seemed to culminate in a final twist of the knife in the guts of the Weyr. With a clutch on the sands, the unthinkable happened - and the Weyrwoman Ruvna fell ill. Fannith, her great gold Queen, fell into repose with mourning the potential death of her bonded, nearly neglecting her clutch despite remaining on the sands. A week into the Weyrwoman's illness, she rose one morning from her bed with a horrific scream of madness born of the poison and fever. Her hands lashed out to rend her weyrmate as he tried to calm her. Fannith reacted similarly, thrashing about her nest with a singularly violent mindset and destroying nearly all of her large clutch - including her golden daughter still sleeping in her egg. A keening rose to fill the skies as Ruvna escaped K'roi's hold only to bolt straight for the ledge of their weyr and plummet over, her twisting form screaming all the way down. The hideous cries of Fannith struck the sky then as the Queen rose from the sands still dripping in the ichor of her slain children to blink between the instant that Ruvna struck the rock strewn ground far below.
With this tragedy only adding to the rising number of deaths, it was decided by the bereft Weyrleader that it was a necessity for the Weyr to move to a new location before they were entirely wiped out. Previous scouting trips had by pure chance discovered a likely looking spot located on a medium-sized island close enough to continue covering Silver Cove Hold and the surrounding jungle areas, but protected against the dry-loving grubs and their poisoning. A handful of Riders and others stubbornly refused to leave their home, and voted to remain behind and try to solve the problem themselves.
The surviving Riders, crafters, drudges, and other Weyr personnel who voted to move on made the transition to the new location. They set out immediately to secure a series of tunnels and caves located in a protected cove-side cliff, and shortly thereafter began the work to ensure individual weyrs were carved and the Main Hall settled. The one small bit of happiness they could salvage from the tragedy was that seven of the eggs survived the rampaging Queen's throes. Not nearly enough to repopulate a Weyr, but enough to salvage hope from the ashes of death. A prime location for the eggs was carefully prepared and they were flown in and settled, just a mere two weeks before six of the seven successfully hatched at the new Weyr.
A Half Turn into the occupation of Cerulean Weyr - so named for the beautiful water surrounding the island - the other Weyrs finally sent in a new clutch. Only a quarter-size at eight eggs, the clutch was selected to assist the small Weyr in re-population alongside the several riders who accompanied the clutch to its new home. With new weyrs being carved out each day, Cerulean is growing slowly. However, there was a lingering worry in everyone's mind for the few who chose to remain in Silver Cove. When the small clutch hatched, it was with high spirits that Cerulean welcomed them into the world with waiting candidates.
Having transferred in some time before, Samhara, acting Weyrwoman for Cerulean along with Golden Trith, was a potent leader and utterly fair to a fault. Along with K'roi, the Weyrleader who had moved all riders to Cerulean, the pair wrought prosperity and a sense of safety. Trith rising in her first Cerulean Flight brought these hopes to an abrupt and horrifying halt as an unknown bronze forced his passion on the unwilling gold, injuring her in the process. Disappearing afterward and leaving the Weyr without a valid Weyrleader, the previous leader K'roi gathered several good wingleaders and created the Weyr Council as a temporary means of ruling until Trith rose again.
These hopes were further ruined as a full wing of dragons led by the unknown bronze attacked the hatching sands on the day of Touching, when the eggs were hard enough to be around safely. Candidates and riders fell in the unexpected attack, and fires within the Weyr proper claimed several more lives. While three eggs were stolen and others crushed, Samhara fell fighting on the sands, leaving Trith alone to watch over her clutch and a newly bereft Weyr. Fought off by a wing of unknown dragons, the invaders retreated.
The hatching of Trith's one and only clutch at Cerulean was both a happy and heart-wrenching affair. With many newly impressed hatchlings, the Weyr watched in revered silence as Trith rose and joined her bonded between, followed thereafter with the lamenting keen of a hundred dragons. Despite the several small mutations within the clutch, only one was severe enough to kill the hatchling. Now, the concern lies with how Cerulean can protect itself from possible further attacks, while raising a new generation of weyrlings, including Trith's golden daughter, Ellenath.
The Ninth Pass ended another twenty Turns after the simultaneous tragedies of MasterHarper Robinton's death and the termination of AIVAS. The following Interval lasted 250 Turns, evidence that the Red Star's orbit was indeed altered from the explosion of the antimatter engines, though it would take a few Passes before the threat was completely diverted. While some of the technology gained from the AIVAS machine found niches to remain in - especially in those of the Healer and Printer Halls - many other rediscovered pieces of tech were discarded through the Turns, soothing the uneasy feelings of most of those who felt AIVAS was better named "Abomination." Dragonriders dwindled in number, as was typical for the Interval, and the Weyrs kept their own numbers fed and cared for by serving as messengers and transport as well as an emergency task force against natural and human predators.
The new Star Hall provided another avenue for riders, with Honshu as its main Hold. The rediscovered telekinetic power of the dragons was just starting to be explored, and the leaders of the time were certain that by combining their strength, they would be able to 'push' dangerous planet-bound projectiles away from possible impact and prevent another fireball disaster. A voluntary selective breeding program was started at the Weyrhold to try and develop better control and spread the ability a bit more evenly. The project leaders created a training program to go with it, allowing access to any dragon and rider with the desire to learn.
Time passed, and before they knew it the Tenth Pass was upon them. Dragons rose to fight the terrible threat of deadly Thread, gaining in numbers over a handful of Turns. As numbers grew, more Weyrs were needed to cover the growing Holds. Five Turns into the Pass, a new Weyr was established to cover Landing and Silver Cove Hold - located on the far eastern end of the Southern Continent. While the Hold was in a small, high-walled cove, the Weyr found a solid foothold in the jungle base near a dormant volcano.
Two Turns into their occupation of the new Weyr, residents began to fall ill from some unknown disease. Mild aches and cramps spiraled quickly into fever, delusion, and severe pain. Many riders were driven into madness from the pain, and a slew of them took to a swift trip between rather than suffer longer. Daily, the sorrowful keening of dragons heralded the death of yet another dragonpair.
The Healer Hall, armed with the rediscovered advances from their ancestors, approached the issue in the hopes of protecting those who remained hale - and saving those whose ailments were still treatable. It was discovered after a time that the issue was an overabundance of heavy metals and a certain poison infecting the food animals and surrounding vegetation. The Healers were stumped at every turn for a time after that, finding that everything was slowly becoming more and more infected and not in any regular pattern except that it was slowly spreading outward from the areas surrounding the Weyr. Studies done on both wildlife and vegetation - as well as domesticated animals and crops - all yielded the same results. One researcher thought to take several soil samples for study, hoping to find some chemical as being the culprit. By sheer accident he captured some of the helpful grubs known to be populous on the Southern Continent. Seeing that they were not listed on the wildlife tested for abnormalities and wishing to leave no stone unturned, he set about putting them through the routine tests...with interesting results. In the years of the Interval with no Thread to consume, a small colony of grubs had undergone a deadly mutation. Their byproducts now had a much higher content of heavy metals as well as a subtle neurotoxin that would build in the nervous system and through continued exposure induce psychosis followed shortly by death. Now with Thread falling once again, the swarm had increased and was spreading. Other Southern Weyrs and Holds which were located along the coasts or riversides had unknowingly protected their animals and crops from the water-hating grub, as sandy or very wet soil kept the creature at bay. Though it was only the unfortunate inland Weyr that suffered so, the new strain of grubs was slowly spreading outward. The Healer and Farmer Halls vowed to step up their studies of the new mutation to possibly find a way to eradicate this new menace without killing their helpful cousins, as well as a way to treat those who were slowly being infected.
These happenings seemed to culminate in a final twist of the knife in the guts of the Weyr. With a clutch on the sands, the unthinkable happened - and the Weyrwoman Ruvna fell ill. Fannith, her great gold Queen, fell into repose with mourning the potential death of her bonded, nearly neglecting her clutch despite remaining on the sands. A week into the Weyrwoman's illness, she rose one morning from her bed with a horrific scream of madness born of the poison and fever. Her hands lashed out to rend her weyrmate as he tried to calm her. Fannith reacted similarly, thrashing about her nest with a singularly violent mindset and destroying nearly all of her large clutch - including her golden daughter still sleeping in her egg. A keening rose to fill the skies as Ruvna escaped K'roi's hold only to bolt straight for the ledge of their weyr and plummet over, her twisting form screaming all the way down. The hideous cries of Fannith struck the sky then as the Queen rose from the sands still dripping in the ichor of her slain children to blink between the instant that Ruvna struck the rock strewn ground far below.
With this tragedy only adding to the rising number of deaths, it was decided by the bereft Weyrleader that it was a necessity for the Weyr to move to a new location before they were entirely wiped out. Previous scouting trips had by pure chance discovered a likely looking spot located on a medium-sized island close enough to continue covering Silver Cove Hold and the surrounding jungle areas, but protected against the dry-loving grubs and their poisoning. A handful of Riders and others stubbornly refused to leave their home, and voted to remain behind and try to solve the problem themselves.
The surviving Riders, crafters, drudges, and other Weyr personnel who voted to move on made the transition to the new location. They set out immediately to secure a series of tunnels and caves located in a protected cove-side cliff, and shortly thereafter began the work to ensure individual weyrs were carved and the Main Hall settled. The one small bit of happiness they could salvage from the tragedy was that seven of the eggs survived the rampaging Queen's throes. Not nearly enough to repopulate a Weyr, but enough to salvage hope from the ashes of death. A prime location for the eggs was carefully prepared and they were flown in and settled, just a mere two weeks before six of the seven successfully hatched at the new Weyr.
A Half Turn into the occupation of Cerulean Weyr - so named for the beautiful water surrounding the island - the other Weyrs finally sent in a new clutch. Only a quarter-size at eight eggs, the clutch was selected to assist the small Weyr in re-population alongside the several riders who accompanied the clutch to its new home. With new weyrs being carved out each day, Cerulean is growing slowly. However, there was a lingering worry in everyone's mind for the few who chose to remain in Silver Cove. When the small clutch hatched, it was with high spirits that Cerulean welcomed them into the world with waiting candidates.
Having transferred in some time before, Samhara, acting Weyrwoman for Cerulean along with Golden Trith, was a potent leader and utterly fair to a fault. Along with K'roi, the Weyrleader who had moved all riders to Cerulean, the pair wrought prosperity and a sense of safety. Trith rising in her first Cerulean Flight brought these hopes to an abrupt and horrifying halt as an unknown bronze forced his passion on the unwilling gold, injuring her in the process. Disappearing afterward and leaving the Weyr without a valid Weyrleader, the previous leader K'roi gathered several good wingleaders and created the Weyr Council as a temporary means of ruling until Trith rose again.
These hopes were further ruined as a full wing of dragons led by the unknown bronze attacked the hatching sands on the day of Touching, when the eggs were hard enough to be around safely. Candidates and riders fell in the unexpected attack, and fires within the Weyr proper claimed several more lives. While three eggs were stolen and others crushed, Samhara fell fighting on the sands, leaving Trith alone to watch over her clutch and a newly bereft Weyr. Fought off by a wing of unknown dragons, the invaders retreated.
The hatching of Trith's one and only clutch at Cerulean was both a happy and heart-wrenching affair. With many newly impressed hatchlings, the Weyr watched in revered silence as Trith rose and joined her bonded between, followed thereafter with the lamenting keen of a hundred dragons. Despite the several small mutations within the clutch, only one was severe enough to kill the hatchling. Now, the concern lies with how Cerulean can protect itself from possible further attacks, while raising a new generation of weyrlings, including Trith's golden daughter, Ellenath.
