On Dragon Wings

Black, blacker, blackest,
And cold beyond frozen things.
Where is between when there is naught
To Life but fragile dragon wings?

Turn 499 of the Interval. The Red Star glimmers in the morning sky. The two remaining Weyrs struggle with a surge in dragon population. People whisper, murmur, wonder: are the rumors true? Is Thread coming back? After nearly 500 years of Interval, people aren't ready to accept the possibility that a Pass looms just around the corner; even dragonriders argue among themselves about whether or not that winking red menace really portends a Pass, and the Holders and Crafters certainly aren't ready to accept the likelihood.

This is the stage set for the action of On Dragon Wings. We're an alternate universe game set at the end of the Eighth Interval, with the action centered on Fort Weyr. During the course of the long Interval, with dragon numbers dwindled to an all time low, the Weyrs elected to downsize, leaving only Ista and Fort Weyrs populated. Now, with the dragon population on the upswing again, the necessity of reopening the abandoned Weyrs is undeniable, but the question of Thread is not so easily answered.

Update:
As of January 2010, we're looking to fill a lot of roles with our game ready to open. There are positions available for Wingleaders, a Weyrlingmaster, a Headwoman, and lots more. Our hope is to provide a plot-intensive environment where people can explore their characters against a setting with conflict and momentum.

The senior queen has risen and been caught by her long-time mate, bronze Elmith. Fort once again looks to welcome a Hatching. As such, we are now accepting candidate concepts. You can read our candidate information and see if our Impression process is something that interests you.

Please join us at .

Note: We have done a "reboot" of the timeline. Updated information is below.

Quick Info
Address:
Setting: Fifth Pass, Ista Weyr
Canon: Strict canon; no new colors or major deviations from book history

History
The Pass simply never comes. In Turn 200, with an alarmingly small number of dragons - fewer than 200 - at Fort Weyr, the Weyrleaders gather on the Star Stones to watch the monumental event that would signal the coming of the Pass: The Eye Rock would bracket the Red Star while Rukbat perched on the Finger Rock. But there is no Red Star. For almost 100 Turns, the duration of the Pass that should have come, the Weyrs cling tenuously to the dwindling support of the Pernese, but the goodwill of holders and crafters can not be expected to last forever.

Just over 100 Turns after the Pass should have started, Nerat Hold withholds its tithe. The Weyrs simply have no recourse. There is nothing they can do, no way to force the issue. Thread, it seems, is gone forever. The next year, more Holds follow Nerat's suit, and the Weyrs - already struggling - sink further into themselves. It takes a further fifty Turns before the first drastic measure is implemented: With fewer than 600 dragons scattered across the six Weyrs, with almost no faithful Holds remaining, the decision is made to close down all but Fort Weyr. The populations of the other five Weyrs are transferred, and the Weyr closes in on itself, becoming almost hermetic, closed off from the outside.

The world is willing to forget them.

But something begins happening in the last fifty Turns, something that starts whispers. The number of queens at Fort begins to climb, despite a long-standing tradition of inhibiting their golds from rising, clutching more than twenty eggs at a time - sometimes as many as thirty and forty. The number of dragons in the Weyr swells almost beyond capacity, and about a hundred "renegade" riders start to look to the abandoned Weyrs to take the overflow. The "faithful" begin to murmur about the return of thread. The signs are there: eruptions off the coastline, earthquakes, changes in the tides.

In Turn 448, approximately 100 riders begin clean-up at Ista Weyr and prepare it to be inhabited once more. By the end of the Turn, it was ready, and - eventually - 300 riders would transfer from Fort to prepare for the coming of the Pass.

At the end of Turn 450, the very end of the Interval, before the official start of the Pass, a small group of Istans with tacit approval from the newly made Weyrleaders steal a queen egg from the Sands of Fort Weyr. Arguably, since the Fortians still insist on teaching their goldriders to inhibit their queens, they feel this gives this new queen a better chance to mature properly. They take an extra ten eggs simply to give the young goldrider a group of weyrlings with whom she can train. This event puts a massive strain on relations between the two Weyrs.

Despite their new dislike of Ista, when thread falls over Southern Boll, the Fortians panic and call for aid from Ista, who answers the call. Although the 'fall is completed successfully, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland are lost and Boll sees a flood of refugees, blaming the Weyr - who in turn notes the lack of tithes for the past 150 Turns.

The Fortian Weyrleaders demand a queen egg from Ista or the return of their stolen egg, but Ista refuses.



Currently Seeking
Dragonriders: Bronzeriders in high demand. Male brown, blue, and greenriders are wide open.
Crafters: Apprentices and Journeymen are open for applications.
Candidates: Candidates to Impress for all colors, including females to Impress to green (for plot purposes) and a gold Impression. Note that these eggs were "stolen" from Fort Weyr, making this clutch a little bit different!
Blooded: People interested in fleshing out the bloodline of Ista Hold and playing characters related to the Lord Holder are welcome.
Ranking PCs: Ista Weyr Headwoman and the Ista Hold Steward are both available.