Plot Introduction

It all started with the worst threadfall Pern had ever seen. The results were absolute chaos: many weyrs lost entire wings, and became more and more short-staffed. With less dragonriders to cover in threadfall came more pressure on the weyr’s golds to lay clutches, in order to give the weyrs more weyrlings that would eventually be able to cover those empty spots. However, this would not relieve the pressure, at least one gold dragon getting lost in the between permanently from the stress she was under.

Clutches were laid from other golds, but it wasn’t enough. The weyrs struggled with their devastated wings, and things were looking bleak.

The first Weyr to fall was Benden. The toll that initial, horrible threadfall had taken on the Weyr was too much, and the majority of the Weyr’s residents fell with the Weyr. Only a few survived, and scattered to other holds and weyrs, warning them of what had come. The pressure only grew as other weyrs, namely Fort and High Reaches, stretched themselves even further to take on the territory Benden had left behind.

Soon, they too were feeling the pressure. Rather than fall as Benden had, the two weyrs banded together to evacuate the nearby holds and unite under a single, more manageable territory. This helped some, though they were driven much further south than they had before.

The rest of the weyrs had the same idea as Fort and High Reaches when it became clear that they too would have to band together or perish. Many moved southward, where fighting threadfall was easier due to the grubs in the soil that helped prevent thread from burrowing. Many more refused to leave their homes, and a good chunk of the population perished.

Eventually, the tattered remains of the previous weyrs banded together to form two holds and one Weyr in the south. The Weyr became known as the Final Weyr, the last stand against threadfall by the dragonriders and wherhandlers who guarded Pern. The holds were known simply as Southern Hold and Jungle Hold, and they became the backbone of the new Weyr. These holds provided all the resources needed to establish and run the new Weyr, and with the help of the remaining crafters and riders, Final Weyr was finally born.

20 years have passed since then, and many strange things have happened in that time. Three new color mutations of dragons, whers, and firelizards appeared, in the form of Pearls, Garnets, and Jets. Leadership of the new holds and Weyr was a mess for a while, but has since stablized. Previously, impressions were often gender and sexuality based. During this time of unrest, however, dragons began to impress to anybody regardless of gender or sexuality. Thus, female bronzeriders and male goldriders are entirely possible.

The turn is now 2678, a full 20 years after the initial devastating threadfall and the founding of Final Weyr.