#pern resources

[threadfall]

Did you know Pern also came in a puzzle book format?

Crossroads Adventure books were published between 1987 and 1988, and featured two books set on Pern – Dragonharper (1987) and Dragonfire (1988). (Not to be confused with Todd's books, Dragon's Fire and Dragon Harper!)

I've not read either in great detail, but Dragonharper is set during Robinton's first Harper posting (and was released 10 years ahead of The Masterharper of Pern's publication), while Dragonfire takes places after the events of The White Dragon (and published as McCaffrey was writing Dragonsdawn, as the introduction notes!).

Published by Tor, they're credited as 'A Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. Book', and were marketed as "...interactive novels compatible for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons™ level play" – which basically means they use DnD stat names/hit points and have you roll dice to make 'checks' in combination with a choose your own adventure structure. You roll 3d6 and compare the results to your hero's stats, and then move to the page number for your success or failure.

Both contain an introduction/preface by Anne, but only one (Dragonharper) contains an explanation of Pern, which I find interesting.

Dragonfire credits Doug Beekman for the cover art, which is incorrect! Instead, the artwork is by David Cherry, and features in his trading card series (neat!).

Dragonharper, however, does correctly credit Doug Beekman, which is a name you might recognise as a prominent artist for the Conan series!

Both books also feature interior illustrations credited to Todd Cameron Hamilton, the illustrator for The Dragon Lover's Guide to Pern! If you can find them, they're books worth picking up for those illustrations alone. Should I hit up a scanner and post those as well?

[threadfall]

What a Germanic looking rider and dragon!

A little hunt to see if the rest of the story was illustrated turned up where this illustration comes from: Science Fiction Tales, a 1973 short story collection for children edited by Roger Elwood, and illustrated by Rod Ruth.

There is one other illustration for The Smallest Dragonboy in there:

This is taken from the Haunted Closet blog, who cover where the book comes from in more detail, which you can read here: Link.

1977

[ranticore]

reading your pern fic (OBSESSED btw) and you seem to have a really good grasp on flight / flight dynamics & the physics of it. and it's incredibly hard to find a resource for more realistic dragonriding - would you mind sharing some of your knowledge, terminology, that sort of thing? i guess this is me asking you to infodump about dragon flight/riding to your heart's content lol

>:) I waited until I was on pc to answer this one

Background information about me is that I've a long history with horse riding, a love for birds, and a special interest in.... aviation (in case that wasn't obvious)

to write a dragon riding scene I kind of synthesise all of these elements - to know what it's like to work alongside a steed (balance, cooperation), to know what it's like for a bird to fly (responding to the shape of the air) and also to know basically how flight at speed affects people (g-forces, air pressure, hypoxia) as well as essential flight mechanics (the basic 'how do wings work' thing)

So for a wing to work, the air must be flowing over its surface at a speed which creates a pressure difference which then causes lift. That's very simplified but u get it - the low pressure that develops on top of a wing kinda sucks the wing upwards. That means that in flight, you have a minimum speed where lift can persist. Dropping below that speed will cause a stall (lift stops) because that pressure difference won't exist. When you climb, you lose speed, which means at a certain critical point, the wings stall. Diving back down again will increase speed, increase lift, and then you'll go up again. I recommend looking up some videos or something because i'm not the best at explaining it haha

The air itself is also important to consider and i think it's the key of what brings it all together. Air is always spinning around the margins of a wing. It's why I always use descriptions like "whirling" and "churning" and stuff like that, it's to evoke the spirally vortex that generates in the wake of a flying object. You can see the vortexes sometimes when the low pressure over a wing changes the dew point in the air, causing condensation to form:

this "tube" of air is a rapidly spinning vortex which forms when lift is happening - it's always there, but only this condensation makes it visible. next time you're on a plane coming in to land, watch and see if you can spot one, and notice that the moment the spoilers come up on the wing, the vortex stops, because lift is no longer being generated. The wingtip vortices cause drag which is why many planes have devices at the wingtips that point up, it reduces the vortices and saves on fuel!

Big wings make bigger vortices and this is what causes wake turbulence.

you can see here really clearly the shape of the air in the wake of the plane, two big churning vortices that grow and spread out with distance until they're negligible. But flying directly into these vortices will cause a smaller aircraft (or dragon) to experience that turbulence, think of it like the wake of a large boat causing waves that might capsize a kayak. Turbulence, wind shear, etc these are all fluid dynamics in the air. Something that bores me in flight scenes (and sooo many flight scenes are guilty of this) is "dead" air, air which doesn't exist as anything other than an empty medium for something to basically levitate weightlessly through. It takes power and effort.

Back to birds - unlike planes, birds have a great degree of flexibility over how they approach the air, but their wing mechanics are convergent. Birds also extend high-lift devices to fly slowly without stalling (their alula). They can catch and exploit many of the wind forms which would throw a plane of similar size out of the sky. Thermals are an obvious one to write about, these are columns of rising air that form over a warm surface. Soaring birds use high-lift devices on their wings (the slotted primary feathers) to catch the thermal and ride it without having to flap at all. This is how the bronzes work.

Queen dragons in my story fly at the bottom of the column when in battle, really close to the ground - they actually exploit the ground effect to fly that low. Within one wingspan of the ground, the high pressure zone that forms under the wings acts as a cushion, because there's nothing under it but solid ground. This means lift can be maintained in conditions where normally it would not work - low in the air, the air pressure is dense and drag is a major factor.

Air pressure is another thing to consider but that's relatively intuitive. More pressure, more drag, slower flight, more energetically-costly flight, etc. The ceiling for 'breathable' air is about 10,000 feet. Now we have to think about the rider - have you ever stuck your head out of a car window at high speed and tried to breathe? If you've ever cornered fast on a bike you'll know how it feels to bank, more or less. Your weight increases the more Gs you pull, because gravity is intensifying for you. For the physical effects on the riders I looked into fighter pilots, stuff like G-lock, what kinds of forces someone can withstand before their body starts hurting lol.

in short: flight is a complicated battle against gravity and the air is alive

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

So, Pern has limited resources for writing materials, illiteracy is common among people and there is strong oral tradition. Aside from songs this also means the Pernese people should have many proverbs. I know there are already some canon ones, but to spice things up a little I tried to translate some Czech proverbs and sayings and adapt them to fit Pern, which turned out to be a pretty fun exercise. If you have ideas for your own, do share! If you'd like to use any of mine in fics and such, feel free!

Here goes:

"don't provoke a (tunnel) snake with your bare foot" - don't tempt fate

"no Master Harper has ever fallen from the sky" - orig. "no scholar has ever fallen from the sky", no one is born an expert; it's okay to make mistakes

"once in a Long Interval" - orig. "once in a Hungarian year", same as "once in a blue moon"

"to make a herdbeast a Masterfarmer" - orig. "to make a billy goat the gardener", to make someone manage a task they're woefully unqualified for

"every rider praises his own dragon"/"every feline praises its own spots" - orig. "every fox praises its own tail", people tend to emphasize the virtues of whatever is dear to them, or whatever they're trying to sell

"to wheedle a clutch out of a green" - orig. "to wheedle a calf out of a heifer", to be very convincing; to charm someone into doing absolutely anything

"Weaver, stick to your yarns" - orig. "shoemaker, stick to your last", you should stick to things you truly understand

"yeah, and then the Harpers sang for him"/"and now tell the one about a talking wherry" - orig. "and they said they sang for him"/"and now the one about Little Red Riding Hood", said when you don't believe anything someone's just told you

"one about a wagon, the other about dragon" - orig. "one about a goat, the other about a cart", when people talk about completely different things while thinking they're on the same note

"after Threadfall, everyone is a Weyrleader" - orig. "after battle, everyone is a general", it's easy to criticize things in hindsight, especially for unqualified people

"a Smith's runnerbeast walks barefoot" - orig. "a blacksmith's horse walks barefoot", those who craft/sell a particular thing often don't have enough of it for themselves

"so the dragon can eat and the herdbeast remains whole" - orig. "so the wolf can eat and the goat remains whole", essentially "to have your cake and eat it too", a solution that deals with the unpleasant aspects while still benefiting you

"wait like a guardfowl for grain" - orig. "wait like a goose for grain", advice to be patient

"having cheek is better than owning a Hold" - orig. "having cheek is better than owning a Meierhof", being daring and impudent often gets you in better places than being rich

"a fire-lizard on your shoulder is better than a bronze/queen on the Sands" - orig. "a sparrow in your hand is better than a pigeon on the roof", it's better to be grateful for smaller things you already have than to hope for things you have no guarantee of getting

"who wants to beat a wher always finds a cane" - orig. "who wants to beat a dog always finds a cane", people who want to do harm always find a way to do so

"fast of wing, short of mind"/"he's like a green - fast of wing..." - orig. "fast of feet, short of mind", an impulsive person who doesn't think things through

"bubbly pies don't bake themselves"/"roasted wherries won't fly in your mouth" - orig. "kolache don't bake themselves"/"roasted pigeons won't fly in your mouth", if you want something, you have to work for it

"for a quarter-mark he'd let them drill through his knee" - when someone is willing to do anything for money, even at the cost of one's own wellbeing

"beauty without a good heart is like a house without door, a spring without water, a rider without a dragon" - physical appearance means nothing when the person is bad

"every Hold has bread with two crusts" - every place has good and bad things

"what has once left your mouth, not even a pair of draft beasts can pull back" - watch what you say because you can't take it back

"fish start to smell from the head" - when something isn't working, the problem is likely in upper management

"doesn't have to be a downpour, a drizzle is enough" - success doesn't have to come all at once

"smart ones need advice, dumb ones need a kick" - for some people a hint isn't enough, they need to be shown explicitly

"the heart won't ache for what the eyes can't see" - some things do less harm if they're kept secret; blissful ignorance is sometimes better

"sing the song of those who give you bread" - kind of like "don't bite the hand that feeds you"; if you take favors from someone, you should act in their favor too

"he who digs a hole for others often falls in himself" - essentially "hoist by his own petard"

"the tunic is closer than the coat" - people tend to focus on their own interests rather than the interests of wider society

"the scythe has hit a rock" - when someone encounters something beyond their competence

"repetition is the mother of wisdom" - essentially "practice makes perfect", but sounds fancier. could be especialy in connection to memorizing teaching songs

"don't fight fire that doesn't burn you" - mind your own business, don't try to fix other people's problems

"the sated don't believe the hungry" - privileged people tend not to believe others' misfortunes

"he's got butter on his head" - essentially "keeping skeletons in his closet"

"rough fabric needs rough patching" - being soft on nasty people will achieve nothing, you have to answer in the person's own language

"the cape goes where the wind blows" - when someone is too obedient, a blind follower. said as "he's kind of a 'the cape goes where the wind blows' kind of person"

"honey in his mouth, venom in his heart" - a charming, sweet-spoken, but malicious person

Edit: more in reblogs!

[krinsbez]

World building/Storybuilding: BattleTech+Pern

I said I would do it, and so here we go.

Pont the first: IIRC from *Dragonsdawn*, a one of the reasons that many of the original Pernese colonists were willing to leave their lives behind and try to make a go at down-teched pastoralism on a resource-poor planet out beyond the edges of settled space was because a big chunk of them were veterans of a brutal interstellar war. Also, because it was Admiral Benden's idea, and after the leadership he showed during said war, they were willing to follow him anywhere.

Well, that sounds familiar. So the original colonists being a segment of the Exodus Fleet that misjumped to ~2,000 years into the past somewhere in the Deep Periphery makes sense. And really, who but the SLDF is going to have a sapient supercomputer and the ability to turn small psychic flying lizards into Dragons? I'm gonna leave out the dolphins, though.

You are perhaps asking, wait, if you are leaving out the dolphins, why are you including AIVAS? Well, because I want to not just have Peen exist in BT, I want it to be RELEVANT, and since it's a single, resource-poor largely pre-industrial world, that means I need to give them as many advantages as possible, and an advanced AI with all the knowledge of the Star League goes a long way towards that goal. For the same reason I am considering having Yokohama be a WarShip. Although it's been sitting in orbit without maintenance for 2500 years, it probably isn't in fighting shape even before they used it to move the Red Star (can you do that with KF Drives, BTW?). I also considered that they have basically a Brian Cache at Landing, but again over 2500 years with no maintenance, and also that might be a bit much

Anyways. It's noted that the Dragonrider playbook was adapted from space fighter tactics, and AIVAS still recognized them as such in the Ninth Pass, so theoretically Dragonriders can be retrained as ASF pilots. Although, I am not sure that's needful: I vividly remember an illustration in The Dragonlover's Guide To Pern that show Ramoth as being roughly the same size as a jumbo jet. Ramoth is, of course, the biggest dragon ever, but there's no indication that she has gigantism, so one presumes the other Golds, while smaller, are of roughly similar size, that the Bronzes are only somewhat smaller than that, and the Browns only slightly smaller than that. Who knows about the Blues and Greens? But anyways, something that big dropping on your head out of *between* (stupid phone not letting me italicize on Tumblr) is going to ruin pretty much any Mech's day, even if they weren't also able to breathe fire or yoink you off to *between*, and maybe do other TK tricks.

Ok, so. As you might imagine by what I have said thus far, I am figuring that, on the Pern side of things, the planet is rediscovered during All The Weyrs of Pern, or perhaps slightly after if we leave out AIVAS deactivating itself. Not sure what's a good time on the BT side, or by who or how, and no idea what comes next.

Hence my asking y'all. Please help?

[threadfall]

Somehow the Pern wiki continues to be a source of joy and turmoil.

Pern Wiki: Cara was three when her mother brought her to Landing

Me, groaning: Months. She was three months, that's why she was brought in the first place while her older siblings were left at home! And no, she didn't 'take care of' one of the whers during the Second Crossing, because she was a fucking baby!

[judgeitbyitscover]

Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey

Cover art by Michael Whelan

Ballantine 1988

Acrylic on Watercolor Board

The beautiful planet Pern seemed a paradise to its new colonists—until unimaginable terror turned it into hell. Suddenly deadly spores were falling like silver threads from the sky, devouring everything—and everyone—on their path. It began to look as if the colony, cut off from Earth and lacking the resources to combat the menace, was doomed.

Then some of the colonists noticed that the small, dragonlike lizards that inhabited their new world were joining the fight against Thread, breathing fire on it and teleporting to safety. If only, they thought, the dragonets were big enough for a human to ride and intelligent enough to work as a team with a rider…

And so they set their most talented geneticist to work to create the creatures Pern so desperately needed—Dragons!

[dukeofriven]

Rereading Pern as an adult is a complex experience because Anne McCaffrey filled her books with strong female characters but boy howdy does Anne McCaffrey seem to hate women. Anne McCaffrey builds a world in which the weyrs, the home of dragons and their human riders, are promiscuous and sexually uninhibited places, and then proceeded to shame any and every woman in them who is the slightest bit promiscuous as the sluttiest slut slut who ever slutted, how dare she, what a vain and stupid whore. Every female protagonist is rigidly monogamous, bitterly jealous, resentful, and suspicious of any woman who isn't sufficiently meek towards her, and full of loathing and contempt for expansive female sexual desire. Not the men: the men get around and do so with, at most, a boys-will-be-boys eye-roll and chuckle over their multiple-partner virility, but not the women. If you are a woman and you enter the sexually promiscuous weyr culture and enjoy it, you're evil, which in McCaffrey's lens means that your are both vain and stupid, the one indivisible from the other. I'm going to out on a limb here for a moment. I've seen a lot of this in genre fiction: a particular type of woman whose beauty and vanity are so all-encompassing that it's the totality of their self. I've met plenty of vain, attractive people in my life but never once garnered the impression that, when left alone, they—like Narcissus—did nothing but stare at themselves in the mirror and think about how beautiful they are and what that does for them. And here's the out-on-a-limb part because I wasn't Anne McCaffrey and can't speak for her but—does this come out of insecurity? Did women of a certain era—the ones who wrote protagonists who were 'strangely' pretty despite not being written as resembling classic bombshells—was this their revenge fantasy? Because it always reads as personal, like they're all thinking of Debbie Fitzluder in grade 11 who was the 'prettiest' girl in school and this was what they imagined the object of their hatred did all day instead of being the tangled mess of adolescent anxieties and fears she likely was. Sure she's hot but that's all she is, she isn't clever and resourceful and cooler to hang with like me. It always feels painfully insecure, and yet I've seen male authors run with the same theme until genre fiction becomes this long exercise in insisting that women primarily do nothing but busy themselves hating and resenting other women.

[threadfall]

Now this is one I haven't seen before! (Scan taken from CayCayShay on Ebay.)

Things to Come was a Science Fiction Book Club leaflet/newsletter shoved into the backs of books tell people about their next big titles. It doesn't credit this illustrator, like most of them don't – if anyone knows who it might be, I'd love to be able to credit!

[threadfall]

The fighting with fandom is both tragic, annoying, and hilarious, but I can understand her on the war front. In Anne's own words she was:

...fed up with wars. I've had wars up to here. I think my earliest recollection of war was the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Then we had the Italian version [of] Ethiopia, then we had the Spanish Civil War. So I've known wars all my life and "I ain't agonna study war no more." So I don't. I have a planet united against an outside force. GIBSON: I think, characteristically, that your books are rather non-violent. They're putted against a clear source that is totally unemotional, totally mindless. There's no emotional conflict there, as far as having a foe who's intelligent, who wants to take over the planet. ...McCAFFREY: It's a nice change! – Interview with Steven Jay Ruben and Suzanne Gibson, May 1979 (printed in Princessions Issue 14)

Deleting the word completely from the setting does a good job of not having to talk about it!

That said, it's doubly hilarious/understandable because so much of Anne's family was military! Her father was a Colonel, one of her brothers was a Major, Todd (son #2) had a stint in the army as an armoured personnel driver in 1979 in Germany, while her oldest son was vehemently against the draft. She even talked about how she would have liked her sons to both join the army:

...my older son absolutely had canary fits when he thought he would be drafted. Being the daughter of an army colonel, I would have preferred that Alex would see his way clear to joining the United States Army. If you have a million men in the field, you still have to have a support unit of close to two million...he did not see it that way. – from the same interview with Steven Jay Ruben and Suzanne Gibson, May 1979 (printed in Princessions Issue 14)

Tell you what, though, I want a green riding woman weyrleader in my Pern, that sounds fantastic! (What if there were no gold eggs on those sands, Anne, huh! What if she's very military minded not 'domestically' minded!)

Taking a break from the meandering of The White Dragon to go read archived material of Anne McCaffrey trying to fight with her fandom about sticking to canon.

(Having roleplayed Pern I can attest that Super Special Rulebreaking Characters whose entire personality is that they Break A Canon Rule are frequently really annoying but Anne. Anne. You're wrong Anne.)

[zombolouge]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by the incomparable and enchanting @icescrabblerjerky , and you caught me while I'm already comparing writing stats for other things so this fits in well with that task ;)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 19 baybeee

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 2,319,545. I am. Verbose.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Legend of Zelda, Ace Attorney, Mystic Messenger, and then I wrote the novelization of the song 6969 by Ninja Sex Party and a Caduceus character study for CR.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Indefensible (Ace Attorney) has 1,234 (HA!)

As Bright as the Stars (Mystic Messenger) has 1111 (ALSO HA)

Tearing Down the Heavens (Dragon Age: Inquisition) has 730

Hundred Years in the Making (LoZ: Breath of the Wild) has 627

We Are Ferelden (Dragon Age: Origins) has 271

Genuinely really surprised none of the Mass Effect fics are in this category, I'm so proud of those XD

5. Do you respond to comments? Absolutely always, whenever possible. lol I will also ramble at anyone that asks me questions.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably The Traveler, which I warn you from the very start has a sad ending. It's Dragon Age fic retelling the stories Solas tells of his time dreaming in the Fade, with the trappings of a Doctor Who theme in which he travels through the fade with a series of companions.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhhhhh I think probably We Are Ferelden comes closes to a happy ending? Eventually I will give my DA series an actual happy ending though. Most of them end either bittersweet in some way or as a sort of non-ending ending because I know the story continues.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've gotten a wee bit of hate on the Zelda fic, Hundred Years in the Making, but it was fairly mild. I don't really respond to it much though because it's hard for a stranger to say something that will actually hurt my fee fees XD

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh yeah, sure. Most my fics contain smut of some kind. I don't really write smut without plot, though, it's gotta be a natural part of the narrative or I just lose interest.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I have not. I just haven't thought of one that caught my attention enough to want to write it down.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of. I have had some lines and suggestions used, but usually that's with credit. lol now I HAVE had jokes and things I've said stolen but that's a bit different.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope! I'd prob be open to it but I'd deffo want credited as the OG author.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! I think it's been orphaned now though lol

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? I CAN'T CHOOSE THIS. But prob Shakarian.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I will finish all my WIPs, how dare you doubt me. (The Traveler would have been my choice for this but I FINISHED IT NOW MOTHERFUCKER)

16. What are your writing strengths? Words....go many. Big words. lmao honestly I don't ever really know. I think I'm good at characterization.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Brevity.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I do it sometimes, but usually make an author's note that it's done with shitty translation software so it will not be Authentic. (if I were putting it in a novel I'd prob pay to have someone look it over, but fic is free and thus my resources put into it are limited lol)

19. First fandom you wrote for? I'm gonna assume the AU crossover I wrote for Pokemon/Dragonriders of Pern/Zelda/Narnia when I was 9 does not count. lol it was Dragon Age tho

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? My Mass Effect series, I think. I love different things about all my fics, usually because I was doing different things in all of them, but A Name for the Stars trilogy is something that I'm most proud of. Almost every scene in that serves a plot purpose and I wove a LOT of different things together to create one cohesive thing, and I think if you can get through all of it, it has the biggest bang for the buck. Also I burned that realllll slow XD

I will tag @jusbeinkt and @kesla and @literarypeachtea and @tinkeringteacup (do it if you feel like it, no pressure here frens lol)

[env0]

The first 30 or so pages of Renegades of Pern goes so hard.

Like damn. Getting kicked out of your hold sucks.

Sucks even more when evil weather rips through flesh and resource and kills like 2/3rds of your convey. Or the kids drown fleeing from it.

Ike fuck. This world is unforgiving

[rjalker]

Did Anne McCaffrey intend to tell us that the Pern colonists are the exact sort of people who'd sing praise for the phrase "reject modernity, embrace tradition"?

No.

Is that what this world building (if you can call it that) means, though?

Yes.

[ID: The Anakin and Padme meme, with Anakin edited so he is calmly saying,

"We hate the way technology is used in our current society so when we build this new colony we're going to go back to basics."

Padme, with the text completely covering her face so it all fits, replies,

"Because the current industrialization is bad for the environment and supports capitalism and bigotry, right? You want to go back to basics so that it's better for the environment and everyone will have what they need without being forced to endlessly consume resources, right? You're doing this because you care about people, right? You're not just power hungry misogynysts who want to Return To Tradition where women and everyone else who's not a white man are penniless workers or homeless or broodmares forced to endlessly give birth to children until they die, and have literally no rights or property of their own, right?"

Anakin stares back in ominous silence.

Padme, now looking distressed, responds, "Oh for fucks sake you just hate minorities and want white men to be the only ones with power again don't you".

End ID.]

Sarcasm: What a fucking coinkydink that we know several groups of Asian people came along on the expedition but for some totally coincidental totally normal not important at all coincidance, none of their names were inexplicably passed down through generations to still be seen as culturally important and cherished.........wow I'm sure that doesn't tell us anything at all important about this setting or the author........it's totally just a coincidance, up to random chance!!!!! /Sarcasm.

[threadfall]

Agreeing with everything Ship said here!

I'd also add joining the site's Discord channel as part of your snooping is a good idea. (If you have the mental spoons/energy to do so, of course.) Vibing with the site information, play style, and activity is important, but so is making sure you can get on with the way people on the site communicate. Most places are perfectly fine with people coming in, having a chat, and figuring out how they fit in before they make an account!

(If they're not, or only care about checking if you're making an account, that can also be a red flag!)

I've got two recommendations depending on activity level preference:

Réalta Weyr (Link) – Semi-canon, 18+. Set in a newly founded weyr up North, Réalta is a science-craft based weyr currently exploring the far Western continent and dealing with being the only place on Pern where mutations are appearing. There are non-canon colours for dragons/whers/firelizards; positive changes to how progressive Pernese society is; the game is set post Thread; and there are some changes to crafts – but on the whole the world works similar to canon. Jcink based with an active Discord for chatting and announcements. Activity wise, there's always at least one post a day, and some days we can get 20+ posts going depending on events and general member activity. (We're going through a slow period rn because the new Dragon Age game recently game out and, well...). Everyone has different levels of activity, so there's bound to be someone whose posting style fits your schedule! We're also a super chatty group. Everyone's friendly and likes to check in regularly for just non-Pern chat. Some downsides, depending on preference: There are leadership positions open in wings, but we've been around for almost 2 years now and some positions have been filled. Weyrwoman/Weyrleader are staff occupied positions (one was not staff when they got the position), but a new council has been created to give players more access to leadership positions as gold flights happen. Non-canon and non-colour based gender options for dragons are limited to IC hatchings. White dragons, women ridden blues, bronze/gold whers have a site-money cost to them (marks earned by posting). Some upsides, depending on preference: Members have a lot of control over creating events, running hatchings, etc. Firelizard hatchings have a mark cost to them, but little to no admin oversight, and mini-events are totally fine to start. I've run firelizard hatchings (and a dragon hatching) and small weyrling events, for example, and recently there was a call put out for members who wanted to run weyrling lessons. Large wher/dragon hatchings usually involve one members of staff and the parent of the dragon, but a call also goes out to members to see if people would like to create dragons. (One of our golds and non-canon clutching dragon are both not staff.)

Final Chances Weyr (Link) – Non-canon, PG-13. As dragons were dying from a plague, a network of golds agreed to go between forward in time to lay their eggs in a hope the plague would have been eradicated and dragons could flourish again, only this had some effects on the eggs laid and the organisations that based their way of life on this event. Non-canon colours, and the setting of Pern is drastically different culture-wise from the book setting. Jcink based with a Discord for chatting/announcements. This is a slower site, people have a bit more on, while there is still stuff going on there is not a hectic vibe! I've not been a member very long, so bear my recommendation in mind with that. Downsides, depending on preferences: Staff have a lot on, so events, character acceptance, etc, is a bit slow off the ground. There's also a lot of information. I personally don't find the site very navigable, but was willing to give it a shot because the community is lovely. Dragons are currently limited to the adoptables from the last hatching, but that is a giant list. How the site works OOC isn't always obvious. Everyone's lovely about answering questions, but... Upsides, depending on preference: There's so many positions open! And a push for members to fill them! Adoptables are open to everyone, regardless of how 'special' they might seem (have mutations, etc.). Dragon colours fill every niche you could possibly imagine. There's variations in firelizards and whers, and mutations abound in dragons. Gender presentation in dragonkin is not limited to their colour!

And then just to give them a shout out (I'm not a member, but a few people I talk to regularly are): Broken Bonds (Link) is just starting up, if you're looking for somewhere without a clique/playerbase history to join.

i've been wanting to get into pern rp, do you have any tips/suggestions?

hey sorry for the late response, for some reason tumblr forgot to tell me

thank you for this ask!! i would love to answet it fully and completely but it would be a very long answer!! basically a breakdown of how to scope out an rp that will fit you.

here are some broad based ideas to get you started as you shop for an rp:

check activity. find an rp that aligns eith your preferred activity level -- if you want to perfect every post and trade replies weekly, look for evidence of that, if you want daily replies, look for that

check recently approved characters to see if they match the vibe you want -- a lot of times the lore doesn't match the vibe of the site, so something can look really cool based on the lore but actually have become a different vibe over time

pern rp particularly has a pretty bad time with staffing all of their ranker-players. if eventually attaining a ranking/leadership/plot relevant character is your thing, look for evidence that the admin team does that (evidence, not them sayimg so in the rules)

here's some things i do that may not work for you:

i don't bother to read the rules until i've basically made up my mind if i'm going to try to play there. i go for the dragon info page (and wher page if the site does whers) and read through the description of the canon and special colors. are greens forced/expected to be stupid sluts? are bronzes forced to be noble knightly chads? biiig pass. the way these pages are written can give you a great idea about how flexible and story-oriented the site intends to be. i lean hard either "let me do anything" or "make the restrictions interesting" so ymmv

for jcink rps: go to the bottom of the site, get "today's active topics" and change it to see the past month. pay special attention to who is active in the rp. look at their characters. see if the vibe is right for you

check out the adopts!!! mega points if the admins are cleatly trying to get people to enter leadership positions. big demerits if there is some kind of ban on newbies having leadership. (buying rankers can be neutral or bad, it depends on the site)

for getting into pern rps specifically:

for this purpose i'm going to assume you, nonnie, are somewhat familiar with the books and at least passingly familiar with the art and commentary in the pern tag here on tumblr. i assume you like the books?

it is very important to remember that if the site you are looking at is up front in praising the books, says they really love them, etc., this is a BAD SIGN.

pern rp fandom is (maybe a little bit uniquely?) in an argument with canon, not in conversation with it. there are so many aspects of canon that just suck in an rp setting (ex. lifetime appointment of the senior weyrwoman, meaning the only way to shake that up is for her to die, everything about flights) that even the most canon weyr has yo make concessions to make it playable/comfortable in a group setting.

so if a site up front is like "we're canon. not like those other sites. we actually care about the lore." this is actually a dogwhistle for blatant transphobia, homophobia, favoritism, and really shit moderation. likewise, a tone of anger or vitriol towards more canon-leaning sites is a red flag, they tend also to have extremely narrow views on what the "right" way to play is.

the best way to play a pern game is to take the books as a framework, like baking a cake, that's your flour and egg, you're getting the structure from there but your cake isn't going to taste good unless you get a site willing to spice it up with its little extras and go to the effort of putting some basic butter and baking soda in there to fluff it up. pern in the novels does not work as an open, public rp, it's not a recipe for cake, so everyone adjusts it, the people who say they don't are Lying.

anyway

suggestions

i don't feel comfortable recommending an rp for you nonnie without knowing what you're most interested in. i have heard that at least one site is just starting up so that could be a great place to start.

i'm in the middle of making a site but it's not ready yet

@ followers, kindly recommend your rp spots for nonnie! (don't just drop the ad, give them a feel for the rp. don't leave out the rough bits either, we all know every site has them)

[jthatoi]

User-Centric Innovation: The Essence of Customized Software Development

In the dynamic realm of software development, where user experience reigns supreme, "User-Centric Innovation: The Essence of Customized Software Development" takes center stage. As technology continues to shape our digital landscape, this article delves into the pivotal role of user-centricity in the bespoke software arena. It's a journey that transcends lines of code, focusing on the nuanced art of crafting solutions that not only meet but anticipate and exceed user expectations. Join us as we explore the transformative power of placing users at the forefront of software innovation, redefining the very essence of customized solutions.

What is Custom Software Development?

Custom software development is the process of designing, developing, deploying, and supporting programmes to match the specific business requirements of a certain firm in order to provide custom software solutions. It is also referred to as custom software or tailor-made software.

The major distinction is that custom software is built to answer the specific demands of a firm, as opposed to commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software, which serves a broad market. Custom software solutions are created to solve specific organisational needs and challenges.

The creation of specialised software solutions designed to satisfy the particular needs of a business or organisation is referred to as custom software development. While off-the-shelf software can serve a variety of functions, it frequently falls short of addressing a company's specific difficulties and objectives.

This is where custom software development firms come in. These companies bring technical expertise, abilities, and creative problem-solving to the table, resulting in specialised software solutions.

The Power of Technical Expertise:

The foundation of custom software development is technical expertise. It necessitates a thorough knowledge of multiple programming languages, development frameworks, and technologies. When you work with a custom software development company, you gain access to a pool of individuals who have the technical skills to make your idea a reality. These professionals examine your company's unique requirements and provide tailored solutions that integrate flawlessly with your operations.

In custom software development, the choice of technology stack is crucial. The MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js) stack and the PERN (PostgreSQL, Express.js, React, Node.js) stack are two common solutions. Because of their resilience and scalability, these stacks are adaptable and commonly utilised in custom ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems.

Crafting a Personalized User Experience:

The importance of user experience (UX) in custom software development cannot be overstated. A personalised user experience is required to ensure that the software not only satisfies the needs of your organisation but also provides a smooth and delightful experience for end users. This may result in greater adoption and productivity.

Custom software development allows you to include features that are customised to your organization's needs. Custom features can be built to meet your specific difficulties, whether it's optimising internal procedures, boosting customer interactions, or better data management. You're on the right track when you combine bespoke software development with your company's unique difficulties for custom software solutions.

Conclusion:

In today's fast-paced corporate environment, custom software development is about designing the possibilities of future, not just satisfying today's demands. As we come to the end of our investigation into bespoke innovation, it's clear that the strategic precision of custom software, guided by specialised experience, is the key to unlocking unprecedented efficiency and adaptability.

The symphony of technology and business acumen embodied in options such as the MERN and PERN stacks demonstrates not only the present but also a future-proof commitment to organisational success. Each line of code in the world of custom software development is an investment in advancement, a monument to the transformational potential of strategic innovation. Welcome to a future where success is constructed with precision, one bespoke solution at a time.

[threadfall]

Illustration by Jerry Vanderstelt for Skies of Pern, The Easton Press edition, 2001.