:: ABOUT FORT WEYR ::

:: People of the Weyr ::
Weyrwoman: Karene of Gold Galadrieth
Weyrleader: D'nier of Bronze Taroth
Weyrwoman Junior: Belisse of Gold Jeneveth(inactive)
Weyrsecond: *available for adoption
Headwoman: Anuleesa
Weyrling Master: Syra of Blue Rasenth

We are accepting all brown, blue and green rider applications, Weyrlings available for adoption and Candidates for any color.

Clutch Records
Wing Roster
Our Dragons
Why this Weyr?
Adoptable Riders
Adoptable Weyrlings
Adoptable Weyrfolk


*taken from the DLG*

"The medium-sized caldera that Fort Weyr occupies was found during flyovers to Fort Hold. Within five years at Fort Hold, the dragons and riders had begun to outgrow their quarters; they moved over to Fort Weyr in the fourteenth year of the colony, under Weyrleader Sean Connell and bronze Carenath, with his wife Sorka, senior queen rider for Faranth.

The Weyr was built to hold a maximum of five hundred dragons. The architectural style is a fairly simple one. Because the Weyr was occupied in a hurry, the rough edges were knocked off the walls and floors to make it livable. But many modifications were made over the next fifty Turns.

Stonecutters were employed to join individual underground caverns into a single complex. There was enough fuel to cut any configuration the architects wished. The corridors twist on for quite a way into the mountain though not all of the passages are still in use. The Weyr Bowl was left untouched, but the Living Caverns were thoroughly redone.

The Hatching Ground at Fort Weyr is very showy. The upper deck, where spectators sit, is supported by natural columns. The caverns in Fort Weyr are all very high and rounded, left behind by bubble in the volcanic flow. The Star Stones and Eye Rock high on Fort Weyr's rim are the largest on Pern.

Behind the natural small cliffs dotting the walls of the volcanic crater, the individual weyrs were made large, taking into consideration the size into which dragons were intended to evolve eventually. At first the original dragons, who numbered only ninety two, rattled around in large chambers like clappers in a bell, a situation very unlike the cramped arrangement they had left behind in Fort Hold. Very quickly, Kitti Ping's formula for increased size began to manifest itself in successive generations of dragons until, by the Second Pass, dragons had reached the size they would remain until late in the Second Long interval.

The other four northern Weyrs are not as carefully made as Fort or Benden....
Fort was able to assume a grandeur suitable to the first Weyr on Pern.

The Fort Weyr kitchen is up an imposing flight of steps and lies under an elaborate vaulted ceiling. The hearths run along ht outside kitchen wall, with room to feed not only the 450 odd dragonriders but the 1,200 support staffers who live at the Weyr. The night hearth, which always has a pot of soup or stew and a kettle of klah heating, is in a separate room just off the kitchen, where runners coming into the Weyr from between or by Fort Hold road are fed."

Copper utensils ranging from immense soup cauldrons to tiny saucepans hang from the ceiling in rows, shined by drudges until the head cook can see his face in every one of them. Some of these copper pots were made here, but many predate the Second Crossing. They are the Head Cook's pride and joy, and reputed to be a finer collection than that in the Fort Hold kitchens.

The Headwomanid the one to whom the duty falls to inform the Senior Weyrwoman of shortages and stores. She and her stewards oversee the repair of furniture, rugs and tapestries. they also see to the replacement of rider's clothering, sleeping furs and boots and provide hide for repair of riding gear. The Headwoman is also the liaison with the Craftmasters who work inside Fort Weyr.

The extensive Lower Caverns and Hatching Grounds are much the same size as the ones at Benden Weyr. Some corridors in the back of the caverns end in blind walls. The blocked off area in back of the Weyr dates from the end of the First Pass, when those living in the caverns cleared out to other Holds and Benden Weyr. In these back rooms are the remnants of the move from South to North. With the decline of Weyr population, these rooms have been turned over to storage. Empty plastic packing cases are used for contemporary supplies. Bits and pieces make their way to the workshops of the Weyr's smith: screws, fasteners, engine parts, coils of electrical cord, wires of rainbow colors, and connectors. No one has uses for some of the parts. Sixteen-pin chips are turned over to the children as toys.

Behind a fall of earth, there are further corridors, closed during an avalanche, that no one has been in forever. Records on plas-film are stacked everywhere. Some are indistinguishable from the dirt in which they are buried. The inhabitants of Fort Weyr always meant to rescue the contents of these rooms, but they never got around to it. Now there is not even a memory of the existence of the rooms themselves.

The Headwoman also has the task of clearing out a weyr when a dragonrider dies. If he has designated no one to have his belongings, they either go into the common storerooms or are thrown away. Anyone who wants them can have the discarded possessions and the headwoman is happy to get a little space emptied out. The storerooms re chock-full of hundreds of turns worth of dragonrider's impedimenta.

A weyr has little furniture. Beyond the dragon's stone couch and its weyrmate's bed, there may be a garment chest. There are closets in a few of the principal chambers, such as those of the Weyrleaders and Weyrwomen, but as the power tools began to wear out, closets ceased to be priority construction items.  A rider will have rugs and tapestries to keep out the cold of the stone and perhaps a small table and chair, especially if he practices a handicraft, but generally dragonriders do not keep many personal possessions.

Dragonriders have spare-time occupations, which they fit in between taking care of their dragons and their duties within the Weyr. Most riders make their own riding straps, because they need to be able to trust the leathers to the last tug. Some riders have a talent for tannery and make more goods than they need, to barter with or gift to other Weyrfolk. Those with a bent toward tailoring or barbering are sought after in the evenings, Fur-lined clothing is a must in stone weyrs, especially in Fort Hold's cold winters.

As its practical for caverns staff to keep their hair out of the way and a safety hazard for riders to keep their hair long during threadfall, anyone in the weyr with a deft touch at cutting hair is in demand.

Fort dragonriders like a good dice game and have reinvented craps and other games of chance. Like all the Weyrs they play dragon poker. There are still some decks in use whose face cards bear likeness to riders long dead, whom no one remembers. Fort Hold played board games, some of which have made their way to Fort Weyr. Chess is often played in the evenings and boards can be left set up on a table for days until players get back to it.

When the Weyrs are in harmony, the Weyleaders meet at Fort. There is a beautifully appointed chamber known as the Council Room. It is dominated by a table in the shape of a half oval with seats for each of the six original Weyrleaders at the top and seats for visitors and others of less consequence arranged at the curve opposite. The Weyrwomen sit at the sides near the Weyrleaders.

The wall decorations are tapestries pertaining to each Weyr. They are very lavish and beautifully made, showing Masterwork of needlecraft. The tabletop is a magnificent mosaic done in chips of semiprecious and precious stones, the work of a lifetime from the Minecraft lapidaries. Each of the chairs is ornately decorated, with fancy chair arms and seat-back. The padded seat pads are sumptuously embroidered.

Because of the frequent chance of Weyrleaders, the seat pads are newly made for each man. The Senior Weyrwoman of each Weyr is usually the only one to attend these conferences and her chair decoration is of a more permanent character.

The Weyr trains its own dragon healers, mostly from riders who show an aptitude and as interest in healing, though anyone with training and knowledge can help heal injured and burned dragons. Dragonriding takes up most but not all of a rider's time. The Healer Hall instructs all healers with basic techniques in first aid, but apprentice dragon healers learn from others in their Weyr. (Moreta for example, was a dragon surgeon.) A dragon healer needs dispassion, skill and dexterity to be effective.It does the dragon no good if a healer is afraid to perform a painful operation to save a wing or leg. In case of an emergency, a beastcrafter may be called in to assist a dragon surgeon.

All weyrlings physic their own dragons. If a young dragon's tail is too thick, denoting constipation, his weyrmate must administer the purge. If he has bitten his tongue learning to chew firestone, the rifer applies numbweed salve until the bleeding stops and the ichor has clotted. Fortunately dragons are a healthy breed, but dragonriders are always encouraged to learn more about caring for them."