Iayla Weyr

[Kat]

After the end of Thread in 2556, Pern went through a time of great peace, referred to often as the Golden Years of Pern. The Weyrs dispersed, leaving only Telgar and Ista open as liaisons between the Dragonriders and the Holds. Weyrholds began to appear all across the South for a time, as the planets many verdant queens continued to clutch well. It was a glorious time of technological and cultural advancement.

As the Turns passed and the Planet grew, the one thing that began to steadily shrink was the Weyrs. Dragonriders began to consolidate in the South, and in the North the two Weyrs barely clung to existence; eking through by one queen at a time. It soon came that only three Weyrs lasted on Pern, Telgar and Ista in the North (though they were on the brink of their own decimation) and Iayla Weyrhold in the South. The Holds had long since stopped supporting the Weyrs and with all the Southern Weyrholds gone, Telgar and Ista had to resort to thievery and underhandedness to survive. Then tragedy struck the few dragonriders of the North.

The last queen of Telgar, great Islarth, passed between without an heir. There were no other queens to continue her lineage. The Weyr was devastated, worried they would be forced to consolidate with either Iayla or Ista like so many other dragonholds had done. But then the Weyrleader of Telgar concocted a plan.

On the Sands of Ista Weyr’s Hatching Grounds lay a glittering golden egg, an unconscious sign of the dangers that were to come. Telgar made plans to steal it, and were successful, hatching golden Mairsath to their own candidate. Ista was furious, and in the sky that day dragon fought dragon, a thing that had rarely been seen on Pern, and never anything other than golds in heat. But five dragons lost their lives that day, testament to the pain that the North was to face in the near future.

And so began the War of the Weyrs. Ista and Telgar continued to fight for each others queens, sly assassinations and underhanded deaths being the main form of warfare, and dragon never again fought dragon. The Northern Weyrs barely clung to life, while in the South things began to change.

The queens were dying out there as well, and Weyrholds began to consolidate until few remained. It was at this time that a single Weyr was formed Iayla, made from refugees and runaways from the Northern Weyrs. The escape wasn’t a clean one, and brave Iayla and her dragon lost their lives to save those of the people they loved. So the greenrider’s name became a beacon in the night. And women from the North began to seek out Iayla as a safe haven for themselves. The few remaining Southern Weyrholds banded together beneath this growing symbol of hope, and Iayla began to grow strong.

Meanwhile in the North things began to escalate. Dragonriders began recruiting young Holders, either by force or by consent, to join their newly formed armies. Planned marches led by dragonriding leaders tromped across the lands, scaring holders and craftfolk alike. In the Weyrs themselves queens became a commodity. The women of the Weyr became even more of a commodity, and girls began to be taken forcibly from Holds to please the many men of the Weyr.

In distant Iayla Weyr, deep in the recesses of the Western Barrier Range on the shores of the Sea of Azov, things didn’t look as bleak. While they continued to eke out a meager existence, fate was kind to them and continued to grant the Weyrhold with a queen just as the other passed on, keeping the line of dragons alive. The Southern Holds prospered, and lucky for Iayla their surplus would often spill into the struggling Weyrhold, many of the Southern Holds sympathetic to the dragons for what once was. Then news of the dragon war began to trickle South on the wings of ships and Flitters. Crafters began to withdraw their men and women from the Weyrhold, and Holders stopped sending their surplus, news of the recent strains of holder deaths because of draconic battle reaching their prejudiced ears. Life at Iayla began to go bad to worse.

Then the North noticed the abundance of dragons in the South. The Southern Holders withdrew all their resources from the Weyrhold, fear of the North’s eyes on them mounting. But before the apparent tension could release in what would have been obvious warfare, a greater tragedy struck.

It began in the same place it had ages ago, over the now abandoned Landing and the newly formed Ogen Weyrhold. Great silver strands of something only heard of in stories fell from the skies over the tiny Weyrhold. Unprepared the tiny dragonhold was decimated in that First Threadfall, a single, mutilated bronze making it to Iayla to warn the dragons of Threads return. Over 1200 Turns without Threadfall and suddenly it was back. All the Weyrs scrambled and many a Iayla dragon was lost in those initial Threadfalls. The North set a temporary truce until such time as Thread was under control.

And so we find ourselves at Iayla Weyr. Many a thing has aspired since that first Threadfall. A gold from Northern Ista has come to Iayla, and her clutch resulted in the rise of three new colors, Brass, Garnet and Albino. After that the Senior gold, Selianth, rose and was caught by the only surviving dragon of the once great Ogen Weyr, Bronze Kasraith. Her resulting clutch was attacked by Telgar Weyr, attempting to mimic Ista's genetic tampering in their gold. The results were horrific and mutated, and the scar it left on the Weyrs moral is still fresh.

But there is hope. Adyth, the first gold hatched in this new Pass, and her tiny cousins the Albinos Nalith and Nyath, have all Risen and been caught. The triple clutch is a blessing for the Weyr in this time of unrest, but all is not well. The Northern Alliance grows thin, and many fear that soon fighting will break out once more. The Holds grow tired of their Tithing to Iayla and added economic stress from Earthquakes, Plague, and Pirate attack is furthering their discord. After clutching her 21 egg clutch Golden Adyth refused to allow either of the pregnant albino's onto the Sands to lay their own Clutches. In desperation the riders of Iayla search for a new place to hold the albino's and their small clutches, and find it in the ruins of old Ogen Weyr, destroyed in that First Fall. A team was sent to prepare the abandoned Weyr for their soon to be new tenants, but a cursory examination revealed that all was not well in distant Ogen Weyr. The team was brutally attacked by wild canines, the beasts more resembling the wolves of old Terra than their tame Pernese cousins. Many a dragon and rider was killed that day, but there was hope. Bluerider K'rais and Greenrider X'ratos found a hidden clan of whers beneath Ogen Weyr, and with them resided a Hearer of Whers. A lost and thought extinct ability now has the hope of rejuvenation and Iayla is trying to find out if Hearers of Dragons can still exist after their apparent extinction eons ago. Gold Twilath led another team to the Weyr and cleaned out the bodies, bringing with her the pregnant albino sisters. They clutched as well and Iayla scrambled to get enough Candidates for the three way clutch.

All three clutches hatched within days of each other, and Adyth's held two shocking, and beautiful new additions to Iayla's skies. Sunstones and Moonstones, twin dragons (male and female respectfully) that hatched from the same egg and held a strong sibling bond between each other. The first dragons to remember any of their fellows were related to them. The other interesting thing was that their hides were affected by atmospheric pressure. Moonstones by day were dull and drab, pale blues and greys, but at night their hides shone with a deep and vibrant blue, swirling with golds and silvers as they moved. Sunstones likewise were vibrant and lovely by day, drab and boring by night.

Not even two days later, at Ogen Weyr the Albino's Clutches hatched. All was well until, as the last egg shattered, Impressing Albino Aielyth to the Weyrwoman's nephew (the first male rider of a clutching dragon in Pernese History) the 'wolves' attacked once more. It was only through sheer luck and the assistance of the wild Wher clan that saved the riders of Iayla and the new Hatchlings. But not before the loss of one of the Albino mothers. The Wher clan returned to Iayla with the dragonriders and it wasn't long after that it was learned that the ancient lead gold, Ogenask, was pregnant.

Her clutch hatched in relative safety, but the age of the mother told on her hatchlings. Many eggs were duds, and three new, malformed colors rose from the dilapidated clutch. Tiny pale silver Tins, Large robust female Irons, and equally large male Steels emerged from their malformed eggs to join Iayla's swiftly growing ranks of oddities.

Months passed and all was calm for once. Until, at the start of winter, goldrider Kolara and her mount Keylenth returned from a secret mission back to Ista Weyr. There they learned and related to the Iaylans of a new development. Ista was under new management. And not just any new management, it seemed Keylenth wasn't the only gold tested on all those Turns ago. A Brass dragon had assumed the Weyrleader's chair and was making new and brazen plans for Ista. Before more could be learned from Kolara's shattering return, Keylenth rose for the second time. Unfortunately Weyrwoman Kayessa couldn't get her gold out of the Weyr in time and Selianth Rose in challenge of her golden sister. Now, Ista has shown up, led by Brass Vyathaath to steal the feuding queens from Iayla's skies.

With battling golds, infiltrating Istans, a Northern Brass and a struggling free economy in the South, do you have what it takes to join the ranks of worried Iaylan's? Come find out and see if all is not lost in the last dragon refuge on Pern!