Caladin Weyr's History
and
Geographical Description.

The Caladin Weyr Badge is 3 Silver  stars around a small,sleeping Bronze Dragon on a deep Purple field.

After the end of the Ninth Pass, a huge celebration was held at Landing, in
honor of those daring pioneers who had come to Pern in search of a new and
better life.  People from around the planet were flown in by dragons.  The
resultant crowd was so huge it was difficult to find enough room for
everyone, but there was no complaint!  People were ecstatically happy that
Thread was forever gone at long last!

At the celebration, there were new songs to be sung that told the history of
Pern, from beginning to that very night.  Consequently, the celebration
lasted for hours, leaving more than one merry maker clutching an aching head
the following morning.

On that new dawn, the Weyrleaders of the eight Weyrs congregated before the
assembled mass of humanity, and declared that two more Weyrs were to be
created!  People were surprised at first, until the explanation was given.
The first Weyr to be occupied would be on Ierne Island, far to the west of
Southern Weyr.  It would be named Caladin Weyr.  The second Weyr would be
excavated out of an extinct volcano that had been discovered in the Western
Barrier Range.  It would be called Aerie Weyr, because of the very high
elevation of the Weyrbowl (higher than that of High Reaches Weyr).  The
reason for the creation of the two new Weyrs was simple.  The dragon
population would soon be rising, and the existing Weyrs were close to full
capacity.

The Holders and Crafters present were assured that dragonriders would always
be available to them should they need anything, for dragons were still to be
stationed at every Hold and Hall.  As they all now knew, dragons had been
created for the sole purpose of being of service to the people of Pern, and
they and their riders, would continue to honor that commitment.  However, the
Holds would no longer need to tithe to the Weyrs, because the dragonriders
would now have the time to plant and harvest their own crops as well as raise
their own livestock.

A mighty cheer erupted for the assembled crowd, sending flights of
firelizards dancing in the air, and causing dragons to bugle their cries of
joy!  It was suggested by the Masterharper that this day be remembered and
honored for all time with an annual Gather at this very spot, and it was
immediately approved.  This day would be called Freedom Day.

After the celebration, the majority of people went back to their daily lives,
secure in the knowledge that their descendants were assured a safe and
healthy planet on which to live and prosper.  For the dragonriders, a new era
began, an era in which they no longer flew to fight Thread.  Instead, they
turned their energies to the building of the two new Weyrs on the Southern
Continent, with the assistance of those crafters that were needed to see the
projects done.

Caladin Weyr, established on Ierne Island, was completed first.  Like
Southern Weyr, it was not built into an extinct volcano, but rather on a flat
plateau.  Keeping in mind the construction that was used at Cove Hold,
similar buildings were erected to house the dragons and their riders, along
with those needed for their support staff.  Huge fields were fenced off, in
which stock for the dragons and their riders were kept, and fields were also
planted and harvested by the riders themselves.  Dragon Spire Hold, the first
Major Hold in Caladin Weyr's "territory" was established shortly after the
Weyr was finished.  At the Hold, two Crafthalls were established for Healers
and Harpers.  The Healers specialize in herbal remedies and the Harpers
specialize in the theater craft.  A second Major Hold was put in on the
Dorado side of Ierne Island and called Quarry Hold, which had a Minecraft
Hall built with it.  The crafters there specialize in making jewelry.  A
third Major Hold was called for on the Cibola side of the Island, and was
called Starbow Hold, with a Smithcraft Hall, that specialized in the
Starcraft.  There are three minor Holds associated with each of the Major
Holds, and numerous cot holds throughout the territory.  This huge building
project took many years, of course.  To be exact, it took close to
twenty-five turns to get the Weyr and the three Major Holds and the four
Crafthalls all built.

Attention was then turned to Aerie Weyr and its attendant Hold and Halls.
This building phase took much longer because of the elevation of the
excavation and the toughness of the soil.  Twenty-five turns alone were
needed to make the Weyr livable, and each of it's three Major Holds took an
additional twenty-five turns.

After the two new Weyrs and the six Major Holds and the Halls were built, it
was time to decide who would inhabit them.  The Weyrleaders of the two Weyrs
were chosen by sending the junior Weyrwomen from each of the eight Weyrs to
them to see which gold would rise first.  Whichever bronze caught her made
his rider the Weyrleader.  This was thought to be fair to all concerned.

The Holds were established by various sons and/or daughters that were
approved by the Holder's Conclave, and the new Crafthalls were approved by
all of the Craftmasters of the time.

Thus, the people of Pern turned their attention to their daily lives, content
with where they were and how they were going along.  However, there were a
few dragonriders who held a secret fear that, for whatever reason, the effort
to rid Pern of the menace of Thread would not be successful.  When the
standard 200 turns went by and Thread didn't return, all on Pern breathed a
sigh of relief.  Again, there were a handful of dragonriders who remembered
that there had been long intervals before, so still held on to the belief
that Thread might still return.  When an additional 250 turns went by, and
Thread still did not return, even the most cautious of dragonriders accepted
the fact that Thread would never return.

Two thousand turns went by, and Thread was just a blip in Pern's long
history, all but forgotten by the vast majority of people, including the
dragonriders.  They had let their Threadfighting skills disappear, though the
information was still preserved by the Archivists of Pern.

Although people still built with stone out of long habit, they no longer
feared being out in the open.  The population of Pern had exploded over the
last two millennia, though the dragon population was kept in careful check,
with very small clutches being laid.  Thus it was that the people of Pern
were totally unprepared when Thread made it's deadly return.

The population was decimated in the first few falls, despite the valiant
efforts of the now unskilled dragonriders to combat their ancient foe.
Because of their lack of skills, numerous dragons and their riders were lost
as well.  By the time the fifth Fall came, fully half of Pern's population
had been destroyed, because people no longer remembered when, where, and how
often Thread would fall.

By the end of the Tenth Pass, the dragonriders were back in top-fighting
form, but the cost had been very high.  Just as half of the population had
been killed, at least half of the dragonriders had died, too.  No one was
ever able to figure out why Thread returned or even how it was possible.  The
technology that had been discovered at Landing during the Ninth Pass had
eventually been disregarded as people returned to their traditional ways of
living, for the most part.

Though the history of Pern had been preserved in song and on paper by the
Archivists, no one knew how to fix the problem, so dragonriders were once
again faced with the knowledge that their subservience to the people of Pern
had returned.  Likewise, the Holders knew that they would once again need to
look to the Weyrs for protection, and took up the ancient system of tithing
to the Weyrs.

The population of humans and dragons was able to rise during the Tenth
Interval, and the Eleventh Pass was met by a full force of fighting dragons,
ready and able to fight Thread.  As the Intervals and Passes went by, the
people of Pern dealt with Thread as they always had far in the distant past.

Then, in the Thirteenth Interval, a deadly plague once again wiped out the
population of Pern, affecting every living thing on the planet.  Now, it is
two turns before the beginning of the Fourteenth Pass, and their are only one
hundred dragons in each of the ten Weyrs, with only one gold at each!  Time
is running out, and the dragonriders of Pern can only hope that their dragons
can repopulate their species to sufficient numbers in time...