= SETTING =

[modtheskies]

W H A T ? !

Your character arrives on the Hatching Sands straight out of their home world at precisely the moment of the Hatching. They don't know anything. There's no one to tell them. All they can do is roll with it and try to think about what to do next -- when there's time to think, that is.

T H E   H A T C H I N G

Dragons can sense a hatching and will all hum excitedly when it's time for one, but for the first hatching there aren't any dragons to hum. It's all confusion: disoriented candidates, hatching eggs, and hopefully, Impression.

All the eggs look the same, mottled and pale, except for the shine of the larger gold egg. When the first one splits the dragonet will stumble out of its shell, and within minutes the others will begin to follow. They will all head straight for the line of candidates. Try to stay out of their way. If you're not the one, they can and will be violent. Candidates have died during hatchings. A frustrated hatchling shakes a panicking girl, her neck snaps... the end. Even the newborns have deadly talons and fierce fangs that can tear right into you. If you're not the one, that little guy has no use for you, so stay out of the way.

But when your eyes meet your dragon's, you will simply know. All pairings are soul-deep connections, intimate and perfect.

Being strongly empathic and telepathic, the moment that bond is formed you will feel a rush of unconditional love and total trust. The dragon will psychically tell you his or her name (always ending in -th, like Ramoth or Mnementh) and nothing short of death can separate you from then on -- and not even that, for very long.

And then your dragon will tell you that he or she is very hungry. Can we get something to eat?

T H E   D R A G O N S

These strongly empathic creatures have four legs, two short forearms and two strong hind legs, in addition to their two wings. When fully grown they can range between 20 and 42 feet in length depending on their color, with a wingspan almost double their length. Their skin is smooth like hide, not scaly, and their large faceted eyes change color depending on their mood. They have forked tongues and tails, with wedge-shaped, horselike heads, and the coloration of their hide can range even within their color group -- some greens might be nearly pastel, while others are more foresty. They don't breathe fire natively, but most dragons can chew a substance called "firestone" which makes them breathe fire for a short period of time.

Dragons speak telepathically, but usually only to their bonded partner -- they rarely, if ever, make the effort to speak to outsiders: other than a Hear-All-Dragons, it takes a special concentrated effort to speak to another human, and so it doesn't often happen. They're also strongly empathic, so their feelings are always known to their rider, and their rider's feelings are always known to them.

A fully-grown dragon feeds once a week, with smaller ones needing about the equivalent of one cow and larger ones needing more like three or four. Young dragons need feeding more or less every time they wake as they grow rapidly. At birth they are small enough to be carried with some effort, like a large dog, but within a month even the smallest green will be longer than you are tall. They reach their adult size at 18 months.

For the first few weeks, a dragonet does little more interesting than eat, sleep, and complain about being itchy. But while awake, they are already almost fully adult in reasoning, despite some childish tendencies like laziness or impulsive affection.

Each dragon has his or her own personality, but they universally share a sense of composure and wisdom that makes even the silliest roll in the mud seem like a deliberate, dignified action. They do not have long-term memory and think of everything as being in the "now", but they do have some instinctive racial memory. Some are better than others at remembering who's who among humans, although they don't have any trouble identifying each other.

A dragon that does not Impress after birth dies. A dragon that loses its human partner dies. They are literally completely emotionally dependent on you.



There are five colors of dragon, each with their own quirks--

Green dragons: These are female dragons, and the smallest of their kind; a fully-grown green is 20-25 feet long. Greens are normally infertile, but they reach maturity quickly, rising to their first mating after only one year. Greens always Impress to women or homosexual/bisexual men, and they tend to see things simply, in terms of themselves and their bonded partner or mated partner -- or potential mated partner, a frequent interest of theirs -- and can range from playful and fun-loving to high-maintenance and petulant.

Blue dragons: Male dragons, typically 25-30 feet long, with more stamina than the greens, but not as much as the bigger dragons. Blues, together with greens, outnumber the other dragons almost 4:1. They reach maturity later than the greens, and can Impress to men or to homosexual/bisexual women. These dragons are generally seen as incredibly loyal, with excellent empathy and a sixth sense for judging a person's character.

Brown dragons: Male dragons, typically 30-35 feet long. These dragons, nearly as strong and capable as their bronze counterparts, and generally lauded as being more considerate and sensible, have occasionally (but rarely) been known to mate with golds. Usually they don't have the stamina to compete with bronzes in the long, drawn-out mating flight that golds demand. Browns Impress to men and are extremely reliable.

Bronze dragons: Male dragons, typically 35-38 feet long. Bronzes are one of the two metallic dragons, and they're the alpha males, the biggest and strongest. All except the flightiest bronze pairs end up in positions of leadership, and all bronzes will instinctively seek to be the one to fly the rising gold on her mating flight. Bronzes Impress to men and are generally laid-back, supportive dragons.

Gold dragons: Female dragons, typically 38-42 feet long. By far the rarest kind of dragon, these intelligent and proud creatures are called "queens" for a reason; all dragons have an innate compulsion to obey them, so they are literal, natural leaders of their kind. They are the only dragons who cannot chew firestone and thus cannot breathe fire, but they are also the only ones who can produce clutches of eggs, although it takes them two years before they are mature enough to rise to mate. Golds Impress to women.

T H E   W E Y R

The Weyr you're in is located on an island. It's warm -- surrounded by beaches, tropical sun, and beautiful untamed rainforest, with frequent evening rains. The mountainous region where the Weyr itself is located is elevated and slightly cooler, with lower humidity.

All over the island you'll find active, prosperous wildlife, ranging from vast schools of fish in the bays and seas, to herds of horses, to unlikely groups of meandering cows and pigs, apparently unconcerned about natural predators, like the large predatory avians and dangerous spotted wildcats. There is a small, more desertlike area on the north end of the island, and an occasionally-active volcano across a bay on the south side of the island, overlooking the Weyr across the water.

The Weyr itself has been carved out of a small, long-dormant volcano, with many dark, unlit paths inside twisting through the mountain's shell, leading up to each weyr and down to the dining halls and weyrling dorms. Fresh water flows through the Weyr down carved channels, coming from underground streams, leading to a little artificial waterfall where the young dragons can bathe. The dragonrider weyrs are carved high into the interior of the volcano; each one has a long ledge exposed to the sun for the dragons, and a spacious room open to the outside air. On the outer edge of the mountain are forest Weyrs, looking out over the trees instead of in on the bowl of the Weyr.

The empty bowl slopes down into a large corral on a large grassy plateau, that slopes down even further into the bay. To the south and east of the Weyr is a long-abandoned hold, all deserted houses and shipless seaport.

T H E   S I T U A T I O N

You're stuck here on this island with no way to get off. You're responsible for sustaining yourselves -- and your newly-Impressed dragonets, which are completely dependent on you. There's no literature, no veterans to guide you -- the only other soul on this island is one ancient dragon, so old and faded that his hide is an indeterminate color, always sleeping on a ledge high in the Weyr. He cannot be woken by humans and the dragons refuse to try.

The first order of business is survival. Food. Water. The needs of the dragons.

But what then?