Post by Whim on Oct 8, 2012 2:01:05 GMT -5
Pernese culture divides people into crafters, holders, riders, holdless, and drudges.
The crafts are a collection of many various, separate crafts, from winecraft to farmcraft to smithcraft to soldiercraft. Each craft functions on the apprentice system; apprentices join the craft between age ten and twelve, apprenticed either to an individual Master or at the craft's main Hall. An apprentice may begin training under an individual journeyman, but will not be considered able to become a journeyman on this basis, so after a few years the apprentice will be sent to a Master or the Hall.
When an apprentice reaches competency at his craft, generally between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, he or she becomes a journeyman. Journeymen make up the majority of any craft, and are the ones who do most of the craft's work, as well as the most traveling to wherever they are needed.
A journeyman, if very skilled and dedicated, may become a Master, rarely if ever before the age of twenty four. Masters split their time between doing the best work of their craft (creating pieces for Lord Holders, other Craftmasters, and people of similarly high wealth and rank), researching and trying to improve their craft (including writing music in the Harper craft), and teaching apprentices. Some Masters may also choose to take on duties similar to those of journeymen, but in the largest and richest Holds (generally, the Lord holds), and often overseeing one of more journeymen assigned to them. These Masters are the ones who may accept and teach apprentices that do not go to the Hall.
Craftsmen rank similarly to holders, with journeymen equating to average holders, Masters slightly above the typical holder, and the Master of the craft, who is in charge of the entire craft, equal to or slightly above a Lord Holder.
Holders are the average people: those who do the work that doesn't take very specialized training, and who live the most 'normal' lives. Their work may vary by hold, from fishing to farming to woodcutting, but they will also take care of most universal duties inside the hold; they cook, make clothes, trade, and generally make sure that life keeps going.
The exceptions are the Holders and Lord Holders. Lord Holders are rather like kings; in charge of their Hold, generally referred to as a Lord Hold, as well as all the smaller holds and holders that look to them. A Holder answers to his Lord holder, but is largely independent within his Hold; he pays a tithe to the Lord Holder, and can request aid from the Lord Holder if it is needed, but does not do much else.
A typical holder would rank slightly below a journeyman, a Holder would rank slightly above, and a Lord Holder would rank equal to a Master of a craft.
The dragon riders are Pern's guardians, who give up their lives (and, some say, their identity) to risk themselves and their dragons in protecting Pern. Accordingly, they are granted great respect by non-riders, especially during a Pass, and each Lord Hold funnels some of the tithes it receives into tithes to the Weyr.
Within the Weyrs, of course, there are divisions. Apart from the riders, Weyrs contain drudges (who are treated as all drudges are), the weyrfolk (who function similarly to holders, but within the weyr, and tend to be related to dragonriders in some way), and candidates.
Drudges, as always, are the lowest rank, followed by candidates, though candidates are treated decently in recognition of the fact that they will likely become riders. The weyfolk have the middle rank, ranging up to the Headwoman, who answers to no one but the Weyrwoman.
The riders, too, are divided; at the top are the Weyrwoman, rider of the senior queen dragon in the weyr, and the Weyrleader, rider of the prince who most recently caught the Weyrwoman's gold. The Weyrwoman cannot be displaced until her dragon dies, stops laying, or she decides to step down; the Weyrleader can be displaced only by death, or a different prince winning the Senior Queen. Between the Weyrwoman and the Weyrleader, all power in the Weyr is divided, with the Weyrleader in charge of threadfall and training to fight thread, and the Weyrwoman in charge of everything else.
Following the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader are the junior queen riders, then the prince riders, lieutenant riders, the smallest male dragons' riders and the smallest female dragons' riders. They Weyr is also divided into wings, of approximately twenty dragons each, led by a Wingleader (typically a prince rider, and very rarely a lieutenant rider) and Wingsecond (young prince riders and lieutenant riders). The queen dragons and select greens also form what is known as the Queen's Wing, with the Weyrwoman as Weyrleader and the junior queenriders sharing wingsecond duties. The Candidate Master and Weyrling Master, too, share Wingleader rank, with their assistants taking Wingsecond rank.
The Holdless are, in fact, a mix of two categories; the Traders, and the exiles. Traders live in caravans, generally composed of three to four extended families, which travel across Pern distributing goods and transporting people. Officially, they are equivalent to an unnamed craft; in reality, people tend to view them skeptically as a result of their being holdless, and therefore compared to the exiles.
The exiles, generally, are former holders and crafters, who were cast out due to criminal activity, their hold being destroyed, or occasionally other causes. Generally, even those whose holds were destroyed are viewed with suspicion; why didn't their Lord Hold take them in? A group that can claim to have just lost their hold and be on their way to their Lord Hold to claim shelter may be treated well, but otherwise, the exiles of Pern are assumed to be criminals of some form or another, and those who aren't are often forced to resort to crime to survive. The children of exiles are damned with their parents, though some kinder traders will take in such children, provided they are under a certain age.
It is rumored that some exiles have traveled into the wilderness in an attempt to create new holds, but no sign of such has ever been found, and even if such an attempt was made, it would be extremely difficult to survive with Thread falling, and dragons not always protecting uninhabited areas as thoroughly as they do inhabited ones.
Drudges are the lowest rank on Pern, and treated like it. They do the most menial, simple, and disgusting tasks in a hold, and have no real opportunity to become anything else. Most drudges are either somehow disabled (mentally or physically) or the children of exiles. Sometimes, under particularly cruel Lord Holders, holders whose holds were destroyed by disaster or enemies will be taken in as drudges.
The children of drudges, often, are likely to become drudges themselves, though not always. If a holder wants to help a drudge's child escape being a drudge themselves, they will generally all but adopt the child, then have them fostered at a distant Lord Hold, in the hopes that they will either join a Crafthall there or marry and stay. The drudge's children, by the time they are old enough to be sent, generally are fully aware of their options, and do anything they can to join a Hall or remain at the Hold they were fostered at, without letting anyone discover their parents' status.
The Tailed, like the taillless, may be of any rank. In general, they are accepted; tailless, wolf Tailed, cat Tailed, ferret Tailed, and all others on Pern get along and live together, sharing jobs and statuses. Of course, Tailed (and tailless) nature is human nature, and human nature is imperfect; Pern is hardly a utopia, and while officially Tailed are accepted by tailless, tailless are accepted by Tailed, and all species of Tailed accept each other, official policy has never had much influence on peoples' opinions. Most people are as accepting as they claim to be, but some opinions vary.
Crafters
The crafts are a collection of many various, separate crafts, from winecraft to farmcraft to smithcraft to soldiercraft. Each craft functions on the apprentice system; apprentices join the craft between age ten and twelve, apprenticed either to an individual Master or at the craft's main Hall. An apprentice may begin training under an individual journeyman, but will not be considered able to become a journeyman on this basis, so after a few years the apprentice will be sent to a Master or the Hall.
When an apprentice reaches competency at his craft, generally between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, he or she becomes a journeyman. Journeymen make up the majority of any craft, and are the ones who do most of the craft's work, as well as the most traveling to wherever they are needed.
A journeyman, if very skilled and dedicated, may become a Master, rarely if ever before the age of twenty four. Masters split their time between doing the best work of their craft (creating pieces for Lord Holders, other Craftmasters, and people of similarly high wealth and rank), researching and trying to improve their craft (including writing music in the Harper craft), and teaching apprentices. Some Masters may also choose to take on duties similar to those of journeymen, but in the largest and richest Holds (generally, the Lord holds), and often overseeing one of more journeymen assigned to them. These Masters are the ones who may accept and teach apprentices that do not go to the Hall.
Craftsmen rank similarly to holders, with journeymen equating to average holders, Masters slightly above the typical holder, and the Master of the craft, who is in charge of the entire craft, equal to or slightly above a Lord Holder.
Holders
Holders are the average people: those who do the work that doesn't take very specialized training, and who live the most 'normal' lives. Their work may vary by hold, from fishing to farming to woodcutting, but they will also take care of most universal duties inside the hold; they cook, make clothes, trade, and generally make sure that life keeps going.
The exceptions are the Holders and Lord Holders. Lord Holders are rather like kings; in charge of their Hold, generally referred to as a Lord Hold, as well as all the smaller holds and holders that look to them. A Holder answers to his Lord holder, but is largely independent within his Hold; he pays a tithe to the Lord Holder, and can request aid from the Lord Holder if it is needed, but does not do much else.
A typical holder would rank slightly below a journeyman, a Holder would rank slightly above, and a Lord Holder would rank equal to a Master of a craft.
Riders
The dragon riders are Pern's guardians, who give up their lives (and, some say, their identity) to risk themselves and their dragons in protecting Pern. Accordingly, they are granted great respect by non-riders, especially during a Pass, and each Lord Hold funnels some of the tithes it receives into tithes to the Weyr.
Within the Weyrs, of course, there are divisions. Apart from the riders, Weyrs contain drudges (who are treated as all drudges are), the weyrfolk (who function similarly to holders, but within the weyr, and tend to be related to dragonriders in some way), and candidates.
Drudges, as always, are the lowest rank, followed by candidates, though candidates are treated decently in recognition of the fact that they will likely become riders. The weyfolk have the middle rank, ranging up to the Headwoman, who answers to no one but the Weyrwoman.
The riders, too, are divided; at the top are the Weyrwoman, rider of the senior queen dragon in the weyr, and the Weyrleader, rider of the prince who most recently caught the Weyrwoman's gold. The Weyrwoman cannot be displaced until her dragon dies, stops laying, or she decides to step down; the Weyrleader can be displaced only by death, or a different prince winning the Senior Queen. Between the Weyrwoman and the Weyrleader, all power in the Weyr is divided, with the Weyrleader in charge of threadfall and training to fight thread, and the Weyrwoman in charge of everything else.
Following the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader are the junior queen riders, then the prince riders, lieutenant riders, the smallest male dragons' riders and the smallest female dragons' riders. They Weyr is also divided into wings, of approximately twenty dragons each, led by a Wingleader (typically a prince rider, and very rarely a lieutenant rider) and Wingsecond (young prince riders and lieutenant riders). The queen dragons and select greens also form what is known as the Queen's Wing, with the Weyrwoman as Weyrleader and the junior queenriders sharing wingsecond duties. The Candidate Master and Weyrling Master, too, share Wingleader rank, with their assistants taking Wingsecond rank.
The Holdless
The Holdless are, in fact, a mix of two categories; the Traders, and the exiles. Traders live in caravans, generally composed of three to four extended families, which travel across Pern distributing goods and transporting people. Officially, they are equivalent to an unnamed craft; in reality, people tend to view them skeptically as a result of their being holdless, and therefore compared to the exiles.
The exiles, generally, are former holders and crafters, who were cast out due to criminal activity, their hold being destroyed, or occasionally other causes. Generally, even those whose holds were destroyed are viewed with suspicion; why didn't their Lord Hold take them in? A group that can claim to have just lost their hold and be on their way to their Lord Hold to claim shelter may be treated well, but otherwise, the exiles of Pern are assumed to be criminals of some form or another, and those who aren't are often forced to resort to crime to survive. The children of exiles are damned with their parents, though some kinder traders will take in such children, provided they are under a certain age.
It is rumored that some exiles have traveled into the wilderness in an attempt to create new holds, but no sign of such has ever been found, and even if such an attempt was made, it would be extremely difficult to survive with Thread falling, and dragons not always protecting uninhabited areas as thoroughly as they do inhabited ones.
The Drudges
Drudges are the lowest rank on Pern, and treated like it. They do the most menial, simple, and disgusting tasks in a hold, and have no real opportunity to become anything else. Most drudges are either somehow disabled (mentally or physically) or the children of exiles. Sometimes, under particularly cruel Lord Holders, holders whose holds were destroyed by disaster or enemies will be taken in as drudges.
The children of drudges, often, are likely to become drudges themselves, though not always. If a holder wants to help a drudge's child escape being a drudge themselves, they will generally all but adopt the child, then have them fostered at a distant Lord Hold, in the hopes that they will either join a Crafthall there or marry and stay. The drudge's children, by the time they are old enough to be sent, generally are fully aware of their options, and do anything they can to join a Hall or remain at the Hold they were fostered at, without letting anyone discover their parents' status.
Tailed
The Tailed, like the taillless, may be of any rank. In general, they are accepted; tailless, wolf Tailed, cat Tailed, ferret Tailed, and all others on Pern get along and live together, sharing jobs and statuses. Of course, Tailed (and tailless) nature is human nature, and human nature is imperfect; Pern is hardly a utopia, and while officially Tailed are accepted by tailless, tailless are accepted by Tailed, and all species of Tailed accept each other, official policy has never had much influence on peoples' opinions. Most people are as accepting as they claim to be, but some opinions vary.