Fort Weyr

As the ‘Comet Pass’ came to an end, Fort faced the loss of two queens, Weyrwoman Jenna and her gold Niyath having been crippled in one of the last few rogue Falls and her successor, Weyrwoman Zahava, having contracted a wasting sickness that led to her death and the suicide of her gold Ciath. It was the newly graduated Berit from the Weaver Hall and her gold Zibeth who rose next to become Senior Weyrwoman, with the former Telgari R’uen and bronze Zaiventh becoming Weyrleader in month 12 of turn 16.

In the spring of turn 18, Berit stepped down as Weyrwoman due to issues arising from her pregnancy. Cirse, gold Peirith’s rider took on the mantle of Acting Senior until the next gold rose at Fort, with R’uen continuing as Weyrleader. Peirith rose and was caught by Zaiventh confirming both Cirse and R’uen as Weyrwoman and Weyrleader of Fort Weyr.

During the summer of turn 18, failures of the cotton and sisal fiber crops put the crunch on the Fort region, leaving all hard up for key fabric staples. To add insult to injury, Fort Seahold held several key tithe shipments at the hold for months and also traded off some of the tithe to turn a profit during the autumn and winter of turn 18 leading to strained relations with much of the rest of the immediate region. Fort Hold finally stepped in and forced the release of the tithe to the Weyr during the summer of turn 19 and collaborated with policing Fort Sea and keeping an eye on greedy Holder Rivellan. The tithes were released to the Weyr during the week of 7/7/19.

The rest of turn 19 was largely uneventful barring continued high prices on fabric staples and rumors of bad marks being passed at the turnover gather at Fort.

Early in month 3 of turn 20, junior weyrwoman’s father, the Holder of Ruatha River Hold died of seemingly natural causes. The goldrider’s younger brother, generally known to be somewhat less-than-competent and easily led took over the reins of Ruatha River Hold immediately after his father’s death. Rivellan of Fort Sea reached out to the young holder to arrange a match between him and one of his daughters to forge an alliance between the two holds.

R’uen continued as Weyrleader of Fort through early Turn 20 when Peirith rose somewhat unexpectedly and ahead of time on the evening of the 18th day of month 3 of turn 20. With Zaiventh and R’uen out of the Weyr that day visiting family, by rumor with warning by the Weyrwoman, the field was left open for another Weyrleader to take charge of the Weyr. T’rev’s bronze Mecaith, Zaiventh’s clutchmate won the queen making another former Telgari bronzerider Weyrleader at Fort.

Late in turn 20, the Weyr, as well as the Fort region in general, began to experience supply issues. At first, it seemed to be only an item missing here and there, perhaps spoiled by storeskeepers or apprentices too afraid to own up, though Ruatha River’s tithe was notably short and crafters, riders and residents forced to go without. In the midst of this, Hattie’s Elaruth rose in her maiden flight, to be caught by D’kai’s Mikhuth and clutch 14 eggs. Among the Candidates stood several blooded young people, including Jiella (Rivellan’s daughter), Atreyan and Isobel (son and daughter of Gar) and Dashaya (daughter of Peyton).

Supply issues continued as the turn began to draw to an end, with rumours of ships being raided at sea between Gar and Boll, though, notably, nobody was killed. Raids continued and prices began to soar, leaving many to resort to trade when trust in the value of a mark began to fluctuate. It didn’t take long for the raids to start-up on land, with the first occurring between Ruatha and Fort. With crafters leaving the Weyr and the supply situation becoming worse, a number of riders went to investigate a ‘place of interest’ as discovered by greenrider B’kaiv, only to find missing supplies, marks (both real and fake) and a counterfeit-making machine. Was Gar involved? Apparently so, though not the holder himself or his wife. Their son, Vinsley.

Pern History through the 9th Pass drawn from the works of Anne McCaffrey, all books, plots and characters, © Anne McCaffrey. Post-9th Pass on-camera history summarized from logs of play on PernMUSH and NorConMush.