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Okay, this is gonna have lots of stuff that'll be real helpful if you've never read the Pern series before. Here goes nothing.
Some Terms of Interest
agenothree: a common chemical on Pern, HNO3. Agenothree fuels the flamethrowers used by groundcrews to burn Thread, and traditionally carried by riders of the queens' wings.
between: an area of nothingness and sensory deprivation between here and there
deadglow: a numbskull, stupid. derived from "glow."
Dragon: the winged, fire-breathing creature developed by the early colonists of Pern, before they lost the ability to manipulate DNA. A dragon is hatched from an egg, and becomes empathically and telepathically bound to its rider for the duration of its life.
Green: Female (30-35 meters). The smallest and most numerous of the dragons. Light, highly manueverable and agile, the greens are the sprinters of dragonkind. The breathe short bursts of flame. Greens are rendered sterile through a sex-linked disability triggered by chronic use of firestone.
Blue: Male (35-40 meters). The workhorse of te dragons. Medium-sized, the blues are as tough as the greens but not as manueverable. They have more stamina under pressure and are capable of sustaining flame longer.
Brown: Male (40-50 meters). Larger than the greens and blues, some well-grown browns are as big as smaller bronzes and could actually mate with the queens if they so dared. The browns are the real wheel-horses are of dragons, reasonably agile and strong enough to go a whole Fall without faltering. They are more intelligent than greens or blues, with greater powers of concentration. Browns and their riders sometimes act as Weyrlingmasters, training the young dragon and riders.
Bronze: Male (40-55 meters). The leaders of te dragons. All bronzes compete to mate with the gold queens; the rider whose dragon succeeds becomes Weyrleader. Bronzes are generally trained for leadership and assume Wingleader and Wingsecond positions along with browns. bronzes and their rider often act as Weyrlingmasters, training the young dragons and riders.
Gold: Queen, full female (50-55 meters). The bearer of the young, the queen is traditionally mated by whichever bronze can catch her. Although browns can mate with queens--and sometimes do, in the case of junior queens--this is unusual and not encouraged. The queen is fertile and bears eggs which she oversees until they hatch. Clutch sizes range from twenty to thirty; generally, the larger clutches occur during a Pass. The senior queenm usually the dragon of te oldest queen rider, is the most prestigious dragon and is respinsible for all the dragons in the Weyr and for the propagation of her species.
fellis: a flowering tree
fellis juice: a juice made from the fruit of the fellis tree; a sopofiric
firestone: a rock bearing phosphorus that, when eaten by a dragon, is digested to produce phosphine gas, which ignites on contact with air
glow: a light-source that can be carried in a hand-basket
harper: Harpers are the teachers and entertainers of Pern. They aducate the young in hall, hold, weyr, and cot; they guide the elders in the practice of their traditional duties. The Masterharper of Pern is respinsible for the training of harpers, the appointment of trained harpers to Weyr, hold, hall, and cot, and the discipline of harpers. The Masterharper acts as judge, arbitrator, and mediator in disputes between Lords Holder and between Weyr and hold or hall, but any harper can be called in to mediate if necessary.
Headwoman: Selected by the Weyrwoman to run the Lower Caverns, the Headwoman supervises the general domestic machinery of the Weyr and the Weyr and the individual weyrs of the riders. Among her duties are the care of the young; the supervision of food collection, storage, and preparation; weyr maintenance; and nursing, under the aegis of the Weyr healer(s).
hold: a hold is where the "normal" folk of Pern live. Holds were initially caverns in rocky cliffs where Thread could gain no foothold; they began as places of refuge. They grew to become centers of government, and the Lord Holder became the man to whom everyone looked for guidance, both during and after the Pass of the Red Star.
Impression: the joining of minds of a dragon and his or her rider-to-be. At the moment of hatching, the dragon, not the rider, chooses his partner and telepathically communcates this choice to the chosen rider.
Interval: the period between Passes; generally 200 Turns, now 100 Turns
klah: a hot, stimulating drink made from tree bark and tasting faintly of cinnamon
looks to: is Impressed by
numbweed: a medicinal cream that, when smeared on a wound, kills all sensation; used as anesthetic
Pass: a period of time during which the Red Star is close enough to drop Thread on Pern. A Pass generally lasted 50 Turns at the time of the Ninth Pass, but now lasts 100 Turns. A Pass commences whenever the Red Star can be seen at dawn through the eye rock of the Star Stones.
runnerbeast: also called "runner." An equine adapted to Pernese conditions from fetuses brought with the colonists. Quite a few distinct variations were bred: heavy-duty cart and plow animals; comfortable, placid riding beasts; lean racing types.
sevenday: the equivalent of a week on Pern (a seven day period, thus the sevenday)
Star Stones: Stonehenge-typestones set on the rim of every Weyr. When the Red Star can be seen at dawn through the eye rock, a Pass is imminent.
Thread: mycorrhizoid spores from the Red Star, which descend on Pern and burrown into it, devouring all organic material they encounter. The actual source of Thread is unknown.
Tunnel-snakes: a minor danger and an annoyance on Pern. Of the myriad secies of tunnelsnakes, two are the most insidious: the type that lives in tunnels, and the type that makes tunnels by burrowing in the sand on beaches. The latter has a great appetite for firelizard eggs.
Turn: a Pernese year
watchdragon: the dragon whose rider has pulled watch duty on the Weyr roster. A watch is generally four hours long. Essentially Weyrs are military camps. Sentries are part of that ethos. During a Pass, they watch for any chance of erratic Fall of Thread, for anyone entering or leaving the Weyr.
watchwher: the ungainly, malodorous product of an attempt to breed larger, more useful animals from the genetic materail of the firelizards, an indigenous Pernese lifeform. Watchwhers are nocturnal, exceedingly vicious when aroused, and highly protective of those they recognized as friends. A watchwher is conditioned to know the people of its hold, hall, or cot, and to give warning of intruders of any sort; used as a watchdog, it is generally chained to the front of entrance of the hold, hall, or cot. Watchwhers can communicate with dragons, but as they tend to be very trivial and rather stupid, dragons are not fond of touching their minds.
Weyr: a home of dragons and their riders
weyr: a dragon's den
Wyerleader: generally the rider of the bronze dragon who has mated with the senior queen dragon of the Weyr during her mating flight. The Weyrleader is in charge of the fighting wings of the Weyr, responsible for their conduct during Falls, and for the training and discipline of all riders. During an Interval, he s responible for the continuance of all Thread-fighting tactics, for keeping alive the fighting abilitied of dragons and riders. His rank symbol is a dragon.
weyrling: an inexperienced dragonrider underthe tutelage of the Weyrlingmaster. His rank symbol is an inverted stripe.
Weyrlingmaster: usually an aging rider with good skills and the ability to discipline and inspire the young. Responsible for the training of young riders and their dragons.
Weyrsinger: the harper for the dragonriders, usually himself a dragonrider
Weyrwoman: the rider of a queen dragon and coleader, with the Weyrleader, of the Weyr. She is responsible for the conduct of the queens' wing during Fall, under the Weyrleader's orders; for the care of dragons, riders, and all weyrfolk; for the peace and tranquility of the Weyr during a Pass and during Intervals. She appoints all subordinates, insures that all tithes are delivered or collected, and mediates all disputes except honor contests among riders. She is responsible for the training, fostering, and disposition of the Weyr's children and nonrider personnel, overseeing with the Weyrleader the training of weyrlings under the Weyrlingmaster. As any dragon will obey a queen, even against the wishes of his or her rider, the Weyrwomen are in fact the most powerful people on Pern. Weyrwomen have autonomity in their own Weyr, but will act in concert with other Weyrwomen when neccessary for the good of the Weyrs. Her rank symbol is a dragon. Each Weyr has 2-5 queens, the larger numbers occuring during a Pass. In the event of the death or voluntary retirement of a Weyrwoman, the position will be assumed by the oldest of the other queenriders in the Weyr. Although candidates for Impression generally come from nearby holds and halls, the Search for a queen candidate may extend throughout the continent.
weyrwoman: female dragonrider. Her symbol is a gold star.
wherries: a type of fowl roughly resembling the domestic turkey of Earth, but about the size of an ostrich
Wingleader: the dragonrider in command of a Weyr's fighting wing, subordinate to the Weyrleader. His rank symbol is doiuble bars.
Wingsecond: the dragonrider second in command to the wingleader. His rank symbol is a single bar.
withies: water plants resembling the reeds of Earth
Pernese Oaths
By the Egg
By the First Egg
Great Faranth
Scorch it
Shards
By the shards of my dragon's Egg
Shells
By the Shell
Through Fall, fog, and fire
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