Post by Kit on Apr 25, 2010 3:05:34 GMT -5
The Holds of Pern
Those who are not dragonriders or crafters are typically holders, meaning they live in a hold. The main job of holders is agricultural, they farm and raise livestock. However, some holds specialize in different industries such as fishing, wine making, forestry, or mining. Though the main crafthalls reside in the craft complex, nearly all journeyman and some apprentices receive training in a hold.
Structure
There is only one main Hold on Pern, overseen by Nova Weyr, that is also called Nova. Though self-governed by the Lord Holder, Nova Hold owes the Weyr bi-yearly tithes in exchange for protection and the hold produces much of this within its own borders. However, several smaller holds exist outside the boundaries. They are mostly autonomous, but they pay a tithe to the main hold, and the main hold, in turn, supplies them with whatever they cannot produce themselves, and often sends crafters and/or laborers to help in times of need. The Lord Holder settles disputes in succession for the smallholds as well as any other required arbitration. If a dispute arises in succesion for the main holding, the Pern Council is convened. This consists of the Weyrleader, Weyrleader's Second and Weyrwoman and her Second, all the craftmasters, and the head holder of each smallhold. They sometimes also convene in times of crisis, but it is very rare.
Nova Hold
The main Hold, overseen by Lord Hiltaris, is large and prosperous. It houses about one thousand persons, two thirds of the Holder populations. Nova has fields for growing wheat, corn, barley, flax and cotton, as well as separate areas for tubers, vegetables, and legumes, orchards, beastholds, and dairies. It produces much of the food that goes to the weyr, as well as most of the leather and raw materials for making textiles. They host several journeyman healers and harpers at a time, as well as journeyman beastherders, and farmers. Occasionally they also have a woodcarver, smith, or tanner in residence. Nova Hold also has a Steward and a Headwoman that help the Lord oversee his staff and records. The steward is usually in charge of accounting, tithing, and ordering of supplies. The Headwoman is in charge of the staff, the cooks, drudges, crecheworkers and various others that help out with the hold chores and she also keeps track of food supplies and runs any major feastdays.
Tuath Hold
This smallhold is the most prosperous on its own, oeverseen by heavy-handed holder Haidalon and his second wife Zaldalona. He has ambitions to get his holding considered a main hold, but its isolated location, in the mountains just at the shore of Drake's Lake, will make this a hard case. Their main industry is mining. Tin, copper, iron, silver, bauxite, nickel and even the occasional gold or titanium is mined here. Tauth also houses the main firestone mine. Their position on the lake also gives them access to occasional firelizards eggs, as well as freshwater fish. The hold houses about 150 people and serves as a training ground for every single journeyman miner during sometime in their careers, as well as quite a few smiths. Journeyman and apprentices in the fishercraft often come here to learn sailing in the calmer lake water. Tauth has its own resident journeyman healer and harper.
Ryuu Hold
This small hold is overseen by Lord Nalavon, a good man and a good friend to the weyr. Its main product is grapes for winemaking and the hold also produces some of its own wine via the journeyman that are posted there. Some farmcrafters get a posting here and some woodcarvers as well, for Ryuu also produces some of the more exotic woods use in furniture making. This hold has about 75 people and they share their harper with Forest's Edge Hold. They have their own healer.
Forest's Edge Hold
As the name implies, this hold produces most of the wood for its varied uses in furniture making, as well as more specialized uses in instrument making and bowyery. It also supplies fur and meat from wild animals such as wild felines, wherries, and other assorted game imported from earth, like the occasional fox, rabbit, or even wolf, though they are rare. The holder, one Deladil, is an awful man who tends to go into drunken rages, beating his wife, children and various other dependents. The selfish brute hates the weyr with a passion. Searchers beware. Deladil does not have a healer at his hold, though he shares a harper with Ryuu. Journeyman woodcarvers are often posted here, though they tend to keep to themselves.
South Sands Hold
This hold is widely thought of as one of the most miserable and desolate places on Pern, Though situated next to a desert, the weather is actually quite cool. The holder, Grestin, presides over 40 inhabitants. The hold has a few herdbeasts and fields of its own that keep the folk sustained, but their chief export is silica for making glass. Therefore, the small craft of glassmaking sends most of its journeyman here and they, due to their isolated location have their own healer and harpers. South Sands also produces skilled weavers that make wind resistant fabrics in bright colors.
Green Valley Hold
This isolated hold at a river mouth has been overseen by a woman, Mariusdara, ever since her husband died eleven turns ago. She is a capable woman, if cold and unstable, and respects dragonriders deeply. This hold, housing about 50 people, grows river grains, what we call rice, and the small amount of sugar cane that still exists. Their orchards of tropical fruit are superb. They also are home to many exotic herbs used medicinally or for fabric dye. They usually have a few journeyman healers on site, as well as a harper, a weaver, and a farmcrafter. Also, the non-official craft of cooking has its home here, any cook that wishes rise to head cook at the main hold, or at the weyr, spends time apprenticing here.
Crooked River Hold
This larger hold is home to the best animal raisers on pern. Many kinds of herbeast, cows, pigs, and sheep, as well as both fast and sturdy runners are raised here. They also produce corn, rye, cotton and hay. Bilteran is the master of the hold, a jolly and gregarious man that manages his population of 100 people well. Journeyman beastcrafters are always stationed here, as well as tanners. The hold also usually has a farmcrafter, weaver, harper and healer in residence.
Waverunner Seahold
This hold, situated in a cove on the Northern Ocean, is the only place where you can find an entire craft ouside the crafthall. Though the Masterfisher usually stays at the craft complex part-time, all the apprentices and journeyman live here most of their lives. The holder Julopir is a hard, but fair man with a dour expression who has lost several family members at sea. His hold houses 100 holders as well as fishercrafters, woodcarvers, weavers, healers, harpers, smiths and beastcrafters, making it the most populous hold outside Nova. The hold mostly produces fish, as expected, as well as building all their own ships, including the sails and rigging and is also a hub for the non-official cooper craft. The hold also has good stands of timber, important for fishing, and is one of the warmest, wettest, holds. A lot of firelizard eggs comes from here, as well as decorative shells and the all important spice, salt.
Azure Isle Hold
Welio presides over this small hold, situated on an island in a small inlet on the northern coast. His hold is one of the least populous, but possibly the most wealthy. Not only does his hold house a small subset of the fisher craft, but most of the pearls and gems used by the smithcraft are found here as well as small amounts of salt and river grain. Almost all the people work in some sea related task, infants learn to swim before they can walk. Many smiths reside here, as well as fihsercrafters, and harpers, not to mention a healer or two. This hold is famous for the firelizzards eggs it routinely produces.
Traders, Runners, and Holdless
There are always a few people who don't fit in anywhere, Hold, Hall or Weyr. These few live as holdless, runners, or traders. The main trader camp on Pern is the Beridot Clan. Highly insular, they don't take well to outsiders. They trade in normal goods like runners, clothing, jewelry and cookware but their speciality lies in the rare and exotic. Firelizard eggs, dyes, rare herbs, gems, gold, and the few illicit substance that exist are their main articles of trade. They keep to themselves generally, and children rarely leave the clan. A few smaller clans that trade more locally also exist as offshoots of the main clan and they are generally more open than Beridot.
Runners are a sort of offshoot of the Harper craft. The messengers of Pern live at runner Stations of which there are two, and at harper hall. They often begin their training as apprentice harpers, prized for their good memory and quick thinking. If they show no aptitude in music or seem especially speedy, or inconspicuous, they are often brought into the runner tradition. Some runners are the children of runners or Station masters, but all being their training at Harper Hall. Their classes consist of history, geography, and politics as well as training in first aid, drum codes, and survival in the wild. The best runners have both speed and an infallible memory. Once their training is complete, they go out to the runner station, where they begin to carry messages. Some children of runners will carry simple messages at ages as young as ten before officially starting their training, but the runners who travel the circuits between the holds and halls are usually at least eighteen.
There are not many holdess people on Pern today, after the tragedy of the war, most people moved to the hold. There are a few people though, that for some reason have no wish to live in a hold, that subsist in the woods alone by foraging or stealing, but once the Pass starts, these usually move to a hold, or assimilate into one of the smaller trader clans.
Those who are not dragonriders or crafters are typically holders, meaning they live in a hold. The main job of holders is agricultural, they farm and raise livestock. However, some holds specialize in different industries such as fishing, wine making, forestry, or mining. Though the main crafthalls reside in the craft complex, nearly all journeyman and some apprentices receive training in a hold.
Structure
There is only one main Hold on Pern, overseen by Nova Weyr, that is also called Nova. Though self-governed by the Lord Holder, Nova Hold owes the Weyr bi-yearly tithes in exchange for protection and the hold produces much of this within its own borders. However, several smaller holds exist outside the boundaries. They are mostly autonomous, but they pay a tithe to the main hold, and the main hold, in turn, supplies them with whatever they cannot produce themselves, and often sends crafters and/or laborers to help in times of need. The Lord Holder settles disputes in succession for the smallholds as well as any other required arbitration. If a dispute arises in succesion for the main holding, the Pern Council is convened. This consists of the Weyrleader, Weyrleader's Second and Weyrwoman and her Second, all the craftmasters, and the head holder of each smallhold. They sometimes also convene in times of crisis, but it is very rare.
Nova Hold
The main Hold, overseen by Lord Hiltaris, is large and prosperous. It houses about one thousand persons, two thirds of the Holder populations. Nova has fields for growing wheat, corn, barley, flax and cotton, as well as separate areas for tubers, vegetables, and legumes, orchards, beastholds, and dairies. It produces much of the food that goes to the weyr, as well as most of the leather and raw materials for making textiles. They host several journeyman healers and harpers at a time, as well as journeyman beastherders, and farmers. Occasionally they also have a woodcarver, smith, or tanner in residence. Nova Hold also has a Steward and a Headwoman that help the Lord oversee his staff and records. The steward is usually in charge of accounting, tithing, and ordering of supplies. The Headwoman is in charge of the staff, the cooks, drudges, crecheworkers and various others that help out with the hold chores and she also keeps track of food supplies and runs any major feastdays.
Tuath Hold
This smallhold is the most prosperous on its own, oeverseen by heavy-handed holder Haidalon and his second wife Zaldalona. He has ambitions to get his holding considered a main hold, but its isolated location, in the mountains just at the shore of Drake's Lake, will make this a hard case. Their main industry is mining. Tin, copper, iron, silver, bauxite, nickel and even the occasional gold or titanium is mined here. Tauth also houses the main firestone mine. Their position on the lake also gives them access to occasional firelizards eggs, as well as freshwater fish. The hold houses about 150 people and serves as a training ground for every single journeyman miner during sometime in their careers, as well as quite a few smiths. Journeyman and apprentices in the fishercraft often come here to learn sailing in the calmer lake water. Tauth has its own resident journeyman healer and harper.
Ryuu Hold
This small hold is overseen by Lord Nalavon, a good man and a good friend to the weyr. Its main product is grapes for winemaking and the hold also produces some of its own wine via the journeyman that are posted there. Some farmcrafters get a posting here and some woodcarvers as well, for Ryuu also produces some of the more exotic woods use in furniture making. This hold has about 75 people and they share their harper with Forest's Edge Hold. They have their own healer.
Forest's Edge Hold
As the name implies, this hold produces most of the wood for its varied uses in furniture making, as well as more specialized uses in instrument making and bowyery. It also supplies fur and meat from wild animals such as wild felines, wherries, and other assorted game imported from earth, like the occasional fox, rabbit, or even wolf, though they are rare. The holder, one Deladil, is an awful man who tends to go into drunken rages, beating his wife, children and various other dependents. The selfish brute hates the weyr with a passion. Searchers beware. Deladil does not have a healer at his hold, though he shares a harper with Ryuu. Journeyman woodcarvers are often posted here, though they tend to keep to themselves.
South Sands Hold
This hold is widely thought of as one of the most miserable and desolate places on Pern, Though situated next to a desert, the weather is actually quite cool. The holder, Grestin, presides over 40 inhabitants. The hold has a few herdbeasts and fields of its own that keep the folk sustained, but their chief export is silica for making glass. Therefore, the small craft of glassmaking sends most of its journeyman here and they, due to their isolated location have their own healer and harpers. South Sands also produces skilled weavers that make wind resistant fabrics in bright colors.
Green Valley Hold
This isolated hold at a river mouth has been overseen by a woman, Mariusdara, ever since her husband died eleven turns ago. She is a capable woman, if cold and unstable, and respects dragonriders deeply. This hold, housing about 50 people, grows river grains, what we call rice, and the small amount of sugar cane that still exists. Their orchards of tropical fruit are superb. They also are home to many exotic herbs used medicinally or for fabric dye. They usually have a few journeyman healers on site, as well as a harper, a weaver, and a farmcrafter. Also, the non-official craft of cooking has its home here, any cook that wishes rise to head cook at the main hold, or at the weyr, spends time apprenticing here.
Crooked River Hold
This larger hold is home to the best animal raisers on pern. Many kinds of herbeast, cows, pigs, and sheep, as well as both fast and sturdy runners are raised here. They also produce corn, rye, cotton and hay. Bilteran is the master of the hold, a jolly and gregarious man that manages his population of 100 people well. Journeyman beastcrafters are always stationed here, as well as tanners. The hold also usually has a farmcrafter, weaver, harper and healer in residence.
Waverunner Seahold
This hold, situated in a cove on the Northern Ocean, is the only place where you can find an entire craft ouside the crafthall. Though the Masterfisher usually stays at the craft complex part-time, all the apprentices and journeyman live here most of their lives. The holder Julopir is a hard, but fair man with a dour expression who has lost several family members at sea. His hold houses 100 holders as well as fishercrafters, woodcarvers, weavers, healers, harpers, smiths and beastcrafters, making it the most populous hold outside Nova. The hold mostly produces fish, as expected, as well as building all their own ships, including the sails and rigging and is also a hub for the non-official cooper craft. The hold also has good stands of timber, important for fishing, and is one of the warmest, wettest, holds. A lot of firelizard eggs comes from here, as well as decorative shells and the all important spice, salt.
Azure Isle Hold
Welio presides over this small hold, situated on an island in a small inlet on the northern coast. His hold is one of the least populous, but possibly the most wealthy. Not only does his hold house a small subset of the fisher craft, but most of the pearls and gems used by the smithcraft are found here as well as small amounts of salt and river grain. Almost all the people work in some sea related task, infants learn to swim before they can walk. Many smiths reside here, as well as fihsercrafters, and harpers, not to mention a healer or two. This hold is famous for the firelizzards eggs it routinely produces.
Traders, Runners, and Holdless
There are always a few people who don't fit in anywhere, Hold, Hall or Weyr. These few live as holdless, runners, or traders. The main trader camp on Pern is the Beridot Clan. Highly insular, they don't take well to outsiders. They trade in normal goods like runners, clothing, jewelry and cookware but their speciality lies in the rare and exotic. Firelizard eggs, dyes, rare herbs, gems, gold, and the few illicit substance that exist are their main articles of trade. They keep to themselves generally, and children rarely leave the clan. A few smaller clans that trade more locally also exist as offshoots of the main clan and they are generally more open than Beridot.
Runners are a sort of offshoot of the Harper craft. The messengers of Pern live at runner Stations of which there are two, and at harper hall. They often begin their training as apprentice harpers, prized for their good memory and quick thinking. If they show no aptitude in music or seem especially speedy, or inconspicuous, they are often brought into the runner tradition. Some runners are the children of runners or Station masters, but all being their training at Harper Hall. Their classes consist of history, geography, and politics as well as training in first aid, drum codes, and survival in the wild. The best runners have both speed and an infallible memory. Once their training is complete, they go out to the runner station, where they begin to carry messages. Some children of runners will carry simple messages at ages as young as ten before officially starting their training, but the runners who travel the circuits between the holds and halls are usually at least eighteen.
There are not many holdess people on Pern today, after the tragedy of the war, most people moved to the hold. There are a few people though, that for some reason have no wish to live in a hold, that subsist in the woods alone by foraging or stealing, but once the Pass starts, these usually move to a hold, or assimilate into one of the smaller trader clans.
