Weyrlife: General Information
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Dragonrider Duties
Article by: Avery
When the average Pernese citizen thinks of dragonriders, they generally think about their role as fighters of Thread. That was the reason for the creation of dragons and is their primary duty to the world, but there are plenty of other duties that a dragonrider must perform when they aren’t fighting or drilling. Here is a sampling of these duties:
Message Running
These riders are assigned to bring messages from one location to another. Messages can be anything from a verbal message to a bundle of letters or packages of items. This duty often overlaps with passenger transport (described below).
Dragonriders may also volunteer to do this job in their unassigned time in exchange for marks, as /betweening/ to a location and delivering something takes very little time and it’s one of the few ways they can earn marks.
Passenger Transport
A rider with courier duty takes passengers from one location to another. Riders of greens and blues are usually assigned to move one or two people with light loads, while riders of browns and bronzes take larger groups or people with bulky items. Bronzeriders are also assigned to special invitees of high importance (such as ranked holders or crafters). This duty often overlaps with message running (described above).
Sweepriding
A sweepride is flying a long patrol over an assigned territory in order to spot anything unusual that should be reported. Regular sweeprides look for events like natural disasters (such as an avalanche, rock- or mudslide, or a forest fire) or people in distress (structure fires, broken-down caravans). When a sweeprider finds a problem, they should investigate, and if they can’t resolve it on their own they must reach back to the Weyr for assistance.
The post-Threadfall sweepride is slightly different, in that the riders focus on looking for signs that Thread has hit the ground and begun to propagate. If such signs are found, the rider directs the ground crew to the location to burn it out and provides any assistance they may need.
Watch Duty
Watch duty is a vital role, but often considered boring. A watch pair is stationed at a location to observe what happens there. Generally, locations have shifts, with the most desirable ones in the day and the worst ones the overnight ones. At the Weyr, they watch arrivals and departures, whether it’s caravans bringing trade or visiting dragons stopping by. At Holds and Halls, a watch rider keeps track of arrivals and departures, may occasionally be requested for message and transport duty and serves as a link to assistance from the Weyr.
