Wher Guide

The Wher Guard is composed of wher handlers and cadets. It is a teaching organization and defense organization for the Night Watchers. A wher handler, however, need not belong to the Wher Guard, nor follow its teachings. Ann (DPRYCIAK)is its GM and uses Xavier as the main point of RP.

Creed:

• 1) To promote the care, respect, and health of whers across Pern.
• 2) To defend Self and contract and wher to the best of one’s ability, for the betterment of Pern.
• 3) To be willing to sacrifice oneself, honorably, in defense and honor of Pern, the Wher Guard, Wher, and Self.
• 4) To maintain the laws and rules in Weyr, Hold, and Hall that one resides or is contracted to, and to promote justice within.
• 5) To never strike in malice or greed, to serve the Wher Guard with honor and respect for all living things.

Laws:

• 1) To follow the laws of each Hold, Hall, and Weyr we reside in, are in contract to, or spend time as guests, and to uphold justice, even in the circumstance it may violate a contract.
• 2) To never abuse the power of justice-keeper or one’s wher, or to serve as a mere beast, or to serve with malicious or greedy intent.
• 3) To be willing to break a contract in the case where duty conflicts with contract owners. One must report to the Master Handler, Verkest of Xavier, in these instances.

"For those of you who do not know me, I am Verkest, Wher Handler of gold Gethe. I am the Senior Wher Handler on Pern, an organization of wher handlers created several dozen turns ago, as well as the Captain of the Wher Guard, another organization that once worked alongside the Wher Handlers. The two work together, now, as the Wher Guard trains Wher Handlers in defense, offence, weaponry, tracking, and other facets necessary to be a superb Wher Handler. Wher Handlers are simply anyone who is Impressed to a Wher, or one who cares for a wher Un-Impressed, and works for a Hold, Hall, Weyr, or Caravan.

"My purpose tonight is to inform you about Whers, how they differ from dragons and fire lizards, what their uses are, what whers are about.” Verkest hoped she wasn't boring them.

"I'd like to introduce to you my friend and associate, Roschan, who hails from the south, from a distant holding called Old City Hold. Thanks to her Hold, we have the excellent batch of wher eggs that lay in Xavier's Hatching grounds."

Roschan stepped up beside Verkest, who was feeling very uncomfortable from talking so much. "Heyo, all." She was a pretty young woman, with black hair and almond-shape dark-brown eyes. Her face was slightly angular and her body sparse, but strong. She wore a hair-wrap and her clothes were far more relaxed in fashion. She wore a loose pair of dark green leather pants, a billowy pale yellow shirt, and short brown boots. Her hair was free and poured down her back like an ebony waterfall.

"My name is Roschan, as you heard. I'm here to help you all out. Some of you are possible wher candidates, some of you are just really intelligent people who want to learn about another dragonic species. Either way, it's cool." She flashed them a broad, cheerful smile. "I'm here to clarify, instruct, and inform. I'm also here to teach you how to kick butt, if necessary, whether or not you become wher handlers or part of the wher guard. I'm also here to ask questions, learn, and find out more about you guys.

Verkest spoke up. "I don't know why all of you are here, and I don't need to know. I assume that all of you wish to become candidates. I, myself, was a first-class thief and renegade, before Impressing and redeeming myself as a wher handler of the Wher Guard. Some of you may have similar pasts of a rough life, and I'll let you know, being a wher handler doesn't change anything. In fact, being a wher handler IS a rough life.

"Whers are perhaps the most misunderstood creatures on Pern...next to renegades. They are often used, abused, misused. Many of the whers used as guards in Holds and Halls are left in dank, filthy little chambers, fed rarely, often ignored and the majority of those in these conditions are UN-Impressed, or unbonded, creatures. No man or woman who Impressed could dare harm one's soulmate, after all. It would be like trying to chop off your own limbs. All of them. Non-Impressed handlers are just like people with really big, trained dog—absolutely no mental exchanges. "It is one of the missions of the wher guard to have ALL whers used as guard partners, to be Impressed and/or well-treated. These are the rules and Credo’s you need to follow are listed above.

"Whers are cousins to dragons and to fire lizards, and as such, share similar qualities...and misconceptions. The typical dragon can fly, can mind-speak intelligibly with his or her soulmate, flames, can go Between and comes in the basic dragon shape." Verkest half-grinned, wryly. "A firelizard is far smaller, also is draconic in design, can fly and go Between, flames occassionally, and speaks in a rough empathic manner, with images and emotions to practically anybody.

"A wher is both similar and dissimilar to dragons and fire lizards. They cannot fly. They cannot go Between—at least, as far as we know. Due to their photophobic focal-problem, which forces them to be night-creatures, they do not flame, although research has proven that they CAN. I don't recommend it, though, because I'm sure the creature would freak to see so much light. Whers can see in the dark, both as heat images and kind of how we think a cat sees in the night, but better.

"They are far better ground-creatures than either dragons or flitts. Their sense of smell, as well as most of their senses, is superior to even canines. They are strong, sturdy creatures, intensely loyal. And for the majority of whers, they, too, speak in basic empathic, image-based mind-speak. There are two different strains of the wher breed, just for you to know. The eggs on our sands currently are of the pure-blood Southern breed, bred by Old City Holding and a few of our friends. Pariah, one of our local queens, is one, as you can tell by her immense size. Gethe, on the other hand, is not. She is half-wild."

Here, Roschan interrupted. "Down where I come from, there are no dragons. We have not used them for many hundreds of turns since we settled on the ‘Forbidden Continent’ probably back in the Third or Fourth Pass, and, until the Eighth Pass, we did quite well surviving without them. "We don't know when the first wher came to the Southern continent, but we do know that, approximately the time of settling, whers came to Old City Holding. We have concentrated breeding of these noble creatures and have improved upon their design. As you will notice, they are larger, stronger, sturdier...and far more intelligent. Well, in comparison to humans. The Northern wher type is just as intelligent, just in a different way. They can reason...to a point, are less prone to emotional responses, but are just as sensitive. Also, the Southern wher, unlike the Northern wher and fire lizards in general, is capable of limited thought-speech in two or three word sentences. It isn’t much, but it serves as emphasis. However, all whers are capable of sending messages and ‘talking’ in their own fashion to dragons, as long as the concept is relatively simple.

"Since whers cannot fly, their mating flights are more like speed chases or brawls. And whers are very, very fast creatures. A green or a gold will go into heat about two to three times a year, and a mated female will lay eggs after about 3-4 months. A gold wher can lay as little as three to up to ten or more eggs (although, the larger the clutch, the smaller the eggs), with a green laying about three or four, average, with a low hatch rate. Gold whers mate in about their third or fourth turn. and the queen varies in her protectiveness, so be careful. However, there is no guarantee that an egg will hatch. Wher eggs are small, much smaller than a dragon’s egg, if you have ever seen one. And they are not as pretty. Lumpy, hard, and wrinkled.

"A wher dragonet is roughly the size of a medium-sized canine when it is hatched, and like dragons, can be both very helpless and destructive as soon as they come out of the egg. If it Impresses, it will become soul-attached to you, much like the relationship of a dragon and its rider. If that is the case, the soulmate has no choice but to treat his or her wher with respect, generosity, and love. If any of you have fire lizards, imagine a bond a hundred times stronger, at least. Note, however, unlike a dragon, a wher will survive your death, and can choose another partner at that time, if it wishes. Seldom do I see one simply give up and die, like dragons do. Legends state that a wher can change handlers while still living, but I have never seen this.

"If we have enough candidates, the whers that do hatch will select amongst them. If there are not enough candidates, then, yes, the wher will find some other place to live, if they don't Impress within a couple hours of hatching. They are more like fire lizards in that regard. Dragonets die, but whers will survive alone. They might even breed out there. But I can't say that any particular trait exists in a wher that makes it choose or not.

"Like a dragon, a wher might know its name at hatching. Tradtionally, wher handlers have named their whers, and I guess the whers have accepted this. None have protested previously. Note, however, that no wher names are to end in ‘th’ for that is reserved for dragons.”

"The colors are the same as those of dragons, bronze, gold, brown, blue, and green. They Impress in the same fashion, golds for girls, bronze for boys, and the rest really are not that particular. No one color is more special than another. After all, even greens have been known to lay eggs from time to time—although they hardly hatch.

“Some of the same qualities apply. On average, Green handlers are more feisty at times, and those with blues are a bit more promiscuous, browns are steadying, bronzes a bit proud, golds a bit heady. ((ooc, for those whers who name themselves, the name ends in ‘sk’))

“Wherlings are fed a gruel of blood and oats for their first couple of weeks. A week old wher is ten hand-widths long, from tail-tip to nose, and three hands high at the shoulder. A three month old would be forty hands long, 12 high at the shoulder. Training starts at three months. A baby wher is like a puppy, VERY playful at night. Nocturnal beasts.

"A well cared for, full grown, wher will be allowed to feed, or fed, regularly; oh, perhaps every other day, or every three days, depending on the size of the meal. A wherry will do nicely. You do not have to worry about a wher gorging itself, even if it has been without food for many days. And, of course, fresh water is recommended for every type of creature on Pern.

"A clean, straw-lined couch or shallow depression in a dark chamber will serve well for a wher's den. Bathing a wher and keeping it oiled is necessary, just as for fire lizards and dragons, even though the hide does not need to bear the harshness of going Between which severely dries out a draconic hide.

"Other than these simple facts, respect, care, gentle-handling, and general kindness are expected. And, of course, it is important to introduce yourself to any wher you meet and never to make any sudden moves around one, for they react quite instinctively.

“The approximate size of an adult wher ranges from a low-slung runner (the green) to a large, regular, non-draft runner (gold whers), proportionately. This is after factoring in that, like the dragons, the whers were designed to increase in size. They weigh about 600 to 800 pounds. Southern gold whers can reach the size of a Clydesdale stallion, and weigh about half a ton.

“Whers have ‘words’ that even non-wher handlers can understand, with training. This code is personal to the wher, and that wher will teach his handler. Whers can pass messages mentally from their handlers to dragons. Whers can ‘talk’ to those they wish, although I doubt they would be emotionally ‘chatty’ to just anybody. Otherwise, they can bleek, mrrbl, click, warble, croon, groan, shake their heads, hiss, rumble, roar, and make all sorts of noise. They speak mentally through images, and the stronger the bond, the better the images are to the handler.

"And it doesn't matter if you have a Northern or a Southern Wher. While we are importing the Southern type, there is nothing less with either. Both are very emotional creatures, needing our understanding and guidance. It is true that Northern whers, whether wild or bred in a Hold--there is no difference--are more instinctual, it doesn't make them or Southern whers any weaker or less in any way."

"A wher should never be forced to do something it feels is unsafe, uncomfortable, or....wrong." Roschan frowned as she remembered certain rumors she'd heard about racing pits...but that could wait for another day. "Always trust a wher's instincts. They were bred to explore caves to verify their safety. They were bred to protect, and they are very territorial, even if they have to share their territory with other whers. A wher shouldn't be pushed past the point of exaustion, except in extreme emergencies, such as life and death situations. A wher should never be struck, for any reason, by hand and NEVER by whip or weapon. An angry wher, and especially one that is not Impressed, is a very deadly wher.

Verkest shrugged. "Actually, the true and simple answer is, people just don't care. There are some people who keep a canine for protection, and there are certainly more canines out there than whers, but that doesn't mean the owner will take good care of the animal. Many guard beasts are left to fend for themselves because their person just doesn't care, or maybe thinks the creature is better off taking care of it, or maybe for a dozen other reasons.

"And then there is the fact that whers aren't as intelligent as other creatures, say, like dragons, or as easy to take care of as fire lizards. Flitts are easy to train and are small. Dragons are large, the very symbol of Pern, and protect the land from thread. Both are very numerous and seem a lot more friendly than some night beast that looks uglier than sin and has the tendancy to act like it'll chew your arm off if you look at it wrong. Its very looks are probably the biggest reason people avoid it, but I can't say for certain.

"People can be stupid, I guess," she shrugged. "They look at the outside of the creature and forget that something potentially beautiful can be inside. And whers can be VERY useful, and not just for guarding a Weyr at night. They have been known to work in the mines, judging the safety of certain shafts, or for rescuing trapped workers. Some even say, in rumor, that whers can find the larger veins of gem or mineral, but I doubt that. Can you think of other occupations that a wher would be useful?"