Guides to Pern |
In the series of books Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, all forms of human knowledge are maintained by one or more crafthalls. Based loosely on the medieval system of guilds, the crafthall system on Pern is designed to maintain both theoretical and practical knowledge across a broad area in the absence of widespread printing, advanced communications, or record-keeping technology.
History of the Crafthall systemPern did not have time to establish systems of learning before the calamities of the First Pass; however, pre-colonization plans included a system similar to the Crafthall system. Originally, the Crafthalls were centralized as a University at Fort Hold, built around the computer databanks available there. With the breakdown of the available computers and the loss of electrical power at the beginning of the Second Pass (Dragonseye), there was little point in continuing to confine the scholars of Pern away from the subjects of their study. Contrariwise, there were political and economic reasons to distribute the Crafts around the settlements of the Northern Continent. As a result, the Halls drifted apart physically. Over time, this led to the Halls adopting the same philosophy and politics of autonomy that already dominated the Holds; by the Eighth Pass, this trend had led to the breakdown of nearly all cross-craft technical collaboration. The dramatic reversal of this trend near the end of the Eighth Interval was crucial for the success of the recolonization of the South during the Ninth Pass. After the rediscovery of the original settlements and their precious treasure of databanks and ancient technologies, a University of sorts was re-established at Landing, and cross-craft contact was elevated to a level not seen since the Second Pass. However, the tradition of Hall autonomy except in planetwide matters was maintained, as was the widespread geographic distribution of centers of learning on Pern. The Craft system developed as a way to pass on knowledge within a given skill set. The Harper Hall provides the general education, but on Pern, "higher" education such as the Pernese equivalent to high school or college didn't make sense. The colonists, especially after the advent of Threadfall, needed a way to pass down specialized skills quickly to the new generations. Colonists needed to increase their population quickly, so people were marrying younger and having more children, with many holders marrying by the time they were 16. This also led to a need to push specific skill sets onto those young adults at a younger age in order to have them at a suitable education or "working" level by the time they reached that age. On Pern, 14 is considered the "Age of Reasoning", the point by which boys and girls are considered adults and able to make their own decisions. As such, most apprenticeships start between the ages of 8-14, though sometimes older apprentices start after they switch Crafts. Pern has implemented the old Terran practice of "Apprenticing". The system of apprenticeship first developed in the later Middle Ages and came to be supervised by craft guilds and town governments. A master craftsman was entitled to employ young people as an inexpensive form of labour in exchange for providing formal training in the craft. Most apprentices were males, but female apprentices can be found in a number of crafts associated with embroidery, silk-weaving etc. Apprentices were young (usually about fourteen to twenty-one years of age), unmarried and would live in the master craftsman's household. Most apprentices aspired to becoming master craftsmen themselves on completion of their contract (usually a term of seven years), but some would spend time as a journeyman and a significant proportion would never acquire their own workshop. Each of the crafthalls on Pern adhere to the same basic organizational structure and ranking system. Craft ranking systemThere are three degrees of rank:apprentice, journeyman (or journeywoman), and master. Apprentices begin their education as early as eight or nine years of age and are instructed by one or more master craftsmen on a regular basis. Journeymen (or women) continue to receive instruction, but may go without instruction for indefinite periods of time to practice their craft in outlying settlements. The majority of a craft's members will be journeymen and journeywomen; many will never advance beyond this point. The highest regular rank is master which denotes the ability, right, and responsibility to pass the ways of the Craft on to apprentices and journeymen. Organizational structureCrafts are divided into separate halls. These Halls are both places of work and a social structure. A Crafthall may range from a humble Fisher's shack on a rocky coast to the great craft complexes like Smithhall at Telgar or the Harper-Healer Hall at Fort. Generally, one or more crafthalls are recognized as being the center of learning for their craft are generally identified as Major Crafthalls, the rest being considered Minor Crafthalls. Each crafthall selects a leader from among their masters, and the convocation of all Masters of a craft elect their head, their Craft's Craftmaster. The Craftmaster has the right to speak for all members of his Craft, planet-wide. The difference between Hall-Crafts and Hold-craftsA distinction should be drawn between the Hold-crafts and the Hall-crafts. Several Crafts, while having their own Halls and places of learning, are basic skills that no Hold can do without. Examples include the Farmercraft, Cookingcraft, and Beastcraft (or Herdcraft). These Hold-crafts are therefore found everywhere, and their life does not primarily revolve around their home Halls. In contrast, crafts such as the Minercraft, Smithcraft, or Healercraft require specific locations, specialized halls, and years of learning to master. Unlike the Hold-crafts, these Crafts stand somewhat aloof from the regular day-to-day life of the Holds of Pern. List of major Crafthalls
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