Flights

Dragons are fully mature around 18 months, but we like for you to wait until you've graduated to participate in your first flight.

Basic IC Information:

As a female dragon enters into heat, she becomes 'proddy'. This is shown by mood swings as well as a brightening of hide, usually called a 'glow'. This can be drawn out over several days, or almost occur instantaneously. Each dragon differs.

Riders of female dragons can display odd behavior during the proddy period as well, due to the bond become more emotional than rational at this time. Do yourself a favor and don't ICly make fun of a proddy rider. Tread lightly! If they kill you while proddy, most Pernese would just shrug their shoulders and think, 'Hey, they deserved it.' ;)

When the female is ready to rise, the males in the area can sense it and congregate at the feeding grounds and begin feeding. Also at this time, the riders involved usually head to the Ground Weyr for the flight. When the female arrives, she 'bloods', her lifemate restraining her from eating too much and impacting her flight ability. This is most important in Gold flights, as dragon lore states the longer and more arduous the flight, the more successful the clutch will be.

Finally the female rises, with the males in quick pursuit. Eventually one of the males will 'catch' the female, by coming down on top of her in the air, holding her in his foreclaws and wrapping his tail around hers. This is the only time a dragon's genitalia are revealed. The two mate in the air while falling. *wheeee* At this time, normally the two mating dragon's lifemates are together as well. The rest of the dragons and riders leave in disappointment.

Basic OOC Information:

The rider of the female announces s/he will be holding a flight on this particular date/time or even spur of the moment. If posting ahead of time, use both *iw and *fw so both groups of riders are aware. When the time arrives, the riders gather, usually ICly in the Lower Caverns. The rider of the female will invite riders to join a special channel just for flights. This is so OOCly conversation and comments *Crud! I maved* can take place.

The rider of the female will lay out the 'rules' for the flight, such one pose each per female pose. At the feeding grounds there is an exit called 'flight exit'. After the feeding poses are done, the female takes off using this exit and the males follow. This keeps the spam to a minimum for those watching the flight. The flight is usually posed in one sky room for this reason as well. Riders then move ICly to the ground weyr.

Normally there is no pre-set winner in a flight except a leadership flight. A leadership flight is the flight in which a new Weyrleader is chosen. In that case, votes have been taken to decide who the next weyrleader will be. The flight is a way of announcing who 'won'.

The rider of the female will either page or announce the winner on the channel, directing the player to 'pose' the dragon catch. The two riders involved then remain behind and 'fade to black' or if they choose to TS the mating. TS means 'tiny sex' and is NEVER a requirement.

If anyone EVER says that TS /is/ required, please contact both the Ista Weyr staff as well as the wizzen. This is a type of sexual harassment!

Good things for Riders of Males to know:

1. RSVP to flights! There can be no flights if no males show! :D
2. Have an IC reason for being in the area of the flight.
3. After the feeding poses, when the female takes off into the air, do one pose per female pose. After each person has had a turn responding to a pose, she'll pose again and so on.
4. Try to keep in mind your dragon's color. For example: Golds are less agile than greens but have a greater endurance. A green's flight may be more acrobatic. The bronzes or larger browns have endurance, but might not have the agility to move as quickly after a green when she changes direction than a small brown or blue. Blues can maneuver but have less endurance.
5. DON'T just concentrate on winning. For example, "Daranth moves easily into position, never tiring, his tail already in place just waiting for his love to lift hers." is a joke. It generally pisses off the rider of the female dragon if you 'powerplay' your dragon winning or beating out everyone else in every pose.
6. Who wins is the decision of the RIDER OF THE FEMALE! Do not pose winning unless instructed to do so by the female dragon's rider. Do not argue the decision at the time of the flight. If you'd like to discuss it, wait until later. This is a game, and it's no fun for anyone if OOC fights break out during an event.
7. Tiny Sex or TS is NEVER a requirement, as mentioned above.

Good things for Riders of Females to know:

1. Frequency of Flights: Greens - 3-4 times a turn. Golds-1-2 times a turn. Now do the math and a green would be rising every 3 weeks on the moo. :) It's up to you how often you want to go through flights and proddiness Remember Off-camera flights can be just as fun to RP the fall out as on camera. Gold riders need to coordinate their flights with the Sr. WW.
2. Announce your flight on both *iw and *fw.
3. Rping Proddy. Proddiness can take on whatever form you wish from being cranky, amorous, standoffish, etc. Remember every 1 rl day is 4 icly. Don't over do proddy!
4. Your dragon has a mood message! Use it! Typing @mood dragonname is "whatever" allows you to set something to the effect that her hide is glowing or she's irritable or whatever. This will be tagged onto the end of your dragons description for others to see. To clear it, simply type @mood dragonname is "" (with nothing inside the quotes.)
5. Have a guide change the @party before your flight, so others can come watch! Remember to have the cb's number #876 included so they can jump.
6. Add a channel for the flight foo. Example. addcom fl=Flight then fl on. Don't forget to make sure all riders involved have added! I have one the I keep for every flight, so don't forget to ask the riders to turn the channel off again after the flight.
7. Generally a flight is constructed of several sections 1) Feeding poses. 2) Female taking off. 3) Poses around the bowl area. 4) The female tiring and the males closing in. 5) The catch. During all this you may or may not want riders poses. This is up to you.
8. Announce 'Final Poses' so the rider's of the male dragons have a chance to give it their best shot at catching your green or gold. Then make your decision and inform the winner to do the catching pose.
9. Be sure the THANK those that came out to chase! It's a lot of work for all, but can be a lot of fun as well.