Community Profile

Azara Weyr was founded on the Western Continent in the Interval between the Fourth and Fifth Passes of Thread. The Weyrleaders of Ista and Igen had initially used the remote location as a prison of sorts, for those riders and Weyrfolk who had disobeyed some major rule or another. The riders in question were often murders, and exile was the only punishment that was possible in that situation, without being responsible for the death of an innocent dragon. There was always a barren gold dragon assigned to the Weyr to keep order, though no young queens were allowed to visit, for reasons of population control.

In time, all the Weyrs began to send their troublemakers and malcontents there, and the reasons for exile became much more numerous. Goldriders alone were immune, as their dragons were needed to continue dragonkind, though they were often kept under heavy guard in their home Weyrs, if the situation warranted.

As can be imagined, the inhabitants of Azara cared little for this, and soon began to draw to their banner large numbers of holdless, who were hardly missed where they had come from.

Tensions simmered in the region, with more and more retired Weyrwoman being forced to spend at least part of their time in Azara so their queens could control the dragons and therefore the riders.

The turning point came when Fera, rider of gold Hyrenxeth, was confined to her weyr for the cold-blooded murder of a lower caverns woman who had, in Fera's mind, been responsible for her weyrmate H'fran leaving her. In addition, she'd attempted to poison H'fran, but his brown dragon had caught her in the act.

In desperation, as all queenriders knew the location of Azara, Fera sent Hyrenxeth there without her. Hyrenxeth, though she was without her rider, took command of the few bronzes there, and drove out Telgar's aging gold Gaileth and her rider, claiming Azara as her own. Then, she organized the blues and greens into an efficient attack force, a process which took several months, during which time she rose to mate and clutched, including a gold egg. The attack came at Benden with little warning with the goal of freeing Fera and returning her to her queen, who was held to Azara's makeshift Hatching Ground. One of Benden's greenriders found himself in the position of doing the unthinkable, all in an attempt to protect his Weyr. He snatched Fera during the battle, then pushed her off his dragon while between.

The mourning keens of the dragons echoed around Azara, Hyrenxeth's the most pitiable and heart-rending of them all. Tied to the Ground as she was, and completely innocent in her rider's actions, there wasn't a rider in Azara who didn't hate the riders at Benden. D'ghan, the greenrider who'd killed Fera, found himself pulled before all the Weyrleaders of Pern and sentenced to exile in Azara Weyr. There'd been injuries, but no other deaths during the battle, and Azara's riders had retreated upon Fera's death.

He and Frienth were transported later the same sevenday, and so began his imprisonment, surrounded by riders and support staff who universally blamed him for the death of their Weyrwoman.

Attention turned now to the clutch on the Sands, watched over by an increasingly distraught Hyrexenth and an honor guard of all four of her bronzes. Aside from the queen egg, there were twenty-two others, and the Holdless defectors to Azara were largely single adults or families with very young children. The six blue riders with the most sensitive dragons fanned out into the Holds, searching the lower caverns for eligible candidates, often giving fake names and wearing the shoulder knots of varying Weyrs. It was only when they returned to Azara that those chosen learned that they'd been essentially abducted. There were candidates among the Holdless as well, and they became the default leaders of those standing for the clutch.

The Long Interval was also coming to an end, with the Red Star becoming far more visible in the sky, starting in 1256 AL. The other Weyrs' leaders are mostly in denial, despite the fact that their queens are beginning to rise more frequently, and many of the Weyrs had their first gold egg in several turns in the most recent clutch. Azara took advantage of the confusion to mount a raid on Ruatha and Fort simultaneously, even dragon carrying off a herdbeast or wherry. With twenty-three young dragons soon to hatch, they needed to start their own breeding program, with no Holds to sustain them.

Fort and Ruatha appealed to Fort Weyr, and Weyrwoman Lakjia responded by calling a conclave of all the Weyrleaders.

((WIP))