Candidate and Impression Guide

Characters come in three varieties:  Dragon, Wher and Dual.  Dragon Candidates will only stand for dragon clutches.  Wher Candidates will only stand for wher clutches and Dual Candidates are hedging their bets and open to bonding to either a dragon or a wher.  

Dragon Candidates must be within the age range of 14-25 years of age, regardless of gender.  Wher Candidates must be at least 16 years of age, but there is no upper age limit for wher candidates.  

Characters may become dragon candidates in one of two ways.  Either they’re born and raised at a Weyr, and thus automatically have the right to Stand for Impression as soon as they’re 14, or they’re Searched by one of the Weyr’s Search dragons.  This can happen “on screen” or “off screen”.  Please contact a mod or admin if you’d like help setting up an “on screen” in character Search.  

Wher candidates are selected by the handler of the clutch mother, after being recommended by one of the other handlers.  

NOTE: As our game starts, please remember that the riders of the “mutant” dragons have just been, in effect, exiled from Eastern Weyr.  They would have only a skeleton staff with them, and that likely made up only of family members or weyrmates of the few dragonriders. In fact, any candidates for the senior queen’s upcoming clutch will likely come from the ranks of the smugglers and bootleggers, or from someone rather randomly “searched” in the local area.  As such, these candidate expectations are likely to be rather haphazardly enforced.  However, certain requirements, such as age ranges, MUST be coordinated with the admin staff before being waived/explained away.  



In order to be eligible to Impress at either a dragon or wher Hatching, we ask that all candidates meet a minimum activity requirement.  We’ll create a hatchling dragon or wher just for your candidate, based on their personality, and we can’t do that unless and until we’ve gotten to know them through your interview, and then more importantly, your playing it out.  So each candidate must have 15 strong RP posts before they can be considered eligible to Impress.  These posts can be responses to a Candidate Lesson RP (more about these in a minute) or just general RP posts.  In order to help us keep track, we ask that each player post the number of posts that their character has in a candidate tracking thread.  This should be created in your private workspace at the bottom of the board.  For more information, please ask a member of the admin staff.  

To create a candidate tracking thread, simply start a new topic in your private workspace forum and copy/paste the following code there:

Code:

[b]Character Name:[/b]
[b]Total Number of Posts:[/b]

[b]Thread Name/Link[/b]
[b]Thread Name/Link[/b]
[b]Thread Name/Link[/b]

Then simply fill out that form for each of your candidates you have in play.  

In addition, in order to be considered for Impression, each candidate must attend the Candidate Lesson RPs.  What this means is that the player must respond to the initial RP post with their candidate or candidates, and play it out.  Once again, this is a chance for us to get to know your characters and match them up with the hatchling right for them.  Make the most of it, and give us something great with which to work.  We promise, you’ll have a better Hatching experience for it.  There will be at least two Candidate Lesson threads in the month leading up to the Hatching.  All of them are mandatory in order to be eligible to Impress.  



Dragon Hatchings will proceed very similarly to the ritual described in Anne’s books.  The candidates, upon hearing the announcement from someone in authority, will drop whatever they’re doing and hurriedly get cleaned up and dressed in the traditional white robe.  They’ll line up outside the entrance to the Hatching Grounds and be escorted in by the Candidatemaster or Weyrlingmaster, who may or may not offer some last minute words of wisdom.  Once inside, the candidates will form a rough semi-circle around the eggs and wait for the shells to crack and their soulmates to emerge.  

When a dragonet Hatches, he or she will seek his or her rider from among those on the sands, or, rarely, from among the spectators gathered to watch.  Once the dragonet finds his or her rider, the rider will announce the dragon’s name and lead the dragon off the sands, back to the waiting Weyrlingmaster or assistant.  Feeding will then commence.  

From a play standpoint, we, the admin staff, would like to see our Hatchings become a very active, enjoyable time for everyone.  In order to reach that goal, we will likely have a certain number of posts we’ll look for before posting a Hatching update or new dragonet.  Please don’t send us a bunch of pleading messages about when we’re going to post new babies.  I guarantee that won’t make us post faster. If you want to see new babies, the best way to do that is to post in the Hatching thread.  Post your candidates.  Post your spectators watching.  Post your grown dragons’ reactions to the prospect of new young ones.  Post.  

Wher Hatchings proceed a bit differently.  Instead of a group of candidates all waiting around for shells to crack, the selected candidate is introduced, one by one, to the clutch mother.  If the clutch mother deems the candidate unsuitable, she will attack him or her, and drive them away from her eggs.  If she accepts the candidate, she will indicate which egg he or she may take.  The candidate will then (carefully and respectfully!) take the egg over to a specially prepared alcove just off of the main wher nest.  The egg will then hatch sometime in the next few hours.  When it does, the candidate must make eye contact with the hatchling wher, and offer the hatchling a taste of the candidate’s blood.  Most of the time, this is via a shallow cut on the heel of the candidate’s hand.  If the wher accepts the blood, the bond is formed, and the wher will take their new handler’s name upon themselves, altering it to end in “-sk”.  If the wher hatchling rejects the bond, they will attack the unsuccessful candidate, and their cries of anger may just draw the angry clutchmother to their aid.  Being a wher candidate can be a risky business.  

From a play perspective, wher Hatchings will proceed as outlined above.  Unlike dragon Hatchings, however, spectators are not normally welcome in the main wher nest, so the only participants will be the candidates and the current wherhandlers who are helping out with the Hatching.  Still, if you have a part to play in the wher Hatching, please be diligent in playing it.  That way we can get the babies posted and the surprises made and everyone can have a good time.  

One note about whers.  In our game, we consider whers to have an intelligence level close to that of humans or dragons.  They will most likely not “speak” in complete sentences, not because they can’t, but because they don’t see a reason to waste all that time with extra talking.  Whers will use pronouns, and they will not always speak of themselves in the third person.  If you have questions about this or anything else, feel free to ask a mod or admin.  



Attend all lessons with the Candidatemaster (even if this is not the first round of candidacy)

Serious relationships are discouraged as they will need to be terminated immediately upon Impression

Pregnancy results in delay of standing or eligibility of candidacy until condition is resolved

Candidates are the low end of the totem pole. While their candidate duties trump any others, they are expected to comply with any chore/task set them by a senior rider, or Lower Caverns staff

Hold up the highest standards of dragonriders - do not offend holders, steal, bully others, or get into physical altercations with weapons.

Candidates who break any of these rules are subject to immediate dismissal from candidacy at the discretion of the Candidatemaster and Weyrlingmaster