Post by Wit on Jul 30, 2010 16:15:52 GMT -8
Excuse me, my good sir, you appear to have gotten your Steampunk in my Pern.
Oh no sir, you appear to have gotten your Pern in my Steampunk.
Not all of AIVAS's advancements were positive for Pern. What was once seen as their savior is now seen by many as their downfall. Pern now is a divided place, filled with socially antiquated notions and a growing population it cannot support.
As the human population grew, the dragon population fell. Dragonriders lacked a purpose now, and grew despondent. The average size of a Queen clutch dwindled to a mere ten eggs, of which two or three would be duds. Eventually they no longer needed to be spread so thinly in all the Weyrs, and consolidated at High Reaches, Igen, and Southern. With the Weyrs abandoned, people moved in. They always moved in, the great mass of humanity spreading.
The demand for resources grew even as there was less and less farm land. Luckily, the population was placated by the discovery of great quantities of iron, zinc, and copper on the Southern continent. The supply was seemingly endless. What was once rare was now a trifle. The Pernese were crazy for metal. They had iron, and they could make brass. The Smiths became more important, constantly churning out new inventions- air ships, laboratory kits that even children could play with, carriages made of gleaming brass and copper that the gentry could ride in. The merchant class rose in importance, selling what the Smiths made.
AIVAS's concept of electricity became more popular. But how would they produce it? Coal still wasn't common enough. The solution was discovered accidentally. Water, when converted to steam, could produce great quantities of electricity to move turbines. To move the water and heat it, they needed drudges, and menial laborers in a concentrated area, in their factories. Whers were used as well. The conditions in these factories were unpleasant and crowded. The rapid leap in technology was hard on the Pernese, who did not quite understand how pollution and disease ran rampant when so many people were crowded so closely together. All this was 200 Turns ago.
Then, twenty Turns ago, AIVAS was destroyed by a group wanting Pern to go back to their traditional roots. It shocked and disturbed many, but life pressed on. They could still go on. They had what they needed now. Little did they know, the seemingly endless metal deposits were already running low, and will soon run out. The general population still doesn't know that, and still clings to an opulent life style on sharply divided class lines.
There have also been reports that the Red Star has gleamed more brightly in the sky, lining up with those funny rocks on all the old Weyrs. But AIVAS pushed away the Red Star, didn't it?
In Southern, a dying Queen will soon lay her clutch. Her Flight was long and hard, far more so than any in recent years, yet she and her rider are ready to make the final ride /between/, leaving her junior Weyrwoman in a precarious position. There are five Queens left on Pern, and no one can spare an older rider. What will happen?
*News- the clutch has been laid! It's still being described, but there will be a Queen, so get your Candidates in.
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