Impression Guide

• Gold dragons, also called queens, are the largest dragons (38-42 feet long) and the only fertile females. Gold dragons are by far the rarest dragons on Pern, at just less than 1% of the population. They are dominant over all other colors; any non-gold dragon will invariably obey a queen's orders, even against the wishes of its own rider. Queens are incapable of digesting firestone and producing flame (see below); however, they do fight Thread - they fly in a special wing, with their riders armed with specially designed flamethrowers. Queen eggs are significantly larger than other dragon eggs, and bear distinctive coloration. Gold dragons Impress only to heterosexual women.
• Bronze dragons are the largest males (35-38 feet long), although they are significantly smaller than the queens. Bronzes only comprise of about 5% of all dragons. They are almost always the ones to mate with queens, as the smaller colors generally lack the stamina to chase and catch the gold dragons. Due to the 5-1 bronze/gold ratio and the infrequency of gold mating flights they often mate with greens (the losers of a gold flight almost always seek a green for their needs), but their size often puts them at a disadvantage in chasing the agile smaller females. Bronzeriders are always heterosexual men.
• Brown dragons are the next largest color (30-35 feet long). About 15% of all dragons are brown. They may occasionally mate with queens, although this is rare, and becomes even more rare as the dragons increase in size; by Ramoth's time in the Ninth Pass it is unheard-of. All brownriders in the Pern novels are men, most are straight but bisexual or masculine homosexual brownriders are not rare.
• Blue dragons are the smallest males (25-30 feet long) and make up about a third (30 %) of all dragons on Pern. They are nearly as agile as greens, but unlike the greens, they often have enough stamina to last for an entire Threadfall. They mate only with greens, as they are simply too small to keep up with a massive queen over a long mating flight. There are few prominent blue dragons or blueriders in the books. The blueriders who do appear in canon books are always male and can be straight, masculine homosexual or bisexual. McCaffrey's guidelines allow for the possibility of masculine lesbian female blueriders in role-playing games.
• Green dragons are the smallest normal color (20-25 feet long), and make up about half of all dragons on Pern (50%). They are female, but unlike the queens, they are infertile and can produce flame. They are extremely valuable in Threadfall because of their agility, but they lack the stamina to last an entire Fall and generally fly in 2 or three shifts. Originally, greens Impressed to girls, however, after various natural disasters and plagues decimated Pern's population, women were needed to help repopulate the planet. Since going between during pregnancy can induce miscarriage and because removing pregnant riders from the Wings reduced the effectiveness of the Wings, it became impractical to present large numbers of women as candidates for Impression. Thus, green dragons began Impressing to effiminate homosexual boys; by the time of the end of the 2nd Pass female greenriders are becoming rare. By the time of Moreta in the 6th Pass female greenriders are entirely forgotten, although greens gradually begin Impressing to women again in the 9th Pass.

Dragonets are Hatched from eggs laid by gold dragons. The dragonets emerge from their shells wet with embryonic fluid. They are actually capable of flight once their wings dry, however flying is usually discouraged until the dragonets are older for fear of straining their wings. Unhealthy or defective dragonets will not Hatch due to engineering by Kitti Ping.

Dragonets (and dragons) come in 5 colors: gold, bronze, brown, blue and green. Each dragon color is specific in terms of its rider's gender and sexuality. Kitti Ping was a bit old-fashioned in beliefs and engineered the dragons to reflect this. The golds are the egg-layers. They do not breathe fire (it is generally believed in current Pern that firestone renders them sterile). As such, the golds Impress only heterosexual females. The bronzes are the studs, impregnating the golds 99% of the time, with the occassional brown winning a gold flight. So bronzes only Impress heterosexual males. Brown dragons can be Impressed by males or females, although the males tend to be heterosexual or bisexual, and the females are usually bi since their browns will be participating in a lot of greenflights. Blues and greens go the full spectrum of sexuality.

A note should be said about bisexuality in the Weyr. It is common and accepted since a rider's first priority is their dragon. Females tend to be only heterosexual or bi, since their chances of being caught by a male are significantly greater than being caught by a female, although it can happen. Remember that in Anne's books in the 9th Pass, Mirrim and Path were the only female green pair. While there are plenty more now, it has to be assumed that males still dominate the gender gap.

Once a dragon Hatches it will Search all Candidates for a good match. If a matching Candidate is not present on the Sands then the dragon might choose to Impress from those within the stands and observers. On the rare and sad occassion that there is no good match, the dragonet will go b*tween. Dragonets can be dangerous during this time period as they are awkard, shaky on their feet, and frantic to find their lifemate. Many Candidates have been mauled this way by being stupid enough to get in the way or too slow to move out of it.

Once a dragonet Chooses a Candidate, it usually announces it decision with mind-to-mind contact. While this may be startling at first to a now-weyrling, this method of communication strengthens the bond between dragon and rider. From this moment forward, dragon and rider are connected by a bond that transcends love and emotion.

Once the pair have accepted each other, they will be escorted to an area where fresh cubed meat will be provided. THe dragonets must be instructed on how to chew and swallow. Once their bellies are full they need to be oiled with the jars and paddles provided. By this point, they are very tired (it's a busy first day!) and will need to be escorted to their weyrling chambers and stone couch.