Searching

Searching is the process of specialty dragonriders – known as Search Riders – going out to the holdings within their Weyr’s territories to find young men and women who have the empathic mentality ideal for boding to a dragon.

To be eligible for Search, young men must be between the ages of fourteen (14) and twenty-eight (28), while young women must be between the ages of seventeen (17) and twenty-eight (28). The ideal Search candidate will be aged around twenty, unmarried and/or un-promised as well as of sound body and mind. Family heirs will most often be overlooked, but rare allowances may be made.

Search riders are only sent out on Official Search when a Weyr is short on Candidates, the bulk of whom are usually made up by weyrbrats; that said, however, it is not entirely uncommon for a Weyr to only have a handful of age appropriate weyrbrats, which requires that they have Search Riders go out on an Official Search. Often, the need or lack thereof, of Official Search will be determined by which gold it is that is due to clutch and her clutch size history.

If an Official Search is needed, the Search Riders will be made aware by the Weyrleader, and their Search will begin the day after the gold in question has flown, and concluded the day following her laying of the clutch. This allows for a solid two months of Searching, which is generally enough time to bolster the Candidate class to appropriate numbers; the ideal class size being three times the number of eggs – this can result in class sizes as small as twenty to as large as one-hundred and fifty or more.

Stolen

Stealing, otherwise known as kidnapping or abduction, is the biggest blemish on the dragonrider reputation in the known history of Pern. It is something the Halls in particular hold against the dragonriders, even all these Turns later; it is unlikely that the Halls will ever truly forgive the dragonriders.

During their time in the South, hiding from the Plague that had decimated their numbers, the gold Nirinath was the last of her colour and that knowledge weighed heavily on her rider, Tsuen’s, shoulders. As such, when Nirinath clutched in 728 AL without producing a gold egg, and there weren’t enough candidate aged individuals among the survivors, Tsuen concluded that their best bet for survival was to kidnap Hall trained Journeymen to Impress. Ideally, these young men and few hardy young women would be the best individuals for the Weyrhold’s future both as working individuals, and lifemates for the dragons to be.

As a result, Crafters were stolen by selected Search riders, who literally plucked them up off the ground when no one would be the wiser, before bringing them back to the makeshift Weyrhold Katila. Unfortunately, this method worked a little too well in Tsuen’s opinion (despite the drastic repercussions of the Stolen, such as depression and suicide, anger and hatred towards Weyr and dragonriders, and no shortage of bad attitudes) and as a result she forbade revealing the survival of dragonriders, even when Nirinath clutched gold in 731 AL.

The practice of abducting Journeyman Crafters as Candidates continued until Month 09, 734 AL, when brownrider S’kef – then the Weyrleader – made the decision to announce the survival of the dragonriders and begin Traditional – Official – Searching. As a result, the last Stolen were those for the Have Faith clutch by Okalinath and Toranth, that Hatched 29.07.734 AL.

Weyrbrats

By right of birth, every weyrbrat – male or female – is allowed the privilege of Standing once they come of age though this is far from a guarantee of Impression. Because it is a birth right, Weyrbrats are not Searched. Instead, once they decide to be a Candidate, they have simply to inform the clutch’s Weyrlingmaster that they intend to Stand and they will be added to the roster.

As with the Searched, a male candidate must be between the ages of fourteen (14) and twenty-eight, while females must be between seventeen (17) and twenty-eight (28). They must also be of sound mind and body, or they can be denied attendance by the Weyrlingmaster; rare exceptions may be made, but it should not be counted on.

Search Riders

The role of Search Rider is held by mature – graduated – rider pairs of blue and green dragons. While a rider may aspire to become a Searcher, it is solely dependent upon the skills of their dragon, as it is the dragon that does the actual Searching.

A dragon Searches by finding young men and women with the right mental empathy that is required of bonding to a dragon. Generally speaking, such candidates are more receptive to dragons speaking to them, with the dragon being able to communicate without having to ‘yell’ in order to be heard. While it is one thing that dragons look for, it is not the only, and what makes someone appropriate for Search is made up of a lot more than just a dragon’s ability to speak to them easily; there have been cases of dragons Bonding to people who are not emphatically receptive to dragon speak at all.

Search riding is done in groups, made up of three Searchriding dragons (in any combination of blue and green), and one Handler who is of a bronze or brown dragon. The Handler is responsible for negotiating with the parents of the candidate the Search dragons select, as well as choosing where Search will be held, and how long Search will be conducted in the location. The Handlers are additionally the ones that report back to Weyrleader on how Search is progressing and conference with their fellow Handlers to make sure Search is spread across the boundaries and not condensed in one area.