Drogs: An inexplicable merging of dragons and dogs, one breed of Drog is vastly different from another breed. There are five Drog breeds altogether, although the only breed the Pernese currently know of are the Rumplewiff Drogs, and all five of them have different uses, personalities, and dominance levels. The Rumplewiff Drogs are moderately dominant as a breed for example, although there are always exceptions and high ranks are not always held by the most dominant breeds (although they usually are), but for now they are free to argue and fight amongst each other for dominance. The one thing all Drogs have in common are their desperate need for companionship, and though Drogs can bond to a person it is not unheard of for one to go its entire life without bonding. Those who remain unbonded almost always run in packs, whereas the bonded Drogs make packs from their bonded and only occasionally return to the rough and tumble pack life. When Drogs mate, no matter how frequently it is, their bondeds can ignore the lust that filters through their bond--it might not be the easiest thing to do in the world, but the lust isn't powerful enough to force people into having sex unless they choose to.

Rumplewiff Drogs: A breed of Drogs known especially for their pointy ears and the strange way their fur has grown, the majority of their body is covered in hide, but their wings, tail, and ears are furred and there is a strip of fur going from the top of their heads to the beginning of their tails. The fur is thick and dense and tends to shed by the handful during the summer, but they have an inner heat that makes them invaluable during the winter months. They are typically born with black, dark brown, or forest-green colored hide and their fur can be lime-green, black, or bright-orange. Their eyes are just as strikingly strange as the rest of them, considering they are born with the same faceted eyes dragons have that change colors depending on their mood, and their tails are long and draconic; they often drag behind them as they're walking around, although the tail helps them balance better while they're flying. Rumplewiffs reach sexual maturity when they are a turn and a half old and do not have a specific way of choosing their mates--it is often just a case of a female in heat choosing a male to breed with. Females go into heat once a turn and can have as many as six eggs in a litter, although the survival rates of the eggs is relatively low thanks to human and other animal predation, including that of other Rumplewiff Drogs. It is not unnatural for a hungry Rumplewiff to eat its own/another clutching Rumplewiff's eggs, especially because the clutching instincts for the Rumplewiffs is not nearly as powerful as the clutching instincts in a queen dragon. Rumplewiff Drogs have a limited intelligence--they can mindspeak anyone they want, but they are only able to use short sentences of few words and uncomplicated thoughts. They are also able to communicate in feelings and mental images, something they are characteristically overenthusiastic about doing. Upon reaching full maturity, Rumplewiff Drogs unlock a pyrokinetic ability that allows them to start fires and have a limited amount of control over how hot and long a fire burns. When Rumplewiff Drogs reach full maturity, the majority of them will be about the size of a Great Dane/small pony (think Shetland Pony).

_____: These Drogs are large, the size of a draft horse and are in some ways the opposite in looks from Rumplewiffs. The majority of their body is covered in fur, with their wings, tails, and ears leathery like hide. Fur colors are dark blue, red, and black while hide colors are red, silver, and gold. Their eyes are, for the most part, colored normally but under great emotions will color change much like a dragons.

Candidates: Those Searched for Impression. As every hand is usually needed, to entice boys they offer free food, a nice living space, and provide them with everything they could need for training - either basic or craft training. Chores are few and far between - they are expected to take care of their own things but no more. They do have to put up with roommates, assigned to them when they become candidates. There are, unfortunately, very few candidates. (in fact, players should assume that PCs make up most of the candidates... because they do.)

Crafts: Apprentices usually start at twelve, though as early as ten can be accepted. Apprentices usually graduate at eighteen - the earliest is sixteen, and only then for those who started at ten and dedicated most of their time to it. For those who graduate later, the average apprenticeship is 5-7 turns, so someone starting at 15 could potentially graduate by the time they are twenty if they worked hard. Impressing a dragon would greatly interfere with the craft workload and means the minimum would be 7 turns. Apprentices work under at least one if not many Masters to learn the basics of their craft. Once they become Journeyman they no longer are "taught". They know the basics of the craft - now they learn by hands-on work, or traveling and seeing the different techniques of their craft. They no longer have exams or tests, but they can ask for advice from a Master if they need to. To become a Master they have to do a Masterwork - an item of their craft that shows all their skill and effort. Then it must be approved by the Craftmaster of the craft. This process could take many turns of the Craftmaster saying no, and either he/she or other masters giving criticism back. On average, a Journeyman reaches Master status (if they ever do) at thirty. The youngest is twenty-five. It typically takes about twelve turns of hard, dedicated work, though it could take (if Craft was all they did) as little as eight.

Elemental Babies: Things have been very weird ever since the Meteor came, and it isn't only the people who have changed. The very world is changing, and because of that change three new types of children will start being born throughout Pern. They do not have human mothers, though in the Air babies' case it seems like they do, but are instead born from the womb of a crystal, a seedpod, or a airborne seedling.

Air Babies--Airborne Seedling: The seedling is like a dandelion seed that gets up their nose and causes a baby (or two or three). Air kids can breathe thinner air than humans and manipulate the clouds. They are able to levitate. They have a 'relationship' with the air/weather that allows them to control it, and the stronger their 'relationship' is with their element, the stronger they are. They can have varying levels of specialization, meaning one kid might be better with the weather whereas another might be better with the air. They have a connection to other air kids via their element, enabling them to always know where other air kids are. They will randomly grow feathers in their hair that will regrow even if they are plucked out, and all air kids can either send energy to or heal other air kids. All air kids have hair that is a shade of blond.
Fire Babies--Fire Crystal: Fire kids grow from red crystals. They cannot tan or burn because they are immune to fire/heat--they cannot die by fire, but they will always be extremely pale because their skin is not affected by the sun. They can run much faster than the average human. They can pull energy from heat in general, and the hotter the energy source is the more energy they can get. They have a 'relationship' with fire/heat that allows them to control it, and the stronger their 'relationship' is with their element, the stronger they are. They can have varying levels of specialization, meaning one kid might be better with actual fire whereas another might be better with manipulating heat. They can create fire, although it is much easier for them to do on hot/dry days and with fuel, such as wood or something else they can let the fire burn on. They can also heal or give energy to other fire kids, although they can only do one or the other, and they will always know where other fire kids are. They are born with strange red/gold swirls on their skin that sparkle and gleam--they can be any pattern and on any portion of their body, essentially making some fire kids more noticeable than others. All fire kids have hair a shade of red.

Fire-lizards (flits): The original dragon ancestor, more commonly referred to as a cousin. They look like tiny dragons, about the length of someone's forearms, discounting the tail. The differences come in their minds - very few fire-lizards can learn anything other than a few basic words in mindspeech. They cannot form full sentences except rarely, and even then it would take turns of training. Instead they send emotions and images to convey their meanings, and have a wide range of croons, whistles, chirps, and growls at their disposal. They aren't very intelligent, but they can be clever and they have an excellent memory. Their memory even extends from their ancestors. They Impress at birth when another being feeds them. Not quite as strong in a fire-lizard, sometimes a flit will go wild after their Impressed dies, and their Flights do cause lust, but it can be ignored with only minor irritation unless the people in the Flight are already attracted to each other. The Colors

Flights: When a creature Flies, it sends out signals of lust. Males of that species will, if they are of the correct size, instinctively get up to chase her. Older males may be able to resist this signal if both they and Theirs are both focusing. In the case of dragons, the Flights are so strong the humans believe they are the dragons, have little awareness of their own surroundings (though usually enough to avoid ledges and falls) and when a male catches a female, the riders of said dragons are caught up in the mating and have sex with each other, regardless of their sexual preferences. Flights don't just touch the riders - they send out waves of lust to all but the most dragon-deaf. Non-clutching dragons less so, but a clutching Flight sends out more intense waves.

Gorityni: An underwater vaguely humanoid race. Click the name for a link to the info.

Holds: Far from thriving, Pern's holds have taken quite a hit since the meteor struck. To learn more about how they've been faring, please click the bolded topic link.

Kittenflies: So named because of their tiny size and the wings on their back, kittenflies are at full growth the size of the average man's palm. Two different strains have appeared - one strain will have the colorful wings of a butterfly, the other the wings of a moth, meant to blend in with their surroundings. Noticing the type of wing is the key to knowing the powers they have. Kittenflies with moth wings are able to cool objects or the air itself, to turn invisible, and last to change the lighting to a dimmer "moodlighting" feel. Butterfly-like Kittenflies have the ability to heat objects or the air, to draw attention to themselves, and to make it brighter around them. All kittenflies have a long flexible horn on their head used for pollinating and for storing nectar. Once a season, male kittenflies will make soft, colorful nests to attract female kittenflies. A female kittenfly looking for a mate will go and visit the nests and choose her favorite. After two or three sevenday, she will have up to six kittens. Often those that want kittenflies for pets will steal them from the nest and raise them on their own. Kittenflies mature at four months old. They do not bond or have any sort of mind speech.

Lycoris: A werewolf-esque humanoid race. Click the name for a link to the info.

Mutants: When the plague hit people, most of those infected would die. But sometimes, one would live. And afterwards, tragically, they would find their children would be mutated. The plague had targeted certain genes that made this possible and left them active if people lived. Now, if this was a mental mutation or two, this was fine. It was a gift, an interesting talent - not acknowledged as being different. But physical mutations - that was a totally different story. Things were rough for those physically mutated - if they were male. They would often be shunned, picked on, and some could say abused - but the abuse was mental and verbal for the most part. Physical abuse was rare and usually from fanatics and not approved of. Mostly it was the attitudes that the physical mutants were lesser and of a separate species that was harmful. Certainly as the mutants grew older a male mutant with physical alterations would definitely get some negative attention if they thought he was trying to court a non-mutant female. For the physically mutated females, it isn't half as bad. There's some minor attitudes, and certainly any Lord Holder or Holder would choose a physically normal female before any mutated one. All mutants are sixteen and under, and none have more than two mutations, though it can be physical, mental, or one of each. Genetics

Watch-whers: Originally an attempt by Wind Blossom to create better dragons, they came out a bit wrong. On average the size of a low slung horse, they have stumpy wings, shorter necks and overly muscled bodies a bit like a terran bulldog - except they still have the wedge-shaped head and are even more muscled. In an attempt to smooth out the facets, Wind Blossom cause their eyes to be extremely light and heat sensitive instead. They see in heat vision, but they also can't be out during the daytime and are nocturnal animals. A dim day, or a less lighted place in daytime may allow them to go out once in awhile in daytime, but a watch-wher naturally tends toward the night. They are ugly compared to their cousins, and more independent. There are in fact, packs of wild whers. They don't bother humans much, preferring to stay away, but whers that don't Impress at Hatching or soon after may go wild. They Impress through a process called blooding - after or while being fed for the first time, the human who wants to be their partner will slice open a hand and have them drink their blood. If the watch-wher drinks, they are bonded and the wher will inform the person of their name - which is part of the person's name with a "sk" at the end. More letters of the persons name equals a stronger bond. Sometimes a wher might like someone else better, or might not like anyone at all and won't bond. They can also have bonds switched, if both human and wher feel someone else is more suitable. Watch-whers are a bit better at mindspeech than flits, but should only speak in short, few word sentences that sound a bit like a child's grammar-wise. Most often they will speak half mentally, and half their own "words" which a good wherhandler should listen to and know how to translate. If a wherhandler dies, a wher may be able to rebond, but if the original bond was too strong, they will between. Most commonly watch-whers and their handlers are used as guards and a peacekeeping force within holds. In smaller holds, they will guard against predators or Holdless. Click the name for a link to the new mutated colors.