Difference between revisions of "Persona Creation"

Persona Information

After you have created an account on the Triad Weyrs website, click Create a Persona and use the information below to help guide you through the process.

Persona Name

Each persona must have a name! This can be anything, although we have some guidelines:

• Male dragonriders will change their names on Impression as in the Pern novels - so, for example, Tamoran becomes T'moran.

• To avoid confusion, persona names should not end in -th (like those of dragons)

• Try to avoid Earth-like names (such as John or Susan), "joke" names, names of characters from well-known novels, and excessively long or complicated names.

• You cannot use any name from a Pern® novel, or any name of an existing character from the club. These will be automatically checked for when you submit your persona form.

To search Persona Names already used in the club, visit the Persona Search Page click the "inactive" box, and then search for the name you're wanting to use. In the drop-down menu, select "Pets" to search Dragon Names.

Also see Anne's Names

Persona Ages

You can enter the age of any persona, NPC or pet by giving the day and month on which they were born and their current age. Their birth Turn will then be calculated automatically.

The Pernese calendar has 13 months of 28 days each, with two extra days named Turn's End and Turn's Beginning in between month 13 and month 1. If you would like your persona to be born on one of these two days, enter month 13, day 29 for Turn's End and month 13, day 30 for Turn's Beginning (considering both dates as part of the old year). If you leave the month and day blank, the form will randomly generate a birthday for your persona.

There are some restrictions on your persona's position based on age:

Persona Locations

All active personas must live at a PC location. Make sure you read the information about a location before creating your persona - it will contain important details about life there.

You can find out more about the different locations by selecting the Locations tab on the Triad Website.

Persona Ranks & Jobs

• Each persona will hold a rank, which can be anything from Lord Holder to simple Hold Resident. You can choose among the available ranks by using the drop-down box on the persona form.
• Remember that "ranking" personas - those with higher status in the world of Pern - come with responsibilities. You can read about those on the Ranking Personas page.
• If you want to create a craftsman, select the "Crafter" rank. You'll be able to specify whether they are an apprentice, journeyman, or master using the Craft Information section of the form.
• If you can't find a rank that fully describes your persona's role in life, you can add more detail in the "Job" box on the persona form. For example, if you'd like to create a foster mother at the Weyr, choose "Hold Resident" for the persona's rank, and then enter "Foster Mother" as the persona's job.

Persona Emotional

• The Emotional Description is a description of your persona's character - for example, whether they are outgoing and assertive or shy and withdrawn, calm or short-tempered, optimistic or pessimistic, and so on. Again, try to keep it logical.

• Remember South Continent Pern® has turned into a society where in the Holds, women are valued for the children they produce, and sons are highly valued. Use complete sentences and third person, present tense in describing your persona.

Persona Physical

• The Physical Description is a description of your persona's physical appearance - height, build, hair and eye color, and so on. Try to keep it proportional and logical. If a female persona is 5'11" she is not going to weigh 125 pounds unless she is very, very ill. Likewise, male dragonriders put on a lot of muscle, so a 6'0"; rider is going to weigh 200 pounds or more.

• Use complete sentences and third person, present tense in describing your persona.

Persona History

• The Persona History is a brief description of the persona's life up to the present time and might include where they were born, what their childhood was like, any training they received in a craft or a hold job, whether they Impressed or acquired any pets, and any marriages, children, or bereavements.

• Remember to check the descriptions and histories of any locations where your persona lived - especially if your character is a female crafter. Women have been banned from the crafts in most Holds and Halls in the South for more than 40 Turns. If you want something outside the norm, please include your reasoning as to why below the history itself. Use complete sentences and third person, past tense in describing your persona's history.

Persona Status

• Most active personas in the club are ranked PC, which stands for "Player Character". These are the main characters that posts are written about. However, there are several other categories of "Non-Player Character" (NPC), "Adoptable Player Character (ANPC), and "Owned Player Character" (ONPC).
• See NPCs for more details.

Attached NPCs

The "Attached NPCs" area on the form can be used to list the family and friends of a persona. Usually, it's a good idea to include their father and mother and any siblings they might have. In the Holds in particular, where the population is recovering from the effects of the Plagues and women are valued most for the children they can bear, families with three or more children are common and an only child is rare.

• The same rules about choosing a logical name, age and rank for NPCs apply as for PCs. If you choose parents of high rank (for example, a Lord Holder or Weyrleader) you should be aware that you may be asked to change this before the persona can be approved.

• To avoid confusion, NPCs cannot have the same name as other NPCs or PCs. If you would like to link an NPC to more than one persona (for example, if you have created a brother and sister as PCs and need them to share the same mother and father) you will be able to do this after submitting the persona form.

• To do this, click on the "Add Connections" link in the box to the left of the profile of the PC to whom you'd like to add NPCs. You can then select the NPC's name from the drop-down box below the title "Link NPCs" and type in their relationship to the persona. A similar process can be used to link existing PCs to a persona, or to add existing pets to their profile. If the PC or NPC you are linking is not owned by you, you should check with the owner to make sure they're happy with the link!

• To delete an NPC, simply check the box in the column to the right of the NPC table on the persona form (below the "X"). This will not delete the NPC altogether, but simply break the link between the NPC and the persona. You can always re-link them to the persona profile using the "Add Connections" page.

Face Claims

Current Face Claims

Male and Female Personas

• There are some restrictions on your persona's role in life depending on their sex. In some Holds and Halls, women are not allowed to pursue crafts and are often relegated to tasks such as cooking, cleaning and childcare - check the information page about the location of your choice for details.

• Female dragonriders may only be partnered by gold, blue and green dragons, while men may ride any color apart from gold.

Animals

Pets

Personas may own up to three pets each, and these can be added to persona profiles using the persona form. Existing pets may be linked to persona profiles using the Add Connections page (linked from the box on the left of a persona profile) but note that individual dragons, dolphins and firelizards should not be owned by more than one persona.

Name

• Choose any name you like, but please don't use any name from a Pern novel, or any name of an existing pet from the club.

Age

• You can enter your pet's age in the form of a birth date, giving the day and month on which they were born or hatched (similiarly to entering a persona birthday). If you leave the month and day blank, the form will randomly generate a birth date.

• Remember that firelizards should not be Impressed by very young children, so they should be at least 10 Turns younger than their owners.

Type and Color

• The only pets that are available are firelizards (of the five colors mentioned in the books), canines (dogs), felines (cats) and runnerbeasts (horses). Gold firelizards are a form of rank, and are not usually allowed to new members.

Description

• You can use the description box to describe your pet's appearance and personality. Remember, firelizards can only be five colors (gold, bronze, brown, blue, green) and not even a speck of any other color. They have hides, not scales, and while a firelizard may have variations of one color on their body, they do not have lime green underwings and forest green bodies, etc.

Considerations

• Firelizards are relatively common in our version of Pern - however, they are still precious, and usually only Impressed by those who are wealthy or high-ranking, or those who discover them by accident. Since gold firelizards lay their eggs on sandy beaches, this is much more common among dragonriders (who can travel to the beaches) and in coastal Holds and Halls. A low-ranking drudge would be extremely unlikely to have a firelizard in inland Holds such as Emerald Falls.

• Runnerbeasts are, as on Earth, expensive and time-consuming to care for. They will only be owned outright by well-off holders and craftsmen and their families. Most major holds and halls will keep a stable of runnerbeasts for general use (such as by guardsmen or travelling journeymen) with a stablemaster and his assistants to care for them.

• Most working Pernese will not have time to waste on caring for pets unless the pets can be of some use to them. Canines are often employed to hunt, guard homes or to turn spits, while farmholds may have a resident feline to keep down the rodent population. Only wealthy ladies of leisure can afford to spend time on a pet bought exclusively for pleasure.

• Dragonriders should be aware that the care of their dragon will always come before that of any pets. On Impression, a new weyrling must give up any runnerbeasts they own to the Weyr's stables, and make sure their canines and felines have someone to care for them (as some Weyrlingmasters will not tolerate them in the Weyrling barracks). Adult dragonriders may own pets other than runnerbeasts, but should ensure that a weyrmate or friend is responsible for walking and feeding them on Threadfall days and at other times when they are not able to.

Dragons

If you are creating a dragonrider, you'll need to add a dragon to their persona profile. When you select a dragonrider rank (such as "Wingleader" or "Wingrider") a section of the form will appear to enter details about the dragon.

Name

• All dragon's names must end in '-th'. Please don't use any name from a Pern novel, or any name of an existing dragon from the club.

Age

• You can enter your dragon's age in the form of a birth date, giving the day and month on which they were Hatched (similiarly to entering a persona birthday). If you leave the month and day blank, the form will randomly generate a Hatching date for your dragon.

• Remember that since Candidates Impress between the ages of 12 and 21, dragons must be 12-21 Turns younger than their rider. If you are creating a Weyrling, please check the persona listings at each location to find out the dates on which clutches Hatched and select one of these for your dragon's Hatching date.

Color

Dragons come in only five different colors:

• Gold dragons can only be ridden by females
  • Golds dragons are typically awarded through club contests/votes, although a junior or retired goldrider can be purchased through Member Rewards.
• Bronze dragons can only be ridden by males.
  • Members seeking an adult bronzerider should submit a canon-error-free persona sheet. Bronzeriders seeking rank (Wingleader/Wingseconds, etc) would need L1 approval. Bronze Impressions can be obtained in-game through purchase of a guaranteed impression or via the clutch writer if space is available
• Brown dragons can only be ridden by males.
• Blue dragons can be ridden by males, and rarely females (as a Member Reward).
• Green dragons can be ridden by any gender.

Description

You can use the description box to describe your dragon's appearance and personality. Remember, dragons can only be five colors (gold, bronze, brown, blue, green) and not even a speck of any other color. They have hides, not scales, and while a dragon may have variations of one color on their body, they do not have lime green underwings and forest green bodies, etc.

Dolphins

If you are creating a dolphineer of Journeyman rank or above, you may want to add a dolphin partner to their persona profile. When you select the craft "Dolphineer" and a rank of journeyman or above, a section of the form will appear to enter details about the dolphin. Creating a dolphin partner is not obligatory - not all dolphineers have one.

Names Please don't use any dolphin name from a Pern novel, or any name of an existing dolphin or pet from the club.

Age You can enter your dolphin's age in the form of a birth date, giving the day and month on which they were born (similarly to entering a persona birthday). If you leave the month and day blank, the form will randomly generate a birth date.

Description You can use the description box to describe your dolphin's appearance and personality.