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The dragonrider myth or stereotype encompasses several characteristics and qualities that new players sometimes automatically assume holds true for all dragonriders or certain qualities for the riders of certain color dragons.

We will begin taking a look at the more common beliefs and try to break them down into how they came about and the more likely truth is. Keep in mind that these following paragraphs are pure interpretation and collective opinions from Sabria and sevearl dozen other players around the Internet, they may not necessarily reflect the beliefs of other people or the intentions of Anne McCaffrey.

Boy is this one far off the mark. A lot of people remember the characters like Lessa and F'lar who were indeed nice folk who dedicated their lives to the preservation of Pern. What they usually forget about is that when Lessa was first found, she was a bloodthirsty, vengeful woman who was not above arranging people's murders to get her own way. She could have cared squat about Pern, her concern was only about Ruatha and vengeance until F'lar broadened her horizons.

Kylara hardly fit this mold either. She was self-centered, selfish, egotistic, moralless, and downright greedy. For all that she did love Prideth, she ignored her dragon too when it came to her own pleasures and desires. Jora, Lessa's predecessor was a slovenly, weak-willed, pathetic fool who nearly ended all dragonkind once and for all by inhibiting her own queen everytime she went proddy. Imagine, a weyrwoman who's afraid of heights? Marta the Oldtimer Weyrwoman of Fort could be just as nasty and bitter as any woman. Even Mirrim, while no one can deny that underneath her rough exterior, she had as generous a heart as her fostermother Brekke, but she was also tactless, nosy, and pushy.

It wasn't just the women either, T'ron of course tried his very best to oust F'lar and be completely tyrannical over the holders that looked to his Weyr. R'gul was a hidebound hypocrite who was equally gutless as he was faithless over the very precepts he taught others. F'lon was a hothead who's impetuousness eventually got him killed.

So, what does this mean? That riders are bad and awful? No! That's not it. For every F'lar there was a T'ron, for every R'gul there was a C'gan who died every inch a dutiful rider. A dragon didn't confer them any extra qualities or abilities, just a partner who was their match mentally. All it means is that they Impressed as human beings and that they're still only human with all the range of good and bad that exists in the human race.

This image is sometimes perpetuated by players on the games, due to their own likes and interests. They like to exploit whatever boundaries they can reach most likely because they wouldn't/couldn't do so in real life.

The social morals of dragonriders do differ from those of holders and crafters on Pern. Not because they wish to be less concerned with fidelity but rather it stems from the aftermath of the affects of mating flights. A dragon's sexual biology demands that a mate be chosen based on prowess, agility, endurance, and strength in a mating flight. The desires of their riders are thereby often circumvented by this driving force that not only affects them, but anyone in proximity to the event! Even a green mating flight may cause embarrassing responses in even the most straightlaced person. HOWEVER, aside from the two riders who's dragons are directly involved, most people can resist the urge enough to go take a cold dip in the lake or something. Or if they've already an inclination towards another person and that feeling is reciprocated, then they may feel less inhibited to follow through. (Or use the flight as an excuse to do so.) A rider's preference may sometimes influence a flight if the feeling is strong enough. After all, even the densest dragon who constantly hears her rider complain/laud about another may develop an equal antipathy/attraction.

The human end of a mating flight need not entirely be thrown to chance. A rider who is aware of the imminence of a flight may choose to find a willing partner to substitute beforehand. Else, the condition, identity, or reluctance of the partner before the flight (only if the partner IS the other rider) becomes inconsequential beneath the overwhelming bond between rider and dragon. Sometimes the riders aren't entirely sure whom they'll even wake up with. But again, this isn't something the riders may necessarily WANT to do, they just don't have a choice in this instance.

In the light of this, it is useless to attempt to enforce the same rules of fidelity in regards to the outcome of a mating flight. Riders who may feel inclined to be jealous over this would likely be considered a fool by their peers. Just because one's dragon wins a mating flight, does not mean you are actively attempting to be unfaithful. After all, your dragon isn't the one in the relationship is he?

However, there is quite a bit of difference however between riders who are admittedly randy or just plain like to sleep around and riders who choose to weyrmate. A weyrmated pair is like an espousal with the exception of mating flights. Any outside 'activities' that doesn't include a flight would be considered as faithless and disloyal an action to a couple who aren't riders. So if you're caught being free with some holder's daughter or another rider outside of a flight and your weyrmate decides to toss your belongings off the ledge, too bad, you should have seen it coming. :>

If you're the type who wants to be fancy free and footloose, then don't weyrmate, or choose a weyrmate who's very, very understanding. Not every rider has a weyrmate and they don't need to. Having a dragon is akin to having a permanent roommate anyway so many riders don't feel that they need a constant intimate relationship with another person, but it can happen. You didn't see Lessa or F'lar being eager to run after others didja? Well, at least F'lar denied that he had anything to do with Kylara. ;> And F'lon was in love with Larna, pining even. He was faithful to her till she died due to complications in childbirth (and she wasn't a rider, either, but was his weyrmate anyhow.) F'lon's relationship with Manora began well after Larna's death, so he wasn't being unfaithful. And clearly, though F'lon was Weyrleader, he was not really Jora's weyrmate. He couldn't stand her! It's also certain that if F'lon had the guts to stay in her filthy weyr, she wouldn't have been able to sequester all that food in there and died a fat slob. (But even F'lon had his limits!)

Licentiousness and Hedonism may stem from the how often riders are seen frequenting taverns and feeling free with taking things as tithes. As anything, this can be abused and ware the rider who thinks he can get away with this sort of behavior too long. Likely, overindulging in anything is likely to bring a rider's wingleader or Weyrleader down on their heads and get grounded. A rider may seem to like to go visiting places, drinking and making merry, but a rider's life is hard work, even in times of no thread. Just how simple do you think it would be to have to spend several hours at a time to oil something the size of a small/medium/jumbo plane? Can't miss a spot or the hide will crack Between, gotta check over my straps so I don't fall off in midair, etc.

It has always seemed odd that players would assume that the common man of Pern would have an unholy interest and background knowledge in the effects of draconic mating cycles. Would they really be so familiar with it? Even with the Impression of firelizards, their affect on the humans are nowhere near the same as a dragon-rider bonding.

Not to mention, the question is akin to asking a woman if she's having PMS. If you don't get clonked on the head straight off, you've probably managed to insult the rider a bit, and if he/she IS proddy, run. Just run.

Now seriously, proddy is just the term to indicate the mood swings and aberrant behavior SOMETIMES displayed by a rider whose dragon is near rising. Basically like having their hormones off kilter. Some riders may indeed act more amorous or less inhibited socially, or they may go the entirely opposite direction, knowing that their dragon is about to rise and they wish to avoid any ugly scenes. Sometimes they'll be more emotionally sensitive, easy to become angry, sad, depressed, exuberant, or run off at the mouth. HOWEVER sometimes during role-play, people forget that proddiness is only supposed to happen a day or two before the flight at the earliest, not weeks and weeks. :P Some riders have no clue at all that their dragon is near rising and they exhibit no reactions whatsoever. A lot of players do take this as an excuse to act lewdly in public, however that is frowned upon, especially in fact that there are many players online these days that are still minors in real life and may be watching. There are plenty of other ways to act proddy without having to dwell on this aspect only!

Look at the two riders whom F'nor ran into at the beginning of Dragonquest. Beth's rider was proddy as heck, but not in a sexual way else he'd be pawing F'nor and wouldn't that have been uh, facinating to witness. *cough*cough* He was downright antagonistic, paranoid, and tense. His weyrmate was overprotective and belligerent. Hardly acting like a drunken tart chasing after the nearest male, hmm?

Dragon colors, what a mucky subject this is. Many people fail to account for the fact that the main characters in the books do not necessarily represent the personalities of the average person on Pern. So why should one dragon represent all of them? Not every bronze rider is like F'lar, after all we had R'gul and S'lel (who was a worry wart that didn't like taking charge!) Not every Weyrwoman was a powerhungry wench like Lessa or Kylara, there was Moreta and Torene who were more laid back and serene. The only well mentioned brown rider was F'nor who was quite used to playing second fiddle to his older brother F'lar. But he did grow up in the shadow of such a charismatic and dynamic figure and being naturally more pragmatic and quiet (like his mother Manora) thereby made him and his dragon seem stoic and disinclined to be ambitious or energetic in their roles. But who says that this would apply to every rider of a brown? There are lazy Nemorths for every ironfisted Ramoths, so why not the same range of varying personalities for other colors?

The sexuality of greens need only apply when they are proddy. And that's only for a little while every few months not every single day, so it's like calling someone a drunkard just because they go to a drinking party 3 times a year? It's too easy to write a person off based on just one aspect of their lives.

Therefore their NORMAL behavior and personalities would be just as varied and complex as other color dragons, this goes for the blues who deserve a lot more camera time so to speak.

The further study of the differences and similarity of the various dragon colors will be discussed in a future essay (or if you are currently a Candidate at Xanadu Weyr, it will be covered during the Color Seminar.)

This next section is perhaps the most controversial in all the things Pern related. The homosexuality of green riders has been hottly debated pretty much since day one. I would like to remind readers that while there are those of us who may find the subject uncomfortable, or plain disagreeable, that this is still Anne McCaffrey's creation and no amount of griping or logical debates over the issue will change that fact. What she writes is what's canon. What I would like to also remind players is that there IS a difference between what is in the books and what is /allowable/ in the games.

In a fairly recent interview letter from Anne McCaffrey, she tried to rationalize a scientific reason behind how dragons search just the right boy to Impress on the Sands. It was based on hormones extruded in sweat that the greens would pick up on and that is how they made their choices, KNOWING that the lad would be homosexual. That IS how Anne choose to depict this. Whether or not it is an acceptable scientific reason is not the point. There are plenty of gaps and paradoxes in 'Anne science' as it is, one more isn't going to make a difference. After all, it's just a story and this is just a game.

Of course there is still a lot of argument over an even more recent claim by Ms. McCaffrey that the experience of a homosexual incident was enough to 'convert' someone. Whether or not that is true, I'm not even going to touch. Frankly I don't think I'd be qualified to even discuss it rationally.

But, I will discuss the practices of the issue in the game setting. After all, what is canon in the books and canon in the game are two separate things. In the books, women may only Impress golds and greens, straight men to bronzes and browns, homosexual/bisexuals to blues and greens. In the GAMES, depending on the permissions given by Anne McCaffrey, girls were allowed other options and certainly straight men Impressed blues and greens too. But it basically comes down to this:

Golds - women only
Bronze - men only
Brown/Blue/Green - anyone

In other words, do not assume that every guy on a green dragon is a homosexual, but do not be surprised if you do find one on the games. As with anything, sex should not be the one and only thing constantly on Our minds. Straight or homosexual, riders keep their personal lives, well...personal! Do not try to apply the same societal prejudices and practices you live by in real life to the Pernese. They're from a different society. :> If Anne should put her foot down and demand that certain rules be followed in the games as well, then the circumstances will of course change. However, be mature about it, any overtly sexual conduct should not be taken place in public places whether heterosexual or homosexual in nature, because of the presence of minors. What you do in your own private room is private. (Just be real sure that whomever you're with isn't a minor!)

People tend to react how you treat them after a while. If you're being rude and antagonistic towards someone, they're likely to react back the same way, and if they do it tends to perpetuate a situation till someone gets upset or unhappy. This also goes the other way around. If you're constantly swarming someone and automatically attributing actions and mannerisms to them, then they're likely to be cold to you, act 'snobby' perhaps.

Basically it comes down to this. All too often when someone playing a rider enters a room, they are almost immediately swarmed by every twink or kiss-up in the vicinity. If you don't believe me, just watch the next time a rider walks into a tavern whether or not search is in progress. It's like being a magnet. People automatically try to 'impress' the rider with their rp by playing up to them. Whatever rp was going on beforehand (and probably was the reason the rider showed up in the first place!) usually dies out in favor of playing to the rider. Have you ever tried posing back to an entire room trying to get your attention? It's spammy, confusing, and sometimes too much to bear. So what does the rider do? Focus on folks he/she knows already and tries to keep it to that. They're not being cold or elitist, they're just spammed and focusing in just a few folks they already know is like grabbing a life line in a sea of confusion! Also, how would you feel if a group of strangers suddenly surrounded you and started gabbing, asking questions, and latching on? (It's amazing riders don't just scream and run away!)

Another factor that perpetuates the idea that riders are elitist snobs generally arises from the quality of the rp that they are familiar with. Riders tend to be the more experienced and adept players in terms of roleplay (this being a relative judgement obviously). That doesn't necessarily mean that their characters are ICly nice people, but that they tend to be creative, verbally proficient, and in most cases, mature about what they would like to role-play. Because they are used to such settings, when they leave the weyr and try role-playing with others, they will encounter players who are less experienced and knowledgeable; after several minutes of their usual large expressive poses and getting back only 1 liners, even the most patient and kindly rider is apt to feel their creativity stretched from lack of input from others. So they tend to leave and look for role-play somewhere else. (Help! They're sucking the life from me!!)

Another factor is due to the result of Search methods. With a sea of applicants batting down the door to become riders, only a certain number can be chosen. There are many different reasons why someone may be chosen to be Searched or Impressed, usually role-play is NOT the /only/ factor, just the easiest to go by when the applicant is new to everyone at the Weyr. What else can the Search Committee go by except the application, face to face interviews? Usually it's how well a person fits into the Weyr. Not only with other riders, but with the other folks that live there. (Rping your best only to riders during a Candidacy is a sure way to piss off everyone else and did you know there are SearchCo members who aren't riders? )

This 'getting along' is often the key issue. No matter how fantastically a person role-plays, if that role-play or the person's OOC mannerisms rub the searchco the wrong way, they're unlikely to be Impressed. Would you want to spend the rest of your character's life with someone who bothered you alot? Note that the weyrlings are chosen by a group of people, not by one person (usually) so just because you may not entirely get along with one or two people doesn't mean that the whole Weyr is necessarily against you.

But because of the screening process and intense competition, those who Impress do tend to be those who exhibit the best role-play skills, are easy to get along with, and express a level of maturity OOCly that would appeal to the SearchCo. There are just alot of reasons why sometimes one person is chosen and another is not. Does this mean that person will never be a rider at that Weyr? Not at all! Again, with only a certain number of PC dragons available each Hatching, sometimes there are just aren't enough to go around, or the searchco thinks the player could use a little more seasoning, rub off the rough edges so to speak. Some players manage this quickly, others take longer, and yes, some people never learn at all. :P

Getting back to the main point of this section, because of these qualifiers for Impression, it may seem riders /are/ elitist? But cliquish? Hardly. 90% of the SearchCo usually has never met the majority of all appliants prior to Search. That's why the applications and interviews are so nit picky, so that the SearchCo can get to know a person in more detail. If they only chose friends, why bother with the apps and interviews at all?

In the books, riders did tend to seem more arrogant, sure of themselves, and have a bit of an attitude depending on the era. Riders who lived during Intervals certainly weren't as much. But part of that would be because of the link with a dragon. A rider has someone who they KNOW loves, adores, and understands them totally and utterly. Not many married couples could claim the same! With that sort of mental and emotional assurance, it's not surprising therefore that riders /are/ so self-confident. But people's reactions to riders also depends on what their duties are. During Passes, only a total idiot would insult the very thing that protects them from certain death and destruction. During Intervals, people tend to forget and be less generous. The sort of "What have you done for me lately?" attitude. (VirtuaPern's theme would make dragonriding a much less 'appealing' job than it was 800 Turns previously. Only the Holds and crafts closest to the remaining Weyrs would likely be those who are generally more amiable to riders.)