Farmer Hall

Farmcraft

MasterFarmer Daliard

Colors: Golden-yellow and white.
Emblem: Golden-yellow plowshare on white background.

Main Crafthall Location: Xanadu Hold.

The Farmers know all about planting, raising, and harvesting crops. FarmCrafters experiment with high-yield grains and superior vegetables. They understand what type of soil is best for each kind of plant, and know advanced methods of replenishing the soil with nutrients. Journeymen can specialize into Seedling or Nursery Masters, crossing hybrids and keeping a close eye on the results. Others travel around the Southern Continent gathering seeds, cuttings and saplings or raising experimental crops in remote areas.

On SouCon, the FarmCraft is based in the Unified Crafthall and is under the direct auspice of the Craft Wizard. To become an Apprentice, Journeyman or Master please read through NEWS CRAFT JOINING. Characters may also request a posting to any open Hold or Weyr.

The Farmers on Pern are just like those on Earth. They know all about planting, raising, and harvesting crops. A Farmer will seek to make every acre of ground count, and the Journeymen travel the land seeking the best of all the plants.

FarmCrafters experiment with high-yield grains and superior vegetables. They understand what type of soil is best for each kind of plant, and know advanced methods of replenishing the soil with nutrients. They still strive to solve the problem with propagating broad roots.

Farmers provide Pern's Holders, who have little time and land to sacrifice to experiments, with their knowledge. Holders alike are therefore aware of the importance of cross-pollination to produce larger and healthier root vegetables, sweet redroots or bigger tubers. Fertilization is also known to be important to stop the soil from becoming exhausted. Indeed, the MasterFarmer of the Southern Continent is known to barter with the SeaCraft for fish bones and heads to enrich their soil.

Farm Journeymen travel over the Southern Continent advising Major and Minor Holders of the benefits of healthy soil, suggesting where to plant for greater yields and acting as an authority on when to plant particular crops.

Although bees did not survive the transition from Earth to Pern, the Pernese have managed to find alternatives. Vegetables are used for sweetening in cooking and Trundlebugs for cross-pollination. Trundlebugs, a native of the planet, cannot fly, but they live a long life and crawl for long distances. Their bodies are round and they can be found in hues of black, brown, sand, blue-green and crystal-clear. The young Trundlebugs attach themselves to their mother like a bead necklace, and as they grow to adulthood they detach themselves. Females then form their own chains.

Journeymen can specialize into Seedling or Nursery Masters, crossing hybrids and keeping a close eye on the results. Others travel around the Southern Continent gathering seeds, cuttings and saplings or raising experimental crops in remote areas.

During the Tenth Interval the Farm Craft moved from their now small, cramped quarters near Honshu Weyr to Xanadu Hold, taking advantage of the fertile soil. Indeed, many say crops from Xanadu have a unique taste.

SubCrafts

Grain:	The plowing, harvest and general cultivation of grains, including river grains (rice).

Fruits:	The cultivation of trees, bushes and vines, which produce fruit (excluding grapes for the purpose of wine making). The maintenance of orchards are regularly overseen by FarmerCraft Journeymen or Masters.

Nursery:	Every climate has some variety of plant that just won't take. That is where these specialists come in. Running hot greenhouses in the North and colder ones in the South, this SubCraft is dedicated to the cultivation of plants out of climate, hybridizing different strains to improve them for different climates and uses, as well as germinating plants before relocating them to a permanent home.

Vegetables:	The planting of vegetables of all varieties, including tubers and grains.

CrossCrafts

Farmers looking to CrossCraft can often be found working with the Herders. Working as closely as they must with the animals that help keep the fields tilled and planted, it's something of a logical leap to study animal husbandry alongside crop theory. There are also those who choose to become Bakers, learning to turn the literal fruits of their labor into meals or preserves.

MasterFarmer Daliard:

The MasterFarmer is a gaunt man, often considered to be humorless by underlings, Apprentices, and outsiders. Only his wife, a plump, flirty woman named Myrvis, and a select few outside of his closest friends know of his wickedly sharp wit. He's a reserved fellow, keeping most opinions to himself, unless called to chime in on a subject. He's dependable, staid, solid, even tempered all of those words that one might associate with the cliched ideal of a farmer. He's even described as being placid. Underneath that carefully cultivated exterior is a man who is extremely ambitious for himself and his Craft, as well as one who craves a bit of danger in his life. He and his wife have never successfully had any children and were one of the few to make it through the plague without losing anyone really close to them. At the age of 58, he's entering his second decade as MasterFarmer. He runs the Craft with an eye towards efficiency, and he's been known to dismiss Apprentices or Journeymen he discovers being wasteful. He's a bit resentful of the attention that the Weyrs receive while his Craft, equally as important to survival on Pern, is often all but overlooked. He tithes as is proper, but only very precisely exactly enough to not be stingy, but never enough to actually be generous.

Relevant Links:

All the Plants of Pern