MasterHarper Yervid

Colors: Rich blue and white.
Emblem: Rich blue harp on white background (Harper).
Emblem: Quill on Hold, Hall or Weyr Badge (Scribe).

Main Crafthall Location: Cove Hold.

On SouCon, the HarperCraft 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 HarperCraft Hall does far more than simple education and entertainment; it records and preserves Pern's history. A Harper is a not just a prognosticator, but also judge and bard. The Harper Hall serves as a communication center, disseminating information as well as sorting out rumor from truth. The network of Journeymen and Masters posted in both Northern and Southern Continents keep Hold, Hall and Weyr in touch with one another.

Apprentices can be sponsored by their local Masters and sent for further evaluation at Harper Hall or one of the subsidiary Crafthalls. Although musically skilled people can begin their Apprenticeships in Hold, Hall or Weyr, only those at the Harper Halls will be recruited for its information gathering service, for a single misplaced or indiscreet message could badly damage the Hall's creditability as an unbiased judge.

When the Hall takes in an Apprentice they are given exhaustive instruction in voice, instrument making, composition, writing and choral singing. Additionally, they must demonstrate a proficiency in at least one instrument other than percussion. A particular talent for any one branch of study will cause the Apprentice to be assigned to the specific Master in charge of that expertise.

Not every Apprentice is promoted to Journeyman, some take on new responsibilities such as administrative duties. Journeymen remaining at the hall may be placed in charge of their Master's Apprentices, or in the case of Choral Journeymen they will learn to arrange music and conduct groups of singers. Those who show an aptitude for playing instruments or singing may be asked to teach both paying Students and Apprentices.

Journeymen may be posted to Holds, Halls or Weyrs, where they may be one of several hired. Here they are responsible for teaching the children and entertaining, particularly those too old to work. Harper's negotiate their own contracts with the Holder seeking to employ them, and they may choose privileges rather than marks such as a runner beats, a choice apartment or certain edible or drinkable delicacies. If they settle down the Harper is expected to marry one of the local boys or girls. Indeed, one of their duties is to help arrange marriages for young men and women from both in and outside the Hold.

Other Journeymen travel as "route riders", teaching at some of the lesser cotholds, generally stopping by and moving on by the next day to cover as much terrain as possible. These types of Journeymen usually play a couple of songs, pick up new information and pass on news from Hold to Hold. During the progress of Nemar's disease Harpers were responsible for passing on the information, but also for spreading the disease.

Everyone, with the exception of drudges, are taught by rote the fundamentals of reading, writing and basic accountancies by their fosterer or Craftmaster. The Harper teaches history and more specific subjects such as the Traditional songs and how to sing them, for the songs are more than just entertainment, embodying the history, advice, warnings and listings normally too tedious to learn. Education continues until fourteen, the age considered to be of reason and responsibility. Only if they show musical promise will they continue to study with the Harper.

Tactful Journeymen and Masters may also be asked to dispense justice or officiate at weddings. If they disputers do not agree with the decision they may appeal to the MasterHarper, the local Lord Holder or the Holder's Conclave.

A Harper, usually noted as a Scribe, maintains the history of each area so that people will know their background and be able to learn from their ancestors' actions. The Master Archivist keeps copies of all these records.

Even with the availability of paper in the Eleventh Pass most composition and design work takes place on sandtables: long, rectangular boxes divided width wise into two compartments and set on raised trestles. The boxes are then filled with very fine sand, which is dampened with hand sprayers filled with water. The composer or designer may then press characters into the sand, with a brush or the blunt end of the stylus used to fill in errors. After the work is finished it is allowed to dry and sprayed with liquid clay to preserve the score or design. The table may be brushed clean at any time, or the casting may be removed. The casting can be created with a specific depth, daubed with ink and then used to print on hide. The clays are dissolved, being re-used over and over again. Songs are composed for many occasions, including births, deaths, weddings and festivals.

A Harper may also make and repair instruments, particular the ones that they play since the tonal qualities can be understood. When an Apprentice begins to learn instrument Crafting it is the tools that they begin with. There are knives, saws, drafting equipment, oil, water, glue tubs, brushes, awls, vises, forge and anvil, plus many others specifically designed for the creation of musical instruments. An Apprentice begins with pipes, tabors, tambourines and sticks. When the Instrument Master is happy, then the Apprentice moves on to more complex joinery. Apprentices learn to make flutes from reeds, wood or metal, or even a combination of all three. The crafting of percussion instruments including tambourines, bodhran, tabors, conga and bongos are also taught, as are the full range of orchestral drums: snare, trap drums, kettle and bass. Journeymen know how to make any instrument from frames, skins, metals and wood, whereas Masters who specialize in this SubCraft know not only how to make the instruments and cases from scratch but also how to make the tools, and choose and prepare the raw materials. Journeymen are encouraged to choose a traditional design when crafting their personal guitars, as these are the standard to which their skill will be judged.

Those who play instruments have a vast range to choose from. There are guitars, some with the traditional bells, some with larger curved bells like lutes or mandolins, and even some that resemble a banjo. There are a few brass horns, coronets, trumpets, straight horns, a form of trombone, straight hones and bugles, but none that require complicated values such as French horns. Harps are often a desired form of accompaniment but are rare and only the wealthy Hold possesses a floor harp. Lyres and dulcimers are much more common. In the Drum heights, Kettle drums, made of copper or bronzes, are used for sending messages. Xylophones (ceramic, wooden of brass-tongued) and thumb pianos make a great accompaniment for certain songs.

Harper's enjoy a kind of invulnerability that forbids anyone to hurt or mistreat them because of their position as judge and information bearer and it is the depth of bad manners to injure a Harper. Such mistreatment may lead to a boycott of the Hold by not only Harper Hall, but other Crafts as well. The Crafthalls pride themselves on their autonomy, but they do stick together. Often though the Harper will spread a satirical song if he feels that a Holder in is need of a lesson for it is often a greater punishment to be laughed.

SubCrafts

CrossCrafts

Harpers are infamous for poking their noses into all of Pern, so perhaps it's not startling that they can so often be found choosing to CrossCraft. Archives SubCrafters sometimes opt to become Woodsmiths, to involve themselves with the paper-making process. Some in the Drums SubCraft become Tanners, in search of the best hides for their instruments. Instrument crafters join the Archivists with the Woodsmiths, learning joinery and staining. Printers can find their time torn between the Woodsmiths for papermaking or the Smithcraft for making and maintaining the volume of metal type the presses require. And the Research SubCrafters may well end up anywhere, although whether this is truly to learn a Craft, or because Harper Hall is nosy, is tough to tell.

MasterHarper Yervid:

Despite his unmusical name, Yervid was the son of two Harpers. He grew up in the Southern Harper Hall surrounded by musicians. If you ask him, he'll tell you an elaborate story about being a child prodigy with unparalleled skills at various instruments, as well as composing, and just about anything else he can think of at the time. Don't believe a word of it. It is true that Yervid can play just about any instrument he might pick up, and it is also true that he can compose; however, the reality of things is that he is, at best, an indifferent musician. His true gift is in the area of History. His remarkable strength is a photographic memory and an insatiable desire to learn about the past. By the time he got his Journeyrank, he had been through every historical document at Harper Hall. While on his Journeyman postings, the second skill that truly made him stand out amidst his fellow Harpers was his incredible knack for diplomacy. He was soon being assigned to the most difficult, or recalcitrant, of Holders. At the age of 35, he was finally passed on to the rank of Master and recalled to serve at the Crafthall. He set himself to writing out a comprehensive history of Pern, especially the Southern Continent. He became a favorite teacher amongst the Apprentices, for he was an accomplished storyteller and able to make his history lessons come alive for his audiences. It came as quite a great shock to him when two years later, upon the death of the former Craftmaster to the disease, he was voted in as the MasterHarper. Leaders often turn to him for his help with delicate matters, and he returns that honor by being extremely discrete with the information he comes across. It's rumored that he is creating a secret history of the plague and its aftermath, but no one has been able to verify the truth of this. Another rumor, this one with a great deal more truth to it, is that he is romantically involved with a goldrider at Southern Barrier Weyr.