Anne McCaffrey's Pern books inspired this game and it operates with her explicit permission. SouCon is set approximately 200 years after most of Anne McCaffrey's books, in the 10th Pass of the Red Star. AIVAS and all its repercussions never happened here. There are no Dolphineers, no Papercraft, no Technician's craft, and dragons are still an integral part of life on the planet. The Southern continent has been successfully and extensively colonized, but the continent is still typified by huge tracts of wilderness, largely jungles.

The World of Pern is copyrighted by Anne McCaffrey (c) 1967, 2000.
The Dragonriders of Pern (r) is a registered trademark.

SouCon is short for Southern Continent, which is where the Roleplay on this MUSH is situated. While none of the areas from the Northern Continent exist as areas on SouCon we acknowledge its existence for the purposes of Roleplay. As a game we attempt to recreate the living environment of the Continent on which we have chosen to focus this game.

There are two Weyrs open for Roleplay: Southern and Ierne Weyr. There is one Hold: Seminole, beholden to Ierne, and one Crafthall -- a unified Hall where all come to study set close to Southern Weyr.

SouCon MUSH is currently set at the beginning of the Eleventh Pass. All the major land areas of the Southern Continent have been populated; there are 6 Weyrs, 24 Holds and 14 Crafthalls.

Previously the game was set in the Tenth Pass. Due to a major disease in the Tenth Interval, riders from the Tenth Pass jumped forward to assist riders in the Eleventh Pass as the Red Star swung once more into close proximity. See NEWS HISTORY.

If you had a rider character in the Tenth Pass and have recently rejoined the game, there are a number of options available to you. See NEWS WEYR REVIVAL. Likewise if you had a Crafter or a Holder please refer to NEWS CRAFT REVIVAL and NEWS HOLD REVIVAL respectively.

We attempt to keep to the world created in Anne's original trilogy, 'The Dragonriders of Pern', and do not, as a whole, recognize any of the storylines as seen in books from 'All the Weyrs of Pern' onwards. Dragons are not telekinetic, Shipfish (Dolphins) are wild creatures and we don't ride Watchwhers.

Although this timeline is some 450 Turns (years) since Lessa, F'lar etc, AIVAS has not been discovered. However, after 400 Turns technology has progressed, and some things, once rare, have become more common. See NEWS TECHNOLOGY.

Firelizards are more common than in the books, but are restricted to on camera clutches and two per character. See NEWS FIRELIZARD. They are found in the original five colors: gold, bronze, brown, blue and green and both golds and greens clutch. Most Firelizards are banded with their owner's colors.

Trading families are rare in the Southern Continent, even with the population expansion of the Tenth Pass and early Tenth Interval. The trade routes are extremely hard to keep free of growth, and there are the dangers of wild animals. See NEWS TRADERS. Most tithes and goods are therefore shipped from one place to another. As a result, most visitors arrive by boat.

The Southern Continent as a whole is a vast jungle, where travel between areas is hard. Difficult currents make travel along its coastline tricky, restricted generally to experienced sailors and members of the SeaCraft. Deeper south, the jungles thin somewhat, though wild animals, particular felines, run free, and eventually the ice capped mountains of the Southern Pole can be found.

There is no magic and no religion on Pern, although some outdated terminology has remained and is used day-to-day. All genetic defects were erased from the colonists, although, over the intervening two centuries some have returned. These backgrounds must have Wizard approval. See NEWS CANON HEALTH.

Dragons are measured in feet, the vision as originally seen by Anne (although previously they were measured in meters). Golds and Bronze Dragons are Impressed to heterosexual characters, whereas Brown, Blue and Greens can be Impressed to characters of any orientation. Search runs four times a year, two cycles at each Weyr. There are rules concerning impressing a second Dragon. See NEWS WEYR SEARCH.

Players are encouraged to participate in the many Crafts (see NEWS CRAFTS), that include Baker, Beast, Farm, Harper, Healer, Miner, Sea, Smith, Star, Tanner, Vintner, Weaver and Wood Crafts. There are often excellent opportunities for Roleplaying at the Hold, Seminole (see NEWS SEMINOLE).

We do not encourage thought posing, we frown on power posing, and we attempt to keep the game as canon as possible. We ask that you read through NEWS CANON and NEWS BEHAVIOR and adhere to the outlines contained within. Please note if you choose to not read them and leave the new player rooms you still agree to recognize and abide by their content. This MUSH is rated PG, please keep the Roleplay, knot chatter and bulletin board posts at that level.

There is no long approval process: we trust you to keep to the basic concept of the game. If however a staff member asks you to change something, please don't argue -- the rules are there for a reason.