Pern Info Stuff

[Kookamunga]

Feel free to delete, move, edit, or do whatever else you want with this, I just figured I'd post some information to help the cause <3 You might want to anyways, this'll be pretty disorganized.

Just leave the credit if there's one shown!

[Kookamunga]

Dragon Eye Colors

Red: Hunger, Anger, Sexual Agitation, Pain, Desire
Orange: Uncertainty, Suspicion, etc. [see Red]
Yellow: Fright, Alarm, Anxiety
Green: Sleeping, Pleasure
Blue: Relaxation, Calmness, etc. [see Green]
Indigo: General well-being, Love, Devotion
Lavender/purple: Stress, Worry
Gray: Mourning, Stress, Sadness, Pain
White: Extreme danger
Rainbow: Agitation

Notes:
- Red and Orange are usually interchangeable.
- Green and Blue are usually interchangeable.
- The speed with which the eyes whirl indicates the intensity of the emotion.
- A dragon's eyes change color according to their emotions, and cannot actively be changed.
- Partial credit to Kookamunga and AMCAlmaron.

[Kookamunga]

Dragon Sounds

Bellow: Alarm, irritation, or attention call.
Bugle: Joy, triumph, happiness, challenge (rising/chasing), or greeting.
Croon: Pleasure, reassurance, or apology.
Growl: Warning, anger.
Humming: Sounded at a Hatching.
Keen: Mournful sound signifying death.
Moan: Sound of distress or anxiety.
Roar: Anger, confusion, or pain.
Rumble: Amusement, happiness. Draconic equivalent of laughter.
Squeal: Fear, surprise.
Trill: Curiosity, pleasure, enjoyment, or satisfaction.
Wail: Sadness, worry.
Warble: Self satisfaction, gratitude.
Whimper: Deep sadness.

[Kookamunga]

Pernese Curse Words

- Blast the shell and sear the skin: [H2/186].
- Crackdust: an expletive indicating annoyance or disbelief [DLG1/104].
- Eggshells: [D2/5:93].
- Fardles: an expletive indicating annoyance.
- Great Faranth: [Mor/5:99].
- Great shells and stars: an expletive indicating annoyance or disbelief (used by Master Morshal) [H2/54].
- Scorch it: an expletive indicating annoyance, surprise or disbelief [D1-3 Dragondex].
- Shards: an expletive indicating annoyance or surprise [DLG1/104].
- Shells: an expletive indicating annoyance or surprise [D1-3 Dragondex].

- Credit to Elrhan

[Kookamunga]

Pernese Oaths

- By Faranth's first egg: [RoP/3:55].
- By my dragon's egg
- By the Egg: mostly an exclamation of surprise but also used as kind of an oath [D1-3/Dragondex; D1/158].
- By the Egg of Faranth: [D1-3 Dragondex; D1/148]
- By the First Egg: [D1-3 Dragondex; D1/57].
- By the golden shell of the queen: [D1/5].
- By the shards of my dragon's egg: [D1-3 Dragondex].
- By the shell of the first Egg: [D1/115].
- By the Void that spawned us: [D1/136].
- Heard and witnessed: a traditional confirmation when somebody else makes an oath or promise, made voluntarily and meaning the person who makes the statement confirms the oath and will see to it that it is carried out [D1/41].
- In the name of the Egg

- Credit to Elrhan

[Kookamunga]

Pernese Proverbs

- Acting like a green in heat: meaning acting randy, horny or very explicit in a sensually/sexually way (literally) and maybe also said of someone who overreacts badly.
- Blood will tell: meaning that one's true nature eventually will always show or prevail [RSR/1:35].
- Catch two fish on one hook: [DoP/4:76].
- If you are hungry enough, even tunnel snake tastes good: meaning that under dire circumstances people will do things they normally wouldn't.
- If push comes to shove: [DoP/5:104].
- Like dragon, like rider: [D1/158].
- New brooms sweep clean: old Terran proverb that was also in use on Pern [RSR/1:59].
- Preaching to the dedicated
- Solve one problem and five more appear from between: [D2/10:208].
- Solution breeds necessity: [H1/5:60].
- Surrender the mark: (used by Robinton)

.
- The more to look the quicker to find: [Mor/5:104].
- The sea breeds stern souls: (used by Silvina) [H2/31].
- There is more than one way to skin a wherry: meaning there are more ways than one to get the result you want [RSR/1:26].
- Through Fall, Fog and Fire: meaning under any circumstance, always [D1-3 Dragondex].

- Credit to Elrhan

[Kookamunga]

Pernese Sayings and Slang

- A deadglow: a numbskull, a stupid person. The term is derived from glow; a glow that has died sheds no light.
- A dimglow: a not too bright person. The term is derived from glow, a glow loses his lightning abilities gradually, so a "dim glow" does not shed much light.
- A hard roll to eat: [D2/9:148].
- A hunk of firestone, all gas and ash: said of a braggart or a blowhard [DLG1/104].
- A smile wins more than a frown: a saying that Mavi of Half Circle Sea Hold (Menolly's mother) was fond off [H1/4:52].
- Acting [or other verb] like a suncrazed wherry: [D2/10:208].
- Be grateful for small mercies: [Mor/5:99].
- Being Harpertrue: [AtWoP/183].
- Bend a tail: a euphemism for defecating [DLG1/104]. Actually only true for dragons but used by humans too.
- Betting with Bitran odds
- Bitran odds
- Born under the Red Star: said of someone who is evil, generally disliked or (very) unlucky [DLG1/104].
- Bronze interests: to have bronze (you can substitute bronze by another color) interests means a dragon wouldn't mind being flown by the dragon he/she is indicated to have "interests" in. Probably also applicable to human situations, but in that case more in a humorous way.
- By the Egg: mostly an exclamation of surprise but also used as kind of an oath [D1-3/Dragondex; D1/158].
- Cracking your shell over...: [H2/55]
- Each egg hatches a different way (but a crack at the right time speeds things up): [D2/4:66]
- Flying winglight: [D2/10:197].
- For the Egg's sake: [D2/5:95].
- For the love of little (green?) dragons: Pernese saying [RSR/6:159]. A variation of one of Anne McCaffrey's favorite sayings. See also For the love of little green apples.
- For the love of little green apples: Pernese saying used also in other books by Anne McCaffrey (fiction as well as non-fiction) who seems to have a special liking for it.
- Free-marked: free of any charge [NS/1:22].
- Giving Bitran odds: [AtWoP].
- Gone between in thought: [AtWoP/240].
- Gracious goodness: an exclamation made out of surprise or disbelief (used by Silvina) [H2/6].
- Harper tale(s)
- Harper's winter tale: a fairy tale, an untrue story [D1/225].
- Harpertrue: see Being Harpertrue.
- Has a dragon's two stomachs: said of someone who has an endless appetite [DLG1/104].
- Hidebound: Pernese slang for a person who is set his ways [H1/4:45].
- Holdbound: Pernese slang for a person who is set his ways.
- I have been begging the Egg for...: [D1/223].
- It will be a warm day between before...: [xxx].
- It [or expression] won't matter a grain of sand in Igen: [D2/5:94].
- If the skies fell, we'd not be bothered by Thread: [D2/8:128].
- In the image of all shells: [D2/9:145].
- In the name of the egg
- Left out for Thread: being left out, fending for your own in a bad way. Said when someone needs help (very badly) but does not or did not get it.
- Light wing: [Mor/3:70].
- Live to tell the Harper: [Mor/4:83].
- Long in the eye: to be long in the eye means that the mentioned beast or person has extremely good eyesight.
- Making every mistake in the Record: analogous to the Terran saying "Making every mistake in the book" [D2/6:122].
Example: "For it was chaos, with the overanxious men making every mistake in the Record, despite her advice" (Lord Meron's guardsmen trying to impress fire lizards according Kylara's instructions) [D2/6:122]
- Marks for [expression]: [D2/10:189].
- May it be a warm night between before expression: [D2/4:81]
- Maybes seldom are: [H1/5:67].
- Sounding like a wherry: [D2/13:249].
- Starting to chew firestone: said of weyrlings that have completed their basic training [D2/10:186].
- Taking a short dragonride: a euphemism for abortion. To end an unwanted pregnancy a green rider could go between on their dragon, resulting in losing the baby [RSR/3:88-89].
- Thank the Shell: [D1:10:178].
- That's well dusted: said of something that is nasty or unpleasant [DLG1/104].
- The hindmost falls between: [D2/4:69].
- The lady breaks bread first: a Pernese custom and saying [D1/75].
- There is nothing new under the sun: [Mor/5:100].
- Thread-lost: a Pernese expression, meaning being out in the open while Thread is falling.
- Thread will come and get you
- What effects the dragon, effects its rider: [adapted from Mor1/17]
- When the moons turn green: meaning never [D1/92].
- Wherry teeth: meaning nonsense; lies; I don't believe you [DLG1/104]. Since a wherry doesn't have teeth (it has a beak) wherry teeth is a non-existing thing.
- Why, in the name of the egg?
- Why under the double moons?: [D1/133].
- Wing-full: [D2/10:186].

- Credit to Elrhan

[Kookamunga]

Plants of Pern

Aconite
Appearance:
- fibrous roots; erect stems; palmately divided or cleft leaves
- flower:most are blue or purple, some yellow or white; bilaterally symmetrical with five parts, with the uppermost portion being shaped like a hood
Uses:
- root is used in powdered form as pain reliever (anodyne), heart palpitations
Cautions:
- excess amounts can cause restlessness, salivation, nausea, weakened heartbeat, chest pain, prostration, possibly death

Adonis
Appearance:
- finely cut, alternate leaves, flowers are red or yellow
Uses:
- used as pain reliever, for heart palpitations

Alfalfa
Appearance:
- small purple flowers on tall stalks, extensive root systems
Uses:
- in a tea as a diuretic

Aloe
Appearance:
- short stems, fleshy, lanceolate leaves crowded in rosettes at the end of the stems; red or tubular flowers in dense clusters
Uses:
- sap of leaves used for treatment of burns

Ash
Appearance:
- tree, small clusters of greenish flowers with or without sepals and petals
Uses:
- bark used as diuretic and to reduce fevers (febrifuge)

Asparagus
Appearance:
- thin spears, delicate, lacy foliage
Uses:
- part of cure for hangovers

Barley
Appearance:
- grain on top of tall stalk, golden in color when ready to harvest
Uses:
- brewed in tea to relieve cystitis

Basil
Appearance:
- ovate green leaves on a mid-sized stalk
Uses
- used as antispasmodic

Borage, Borrago
Appearance:
- rough hairs on stems and leaves; flower cluster is spirally coiled and unrolls as the flowers open; flowers are radially symmetric with five-lobed corollas (fused petals) that are funnel- or bell-shaped; fruit matures into four nutlets
Uses:
- used to relieve coughs

Box
Appearance:
- hedge; small, oval, opposite, leathery leaves, dark glossy green on upper surface, lighter beneath, petalless flowers
Uses:
- diaphoretic (produces perspiration)
Cautions:
- moderate to large dosages can cause irritation of the digestive tract and possibly death

Comfrey
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- used for burns, coughs

Coriander
Appearance:
- lower leaves are divided in fine, thread-like partitions, white and pink flowers grow in small clusters
Uses:
- for relief of abdominal discomfort

Cucumber
Appearance:
- trailing herb, fruit resembles a long green cylinder
Uses:
- sliced, used for burns

Dragon's Tongue
Appearance:
- mottled leaves, bears yellow flowers
Uses:
- used for burns

Ezob
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- used to relieve coughs, as diaphoretic

Featherfern
Appearance:
- multiple green fronds
Uses:
- in tonic to relieve fever

Fellis Tree
Appearance:
- small, branchy, drooping tree; fragrant clusters of yellow or pink flowers with pointed petals; clusters of berry-like fruit
Uses:
- juice from fruit used as narcotic painkiller
Cautions:
- can be addictive, very large doses can be lethal

Garlic
Appearance:
- flowers have six whitish petals; fruit is a capsule containing kidney shaped black seeds; bulb is covered in a papery skin, and can be broken into constituent bulblets, called cloves
Uses:
- used as cold remedy, controls high blood pressure, as digestive stimulant, antispasmodic, diuretic
- also used in cooking and pickling

Glovecap
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- used for pain relief

Hissop, Hyssop
Appearance:
- narrow, woody stems, elliptical, aromatic leaves; bluish-purple, red, or white flowers
Uses:
- used in tea for coughs

Hops
Appearance:
- vines; rough stems; heart-shaped leaves, with five to seven lobes
Uses:
- used for relief of pain

Ilex
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- used to treat pneumonia

Lavender
Appearance:
- narrow leaves, small purple flowers containing oil of lavender
Uses:
- oil used in lotion or salve to relieve headaches

Lovage
Appearance:
- dark green leaves, composed of many leaflets, are shiny with toothed tips; tiny yellow flowers grow in clusters
Uses:
- used for coughs

Meadowsweet
Appearance:
- white and blue flowers
Uses
- pain reliever

Mosstea
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- for dressing wounds against infection

Needlethorn
Appearance:
- several cactus like stalks from a single base, three stalks, three leaves; succulent bush with toxic brown spines; skin of plant has fine hairs that may cause irritation, inflammation of skin
Uses:
- needles are used as syringes for injections and to draw blood

Nettleweed
Appearance:
- fern-like, stems and leaves may be covered in hairs filled with stinging liquid
Uses:
- used in a tonic

Numbweed
Appearance:
- bush; plaquey, thorny greenery; opposing leaves are arrowhead-shaped, with a terminating leaf at the end of each branch; gray-green color; tufts of blossoms similar to statice
Uses:
- used raw or in salve, numbs pain
Cautions:
- too much will cause bleeding and scarring

Pink Root
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- relief of bellyaches

Red Willow Salic
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- pain relief

Rosemary
Appearance:
- grows close to ground, produces small blue flowers
Uses:
- medicinal

Sage
Appearance:
- densely covered in hairs, produces colorful tubular, aromatic flowers
Uses:
- in tes with willow and wintergreen for headaches

Seaweeds
Appearance:
- long, leaf-like, underwater plants
Uses:
- boiled juice from stalk used as preventative for bone ailments

Spearkeek
Appearance:
- white bulb
Uses:
- reduces fevers

Sweetroot
Appearance:
- yellowish tuber
Uses:
- in crystal form, used to reduce fever, headaches

Tansy
Appearance:
- deeply dividing leaves, yellow heads
Uses:
- as tonic, to relieve heart palpitations

Tarragon
Appearance:
- green stem and leaves, small greenish composite flowerheads
Uses:
- medicinal

Thymus
Appearance:
- narrow leaves, whitish or reddish flowers in whorls; wild variety has oval leaves and purple flowers
Uses:
- used for coughs

Tussilago
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- for coughs

Vines from Ista
Appearance:
- vines
Uses:
- sap from bruised leaves will neutralize insect stings

White Bulb
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- reduces fevers

White Thorn
Appearance:
- unknown
Uses:
- pain relief, heart palpitations

Willow
Appearance:
- tree, simple flowers
Uses:
- used in tea to control arthritis, used in tea with wintergreen and sage for headaches, used in crystals as willowsalic for headaches

Wintergreen
Appearance:
- short shrub with creeping stalks; glossy, leathery, serrate leaves; white or pinkish flowers, scarlet berries
Uses:
- in tea with sage and willow for headache relief

Witch Hazel
Appearance:
- woody plants
Uses:
- extract from leaves used for burns

Yarrow
Appearance:
- finely divided leaves, clusters of small red or white flowers
Uses:
- for acne

- Credit to Dawnwings

[Kookamunga]

Animals of Pern

Avians

- Wild Fowl: A small edible avian resembling its ancestor the Terran ring-neck quail.
- Geese: A long necked, domestic avian known to be bad tempered, but quite tasty if cooked properly. They are not common, due to the difficulty in raising them.
- Chickens: Small domestic avians used for both meat and eggs. Not common due to difficulty in raising them, but can be found in places like Southern Boll Hold.
- Duck: Domestic water fowl that are not common due to difficulty in raising them.
- Wild wherries: Large predatory avians. They have four legs and two wings, but instead of feathers, they are covered in thick proto-feathers, multiple tufts like a Terran Marabou stork. They are twice the size of a Terran turkey and turn cannibal when one of their number is wounded or killed.
- Domestic-wherries: Either wild wherries with their wings clipped to prevent flight or flightless descendents of wherries captured and breed by the original colonists much like wild turkeys were domesticated by Terrans.


Mammals

- Domestic Mustelid (Ferret): Small, flexible, long bodied mammals used to hunt tunnelsnakes. Curious and fearless. Also called tunnelcats.
- Domestic Feline: Descendants of the Terran tabby-cat, but about twice as big. Useful in controlling the numbers of tunnelsnakes.
- Domestic Canine: Descendants of the Terran dog. Used to guard homes, herd livestock, turn spits or even as small pack animals. They also help keep vermin like tunnelsnakes out of holds and homes.
- Runnerbeast: The descendant of the Terran horse. Used as transportation and as pack animals mostly. See 'news runners' for more. Also called a runner.
- Draftbeast: Descendants of the Shire Draft horse. Big heavy beasts with mild temperaments.
- Draybeast: Descendants of the Terran donkey.
- Burdenbeast: Descendants of the Terran llama. Used for both pack animals and for wool production.
- Bovine: A type of herdbeast descended from Terran cattle. There are both milk and beef cattle.
- Ovine: A type of herdbeast descended from Terran sheep. Used for meat, wool and milk.
- Caprine: A type of herdbeast descended from Terran dairy and meat goats. Used these days for milk, meat and wool...as well as for keeping brush down in areas where brushfires are a problem. Called caprines or goats. Males are called bucks and females does.
- Porcine: A type of small herdbeast descended from Terran swine. Not as common as other types of herdbeasts, so the meat is considered a treat.
- Wild Canines: Huge wild descendants of feral canines left behind when the colonists moved to the northern continent. Found only on the southern continent.
- Southern Spotted Wild Feline: Found only on the southern continent, these large wild felines and extremly dangerous and untamable. They are descendants of Terran cheetahs that were given Mentasynth to make them more empathic, but the affects of Mentasynth on felines made them a danger to human and animal alike. CANNOT be tamed or kept as pets. Can sometimes carry dangerous diseases that can be transmitted to humans.


Insects

- Crawlers: A sort of small, six-legged, gecko looking creature that crawls along walls and even ceilings with their sticky little feet.
- Sandworms: The sandworm of Igen. Ugly, grub-like creatures known for the fact that they eat thread. It is believed that grubs were bred from them by some.
- Grubs: Lumpy, furry little grubs that have spread throughout the southern continent. They are known both for their eating of Thread and their beneficial affect on the plants around them.
- Fly-by: A small flying insect much like a gnat.
- Leeches: A blood sucking worm found in slow moving water.
- Flies: Small insects much like the housefly, but built differently. Tend to bite like biting flies though.
- Wrigglers: Native worms much like earthworms.
- Trundlebugs: A useful insect that eats parasites, turns the soil and acts as a pollinator. They have the most elaborate color camouflage of all the insects found on Pern and come in many colors.
- Fireflies: A small winged beetle whose abdomen glows with a luminescent light. Looks a bit like Terran fireflies, but tend to glow in different colors.
- VTOLS: A sort of furry insect with double pairs of wings. The discoverers of these insects named them VTOLS (for 'Vertical Take-Off and Landing').
- Bedbugs: A small wingless, biting insect that infests bedding, etc.
- Crawlies: See crawlers.
- Rollers: A type of wood louse.
- Springs: Insects that hang in spiral loops until they find someone or something to cling to. They have an irritating, prickly bite.
- Millipedes: A wormlike insect with many little legs. Trundlebugs are a species of Pernese millipede.
- Spinners: Native species of Pernese spiders. There are also imported species descended from ones brought by the colonists whose silk can be gathered and spun like silkworm silk, though not quite as fine. Called gossamer spinners.


Aquatics

- Shipfish/Dolphin: Playful, intelligent water-dwelling mammals with a beaklike snout. Fisherman consider them good luck and always let them go if caught in their nets. (descendants of the Terran dolphin).
- Shellfish: Aquatic animals with shells. Such as clams, muscles, etc.
- Fingertails: Small, long bodied, carp-like fish with a whippy tail and multiple fins giving them a furry look.
- Rockmites: Tiny little water-dwelling beetles often found hiding in the cracks of rocks. (interpreted description)
- Packtail: A tasty, but dangerously barbed fish. (Resembling the Terran monkfish)
- Spiderclaws: Small crablike creatures with many pairs of jointed legs.
- Speckler: A large tasty fish. (Much like the Terran bass--Interpreted description.)
- Flatfish: Bottom dwelling fish. (Much like the Terran halibut or flounder--Interpreted description)
- Yellowtail: A large edible fish. (Much like the Terran tuna--Interpreted description).
- Watersnakes: A water-dwelling variety of tunnelsnake with fins instead of legs.
- Fingerfish: See fingertails.
- Sea eels: A long, slippery, snakelike fish with three pairs of tiny fins. Believed to have been the ancestor of the tunnelsnake.


Other

- Dragonet: Not to be confused with young dragons, thanks. The name for the pre-mentasynth enhanced firelizards. They have pincer-like forefeet with a tridactyl claw and their bodies heavier and heads longer than modern firelizards. About 10% of firelizards are of this type. The enhanced type however is dominant when bred.
- Firelizard: The name for modern firelizards descended from the mentasynth enhanced dragonets that were bioengineered by Kitti Ping before she went on the engineer the dragons. They have pentadactyl claws and are leaner and have flatter noses then the old dragonets.
NOTE: Dragonets/Firelizards return to the wild when their humans die. They do not suicide like dragons do as they were not genetically engineered to do so. Kitti Ping only saw that dragons followed their riders in death.
- Watch Wher: Impressable creatures bioengineered by Wind Blossom Ping in an attempt to emprove on Kitti Ping's design of the dragons, resulting in ugly, malformed, photophobic, flightless dragons. They grow to about the size of a low slung runner (horse) and can move with surprising speed. Used by Holds and Weyrs as guard animals. Also useful in exploring tunnels with their superior night vision. They do not die when their masters die and often stay loyal to the family that owns them. The live about 60 - 100 turns though. Intelligence is low, about that of a 2 year old child at best. They do not name themselves like dragons do when hatchlings. They do not speak as dragons do, and are NOT good pets. You won't find them in the wild, as their breeding is strictly controlled.
- Tunnelsnake: A snakelike creature with a turtle-like face and six limbs. Most are poisonous and live in caves and stony outcroppings. Most average 2-4 feet in length. Some have scales, some have skin, but most have six stubby limbs for creeping along tunnels. There are even water dwelling species.
- Whersport: A creature resembling a large dragonet, but only in that it has wings and four limbs. More like a small, hairless/featherless wherry. Far more common in the south than the north. (Interpreted Description) Uncommonly good eating when cooked properly.

- Credit to Dawnwings