Cathaline
Lady Holder 
cathct[M:50]
Posts: 3,279
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Post by Cathaline on Mar 15, 2013 0:36:35 GMT -5
Hello, lovely Daliborians! I can neither confirm nor deny the possibility that Dalibor will be hatching another queen any time in the future, near or otherwise. In fact, I can't even be certain Dalibor has ever hatched a queen in the past. It's all very hush-hush. That being said, if ever a baby queen were to arrive at Dalibor, it is very important to make sure she would go to the right person.
That being said: as with all matches on Dalibor, we look at the character's personality first and foremost. Favoritism doesn't play into our decisions, and any active player has the same chance at getting a ranker as anyone else (sometimes more so than older players, as we like to spread the loooove around). If you don't have the right candidate at the right time, you simply can't Impress.
Queens are a little different, though not by much. Having a queen dragon is a responsibility. It does not confer any OOC power, but obviously a queen and her rider will be closely involved in sitewide plot.
So, do you want a queen dragon? Do you absolutely not want a queen dragon? Let us know, because over the next unspecified and perhaps infinite number of months, we may or may not be hatching one or fifty queens. Most people won't put "yeah, queens are cool" in their preference section for fear of coming across like a shinyhunter, so here's your chance! PM this to me (to be shared with the staff if necessary) so that we are aware of your feelings on having a queen.
But don't stress too much, because again, it all comes down to the character. You could write up "perfect" answers and never be able to Impress a queen because you never had a female candidate at the right hatching; you could fail to answer the questionnaire at all, but your candidate is the right one. This is NOT an application, it is simply a gauging of interest. Make awesome candidates and anything can happen.
You can ask questions in this thread, or post your questionnaire here, but you don't have to. All this is strictly between us.
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
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kireon
Candidatemaster 
kirct[M:-191]
Posts: 739
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Post by kireon on Mar 15, 2013 5:21:10 GMT -5
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent?
I'm indifferent leaning towards a "no, thank you". Would I do it if the character and dragon were a perfect match? Yes, of course. The responsibility of a Queen would be intriguing and tempting, as would playing out the entire process of learning how to appropriately juggle Weyr politics and other responsibilities a Weyrwoman/Junior Weyrwoman is saddled with.
In short, while hesitant, I would be willing to play one- but only, again I stress it, if my candidate were to be the only match for the Queen and no one else could be better suited.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings?
I have a notepad file of different themes, ideas, and hatching things I have thought up. Running numerous large hatchings is absolutely no problem on my end, and would probably be my favorite part aside from the actual plot Queens and their riders are supposed to play in the Weyr.
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
I could easily do it this way as well as going through the candidates and see if some of them inspire a dragon personality/type that I just can't ignore and absolutely NEED to give them.
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
We have a lot of interesting individuals and characters at Dalibor, ranging from progressive and innovative to traditionalist and very conservative almost this side of Fort. I'd personally like to see a little of that in our Weyrwomen too, but that's just me. Strong personalities are always, always important- and doesn't always mean loud or aggressive in temperment either. An ideal queen candidate, to me, would have a strong will- whether or not she shows that in a quiet, more subdued manner than an outright-in-your-face one is entirely up to the individual.-, a strict sense of responsibility, and most of all, a sense of how to handle difficult personalities in a variety of different ways.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider?
If I were to leave Dalibor, I would certainly be alright with the characters being adopted out!
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
I have actually tried this three times and it's utterly, utterly failed each and every time- whether or not it was on purpose or on accident, I don't know, but it makes me laugh EVERY single time I think about it. (If anyone was curious, the three characters were H'lios for King-a-Palooza whose blue Nelideth fits him so perfectly that I can't even begin to fathom him on another dragon, Rhikail who wanted a blue or cyan very very much because of her near obsession with the color and wound up with green Tulath, and Se'a who I'd hoped would get a black and wound up with the not-so-typical purple Uth.)
As a result of my utter failure to ever tailor a character, my response is a whole hearted "Nope." because my chances of ever getting it right are entirely ZERO. XD (Though let's be honest here; each character I have almost always gets the dragon/wher most appropriate for them.)
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
Ooooh, I like this question, I like this question a lot!
Queen Dragon: You are the future of the Weyr; that's a massive amount of pressure on you, your dragon and even the people around you. You don't have room to screw up royally, not without putting your entire Weyr at risk as a result. Your conduct, your personality and even the way you believe things should be will have a drastic impact on the Weyr and how said Weyr will function... if it can function beneath your hand, that is. There are plenty of horror stories about Weyrleaders and Weyrwomen who do not have complete control over themselves or their dragons- and have disaster fall upon the Weyr as a whole at a crucial point as a result. In a sense, your actions- or inaction- decide the fates of those who take shelter in your Weyr as well as the Holds who rely upon said Weyr for protection in Threadfall.
Queen Wher: If a queen dragon and her rider decides the fates of the Weyr as a whole from sun up to sundown, a queen wher and her handler are their mirror images from sundown to sunrise. Though not as intelligent as a dragon may be, a wher has a certain advantage that an all massive dragon does not; the ability to see in the dark and, to my understanding, superior senses of smell and hearing as a result. While a Queen dragon and her rider are the ones ensuring things run smoothly relationship wise within and outside of her own Weyr, a Queen Wher and her handler are responsible for maintaining a safe outside- as well as a safe inside as well. Keeping the Weyr and its inhabitants safe from harm is their number one priority- be it from wild whers, renegades, holdless or any number of potential threats that may come from outside the Weyr's walls... or even some that may come from within as well.
In short, between Queen Dragons and Queen Whers, I feel that the Weyrwoman and her Gold are more focused on running the Weyr overall and establishing/maintaining good relationships with the Holds and other Weyrs, while the Queenhandler and her Gold are more focused on the security of the Weyr and the land around it, possibly even extending to sending out a Pride to the local Hold if they need a night time guard for some reason or another. In times of serious threat/combat, I see the Queenhandler giving orders to her Prides much like a commanding officer to her unit to be the first line of defense while the Weyrwomen and Weyrleaders are informed of the attack and thus can give further instruction.
Queen Flitters/Pillies: Not a whole lot is done with flits and pillies other than gloriously hilarious crackplots, yet there's a lot of potential there with the right person to guide it. Queen flitters could be fantastic messengers, or even spies, to say nothing about being used as a prototype for those who wish to be Queenriders/handlers- a flitter is a mini version of a dragon in physical appearance and attitude, after all! Pillies are a little more difficult, because I don't think anyone's actually experimented with them/seen what all they could do- who knows, they might have some secret that Dalibor residents aren't even aware of yet! Like flits though, Amber pillies could be a great exercise in keeping up with a Queen.
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
I have Wenth, a tan, and I love her to pieces- so I'll answer this like I was answering for Whers instead, maybe? I like Sub-Queens, sure they clutch every other Flight/Run, and with incredibly fewer eggs than a Queen, but they're also just as full of potential as Queens are, in my opinion, when it comes to plotting and roleplaying potential. I would love the opportunity to some day play an Orange or a Red for a wher.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
Personality of the dragon/wher always, ALWAYS counts more to me than the color spread itself. If my Queen's tendencies flew more towards a Blue than a Bronze? She'd terrorize the Bronze into going to Chase himself and go claim her pretty pretty Blue; that's it. Plot, to me, always overrules anything about color spreads.
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
All fighters would be epic, I'd probably be that person who'd do that at least once. The sheer range of colors you could do on that alone would be simply gorgeous.
A Holiday color scheme would probably be another one I'd like to do- choose a holiday and make a clutch based around that, personalities based off of certain aspects of it.
(Easter, for example, would be full of pastel to vibrant greens, blues, cyans and pinks with an occasional yellow or very pale shaded fighter who could pass for white, or a lovely white dragon to complete the mix.
A Halloween one would be fun too; a bright pumpkin Orange with a multitude of midnight to softly shaded blacks, dark blues, blacks, a grey or two and greens too, or dragons based off of different types of trick-or-treat candy!)
A spread based on the different times of day/night would also be one I would be inclined to do as well. Same with seasons! A seasonal spread is one I would love to do as well!
In the long run, the staff are usually reasonable about spreads and working with the hatching runner on making sure everyone's satisfied, so I have no problem with that at all! Whatever's agreed upon, I will work with and make as entertaining and fun for all as possible.
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princesal
Wingrider 
salct[M:-100]
Poliwogging it up!
Posts: 429
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Post by princesal on Mar 19, 2013 13:10:36 GMT -5
I thought... why not not fill it out. The day is slow, it's snowing outside, and I'm waiting for information ^_^
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
Wow, that is one heck of a question isn't it? I mean... being perfectly completely and utterly honest. I wouldn't say no to it, but at the same time, I understand that it's a giant responsibility, and there are bound to be people better suited for one, who have been rping their hardest, and waiting for one. It's not a dream, it's not a nightmare, it's just something I'd have to rp, and I'd do my darndest. AND YES, OMGs, yes. If the only other option for the baby dragon was death, you best slide that queen right over to me so she doesn't between. That said, I never joined Dalibor with the idea that one day I would impress a Queen.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
I think I could do it, but I've never tried it. I'm going to stick to the honesty here. I'm even rather nervous to have firelizards that clutch. I'd love for everyone to love any possible babies I make, but I understand that sometimes things don't work out. It'd be a lot of pressure, but I think I could run a hatching, and I'm not afraid to ask for help, as long as I'm told who I can ask for help from.
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
I actually really like this idea of creating dragons first. I think if you try to create a dragon for a candidate, several negative things may happen. The first being that if you really really like one character but not another, you might find yourself working harder to flesh out a baby dragon better for the character you like. There could also be favoritism, or creating dragons that are far to alike or far too opposite... or they just become extensions of a candidate, like an arm or leg, rather than a separate entity. I'd rather create the dragons, and then match them, it can also give the hatching runner a chance to be a little bit more creative, then limited if they base it on a candidate.
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
Oh well... heh. I've never found myself looking at riders and trying to figure out what they all have together that made them match to a queen, a king, or a fighter. If I had to think what I'd look for in a queen, it'd be someone who has the ability to lead, but not at the sacrifice of themselves. Queen riders can be flawed just as any other rider can, but they are more apt to go for the greater good of all, then just themselves... though I would hope that they find themselves important enough to know when they need to be selfish. Traits that I would think would be a guaranteed non-queen impression would be if someone really didn't want to lead, or went out of their way to hide away, or someone who was far far too sensitive about every comment that might not broadcast how amazing they are, or lack of self-worth/self-esteem. While I think a dragon could Impress to someone who is lacking self-esteem, to boost it, I don't think a queen dragon would choose someone who already had severe esteem issues, or tosses their self-worth to the ground and grind it down with their heel, or worse, let's others walk all over them. While all these traits could be there, or right under the surface, I think a dragon would see if they were thoughts that would be washed after an impression, or if they went further then that.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
Yes, I am. At one point I left Dalibor, and I was very well aware that my characters could, and would be put up for adoption. When I came back, I just happened to have gotten lucky enough that they hadn't been adopted yet. Sometimes it has to happen, and especially if others love the character, and the things that go along with them... it's better to put up for adoption than to kill IC, just because you can.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
Oh, that's a difficult question. If I was told tomorrow that the next clutch was definitely going to have a green that I really wanted, and we were told all her details, and I just KNEW that that green had to go to me, I think I'd be guilty of stressing certain traits in candidate characters I already had to see if I could tweak them to make them more likely to impress that green. I'd never make a character that was meant only for one color of dragon. One of my favorite things about hatchings is not knowing what I might or might not get, or what might or might not happen. It's the same reason that I don't sign up for maulings. I'm perfectly happy to roll with the punches entirely, whether it be mauling my characters back open, to having them impress a pink or green or blue or black, to not impressing at all. The unknown was always what drew me to Pern RPs. I always figured that if there was a dragon I really wanted, I'd app them, if it's a color that I'm not allowed to app, then I don't, or I wait. Dalibor has some really great contests (the king dragon one gets recalled instantly), where you are given a chance to app a character FOR a specific kind of dragon you might not have before (oh, Hogwarts contest also comes to mind).
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
While there are differences, I think there are more similiarities. If you impress a queen anything, people turn to you for clutches. Dragon, Wher, Pillie, Firelizard. It's a given. You have just taken on the responsibility of a queen dragon, who, most likely, is going to clutch a very large amount of eggs (especially with pillies). Not only will people be on the edge of their seat waiting for when your queen flies, or runs, but also of the clutch. People will make characters JUST so they can impress at your clutch. That's a lot of pressure, and I think many forget, because they see having a queen as being something exciting and almost like 'the prize' of a Pern RP.
The only differences I can see is that people put a lot more merit into dragons and whers, because they end up affecting your character more, and can literally change how your character thinks, acts, and grows. Pillies and Flits are more pets, and while people are always wanting them, they are still pets.
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
I would prefer to Impress a subqueen over a queen, or a clutching female color that can be either male or female. It's because of the clutch size. I'd rather have a smaller clutch than a bigger one. It makes more sense in my mind for whatever reason, probably because there would be less pressure in general about it. I've never had a clutching dragon, and while normally I'm fine with stress and pressure, there are times in which it does become too much, and I would never want roleplaying to become a chore for me. So wouldn't reject a queen, but if there were two doors and one said 'Queen' and the other said 'Clutching Female Dragon that is NOT a Queen'. I would choose the second door.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
My feels are all for it. No, really. I don't think a winner should be determined based solely on the fact that normally they are caught be a certain color. I think the plot of Sholth catching a queen is better than any color spread that could happen. I mean, why not? Would anyone be so upset about the lack of color spread that it would create, that there would be an uproar of unhappiness from it? If anything, I would hope people would be cheering dragons like Sholth on, BECAUSE of watching the potential plot unfold.
I think the only variable that would play into it, would be the posts themselves. If Sholth was trailing behind, not really chasing or putting effort into it, I wouldn't have him win. But if they are pumping their wings till their hearts are near bursting, while king dragons are slow on his heels, you best believe that I'd be rooting for Sholth all the way.
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
1. Heavy Weight Fighter Champions Get Knocked Out: This clutch would be heavy on the fighters, like more then half at least. So lets' say 12. 7 of those 12 would be female, 3 pinks, 2 greens, 2 cyans. The remaining 5 would be 3 blues, and 2 blacks. Of that, One of the pinks would between immediately, without any determinable reason, and one of the blacks would follow his sister out of fear of what just happened. So there would be 2 pinks, 2 greens, 2 cyans, 3 blues, and 1 black. A red would hatch, and cause chaos. Another pink, and a cyan will be attacked, and while the pink will be injured, she'll impress quickly to a candidate. The cyan will lay on the sands, injured and confused on how to help herself. The red will lose interest, and stalk the sands. At this point two sub-kings will hatch, and immediately start fighting, possibly a grudge match against each other created in egg (one got turned more than the other). The red, wanting the tussle, will join, as she does so, the injured cyan gets up and impresses quickly, needing immediate medical attention. The two sub-kings (both viridian's), will gang up against the red, and out of rage, she'll charge at the candidates, hoping to show her displeasure, until being stopped dead by one, and turning into a loving cuddle-bug, forgetting all about her hatchmates. At this point the remaining eggs would hatch, showing another sub-queen (orange), a king (bronze), and a sub-king (purple). Impressions will continue, and the bronze, being fool-hearty and picking up on the distress of the loss of hatchmates, will make a statement of going to fetch them, and between itself, not knowing.
2. All the Maulings: Seemingly switch of personalities, a blue dragon is hatched, and the moment he is, there is something wrong. He's aggressive, and glaring at candidates, knocking eggs over, destroying his own, and snapping and showing his teeth at his mother. He spooks easy too, so any time he sees something or someone move, he spins around hissing at it. His hatchmates start to break free of their eggs. Green here, another blue, a pink, a tan, an iron, a general well sought spread. Everything seems pretty normal, dragons greeting each other, as the big blue baby starts to get more and more agitated. A happy green bounds out of her egg, greeting the world, and immediately sees who she wants to Impress to. Hopping over other dragons, she's almost there, when suddenly she's knocked out of the way by the aggressive blue, and he latches his teeth onto her chosen's ankle, ripping hard at it. This begins the blood bath, and he just starts mauling candidates, nothing so serious that there is death, but there is blood in his teeth and claws. By the time he's mauled a second candidate, it's obvious he's not going to let up, several dragons between due to fear, others are trying to impress, in hopes to get their bonded off the sands before the blue does something. Whoever is last to be attacked by him, he impresses to... if it gets that far.
3. Nesting Duds: A lot of dud eggs, and a very smart white is born, and realizes that they aren't duds at all, and starts hitting the eggs. It's revealed that they are nesting eggs, meaning eggs inside of eggs, and the white helps break all of it's hatchmates free. They are all yellow, but of varying size, so when all standing next to each other, they could be nesting dolls of each other. The white impresses last after making sure everyone is out of their shell and free... and then rainbows explode everywhere.
Well... after seeing lots of people do themes. Here are some themes that jumped immediately to mind when I started writing them:
- Dragon that demonstrate the typical birth order personalities.
- Geological Regions (though this one might have already been done)
- Literature
- Music subcultures, and the stereotypes associated with them
- Theatrical styles (broadway, comedy, drama, opera)
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maruset
Wingrider
marct[M:-420]
Posts: 590
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Post by maruset on Mar 19, 2013 14:38:04 GMT -5
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
I doubt this will ever be an issue, but I am mostly ambivalent to it either way. If the case ever came up that it was a case of my candidate or death, I would definitely Impress the queen, but I would not go out of my way to try to get one. I think the part that makes me more hesitant about it is the in-game responsibility, though that might be fun watching a character grow to fit that responsibility.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
I think it would be interesting to run any sorts of hatching. A large one would be fun, especially if I have people who are experience that I can turn to for help.
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
That would be an interesting way. If I tried to make dragons to specifically match a candidate, it might not have enough work, or too much work, put into it, to the detriment of the entire hatching. Besides, it would be more fun to work with themes to the hatching, and it's hard to do that and make a dragon specifically for someone.
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
Someone who is able to make a queen listen when it's important. I know some characters are..not bullied by their dragons, but who's dragons seem to be the more dominate personality at times. Between that, and willing to listen to advice, but who will take a stand when they need to when things come down to it. Because when things come down to it, a queen dragon has an amazing amount of control over everyone around them, and they need to have someone who is with them that is willing to look at the situation and make a decision.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
If I ever left the game, I'd rather my characters be adopted and continued to play. They already have interactions and ties to other characters, and it's not fair to the players or characters to have those people suddenly vanish.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
I would like to think not, but I've never come into the situation where it might happen. I make characters because they are fun to play, so I am not sure that it would be as much fun to try to make a character specifically to snag a color. Especially with how dragon hatchings go. A character might seem perfect for one color, but balance better with the personality a dragon of another color. So it seems like it might be a bit of a pointless effort. I'd rather make characters that are fun to play.
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
A queen dragon can have a major affect on the whole weyr, as their flights are supposed to affect everyone at least a little. But they are also the most massive of dragons who can issue commands to others, which can have a ripple effect on everyone around them.
On a smaller scale is the queen wher, mostly due the fact she's physically smaller. She has the same amount of control over the wher around her, and needs to be able to make the same sort of choices in the night that the dragon does in the day.
For both, as well as the firelizard and pillie, eggs are a major concern. Both are the only real sources of queen eggs for other potential queens, as well as the largest clutch layers, and so the focus of a lot of players are there. The pillie and firelizard are pets, and other than the clutches, tend to be more a concern with the character that owns them and the people who are interacting with them. Unless they are the adventurousness sort. XD
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
I would be happy with any, really, though a subqueen or a clutcher of any of the either gender colors would be nice. The queens could be interesting, but that is a lot of in-game responsibility that would be odd to adjust to. I've never had a character with that level of responsibility in game, so it would be something to get used to.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
If it could have a logical reason on why a blue could beat out bronzes, irons, or browns. I like blues as much as the next, but the reasons that the larger dragons tend to win are they have the strength and stamina to keep up with the queens. Now, if a blue can be sneaky and tricky enough to find a way to outfly the larger dragons, I can't see why not. But it would be very hard and very unlikely.
I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if a female rider won the weyrleader spot, simply to see what would happen at that point. But that would be something that would have to be plotted and planned for.
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
A classic novel set. Alice in Wonderland, Moby Dick, the rare white bitter of a white~ A crazy purple who has marks of light and dark purple that is always showing his teeth in a 'smile'.
A clutch of nothing but fighters, each based on a video game character who was a fighter of some sort. Ranging from Assassin's Creed to Final Fantasy to Mario Brothers. XD
One little clutch, with a dragon of every color. A rainbow clutch!
I doubt it'll ever come up, and there are a whole mess of players and characters who would better fit a queen than me or mine, but it was fun to ramble on over this and get a few of my clutch ideas out there.
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Serah
Wingsecond
serct[M:-148]
Posts: 358
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Post by Serah on Mar 19, 2013 15:36:28 GMT -5
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
I personally, would like Impressing a Queen. They’re interesting dragons, though there aren’t any uninteresting ones that I’ve come across. I’d like to see what would change about how people interact with the character that impressed the queen after Impression. It’d be a whole lot of fun. If the only option was death for the queen, Impress away!
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
I’m fine with running large hatchings. I find it fun to create babies and then watch people’s reactions to their Impressions. A larger hatching would only make for more fun.
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
This is actually how I prefer to run hatchings. It makes it easier to create the dragons, in my opinion.
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
Someone who doesn’t let the dragon overpower them. Someone with enough self-control to keep the dragon under control. Also, a character who is fair and willing to listen. Someone who won’t try to shut themselves away when something bad happens around them.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
If I were to leave Dalibor, then yes, I would like for my characters to be adopted out. They should all find good homes.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
To be honest, I wouldn’t. I would make a Candidate, yes, but not tailor said Candidate to get a specific color. I like the surprise of the color that I get. It’s always interesting to me.
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
For a Queen dragon, I’d say they have the most responsibilities. They run the Weyr during the day. They have a whole mess of responsibilities as well as their riders.
Queen whers have slightly less responsibilities, though they do have quite a few. They run the Weyr at night. They also protect the Weyr’s residents from wild whers and other invaders at night.
Queen Firelizards and Pillies don’t carry much responsibility, save for their eggs.
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
If I could Impress a Clutching dragon, I’d probably want to Impress a female Yellow. I’d love a Queen or a Subqueen too, plus they have more of a range of colors than the Yellows do. Either way, I’d be a happy camper.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
I feel that Blues could win, if the Queen chooses them. With me, yes, Sholth does have a chance to win provided the Queen likes him. If I had to choose, probably the plot opportunity. It’d be so much fun to see what happened if a bluerider, especially a female, became Weyrleader. Basically, I’d choose whoever my Queen got along with. Be it a Blue, he’ll likely have a good chance of being chosen.
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
1.) The Yellow-Red Clutch: So this would be mainly fighters with a king or subking or two. There would either be a Red with the personality of a Yellow, or a Yellow with the personality of a Red. I personally like the first idea. With possible maulings from a Viridian or other color, the Red would go check up on everyone and make sure that he/she was alright. She would then find Hers, as would the dragon who mauled the Candidates. The others would hatch and eventually find theirs as well, with a possible Stands Impression if that’s fine.
2.) The Final Fantasy Clutch: This Clutch would be entirely based on Final Fantasy characters. Both the good and the evil. The Clutch would consist mainly of fighters. So pinks, greens, blacks, and blues abound. With possible Irons/Bronzes to Viridians/Browns/Purples in the mix.
3.) The Anime Clutch: This would be based off of various different Anime series. From Death Note all the way to Chobits. There would probably be more male dragons in this Clutch than in some of the other Clutches. So Blacks, Blues, and other males would be the dominant colors. There would also be only one king/subking, not both.
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Maggie
Pridesecond
magct[M:-95]
Posts: 555
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Post by Maggie on Mar 19, 2013 15:53:23 GMT -5
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
I'm with Kireon on this one. If there's an absolute perfect match to my characters, which would surprise me since my dragon candidate is a terrified male and my girl is slated for whers, I don't really want the responsibility. I wouldn't throw a fit if it was determined my character was best, but it wouldn't be my first choice.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
I love creating draggies and characters and stuff, but I think I'd need help with a large hatching
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
I'd actually rather do it that way, although certain candidates do inspire certain dragons, I will admit
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
I think a strong personality is key. And maybe not someone who's the strong, silent type? I feel that someone who's more outgoing would be more suited to the job at Dalibor. Someone who's naturally friendly, but who's also a good listener.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
Yes, I'd much, much rather a character be adopted than die.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
Yes. I would totally try. But I've failed at this before and I've been pleasantly surprised. For example, I usually am highly indifferent to blues, but Anablimyth is one of the more awesome dragons I've ever had the pleasure to play.
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
Queen dragon and queen wher, to me, are very similar responsibilities, although queen whers, I think have the problem of having stronger, more dangerous personalities to control. A queen flitt/pillie doesn't have the issues of having to deal with the human element. The queen rider has some pretty big responsibilities, in an administrative sense, as does a queenhandler. They also do have the responsibility of actively training for protecting against Thread.
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
Subqueen over a queen. I wouldn't say no to a female yellow, but I am more fond of subqueens.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
I have so, so many feels about that. I think we need a female bluerider Weyrleader. Because... Just because. It would be great and make for awesome IC drama and shock and gameplay and so much yes.
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
So, so, so many pinks! A fabulous all pink clutch! So much yes! Maybe a few purples too.
I'd love to see another all fighter clutch, too. With one Iron to rule them all!
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Chek
Weyrlingmaster
chekct[M:-15]
I'm so magical I vomit rainbows
Posts: 1,091
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Post by Chek on Mar 19, 2013 17:12:17 GMT -5
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
Short answer: I do not really want a queen, for assorted reasons.
Long answer: I would accept a queen if my character was the only viable option at the time; though I would lobby for, in the future after another queen is hatched and Impressed to someone who is more enthusiastic about it, her to either die for amazing plot reasons or be otherwise sterile/infertile after a certain point - also potentially because of awesome plot reasons (that is, if I can’t follow through with the clutching idea below where I do not actually have to build and stress over babies). I don’t want her to die at hatching, and I can appreciate the need for a queen for clutching reasons, but I really don’t want to play a queen because of the clutching thing.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
Nope. Not interested. I can handle a queen flitter clutching, but a queen dragon or wher? HAHAHANO. I would likely cede majority rights to staff, or host for people who don’t have a queen/clutcher so everyone can get a little taste of the baby making. Maybe something like recruiting two or three people so they can do mini-clutches within a larger clutch, and acting more as a coordinator and facilitator than a clutchrunner – playing the queen reacting to the babies and doing announcements – with me only having to Impress them if their runner can’t or isn’t able to. That sounds nice.
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
Ayup. This is my preferred method, and it really makes it easy for my above idea on running group hatchings to coordinate, rather than assigning or letting people pick out babies.
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
Bluuuh. I don’t see wallflowers impressing queens – people with extreme anger issues or who have trouble controlling themselves are probably out for the most part; our queenriders are generally widely varied, but they all have STRONG personalities, and control over themselves, with the ability to control their dragon’s moods, since our queens tend to be awfully temperamental in one way or another.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
Some of my characters I would not be able to see being adoptable – Valha, Rennin, Damali, L’kie and H’mod, primarily, for various reasons, though H’mod I COULD see going to a good home who I interviewed first. I could see a major plot character like a queenrider being one who I could play in such a way that I could, if sure that the new player was going to treat them appropriately, happily allow to be adoptable if I left.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
Lords yes. I am totally guilty of trying to tailor Mi’mir to a pink, any pink of sufficient awesomeness. Admittedly most of my tailoring was writing PINK in his prefs in giant pink sparkle letters, but I’d say that counts. I’m less likely to try and match a personality to something I don’t know, and more likely to find something that I would enjoy playing that I think would appeal to the color I want, and then slap a big obvious subtle and discreet note in the dragon preferences.
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
The OOC responsibility for a queen wher and dragon are indistinguishable to me. You have people depending on you to match their characters to a bondmate for the life of their character! It affects characterization, character grown, EVERYTHING. You are basically the breaking point in whether a character is going to be playable to that person in the future. A flitter, on the other hand, you just need to come up with little blighters that aren’t totally repugnant from the start and let the character who impresses them go wild with your personality sketch. Which is why I am chill about my queen flit spewing out babies wildly, but awfully ehhhhhhh over a queen anything else.
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
Haaaaahaaa, my Mith. I have a clutcher, it is mine. But we’ll go theoretical. I would see myself preferring either the subqueen that I have or one of the male/female dragons – small clutches are my bread and butter. SMALL CLUTCHES.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
Color spread would be a determining factor, for one, since sometimes that is decided long before the Flight is even posted – sometimes the babies are actually already made. (Unless we change it so males have very little influence on the color spread, and instead make them influence clutch size, of course.) I am a big fan of unlikely Flight winners; usually color spread of the clutch is the only thing forcing me to have to choose a certain color/dragon as the winner. And I’ll push my luck with that when I can (hint hint wink wink TROOOOLLLS). Now, if it was already plotted out so the spread was nothing fancy or allowed to be specially fancy no matter who won (OR WE CHANGED THE WAY MALES INFLUENCE CLUTCHES), SHOLTH WELCOME TO WEYRLEADERSHIP.
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
Okay, so, I am a big fan of random chance and mathematically generated clutches. When left to my own devices, I build a random picker of about 1000 dragons, based on their percentiles as given by our info, and then randomly have however many eggs picked out. If I get like 100% blue by some quirk of fate, I will adjust until things are more balanced, but I will try, for example, to maintain that higher percentile of blue.
On the other side, if I somehow manage to pull every damn shiny there is through random chance, I’ll shift that as well, picking out the shinies that 1. we have the least of in play when compared to how many we SHOULD have, and 2. are the most realistic to appear in a clutch, limiting their number by a VERY ROUGH 80% fighters vs 20% shinies quota – basically for every ten critters, no more than two should be shiny in any way shape or form.
I am not pulling real clutch spreads that way because oh my god I do not have that sort of time for a questionnaire I AM SORRY BUT NO.
(And if I did have a queen, and my tiny hatching idea was valid, I would likely break up the mini clutches by firstly taking spread requests from my subrunners, scowling at the unlikely requests until their suggesters felt bad, then rolling a clutch and having a group discussion on breaking up the overall clutch spread between my little peeps, with modifications and substitutions within the same rank level depending on how many we actually had of that color on site and how desperately my little people wanted to hatch them.)
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Rappu
Pridesecond
rapct[M:55]
Sailor Melty Rainbow Death
Posts: 496
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Post by Rappu on Mar 22, 2013 12:47:26 GMT -5
Only if the other choice is death and tears.
Just small hatchings. I like the idea of collaborated hatchings, though!
Matching candidates to dragons is more fun.
Some level of intelligence and level-headedness. Socialibity and common sense too. I think the major traits for not impressing would be extreme childishness or temper. Or low age! I don't see Dalibor getting any 12-year-old queenriders because ick!
Yes! I think it's nice to share toys.
I prefer being surprised. If there's some colour I especially want I'll just mention it in the preference section.
Queen dragon riders run the administration, queen wher handlers generally handle the Weyr's security and queen flits/pillies don't run anything but they can cause shenanigans, act as messengers and hatch more pets which are fun IC events.
I prefer subqueens because they're so adorably fail. Female whites, greys and yellows are also nice.
Plot over colour spreads. Of course, the blue needs to be one that could win, like one the queen likes or that wows her, or one whose rider the queenrider likes. In short, plot would influence it. But shinies? Naaaah. Males could influence the size of the clutch or the hatchlings' personalities more than the colours.
One all-fighter clutch because fighters rock. It could be an astrology-themed one.
I think most of my clutches would contain a few shinies, mostly fighters and all odd, according to the stats and shinies needed. Different themes would be a thing and the male would have some influence on the hatchlings, whether it be their looks, personalities or sizes.
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twitchie
Wingrider
twict[M:-5]
"I'm not bossy; I just have better ideas."
Posts: 150
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Post by twitchie on Apr 2, 2013 21:04:20 GMT -5
To be frank, I want a queen soooooooooo bad! I would be honored to play a queen rider. Impressing a queen would not bother be, I am very interested in one day owning a queen.
Oh yes! I love eggs and designing and impressing and matching the perfect pairs! I love baby dragons! I can do any sizes and would gladly do whatever the staff suggests!
I don't mind that. I mean, that makes it more like, fate. Not every candidate impresses, and it would be hard to choose which candidate to impress and which to not impress. I think the current way is great.
Maturity, passion, and responsibility. Our queen riders are trusted and determined. I've noticed each has a unique childhood or something interesting... I think candidates who are not fit for leadership will not impress a queen. I mean, queen riders are the head of the weyr, so they need to be able to do their role.
No, I want my characters to be loved if I ever cannot play them anymore.
Truthfully, I would absolutely try. I have always wanted a queen... If it would help me impress, I'll try it.
A pet queen seems the least difficult to play. A wher would be more complex. But a dragon I think takes the most responsibility. I would not take for granted any shiny color.
I really would be happy with whatever clutching dragon I impressed if so. I love large clutches, but really I am flexible and open minded.
I love underdogs-*cough* dragons! I am a misfit in my real life, and yes! I would choose my flight mate based very much on the outcome plots. I love irony and fun little things that lead to other things...
1:
I would like to do something like having a trick of a large egg revealing a fighter instead of a rank?
2:
Maybe a girlish blue and a boyish pink?
3:
A purple who gets a 'puppy-love' non-scarring sexual type crush on a candidate he does not impress to, but speaks to? Like he thinks 'she' is really cool and insists on keeping the candidate around whether or not she impresses. Like, instant friends?
I don't mind staff suggestions! I'm happy to oblige.
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Kiran
Weyrling 
kiract[M:-125]
Posts: 614
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Post by Kiran on Apr 17, 2013 17:27:20 GMT -5
Heh, going through and modifying slightly since things have changed since I first wrote this.
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
Honestly, I think it would be interesting to have one. Necessary? Not by any means, because I lurv ALL the colors! ^.^ Being able to ask the support staff for help with hatchings actually makes the idea a lot more fun, because being able to bounce ideas off of others can make a good hatching idea great, and makes the workload a whole lot more manageable.
Edit: Between this and now I completely unexpectedly got a Queen on another site. I don't feel a need to have a Queen here. But.. it would be an entirely different experience here than on there. My contribution to the clutches over there will be... well, I can throw ideas at them and see if they're interested. Honestly, while I don't think I want the whole entire responsibility of a Hatching, I know I would love more input than that. Working with the staff, definitely, since every good idea can use a bounce or two to see if it works or even improve it.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
For the most part, yes. I'd want a small amount of help from the staff, but the fun thing about large hatchings is that almost anything can happen, and it can be more complicated/more havoc/more unusual than small-scale hatchings.
Edit: See answer to #1. Yes, with a little help, because then I could plan my own chaos.
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
I'd definitely prefer to make the dragons, then match. That gives so much more leeway and creativity for creating the dragon, and can make for more interesting relationships developed between the rider and dragon.
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
For a queen candidate:
-Strategic/Intelligent
-No-nonsense
-Thinks of others above self
Guaranteed not to Impress?
- Someone who's stupid or slow
Beyond that, you've got me.
Edit: After spending more time on here.... Queens tend to get riders that balance them out. Coineth is incredibly vain but has a down-to-earth rider that can made her listen and do things when she needs to. Iola is a generally angry girl that has a calm, cool, outgoing copper. They almost contrast each other.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
Yes.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
I might try, but most times I try to tailor characters for specific results I end up not liking my character all that much. I'd probably scrap anything I altered and would just go with a character I *liked*, because if I got that color I wanted and didn't like the character enough to play it, what would be the point?
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
A queen pillie/flitt are the ones with the least responsibility overall- they are pets and playmates and the occasional helper with sending messages. Hatchings are fun events for the characters, but of no great importance. Queen dragons and queen whers are equal responsibilities and fairly large ones. Queen dragons and the dragons they produce are all about the safety of the weyr from Threadfall, during the day. A queen that can't lay eggs puts the weyr at risk. A queen that produces only rankings? Just as deadly. Inside the weyr and Holds and Halls are where the queen wher is just as responsible for those who live within those walls during the night. Thread doesn't just fall during the day when the dragons can fly, and the whers are vital to being able to fight Thread when the dragons can't.
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
White would be my ultimate preference. They are just so fun and playful! That white and my character could go on many fun adventures together around the weyr! Definitely a winner, in my book. Tan comes a close second because that sweet personality is just wonderful. I like happy, cute personalities, and I don't tend to think that queens would be more adventurous or nice because they have to be in charge (though a happy and clever Candidate Impressing to a more dour Queen could be interesting, but that's an entirely different question and discussion).
Edit: Adding yellow, because they are awesome. Probably noticed that I have a preference for HAPPY personalities. I admit it. Happy personalities are... nice. I like them a lot. Even if I never Impressed a clutcher (though just one would be awesome, no matter what the color) a sweet, happy personality makes me happy.
But since a subqueen -period- is more likely than a white or yellow, a subqueen would be my ultimate preference. It also can be quite a bit harder to find themes for larger clutches, so a subqueen would be nice.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
I would totally go for a Bluerider - up to and most definitely including a female bluerider - simply because of the shock it would cause. Seeing other characters react and deal with such a drastic shift in power, especially because of how the colors are expected to win, would be fascinating to see.
Edit: As long as there was am IC reason for it to win. Most of the queens on here already wouldn't do it simply because.
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
I'm kind of a theme person so those would be pretty big, but there would definitely be a few hatchings that would be according to the need of the weyr.
1. HOLIDAY THEME! Valentine's Day! This would involve 14 Pinks, 5 Whites, 5 Reds, and 2 Purples.
2. Different kinds of cocktails. I'd pick a type of liquor, and find different cocktails associated with it (and what colors they were). A lot of work, but I think this is my favorite idea.
3. Beehive theme - all yellows and blacks, where one of the yellows and one of the blacks would be shiny (representing the "queen" of the hive)
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turkoizdog
Wingrider
turkct[M:-85]
Cephalove!
Posts: 256
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Post by turkoizdog on Apr 18, 2013 2:42:06 GMT -5
At this point, it would make me really nervous. I only have one bedragoned character, and she has a fighter. Zero experience with positions of power and such. If it was my candidate or death, I'd take it, but I don't know. I could do a hatching with help, but other responsibility would be difficult (especially since I never read any of the books, *cough*). In the future though, I'd be more open to it if I'm able to work my way up. Maybe I have a character who is a wing/pridesecond or a sub-queen (wher or dragon) or just a more prominent character. At this point, once I've better settled into the site, I would be totally willing.
I would need help, and most likely need someone to draw the dragonets for me, but I feel I could do it! Depending on how my schedule works I may outsource dragon creation and have a few people make other dragons too.
I think what I would do (depending on the hatching) is design the dragons vaguely on their own (like this dragon is basically like this, based on this idea), look into the candidates, and then go further. I would probably try and create distinct personalities with the dragons, and this could be problematic if one or two dragons were designed and there was no perfect match. I would rather adapt a dragon a little to the candidate to make it a perfect match, than have a complete precreated dragon stuck in a match that might not work so well.
Sensible, logical, yet nurturing. I picture a kindly mother figure mixed with a strict professor. Very calm and stable, not selfless to a damaging degree but certainly unselfish. Interested in the good of the many. Whether she is progressive or more of a traditionalist.
In general, any character I have a history with is going to be difficult. The character I've applied for Warothbabies (M'ax) is one I've had for a long time (~5 or 6 years) and it would hurt to see him played by anyone else. Salina however was created for this site, and any such character could be played by anyone else no problem. If I had a character with an important position, they would likely be one created for the site, so I'd be fine having others play them.
My initial thought was no, since this didn't work with Meena. I imagined a partner-in-crime type dragon for her, but she got Tredecimth, and now they are just so cute together I can't imagine things any other way.
I might emphasize certain points to try and lean towards if I want a playful vs serious dragon, or a friendly vs shy one, but I'm not one to color hunt, really.
Queen dragonriders seem to be more involved in politics, relations with other weyrs, etc. Queen wherriders would probably be more involved with security and keeping everyone in the weyr safe. I kind of imagine the Queen wherriders as sheriffs while the Queen dragonriders are presidents or governors or something. Queen firelizard and pillie owners don't seem to have much power aside from the hatchings, but there is potential. Since firelizards are forerunners to dragons, there is possibility for flits to have jobs helping out the weyr, and I'm sure pillies would too. Mostly I see them gaining responsibility if their presence becomes plot relevant. If the plague had been discovered from a pillie for example and not a wild wherry, things would have been very different. (not the best example but I think you know what I mean)
It sort of depends on the candidate. I would be so excited for a tan, though because I have the one grey I'd feel bad having a yellow or white of any gender (even though I reeeeally want one). At this point I'd rather have a subqueen than a queen, just because I only have one bedragoned character, but in the future I may be ready for a queen. :)
It really depends on the queen and what she feels is important. If a queen sees intelligence as important and the other options are a meathead iron and a purple that thinks he's a duck, she might choose a quick-witted blue. I would give up a wider color spread for that, unless the site really absolutely needed another king or white or something that a blue would make impossible, and I was asked to make that color.
My Little Pony dragons. Just sayin'. I already have them all planned out in my head. Featuring the Mane Six and a few others ie Derpy Hooves is Derpeth the Tan.
Not gonna give away other theme ideas cuz I'm more likely to actually use those :P
I tend to like ideas like faux duds. There was a hatching sometime ago where a black had hatched and was hiding and nobody realized it was gone until the last second, and I liked that one as well. I'd want to incorporate something like this.
Maybe an egg everyone thought was a dud, and something happens to it -- it's pushed, it topples over -- and there's a visible crack. At first everyone thinks, it must be dead then, but then the dragon pokes its head out. Turns out he had just slept in.
I also think it would be interesting to have a hatching where the dragons' eggs make a difference. Maybe a hatching where you were restricted to fighters or something, have the color of the egg show what ranked dragon the personality is most like or shows something else about the dragon.
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lee
Wingrider
leect[M:190]
Posts: 322
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Post by lee on Apr 27, 2013 21:18:08 GMT -5
I’m not sure if you wanted this PM-ed or posted? I know it says PM but it sorta seemed like folks were posting, if I need to send it, please let me know and I will!
LIFELONG DREAM? No. But would it be really cool? Ack, yes, I admit it. I guess I’m somewhere in the camp of, I think it would be a real treat to play a queenrider because they are shiny and rare and exciting but I acknowledge that a) I am very new to the site, and b) It’s a lot of IC responsibility that I’ve never had to manage before and frankly I might not be very good at it and would have absolutely no idea where to start, c) someone else could always be 100% more perfect for any queen in question and I am completely okay with all of that. It would be fun, it would also be hard, and I PROMISE I won’t turn into a hysterically sobbing wreck if some day a little queen dragonet takes one look at my character and becomes so instantly horrified with the thought of having to stick with them for the rest of her life that she straight up goes between rather than consider the prospect further (farther?).
I certainly have the interest, and I should have the time. What I blatantly lack is artistic ability…
Absolutely. Far more fun to make the dragons first and foist them upon poor unsuspecting Candidates.
From what I’ve seen at Dalibor I have no idea. There seems to be a fondness for "surprise!!” on this site, while simultaneously taking things very seriously! I think the traits you wind up looking for will be the traits that will provide the most interesting combination with the traits of the dragon (which I know you said to set aside, but still!). Someone who would mesh with the other queenriders in an interesting way. Someone who could be involved in a lot of different interactions, and manage the responsibilities in their own way. As for disqualifying... Male. Definitely being male I think would guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen. In a more serious response, I'm not sure. My first instinct would be to say someone with a weak personality, with the caveat that a weak personality and weakness of character are not the same thing. I think someone flawed could still make an interesting and even effective queenrider—a milquetoast pushover, somewhat less so. I’m still new enough that I can’t quite say I have everyone figured out yet, so I apologize if this a bit vague!
In a community game, the pieces are important. I’d would absolutely and entirely be happy to see someone take up any character of mine deemed important enough to require continuation. I would be a little iffy about someone taking F’dren and Mifth (and Harpsiklahd) because they’re based on someone very personally important to me, but the rest of ‘em? TOTALLY up for grabs, particularly if they were shiny or rare in some way.
Yes and no? I’m not sure how to say. I try and write my dragonrider/potential dragonrider characters such that I think they would be good dragonriders, period, in whatever capacity. When I write candidates, I like to write them so that they all might have at least a SHOT at the shiniest slots because sometimes, as a player, they just get to have more fun and responsibility (clutches, meetings, etc), but I think that a lot of the traits that would make a person a good queenrider would also make them a good blackrider or greenrider or pinkrider or whatever and what have you. I think it's more fun to write a balanced, quirky character and see what gets thrown at them, and work and grown and write with the unexpected. I like being surprised. So it might be more accurate to say I tailor them to the possibility, but not exclusively?
In character—a queen dragon's rider by default has responsibility and all the delightful political headaches that come with having a queen. They’re sort of representative of the Weyr as a whole, and the standard by which the Weyr is judged by external parties. Negotiations, reputation, all of it. A wher queenhandler has a whole different set of politics. Best I can tell, whers aren’t exactly as…inherently inclined towards good behavior as dragons are. Queens have to keep them in line, on top of negotiating the internal politics of whers/dragons and the respect issues that are sort of present. Finally, I’m not sure there’s a great deal of IC responsibilities for pillies and flits, except hatchings. Out of character—all of them require a player to be active, and make use of the responsibility. That means wherhandlers getting involved with all the wher players, or in any potential security breach posts, and possible meetings and the like, and queenriders engaging with fellow Weyr leadership, as well as any disputes in or affecting the Weyr, etc.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have a preference between them. I think they could all be fun :)
My number one variable would be the people involved. I don't think it's fair, as the writer of a clutching dragon, to NOT consider that. Whatever decision was made, it would need to positively engage more players than the alternatives. There are two groups of characters, which may or may not mean two groups of players—the candidates and the riders.
PROS: The plotting that would go into that kind of Flight result? I think it would be wonderful. I don't think it's at all reasonable to have a blue straight up outfly the irons and bronzes AND the sub-kings. As awesome as it could be, there would still have to be some really creative extenuating circumstances. BUT I think you could make it happen with a little bit of insanity, and that insanity would be wonderful fun. Maybe the queen flies through a canyon, and there's a rockfall that takes out those right behind her, opening it up for the smaller folks. Maybe there's a collision, or a domino effect. Obviously, all of that would need to be cleared in advance, and it would also be fun to think of non-disastrous ways for it to happen—like maybe the rockfall doesn’t injure any dragons, but leaves an opening only big enough for the smaller dragons to get through.
CONS: The clutch, obviously! Queen flights are really the only opportunity to get certain colors, and they require a match that's similarly ranked. True, a blue-won flight may not be really all that different than a lower-ranked clutching dragon's, but they happen somewhat more frequently. It's not often a queen flies, and so not often that those rarer colors can pop up at a Hatching, and that has an impact on players and their characters waiting and hoping to Impress.
SO. I would look at the pool of Candidates and their players, and see if they lined up with people who had riders who could/would participate in the Flight, and if there was a great deal of overlap or number in one direction or another, that would be the biggest variable in my decision.
Spread 1: Ooh, fairy tales, if it hasn't been done! The old Grimm ones, not the prettified Disney ones. Dragons you can't quite always trust to have a happy ending in mind! Not evil or bad, because they’re dragons, but…layered? Maulings galore at the hatching because, Grimm. Tricky dragons, feuding sister dragons, intense colors like in old illuminated manuscripts. Snarly beasty brown, narcoleptic briar-rose pink, a snow white and rose red. ALSO, not every baby is born completely perfect. If I ever had a clutching dragon, I’d check with the staff first but I would love to have a dragonet that maybe wasn't quite ready to hatch, or where something went a little wrong. Maybe with wings that are permanently curled or crippled, so whether or not they'll ever be able fly is brought into question. What would a (potentially) grounded dragon do? What would their rider do? Train with the whers? Try to find a solution? Maybe not something quite so severe, but a...defect? I suppose? Of some kind. They happen! (This would probably be the Rumplestiltskin dragon in a fairy tale clutch!)
Spread 2: Poetry—overly serious haiku dragon who takes forever and ever to form thoughts. Silly, derpy limerick dragon. Mournful, droopy elegy-dragon. Stiff, traditional ABC-dragon. A wittily clever never-SEEMS-to-take-things-seriously burlesque dragon, etc. Lots of fighters (get it, as opposed to lovers?)
Spread 3: All of the colors inspired by various periods in the arts—speckled like impressionist paintings, blocky like modernist, general wtfery-going-on-with-your-patterns a la Picasso. So all bold colors, lots of blues and bright greens.
Troll Spread: Musicals. Black dragon with a white mark over half of his face who's broody and mournful and tries to lurk in the lower caverns, a perky pink dragon who just wants to be popular. Big serious brown who is rigid, upstanding and devoted to carrying out JUSTICE and the LAW and there are no exceptions to the rule.
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Zephyr
Weyrling
zephct[M:150]
Posts: 300
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Post by Zephyr on Apr 27, 2013 22:30:55 GMT -5
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
I would personally adore a queen. I absolutely love writing babies and doing hatchings. At the same time, I'm not so preoccupied with wanting one that I'm going to turn my nose up at any other dragons (in fact, i don't even have a character who can ride a queen at the moment). So while I would love a queen, I'm perfectly happy with whatever I get.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
Oh my, yes. I love writing babies and doing hatchings and watching the babies come alive when people get them. I've done it before, on a smaller scale, but I think I'd be perfectly capable of running large scale hatchings.
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
When I impress babies, I do make the dragons first without thinking about the candidates, then I match them once I'm done with the babies. Because candidates come and go, people go inactive, drop character or just stop playing and then you are left with a baby that's perfectly molded to someone else without a person to go to, and people who make candidates after you're done making babies are sol.
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
I don't worry about character nuances terribly much. Most anyone is capable of making a competent queen rider, or at least growing into the role once they're saddled with it. Even the meekest person can grow strong and confident when faced with responsibility. What I would look for is a player who is dedicated and active and isn't likely to drop said character anytime soon or just generally lose interest in the rp.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
No I am not, at all. My characters are mine. They are special to me, and I'd rather them be written out or killed off. I would not be able to see someone else playing them. If the character was in a major plot or if they had a queen or equally important dragon, I would be more okay with them being adopted out as long as I could have some say in who they go to or if I was at least informed of who they go to.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
Absolutely. I've done it before. But tailoring a character to fit a dragon you want doesn't mean that you won't be perfectly happy with whatever dragon you get. If I make a character for a gold, if I knew there was going to be a gold in a clutch, and she got a green instead, I would love the dragon just as much as if she were a gold.
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
In respect to the hatchlings themselves, I don't think there's much of a difference. I believe that all babies should be fleshed out and have solid personalities, even flitts and pilles. There are differences in intelligence that should be taken into account, but that is no excuse for presenting babies that are half assed. Though, with dragons and whers you must be infinitely more careful about who you impress them to, because the bond is much greater, so the responsibility there is greater because impressing a dragon to the wrong character can have lasting and far reaching consequences IC and OOCly.
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
I think I'd prefer a queen. Like I said, I've run smaller clutches before and felt that those were fairly successful, but I would really, really like to try my hand at large clutches. That doesn't mean I won't be happy with whatever I get, because I'll be over the moon with any clutcher. I just want to make babies.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
When I do flights, regardless of the color of my female, I usually go with plot potential. If the female would choose a blue for whatever reason, that's what I'd do. The only way I would go against this is if I was asked to have a gold or bronze or any color that a blue could not produce. So yes, I am completely supportive of blues winning queenflights, even if the rider is a female.
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
- I seriously /adore/ pinks. So a clutch that is more than half pink would be complete love. Bouncy, happy, adoring pinks mauling candidates with love while some less than impressed male colors hatch and maul characters with claws would be amazing (yes. i love mauling candidates. how did you know?)
- Maybe a clutch full of giant greens and pinks and tiny browns and bronzes. I love size extremes. I also love chaos, so if I could hatch some fiercer colors like reds and have them cause complete and utter havoc, I think that the clutch will be a lot more interesting than just a clutch where nothing happens. Just be warned, I would troll everyone so hard ;;
- Maybe a clutch full of dragons that are completely the opposite of what they should be. Vicious, aggressive pinks and happy, loving reds. Someone must have put something in the water.
I have tons of ideas for clutch ideas and themes, but it's difficult to come up with some of the more interesting ones off the top of my head. ;;
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Kestrel
Wingrider
kestct[M:821]
Posts: 374
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Post by Kestrel on May 2, 2013 21:59:08 GMT -5
I’d be sort of hesitant about playing a queen. Unfortunately (as should be fairly evident by now) I have a lot of RL stuff going on a lot of the time, and don’t have as much time for Dali as I would like, so I definitely feel like there are more active and reliable members who would be much better options for a queen than me. I also had one a loooong time ago, and had some trouble figuring out how to play her and have it be fun, when she was pretty much busy with administrative stuff all the time. xD That said, if a queen happened to be a perfect match for my character, and becoming a queenrider would be a really interesting arc for that character, I wouldn’t be too averse to it either.
Potentially! I think large hatchings can be a lot of fun, since you get to work with big themes and stuff. Depending on how much time I had available and how big the hatching was, though, I might want some help from the staff (or other members) in writing up all the babies.
Definitely. I wouldn’t really know where to start if I was tailor-making dragons for candidates. I think making the dragons separately helps ensure (at least for me) that each dragon is an individual with their own quirks and flaws, making them more interesting to play.
I’m not really sure. I would guess the potential to be responsible and hard-working (even if they aren’t necessarily that way at the start) would be important. Queen candidates probably also need to be strong individuals in their own right, not very dependent on others or easily swayed by pressure from others. Characters who are too extreme in their faults, whatever these may be, or are not willing to work to improve themselves would probably not be good candidates for a queen.
It depends a bit on the character. Some of mine I have had for a long time and used in other stories and such, and it would be sort of weird to see them adopted out, but any characters I have who are important for plot or site reasons I would definitely let someone else take over.
Nope. Not necessarily because of some moral high road, though, but because I’m extremely picky about what characters I’ll make for a site. xD My priority in making characters is that I find them interesting enough to stick with for the long haul (which usually means they have to sit around ripening in my head for months before I app them), and what I find interesting to play doesn’t necessarily coincide with traits that might go with a certain dragon color. It could be the coolest dragon ever, but if it impressed to a character of mine who I made hastily to fish for a certain dragon, I wouldn’t enjoy playing them very much.
A LOT. Honestly it seems easier to talk about the similarities. xD In any case, there aren’t many queens of each species currently in play, so no matter whether you play a gold dragon or a gold firelizard, there’s a responsibility to have that queen clutch now and then for the sake of the site. There are always new members joining and new characters being made who want site-created pets, and since queen hatchings are the main venue for non-fighter dragons/whers/firelizards and most pillies to be created, it’s important to be available to run hatchings and such. Characters with queen pets aren’t involved in weyr politics, though, whereas queenriders are hugely influential in both running the weyr and dealing with other weyrs and holds. Queenhandlers do not have as many of these responsibilities, but they are still very important figures in the wher program, and will have their own set of duties.
I’d probably rather have a subqueen, white, or yellow than a queen. If I had to rank them, white would probably be my top pick, then orange, yellow, or tan. Queens and reds are not as preferred.
It depends a bit on how big the planned hatching would be. For a smaller one of about 10-15 eggs or so, I’d be more willing to consider it, because the absence of kings and a lower percentage of subqueens/kings (assuming blues can father subqueens at all, since blues aren’t on the queen clutch charts) wouldn’t be as keenly felt as it would be in a bigger hatching. It seems like the numbers aren’t that set in stone anyway, since we’ve had a copper x bronze hatching that had two subkings and one subqueen as the only non-fighters, and an orange x blue hatching with two subkings, so for a smaller hatching it probably wouldn’t make that much difference, and the potential plot opportunity would definitely be cool.
My answer for this is going to be sort of boring. xD My favorite clutches are just ones with a nice amount of variety to them, so something like a clutch with a billion blues/pinks/yellows wouldn’t be my first pick. Fighters are awesome, but since big hatchings are the only opportunity for anyone to impress kings, subqueens/kings, and m/f colors, a 20+ dragon hatching of all fighters without at least one subking or something thrown into the mix isn’t personally my favorite. So my ideal clutch spread would just be one with the typical amount of statistical variety given for that particular pairing, really.
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Chimera
Weyrling
chimct[M:-380]
:o
Posts: 592
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Post by Chimera on Jun 3, 2013 8:58:10 GMT -5
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
Considering there was one just now it's unlikely that I'll get one, but I'd love to play a queen dragon! It would be difficult but fun and totally worth it to run a large hatching. Beebs and plots. I'd be just as happy with a subqueen or a queen flit, pillie, or wher.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
I'm interested. While it would be a challenge, I can collaborate with the staff! Which is done anyways ^_^
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
Yes. I personally think that a dragon should be created to have its general descriptions done. Then I'd go through the candidates, choose one or maybe several that fit the dragon. After going through these chosen candidates I'd choose one (if there are multiple) that I feel matches the most, and then I'd make some specific stuff in the dragon's descriptions for it to match their candidate better.
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
Traits of a Generic Queen Candidate:
- Leadership skills/ability
- Ability to work under pressure
- Tenacity
Not Traits of a Generic Queen Candidate:
- Jealous tendencies
- easily broken under pressure
These are only a few traits that might work for a Queenrider or not work for a Queenrider for the second list. A candidate might have traits from both lists and still be a good Queenrider, or have some not listed. Again, it comes down to a matter of specifics.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
Yes. I'd rather have my characters be played by one of the awesome RPers here than rot away as NPCs. Important plot characters or not.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
Nope! First - very unlikely that'll ever happen. Second - even within colors, dragons can be drastically different. I also find it more fun to make a Candidate and see what they get.
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
Having a queen dragon is big. You're in charge of a lot of politics, both internal and external. Your dragon is responsible for large clutches. OOCly, it's a huge opportunity and responsibility too for plots and, again, clutches - as a lot of people will Impress at queen clutches as opposed to others. Having a queen wher is different but also important, even though many do or might not realize it. A queenhandler is in charge of Weyr security and more local issues. However, it's just as important because a lot will Impress to whers from queen clutches. And there certainly won't be any politics without a Weyr to defend. Queen flits/pillies are less important. Pet hatchings are oodles of fun and many users get excited when tons of pets Impress to characters, some theirs, at a Queen hatching. And after reading some stuff from earlier plots - flitters and pillies might have a role in major IC events except hatchings. like a pillieswarm army
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
I'd rather a subqueen or a female variant of the male/female dragons. It's less intimidating. And small clutches would be just as fun, especially white clutches with their genetics.
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
It depends on the time. Plots would be fun with a bluerider Weyrleader. If at the moment there were a lot of Candidates though, I'd rather not decrease the amount of hopefuls looking to Impress and have a small clutch. It might happen though!
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
Ooh...I have a lot of ideas!
A. More Homestuck characters! Be it whers or dragons.
B. Video game characters, maybe computer game/popular ones - maybe classics like Mario and Link, or recent ones like Minecraft characters even.
C. There's a few things popular on tumblr except homestuck, like OFF and Dangan Ronpa. Dangan Ronpa is a series with a wide range of characters which would make it an easy clutch in terms of inspiration. I've only started reading, though. OFF would be fun as well.
D. Weird viral Youtube stuff. I'm talking Ratboy Genius, Pumkin World. I love this stuff, and as ridiculous as it sounds a stretchy-necked plagiarizing dragon, a demanding pumpkin orange, and other fun stuff might be interesting characters that will certainly develop IC.
As far as clutch colors I'd rather have a balance. Some rankers and fighters. Both have colors with cool personalities - all of them - and it'll be fair to have some rankers in the mix in a large hatching.
It's a small chance I'll get a queen of any species with so many players and characters available, but who knows?
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Alastrin
Candidate
alasct[M:0]
Posts: 14
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Post by Alastrin on Jun 3, 2013 21:56:26 GMT -5
Well as a candidate who put no preference should this ever enter into the equation I'll fill it out just in case. In reference to what you said above I'll affirm I'm not holding out any hopes or presumptions filling this out. If anything it's always fun to think about the world we're playing in at large so it was a good thought exercise.
1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen!
I guess I am mostly indifferent. It definitely can be nice and it's definitely nice, in theory, in the sense of this weyr since the plots and people are so active and proactive so I'd probably feel better about playing a queen/subqueen here. Though I don't think I'd be lacking in opportunities with a fighting dragon either so hence indifference as either way I'd be involved and doing something. I definitely would like my character to end up being a rider so I wouldn't turn one away if it was the choice between a queen or turn it away to die and have no dragon. It would definitely be nice (especially if the queen is not a sub queen) to have help or not have to rely on doing/hosting the hatchings myself as that does take some pressure off. Until this moment I wouldn't have expected to have much say in it anyway, and as long as the admin and everyone is on board with it I am capable of doing it though if it's preferred to leave it in the hands of others I'd just be happy to provide themes or input or whatever else. I'm not picky with who does what, but it's nice to know that you wouldn't have to go it alone if you didn't want to.
2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!)
I wouldn't want to do it all of the time (though I doubt that would be a problem here), but I'd be willing to put in the time and work as it can be fun/rewarding to come up with all of it yourself. As I mentioned in the previous answer I do have experience doing it so I know what I'd be getting myself into. I'd probably approach it from clutch to clutch weighing it against the needs of the site and the freedom of my time. If we need a dragon to clutch and it's my queen's turn (in the scenario where I have one that is, not presuming anything here, haha) and it turned out I didn't have much time and the admin/whoever is willing to do the work and host it I am totally fine letting someone else handle the reins, but if I do have the time and can put it all together I'm certainly willing to do so once everything is approved through the right channels. As long as the needs of the site and the RPers are met somehow then that's the important part, the creative reigns are incidental. I can definitely see the advantage of having queen riders willing to do their own clutches from an administrative point of view so in short; interested time permitting.
3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why?
In my experience I've always created the dragons for the candidates just because there were never loads of candidates that I had to deal with and it seemed to make sense to tailor the dragon to the candidate; however, this I guess only treats the dragon as an extension of the character rather than their own character depending on how complimentary you wanted to make the dragon's personality to the rider. Also if someone drops out or isn't able to show up you are forced to rewrite the dragon so it has its faults as a system. It seems to make more sense to create the dragonets and then match them to candidates as that allows for more possible conflict between dragon and rider and should someone go inactive or drop out in the mean time you can simply try to find another match instead without having to rewrite anything. I'd definitely be fine with doing it this way as both systems have advantages and disadvantages, but if you are committed to just creating dragonet personalities then you can also avoid the dreaded accusation of favoritism which I am totally down with. Not to mention it eliminates the need to keep track of who every candidate is and how they are and why they are that way and the like. I would consider it an improvement over the other way so count me in. ;)
4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen?
This doesn't specify In Character or Out of Character, but in character you would imagine someone smart, resourceful, able to work with others, and (as we're talking in all likliehood a junior queen over a senior queen or in the case of a subqueen period) someone who can take as well as give an order, but I suspect this maybe actually apply more to the person behind the character than the actual character. I really don't think that In Character there is a general formula, especially considering the Pern novels themselves... Jora afraid of heights, Lessa is bossy and uncooperative, Mardra easily forms grudges not to mention tried to fly thread leading an upper wing and got people hurt after exile, Kylara is selfish and careless, Brekke was maybe too nice and meek (maybe a little Sue-ish of McCaffrey even?), Moreta was stubborn, and looking at that spread I'd say short of being physically incapable there isn't much personality-wise that would bar someone from being a queen rider. Ideally, I think you'd want someone like Moreta capable and warm/fun (despite whatever flaws she might have) or Lessa who while far more cold is certainly capable of being in charge and assertive; however, you can't always get what you waaaant. However, an RP is a big complicated sprawling ongoing story, and I think whatever makes the best story would work whether it's someone who is capable or incapable IC (but of course is perfectly capable OOC). If you have five carbon copies of a perfect weyrwoman then there is never any conflict, and so while maybe there is a lurking core quality at heart that is positive there perhaps should also be the danger for it to become a negative (good at giving commands though maybe not receiving them or bravery that can lead to over confidence). I think any character can impress a queen, presuming the candidate doesn't run away or get killed trying (as long as they are female excluding special or extenuating circumstances), but the only thing that will 100% bar a candidate from impression is themselves that is to say the player or the way they've crafted their character isn't compatible to the story that needs to get told and this could apply for any dragon reasonably. All sorts in the books have dragonriders both bad and good so if there is an equation I can't see it except authorial design and need. I don't know if this is the answer you are looking for or if there is necessarily a right one or a wrong one, but looking across the spectrum of Pern it's the only one that comes to mind.
5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.)
I think that would only be fair, especially the further the character progresses on the site. Even though people get attached to characters (especially when you put time in to create and craft one) I'd rather offer them up for adoption so if necessary they could be an NPC in the meantime, especially if they were someone important like a queenrider character (or wingleader/what have you). If it was convenient and worth a plot point I suppose you could always send the character to the grim reaper, but at least adoption isn't a waste and wouldn't have such depressing ramifications. Not to mention it wouldn't be easy to adopt said character outright so should you be able to return one day it offers a viable means of recovery, but there is always the chance to make a new character and start all over. I guess it's more difficult to say not facing the decision directly, but as Pern is playing in someone else's sandbox, so to speak, anyway I think adoption is the kinder route rather than putting everyone in bind by putting your character in a weird NPC limbo. I would say adoption and then put possible grim reaper meeting as the P.S. 'if needed' type of thing. Either way at least someone is getting to RP something interesting.
6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon?
I will be completely honest and admit I've totally done it in the past, and if it was a case of wanting to try something new (not a queen but I wanted X to be a blue rider or Y to be a green rider) I think I would again. I did look over the dragon colors for this site, but I made a conscious decision not read through the list after I skimmed the first couple of colors and clicked it off to finish creating my character. After I had the name I ended up googling a random character trait generator and built the character that way to further avoid I guess pre-knowledge contaminating the character description. It's really bizarre answering this question because having been in the Pern fandom you kind of know the tricks and the key words and even key words to avoid which you can extrapolate to other types of RPs as well, but Pern is one of the few RPs where your character personality plays more of a role than just keeping you from straying off character. The generator was my attempt to build a character without an impression bias in that sense, and with how well the sheet came together it is certainly an option I would use again as you start thinking properly about the character. You think, "Why is he or she this way? How did it come to pass? What in the history would apply to this? Does it work in family dynamic A or should it be family dynamic B? How did he or she end up in a certain place?" I was able, gladly, to think about building a good character and organically bring all the strands together as a whole person rather than cherry picking for a certain color or type of dragon, though honestly even then I couldn't completely divorce myself of Pern knowledge so I basically tried to avoid falling into a stereotype or anything I felt that would make my character stick out as a try-hard for whatever color/dragon gender/fighting dragon/queen dragon/etcetera. I've RPed Pern for a long time so this character was intended to come out and stand and the chips fall however they fall. I don't know how well I may have succeeded in those respects, but I did try and I look forward to it no matter the outcome.
7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie?
Queen Dragon: Whether a Jr. Weyrwoman or a Sr. Weyrwoman to me the position itself is a responsibility. No matter who you are as a person suddenly you are at the helm or the runner up for the helm of this huge social organization and their problems are your problems whether you like it or not. You are expected to be diplomatic and solve the problems as the figurehead not to mention you are saddled with the responsibility of furthering the species. If you're lucky you can work together with other queenriders to accomplish a lot and if you're unlucky you get to deal with in fighting and disputes. It is probably unusual for something to go wrong and you don't have to deal with cleaning it up. Not to mention you are in the public gaze under public scrutiny and while maybe they can't do much if they don't like you they certainly don't have to make your job easier. I would imagine the pastimes of queen riders are stress relief and more stress relief, especially during a pass. Ideally you talk people listen, but that may not be the case. I think it could be easily one of the biggest responsibilities on Pern and if you mess it up it can have a wide ripple effect of implications.
Queen Whers: As a lot of sites I've been on have had few or skipped over having a wher population it is hard to say on Dalibor, but having scanned over the 'Wherling Expectations' and such they seem to be primarily for guard duty, maybe with a caveat for mining operations in some cases? As wild whers can be a risk and they seem to have a certain risk factor when it comes to breeding and handling I would say a Queen Wher is more of a responsibility as it takes more effort to be a wher handler and if one of the babies goes wild or has an accident it can be kind of messy. I could see political backlash (as far as holders and such goes). It wouldn't be an easy path and I think it requires a certain sort of person to do guard duty and the like anyway (bravery and physicality come to mind, not necessarily a liking for violence or anything but maybe a capability for it?). I'd imagine it's kind of a rougher life requiring a greater dedication to learning and duty. At least a queen dragon, most times, isn't going to end up flying into a rampage and hurting anyone or themselves (minus certain quirks and types of incidents). While a queen wher handler isn't responsible for people in the same hierarchical sense as a queen dragon rider there is plenty of personal stakes to make up for it, and no doubt the authority for your wher population. Not to mention as ground crew you assume certain risks as well. I would say queen riders and queen wher handlers are on fairly equal footing as responsibility goes. If you aren't good at what you do things will far apart (not that things couldn't fall apart IC for story purposes of course, but just saying the actions have consequences whether good, bad, or other).
Queen Flits/Pillies: I would say this is the lowest threshold of responsibility. Unless Dalibor has a certain stake in monitoring the breeding of the creatures (which in that case whoever owns one has the responsibility to keep a close eye on their "pet") it doesn't make too much difference. As Flits can be played as secretive and go off and have their clutches in the wild you don't have to account for their breeding actions and as long as the players follow the rules and don't abuse the chain of command not just anyone is going to be getting one and causing an over population of them. Even though firelizards and pillies are more than just a run of the mill "pet" it's the same as being a sort of responsible cat or dog owner in the real world. They're a personal responsibility and if they become a group responsibility expect consequences until they learn or something happens and you no longer have it. Of course, one can't be too over dismissive. As queens have certain powers of suggestion you could possibly order around the whole weyr population of flits (short of a competing queen), but this can be put to a stop with the intervention of a dragon so it still seems like a minor thing. In the books they did play their role as spies and such a bit, but that's more having to account for yourself than others still. I would say as long as your problem doesn't become everyone else's problem it's not much of an issue. I think as long as it doesn't translate into OOC problems moreso than IC problems (impressing your firelizards own clutch to yourself and such) then it isn't the responsibility in the way having leadership thrust upon you is a responsibility for a dragon queen or wher queen.
I think the key thing with all three is being aware of how you'll impact others (whether you might be aiming positively or negatively) and then how the responsibilities (varied, great or small as they may be) will also affect your character. It might technically not be more "work" than any other character that is ranked, everyone is kept busy, but it's not lounging in the lap of luxury and barking orders at people and foisting off responsibilities on others (unless that's the plot though those types don't seem to last too long in the books, haha).
8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both?
I would say maybe a copper or a subqueen of any variety (I'm not picky I'd take the classic gold as well). It would be nice to play a dragon that is a challenge for the character in some way. I guess it's not so much about the color, but how the character would end up being incorporated into the leadership structure and what I'd have to do IC and interacting with my peers. The problem most or each other time I've impressed is that once you reach the pinnacle (as it sometimes can be depending on how focused the site is on dragonriders alone) there's little conflict. As the senior weyrwoman there is no one to challenge your authority, especially if your juniors are npcs or go inactive because they were the cleverly disguised shiny hunter or your plots revolve around choosing mates and weyrleaders and there is no butting heads with any other authority and then you run clutches and that's about it. In some cases ascendancy IC is the beginning of the descent into obsoletion and mind numbing boredom. You have literally locked yourself in the gilded cage of leadership. Just thinking about it makes me want to fall to my knees and beg for a fighting dragon, but as I said I have faith in this weyr. There are lots of members and queens and subqueens and it seems like a safe bet that there is no chance of marginalization like that. There will be things to do and people to do it with. Obviously flights and weyrmates and clutches will still be a part of the package, but it won't be the whole, entire package. What I described too can be more of a sign of inactivity than anything else. It is a hole that is difficult to climb back out of.
That was a bit of a tangent admittedly, and the point was that as long as the character can struggle meaningfully and have goals to pursue and things that will test her as a leader or she has trouble coping with fellow leaders or whatever that's the important thing. Hide color is not as important as what I get to do with it whether it is maintaining control of a scary red or putting up with a blunt copper and stroking her ego or dealing with poor memories or whatever else there might be I just want to be able to have fun with it. If that seems better accomplished with a fighting dragon then let's get this party started. ;)
9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision?
My feels fall someplace between 'I WOULD DIE TO BE A PART OF THIS PLOT' and my Spock brain which goes 'That would be unlikely,' but we know this logic so we'll send Spock back to the Enterprise. Personally, I'm waiting for a sweet person to come along to my own weyr who has a totally horrible bronze rider so my dragon can fly and delicious plot complications can ensue with much evil laughter. I would totally take the plot opportunity. I think a blue could totally sneak past the more bulky and not so agile browns and bronzes (and their non-canon equivalents). Also double yes to a female blue rider weyrleader. It would be deliciously awkward all around.
I think having it happen whether it is a senior weyrleader position or it happens with one of the junior or sub-queens would be interesting so first I think you'd have to decide at which level would you take it to. I think to maximize conflict the weyrleader would be the best option though it could still send shockwaves through the leadership if it was any other type of queen as it's already very unlikely to happen in the first place. I think there would be a respect issues tied in with it and it would bring out biases whether because the hypothetical choice Awston is a woman or Sholth is a blue. If it is 'the' weyleadership how does this affect dealings with the holds (more so than the halls though outside of harper I could imagine it can get more sexist as it goes along). Does the weyrwoman attempt to go it alone to save face or does she support her new partner? That would depend on the players but it would have interesting permutations either way. Will the clutch size and spread suffer? Is this a one time fluke or does it happen more than once? How long can you drag out the problem? Some things you can decide beforehand and some things depends on how characters respond though I imagine you can request people to join sides via the request a plot thread, but those would be the start of my working variables. Also you'd have to take it into consideration with what else might be going on (is this a "disaster" on top of a disaster or is it the main thing going on? or does something happen right after that makes it more of a disaster?).
The idea of reading about it alone is so exciting to me. If I could do this... changing all my usernames to 'queenrider4lyfe' (lol!). Canth as like the only "uber-brown" to be able to fly a queen (which he doesn't even get to do! ugh, McCaffrey!!!) theoretically always seemed off base to me. Since dragons have an average size or even ranges of size and they can go above or below (usually not by much but hey you never know) I feel like more browns would at least definitely be hooking up with the junior weyrwomen. I think you could definitely make an exception for a blue or blue equivalent. I'd totally want to find a way to make it work for the plot-ness. Unless my queen character were to have a short shelf life (or if it wasn't me but another queen character who does) then there is all of the time in the world to have others be the winner of a flight (and hey what if feelings developed and then Awston and said queenrider were exclusive despite whoever won the flight...possibilities, possibilities).
10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them!
I'm used to working with the traditional colors so I'll try not to throw myself off here, but according to the information this would either be a gold or a copper and so depending on whether it was king or sub-king there would be options.
I think the most obvious option is to have the sort of traditional spread. 1 queen (copper or gold), 0 sub-queens, 2 kings (one of each or two of one), 4-ish sub kings (maybe only three), and then the rest would be fighting dragons leaving that number between 13 and 23 with zero other rare dragons included (so no whites, greys, etc). There is also the option to just have one subqueen and zero queens or have no queens and insert another rarity or have zero rarities at all (most likely scenario). I don't know whether I'd do any particular sort of themes no matter what the spread was (though as it has the potential to make things easier possibly, most likely something super nerdy, Sherlokth anyone? Just kidding, maybe). That way you have sort of a fair expectation of what is coming and you don't have to worry about keeping the ratios in check (unless you don't worry about it of course).
Another option that presents itself is to do something that is traditional color heavy; a bronze flies a gold and surprise there aren't as many pinks or any purples but loads of greens and blues and some browns and just a few of the non-traditional colors, etc. On the flipside an Iron flies a Copper and the opposite happens (you could call it opposite day, haha) though with the same rarity spread as above (maybe the traditional more likely to produce a queen or sub queen and the later more likely to produce a white or grey or other rare dragon?).
Anyway, those are my, "I have been there and done this and generally stick to the canon ratios" boring and responsible answers. If I wanted to really get crazy, "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts." I'd do an all ladies clutch. All the greens and pinks and females even if it had to be size restricted so as not break the weyr, speaking of trolling. Alternatively, I'd definitely consider an all fighters clutch (since that would also be full of awesome). If all else fails I could get jiggy with my Norton Shakespeare. "Othelleth, Romeoth, Julieth, Macbeth (looool), Pucketh, etc." ;)
In conclusion hopefully this was an interesting read, and I tried to explain myself and cover my bases. If there is anything I can clarify or some detail I can expound on please feel free to PM. If you need anything else please feel free to PM. Also I know that I kept bringing up having been around the block Pern-wise and I don't want to come off as the all-knowing of Pern RPs (I don't think that I did, but tone comes across weird on the internet sometimes). It just seemed silly to not draw on past experience since it was pertinent to the topic in some ways or avoid bringing it up (and magically I had knowledge, lol). I don't expect it to count for or against me either way, but if there is in any way this head full of Pern can be useful I'm happy to help. Phew that was thought intensive, but really interesting things to think about. I look forward to whatever Dalibor has in store for me. ^.^ Big thanks to whoever goes through and does the reading of these too. :)
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Post by Digitalis on Jun 23, 2013 21:01:20 GMT -5
Obligatory note that I do not necessarily expect to get a queen or sub-queen and that it could be a really long time if I do, but I thought it'd be fun to fill this out anyway, now that I have a character who could actually Impress one. 1. How do you feel about Impressing a queen dragon? Is it your dream? Your nightmare? Are you totally indifferent? If you don't want one, would you play one if the only other option for the dragonet besides your Candidate was death? Would that change if you knew you could hand the particular queen responsibilities over to the staff and simply play your characters as characters without worrying about hatchings? If your answer is NO, NO, NEVER, I DO NOT EVER WANT A QUEEN, bold it, turn it red, and don't bother with the questionnaire, and we promise not to troll you with a queen! To be honest, I'd like and appreciate getting a queen, but I'd imagine it involves a lot of work, too. On the one hand, queenriders have a lot of IC responsibility put on their heads and that has to be taken into consideration. I always find playing queenriders to be intimidating. On the other hand, hatchings. I love hosting hatchings and making dragons, and larger clutches are a plus, but I tend to be hesitant about playing queenriders because of all the responsibilities they're expected to have. I'm not sure I explain it well, but anyway, I think I prefer playing a junior weyrwoman to a senior Weyrwoman. I will certainly accept a queen if it fits with my candidate, especially if the other choice is death. 2. Are you interested in running large hatchings? (You don't have to be, to Impress a queen; the rest of the staff can easily help out if you don't have the time or the interest!) Yes, definitely. I've run hatchings before and I really like thinking up themes and ideas for hatchlings and matching them to candidates. The bigger the clutch, the better. I certainly have the time and the interest to run large hatchings, and I will happily take on a large hatching all by myself, but I don't mind sharing some of the work with other people, like the clutch father. 3. Typically, but not always, Dalibor hatching runners create their dragons first, then match them to the candidates; we usually don't create dragons for candidates. Is this how you would prefer to run a hatching? If not, why? That's what I've always done in the past, and it's probably what I'll continue to do in the future. It can be hard to tailor a dragon to a particular candidate without making them just an extension of that candidate's existing personality, and it's particularly disheartening to see a dragon go unplayed after putting so much work into fitting them with a particular candidate. With making the dragons first, it's easier to make sure the dragon has a mind of its own, and that way you can have backup candidates to give it to if the first choice doesn't turn out to be suitable for some reason, without having to rewrite the entire personality. 4. From what you have seen on Dalibor, what are the major traits you think we might look for in a generic queen candidate (leaving aside the nuances of the specific queen dragon involved)? What are the major traits you believe will guarantee a candidate not to Impress a queen? I think the traits of a queenrider can be quite varied indeed, especially if you consider what we saw of goldriders in the books. I would also say that what makes for a "good" weyrwoman in character isn't strictly necessary or the best option for role plays, as character flaws can be really good for contributing to plots, and I don't think all Impressions have to be "perfect" matches. A queen that impresses to a nervous wreck of a candidate or one with anger issues may not be good for the Weyr, but it could lead to interesting plots. Looking at the existing queenriders, however, I would say that a measure of self-control or self-awareness is important, as well as a bit of independence or self-sufficiency, being a plus if not a necessity. I'm not sure there's much that would guarantee not Impressing a queen that would not also restrict a candidate from Impressing any dragon at all. A strong fear of the dragon itself, maybe, or a very weak will, but queenriders in the books had all kinds of flaws. 5. Are you comfortable with your characters being adopted if you were to leave Dalibor? If not, would that change if you had an important plot character like a queenrider? (Note that we will never, under any circumstances, adopt out a character if the player wishes us not to.) I am perfectly okay with my characters being adopted (or killed for plots) should I ever leave Dalibor. It's not like I'd be around to see how they were being played, and anyway, I'm confident enough from what I've seen so far that staff would not give them to someone who was totally clueless about what the character's like. That goes for all of my characters, but especially something like a queenrider. 6. Be honest, and don't worry about coming across as a shinyhunter: if you knew there was a specific dragon in a clutch that you wanted (be it a queen, a yellow, a particular blue you're just dying to have, etc.) would you try to tailor a Candidate to that dragon? I'm honestly not sure, and it would depend on just how badly I wanted the dragon. I'm not that picky when it comes to rank, and the only thing that could make me want a particular dragon enough to tailor a candidate to it is a certain aspect of the personality that I really liked. I might try to make a candidate that could go well with it, in that case, but I'd be hesitant to try that, and probably only if I had a particular candidate in mind already. I'd be afraid that if I just made up something for that specific occasion, I wouldn't like playing the character the rest of the time. So, I'd have to be sorely tempted to do so. 7. What are the differences in responsibility, to you, between having a queen dragon, a queen wher, and a queen flit/pillie? This is where I wish we'd have more books about weyrwoman doing regular weyrwoman duties instead of saving Pern and having clutches. XD I think a queen dragon has the most responsibility, with providing clutches for the Weyr and controlling other dragons when needed. Her rider has responsibility over the general running of the Weyr as well as maintaining relationships between Weyr and Hold. Queen wher duties are bit murkier, but I think they're more or less the same as the dragons, as far as providing clutches and controlling whers is concerned. They are involved in overseeing the wherhandlers and running things on that end. When it comes to Queen flits, there's very little responsibility. There's the occasional clutch to take care of, but aside from that, there's not as much responsibility as a wher or dragon. 8. If you had an opportunity to Impress a clutching dragon, which color(s) would you prefer to play and why? Would you rather a subqueen over a queen? A female yellow over both? I'm honestly torn between a queen and a subqueen. Golds and coppers have larger hatchings, which I love. Besides that, playing a character who's Impressed a queen can be intimidating, but also really interesting. Subqueens, from what I understand, have less riding on their shoulders than queenriders, but their clutches are smaller and less often. Also, I have had a chance to play a queenrider in the past, but the only time I've ever had a sub-queen Impression, the site closed shortly after the hatching, and I never got a chance to really play her. :/ So, that could be interesting as well. 9. Blues winning queenflights: what are your feels? Does Sholth finally have a chance with you (assuming your queen would like him)? If you had to choose between a wider color spread and the plot opportunity of a bluerider (possibly a female bluerider like Awston) becoming Weyrleader, which would you go with? What variables would play into that decision? I'm all for interesting plots, and I'm sure there'd be some way to explain how a blue managed to beat the kings and sub-kings, so I'd definitely consider it! I love it when the smaller dragons and their riders get to break out of the low ranks, so I'm definitely on the side of having a blueriding Weyrleader. My only concern would be the limited color spread, but to be honest, there's like, three queens already, so one or two blue-sired clutches shouldn't cause too much of an unbalance. 10. Color spreads are generally a collaboration between the staff and the hatching runner, but let's say it was totally up to you. You have between twenty and thirty eggs to work with; give us three potential spreads you would like to see happen. You don't have to give the full spread if the idea is, say, "I want to hatch two reds and have them murder everybody," but give us an idea of the type of spreads you would enjoy. All fighters to troll everybody? One thousand yellows? Be serious for at least one of them! I would certainly be interested in a trolly "fighters for everyone" clutch, but to be fair, I'd probably want to follow it up next time with a clutch with, like, twice the normal number of shinies. Overall, though, I'm a big fan of randomization, so if it was left up to me, I'd probably just make up a chart of some sort and roll the eggs according to Dalibor's statistics. I also think it would be fun to have at least a few dragons that totally go against their stereotypical personalities. I do have a couple ideas for clutches, though: The one I would most like to do is a clutch of wizards and witches from popular culture, so it'd have dragons based on characters from the Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Discworld, Disney, and so on. Glinda the green (or pink); Snape the black; Granny Weatherwax and Merlin dragons, etc. Another theme I'd like to do is a riddle clutch, with each egg and/or hatchling having an individual theme and a riddle written out so people can guess what the theme of that dragon is. That'd be neat. I'd really really love to do a clutch of seventeen with dragons based on the Great Houses from Steven Brust's Dragaeran novels...buuuut, I doubt that would ever happen, as it would probably be too obscure and I don't think most people would know what they were from. *sigh* |
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