The Guide to Weyrling Training

Congratulations! You've survived your candidacy to Impress a precious little hatchling. That, believe it or not, was the easy part. Now that you're a weyrling the real work will begin in earnest. If you follow your Weyrlingmaster's directions then maybe, just maybe, you'll live long enough to graduate.

Weyrling training is strenuous and tiring, encompassing most of each day from sunrise to sunset. New riders retire to their beds each night exhausted, with little energy for mischief. Even though we are 720+ Turns into an Interval, training for Threadfighting continues. Dragons and their riders take their traditional responsibilities seriously, with dragon instincts demanding that training be continued.

Training for weyrling pairs is divided into four phases, each of equal amounts of time and focusing on a different aspect of dragon abilities: Teamwork, Flight, *Between*, and Firestone.

Can my weyrling wear whatever he or she wants to?

No. Weyrlings are reminded from the beginning that in their current status they are all equals. A weyrling from a Blood family is no better than one who used to work as a drudge. Besides this, weyrlings are involved in tasks where they tend to get dirty, and need to wear clothing that is easily laundered. For these reasons all weyrlings are issued two sets of uniform clothing: work clothes of corse fabric and wherhide dyed dark green, and a 'dress' uniform consisting of dark green trousers and jackets, and tunics of either white, mint green, or dark green -- weyrling's choice.

PHASE ONE: Teamwork

During this phase, dragonet and rider learn to work together, to both share and divide responsibilities. As the dragonet grows, so does the rider, in strength, empathy, and knowledge of dragon abilities and duties.

Sevendays 1 - 4:

For the first month of life outside shell, the dragonet does little but eat, sleep, and grow. To aid in these, riders learn how to butcher beasts provided by more experienced riders or the Weyrhold's herders, chopping portions to bite-sized bits. Dragonets are often messy in their feeding and will then need to be bathed and oiled. The pair will barely get through those tasks without the dragonet falling asleep. While the hatchling sleeps, the rider works, learns and trains.

Training:

• Daily endurance runs, rain or shine, increasing in distance.
• Rope climbs and stair runs.
• Weyrling chains, tossing sacks of firestone from one to the other, gradually increasing space between riders.

Classes:

• Repeat of most candidate classes, so that riders pick up on any missed information.
• Anatomy of a dragon, including needs and abilities and patterns of growth.
• Firestone quality and sizing.
• Communication, including how to be assertive with the ever-growing dragonet.

Duties:

• Care of personal space, plus a share of weyrling barracks cleaning.
• Repair of personal clothing.
• Bagging and tossing firestone for drills or Threadfall.
• Daily period of craftwork or general drudgery (kitchen, laundry, or cleaning).

The above duties continue throughout weyrlinghood.

Sevendays 5 - 6:

The dragonets still nap often, and growth is at a rapid pace, but they now have periods of time when they are awake and interested.

Training:

• More runs and rope climbs.
• Weyrling chains, now with the dragonets awake and watching, gradually increasing in distance to be able to toss the bags the length of a dragon.
• Ground drills, with riders marching through the formations which will be used in Threadfall.

Classes:

• Formations training, stressing the responsibilities of the different positions within the formations.
• Communication, particularly practice messages rider to dragonet to dragonet to rider to teach how to relay clearly and accurately.

Sevendays 7 - 8:

Training:

• Runs continue.
• Ground drills, with dragonets walking through the formations with the riders.
• Weyrling chains, from rider to rider sitting a-dragonback.

Classes:

• Principles of flight (note: dragons instinctively know this, but riders do not).
• Riding straps, including types, how to make them, and how to harness them properly.

Duties:

• Make riding straps, from selection of leather through cutting to sewing on buckles.
• Feeding of dragonets: rider supervises as dragonet tears apart whole animal, freshly killed by experienced riders.

PHASE TWO: Flight

First flights are done only under supervision, with each weyrling being guided in individual lessons. After the first flight, weyrling pairs are allowed only light flight for the first month, adhering to a strict schedule supplied by the Weyrlingmaster's staff.

Sevendays 9 - 12

For individual training and first flight, the weyrling must display the riding straps he has made, receive approval for their use, and then demonstrate proper buckling on of the straps. The first flight experience involves the dragonet only, with a take-off and flight of a few wingbeats before landing. The dragonrider is then allowed to mount and the same exercise is repeated. After three more repetitions, flight is finished for the day.

Training:

• According to schedule, the pair may fly around the valley surrounding the Weyrhold proper for short periods each day.
• As endurance increases, the pair is allowed to transport a single passenger, but still staying within the valley, exploring thermals within that enclosed space.

Classes:

• Elements of flight, including meteorology lectures to explain wind patterns and thermals.
• Dragon injury prevention and first aid, with concentration on wing strains and common landing injuries.

Duties:

• Dragonets are now expected to "hunt" for their own beasts within the Weyrhold's beast pens.
• Light transport within the Weyrhold, with passengers taken from ground level to upper weyrs.
• At the end of this month, weyrlings move from the barracks into weyrling weyrs. 

Sevendays 13 - 16

Training:

• Distance flights each day, though runs for riders continue.
• Dragonet / rider pairs are assigned to groups of three, triads, who practice drill formations in the air, including synchronized turns, climbs, and dives.
• Weyrling chains, tossing firestone bags rider to rider, a-dragonback in the air.
• When triad formations are mastered, three triads are combined and training progresses in groups of nine.

Classes:

• Geography of surrounding area, with attention to landmarks.
• Visualizations training, with picture relayed to a Weyrlingmaster's dragon to discern accuracy.

During the flight phase, one of the greatest dangers is the young dragonet's compliance: too often foolhardy riders are able to talk their lifemates into attempting flight beyond that scheduled, resulting in injuries or death.

PHASE THREE: *Between*

As in flight, training for *between* starts with individual instruction. A Weyrlingmaster first flies with the pair, the young rider a passenger on the older rider's dragon. The young dragonet accompanies, taking visualization from the older one. After several trips, rider and dragonet attempt it on their own, with the rider visualizing for the younger dragonet, who passes the picture to the Weyrlingmaster's dragon to be verified. No matter how thorough the training, weyrling losses *between* are not uncommon.

Sevendays 17 - 20

Training:

• First trips *between*.
• Special instruction and delayed *between* training for those who do not seem to be getting the details of visualization or who seem overly frightened.
• Jumps in small groups, with help of a member of Weyrlingmaster staff.

Classes:

• More terrain recognition.
• Review of aerial formations.

Duties:

• Transport to areas outside of Weyr, but only through straight flight.
• Dragons now fly to fields outside Weyr to hunt.

Sevendays 21 - 24

Training:

• Return to triads for aerial drills, now with precision jumps *between* and back.
• Drills with jumps in groups of nine.

NOTE: During this phase, injuries from mid-air collisions are common.

Classes:

• Geography of areas surrounding and serviced by the Weyr.
• Advanced jumps with older riders, learning additional landmarks.
• Review of firestone selection.

Duties:

• By the end of the month, weyrlings may do light transport throughout Crater Island, and join in hunting parties and herb-gathering groups.

PHASE FOUR: Firestone

Individual first flame instruction for each dragonet / rider pair takes most of an entire day. This training is in three steps:

1. The dragonet is instructed to chew soft rock (non-phosphine), to gain skill in chewing and in "finding" his other stomach.
2. The dragonet is given low-grade firestone ore to practice with a small flame.
3. The dragonet is given good ore to produce and sustain full flame.

Sevendays 25 - 28

Training:

• First firestone experience.
• More aerial drills, with additional formations added.
• *Between* to points further from the Weyrhold.

Classes:

• Observation and discussion of full Weyrhold drills, with attention to roles of dragon color / position comparable to their own.
• Mating flight overview: courtesies and protocols.
• Review of dragonrider rights and responsibilities.

Duties:

• Dragonpair starts to spend time with full riders, shadowing them on duties.
• Transport duties, taking first goods then people to points outside of the Weyrhold.
• Hunting for younger weryrlings or for Weyrhold's human population.

Sevendays 29 - 32

Training:

• Continued aerial drills.
• Drills with full weyrling wing.
• "Blooding": flying for first time in the Weyrling Wing to deliver sacks of firestone during Threadfall or live-fire drills.

Classes:

• Responsibilities of dragonriders.
• Etiquette toward those outside the Weyrhold.

Duties:

• Each weryling is paired with a full-rider mentor to shadow and ask questions.

After the Blooding, those weyrlings age 16 and older are graduated to full rider status and placed in fighting wings. Those under 16 become junior riders assigned to the Weyrlingmaster's staff until they turn 16. Regardless of their age, all weyrlings in a class are usually allowed to participate in their class' Blooding, but the final decision rests with the Weyrlingmaster 1st, who has the power to hold back any weyrling who isn't progressing in step with his / her classmates. The safety of the weyrling pair is, as always, the Weyrlingmaster's first priority.

IC dates for Class ZS-1

IC dates for Class RO-1

Notice:
The reference sources for this page include "The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern" by Jody Lynn Nye & Todd Johnson, and the Dragonriders of Pern® series of books by Anne McCaffrey.

Those items on this page specific to Rocky Crater Weyrhold are copyright © 2002 Vickie DiSanto & Rocky Crater Weyrhold's BoD, reuse of this webpage without the permission of its authors is strictly forbidden.