Post by Dizzy on Jun 19, 2006 19:19:23 GMT -5
Whers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wher
'Whers are dragon-like creatures in the fantasy series Dragonriders of Pern. In comparasion to the majestic dragons that were the end result of Kitti Ping's genetic experimentation, whers or watch-whers, as they are sometimes called, are deformed and stunted. They were designed by Wind Blossom in an attempt to further her grandmother's work.
Nocturnal because of their lamp-like reflective eyes, these creatures have a terrific sense of smell and are sometimes used in mines to find "bad air." Thick scaled hides protect them from the harmful elements. Each of their feet has four gnarled digits on it. Like their fire-lizard and dragon cousins, whers have jewel-like eyes. Their smoothed out eyes swirl with colors that reflect their emotions. As with Pernese dragons, whers come in five colors - gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green. The golds and greens are females, and clutch eggs. Bronzes, browns, and blues are male. Whers can fly, but only at night when the air is thicker to allow their weaker wings that extra lift. Dragons are usually sympathetic to their more simple-minded cousins and will often attempt to speak with them.
At birth, whers can Impress on a single trainer and can recognize when that person is in danger. However, their choice of who to Impress is usually closer to fire-lizards, in that they look for whomever has food available. That is unlike dragons, who choose the best personality that fits them. Once bonded, the whers will do everything in their power to protect that person, as in Dragon's Kin. In that novel, the wher, Dask, gave his life for his handler. Whers bond on the deep telepathic level to their handlers as dragons do to their lifemates. A wher handler will only have one wher at a time. Bonded whers tend to be more intelligent than their non-bonded cousins, being able to learn and comprehend everything more easily when they are connected to the human mind.
However, unlike dragons, whers do not have to Impress. They can live their life without the bond that is so essential to their cousins. These wild whers tend to be untrustworthy, unreliable, vicious animals,. Without a human there, the wher hatchlings will leave their mother and go wild.
In an effort to produce more dragons after her grandmother's death, Wind Blossom Ping also attempted to use the Eridani equations on dragonet genetic material. However, she did not have the same grasp of genetics as Kitti Ping, and the results of her tinkering were not totally successful. What hatched from the eggs she engineered looked like ugly, malformed dragons, and were dubbed "whers." Their wings were stumpy pinions that looked functional but were not. There were smooth-skinned and colored like dragons, but that was almost the only point of resemblance. When full-grown, whers weighed between six and eight hundred pounds, about the size of a small, low-slung horse. Their feet were arranged with two claws, and a single pad supported the body weight; in spite of such bad design, they could move with surprising speed. Whers were Impressable, and they adored their human mates with the same devotion and empathy as dragons did. They were also very territorial and, if not properly introduced, would kill anyone they believed was invading their home. As a result of Wind Blossom's attempt to smooth out the natural faceting of the eyes, their eyes had malformed lenses with countless little facets that aimed light directly back into the fovea like a magnifying glass. Whers were photophobic and had poor focal length, but they were effective guardians at night, able to see even in total darkness. Their senses of smell and hearing were as keen as their night vision. They were not as intelligent as dragons, but they could serve a purpose. And they bred true. Whers are solitary and antisocial. If a female hatches eggs away from a human habitation, the young return to the wild. They avoid encounters during the day, but they will kill if disturbed at night. Only a few eggs of each laying mature to hatch.
From The Dragonlover's guide to Pern, Second edition, by Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wher
'Whers are dragon-like creatures in the fantasy series Dragonriders of Pern. In comparasion to the majestic dragons that were the end result of Kitti Ping's genetic experimentation, whers or watch-whers, as they are sometimes called, are deformed and stunted. They were designed by Wind Blossom in an attempt to further her grandmother's work.
Nocturnal because of their lamp-like reflective eyes, these creatures have a terrific sense of smell and are sometimes used in mines to find "bad air." Thick scaled hides protect them from the harmful elements. Each of their feet has four gnarled digits on it. Like their fire-lizard and dragon cousins, whers have jewel-like eyes. Their smoothed out eyes swirl with colors that reflect their emotions. As with Pernese dragons, whers come in five colors - gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green. The golds and greens are females, and clutch eggs. Bronzes, browns, and blues are male. Whers can fly, but only at night when the air is thicker to allow their weaker wings that extra lift. Dragons are usually sympathetic to their more simple-minded cousins and will often attempt to speak with them.
At birth, whers can Impress on a single trainer and can recognize when that person is in danger. However, their choice of who to Impress is usually closer to fire-lizards, in that they look for whomever has food available. That is unlike dragons, who choose the best personality that fits them. Once bonded, the whers will do everything in their power to protect that person, as in Dragon's Kin. In that novel, the wher, Dask, gave his life for his handler. Whers bond on the deep telepathic level to their handlers as dragons do to their lifemates. A wher handler will only have one wher at a time. Bonded whers tend to be more intelligent than their non-bonded cousins, being able to learn and comprehend everything more easily when they are connected to the human mind.
However, unlike dragons, whers do not have to Impress. They can live their life without the bond that is so essential to their cousins. These wild whers tend to be untrustworthy, unreliable, vicious animals,. Without a human there, the wher hatchlings will leave their mother and go wild.
In an effort to produce more dragons after her grandmother's death, Wind Blossom Ping also attempted to use the Eridani equations on dragonet genetic material. However, she did not have the same grasp of genetics as Kitti Ping, and the results of her tinkering were not totally successful. What hatched from the eggs she engineered looked like ugly, malformed dragons, and were dubbed "whers." Their wings were stumpy pinions that looked functional but were not. There were smooth-skinned and colored like dragons, but that was almost the only point of resemblance. When full-grown, whers weighed between six and eight hundred pounds, about the size of a small, low-slung horse. Their feet were arranged with two claws, and a single pad supported the body weight; in spite of such bad design, they could move with surprising speed. Whers were Impressable, and they adored their human mates with the same devotion and empathy as dragons did. They were also very territorial and, if not properly introduced, would kill anyone they believed was invading their home. As a result of Wind Blossom's attempt to smooth out the natural faceting of the eyes, their eyes had malformed lenses with countless little facets that aimed light directly back into the fovea like a magnifying glass. Whers were photophobic and had poor focal length, but they were effective guardians at night, able to see even in total darkness. Their senses of smell and hearing were as keen as their night vision. They were not as intelligent as dragons, but they could serve a purpose. And they bred true. Whers are solitary and antisocial. If a female hatches eggs away from a human habitation, the young return to the wild. They avoid encounters during the day, but they will kill if disturbed at night. Only a few eggs of each laying mature to hatch.
From The Dragonlover's guide to Pern, Second edition, by Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey
