Post by Omnia Munda on May 27, 2008 14:17:30 GMT -8
In the sixth interval, animals on Pern are generally used for meat, toil or both. People do not keep 'pets,' and as such we do not include them in the character profile template. To the average Pernese person, whether at a Weyr, a Hold or a crafthall, any animal other than a dragon is labor or food. Few animals have names (runnerbeasts bred for racing being the major exception) and the death of an animal is not a particularly significant event. They are bred and valued for traits that make them better food or laborers, not their personalities.
Among the Caminar, animals hold slightly more significance as individuals. Because any given caravan has only a few animals, those specifically needed for that caravan's tasks and purposes, it's much more common that animals bear names. A caravan's dependence on its animals (on draftbeasts to draw a wagon, or on dogs as guards against holdless highwaymen, for example) also means that Caminar who keep animals place greater significance upon them than do the average Pernese. This doesn't elevate them to personhood, however. Animals are still creatures with tasks - not friends or family members. Someone who lets their dog sleep in the wagon or who finds solace in the brown eyes of their draftbeast is considered to need more human company when they travel.
Animals are listed here in rough order of size from largest to smallest. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but an introduction to the animals most commonly encountered on Pern.
Whers
Whers are smaller, flightless, photophobic (light-loathing) cousins of dragons, and this heritage is obvious in their physique. They are known for their mean tempers and fiercely territorial behavior, making them good guards so long as the place they're guarding is the place they live. Whers are not used for meat (they're tough and non-nutritive to humans), but their hide makes a thick leather used for shoes, boots, chaps for dragonriders, caps, purses and more - think of the uses of alligator-leather for examples. The handling and breeding of whers is a skilled trade, but whers do not impress to humans like dragons do. They are not very intelligent, but can receive a dragon's mental contact and will tend to obey a dragon's command - if they understand what is asked of them.
Herdbeasts
'Herdbeast' is a vague term: often used to describe specifically cattle (bovines), it's also used for any domesticated herd animal on Pern. All of these animals are ungulates, and most resemble the Terran animals from which they're descended. They are adapted to the boron-based environment and provide nutrition for both dragon and human.
The Pernese bovine, the creature most people think of first when they think of 'herdbeast,' is descended from Terran cows, though the term 'cow' is used on Pern only to refer to a mature female of these shaggy animals that equally resemble cows and oxen. As the largest ungulate on Pern, bovines provide the vast majority of meat in most dragons' diets, though they make good eating for humans, too, and their milk is used for children to drink and for cooking. Their hide is widely used for leather for shoes, boots, dragonrider 'leathers,' tack and other purposes.
Llamas are used in the desert for the same purposes as bovines - meat and milk - and an Igen dragon might get a large percentage of its meat from these heavy-coated, irritable-of-temper creatures. Llamas are a little more versatile, however: llama hair can be used to make a rough felt or fine spun wool; they can be used as beasts of burden and to pull carts; and they can even be compelled to race.
Pern also boasts sheep and goats. Pernese goats are fine-haired and suited better to hot, humid climates where sheep don't thrive, as well as being better climbers and more comfortable in mountainous terrain (where some herds of goats have reverted to the wild). Otherwise the sheep is more commonly kept due to its advantage in providing wool. Both animals are used for milk, especially for making cheese, and for meat.
Runners
Runners are bred in three varieties: the draftbeast that pulls plow and wagon and performs other heavy labor; the standard 'runnerbeast' used to pull smaller carts and for utilitarian riding; and the racing runnerbeast (also called a 'runner' or runnerbeast) bred for speed only and only by the staff of Lords Holder of sufficient financial means to supply such animals for the purpose of races. Races are attended by the wealthy and upper classes, who often gamble on the outcomes. Racing is not a common sport in Telgar's coverage, though it is very popular elsewhere, especially near Fort Hold and Keroon.
Runnerbeasts are more temperamental, shorter and bonier along the spine than the Earth horses from which they descend, and are much less pleasant to ride; a saddle is obligatory for most purposes. Draftbeasts are broad and muscular and poorly suited for riding, but less mean-tempered than other runners.
Porcines
Also known as hogs, swine, and pigs, porcines were brought to Pern as meat and to assist in recycling. They still serve in both ways, though they are not as ubiquitous at Holds and cotholds as they might have been if they were better adapted to the Pernese environment. The record-setting bacon hogs of Earth are no longer: pigs max out at around a hundred pounds. Additionally, small wild swine (tusked males topping out at forty pounds) roam the jungles of Ista Island and are imported to wealthy Holds elsewhere for hunting.
Canines
Canines, also called 'dogs' and descended from the Terran creature of the same name, are used for a wide variety of purposes across Pern. Use varies culturally, from the bulky guard dogs valued by Holders around Fort to the smaller animals bred for meat in the Igen desert. Two main kinds of dogs exist on Pern: feists and curs.
Feists are used to control vermin and, in packs, to flush small game like wild wherry or stoat; such packs are almost solely owned by Lords wealthy enough to hunt for sport. Territorial and loyal, feists can be used as guard dogs, though this is not where they shine. They have a thick, usually wired coat and a profile we'd consider 'terrier-like,' and range from 10 to 30 pounds.
Curs vary from 35 to 80 pounds and are used for heavier work. Among the curs are found thick, compact guard dogs; bigger, thick-coated and muscular draft dogs that pull small carts or sleds; lean, prick-eared herding dogs; and the long-legged, fine-coated dogs of the desert. The curs' profile varies from houndish to herding, though long ears are less common than merely folded ones and only cold-weather herders and draft dogs have long-haired coats.
Wolves, coyotes and other canids do not exist on Pern.
Wherries
Wherries come in two kinds: wild and domesticated. Pernese don't know it now, but a stock of wild wherries was once adapted genetically to provide carbon-based meat and eggs (rather than the boron-based Pernese default). These animals are the basis of the domestic wherry that provides the stewpot meat and morning breakfast egg for most people on Pern. They eat bugs, small tunnelsnakes and other vermin as well as scraps from the kitchen.
Wild wherries are foul-tempered in the extreme, aggressive and territorial, and will attack animals that outsize them considerably (like dogs) with talon and beak - sometimes winning. They eat any meat or carrion they can get.
Felines
It is currently known that felines exist on the Southern Continent. They are a thing of legend and myth, associated in ways most people don't understand with the plague and Moreta's deadly ride.
Avians
Pern boasts two true avians descended from Earth animals: the chicken and the goose. They are both treated as 'special occasion' meats for the wealthy, as well as providers of daily eggs for well-off Holds. Pernese chickens are just as unintelligent and lacking in personality as Terran ones, though Pernese chickens come in fewer sizes and colors: most are brown or golden-brown in color, weighing five to seven pounds, and produce brown-shelled eggs. Geese are larger (20 to 30 pounds), typically white or brown and white, and produce a large white or speckled white egg.
Tunnelsnakes, Vermin and Other Critters
Tunnelsnakes are the most famous of Pern's native vermin, due to their mean fangs and dragonesque build. Wild weasels are occasionally encountered. Vtols, spinners, crawlers and a variety of smaller 'bugs' also abound, serving roughly the same ecological purposes they do on Earth.
Among the Caminar, animals hold slightly more significance as individuals. Because any given caravan has only a few animals, those specifically needed for that caravan's tasks and purposes, it's much more common that animals bear names. A caravan's dependence on its animals (on draftbeasts to draw a wagon, or on dogs as guards against holdless highwaymen, for example) also means that Caminar who keep animals place greater significance upon them than do the average Pernese. This doesn't elevate them to personhood, however. Animals are still creatures with tasks - not friends or family members. Someone who lets their dog sleep in the wagon or who finds solace in the brown eyes of their draftbeast is considered to need more human company when they travel.
Animals are listed here in rough order of size from largest to smallest. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but an introduction to the animals most commonly encountered on Pern.
Whers
Whers are smaller, flightless, photophobic (light-loathing) cousins of dragons, and this heritage is obvious in their physique. They are known for their mean tempers and fiercely territorial behavior, making them good guards so long as the place they're guarding is the place they live. Whers are not used for meat (they're tough and non-nutritive to humans), but their hide makes a thick leather used for shoes, boots, chaps for dragonriders, caps, purses and more - think of the uses of alligator-leather for examples. The handling and breeding of whers is a skilled trade, but whers do not impress to humans like dragons do. They are not very intelligent, but can receive a dragon's mental contact and will tend to obey a dragon's command - if they understand what is asked of them.
Herdbeasts
'Herdbeast' is a vague term: often used to describe specifically cattle (bovines), it's also used for any domesticated herd animal on Pern. All of these animals are ungulates, and most resemble the Terran animals from which they're descended. They are adapted to the boron-based environment and provide nutrition for both dragon and human.
The Pernese bovine, the creature most people think of first when they think of 'herdbeast,' is descended from Terran cows, though the term 'cow' is used on Pern only to refer to a mature female of these shaggy animals that equally resemble cows and oxen. As the largest ungulate on Pern, bovines provide the vast majority of meat in most dragons' diets, though they make good eating for humans, too, and their milk is used for children to drink and for cooking. Their hide is widely used for leather for shoes, boots, dragonrider 'leathers,' tack and other purposes.
Llamas are used in the desert for the same purposes as bovines - meat and milk - and an Igen dragon might get a large percentage of its meat from these heavy-coated, irritable-of-temper creatures. Llamas are a little more versatile, however: llama hair can be used to make a rough felt or fine spun wool; they can be used as beasts of burden and to pull carts; and they can even be compelled to race.
Pern also boasts sheep and goats. Pernese goats are fine-haired and suited better to hot, humid climates where sheep don't thrive, as well as being better climbers and more comfortable in mountainous terrain (where some herds of goats have reverted to the wild). Otherwise the sheep is more commonly kept due to its advantage in providing wool. Both animals are used for milk, especially for making cheese, and for meat.
Runners
Runners are bred in three varieties: the draftbeast that pulls plow and wagon and performs other heavy labor; the standard 'runnerbeast' used to pull smaller carts and for utilitarian riding; and the racing runnerbeast (also called a 'runner' or runnerbeast) bred for speed only and only by the staff of Lords Holder of sufficient financial means to supply such animals for the purpose of races. Races are attended by the wealthy and upper classes, who often gamble on the outcomes. Racing is not a common sport in Telgar's coverage, though it is very popular elsewhere, especially near Fort Hold and Keroon.
Runnerbeasts are more temperamental, shorter and bonier along the spine than the Earth horses from which they descend, and are much less pleasant to ride; a saddle is obligatory for most purposes. Draftbeasts are broad and muscular and poorly suited for riding, but less mean-tempered than other runners.
Porcines
Also known as hogs, swine, and pigs, porcines were brought to Pern as meat and to assist in recycling. They still serve in both ways, though they are not as ubiquitous at Holds and cotholds as they might have been if they were better adapted to the Pernese environment. The record-setting bacon hogs of Earth are no longer: pigs max out at around a hundred pounds. Additionally, small wild swine (tusked males topping out at forty pounds) roam the jungles of Ista Island and are imported to wealthy Holds elsewhere for hunting.
Canines
Canines, also called 'dogs' and descended from the Terran creature of the same name, are used for a wide variety of purposes across Pern. Use varies culturally, from the bulky guard dogs valued by Holders around Fort to the smaller animals bred for meat in the Igen desert. Two main kinds of dogs exist on Pern: feists and curs.
Feists are used to control vermin and, in packs, to flush small game like wild wherry or stoat; such packs are almost solely owned by Lords wealthy enough to hunt for sport. Territorial and loyal, feists can be used as guard dogs, though this is not where they shine. They have a thick, usually wired coat and a profile we'd consider 'terrier-like,' and range from 10 to 30 pounds.
Curs vary from 35 to 80 pounds and are used for heavier work. Among the curs are found thick, compact guard dogs; bigger, thick-coated and muscular draft dogs that pull small carts or sleds; lean, prick-eared herding dogs; and the long-legged, fine-coated dogs of the desert. The curs' profile varies from houndish to herding, though long ears are less common than merely folded ones and only cold-weather herders and draft dogs have long-haired coats.
Wolves, coyotes and other canids do not exist on Pern.
Wherries
Wherries come in two kinds: wild and domesticated. Pernese don't know it now, but a stock of wild wherries was once adapted genetically to provide carbon-based meat and eggs (rather than the boron-based Pernese default). These animals are the basis of the domestic wherry that provides the stewpot meat and morning breakfast egg for most people on Pern. They eat bugs, small tunnelsnakes and other vermin as well as scraps from the kitchen.
Wild wherries are foul-tempered in the extreme, aggressive and territorial, and will attack animals that outsize them considerably (like dogs) with talon and beak - sometimes winning. They eat any meat or carrion they can get.
Felines
It is currently known that felines exist on the Southern Continent. They are a thing of legend and myth, associated in ways most people don't understand with the plague and Moreta's deadly ride.
Avians
Pern boasts two true avians descended from Earth animals: the chicken and the goose. They are both treated as 'special occasion' meats for the wealthy, as well as providers of daily eggs for well-off Holds. Pernese chickens are just as unintelligent and lacking in personality as Terran ones, though Pernese chickens come in fewer sizes and colors: most are brown or golden-brown in color, weighing five to seven pounds, and produce brown-shelled eggs. Geese are larger (20 to 30 pounds), typically white or brown and white, and produce a large white or speckled white egg.
Tunnelsnakes, Vermin and Other Critters
Tunnelsnakes are the most famous of Pern's native vermin, due to their mean fangs and dragonesque build. Wild weasels are occasionally encountered. Vtols, spinners, crawlers and a variety of smaller 'bugs' also abound, serving roughly the same ecological purposes they do on Earth.