Difference between revisions of "Mating Flights"

Stand-Ins

A Stand-In is when the winner of a mating flight does not sleep with the female dragon's rider and instead sleeps with another person of their choice.

Club policy discourages stand-ins. It's too hard to organize, especially if all involved are dragonriders. At the end of a flight, there's no real rider control over the emotions (despite us liking to imply it in coposts). Even bronzeriders aren't against a little time with a male greenrider if they're weyrbred.

This is NOT 21st Century Earth. Please don't give your riders, particularly WEYRBRED ones, Terran Bible Belt morals in dealing with sex.

Gold Flights

When are they scheduled? How will I know?

You will be told by the council about the dates of your gold dragon's flight.

The Flight, Clutching and Hatching posts are the responsibility of the gold rider.

Junior Goldriders may choose any brown or bronze rider above the age of TWO Turns to win their Flight. Younger than two Turns is considered a botched Flight and a disaster for a Weyr. A Flight in which a younger brown or bronze wins must have the L1's and Council's approval.

The winner of Senior Gold Flights are determined by the L1 and L2 of the location. The Council will need to be notified if there will be a change of leadership. In which case, the Council will decide who the next Weyrleader will be.

Gold Riders should send the clutch numbers and composition to the council for approval. An Impression list will also go to the council for approval

See Also: When are upcoming Hatchings?

Green Flights

Green dragons rise every few Pern months. The Triad Calendar shows when Green Flights are, and your persona's sheet shows when their next upcoming flight will be. Flights are added to the Calendar by the Area Managers.

Green flight posting is not required. Some people chose to post about only significant flights--a dragon's first one, or an important one. Some people post about the aftermath of the flight. In the end, it is up to you as the author to decide how you want to handle it.

Effects of Flights

When a dragon rises to mate, they transmit their lust through their psychic connection with their rider as well as to other humans and animals over a rather large range. All those in the direct path of the Flight will experience some of the second hand effects. Some at the Weyr choose to give themselves over to the feelings a flight will create, while most others in the Weyr choose to tune them out, a practice learned out of almost daily exposure.

Those born outside of the Weyr might have a bit harder time at first. The feelings invoked can be potent, though not overwhelming, and it is up to you whether or not they choose to give themselves over to them. Inexperienced, innocent youth especially have trouble understanding, and therefore controlling the powerful impulses the Flight creates and may find themselves in humiliating or even shameful situations as a result.

So, some general rules of thumb:

• Your Weyrbred personas who are not bound to a dragon taking part in the Flight will only notice the Flight lust if they want to. The rest of the time, even with gold flights, they can learn to ignore it. It is not overpowering and it is a common enough occurance in the Weyr that it would be largely ignored.

• Your Holdbred personas who are not familiar with Flight lust will have a stronger reaction, but it will not completely take them over and make them lose all their Hold-bred sensibilities.

• Young and innocent Hold-bred personas might react more strongly and the results can be embarrassing - just think of an adolescent with an insane hormone rush and use that as a guide.

• Your persona, whether weyrbred or hold-bred, will NOT lose themselves completely under the influence of the Flight lust. They will not go crazy and rape someone, they will not expose themselves for the first time as homosexuals, they will not grab the first willing woman they see and pull them off into a room, etc. UNLESS they are already inclined or predisposed to do so. In other words, they will still have a sense of right and wrong and whether or not they give in to temptation is their choice. So, bear in mind that they will be held responsible for their actions once the moment has passed.

If you have any questions, please ask your mentor or the Council for clarification.

Deciding the Winner

Greenriders have no stipulation over who can win their dragon's flight. Blues will not chase in a gold flight, but have the advantage of speed in a green flight. Blues are more likely to win a green than a much more bulky bronze, especially if she is a wily older green. Junior goldriders are encouraged to consider browns to win their dragon's flight, or younger bronzes. Ranking bronzeriders (particularly ones such as the Weyrleader or a bronze already mated to another gold) are to be avoided by junior goldriders in selecting a winner.

Injured Dragons

If a rider is too injured to deal with a mating flight, her dragon will likely be thrown off her cycle.

Pregnancies During Flights

Will my rider's dragon rise if she is pregnant?

General theory for Triad is this (using the timewarp of 6 month pregnancy):

Months 1-2 is the equivalent to the Earth "first trimester". Morning sickness, etc, but no affect on the dragon other than the mom-to-be moving from her regular wing to Queens or Weyrlings. Risk of miscarriage is high, therefore /betweening/ can lead to pregnancy termination.

Months 3-4 is the equivalent to "second trimester". A woman can /between/ safely during this trimester, although she needs to keep such trips to a bare minimum. Mating flights by a dragon wouldn't harm her or the baby (some women on Earth report a very much increased sex-drive during the 2nd trimester due to the hormone changes and lack of morning sickness or fear of pregnancy).

Months 5-6 is the equivalent to "last trimester". /Betweening/ is forbidden mostly during this trimester b/c the woman's body is too awkward due to the baby's growth, and climbing on-off the dragon is dangerous (falling risk, etc). The last month (m 6) is when /betweening/ becomes a danger in inducing early labor, although it could be a factor in m5 if an emergency required a woman to /between/ after hoisting her round self up a dragon.

Mating flights in the last part of pregnancy would taper off. The reason?

Sex can induce early labor. Semen contains prostaglandins, which ripens the cervix (the cervix has to ripen (dilate) for the baby to arrive). Orgasms also induce uterine contractions due to hormones released. This is something you can see in most Natural Childbirth sites for inducing labor naturally.

A dragon, so completely in tune with her rider's body that serious injury or illness can affect the rising schedule, would sense this,late pregnancy as being stressful on her rider's body.

So a dragon would rise normally until late Month 5 of pregnancy (think month 8 of Earth pregnancy). Flights would probably resume within a month or so of birth for a natural birth.

If the flight list plops your female rider into a flight during Month 6 of her pregnancy, just let Flight List Organizer know and they'll reschedule for later.