Master Life at the Harper Hall
Contents
About Master Harpers
A harper who reaches the rank of Master will have had a minimum of eighteen turns of experience and study in the craft. He will be trained and competent in all areas of harpering, but will also have spent the past several turns concentrating on one of the specialties, and be regarded as one of the craft experts.
Duties of Master Harpers
Each master has been entrusted with generations of accumulated knowledge of his own specialization, and is expected to pass it along to others of the craft. Although a master may teach a class or two, he is more likely to supervise journeyman teachers in his specialization, or to work with small groups of apprentices or journeymen. He must also devote time to furthering craft knowledge, and recording his finds for future generations. In addition, masters are expected to familiarize themselves with the skills of the apprentices and journeymen with whom they come in contact. With this knowledge, the master can make a fair appraisal of each harper's readiness for advancement, and make his recommendation accordingly.
Masters are also assigned to live away from the Harper Hall. Each Weyr and major Hold has its own Master, who supervises the journeyfolk and apprentices at that site. However, masters living away from the Hall are still answerable to the Hallmaster.
Harper Hall Leadership for Masters
Any Master may administer punishment to a deserving journeyman or apprentice, but no master outranks another. There is one exception to this: the Hallmaster. No matter his age or his turns of experience, a Master is answerable to the Hallmaster. The Hallsecond and Master of Apprentices may be masters or journeymen, but still enjoy all privileges of mastery, and cannot be overruled by another Master.
Living Arrangements for Master Harpers
Some accomodations are set aside for masters living within the Hall. The Hallmaster, Hallsecond, and Master of Apprentices are each awarded a suite of rooms, in addition to office space. Five other masters can be accommodated within the Hall, living in single rooms with private bathing facilities. Married masters usually choose to live in one of the cots near the Hall.
