VI. Candidate Guidelines Following you can find every bit of information you'd ever want to know about a candidate. If you have any questions after you have carefully read through all the information, email the BoD who will get right to solving the question. Mac, who wrote this, got lots of her information from various sites around the net (all stuff is changed to fit Evenstar's canon but Mac had to get the idea from someone, didn't she?) If you type in "Pern Candidate" into any google search engine, you'll see the sites she looked at to get ideas. As soon as a gold dragon lays eggs on the hatching sands, the call goes out that a Weyr (or in our case, Weyrhold) needs candidates to stand and try to Impress the dragon's hatching from these eggs. Despite the fact that taking candidates from other weyrs and greatly looked down upon in the Pernese society, Evenstar has to take part in such an act-why? Because Evenstar is a tiny little place, and since it hasn't been around forever, it doesn't have many generations of children to pick from. So, our Searchriders go out and about almost everywhere in hopes of finding good candidates to stand.

Your Candidate1A. As for any other 'sona, do NOT make your candidate perfect. Every person on Terra has their weaknesses and strengths, just as every person on Pern should. Go ahead and make your boy the most handsome guy on all of Pern if you want-he just better have an absolutely snarky and nasty attitude to match. (Oh, but please don't make your 'sona "stunningly beautiful" or anything like that! It does get tiring having absolutely beautiful people everywhere you turn! Make your holder's chubby! Your drudges stumpy and wrinkly! Anything!) Anyway-it's much more fun to post and copost with a person who has faults than it is to post and copost with a person who's absolutely perfect and sees everything as "good" and can't get angry about anything. 1B. And your persona does NOT have to have an absolutely exciting history full of high adventure and terrible abuse. Some of the best sona out there have lived normal, boring lives, which goes to show that your persona doesn't have to become a pirate who was beaten by their uncle and narrowly became food for a watch wher, to be exciting. 2. While you are a candidate, you are allowed to "fool around." Just not...excessively (though some of our past candidates have had many, many relationships). Just be aware that after your candidate Impresses (if they do, anyway) they will face 3 Pern RP months (equal to 4.5 real months) without being able to do anything-and the 3 senior weyrling months after that they will be able to fool around but it is GREATLY FROWNED UPON. Which means they might be assigned chores if caught in the act-plus some dragons may not be up to the new emotions quite yet. Which would be dangerous for your then weyrling. 3. If your candidate must have a pet, please, please, please continue posting with the pet. Candidates can have any pet-feline, canine, runner, firelizard-but be aware that when/if your candidate Impresses, they will have to get rid of the runner (taking care of a growing dragon is hard enough without a runner on the side) and the pets might get lost in the shuffle. If you're just putting the pet in there to be able to say, "Ha ha! Liberaci has a bronze flit!" and then never write using said flit-just don't give Liberaci a pet! Anyway, you are wasting ten seconds of Mac's life making her put up a pet you are never using, shardit! 4. Candidates must be in tip-top health. Weyrling training is perilous, as is dragonriding in general. Being blind or lame would only make things harder and more dangerous for a rider and his dragon so people with handicaps are not allowed to stand. This includes both physical and mental handicaps-physical includes stuff such as being blind, deaf, lame, or even pregnant and mental includes schizophrenia or autism. Evenstar has allowed some mentally challenged Impress before, as well as some physically challanged, but these are very rare and should be treated as such-if you want your candidate to Impress and they are different from the normal healthy candidate in any way, please ask the BoD permission before saying you'd like to Impress. Pern is going through rough times now which is why this is so-the dragonriders will pretty much take anyone who they can get into their ranks. 5. Candidates at Evenstar must be between the ages of 15 and 22. Your candidate CAN range in age from 12-23 (and sometimes beyond. If a searchdragon thinks a person is suitable and they are older than 23, then the person can stand if they want to. BUT ITS RARE) though they are more likely to Impress between the more common ages-but stranger things have happened. But be aware that if your candidate is a young 15 years old (IE: Just turned right before Impression) or younger than that, then they will have to stay in the weyrling wing doing small tasks like delivery duty until they turn 16 and can finally join a real wing. NO ONE under the age of 12 is allowed to stand! 6. Keep in mind that candidates are NOT highly ranked. In fact, candidates just barely eek out an existance above drudges/weyrbrats. They have constant lessons and constant chores and very little free time-in fact, free time on normal days is limited to mealtimes (though your candidate is likely to be starving and thus, spend their time eating) which lasts at _most_ a candlemark and a half (lunch is generally the longest, especially during the summer months when the heat is the worst) and at night after dinner and before lights out which gives them a maximum of three candlemarks a day. On restdays, everyone generally gets the day off, though some chores still must be done. 7. Chores are many for the candidates. The worst are latrines, and those are given to whomever breaks the rules of the day. The rest consist of: dish washing, floor scrubbing/mopping, helping the cook, laundry, sand raking, grounds keeping (we live on the eastern islands and the dragons make sure to char thread so we DO have plants.), cleaning barracks/break rooms, furniture/silverware polishing, food serving, glow switching, sconce filling. And the very lucky (in some cases, anyway) candidates will sometimes get to help in firestone breaking and dragon washing/oiling! 8. Candidates not only have chores to do, they also have lessons to attend. Three each day, in fact. The first one is generally a harper lesson, where they will continue (or start in some cases begin) their general education and learn how to read/write and perform simple arithmetic. The second is a candidate lesson, where they will learn what to do during the hatching, how to prepare for it, how to care for their newly hatched dragon (since they won't be paying much attention when/if they do Impress) and will be receiving some general information about dragons with a few guest speakers. The third lesson is optional and is the craft lesson, where, if a candidate had a prior craft before being searched, they will be able to continue so that if they do not Impress they will be able to go back to crafting. Your Candidate's Schedule 6 candlemark (6AM): Wake Up (Candidate must quickly get dressed/use the latrines/get washed) 6.5 clm (6:30AM): Breakfast! 7 clm (7AM): Chore Numero 1 (A "small chore." Generally whole group just helps clean up dining hall.) 8.5 clm (8:30AM): Harper Lesson 10 clm (10AM): Chore Numero 2 (Another "small chore." This one has the candidates helping those higher ranked then themselves.) 11.5 clm (11:30AM): Lunch! 13 clm (1PM): Candidate Lesson 14.5 clm (2:30PM): Chore Numero 3 (Normally the "Big Chore" of the day, like: floor scrubbing, laundry, latrine duty) 17 clm (5PM): Craft Lesson/Extra Chores for Anyone Without Craft 18.5 clm (6:30PM): Dinner! 19.5 clm (7:30 PM): FREE TIME! At last! 21.5 clm (9:30 PM): Roll call, questions asked/answered of Headwoman, get ready for bed 22 clm (10PM): Bed Time/Lights Out Generally, if the headwoman is feeling generous (And Sianna is generally nice) she'll allow the candidates an afternoon or two off (barring craft lessons) every sevenday, which would basically just cut off everything after lunch (EXCEPT bed time and craft lessons) and give the candidates more free time.