Unique Traits of Pernese Dragons

[Zen]

Physical

• They come in five standard colors: gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green.
  
  
• White is an extremely rare (and unhealthy) mutation which cannot hatch without aid - over the course of Pern's history, it's likely that the mutation occurred more than once, but that the eggs were discarded because none of the hatchlings inside a) survived to hatching time and b) were telepathically strong enough to locate a suitable partner despite the eggshell and call for aid. Ruth, of The White Dragon, was the first to hatch and grow to adulthood, and is now something of a legend.
  
  
• Their large, faceted eyes change color according to their mood:
  
  

  Blue/Green - contentment, happiness, calm
  Red - hunger, anger, or mating lust
  Yellow - fear
  Orange - uncertainty, suspicion, irritation
  Lavender/purple - worry, stress and sadness
  White - danger
  Grey - illness/pain
  

  
  
• They are capable of a wide variety of vocalizations, which also vary according to mood:
  

  
  Bellow - Alarm, irritation or attention call.
  Bugle - Joy, triumph, happiness, challenge (rising/chasing) or greeting.
  Croon - Pleasure, reassurance or apology.
  Growl - Warning, anger.
  Humming - A sound made by all the dragons of a weyr when eggs are hatching/about to hatch.
  Keen - Mournful sound signifying death. Also often made in chorus, to mourn the death of another dragon.
  Moan - Sound of distress or anxiety.
  Roar - Anger, confusion or pain.
  Rumble - Amusement, happiness. Like laughing.
  Trill - Curiosity, pleasure, enjoyment or satisfaction.
  Wail - Sadness or worry.
  Warble - Self satisfaction or gratitude.
  
  [Modified from key at Avangelis]

  
  
• When they're sick or dying, their hide takes on a grayish hue.
  
  
• When shocked or frightened, it can "flush in mottled spots". (Dragonseye, p9)
  
  
• In the days and hours before they rise to mate, the hide of female dragons will become so bright as to take on almost a glow.
  
  
• They have knobs on the backs of their heads which enhance their ability to communicate telepathically.
  
  
• Their back ridges stop low down on the base of the neck and begin again past the wings.
  
  
• Their reproductive and excretory organs are located at the base of their forked tail.
  
  
• Generally, the smaller the dragon, the more agility and speed it has in flight, but the less endurance.
  
  
• All dragons must obey a direct order from a higher color: it's something programmed into them genetically. There's no such thing as a "rebellious" dragon - at least, a rebellious dragon that could do anything more than obey when ordered and then sulk about it later, in private. All dragons will always obey a direct order from a Gold; Browns, Blues, and Greens will always obey a direct order from a Bronze; Blues and Greens will obey a direct order from a Brown.
  
  
• The way we play it, you can get dragons with *ahem* slightly difficult personalities, but they will never attack a human being unless they feel their rider is being mortally threatened, they're protecting eggs, or they've just newly hatched and haven't Impressed yet. The odd dragon might look at you like it wouldn't mind taking your arm off, but unlike a badly trained watchwher or a wild feline, it will never actually do so without one of the afore-mentioned justifications. Really.

Mental

• They communicate with their riders and with other dragons telepathically.
  
  
• In this AU version of Pern, they do not possess telekinetic abilities (that is, the ability to move things with their mind) .
  
  
• Pernese dragons can't remember anything specific that happened more than three days ago on their own. If they decide they want to know what happened in the past, they have to depend on accessing their rider's memories - and most of time the rider will be aware that they're doing so.
  
  
• They don't fall dramatically in love, so to speak, at least the way people do. They may bond strongly with a member of the opposite sex over the long term, but if another dragon wins their next mating flight they can easily replace them, and not give the matter a second thought. Long term monogamy, like we see in the books with Ramoth and Mnemeth or Zaranth and Golanth, is not the rule.
  
  
• While they're capable of learning knee-jerk responses and physical maneuvers like those which are drilled into them in training, constant practice and reminders from their riders are required to keep their developed skills sharp.
  
  
• They're not good at connecting one seemingly unrelated event to another on their own, having "gaps in their ability to correlate cause and effect" (DE9). For example, in Dragonseye, blue Ormonth sees his rider P'tero reinforcing their safety straps before performing a dangerous stunt, but is still terrifed when his rider actually performs the stunt in public - because he never connected Ptero having reinforced gear to P'tero actually being safer from harm when he jumped into thin air for show (the straps were meant to catch him in the event his stunt partner didn't).
  
  

  For a human: "Oh dear. I hope P'tero isn't going to be hurt during that stunt tommorrow." + "Oh, P'tero's reinforcing the safety straps." => "Yikes, there he goes. But the straps will catch him if he does fall and he'll be okay so I don't need to freak out."
  
  For Ormonth: "Oh, P'tero's reinforcing those stunt straps. How interesting." => "AHHHHHH! P'TERO JUST JUMPED OFF MY BACK! THAT'S NOT SAFE! WHAT IF HE DIES! *freakout* "

  
  
  All dragons are prone to this, even golds and bronzes. That's part of the reason they're so dependent on their riders, and why it's so important for the rider to take full responsibility for looking after them, reminding them of things and otherwise making sure they don't get into trouble or distressed over nothing.

When Roleplaying

So... how does this all relate to RP? Well, when playing your dragon, the three key things to remember are:

A) The memory issue.

B) The dragon's inborn obedience to those it recognizes as above it in the color hierarchy.

C) Their all-encompassing concern for their rider, even if that's hidden beneath layers of acerbic personality. Easiest way to send a dragon into complete and utter panic, even the most level-headed or seemingly self-centered one, is to threaten their lifemate.

Now, we tend towards anthropomorphizing our dragons - playing them with rather strong human personality traits, like being vain or even irritable - because it makes for simpler and more interesting interaction. We also don't adhere strictly to the color stereotypes all the time when profiles are written for hatchlings - aka, you may end up with a pretty clever brown or green. But what makes Pernese dragons unique are the mental traits as well as the physical ones, so the ideal is to try and write your character with a memorable personality which also makes an effort to take account of their unique, programmed instincts.