Gold Applicants
From IstaWiki
Information For Those Interested in Impressing Gold
Impressing gold at Ista Weyr can be a challenging thing. If you've applied before at Ista or at other Weyrs, it's possible that you already have some idea what this document contains, but we still recommend that you read it, just in case there's some nuance to things you're not familiar with.
At Ista Weyr, a goldrider is a guaranteed admin position. Whether you eventually succeed to the role of Senior Weyrwoman or you simply remain Junior Weyrwoman during your tenure as a goldrider with us, you will be expected to take on certain admin duties. We do not believe in the notion of an RP-only goldrider character right out of weyrlinghood because of the strong ties between the canon and the responsibilities tied to the rank in the books. The only RP-only goldriders are those who have idled out enough to be removed from the PC clutch rotation or who have already served and cannot serve again due to RL.
We also want to stress that while golds at Ista are expected to complete many of the OOC admin tasks at the Weyr, that doesn't mean they suddenly don't get to RP. While they may have less time to RP than the average rider without any admin duties, there is still always time to RP and continue developing their character.
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Ranks and Responsibilities
At Ista, goldriders have four ranks or listings on the +knot roster:
- Senior Weyrwoman - The overall leader of the Weyr, both ICly and OOCly, 'wingleader' of Twilight Wing unless her queen is clutching. She determines the PC clutch cycle rotation and chooses the Weyrleader, leads the Search Committee, serves on the Weyr Council, and makes sure everything else that is needed to keep the Weyr OOCly afloat is done or delegated to responsible parties. Ista's current Senior Weyrwoman is Kyrola, Zaith's rider.
- Junior Weyrwoman - The backup Weyrwoman if the Senior isn't available, both ICly and OOCly. The Junior Weyrwomen take turns leading Twilight Wing when the Senior's queen is clutching, and they also handle a lot of the records-work that is part and parcel of any goldrider's life at a Weyr. The Juniors may serve as observers on the Weyr Council or may cast one of Ista's two votes if needed by the Senior. Juniors should make it their business to take a leadership role over some aspect of the Weyr's business, such as the code on the builder, this wiki, etc., and should be familiar with how the hatching code works. Junior Weyrwomen are part of the PC clutch rotation and are first in line to take the Senior position if the current Senior has to step aside for whatever reason. Juniors may also be former Seniors who want to remain in the PC clutch rotation but cannot commit the time required to be Senior. Ista Weyr currently has one Junior Weyrwoman, Miraen, Caeryth's rider.
- Goldrider - A former Senior or Junior Weyrwoman who has voluntarily removed themselves from any OOC admin business or was removed by the current Senior due to inactivity. Goldriders are pretty much RP-only characters, although their IC rank is still Junior Weyrwoman. This distinction is made for the benefit of players who are looking for those who are actually administrators of the Weyr. Goldriders may not serve on the Weyr Council except as an observer and are removed from the PC clutch rotation. A goldrider's player may always return to Junior and even Senior status if they wish, although they may not rejoin the PC clutch rotation until one month after their return, to ensure they maintain a suitable level of activity.
- Weyrling - A newly-Impressed goldrider pair, up until the time they are tapped to join Twilight Wing by the Senior Weyrwoman. A weyrling goldrider will never jump straight to Goldrider status, but will be expected to take on the role of Junior Weyrwoman and start helping out at the Weyr as soon as they're tapped officially. It's also very likely for the Senior to start giving the weyrling goldrider OOC stuff to do even before they're tapped, especially if there aren't any Junior Weyrwomen or not enough to handle all of the work. Ista Weyr currently does not have a weyrling goldrider, but might one when the upcoming clutch hatches.
Committing to Gold and to Ista
By adding gold to your list of choices of colors you're interested in, you're volunteering your services as an administrator and organizer to the Weyr. With browns, blues, and greens (setting aside bronze as female characters aren't eligible for them), any OOC work you put in is more of a choice than a requirement. For some people, this makes all the difference in the world. Riding gold at Ista Weyr and leading it requires a commitment to the game and to working with both the Weyr Council and the game wizards to ensure Ista is a vibrant community of good RPers. Sometimes, that will mean you will have to set aside your own RP time to help others with theirs. Impressing gold is more of a service role than a self-aggrandizing thing. Our golds are here to serve the OOC needs of the Weyr and make sure it remains healthy.
Of course, we're not going to ask and in fact highly recommend avoiding that you neglect your real life in favor of the Weyr. This is a game, and while you'd be committing to helping the game prosper, your real life is also important. We don't want you flunking out of school, getting fired, getting divorced, etc. because of this silly old place. At Ista, we want Weyrwomen who are able to juggle both real life and an online commitment. Some people can do it, others can't, and that's perfectly okay. If you're not sure you can make that kind of commitment, or if you think you might have time conflicts, then you might be happier with another sort of dragon or simply waiting for another gold to hatch. There's no shame in admitting that you don't have the time to commit to Ista on a gold dragon right now. In fact, we'd respect you more for having the courage to admit that instead of overextending yourself.
We don't expect you to be online all day, every day. We know you have a job, school, kids, pets, other games and interests. For Kyrola, the entire world can just wait when she has gotten her hands on the latest episode of Doctor Who, until she's done watching it. We understand this. We'd like you to be aware that we want quality time out of our potential goldriders, not simply quantity.
The things you can expect to do as an Istan goldrider range from code maintenance with our builder object, admin work here on this wiki, fomenting RP scenes for others at the Weyr, handling OOC disputes between players, dealing with defiant players who refuse to adhere to canon or who break Weyr or game rules, coding or puppeting dragons on the sands either for your own or another's clutches, cleaning out the +knot periodically, attending and/or voting in Weyr Council meetings, attending Wizmeets, editing and updating +lhelp, editing and updating the Weyr's rooms, etc.
Thing is, this is really a bit of a customer service job as well as a bit of tech support and diplomacy. It's all well and dandy if you've had a great day at work or the kids didn't have a screaming match while you were trying to clean the house. You'll need to maintain a reasonably calm composure in the face of all of this and you should never take your RL bad day out on the MUSH. Your players, the wizards, and even random players on the game who have no idea that your cat just peed on the carpet should be dealt with politely and professionally, no matter how badly they might be irritating you. We want you to treat everyone on the game exactly the same way you yourself would like to be treated: with respect and civility.
The Up Side of Impressing Gold
Impressing gold can be extremely rewarding for those who have made the choice and then been selected to Impress. Impressing any dragon can be really cool, especially if you communicated with the Search Committee well enough that they could create the dragon you wanted to have in terms of looks and personality. Golds get a little extra squee factor to them because of their rarity and high value ICly. Because we take great pains to ensure that our selection is kept secret from as many people as possible, most new Impressees have no idea they would get gold. In fact, Kyrola herself was dead sure she would Impress a certain blue that met her exact picture of a perfect blue, only to find out she was slated for Zaith instead. She had to keep scrolling back and re-reading the Impression message a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming and to make sure that her subsequent pose with Zaith's name in it didn't make it look like she read the wrong thing and said the wrong color.
Some people enjoy RPing high-ranking members of society, and that's certainly one thing you can do as an Istan goldrider. Given the canon, most people on Pern would defer to your character, with only a very few people permitted to treat her as an equal without reprisal. Your character would have access to better crafted items and generally live as well as the upper echelons of Pernese society can. A Weyrwoman has a great deal of power on Pern, and the subtle exercise of this power can provide some rewarding RP if done carefully to avoid any hurt OOC feelings.
The Downside of Impressing Gold
However, aside from hard work and the squee factor, Impressing gold can also lead to trouble. It's important to remember that OOCly, your piece of code makes you no better a person than the person who Impressed a brown or the person who didn't Impress at all. It doesn't suddenly give you a tiara with diamonds spelling out 'Super RPer' on it. It may indeed make you a target for those who either applied or Stood and didn't get chosen, or their friends, or random people who just like to snark on anyone who succeeds. A goldrider is often scrutinized for any bit of 'evidence' that the Search Committee chose the wrong person or that you're not as good as the person or their friend who wasn't chosen. You may hear comments about how you suck and that someone else is more deserving. You might see your name appear on various Pern-themed forums and your every last comment scrutinized and dismissed as being stupid or silly or whatever.
If you put gold down in your final list of choices, and you Impress, you should be prepared to hear negative things said about you, whether to your face or behind your back. What is important is that the Search Committee made the decision, and that they feel you're capable of providing leadership to the Weyr and to weather any jealous mutterings about their choice to Impress you. It's a good idea to be a little bit more careful about the notions of rank within the Weyr and outside the Weyr. While it's perfectly acceptable canon that Weyrwomen lead the Weyrs and outrank everyone other than Lord Holders or Craftmasters, no one really likes getting their noses rubbed into this fact. You should also keep an eye out for your fellow weyrlings, some of whom probably wanted that gold as much as you did, if not more. While it's against the canon for them to be ICly disappointed that they Impressed a brown, blue, or green, because every dragon is ICly perfectly matched to their rider, you should be mindful of those who might want to drag that OOC disappointment into IC. See what you can do to assuage their upset feelings OOCly, but again, you'd want to avoid rubbing their noses into the IC facts.
We sincerely hope that this does not happen to any of our new goldriders, because it can be quite distressing, but it has happened in the past, even here at Ista Weyr.
Other downsides of riding gold is that if you're not the Senior, you can't dictate which dragon will rise next for the next PC clutch or whether or not you have a gold egg in that PC clutch if it's yours. You can't dictate when Ista has its next clutch, as that is a group decision by the Weyr Council and may change from year to year. You may very well want to have a certain rider work with you, but because they ride a dragon other than bronze, they can't be Weyrleader, only possibly Acting Weyrleader if there isn't an active Weyrleader. Whether or not you're Senior, you can't dictate all of the decisions of the Search Committee. It's very possible that your preferred choice of a new goldrider may be outvoted by the committee. At that point, you have to decide if you're going to override the wishes of the Weyr or not. It's something that must be carefully considered, because everyone will have to work with that new goldrider at some point, and whose opinions matter the most? There's rarely a single right answer to that question, and the right answer in one Search cycle may not be the right answer for the next.
Final Thoughts
If you want to go for the gold, as it were, focus on your character and making her someone you simply can't put down. If you don't love your character, then you won't enjoy the fun times as a goldrider when you don't have to do any work, that you're free to RP the night away.
Likewise, if you don't love Ista, then you won't love riding gold here. It's a ton easier pouring your time into a place that you love. There are some people who don't care where they Impress gold, and that's fine for them, but here at Ista, we want you to like us enough to have stayed even if you didn't Impress gold or Impressed at all. There's nothing worse than working for an area you don't like. Then the work becomes a chore and it becomes readily evident that you don't like it.
Also remember that as a goldrider, you won't ride Search. You can't be a proper Wingleader, Weyrsecond, Weyrlingmaster, Wingsecond, or any other dragonrider position. The only rank to which you can accede is Senior Weyrwoman. A Weyrwoman's IC duties are pretty narrow in scope, so in many ways, you'll have to make your own RP or find the fun in things outside the record room or telling the headwoman what to do.
In Conclusion
Now that you've read all of this, we encourage anyone interested in applying for an Istan gold dragon to come talk to us if you've got any questions. It's also a good idea to wait until you've attended or read the log of the color meeting to see if gold is the right choice for you. Likewise, we suggest you review your available time. If you know that you're going to be restricted in the near future time-wise in such a manner that you won't be able to pitch in at the Weyr, then it might be better to wait for a later clutch. You see, even if you didn't Impress gold now, there's always another gold to be clutched and hatched, either here at Ista, or at one of the other Weyrs on PernMUSH.
