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Who We AreKadanzer Weyr is an approved Dragonriders of Pern fan club. We have been around since 1994. As clubs go, we are a high-realism, high-continuity, strict-canon, alternate Tenth Pass fanzine-style club. Since not everybody is familiar with those terms, let's look at them more closely, working back to front. Before the spread of the Internet, Pern fan clubs functioned by putting out "fanzines" (or 'zines for short) containing fiction, art, and articles contributed by members, centering around characters created by those members. (Unlike many other fandoms, Pern fan fiction could not until very recently use characters from the original books.) Fanzines are no longer so common; these days, most clubs are Play by E-Mail (PbEM) clubs, where members play the roles of their characters and interact with other members' characters via email, messageboards, or chatrooms. This is known as role-play, or RP for short. Kadanzer Weyr, as one of the heirs of the fanzine tradition, focuses on "story-play" rather than role-play. We have nothing against roleplaying, but it isn't the main focus of our club; as in the old days, stories and art are the core of the Kadanzer experience. As an Alternate Tenth Pass club, we set our timeline in the Tenth Pass, 400 Turns after the events in most of Anne McCaffrey's books. "Alternate" means that we have our own timeline and history, not shared by any other club. Our history diverges from that of the books during the events of "All the Weyrs of Pern" -- the sentient computer AIVAS was found, but unlike in the book it predicted that the Red Star's orbit was about to shift away from Pern, so Thread would disappear on its own. As a consequence, there was no massive push to develop Pern's technology and divert the Red Star, unlike in the book. AIVAS did provide lots of historical data before it shut down forever, but Pernese society stayed roughly the same with the exception of the belief that Thread would be gone forever after the Ninth Pass ended. Thus our canonical list of books does not include any Pern book set after All the Weyrs of Pern. In our history, AIVAS turned out to be wrong, and Thread did return after another Long Interval; luckily the Weyrs were still there to meet it! We are also a strict-canon club, which means we follow the original rules for Pern fandom, even many of those that have since been relaxed by Anne McCaffrey. Specifically, we don't have any dragon colors beyond those in the books, dragons do not have telekinetic powers, and whers remain as they were described in the early books. However, we do not follow the restrictions on gender and sexual orientation that were placed on Pern fandom in the 90s (and have since been relaxed): we allow female blueriders and the occasional female brownrider, and we do not limit the sexual orientation of any rider, no matter what their dragon's color. Kadanzer is a high-continuity club; that is, all stories set on our version of Pern are not allowed to contradict one another. This is the opposite of what you may have seen in cartoons, TV shows, and many other Pern clubs, where all manner of bizarre things may happen, but there aren't any consequences; by the next episode, or the next RP session, or whatever, everything is back to normal. Having a high continuity level allows stories to refer to each other, and characters to grow and develop relationships as they interact with one another over the course of several stories. The same event may be told by different authors, through the eyes of different characters, and events in one story may affect events in another. Kadanzer is also a high-realism club. Granted, Pern is a science-fantasy world and some of its elements are simply not scientifically possible; we take those things for granted because we have to, and then ask what life would really be like in a world that operated by those rules. Many of our members find inspiration for stories in the little unexpected consequences of things Anne McCaffrey has said about her world; for instance, Pern readers are all familiar with the idea that young dragons aren't supposed to overeat, but what really happens when one does, and how does the dragonhealing staff use the results to keep other young riders from letting it happen again? This small bit of Pernese reality formed the basis of one of our funniest stories. This focus on continuity and realism affects everything we do here. We don't generally go for fluffy romantic wish-fulfillment stories featuring perfect characters who live happily ever after; instead, we like to see three-dimensional characters with human flaws, who live with the consequences of their choices. Don't be intimidated, though; it's not as hard as it sounds. If you're willing to put in a bit of work in order to enjoy sustained character and story development, or just want to read stories and look at art, you are welcome to join the club and get all the benefits of membership. So come on in and join the fun! If you have any questions, feel free to email us at webmaster@kadanzer.org. Legal stuff we have to say:All fiction and art on this site is published by Kadanzer Weyr for its members only, except where permission is specifically granted for public viewing. Any reproduction or distribution without permission is prohibited. Kadanzer Weyr follows all copyright and trademark laws as required by Anne McCaffrey and her publishers. All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright© Anne McCaffrey 1967, 2001, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author. The Dragonriders of Pern® is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited. [Sidebar Dragons: Jennifer Broschinsky | Weyr Badge: Whitney Ware | Most other graphic elements: Smitty] |