The Worst Pern Site Ever (And That's Saying Something)

[sockunderasock]

The Pern fandom has outdone itself this time with a new incarnation of an old site. Things seemed like they were going reasonably well for us and then everything took a turn for the horrible. I'm placing the majority of this rant under a cut, but I'd like to preface this rant with an extra warning: this site is bad. It is very, very bad and the admins are very, very unapologetic, refusing to even listen to players who are asking for changes. This rant is largely compromised of quotes, so please heed the trigger warnings. I am willing to hand out the name of the site via message so people can also avoid it, but don't go looking for it unless you want to be frustrated and disturbed. Now to the rant!


I'll start with the good news: they put up a trigger warning! It only took multiple guests and the majority of their members telling them it was necessary to get the admins to agree to it, but it is at least up. Their trigger warning is still vague as all get out, because the admins don't seem willing to commit to the fact that their site is roughly 100% about sexual slavery, rape, sexual abuse, assault, and torture. It does not even begin to cover their atrocities, but it is at least on the site and in their ad.

Oh, you noticed that nice list of terrible things, did you? Let's get to addressing that then, shall we? I'm done with the good. There is literally nothing else redeeming about this site except for perhaps that some of the members seem far more put-together than the admins. A basic summary of the Weyr is only men are allowed to Impress and basically all women are slaves. I believe in letting a person's words speak for themselves, so here is a series of quotes from their info with short notes:

• (from their dragon information) "It seems as if they have lost the tendency to impress certain genders and sexualities, and currently they only Impress males, though whether this is due to genuine preference or simply because males are all RULING MALE GOLDRIDER accepts as candidates is unknown."
• (from their history) "Despite the wide range of those on the sands, all the dragonlings impressed to male candidates on the sands. While noteworthy, there was little upset over the matter, at least at first. As time went by, the pattern stopped being sporadic and panic set in as later dragonets began to between for lack of suitable male candidates."
• (from their rules; the last sentence is weirdly its own rule and believed to be designed to single out a player) "RP posts should be like miniskirts: long enough to cover everything, but short enough to keep attention . . . All females currently in Fort Weyr are captives. Be aware of the history before you make your character . . . While gender balance is not strictly enforced, if we notice a single player with an excess of female characters, we will approach him/her to request a few males be brought in . . . No, you cannot name your dragon Sephiroth."
• (from their information on captives) "The ranks are interchangeable, and it is often that they are changed, usually by the act of a rider ‘claiming’ a partner, or releasing one so that the general population of the Weyr may have use of them . . . Kidnapped girls are never brought in under the age of 14 . . . The most common rank of slave found in the Weyr, Weyrgirls (called Weyrboys when male) are also drudges, but unlike official drudges, who tend to be older, they wear a bright bronze cuff on their left wrist, locked into place with a special mechanism to which only riders have the key . . . Weyrgirls are often fodder for warming the beds of lower ranked riders, whether they wish to or not . . . The second most common of the female populace trapped within Fort's walls are the Weyrkept, identifiable by the silver cuff on their wrists, often decorated with the personalized emblem of the rider that claims her, the design of a tattoo the rider sports somewhere on his person or some other personally significant mark . . Because of the rules of rank, however, these claimed women are not considered ‘exclusive’ to that single rider, and can be sent to a higher ranked rider’s bed at his order . . . It is also not uncommon for them to be traded among themselves from one man to another on any given night, or even bartered for a night’s pleasure that their rider may gain some favor or thing he desires . . . Any male is able to escape his status by having a rider declare him candidate potential, removing him from service and into the barracks. The declaration is irreversible, making it a valuable coin that a rider can trade to a male slave for just about anything he desires . . . Every female, unless given special permission will begin as a captive . . . Remember, these young women and men are usually kidnapped, or, in certain cases, sold or traded to the Weyr to be used as a commodity."
• (from their combat and violence rules) "Because of the nature of the relationship between riders and Weyrgirls/Weyrboys, it can be expected that controlled domestic violence will occur."
• (from the information attached to their candidate application; quote about deformities is noted because deformities is a bad choice of words and also what counts as trauma seems to be very arbitrary to them) "All Candidates for WEYR Fort Weyr are males. NO EXCEPTIONS. Females that wish for a form of candidacy should be registered as holdfolk or captives to the Weyr and submitted as such . . . Deformities will not be allowed in candidates. Missing limbs, blindness, being deaf, and, to a lesser extent, severe mental trauma are all enough to get a candidate removed from the chance to stand."
• (from the information attached to their captive application) "The exception to this rule is for nurses and crafters of journeyman rank or higher. All such captives are officially property of RULING MALE GOLDRIDER and under his direct protection, as they are of more value to him as crafters and nurses than as the playthings of his riders . . .Women have been known to be traded to the Weyr by any means necessary, from betrayal of a loved one to a dragonrider simply deciding to bring her back with him."
• (from an information thread about children in the Weyr; note that slaves used for sex can be as young as fourteen) "In the first, fateful kidnapping from OTHER WEYR that heralded the beginning of RULING MALE GOLDRIDER reign, children were among those taken, and the same was true of the first few raids thereafter. It has, however, been nineteen turns since the last time anyone under the age of fourteen was forcibly taken to the Weyr, and RULING MALE GOLDRIDER intends to keep it that way. Therefore, every child living at Fort was born there . . . Upon a Healer declaration that a woman is pregnant, the (typically) bronze cuff around her wrist is immediately exchanged for a gold one bearing RULING MALE GOLDRIDER'S mark, and she falls promptly under his protection until such time as the child is born. After the child is born, she is allotted a brief period for recovery before being returned to her previous duties, meaning that pregnancy promises the women of the Weyr a few months' reprieve from many of the harsher aspects of their servitude. For this reason, it is far less uncommon than one might otherwise anticipate . . . For this reason, many, especially females, choose to apply to the crafts for an apprenticeship, the only sure way of avoiding their mothers' fate. Those who do not, or who cannot obtain acceptance at a crafthall, become Weyrgirls, Weyrboys, or Candidates upon reaching age fourteen."
• (from their flight information) "There will be no stand-ins, unless it is a Weyrgirl/Weyrboy and is agreed upon by both participants. (Not, of course, counting the Weyrgirl/Weyrboy, whose player must consent OOC for it to be rped, as usual, but operates only under the normal rules governing Weyrgirls/Weyrboys.)"

Following complaints, they have also posted a thread explaining how they did not ruin Pern. I am going to paraphrase it as it is long and full of bullshit. They basically try to suggest that they haven't added anything new to Pern, as drudges are definitely the same as sex slaves, and then bullshit some stuff about flightsex and how the female's rider can always lock themselves away without mentioning how that factors in the involvement of weyrgirls and weyrboys. There is one quote I will include: "No, [we are not all about sex]. We've actually added nothing new in the way of sexual content to Pern. We've simply acknowledged it."

Look, I understand Pern sucks a lot of the time. I do, but there are sites that have worked hard to make it work and these people gone the exact opposite to the extreme. They seem to think this is normal and it creeps me out. The fact that this is not the first incarnation of this site is also skeevy. Why do they think this is a good idea to keep making? They managed to make Pern even more sexist! That takes talent!

There are some beautiful quotes from the cbox that show just how terrible and uncaring the admins are, including one of them trying to explain away allowing sex with fourteen-year-old girls with the fact Pernese turns are one day longer than Terran years, but I'm going to leave it at this for now. I'm tired of staring at this atrocity.

EDIT: There's also currently a thread where people are pointing out some issues. The admin's responses are less than adequate; I may throw in some more quotes later. It does add victim-blaming to the mix, which is always great!