OOC: Summary of HRW knot on crafter-riders, 3/1/10

[leovaried]

The HRW knot had a big discussion tonight, and this is what we (those of us present) came up with. XD It was double-checked on the knot and then posted here for length.

*cheers Ajatha, Gabrion, K'del, P'ax, Taikrin, Teris, Tiriana, Vyshani, and W'chek!*



So long, even the summary broke +job/notes!

• The simplest version of a crafter-rider might be a paying student who happens to be a dragonrider. This fits what's already ICly in place. The rider might initiate this by wanting to learn more in his/her "free time," or the Weyr might want to invest in that knowledge for the Weyr. Meanwhile, the Crafthall is being paid for investing its time, and probably isn't giving over really advanced/private knowledge, so doesn't care as much what the student does with it.
  
  
• Process: This should be done slowly/gradually, pushed by PCs who're interested in it, possibly a two-steps-forward-one-step-back sort of thing. Pushbacks, like Gabrion mentioned. For example, there could be one craft starting to go partway, say, with other crafts watching... only then there's some incident with the rider that causes it to lie in doubt. XD And if we resolve this fast, or too much OOCly instead of focusing on the characters IC, it doesn't leave us as much to run with from there. It's a major change from what people are used to, so it makes sense that there would be teething issues, concerns, and so on.
  
  
• Some big differences from normal crafters: crafter-riders' first loyalty is (supposed to be) to their dragon and their Weyr. They would also learn significantly more slowly than normal crafters, due to their dragon's requirements.
  
  
• Crafter-riders who want to go beyond the paying student level seem more likely to be in a special track outside the apprentice/journeyman/master deal, a la, "Now you too can do medical transcription from your home with a Certificate from the Healer Hall!" They are most likely to gain knowledge from crafters posted at their Weyr or best-buddy mentors elsewhere, like Menolly being trained by Petiron. While they might attend a few organized classes in the Hall, they probably wouldn't be taking lots of classes and staying in the apprentice dorms or anything.
  
  
• If they /are/ in the apprentice/journeyman/master track, it's more likely if they were at least senior apprentice prior to Impressing, and/or have a mentor who really wants to get them recognized for whatever reason. Relevant life experience helps: a born-and-raised ex-herder might join the Beastcraft but not waltz into the Glasscraft. No rider-crafter masters: journeymen at most.
  
  
• Professionalization: One important difference between being a paying student and being a member of a craft is professionalization: members of a craft are socialized into being a Harper, Healer, etc. with all the social mores and standards that come along with that. People who are already members of crafts are likely to value craft membership above paying-student status.
  
  
• Institutional Desires vs. Individuals: Craft leadership will have different interests than some individuals involved. The leadership, for example, may wish to avoid the dual-loyalty problem by excluding riders from craft membership. On the other hand, a journeyman or master who has a promising apprentice who impresses, and who is still interested and invested in that student's future, may want to push for full craft membership for the student because he values the professionalization aspect and sees it as a higher or better option than paying student status. Who wants their promising student relegated to being less-than? This creates room for conflict within crafts over the issue.
  

Some other potential issues for RP:


• What do we call these people? Some riders might not care about rank, while others (or their superiors, like Tiriana) might want bragging rights or other recognition.
  
  
• Crafts might be leery of spilling their advanced secrets (beyond paying students) to someone with outside loyalty. At the same time, crafts might take the opportunity to subvert riders' loyalty.
  
  
• Meanwhile, posted crafters might worry that the Weyr leadership might want to replace their crafters with riders (rider-harpers for signing Weyr-specific deals?). Some posted crafters, already inclined to divided loyalties (perhaps Weyrbred, lover of a rider), might even offer (truthfully or not) to give a Weyr their first loyalty in an effort to keep a spot if they're scared of losing it.
  
  
• Some crafts might need less time commitment (does a Weyr really need tons of starcrafters right now?) and it may be hard to get the Weyr to bankroll training.
  
  
• Riders don't usually have all that many marks, so how do they get the crafts to take them as paying students? What favors are they willing to extend?
  
  
• And then there's $$$. Imagine the Hall and the Weyr arguing over who gets the kickback from the cost of any Craftwork a trained rider does. If the Hall gets too demanding, some Weyrs might have riders putting out work that went unstamped if they refused, which might not matter for healers but matter a lot for smiths...

(Were you there but thought of something to add? XD Were you not on right then and want to share your thoughts? Comment!)

ETA: future posts like this one will be posted on hrweyr, which I wish I'd done to begin with!