The player needs to have experience and stability--yet somehow manage to not be jaded; a jaded player can make Weyrlife boring and cynical for everyone around. She should still have that joie de vivre, that sparkle, that enthusiasm however tempered by maturity. If you're that person, be realistic, yeah, but please don't let yourself be drawn into cynicism: have a good time, it's contagious! * Being a goldrider, and the Senior Weyrwoman(tm), and a goldrider who'd like a PC clutch, can mean these (and for me personally has meant almost all of these, so it does happen), for the good of the weyr: -- You don't get to rise your gold because the Weyr needs a particular brownrider as a WL and browns catching golds are supposed to be rare (though in the last year and a half or so that's been stretching some all over, which is handy for decision-making!). -- You don't get to have the PC clutch even though it may be your turn in the cycle, because (as above) you can't rise your gold; another goldrider might even be pulled out of semi- or total inactivity to do the job instead. -- Even if you can rise, you don't get even the option of laying a gold egg because the Weyr needs a particular brownrider as WL. -- You either don't get to have the PC clutch or have to share it with another gold who can lay a gold, because the Weyr needs a gold egg and has candidates for it, and (as above) you can't lay one. -- As a junior weyrwoman when you get the clutch, the Weyr may say that you have to have a bronze fly your gold (though you can pick who, of the bronzes) so they can have a gold egg, or to balance out the senior's being flown by a brown. And so on, and for the good of the Weyr, you have to deal. Once I knew a senior who had said that she wouldn't 'let' any of her juniors lay a gold egg, can you believe it? (She's since stepped down, as it happens.) Please don't fall into this trap of both trying to dominate other people in the Weyr and making the laying of a gold egg the be-all and end-all. While sure, it's fun, the Weyr comes first -- and the same goes for clutching, or having a flight at all.

***** Nuffie adds note in hear that on the WHole Searches with gold-egg are, in away, a PAIN!!!!!! There's alot more stress, expectation, and work, and really just building a gold-egg for the fun of it is a really sharding stupid idea if you know anything about Search at all. Simply because it does make things that much more competitive and you need to go through interesting but torturous long and spammy info sessions like this one simply to keep bonking people over the head with what it is to ride-gold in the hopes that they will LISTEN. Understand. AND be the kinda gold-rider the weyr needs just so it doesn't have to through the again next time. Searches without a gold egg are, IMO, far more fun all around and we can get beyond all this all-fire Importance of weyrwoman and get back to important stuff like Fun&Spiffy Dragons. This isn't to say that gold-candidatres are not toally Spiffy. They are or there would not have been a gold-egg laid. Nor are we trying to scare them all away. we just need them to be aware. * Example of fishbowl: if you're senior, and you think your weyrmate would make a great WL, you'd better be extra-darn-sure that the Weyr wants him too and it's not just your wishful thinking. Same goes with Impressing your friends. When it comes to Search, speak after everyone else has given their POV, if you can, so as not to overly influence them -- even in the most egalitarian of Weyrs. **** Yah. Shuddup Nuff and take your own advice and listen. Only its also important that things get done and decisions made. Search runs on a pretty tight quick time-line when done right and hence people do have to be nagged at to get their Stuff in simply because the Weyr hasn't the luxury of waiting on Things. Search is a whole lot of NOWNOWNOWNOW I NEED IT NOW!!!! Please... whimper. Nuff. Lots of late nights and headaches simply because there is the pressure of time and the need to balance everything in everyone in a coherent whole.

* With goldrider burnout: the ironic thing is that bronzeriders tend to burn out and leave. Goldriders burn out but stick around, and log in once in a while to gripe and idle and reminisce in a facade of activity. Please ward off burnout before it happens: stay in touch with your personal support group and the rest of the Weyr as a whole (they'll help you keep perspective!), get some personal rp when you can, and generally step back and see the forest as well as the trees. For that matter, log out when you have to or even take a vacation (but stay responsible and let people know when you'll be back and who's responsible for what in the meantime (and back them up afterward)!--just running away isn't a solution); the Weyr will survive without you, or if it doesn't, something was wrong already.

**** Nuffie stresses that Support group as being, for me, vital to Nuff's existance. Yes not only do they help get things done, but they give one virtual snugs and lollipops (and cookies!) and generally just help stablilize the volcanic forces that broil continuously but come to a bursting point around Search-time. S'why rp as a candidate, before Search, and as a weyrling is SOOOO IMPORTANT. These are the ties that see all riders though rough-patches and remember how important friends are to you irl, it works on-line as well.

* I can't stress enough that the OOC Search Coordinator does not have to be the goldrider who's having the clutch -- or a goldrider at all! If there's someone else who's trusted and who has a reliable system (s/he will get e-mail addresses and so on, after all, and a lot of important-to-someone mail will come through his/her hands) who happens to ride another color (or even is Headwoman or some other such permanent resident!) and is up for the spam, that can certainly be delegated; the person can even ICly be leader of the Search Wing if that's appropriate. Search coordination takes a lot of time and energy, and goldriding (even as a junior) takes up a lot of time and energy, and the same person does not have to do both.

*** Yah. Just to find someone insane enough to do it who won't have the weyr as a whole on their backs is difficult. Add to the need for them to coordinate with the gold-rider on the mechanics of flight/clutch/hatching, and the snide attacks from others who might have wanted to run the Search, its a tough tough job to do, with or without an egg-laying dragon. Still anyone with the time can do it, and support is soooooooooo nice. (THanks all!! )

* Please, please, please, if you Impress gold and even/especially if you're Senior -- while IMO you have to do hostess duty in one form or another, you have to have some way of relating to arrivals, you have to do plentiful though certainly not exclusive LC rp and so on -- don't let your character become Perfect with a Few Totally Acceptable Foibles, Ms. Cheerful Cheerleader with no more background than a minnow. It's boring, for you and (after the introductions) for them. My char was that way a couple years ago when I'd been senior for over a year and I didn't know better (well, * had plenty of background, but since she was so self-contained, only a very, very few people ever saw anything deep) and once I was made to realize what was going on, it took some friends and me months of roleplay to adjust in a natural fashion; she's still not what I'd call open to the world, but she's gotten--wacky. Well. For a good one to emulate--though not imitate, since she can't be counterfeited, and plus, the world wouldn't survive--Nuff is a primo example of someone who's kept her personality with all or most of its bumps and curve balls! Playing into that inimitable style she's got makes it fun to rp Tiareth with her. If your character has her faults, she's more accessible to the others, and you'll have better roleplay for it, playing against the expectations. Enjoy life. Remember why you got into this in the first place. So your char is a goldrider--so what? Be a lush anyway. Cheers! *** Nuff's insane. Nuff said. --Wishing you both good luck, and that life will go splendidly so you won't need it-- Nuff's pdragon.

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