Just to be up front here are some policies we will abide by in Dragonbraved relating to various topics. If you have any questions feel free to hit up a staffer!
Policy for Hatchings: In general you will not Impress in two hatchings of the same kind in a row. This means that you could Impress in a dragon clutch and a wher clutch if they followed one another but you would be unlikely to Impress at the next dragon clutch and the next wher clutch. It's not impossible for you to Impress twice in a row (and indeed if you buy a guaranteed Impression from the marks shop your candidate will Impress) but in general we prefer to spread the love if we have fewer dragons than candidates.
Please do not attempt to 'give back' a hatchling. The candidate forms allow you to state colours and personality traits you would be really unhappy with so we hope that everyone will get something that pleases them. If this isn't the case, while we're very sorry if you were disappointed, we do not redistribute hatchlings.
Please note that with guaranteed Impressions bought from the marks shop the usual colour preference section of the candidate form will be ignored unless: all you have stated is 'please only males' or 'please only females'; or you have asked for 'no bronzes' 'no golds' or 'no metallics'. This is to prevent anyone from trying for example to buy a guaranteed rare or uncommon colour for themselves.
As stated on the candidate form, the more you put down under 'do not want' the lower your chances of Impression are. This is especially true if you state for example that you would only want a brown or bronze dragon for a given candidate, or that you would only want them to Impress a metallic, or if you give a long list of personality traits you wouldn't want. This isn't to say you aren't allowed to do these things, it's just a warning that we won't go out of our way to write a hatchling that matches your desires.
Again on the subject of guaranteed Impressions, if you put undesired personality traits on your form only the first two(ish) will be adhered to. Similarly to the colour clause this is to prevent people from trying to set a dragon or wher's personality by a process of elimination.
Policy on time and ageing: Dragonbraved will work at 2:1 IC time to OOC time, so six months in real life will equal one turn in game. Aging is compulsory which does mean that candidates may age out without Impressing. We understand that this is disappointing but we feel that it’s important to keep things realistic, and for those who do age out there are other paths in life to pursue! You also have the option to purchase a guaranteed Impression from the marks shop to make sure your favourite candidate gets a dragon if they're close to ageing out, or even if they are aged 21 and 22 and thus are no longer candidates.
Policies on metallic dragons and ranking characters: Okay, it's Pern. Everyone wants the shinies.
So here's our policy: in terms of contests and other giveaways like hatchings, having a metallic dragon already will weight the chances of gaining another against you, but there is no hard-and-fast rule on how it will be weighted. There are also chances to purchase some metallic dragons through the marks shop, and no maximum to how many people may own.
We will also endeavour to spread around as many of the positions of power available in the shop as possible: our end-game is to have the all of the positions in the Weyr occupied by PCs. That said, we will have an activity requirement on these characters: if they do not take part in any threads for more than three months without their player popping in to chat to staff about how LIFE HAPPENS (seriously it does we get that you have no idea) then they'll be moved to an NPC weyr and we'll look for another character to fill that position.
Policy on staff getting pets: First of all, staff will never take something that was meant for a player unless there are for example fewer players than babies in a clutch. Staff will not enter most contests (where there is an exception it will be specifically stated), and staff do not Impress dragons or whers that were made for players. If a staff member is going to Impress in a clutch their egg will be clearly marked so that nobody else gets their heart set on it. Staff will not Impress metallic dragons ‘naturally’ (see below for more on this). Staff may sometimes create an adult custom for themselves but, again, this will not be a metallic and usually staff with go through the marks shop rather than using this privilege. If staff want a bronze wher bronze dragon they must purchase it from the Weyr store; if they have made the marks for it they can turn their bronze dragon into a hatchling and thus have it from the egg, this is the only way for staff to Impress a metallic hatchling dragon.
Staff will never receive gold dragons. Gold whers are a possibility but must be hard earned unless they are a transfer!
Staff may occasionally create a character who owns a chromatic firelizard, but if they want a larger firelizard for a new character or any firelizard for an existing character they must save up and purchase it from the Weyr store like everyone else (and will usually do so in any case).
Policy on re-impression: Both OOC and IC it is possible for a rider who has lost their dragon to re-impress. Possible, but not likely. The outcome will depend on a number of factors, the most obvious of these being age. If you're over the age of 20 when your dragon dies you are totally out of luck.
If a rider loses their dragon aged 18 or younger they will not be permitted to Stand again for a minimum of two turns, if they wish to do so at all. Once two turns have passed they may approach the candidatemaster and if they are deemed physically and mentally well enough they may step onto the Sands once more. It is unusual for anyone to seek this path however, most bereaved riders cannot stomach the thought of trying to replace their dragon. Nevertheless it does happen and is a possibility for player characters, on one condition. This condition is that the dragon died for a reason, rather than just being killed off in the OOC hope that the rider might get a 'better' dragon second go around. There is no guarantee of reimpression any more than this is of Impression in the first place, and guaranteed re-impression cannot be bought from the marks shop. Re-Impression is also possible from the Stands after two turns have passed since a rider’s dragon died but again there is no guarantee of this happening.
For riders over the age of twenty who lose their dragon who are not deemed well enough to stand again or who do not wish to try to Impress another dragon there is the option of Impressing a wher. Dragonless people, once well enough, can be 'fast-tracked' through wher training and try to claim an egg from the first available clutch. They take precedence over all other wher candidates in this case, even handlers who have lost a wher and are seeking a new partner. This is the cause of quite some anger amongst handlers IC.
While it is possible for a wherhandler who has lost their wher to Impress a dragon it is just about as rare as a dragonless rider re-impressing. This is because in order to bond to a wher at High Reaches Weyr you have to have lived there for at least five turns and be at least 16 turns old when you begin training but most will be older than this; either aged out dragon candidates, or drudges or caverns workers who have moved to the Weyr looking for work. Somebody who loses their wher will not be invited to Stand as a dragon candidate but it is possible for them to Impress a hatchling from the stands. Most handlers re-impress to a new wher fairly quickly however so all in all while it is possible for a former handler to be picked out by a dragon the chances are slim.
Each character can only have one bondmate at a time so it is not possible for somebody who has a wher to Impress a dragon or vice versa. Firelizards don’t count as a bondmate; the link with them is weaker than between handler and wher and much weaker than between rider and dragon so it is possible to have a bondmate as well as a firelizard(s).