Playing a Woman at Fort Weyr
Living in our modern world or even playing at other Weyrs where women are treated in a more modern (and fair) manner, we understand that it can be a bit hard to to get in the right mindset to play a female character at Fort. So, we have attempted to clear up quite a bit of the confusion with playing a Fortian female- namely what they can or can’t do and what attitudes it’s most likely that they will have.
1.) Women’s rank...or lack thereof
The first thing it is necessary to understand is that women are literally *nothing* and have no status to speak of (with a couple of exceptions). Some women have things a little better than others, those being the minimal number of women who have some rank (like Headwoman and Goldriders), but aside from that any rank a woman might have would pretty much only apply to other women. Take the Head Laundress for example, she can order her staff (of women) around but thats it. The little bit of status she has beens nothing to riders or crafters. Female candidates are only just a small step better than drudges and that’s it, and that’s only because they have the possibility of birthing a child with a better chance of impressing because they had that unknown quality that Searchdragons look for. Truthfully, being a female candidate is not a highly special place to be. Girl candidates can go on all day about being a ‘proper’ woman, but when all is said and done the rest of the Weyr knows that maybe... MAYBE... one of those ‘proper’ women will be a goldrider someday. The rest of those female candidates are just future drudges. People at Fort aren’t idiots, they can count and know the odds. One point to realize is that it’s cannon fact that golds tend to impress girls who’ve come from OUTSIDE THE WEYR. Yes, there have been a few weyrbred goldriders, might even have one right now, but the historical facts show that the majority of Pern’s goldriders (especially those famous and most written about queenriders) have been holdbred. This is history that any average Fortian would have learned in their history lessons. Think on that for a bit.
One common misconception for females is that they believe having a ranking father means something at Fort. However the truth is that a girl having a ranking father means nothing. Yes, it does mean more to the boys because they are expected to be able to follow in their father’s footsteps, but girls can never do that. So while having an ranking father might grant them a tiny bit of protection (on the off chance that the father even cares, and the truth of it is that most dragonrider parents aren’t supposed to be that involved in their children’s lives), really the only thing they can do because of their ranking father is pull rank on *other girls*.
On the other hand having a ranking boyfriend *could* mean something...but only if the boyfriend is the type to attach himself to a woman. Those types of relationships *do* happen... but it’s more the exception and is *not* the rule. It’s actually much more realistic for Fortian dragonriders to be ‘sowing their seed’ everywhere, and not just because it’s their duty to father the next generation of possible dragonriders but because they simply *can*. Also more realistic is the point that most Fortian men understand that Fortian women are there for spreading their legs and making babies, and wouldn’t expect a woman to say no if another man decided to exercise his right to be with that woman. Some men, of course, might be more possessive but 1) if he’s a more Traditional man he knows that it is best for the Weyr to have babies other than his and 2) it’s truly a giant hassle to keep tabs on a woman all the time and come into conflict with every other man who might touch her without realizing she was your woman, or who (even worse) became an enemy because the protection you gave to a woman enabled her to reject him in front of his friends and make him look foolish.
2.) Women’s right to say NO doesn't exist
The second necessary thing to understand is that women don't have the right to say no. Yes, this is an ugly truth, but look at it from the Fortian point of view: it isnt just the men who have been raised in a society that believe women are not only physically but mentally weaker than men (good for only drudgework and breeding), the *women* have been raised with those beliefs too! Yes, there will always be exceptions, and we understand this, but honestly those exceptions will be few and far between since the vast majority of women will *not* have these huge and unrealistic ideas about being too good to do all those things which their society and culture FIERCELY believes is the only thing they are good for.
A point to remember is that women are below nearly everyone which is expanded to mean that no women is classed as ‘too good’ to put herself through having a baby. Because of that set of ideas girls who have managed to hold onto their virginity past 16 or so (all dependant on how physically mature they look) are not only exceptionally rare but extraordinarily lucky. Any man, literally *ANY* man, can walk up to any woman and demand whatever he wants and she would have no leg to stand on if she tried to argue with him about it. She can try, there’s nothing stopping her from that, but if she does try and argue she should expect things to get ugly. And if things do turn ugly NOBODY is going to step forward to help her (there are a very few who may want to help but actually doing so is not very likely to happen) because she has done something that everyone knows she has no right to do- which is to say no to a man.
3.) Having a rider’s child for protection
Looking at the previous section, that girls cannot say no to a man, any man, who demands her ‘attentions’, when you look at the girls who are attempting to have only a bronze or brownriders baby that isn't an easy or sure thing to accomplish. Not only are there only a few handfuls of bronzeriders in Fort at this moment, numbers recovering from both the human and dragon plagues as well as Resistance murders, but there are *SO* many more greenriders and blueriders (as well as nonriders) who enjoy sex as much as any bronzerider and your female CANNOT SAY NO TO THEM. In actuality, why would she want to say no? Yes, they believe that having a bronze or brownrider’s baby COULD offer them some protection (depending on if the baby’s father could even be remotely proven and if the rider even cared about his baby- let alone the baby’s clingy mama), but most of the protection from having a son is that he grows up to Impress bronze or brown himself. Green and blueriders might not be the most highly looked upon by those higher ranking colors or most often desired by women, but they are still men with dragonriding blood and women are *expected* to show them respect for risking their lives and their dragon’s hide each time they fight Thread.
The point of this is that it is quite impossible for a women to *only* sleep with bronze or brownriders. She can cross her fingers hoping to get pregnant by the rankers instead of those lower on the totem pole, can deliberately try and snag the rankers whenever she can...but there is no way to assure that- and she has every other women in the Weyr as competition too! In actuality, any women who attempted to shun the lesser riders would be in for a helluva rude awakening- not only would she quickly learn that she *can’t* shun those lesser riders when they decide they want her and force the issue, she would soon find herself labeled as an ‘uppity bitch’ even by some of her fellow females.
4.) Forcing a Woman/ Man (Sensitive issue)
First off: we understand that the subject of rape is a horrifying experience and none of us, OOCly, would ever say that it isnt.
However, ICly considering the Fortian views of women and the environment at Fort, rape is just a fact of life at Fort. The most possible and common mentality of the subject is that if a woman is raped it is not the man’s fault for demanding and taking what he wants, it’s the WOMAN’S fault for saying no to a man who was only doing what he’s expected and has a clear right to do. Of course we, in those modern world, know that it isnt supposed to be like that...but at Fort that is what the vast majority of people have hardwired into their brains from birth.
If your character does get raped, it is necessary to keep a few things in mind. The first is that he/she is literally SURROUNDED by people who have most likely had unwanted sex forced on them in some form or another. Not all of these people would have fought back, but the vast majority of women and a smaller handful of men have been in a situation of being forced into unwanted sex, so they don't think your character is special or unusual for going through it. The fact that so many people go through similar situations *does* mean that in some ways other characters have lots of sympathy for others going through it... however in other ways they have no sympathy at all. The Fort mindset revolves around the ideals of “do your duty, lick your wounds, move on”, and this applies whether to fighting in Threadfall or anything else. With this in mind, the lower cavern ladies will give a girl their quiet sympathy...but only as long as she does move on. If she’s going along acting like a wounded animal and that it was the worst thing ever that happened to her 6 months later they’re going to think that she is both a weak person (and not so not fit for a dragon, if the girl is a candidate) or that she is being a crazy drama queen.
This ideal of ‘move on’ also applies to the boys as well, although in a lesser extent. Men get raped too, it happens and everyone knows it, but while there are a *lot* of other issues having to do with man-on-man rape just because of the culture that the Fortian men have been inundated with and how they define their sexuality, any sort of whining from the guy or just being unable to deal with it is going to make them look even weaker in the eyes of his peers. The general idea is that crying/whining in women is bad enough, but men *are* stronger and are expected to show it, are supposed to be able to deal with Threadscores and other horrific injuries.
5.) Different viewpoints
However having said *all* that, about women’s rank, their place in society and the way they’ve been raised to believe certain things are expected of them, none of this is saying that some women won’t have a different mindset than what we’ve described. It could be that she came from outside the Weyr and might have been influenced differently or she could just ‘break the mold’. Or your woman could be a ‘two faced’ person, one who follows all the right rules and sets of behaviors when around rankers but who lashes out and *anyone* who even might be considered her rank or lower. But, in order for us to continue to be able to play in this world with our unique and ‘dark’ atmosphere, it is very important to keep all the things that have previously been described in mind when playing and creating characters. Because, when a game starts to be flooded with lots of characters who don't react in a realistic and believable way for our dark setting, or who just don't understand the place of a woman at Fort, it starts to change the whole game...We know, we’ve seen it. So, you can certainly have a woman with her own opinions on these subjects, but if you do you need to remember this: that IC actions *DO* equal IC consequences. The integrity of the game actually depends on playing true to the social and cultural rules that have been set forth.
1.) Women’s rank...or lack thereof
The first thing it is necessary to understand is that women are literally *nothing* and have no status to speak of (with a couple of exceptions). Some women have things a little better than others, those being the minimal number of women who have some rank (like Headwoman and Goldriders), but aside from that any rank a woman might have would pretty much only apply to other women. Take the Head Laundress for example, she can order her staff (of women) around but thats it. The little bit of status she has beens nothing to riders or crafters. Female candidates are only just a small step better than drudges and that’s it, and that’s only because they have the possibility of birthing a child with a better chance of impressing because they had that unknown quality that Searchdragons look for. Truthfully, being a female candidate is not a highly special place to be. Girl candidates can go on all day about being a ‘proper’ woman, but when all is said and done the rest of the Weyr knows that maybe... MAYBE... one of those ‘proper’ women will be a goldrider someday. The rest of those female candidates are just future drudges. People at Fort aren’t idiots, they can count and know the odds. One point to realize is that it’s cannon fact that golds tend to impress girls who’ve come from OUTSIDE THE WEYR. Yes, there have been a few weyrbred goldriders, might even have one right now, but the historical facts show that the majority of Pern’s goldriders (especially those famous and most written about queenriders) have been holdbred. This is history that any average Fortian would have learned in their history lessons. Think on that for a bit.
One common misconception for females is that they believe having a ranking father means something at Fort. However the truth is that a girl having a ranking father means nothing. Yes, it does mean more to the boys because they are expected to be able to follow in their father’s footsteps, but girls can never do that. So while having an ranking father might grant them a tiny bit of protection (on the off chance that the father even cares, and the truth of it is that most dragonrider parents aren’t supposed to be that involved in their children’s lives), really the only thing they can do because of their ranking father is pull rank on *other girls*.
On the other hand having a ranking boyfriend *could* mean something...but only if the boyfriend is the type to attach himself to a woman. Those types of relationships *do* happen... but it’s more the exception and is *not* the rule. It’s actually much more realistic for Fortian dragonriders to be ‘sowing their seed’ everywhere, and not just because it’s their duty to father the next generation of possible dragonriders but because they simply *can*. Also more realistic is the point that most Fortian men understand that Fortian women are there for spreading their legs and making babies, and wouldn’t expect a woman to say no if another man decided to exercise his right to be with that woman. Some men, of course, might be more possessive but 1) if he’s a more Traditional man he knows that it is best for the Weyr to have babies other than his and 2) it’s truly a giant hassle to keep tabs on a woman all the time and come into conflict with every other man who might touch her without realizing she was your woman, or who (even worse) became an enemy because the protection you gave to a woman enabled her to reject him in front of his friends and make him look foolish.
2.) Women’s right to say NO doesn't exist
The second necessary thing to understand is that women don't have the right to say no. Yes, this is an ugly truth, but look at it from the Fortian point of view: it isnt just the men who have been raised in a society that believe women are not only physically but mentally weaker than men (good for only drudgework and breeding), the *women* have been raised with those beliefs too! Yes, there will always be exceptions, and we understand this, but honestly those exceptions will be few and far between since the vast majority of women will *not* have these huge and unrealistic ideas about being too good to do all those things which their society and culture FIERCELY believes is the only thing they are good for.
A point to remember is that women are below nearly everyone which is expanded to mean that no women is classed as ‘too good’ to put herself through having a baby. Because of that set of ideas girls who have managed to hold onto their virginity past 16 or so (all dependant on how physically mature they look) are not only exceptionally rare but extraordinarily lucky. Any man, literally *ANY* man, can walk up to any woman and demand whatever he wants and she would have no leg to stand on if she tried to argue with him about it. She can try, there’s nothing stopping her from that, but if she does try and argue she should expect things to get ugly. And if things do turn ugly NOBODY is going to step forward to help her (there are a very few who may want to help but actually doing so is not very likely to happen) because she has done something that everyone knows she has no right to do- which is to say no to a man.
3.) Having a rider’s child for protection
Looking at the previous section, that girls cannot say no to a man, any man, who demands her ‘attentions’, when you look at the girls who are attempting to have only a bronze or brownriders baby that isn't an easy or sure thing to accomplish. Not only are there only a few handfuls of bronzeriders in Fort at this moment, numbers recovering from both the human and dragon plagues as well as Resistance murders, but there are *SO* many more greenriders and blueriders (as well as nonriders) who enjoy sex as much as any bronzerider and your female CANNOT SAY NO TO THEM. In actuality, why would she want to say no? Yes, they believe that having a bronze or brownrider’s baby COULD offer them some protection (depending on if the baby’s father could even be remotely proven and if the rider even cared about his baby- let alone the baby’s clingy mama), but most of the protection from having a son is that he grows up to Impress bronze or brown himself. Green and blueriders might not be the most highly looked upon by those higher ranking colors or most often desired by women, but they are still men with dragonriding blood and women are *expected* to show them respect for risking their lives and their dragon’s hide each time they fight Thread.
The point of this is that it is quite impossible for a women to *only* sleep with bronze or brownriders. She can cross her fingers hoping to get pregnant by the rankers instead of those lower on the totem pole, can deliberately try and snag the rankers whenever she can...but there is no way to assure that- and she has every other women in the Weyr as competition too! In actuality, any women who attempted to shun the lesser riders would be in for a helluva rude awakening- not only would she quickly learn that she *can’t* shun those lesser riders when they decide they want her and force the issue, she would soon find herself labeled as an ‘uppity bitch’ even by some of her fellow females.
4.) Forcing a Woman/ Man (Sensitive issue)
First off: we understand that the subject of rape is a horrifying experience and none of us, OOCly, would ever say that it isnt.
However, ICly considering the Fortian views of women and the environment at Fort, rape is just a fact of life at Fort. The most possible and common mentality of the subject is that if a woman is raped it is not the man’s fault for demanding and taking what he wants, it’s the WOMAN’S fault for saying no to a man who was only doing what he’s expected and has a clear right to do. Of course we, in those modern world, know that it isnt supposed to be like that...but at Fort that is what the vast majority of people have hardwired into their brains from birth.
If your character does get raped, it is necessary to keep a few things in mind. The first is that he/she is literally SURROUNDED by people who have most likely had unwanted sex forced on them in some form or another. Not all of these people would have fought back, but the vast majority of women and a smaller handful of men have been in a situation of being forced into unwanted sex, so they don't think your character is special or unusual for going through it. The fact that so many people go through similar situations *does* mean that in some ways other characters have lots of sympathy for others going through it... however in other ways they have no sympathy at all. The Fort mindset revolves around the ideals of “do your duty, lick your wounds, move on”, and this applies whether to fighting in Threadfall or anything else. With this in mind, the lower cavern ladies will give a girl their quiet sympathy...but only as long as she does move on. If she’s going along acting like a wounded animal and that it was the worst thing ever that happened to her 6 months later they’re going to think that she is both a weak person (and not so not fit for a dragon, if the girl is a candidate) or that she is being a crazy drama queen.
This ideal of ‘move on’ also applies to the boys as well, although in a lesser extent. Men get raped too, it happens and everyone knows it, but while there are a *lot* of other issues having to do with man-on-man rape just because of the culture that the Fortian men have been inundated with and how they define their sexuality, any sort of whining from the guy or just being unable to deal with it is going to make them look even weaker in the eyes of his peers. The general idea is that crying/whining in women is bad enough, but men *are* stronger and are expected to show it, are supposed to be able to deal with Threadscores and other horrific injuries.
5.) Different viewpoints
However having said *all* that, about women’s rank, their place in society and the way they’ve been raised to believe certain things are expected of them, none of this is saying that some women won’t have a different mindset than what we’ve described. It could be that she came from outside the Weyr and might have been influenced differently or she could just ‘break the mold’. Or your woman could be a ‘two faced’ person, one who follows all the right rules and sets of behaviors when around rankers but who lashes out and *anyone* who even might be considered her rank or lower. But, in order for us to continue to be able to play in this world with our unique and ‘dark’ atmosphere, it is very important to keep all the things that have previously been described in mind when playing and creating characters. Because, when a game starts to be flooded with lots of characters who don't react in a realistic and believable way for our dark setting, or who just don't understand the place of a woman at Fort, it starts to change the whole game...We know, we’ve seen it. So, you can certainly have a woman with her own opinions on these subjects, but if you do you need to remember this: that IC actions *DO* equal IC consequences. The integrity of the game actually depends on playing true to the social and cultural rules that have been set forth.