Clarification on People

[Noola]

Hey!

I am discussing potential copost ideas with Chelle and an interesting point was brought up that I'd like to clarify, if only for my own edification.

We assume, don't we, that the Holds and Weyrs have hundreds of people living in them besides the few PC and NPC characters we've named, right? So, for instance, my new harper Barnek is the only PC harper at EFH. Does that mean he's the only harper at EFH? His job is teaching the ranking children - the Lord Holder's kids and any ranking fosterlings at the Hold. But, because he's the only harper, is he also in charge of the Hold's records? Legal disputes? What about teaching all the other kids? Providing entertainment? Commissioned artwork?

If he's one of a few harpers, like I'm thinking, then I could see him helping out in those other areas when the unnamed NPC harper needs help and as he's able, but his main focus would be the job he's there for. But, if I'm wrong, and being the only PC harper means he's the only one, I'll need to make some changes to how I plan on writing for him.

Plus, this will be good to know for when I make future characters! :D

Thanks!

[Eimi]

At a major Hold, there would most likely be more than one harper, more than one weaver, more than one carpenter, etc.  A hold is just like a small town.  They serve not only the residents of that town (about 500 in each location at this point though they could be up to a thousand or more), but also those in the cots and farms surrounding it.  Also, major holds are in the business of trade, and are required to tithe, so they will want more than one craftsman, especial in the local industry.  Also, not all craftsmen are trained at the Halls.  Some of them are trained under masters at their local Hold, so there would be some apprentices running around as well.  Now, it is unlikely that a Hold will have a harper whose main job is ONLY music or art, unless they have a rich patron to help support them or some kind of outside income.  It's also doubtful that they will have a weaver whose only purpose is tapestries.  There would be some overlap.  We leave it up to the writer what their persona is capable of doing.  

Bottom line, we try not to be a stickler and say "there can be only 1 of these, and only 2 of those"...  We want your imagination to run freely, so if you can dream up a job for someone, go for it.  (Rankers, however, ARE limited).

[Noola]

That's what I thought. About the Hold being like a town with hundreds of people we don't see in it, including several of each craft.

And I wasn't trying to say that there'd only be one with each specialty. But a harper (or a weaver or whatever) has a lot of jobs to do and if there's only one, then that one would have to do them all, but the workload would be spread out if there were many. I mean, my harper is a teacher, but I never thought he'd be the only teacher at the Hold even cause there must be like hundreds of children of varying ages and even in today's sucky public schools, a teacher usually only has to deal with 30 or so at once. That's why I figured he'd be the ranking kids teacher - there'd be fewer of them, just the Lord Holder's brood and any fosterlings, maybe some of the higher ranked staffer's kids. But I figured there'd be at least a few more teachers at the Hold for all the other kids.

That was my thought on making him anyway, inspired by Paula's request for a harper to teach the Lord Holder's kids. lol

[Eimi]

Well, especially since there is such a huge push to have women out there producing babies ;)  But probably some of them would travel around to some of the smaller cotholds to teach maybe once a month or every couple weeks.  And several grades would be combined together.  My grandmother was raised in a mining camp on a little island in Alaska with a population of only 100 and there were 11 kids in her school, so I would think that in a Hold of 500, it would be fair to assume that there would be about 50 kids between 5 and 12, so more than one teacher would probably be necessary.

[Noola]

Only 50, you think? I'd have thought more. I mean, the Duggars have nineteen kids by themselves. Course, only five of them are between five and twelve years old. So, maybe 50 or so is a decent ballpark figure.

[Eimi]

I would steer away from naming an actual number.  That's just to show what it COULD conceivably be.  Remember that infant mortality would be higher on Pern than earth in modern times, and not all women can get pregnant once a year, nor would they want to ;)  More women would also die in childbirth and after childbirth on Pern as well.  Husbands are more likely to die, too, and a single mother won't be having many more children.  When women have multiple births on Pern (like twins) the survival rate of both babies is much lower than our modern times (which is why having the successful birth of twins in Triad is a member reward).  I'm ranting because it's one in the morning here, but anyway, for many reasons, very few families could successfully raise as many children as the Duggars on Pern.

[Noola]

All good points! And feel free to rant away. Discussion is good! I enjoy discussions on the reasons and logic of things.

There should be more rambly ranty discussions debating facts and ideas! lol I learn more that way. :D

So, thanks for the cool info.