Islands of Pern (IoP) is a play by email, fantasy/fiction, writing club set in the world of Anne McCaffrey's Pern. Members create characters that live in the world of Pern and write stories for these characters. When the stories are complete they send these stories to email mailing lists which then send the stories out to all the other members within the club. Members may also co-author stories with each other so that characters interact with one another to create the living, breathing world that is Anne McCaffrey's Pern.

The timeline is set late in the 9th Pass (IoP also assumes that the computer AIVAS was never discovered, therefore Thread continues to fall and Pern is still an agrarian and hierarchical society), and the location is on the mysterious Western Continent and a few of the surrounding islands. Islands of Pern is meant to give individuals who love Pern a chance to experience what it could be like to live there. The Club is also a very useful tool for individuals who are striving to improve their writing skills and would like feedback from others who will be fair and kind with their criticism.

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AIVAS -- Stands for: Artificial Intelligence Voice Address System. AIVAS was a super-computer owned by the original colonists who settled Pern.  Unfortunately, it was lost in a volcanic eruption a few years after the colonists arrived. At the end of the Pern novel The Renegades of Pern, AIVAS is re-discovered. However, in Islands of Pern it is assumed that the final events of The Renegades of Pern and the events in all subsequent books, especially All The Weyrs of Pern, never happened.

Conclave -- The administrative body within Islands of Pern. For more details about the Conclave, please visit the About Conclave page.

Co-Post -- A post that is authored by two or more members.

Dragon -- The large, telepathic, gentle giants of Pern. Every dragon is paired with a rider, and together they fight against the menace of Thread to protect Pern. To find out more about Pern's dragons, please visit the Dragon Guide.

Firelizard -- The small cousins of the dragons. They are quite similar to dragons in that they can form a telepathic bond with humans. They are almost exactly like dragons in body structure, just much smaller. Firelizards tend to only grow to about the length of a full grown man's arm from muzzle to tail-fork.

Flit -- Another name for a firelizard.

Flitter -- Yet another name for a firelizard ;) .

Hall -- Also called Craft Halls. The name given to the places where members of a certain craft reside to train. Every craft has a craft Hall (some have more than one) and a Craft Master who holds the highest rank in that craft.

Herdbeast -- The Pernese word for 'cow' or 'bovine'.

Hold -- The name given to the places where the general population of Pern dwells. Most Holds are made up of caves to protect the inhabitants against the threat of Thread. A Hold with a capital 'H' is considered a major Hold that oversees a large amount of land. A hold with a lowercase 'h' is considered a minor hold that is beholden to the nearby major Hold.

IoP -- An abbreviation for Islands of Pern.

LOA -- Stands for: Leave of Absence. If a member is unable to keep up with the posting requirements of Islands of Pern, they may request to take a LOA and have a few months off.

PBeM -- Stands for: Play By eMail. PBeM clubs utilize email to pass stories between members rather than using instant messenger programs or chat rooms to role-play.

Pern -- Stands for: Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible (Also: Planet Earthlike, Resources Negligible). This is the name given to the planet on which the stories in Islands of Pern take place. To find out more detailed information about Pern, please see our Canon Guide.

Persona -- A voice or character representing the speaker in a literary work. Personas are the characters that inhabit Islands of Pern. They are brought to life by the members who write stories about them.

Persona sheet -- A page on the IoP website that describes details about that persona such as their name, gender, location, physical description, background, and any information about non-human companions that persona might have.

Post -- A story, or small portion of a story, that is complete and sent to one of the IoP mailing lists for others to enjoy. A post may be a stand-alone story or it may be part of a larger story, much like a chapter in a book.

Queen -- The name given to the largest of the dragons: The golds.

Restday -- The seventh day of a sevenday. Generally this is a day of rest.

Runnerbeast -- The Pernese word for 'horse' or 'equine'.

Sevenday -- The Pernese word for 'week'.

Thread -- The dangerous, silvery spores that fall from the sky and devour anything that is organic. Thread can only be destroyed by fire, water, or freezing cold. To find out more about the history of Thread and how the residents of Pern cope with its presence, please read the Canon Guide.

Turn -- The Pernese word for 'year'.

Watch wher -- A failed experiment by the original colonists to produce more dragons after the first batch hatched. Watch whers are generally used for watch-dog tasks. For more information on watch whers please see the Wher Guide. (WARNING: The watch wher guide contains spoilers for the novel Dragon's Kin).

Weyr -- The name given to the places where dragonriders and their dragons reside. A Weyr with a capital 'W' stands for an entire Weyr, such as: Ithaca Weyr. A weyr with a lowercase 'w' stands for the individial abode of a dragon and his or her rider within the larger Weyr.

Weyrling -- A young dragonrider or dragon that is still in training.

Wing -- The name for a formation of dragons while they are fighting Thread. Wings are led by a Wingleader and two Wingseconds.

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After your join form is approved, you may subscribe to the IoP mailing list(s). The only list that you must subscribe to is the general mailing list. The others are simply extras. For more info on the lists of IoP please visit the Posting Guide.

You will also be assigned a mentor. A mentor is there to help you get started in Islands of Pern and you may feel free to ask your mentor as many questions as you want. They volunteered for the job so they don't worry about bothering them. ;) As a club policy, your first posts must be approved by your mentor. As a guideline, most mentors will generally look over three (3) posts before releasing new members. You do not send your first posts directly to the list! You write your first posts and then send them to your mentor. If the post is satisfactory, your mentor will put their stamp of approval on it and then send it to the list for you. If the post is not satisfactory, your mentor will send the post back to you and notify you of what should be changed. Once three (3) posts have been approved (sometimes a mentor will request to see more than three if they believe their mentoree is struggling) your mentor will release you. You can now write and send out posts all on your own!

After being released from mentoring it is all down hill from there. Now your only responsibility is to keep up with the posting requirements and to have fun.

There is only one other thing that you can do now that can further your knowledge of Islands of Pern, and that is to look over the following Guides: The Posting Guide, The Netiquette and Co-posting Guide, and the Canon Guide. Once you have mastered the information in these you are good to go.

We thank you for taking the time to read the Getting Started Guide, and we hope it has helped you with the process of joining and getting started writing in Islands of Pern. Have fun and happy writing!

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