Pern, that wonderful place dreamt up in the mind of Anne MacCaffrey, where dragons flame thread and protect the planet with the aid of their lifemates. Or is that the other way around?

Not sure what I'm talking about? A quick rundown is that years in the future, some people from earth decide that they want to live without all the technology that's around. Think of them as adventurers, explorers, Omish. Anyway, they find a nice little planet where they can settle and live peacefully and simply, hop on some spaceships and go. They get to the planet. Pern. It's nice, and there are these little firelizards that look like miniature dragons that are indigenous to the planet. Everything goes fine for a while, until this red planet that they hadn't taken much notice of swings a leeeeetle bit too close to Pern, and starts bombarding it with silvery thread-like stuff that eats up anything made of organic material. Thread. Our travelors don't know what to do about this menace, the only things that stop it are water, fire, and inorganic stuff like metal and rock. Then they notice that the little firelizards breathe flame and destroy the thread, so they get this idea... Why not breed them to be really really big? So they do, with the help of some scientists. They make them bigger, stronger, and smarter. These 'dragons', named such because they look like earth dragons of legend, seek out a human to bond with when they hatch from their eggs. They Impress someone, and after that, dragon and rider are bonded telepathically for life.

This is just the very basic premise, there's a lot more to it, but if you didn't know what Pern was before, now you get an idea.

All over the internet you can find online roleplaying games based on the books of Pern that Anne has written. Some are called MUSHes, some are called MOOs. I generally MOO. Mooooo...

It's a lot of fun, and you meet some really nice people (Nuff, you are forever in my heart for those Sailor Moon stickers, I love you!!!). I'm on all four of the major pern MOOs, Harper's Tale, Dragonsfire, VirtuaPern, and Star Stones. Below are links to two of my favorite characters.

True on VirtuaPern.

Isobel on Star Stones.