Subject: So let's save Emily Boll.
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Posted on: 2019-10-09 12:00:00 UTC

Pern was colonised under the command of Paul Benden and Emily Boll. Benden gave his name to the second Weyr; Boll got an insignificant Hold south of Fort. Seriously, does Southern Boll do anything? Oh, I see it gets a Lady Holder in Skies, big woo.

Dragonsdawn has Emily taken out of commission in a crash during the Second Crossing, and dying of fever a few years later without seemingly doing anything in between; Paul lasts, according to this timeline, another decade. As our simplest point of divergence, let's just flip that on its head: Paul Benden is injured in the crash, and Emily Boll takes centre-stage. I think they're about the same age, so we can assume she dies around the same time. Somewhere in between, Ju Adjai founds Southern Benden south of Fort - meaning that the first two major holds are both held by Lady Holders (and the third, Ruatha, is mostly famous for its connection to Weyrwoman Sorka).

The first big change is that Paul is presumed to have had at least one child and founded the bloodline of Fort, while Emily isn't known to have had any (makes sense, as men can have kids older than women can). So let's take that and run with it: the very first Hold will be inherited by someone unrelated to its Lady. Lord Holders in the Primeline are technically elected: with Emily pushing, that election would have some teeth to it.

And I think that would feed over to the dragonriders. Sean's frankly daft idea that the second Weyr should be led by whichever Queen first rises to mate gets overturned by Sorka on the grounds that 'Emily would never stand for it (you sexist pig)'. The riders vote for their Weyrwoman, and - crucially, in establishing the separation of powers - she will run the effort against Thread until her dragon rises and allows one of the bronzes a chance to prove himself the strongest.

In defiant honour of this decision, the second Weyr is naturally named Boll, and equally naturally, a Lady Holder is appointed to Boll Hold. There are 13 Major Holds dating to the First Pass; Tillek, Ruatha, and Telgar are known to have been founded by men, and in this timeline, Fort, South Benden, and Boll were founded by women. Lemos is an offshoot of Boll, so would presumably adopt its attitudes.

Of the six unspecified Holds, one (Bitra) is named for a woman (though not a terribly nice one); Ista was semi-founded by the selfsame Bitra, and ultimately by a group of four families. It wouldn't be surprising for them to have a Lady Holder in the first couple of generations, especially if the Weyr put its oar in. So we have a roughly egalitarian society in place by around the 30th Turn on Pern.

Of course, we know from history that equality is the first to go when times get tough, and is really easy for a tyrant to overturn. I think the technological decline is probably inevitable - a small population simply can't support high technology, particularly when fighting for its life. So things are on dangerous ground by the beginning of the Second Pass, just as in the Primeline.

What we really need to cement the changes is a firm response to that sociopath Chalkin of Bitra. My memory is that the Lords Holder hemmed and hawed about interfering with his autonomy - that sort of power-oriented thinking is classically masculine. Give us a few Lady Holders in the mix, and give Boll Weyrwoman Irene enough confidence to take Chalkin's unfair dealings to the Conclave earlier, and we have a strong precedent that 1) a Holder's obligation is first to Pern, second to their people, and third (and last) to the Hold and themselves, and 2) not working for The Common Good can and will get you taken out. (For bonus points, we'll appoint a woman in his stead: "Bitra has never had a Lady Holder, it's time to correct that.")




My worry is that despite all this juggling, it still might not be enough. All it needs is a Great Plague, and the argument that 'for the Common Good and the survival of Pern, women need to have as many children as possible' will gain possibly undefeatable momentum. To get rid of that, you need to establish a system where men and women play an equal role in raising their children - and from my memories of Dragonsdawn, I don't think Pern ever had that. Certainly those nutters down in Honshu didn't.

hS

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