Pernese Society
Pernese society rests on three main struts, the Weyrs, the Holds and the Crafts. These are the three main areas of influence, or 'pillars' of Pernese society, and each of these are controlled by the Weyrleaders, the Lord Holders, and the Craftmasters respectively. These elites come together and form an oligarchy which rules the planet. These pillars are also split further, into the separate areas of influence, geographically for the Weyrleaders and Lord Holders,and through speciality for the Craftmasters. However, as generally each of these group have the same basic intersts, then they are best seen as three distinct groups, though inter-reliant upon one another. Pern has often been described as 'feudal' and as a 'feudalistic society'. Feudalism is most known for existing during the Middle Ages in Europe (12th century; 1100s) most famously in Britain, where vestiges of this - such as, until recently,1 hereditary peers controlling the second House in the British Parliament - are still prevalent, as well as the monarchy itself with the fact that the British are still 'subjects', though this exists in name only. Pern, however, has none of these things - there is no monarch with absolute power, and is not ruled by a small class of people, with titles passed always to the oldest son. Pern does have vestiges of this, but not only does this consist of just one-third of the ruling elite, meritocracy is also in play. The title goes to the best of the Blood, whether they be oldest son, youngest son, a nephew, a brother, an uncle etc, etc. And this choice is not solely in the hands of the Lord Holder who is passing his position on, but also in those of the Conclave of Lord Holders to verify the position. There are also other very important differences - a Lord Holder is not an absolute monarch even in his own lands, as Crafts and Weyrs are independent, and as part of the original establishment of the Pernese society no Lord Holder can deny another the services of produce of a craft settle in his lands. And a Craftmaster can withdraw his or her people from a Hold, an example of this being when MasterHarper Tirone and MasterHealer Capiam withdrew their Harpers and Healers from Fort Hold under Lord Tolocamp saying:
Thus it can easily be shown that Pern is not a complete feudal society, for in a feudal society the landowner is in full control. On Pern, the qualified people (and so basically the economy) is under the control of the Craftmasters - who hold little in the way of land in their own names. The Lord Holders translate best to monarchs in our terminology, and there is also smaller landowners on Pern - the Holders - who also own their own land, but owe an allegiance to their Lord Holder in much the same way as members of the landed aristocracy do (or did) on Earth. Thus Holders are similar to Dukes, Earls, Barons and the like, but in another deviation from feudalism, they do not owe their position to the patronage of their Lord Holder (which under an feudal absolute monarch, they would). Whilst a Lord Holder can appoint Holders to vacant land, that which is already settled cannot be displaced and their land redistributed. Their allegiance is more for mutual benefit and from tradition rather than because they owe their position to the Lord Holder, as that title passes in much the same way as that of Lord Holder - to the best (male) of the Blood. Pern does not have a feudal society in my opinion, but it is quasi-feudal, as it takes the principle of a strong, single leader, but improves it through placing express limitations of his power. A Lord Holder cannot go throwing his weight around and always succeed. There are Weyrleaders (who have an odd position in Intervals, with little explicit duty apart from keeping the dragons going) and the Craftmasters. They can prevent a Lord Holder from getting too big for his boots. Unfortunately, if one of the three struts of Pernese society collapse, then the balance of power inexorably falls towards to the Lord Holders and pushes Pern further towards feudalism, the prime example of this being Fax.3
Notes: 1 The first stage of the 'reform' of the House of Lords (House of Lords Act 1999) leaving only Life Peers in the Upper Chamber of the British legislature. 2 Anne McCaffrey, Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern (Corgi, 1984) p. 262 3 Fax: 'Lord of Seven Holds'. He inherited one, married into another and conquered, by force of arms, more. (Dragonflight and MasterHarper of Pern) |
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