From: lwl@mambo.seas.upenn.edu (Lydia Leong)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pern
Subject: Re: MU* keeness
Date: 21 Jan 93 07:34:18 GMT
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow

[ The origin of this thread: someone said that they had a friend on 
  PernMUSH who could hear all dragons ('keeness') and the dragons
  wanted her to take a queen egg.
  I have deleted rec.games.mud.tiny from the cross-posting, since
  I don't think that this is a matter of general interest there. ]

In article <snip> jmorrill@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (John M Morrill) writes:
>In article <snip> khearn@pyrps5.eng.pyramid.com (Kei th Hearn) writes:
> [ asks if it's been cleared with the wizards and Weyrleaders, and 
     wonders if 'the dragons' have been asked. ]
>>I think you'd better get permission OOC, before you start trying to run a
>>  TP with someone claiming to hear dragons......(Rest deleted)

>I would assume that whomever is going to run this Tinyplot has or is working
>on getting permission for the Weyr involded. As far as getting permission from
>the other Weyrleaders/Weyrwomen and Wizards, well....one of the things I
>dislike most about PERN Mush and South Conn is the bureacracy. By the time
>you get permission from everyone you have to get permission from to do
>anything, you are ready to say the hell with it. Of course, there is no
>guarantee that you will get the permission either.

Oh, give me a break. This is not, by any means, a "small" tinyplot.
If anybody could go around claiming to hear all dragons, in no time
at all, we'd have half of the MUSH doing it. This has absolutely
nothing to do with bureaucracy, as two seconds of rational thought
would no doubt have told you.

I can't think of many REASONABLE plots that need the permission of people.
If you're going to plot in someone's region of the MUSH, though, it's
POLITE to ask advice (and someone will undoubtedly sternly reprimand
you if you don't). For example, if I'm a Lord Holder giving a Gather,
there is absolutely NO REASON why I ought to have to tolerate someone
marching in and announcing that they've been poisoned by something they
ate at it. If I want to _voluntarily_ agree to this plot, which means
having prior knowledge that it's going to occur, and giving explicit
consent to it, that's my business, but major tinyplots occurring in
someone else's demesne without permission is just plain rude.

I can say for certain that this particular plot has NOT been cleared with
the wizards of PernMUSH (and A'lon has already said that it's not been
cleared with the Weyrleaders). It is, in fact, the ruling of the wizards 
that NO non-rider character can, at this time, hear all dragons.

The reasons for this:

1. It's unfair. How do you pick people who can hear dragons? Lots of 
   people would probably want to, and in no time at all, you'd be hearing,
   "How come SHE can hear dragons while *I* can't???"

2. It is current Weyr policy not to announce (or confirm in private)
   decisions on who gets what egg. This is especially true with queen
   eggs. I might also point out that 'the dragons' as a collective
   entity do not OOC have any say in who Impresses (and, for that matter,
   the dragons don't, in the books). Therefore anyone announcing that
   they are a sure pick for a dragon is waaaay out of line.

3. Speaking as DTU Maintainer, I can say that I am NOT willing to 
   customize a DTU (DragonTalk Unit) for use by a non-rider.

A Candidate attempting to run an unapproved tinyplot which said that
she could hear dragons (and thus had a major edge to Impress) would
probably  1) be IC looked at in weird ways by dragonriders
( "Jeniath, can <person> hear you?" / Jeniath shakes her wedge-shaped
  head and whirls her eyes in puzzlement at her rider Amberyl.)
and 2) OOC wreck her chances to Impress.

-------------------+--------------------------------------------------------
Lydia Leong, '94   | "For I am what I say, and what you do is who you are,
lwl@seas.upenn.edu |  And the words are all we cling to in the end.
lwl@csa.bu.edu     |  For I don't have to see you to touch your heart...
lwl@imsa.edu       |  And maybe this is fantasy, and maybe I am dreaming,
lwl@elof.iit.edu   |  But maybe this is real life after all." - Perpetua@Pern
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