"Letter from the Senior Weyrwoman to Gold Applicants" ~ Jelisa, Gold Sylaith's Rider

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What follows is a letter that I sent out to my gold candidates. Believe it or not, this letter was /really/ toned down from what I wanted to write. I have heard from a number of people and I believe that it accurately portrays what its like to be a goldrider—and it does it in a rather succinct manner. If this letter seems rather aimed at Honshu—well…I wrote it for a potential Honshu goldrider. But I believe that it sums up what /any/ goldrider can expect. Its not all fun and games—though it can be fun! Honestly—this letter is best for someone who is applying to be a junior, so keep that in mind.

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If you're receiving this mail it is because you have decided to place gold as your first choice at Honshu Weyr. This email will sound rather negative. It's designed that way. Being a goldrider is a job first and a position second. I spend untold hours each week being Senior for Honshu--at times, it almost rivals my full-time career (yes, that does mean 80-hour weeks, including my real-life job). In fact, during Search, I spend more time /on/ line then off. So, while this sounds negative, I prefer to think of it as a dose of reality with riding gold at Honshu Weyr.

If we choose gold this time around, she will be junior for a long time. No ifs, ands or buts. There will probably be a long period of time before you might possibly see a senior position. I have no intention of retiring in the near future, and so the gold we impress this time should expect to be Junior for at least 2-3 years. You might still be a junior Weyrwoman in 2003. Or 2005. Or 2007. You want a gold dragon to run clutches? Your first clutch probably won't happen until this time next year, if not later. If a gold Hatches this time, Honshu will have three gold dragons to spread clutches between.

Here at Honshu we allow all dragonriders and residents to participate in search and on search committee. Ultimately, the Senior Weyrwoman and Weyrleader have final decisions on Search matters but anyone can be on the committee itself. Any Search Committee member is allowed to create dragons and run them during the hatching. All Search Committee members have input on the hatchling theme--it is not be the decision of the goldrider alone, or even the goldrider and clutchsire.

We allow riders all colors to participate in both IC leadership /and/ OOC leadership. This can include building things about the weyr, knotting new residents, serving on Weyr Council, coming up with TPs for the Weyr or making administrative decisions for the Weyr. If you think that you're going to be totally in charge of anything or put on a higher level of leadership than 'mere' chromatic riders are, then please rethink. Both of our wingleaders are chromatic riders. Our Weyrlingmaster and Weyrsecond also ride chromatic dragons. Honshu could not exist without chromatic riders; Honshu could not exist without our residents. The only ability your character has that no other character has is to ICly be able to produce eggs. If you are chosen to be Honshu's next goldrider it isn't because we think you desc nicely, or that your character would be a good dragonrider. It is because we think /you/, yes /you/ reading this letter, have the POTENTIAL to be a Senior Weyrwoman. To be able, with training, to handle all of these administrative duties. To be capable to take over should something horrible happen to Jelisa - Gwendolen inexplicably lost access and we needed to find a temporary Sr. because we had no possible replacements until Jelisa was impressed and trained.

We need someone who is active. We need someone who will be able to be able to handle both their administrative duties and roleplay. We need someone who can keep her finger on the pulse of the Weyr, and keep the Weyradmin informed of what's going on. We need someone who likes Honshu Weyr and will look out for its needs and players. We need someone who will not run away from an issue or responsibility just because there's something going on that you don't like or agree with. We need someone who can take a moment to step aside, take a deep breath and really /think/ about a situation--and yes, even at times make decision without consulting the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader first--and who is willing and able to take responsibility for their decisions.

As a goldrider, you will often find yourself put into situations where you are expected to know everything NOW and to have an answer NOW. Whether you actually do or not is not really the point. You will be asked to make quick decisions. You will need to think on your feet. You will need to keep a cool head during crises; during those times when multiple people are paging you, complaining about a decision you just made, or a decision your Weyrwoman made. You may be in the situation where you are running a hatching and midway through the game completely crashes. (Yes, this did happen--my first hatching the game crashed three times.) Would you be able to stay calm and keep going, no matter what?

You will also be judged. For every action you make. For every interaction you have. For every description, for every page, for every +mail, for every bbpost, for every dragon pose, for every leadership decision... for everything you do, you will be watched, judged and weighed. And trust me--it starts from the INSTANT that gold looks into your eyes on the sands. New players and guests will page YOU for help, or just to chat. People you've never seen before will roleplay with you like you're their best friend. And if you treat them badly or are rude to them - or if they /think/ you have treated them badly or been rude - you can be sure they will tell everyone they know about horrible Honshu Weyr.

You MUST be reliable. If the Weyrleader or I ask you to do something, whether it's work on the knots or build a weyr or collect all of the egg descriptions for a clutch or talk to the Lord Holder at Cove about running a Fall, then you are expected to do it. If there is something going on in your RL that might prevent you from accomplishing this, we expect you to tell us ASAP so that we can find someone else to do it. If you take a look at your RL now and see a lot of commitments that would prevent you from being active and taking care of your duties around the Weyr, don't apply for gold.

You must be prepared for the worst. There will be times when someone starts making disparaging remarks about you, about your Weyr, about your residents and everything that stands for Honshu, just because they disagree with your decision. You MUST be able to remain calm, collected and polite—even if they are paging you with a stream of expletives. You must be able to take the high road, no matter how tempted you are to answer back in like fashion. You must be prepared to hear a number of people tell you how horrible you are—just because they don’t agree with you.

OK. I’ll admit. This all sounds rather harsh. I intend it to be. It's easy to just see the shiny golden hide and the "I get to have a clutch" aspect of goldriding and forget the difficulties and harshness that accompany it. Let’s look at the positives:

When you finally finish a clutching (which mostly involves you making poses about how lovely the eggs are) and people page you with, "WOW! Those eggs are great! You all did a great job!" Usually around half (sometimes less, sometimes more) eggs in the clutch are described by the goldrider. Can you describe 10 eggs on a single theme? 15? 20? If you're lucky, most of the eggs were described by your residents and you can brag about how awesome your Weyr is. That’s something that I love doing and it makes me happy.

On a great day, you’ll get paged by someone who goes, "You know, I just wanted you to know that you are doing a great job." Now, granted, that doesn’t happen often. In fact, don’t even count on it. But when it does… it’s a good feeling.

After you run a Hatching (one of the most exhausting experiences of your life), you’ll have new Weyrlings who rave about their dragons. They’ll +mail everyone involved and get ecstatic about how "She’s the perfect green!" or "I love what you chose to be our theme!" and so on. THAT is gratifying. Then there are the Candidates who want to know why /they/ didn't Impress, or why /So-and-so/ got a bronze/brown/green/gold dragon. There will be the Candidates who decide that they'll have a hysterical fit on the Sands, or decide to commit suicide afterwards. There will be the Candidates who decide that because you didn't Impress to them this time, that you'll /never/ Impress to them (and sometimes that will be true) and idle out of the game. Sometimes those will be the Candidates that you wanted to see improve, or the Candidate that you just couldn't Impress to because of the number quota.

Most of the time? You have to be content in watching Honshu be filled with RP and with activity. Hearing your people chatter over the knot and be excited about things and generally enjoying themselves. Seeing others coming to visit. Seeing the aftereffects of other people's RP posted with Molly & Dolly. /That/ will be what you see most often. And honestly, that should be what makes you the most excited.

Being gold isn’t easy. At times, it is the most frustrating and infuriating decision you’ll realize that you ever made. But at the same time… it can be one of the most fulfilling things that you do on a MUSH. But if the thought of any of this shocks or concerns you… you should very seriously consider adjusting your application for a different color. None of the information in this letter was made up or exaggerated.