"Life of a Goldrider from Applying to Retirement" ~ Kindre, Gold Herath's rider

Your life, both ICly and OOCly, changes the ~instant~ that you put 'gold' down as one of your top choices on your Search application. People will watch and scrutinize you more closely. People will be quicker to say, "Definitely not admin material," based solely on something you say OOCly on the knot...or for one thing you do ICly. Impressing a Jr. weyrwoman is a big thing to any Weyr, or at least so I have seen. It is not because it is a more 'special' or really even more 'important' role, but because that person has the potential to someday be the Sr. and run the Weyr. That is a big deal and is also why gold applicants are always under the proverbial microscope.

Then, if you are lucky, that moment comes ICly on the sands when that beautiful little gold ball of envy looks into your character's eyes and you Impress. Ultimately, that lovely little thing is a puppet and you really need to understand that. Yes...you have done well enough and impressed (no pun intended :) ...enough of the voting Weyr that you do have the potential to be a "good" goldrider. That is, of course, a total OOC opinion, and not the opinion of everyone involved likely. You will need, first of all, to grow a bit of a tough skin as well as retain some humbleness. When I Impressed, a certain Craftmaster went on a tirade on her knot about how I did not deserve to Impress gold and that I would easily ruin the Weyr if ever made Sr. This was someone I didn't even know and already they had deemed me unworthy. And that was the only one I actually heard about directly. Other people suddenly become your dearest and bestest friend ever. I don't mean this to sound totally horrible, but you have to realize that all the gushing over you and all the grumbling over you just come with it...don't take it to heart and remember who your friends were BEFORE you Impressed. That should help you deal with any of the above things should they happen to you.

By Impressing gold you are automatically thrust into a role of higher authority both ICly and OOCly. This, too, can be a difficult adjustment both for you and for people within the Weyr. Unlike many of the Weyrseconds or Wingleaders or Journeymen or Staff-members who "worked their way" to their positions, you get yours the moment you get your puppet. It could be said that you worked your way to it through Candidacy, but some of the higher ups in the Weyr had to put in a year or more to be where they are. It can be a daunting task for you as well...do you know anything about the knot code? How the Weyr is laid out? The parents the Weyr uses? It can be very overwhelming. Be assured that you will likely be walked through everything that you need to know. At Telgar, we try to let our new goldriders have some time to adjust to everything before giving them the magical keys to the admin foo.

Clutches. I was lucky in that the Sr. Weyrwoman at Benden and I were the only active goldriders after I Impressed. I was allowed to have the following Hatching for myself. Now, however, as Telgar, we have 2 active retired Weyrwoman, a Sr. and two Jrs. With approximately 2 Hatchings we are allowed to have per year, well, you can do the math :) It might be quite some time before you even get to do one. When you do, there is a lot of work behind it. Running the flight, reading Search applications, describing eggs, dragonets, working with code...usually you get help from the Weyr at large, but ultimately it is your responsibility to be sure everything that needs to be done is done when it needs to be done. It can sometimes feel very !fun.

Becoming Senior: Although it may seem like the ultimate reward for your years of being Jr., it is quite a rough transition in most cases. People in general do not like change. You will likely do things differently that your predecessor. In the first few months you will hear a lot of, "Well, So-and-so didn't do it that way," and the like. It is sort of like being a step-parent is as close an analogy that I can find :) There are many additional responsibilities to the Sr. position. Weyr council things (if your game has one), 20 new +mails everyday...basically the entire Weyr is your responsibility to run. Any faults are yours. Hopefully you will have a wonderful support staff and will delegate as much as you can. This not only helps you, but also helps everyone at the Weyr feel that they have a hand as well as a stake in how well your Weyr is perceived. Pick a good Weyrleader who you can work well with, no matter what. When I was Sr. the Weyrleader simply disappeared...no replies to email, +mail...he was gone. I was lucky to have a Weyrsecond who could run the place himself...and he took over. Another reason to have a great staff behind you.

Retiring. Will you know when? Will you be able to realize that you don't have the time to be online as much as you need be and step down in favor of someone who will? This is a rather hard situation...I just went through it myself not too long ago. Is the Jr. behind you capable of handling everything you will suddenly dump her way? If she isn't, is your Weyrleader able to run things and teach her along the way? The most important thing you should ALWAYS keep in mind is that the Weyr is, ultimately, yours. If you are never on, the Weyr suffers. Keeping the title of Sr. and not keeping up with the duties that come with it hurts everyone. Again, because the Weyr is your responsibility you will need to know when you are no longer as much of a leader as it needs you to be. Realizing that may be one of the most important things you ever deal with as a goldrider.

You're retired...now what? Retiring can be a bit of a shock. You are not everyone's sounding board, you are no longer the top authority...you may feel very un-needed all of the sudden. Talk to the Weyrleaders. Let them know that while you don't have the time to run everything, you have the knowledge and resources to help them and be used.

As you can see, there is quite a bit to being a goldrider...whether as a weyrling, Jr., Sr., or retired, your role is always changing and you need to be able to adapt to that. Can you? Perhaps you will have a chance to see. Good luck :)