Firelizards

[. s p o r e ♪]

GOLD FIRELIZARDS

Ranging from 36 to 40 inches in length, golds are one of the largest ranks of firelizard seen at Solace, and historically have reigned over their kin undisputed as miniature queens. In the wild they are often surrounded by colourful fairs of smaller, lower-ranked firelizards, whom they lead and protect. Golds are always female, and are named for the metallic gold colour of their hides. In captivity these commanding and dominant flits quite happily boss around any other firelizards in their vicinity, making intelligent companions whose devotion is unparalleled, except when their attention is focused on a rival queen. These female usually clutch 8 to 20 eggs at a time, and will care for them faithfully until they hatch.

BRONZE FIRELIZARDS

Bronze firelizards are the largest male-only rank, and the traditional ones to catch golds in a Flight. They're usually 32 to 36 inches long, making bronzes a fairly large rank, although definitely not the largest. These males will chase any flit that Flies, but they are more likely to succeed when competing for larger females. Bronze flits are one of the more intelligent ranks, and combined with their large size, this makes them ideal as message-carriers. However, their rank does come with no small amount of stubbornness and pride, so telling an unwilling bronze what to do is unlikely to produce results. Bronze firelizards are usually metallic golden-brown in colour, often with hints of grey or green.

BROWN FIRELIZARDS

Browns are medium-sized among firelizard ranks, averaging out to be exactly between green and gold flits. Browns were named for their earthy colouration, which can be light or dark, and may be more rich or greyish in tone depending on the individual. They tend to be calm, steady creatures, and are decently intelligent, but can be difficult to train because of their low amount of drive. Ranging from 28 to 32 inches in length, browns will chase anything from green flits to queens, although they tend to be beaten by bronzes when attempting to fly a larger female. Brown flitters are always male, but may be distinguished from bronzes by their smaller size and matte hides.

BLUE FIRELIZARDS

One of the smaller ranks of flit, blues are always male. Ranging from 24 to 28 inches long, hey are the smallest all-male rank, and are commonly seen in the company of greens, with whom the small males tend to get along well. Blues tend to be friendly pets, and are very willing to learn anything their owners wish to teach them, although more complex tasks are beyond their abilities. Blue flits can vary greatly in colour, from dark navy to pale sky blue. Though willing enough to chase females of any rank, blue flits rarely have any success with the much larger queens. Blues are the most plentiful rank of firelizard after green, and can be seen commonly throughout the Weyr.

AMBER FIRELIZARDS

A relatively new rank to appear at Solace, amber firelizards are one of the smaller varieties of flit, in between greens and blues in size with full lengths of between 22 and 26 inches. Now a relatively common sight in wild populations, amber firelizards appear to be a dual-gender rank, having been observed both chasing and leading flights. Amber firelizards were named for their warm yellow colour, which at a distance could be mistaken for gold. Up close, their smaller size and matte hides make it easy to distinguish amber flits from golds, even if the amber in question happens to be female. Although capable of clutching, amber flits are no more fertile than greens, and are just as negligent with their eggs.

GREEN FIRELIZARDS

The smallest and most common type of firelizard, greens are always female and grow to be between 20 and 24 inches in length. As their name suggests, green firelizards tend to be green in colour, although the shade and hue of their hides vary greatly. Generally considered to be the least intelligent rank, greens can be trained to do simple tasks, but often need close attention to assure that they don't stray or get into trouble. Unlike dragons, firelizards even of this low rank are capable of clutching up to three eggs, but they tend to lack strong maternal instincts, and will often abandon their eggs once they have been laid.

[. s p o r e ♪]

ON FIRELIZARDS

Ancestors of modern dragons, firelizards were discovered by Pernese people when they first arrived. Like the dragons of old tales, the diminutive firelizards had four legs and two bat-like wings, and had the power to breathe fire in order to fight off thread. Early Pernese engineered firelizards to be larger and more easily domesticated, enhancing their already remarkable telepathic abilities and intelligence and changing their hook-like foreclaws into five-toed grasping feet. Eventually they created dragons from their tiny companions in order to ride them into battle against thread, and from those came whers, but although "flitters," as they have been called, returned to their wild origins for centuries, they have been re-embraced as pets all over Pern.

Firelizards bear many resemblances to dragons, but although they seem much alike, there are differences between them other than their smaller size. While a dragon cannot comprehend an existence without a partner human, firelizards can and will readily go wild if they hatch without a human nearby. Wild flits tend to be secretive and hard to spot, staying away from human settlements and going between to elude any who come near. However, flitters are easily bonded to humans if one is present at the time of their birth. Firelizards may Impress to any human who is near them when they hatch, especially if that person has food on hand to offer. Anyone can Impress a firelizard, regardless of other pets or bondeds.

Perhaps because firelizards are so casual about whom they Impress or whether they do, the bond between human and flitter is weaker than that between rider and dragon, and may be broken if the firelizard is ill-treated by its owner. Firelizards communicate in a fashion with their bondeds by way of telepathic imagery, sending feelings and pictures to their owner easily. Owners of firelizards can be affected when their pets rise to mate, however since the bond is not as powerful as one a dragon might form, the emotions can be ignored. Flitters tend to be noisy pets, and have a large vocabulary of cheeps, shrieks and whistles which they use often. Since they are vocal creatures, some have been known to "sing" along to music.

Although nobody at Solace knows exactly what goes on at Southern Weyr, it's common knowledge that Southerners are some of the largest firelizard enthusiasts on Pern. Breeding firelizards is difficult to regulate, but somehow the determined Weyrfolk of Southern manage to seek out and proliferate different flit ranks, eagerly investigating each new colour. Recently newer varieties of flit have been finding their way to Solace through wild strains that migrated east from Southern, with mixed reactions from Weyr residents. Although deviations from the norm are still rare, they are still common enough to be recognised as ranks rather than lone aberrations, and have started to become integrated into Solace's culture.