Wher Hold Description

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Caspian Wher Hold

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Within the walls of Caspian, on the far side, the western side – lays the Courtyard onto which the Wher hold takes it name.

Caspian’s Hold walls swell out, making a second circular sort of courtyard. The courtyard is cobbled, a single tree growing in the center – a large Skybroom tree, grown for over two hundred Turns – or at least that is as long as it has been remembered – though once it did lay outside of Caspian’s borders, when the Lord holder decided to expand, and add in the Wher hold, he believed that it would be nice to leave the tree as it stood, for thread had not fallen in many, many hundreds of turns, it was just a foolish tradition to leave the hold barren of vegetation, especially in Southern with it’s grubs. Beside it, inspired by the fact that Weyrs have lakes, a large man made pool sits in beside the tree – a small river had run through it prior, and still does, but now, the pool lays in the centre, and creates a good place for Whers to bathe in the night’s cool waters. The pool itself is large enough for two full-grown bronze Whers to bathe without getting too bothered about territory.

About the courtyard, stonewalls raise in a perfect circle. From above, the rooms go deep but the tops of the building is grassed, sloping off gently behind as though it were part of the landscape beyond. Many doors lead off of the Courtyard, arches large enough for a cart to enter though, each with a heavy door set in behind it. It is no secret that Wher’s dislike light, and these doors are the best way to block out the light at all day time hours.

The central most arch is open with no door, leading into a dimly lit set of corridors, which tend to narrow the further in they go, until they reach about enough for four people to walk side by side. Eventually, the corridor turns, the passage gives the option of left or right, each one curving round the outer edges of the wher hold. On the ground levels are social rooms and what would be the equivalent of the Weyr’s lower caverns, Kitchens, dining rooms, storage rooms along with the drudges quarters and candidate’s barracks. The only ‘turfside’ living quarters. These have windows, and are kept a good deal better lit than below.

The other living areas, for the wher handlers, run off the doors in the centre, these dip into the “Digs”. The term given because the Wher rooms are dug out of the ground, and slowly sink into the earth creating a Den for the Whers. These are always dark. The doors usually kept shut, they have the option of a heavy hide curtain (not wher hide for moral reasons!) to keep light and water out if the door is wanted to be left open.

Off of these main rooms is a smaller, quieter, usually slightly better lit room that belongs to the handler. Here, the handler gets a fresh water supply to bathroom facilities – which are within the same room. Though some handlers choose to put up a screen to divide them, the room’s aren’t given that as standard. The Cot is large, large enough for two – always. For though Handler’s aren’t quite as promiscuous as Riders are, they still tend to be influenced strongly by the Chase.

At the rear of the main room – is another door, human size, usually about six foot curved top doorways, these lead onto a set of stairs, which all curve about, and lead onto the upstairs corridor. It means no Handler has to leave into the daylight for the sake of their Whers. These tend to be the entrances that are used more often by the Handlers. The doors only opened at night, giving the wher’s exit onto the main Courtyard.

Northside; Digs tend to be smaller, given to Wherlings. The Southern and Western walls tend to be amalgamated sized Digs, varying in size, for couples, to single green handlers.

The Grass roofing was an Idea of the First Queen Handler. She thought it best that the insides were kept Cool. Southern was a Warm continent at best, and a good way to keep a room cool is to have grass over it. Though it was raised to her that this would then be a potential weakspot for entry of the Hold, she pointed out that if they were foolish enough to enter against a domain where Whers lived plentifully, then more fool them.

The northern side of the courtyard gives way to a completely open archway, this leads out to the feeding pens, all grassed through. Here a good stock of herdbeast and wherries are kept.

Southern of the Courtyard, is another Arch, but this, open as it is, leads down into the ground. This is the Hatching Den. The room itself is no where near as cavernous as the Hatching Sands of a Weyr, but it takes up the same principle, against the far ends of the room, are the sands, a few rows of seats sit further back, but nothing as grand as the Weyr. The room is kept very dimly lit, only to give the candidates enough light to gain their bearings. But kept dim enough that The Queen is not disgruntled by the light. Come hatching time, the sands are warmed from fires stoked plenty beneath – again inspired by Weyrs.

The Arches to the Northern and Southern paths are quite large, able to have two bronze Whers glide through again with ample space between them. For Height, they are quite tall, at the peak of the arch it is roughly the height of three average sized men. This height change causes hills in the grassy roof overhead.

The Eastern exit; has large gates made of strong and thick cast iron, always swung flat against the walls that form the passage between it and the main hold. These gates are more for the safety of the public than of the Whers. For, if a Wher were to go “wild” for any reason, the gates could be shut, and the Wher problem contained. [/center]