Whers

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Whers, or Watch-whers are dragon-like creatures in the fantasy series Dragonriders of Pern. In comparison to the majestic dragons that were the end result of Kitti Ping's genetic experimentation, whers are deformed and stunted. They were designed by Wind Blossom in an attempt to further her mother's work.

Nocturnal because of their lamp-like reflective eyes, these creatures have a terrific sense of smell and are sometimes used in mines to find "bad air." Thick scaled hides protect them from the harmful elements. Each of their feet has four gnarled digits on it. Like their fire-lizard and dragon cousins, whers have jewel-like eyes. Their smoothed out eyes swirl with colors that reflect their emotions. As with Pernese dragons, whers come in five colors - gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green. The golds and greens are females, and clutch eggs. Bronzes, browns, and blues are male. Whers can fly, but only at night when the air is thicker to allow their weaker wings that extra lift. Dragons are generally offended when compared to their simpleminded cousins, and do not often initiate conversation with them unless it is required.

At birth, whers can Impress on a single trainer and can recognize when that person is in danger. However, their choice of who to Impress is usually closer to fire-lizards, in that they look for whomever has food available. It is important for the would-be handler to bond with their Whers using a 'blood-bond'. Generally this means the Handlers cuts their own hand or finger to allow the Wher to 'taste' them. The blood acts as a conduit to allow the Whers to form a stronger bond with their Handler. Bondings without the blood bond are not as successful or close as those with.

Once bonded, the whers will do everything in their power to protect that person, as in Dragon's Kin. In that novel, the wher, Dask, gave his life for his handler. Whers bond on the deep telepathic level to their handlers as dragons do to their lifemates. A wher handler will only have one wher at a time. Bonded whers tend to be more intelligent than their non-bonded cousins, being able to learn and comprehend everything more easily when they are connected to the human mind.

However, unlike dragons, whers do not 'have' to Impress. They can live their life without the bond that is so essential to their cousins. These wild whers tend to be untrustworthy, unreliable, vicious animals,. Without a human there, the wher hatchlings will leave their mother and go wild. Generally if a Wher hatched from a domestic Wher does not bond with a Handler, they are killed. Otherwise, they will become vicious and unpredictable, quite often turning even on those who feed them.

In an effort to produce more dragons after her mother's death, Wind Blossom Ping also attempted to use the Eridani equations on dragonet genetic material. However, she did not appear have the same grasp of genetics as Kitti Ping, and the results of her tinkering were, at first glance, not totally successful. What hatched from the eggs she engineered looked like ugly, malformed dragons, and were dubbed "whers." Their wings were stumpy pinions that looked functional but were not. There were smooth-skinned and colored like dragons, but that was almost the only point of resemblance. When full-grown, whers weighed between six and eight hundred pounds, about the size of a small, low-slung horse. Their feet were arranged with two claws, and a single pad supported the body weight; in spite of such bad design, they could move with surprising speed. Whers were Impressible, and they adored their human mates with the same devotion and empathy as dragons did. They were also very territorial and, if not properly introduced, would kill anyone they believed was invading their home. As a result of Wind Blossom's attempt to smooth out the natural faceting of the eyes, their eyes had malformed lenses with countless little facets that aimed light directly back into the fovea like a magnifying glass. Whers were photophobic and had poor focal length, but they were effective guardians at night, able to see even in total darkness. Their senses of smell and hearing were as keen as their night vision. They were not as intelligent as dragons, but they could serve a purpose. And they bred true. Whers are solitary and antisocial. If a female hatches eggs away from a human habitation, the young return to the wild. They avoid encounters during the day, but they will kill if disturbed at night. Only a few eggs of each laying mature to hatch.

From The Dragonlover's guide to Pern, Second edition, by Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey.

In Dragonsblood it is revealed that watch-whers are the third portion of the plan to protect against Thread, with the first two portions being full dragons and the Thread-eating grubs. Watch-whers are designed to fly at night and eat any Thread that falls; Dragonriders inexplicably believe that Thread does not fall at night, so they do not fly against it. They are intentionally genetically and physically dissimilar from dragons and fire-lizards as a precaution against a single disease destroying all three species. Conversely, they are similar enough to dragons that it is possible to genetically convert them into a last-hope replacement for dragons.

For reasons not fully explained, Wind Blossom made herself look less skilled than she was in the creation of watch-whers, publicly attributing their characteristics to a mistake even while they were intentionally designed for their role in the Pernese defense against Thread.