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Dragonrider Bloodlines
and Pedigree Charts

 Holder Bloodlines
and Pedigree Charts		 Craft Bloodlines
and Pedigree Charts		 McCaffrey Genealogy
Index Dragonrider names Index Holder's names Index Craftspeople's names Elrhan's Pedigree Chart
Use the links beneath to jump to the information sections on this page
Bloodlines Pedigree Charts Direct Line Indexes
General explanations Color coding What does N.N. mean? Notes on the number system
     

 

Genealogy: a fascinating hobby and marvelous profession!

 The Pernese Bloodlines and other genealogical data came into existence because of the fact that Elrhan (Hans van der Boom) is a part time professional genealogist and historical researcher in real life. Because of the wonderfully detailed writing of Anne McCaffrey, his favorite science fiction writer, it was possible to compile quite a few Pernese genealogies: 
it gave Hans the chance of a lifetime to combine two favorite pastimes.

There are plans to publish the Pern Bloodlines (as a book or CD-rom), possibly together with the Pern Encyclopedia. This will not happen soon since work on both projects will take some time to be completed.
If you would be interested in such a Pern Resources book you can make your interest known. This might speed up publication.

If you are interested please email Hans van der Boom.

If you have any questions on genealogy in general or if you suspect you have any Dutch people among your ancestors I would be happy to try and provide an answer to any general questions you might have.

Feel free to browse through my resume and list of publications found in my section of the Boomweb (the personal pages of the Van der Boom family).
Bloodlines Bloodlines are what we Terrans call genealogies or family trees. They trace descendants starting with an oldest known ancestor. Pernese Bloodlines are no different than the Terran genealogies but for the fact that it is logically very hard to get them complete, covering some 2500 Turns, with the published books as the only source. Therefore you will sometimes find large gaps between generations, something that can't be avoided. However, the Bloodlines are as complete as possible (though I am still working on several of them), especially since I received permission from Anne McCaffrey herself to invent possible liaisons when necessary, though I hasten to add that I will clearly indicate where I have done so.
   
Pedigree Charts Pedigree charts are different from Bloodlines and genealogies in that they don't start with an oldest known ancestor. With a pedigree chart you don't list descendants but ancestors of both the (natural) father and mother of the person you start with. The Pernese pedigree charts cover only four generations. Try making your own pedigree chart. It's fun!
Start with yourself, then follow up with the data concerning your parents, their parents etc. The fact that you are also researching the maternal lines makes for interesting finds because every generation the number of different surnames doubles. 
     
Direct Line A direct line is exactly what is says: a direct line from a given person to his or her oldest known ancestor. This form of genealogy will be used for persons that do not merit a Bloodline (e.g. a person about whose family is not known much, certainly not of any side branches).  A direct line is easy to do, but don't forget to write down more than birth-, marriage- and death dates and places. Write down as much as you can about professions, public offices etc. That's what makes people "live" and what makes your genealogy a good read.
Indexes A tedious work that requires a thorough concentration. Eventually you will be able to click on a person's name to get to his or her place in the relative Bloodline, Pedigree Chart or Direct Line.
     
General explanations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Color coding

 


What does N.N. mean?

For some persons you can either click on direct line, pedigree chart or Bloodline (or more than one of these options). 
A direct line will trace the ancestry in a direct line as far back as possible but may jump from father to mother (as long as a direct line can be continued). Direct Lines and Bloodlines will "jump" gaps in (unknown) generations if necessary. 
A pedigree chart lists all ancestors as far as they are known, these do not skip gaps. In a pedigree chart the number of ancestors is doubled by each generation (there are two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents etc.). 
The Pernese pedigree charts will cover a maximum of four generations. 
You can search for a person within a Bloodline by using the search facility of your own browser (e.g. CTRL-F or Edit > Search from the menu bar in MS Internet Explorer).

Behind the names of families and persons in the lists above you will find an indication of the time and/or Pass(es) involved (put between brackets).

Color coding: Throughout all the genealogical data the names of dragonriders are given in red while the names of non-dragonriders are given in blue. Further data is given in Old Pern ink.

Persons whose name(s) are unknown are indicated by the abbreviation N.N., which stands for the Latin "Nomen Nescio" (meaning: I do not know the name) and is an internationally recognized genealogical abbreviation. Here too the N.N. will be in red if it is known that the person is or was a dragonrider and in blue when not.

  

Anne Mccaffrey on Pernese genealogy:

"The old Lord Holders tended to have a lot of children - since being the keen interest of a Lord Holder's lust was a cushy job - and propagation a woman's job.  ( I know that the feminists will hate it - but men can't actually gestate.)  So there would be lots of people with some Ruathan blood in their veins from extracurricular matings, diffusing the Hanrahan bloodlines.  And rightly so. And proud to claim it. (...) For instance, with Gemma, I had to have a cousin with Ruathan Blood for Lessa to abdicate in favor of her son, whatever his paternity."

Anne McCaffrey
(email correspondence dated May 21, 2001)
     
Notes on the number system used with the bloodlines

A special numbering system is used for the genealogies or Bloodlines. I gave each Interval/Pass period a letter, starting with A (First Pass) and ignoring (for now) generations that there must have been in the "gaps". These gaps in time are easily spotted by the word ">GAP". The letter "I" is not used, so the Eight Interval/Ninth Pass is designated by the letter J. 

Numbering starts anew after each GAP. The oldest known person gets number 1. His first child number 11, second child number 12 etc. In this way you can deduce from the number alone who the father or mother is (just delete the last number) and (if the order of children within a family is known) you can even see the order of birth within a family (e.g. number 123 is the third child in the family of parent 12, which in his or her turn is the second child of number 1).
Very important (to me) is that you can see the relationships, just looking at the numbers: number 112 is a full cousin of number 122 since their grandfather/grandmother (number 1) is the same while their parents are not (numbers 11 and 12) but must have been brothers, sisters or brother and sister. Get the drift? This is a system that is already used in current Terran genealogy. If someone has more than nine children you start numbering again at 0 but underscore the digits (e.g. 121.123: thirteenth child of 121.12). This gives you a maximum of nineteen children which will be enough for most families).
To keep the numbers (which get longer and longer) readable I use a dot to separate every three digits. Example: Aramina of Paradise River Hold, partner of Jayge Lilcamp is number J-112.112 = generation J in the current genealogy or Bloodline (Ruatha-Hanrahan), second child of J-112.11 (Barla) who in her turn is the oldest (known) child of number 121.1, etc.

  
     

This site is owned and maintained by Elrhan, Master Archivist.
All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright © Anne McCaffrey 1967, 2000, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author.