In a world protected from life destroying spores by genetically engineered fire breathing dragons bonded at their hatching to empathic human dragon riders, the social structure is an unusual one. Queen dragons are ridden by women, Browns and Bronzes by males. However, males as well as females can bond with and ride female fire breathing green dragons. When a rider’s dragon makes her mating flight, the passions of their dragons cause the riders to mate in their own way. In the Weyr caves which house dragons and their riders, sexual mores are different from those on the rest of the planet of Pern since dragons may not honor the current romantic commitments of their riders when mating. Since the Weyrs are group living arrangements in any case, children resulting from such liaisons are raised by the “village” with a foster mother and/or father doing the primary parenting.