The Atlas of Pern is a companion book for the series Dragonriders of Pern. It was created by Karen Wynn Fonstad. It was first published by Del Rey / Ballantine in November 1988.
The atlas is a large-format book comprising regional maps, chronologies for the seven published novels, local maps and drawings of «Hall, Hold, and Weyr», thematic maps on a world scale, and notes. The Notes are page references to the canon, a list of reference works, and an index of place names.
Anne McCaffrey wrote in her «Welcome» that she had received in November 1983 «the first of Karen's renditions of my Pern, which rendered clearly what had been partially obscured by a myopic mind's eye: this is Pern!… all lifted from the depths of my imagination and captured by Karen's draftsmanship and geographical expertise…».
Summary[]
This book covers Pern as it appears in the Sixth Pass and the Ninth Pass, based off the material that had been published at that time (in chronological order):
- Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
- Dragonflight
- "The Smallest Dragonboy"
- Dragonriders of Pern (board game)
- Dragonquest
- Dragonsong
- Dragonsinger
- Dragondrums
- The White Dragon
As a result of this, the maps in this do not include locations introduced or described in later books, such as Monaco Bay Weyr or ancient stake holds (with the exception of Landing, referred to as «The Ancients' Plateau Hold»).
In addition to maps (both political and physical), The Atlas Of Pern also includes floor plans and cross-sections of building layouts, and other diagrams (such as the layout of a dragon's wing, or the route taken by F'lar and T'ron in their duel at Telgar Hold). The beginning of each section also contains a day-by-day timeline of events that occurred in that story.
The Atlas of Pern is now out of print, and it is unlikely that an updated version will be produced, although plans for one did exist at some point (see below).
Map Listing[]
Regional Maps[]
- Northern Continent — the East: Details Benden, Bitra Nerat, and Keroon
- Northern Continent — the Central Plains: Details Lemos, Telgar, Igen and Ista
- Northern Continent — the West: Details Crom, Nabol, Ruatha, Fort, Southern Boll, High Reaches and Tillek
- Southern Continent: Details Southern Weyr and Southern Hold
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern[]
All of the maps in this section detail various locations as they appeared in the late Sixth Pass
- Alessan's Ruatha: Details Ruatha Hold
- Fort Weyr
- Dragonwing Anatomy: Depicts the layout and terminology of a dragon wing and common injuries that can occur
- High Reaches Weyr: Also details how it appeared in the Ninth Pass
- The Red Butte
- Pandemic: Details the spread of the Plague
- Moreta's Ride: Details the route Moreta took in Keroon to deliver the serum
Dragonflight and Dragonquest[]
- Fax's High Reaches: Details High Reaches Hold
- Lessa's Ruatha: Details Ruatha Hold's exterior as it appeared in the Eighth Pass and Ninth Pass, as well as the route taken by F'lar and Fax during their duel
- Benden Weyr
- F'lar's Weyr: Details the weyr occupied by F'lar and Mnementh prior to becoming Weyrleader
- Lessa's Weyr: Details the Weyrleader Complex at Benden Weyr, the Senior Weyrwoman's apartment, the Council Room and the Records Room, as well as the stairs to the Weyrleader's apartment and the tunnel to the Hatching Grounds
- The Lower Caverns
- The Hatching Grounds and Old Benden
- Weyr/Hold Relations: Details the borders of each Major Hold (bar Southern) and the areas covered by each Weyr
- Threadfall Charts: Details the patterns of Threadfall as observed at several times in Dragonflight. (It should be noted that these patterns are incorrect; these charts were retconned following publication of new maps in The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern and Dragonsdawn.)
- Mastersmithhall
- Southern Weyr
- Telgar Hold
- The Duel: Details the route taken by T'ron and F'lar during their duel
- Fall of the Queens: Details the route of Wirenth's mating flight, showing the route taken by her and Prideth as the two fought, as well as the routes taken by the dragons who pursued them, at first to mate, and later to try to separate the duelling queens
- The Red Star: An artist's depiction of the Red Star as it appeared through the telescope at Fort Weyr
Harper Hall Trilogy[]
- Half-Circle Sea Hold
- The Dragon Stones: Details the Dragon Stones and the cove where Menolly found the fire-lizard nest, as well as the cave where she impressed nine fire-lizards
- Fort Hold: Details Fort Hold and its immediate surroundings (the Harper Hall)
- Fort's Interior and Gather Grounds
- Dunca's Cot
- Harper Hall
- Robinton's Apartment: Details Masterharper Robinton's rooms within the Harper Hall complex
- The Archroom: Details the Archroom and part of Jerint's workshop within the Harper Hall complex
- The Drumheights: Details the drum tower for the Harper Hall (and possibly Fort Hold)
- The Minehold: Details the minehold visited by Piemur during the unexpected appearance of banished dragonrider T'ron
- Igen Hold
- Nabol Hold
- Piemur's Path: Details the route taken by Piemur across the Southern Continent from his arrival there until he reached Southern Hold
- Southern Hold
The White Dragon[]
- Jaxom's Ruatha
- Ice Lake and Plateau Hold
- Jaxom's Flights: Depicts the route taken by Jaxom and Ruth when retrieving Ramoth's egg from the Oldtimers, and when searching with Menolly for ex-Ista Weyrleader D'ram
- Ista Weyr
- Cove Hold: Details the surrounding area of Cove Hold
- Robinton's Hall: Details the floor plans of the Cove Hold building
- The Mountain: Two artist impressions of Mount Garben: as visible from Cove Hold, and showing the extent of Landing
- The Ancients' Plateau Hold: Details the layout of Landing prior to the discovery of AIVAS
- The Ship Meadow
Thematic Maps[]
- Planet Orbits — Detail of a map found inside the space shuttle
- The Ancients' Map — Details of a map found inside the space shuttle
- Climates and Ocean Currents
- Land Use and Occupations
- Population
Cover gallery[]
Note[]
As mentioned here, it is known that plans did exist for an update to the Atlas of Pern that would have detailed places from the following books:
- Dragonsdawn
- The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
- Dragonseye/Red Star Rising
- Nerilka's Story
- The Masterharper of Pern
The proposed update would have included revisions to existing maps, as well as a number of new maps:
- Landing
- Drake's Lake
- Calusa
- Honshu Stake
- Thella's Hold
- Igen Caves
- Benden Hold
- Benden Caves
- Paradise River Hold
- Dolphin Hall
- Southern Continent Hold Boundaries
- Landing Admin Building
- Catherine Caves
- Yokohama
- The Red Star