The dragons of Pern have... some problems. Dragonriders of Pern is a series of novels; the wacky shit in it serves as a backdrop for the storylines of individual characters puppeted by a single visionary. Some aspects of the setting, outlined below, can be adequately explored in a novel but are unfair or unethical to enforce on roleplayers.
It is my belief that the magic of Pern is not in strict adherence to the canon -- it is in the exploration of the concepts and legacies invoked, the discussion of the logic of the world, the tearing-down and building-back-up of Pern over and over to suit personal tastes. I hope you agree.
Now, to order:
(heads up, the last section of this post discusses rape.)
Canonically, dragons are tied tightly to their riders and do very little without them. By far the most common reason for a dragon to be in a scene is to be used as a taxi by more important human characters. If you ask me, this is a waste of good real estate, and it is to McCaffrey’s detriment that she told only human stories in her world populated by dragons.
In fanon, dragons are more often treated as full characters in their own right, though they tend to still have dramatically lessened agency compared to their riders. As you might be able to tell, the entire point of Dragonfly Dreams is to challenge this assumption and investigate territory outside of it.
There are multiple ways canon dragons are depicted as sub-human. Structurally, it is impossible to have a dragon character without their bonded human as dragons must bond immediately after hatching. (Oh boy, wonder what happens before then...) Dragons suicide instinctively without a rider, but humans can survive their dragon’s death. Narratively, dragons are almost never given speaking roles; if they do share their thoughts, it is by the request of their rider, and hardly ever are they the originator of ideas or the agentive party in an exchange.
And, of course, their memories are faulty. Limitations were built into their memories for events and skills: the “most intelligent” rank, the golds, could not be relied on to remember the details of events the day after they occurred, and greens were positively animalistic by comparison, not able to remember anything of consequence for any length of time.
Dragonfly Dreams will be stepping far away from these aspects of canon. All dragons are capable of remembering what they need to remember in order to have a continuous sense of self and form relationships with other beings; they are social creatures who do form friendships and relationships; they are reliant upon but separate beings than their riders, and have their own agency apart from their rider.
I expect this to generate questions. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have specific questions or simply want to discuss.
A clarification and expansion on the previous point. In canon, the “lower” one goes on the dragon ranks, the more vacuous and limited a dragon is stated to be. Golds reign supreme not by their grace and foresight but by the fact that most of the other colors are barely smarter than animals, their lack of true sapience hidden by their ability to talk. Greens are all bubbleheads, idiotically joyful -- convenient that this influences their riders to generally act like campy gay stereotypes.
Fanon fares better here, but rare is the fanon interpretation that would let a green outwit a gold. It simply isn’t done.
By design, Dragonfly Dreams will escape these stereotypes. The color of dragonet your egg hatches will be determined as much by what I secretly label it before the game starts as by the personal characteristics you decide for it. All characters will be full and three-dimensional, no exceptions.
Tied into the the previous two headings is the ability of command. Held either exclusively by golds, or by metallics (or sometimes by all ranks above their lower ranks), depending on interpretation, this ability allows the commander to force another dragon to follow orders, submit to their will, etc.
The fanon of Dragonfly Dreams will not include this ability at all.
In canon, the only times dragons engage in sexual activity is during Flights; basically, dragons who Rise go through a period of estrus and lead a pack of Chasers around until they mate with one of them. As dragon and rider are bonded at a deep level, the rider is overtaken by lust as well, and is compelled to seek out and have sex with the rider of the dragon Rising. How would they even find this rider? Who knows. Sex magic probably.
Obviously, this is not ideal in a roleplay setting. As such, on the infrequent times that Dragonfly Dreams touches on the concepts of draconic sexuality and Flights, it is to be assumed that Flightlust is a powerful force but not one that can alter a dragon or rider’s preferences or drive them to participate in rape.
“Force catching” would be considered rape. Non-consensual sex under the influence of Flightlust is rape. It will not appear on Dragonfly Dreams. All prompts dealing with Flightlust will be tagged for those who wish to avoid it anyway.