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- Thirty turns ago, Yatyl's father started a side business to his woolie herds that would supliment his growing family (at the time 5 children). He rallied together some of the smaller cotholds at first, and offered to provide them with crop insurance against natural disasters, theft and Thread. The timing was impeccable because the persnickety High Reachers from the smaller back woods cotholds where a little annoyed at the weyr and thought them somewhat unnecesary during the winters because the snow killed the Thread for them instead of dragons. They took Toncliff up on his offer, but only if the plan thumbed its nose at the weyr in secret. (Toncliff agreed to this because he need a larger beginning set of payments to make the business actually work.) They tithed the full amount to Toncliff's family and then tithed ten percent of what was left to the weyr. This way they subtly robbed HRW of one percent of their crops or ten percent of the tithe owed to them. Any discrepencies in the beginning were blamed on a particular field's failure or sickness in the flocks until turns made the smaller numbers normal.

- The first tithe was put into storage in Toncliff's cothold and was paid back to the cotholders if they had any huge emmergencies. If the turn went by with out incident, the crops and meats were sold to needy areas elsewhere on Pern and the money pocketed for larger disasters. Turns of Peace and prosperity created habit and a bit of profit for Toncliff's large large family (nine kids now).

- What started out as a small operation turned into a larger scale situation when more and more small cotholds came on board. There was some guilt at the amount of profit being made at the weyr's expense, but Toncliff grew ill and died before he could do anything about it. His unscrupulous brother took over and enjoyed the profits far too much, especially with his own kids from a former wife and his kids by Yatyl's mother Hyia brought the total of dependents to a whopping 20 kids.

- Four turns ago, Hyia died in childbirth and husband was killed out of fear of him becoming a tyrant with out his wife's influence. Yatyl returned to the High Reaches to finish his father's dreams of making the business legitimate. He has shifted the collection process to ensure that the weyr gets its full tithe and the business only takes the nine percent that the weyr used to get. He has also taken the records of the profits made by the business and the amount of money taken from the weyr and begun to purchase raw materials (wood, metal, rare cloth and other nonperishable supplies the weyr would appreciate) in order to declare the guilt the family has and immediately offer retribution for their wrongs.