Etan (or E'tan) and Triia, brown and gold riders. Though it's Triia that truly runs things around Eden's Gate, Etan always manages to stick his nose in. Like others in the Protectorate, Etan is a genrehopper and has several rather roundabout connections to a multitude of other worlds. He and Triia have a son named Tandri, also a rider.

Etan's brown Utainth is highly intelligent, and always knows what his rider needs. Sometimes those needs carry them far and wide through both space and time.

Triia's light golden Chvehath is wise, eager, but careful. She always defers to Triia's commands, though she wishes her rider would be a little more adventuresome like they had once been.

Eden's Gate is anathema to Dawnlight in many ways. The primary inhabitants are criminals, outcasts from Dawnlight, and rogues from other places. That's not to say they are all mean-minded thieves or killers - most are just normal people who left Dawnlight for a more rugged, if isolated, life. When Eden's Gate was moved to Paniya from Pern, they were placed on an island - so very different from the older location which was basically scrub desert. They now have a thriving craft and trade business, though they rarely if ever encounter anyone from Dawnlight at their port.

Also found in Eden's Gate are dolphins from Pern, highly intelligent and rather smaller than the sea dragons which live in their waters.

The riders who live in Eden's Gate often remain down on the lower areas and let their dragons roost up in Blackstone Weyr.