Celestial
Dragon Breed Data
| Breed Name: | Celestial (Tien-Lung) |
| National Loyalty: | Mostly Chinese |
| Physical Characteristics: | Black |
| Special Abilities: | Divine Wind, they can hover in the air by beating their wings backward and forward |
| Known Members: | Temeraire, Lung Tien Qian, Lung Tien Chuan, Lung Tien Lien, Lung Tien Ming, Lung Tien Zhi, Lung Tien Chu, Grandfather (a.k.a. Lung Tien Xian? |
Species Notes
Celestials are an extremely rare Chinese breed of dragon, exclusively able to employ the "Divine Wind." Only members of the Emperor's family are permitted to be companions to Celestials. According to Lung Tien Qian, there are only eight Celestials in the world, listed above. Because all Celestials are so closely related, they do not mate with each other, but with Imperials, producing a Celestial egg (occasionally, the mating of two Imperials also results in a Celestial).
Celestials are similar in appearance to Imperials. They are usually darkly colored (with the exception of Lung Tien Lien) with blue markings. They have five talons on each foot and their wings have six spines, as opposed to most dragons' five. They are able to beat their wings forward and backward, which gives them the ability to "hover" in midair. When Celestials mature, they grow a ruff around their head and tendrils along their bottom jaw, distinguishing them from Imperials.
By British standards, Celestials are somewhat "overlong" for their weight. While nearly as tall as Regal Coppers, Celestials weigh about half as much, which still puts them among heavy-weight dragons.
Sir Edward Howe also noted that the way in which Temeraire carried his tail was "very odd, not characteristic at all" of the British dragons that Sir Edward was familiar with. Temeraire carried his tail off the ground, lashing the air gently as he walked, whereas Regal Coppers such as Maximus drag their tails behind them. It is not known whether Temeraire's tail carriage is typical of Celestials in general.
Another distinguishing feature of Celestials is that where most dragons lose their early facility with language acquisition and memorization after about their fifth or sixth week (according to Joulson), Celestials retain these facilities throughout their lives. (Imperials may do so as well - Lung Qin Mei passed her first examinations in China with honour three years after she was hatched.)
The "Lung Tien" in the Chinese names of Celestials means "Dragon Celestial".
