Difference between revisions of "Dragon"

Revision as of 06:29, 14 September 2014

(Page in Progress) This page, when it is finished, will provide a brief summary of Dragons (the entire species) in the Temeraire series, as well as listing how they have made a difference to history. It will also link to all Dragon related pages that currently have no links. Alternatively, it might make sense to simply collate the information from the other pages, most of which are rather small, onto this page.

Early Dragons

It is not clear exactly where the dragons of this world originate from. Quite likely, the evolutionary ancestor of the dragon would have been a diapsid reptilian species from the Cretaceous period that survived the K-T extinction event, due to the vast variety of reptilian life in existence prior to the Cenozoic era.

This draconic ancestor can be envisioned as a species of small quadrupedal reptiles, one that through an unknown series of events evolved a pair of rudimentary limbs that would soon become the wings of the modern dragon. After flight was attainable with these wings, two major changes would have happened. First, the overall size of the dragon would have increased, and second, the air sacs that counter the dragon’s overall weight and also aid in flight must have evolved, resulting in the earliest creature that could truly be dubbed a “dragon”. Alternatively, the dragons could share a common ancestor with the "Kiao" sea-serpents, which would tie in with an old Chinese legend stating that a "Kiao" could become a dragon after enough time had passed. Draconic wings might have evolved from stabilising fins on a sea-serpent's body, such as in the Dragonriders of Pern series.

Three such varieties of dragon exist; one without any special form of attack, one who uses a form of vitriol to incapacitate its prey, and one who can breathe fire upon its opponent. Because a flammable form of attack is unique to dragons, it must be linked to their physiology; possibly being caused by a reaction between the gas in their bodies that allows flight, and another material of some sort.

Where the early dragons evolved is not clear, as they can be found almost all over the world, suggesting several large migrations occurred throughout history, but their overall importance in China could suggest that they evolved somewhere in Central Asia.

Taxonomy

Since so little is currently known about the exact scientific placement of Dragons; save for the fact that they are classified as "Order Draconia", the following chart is speculative:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Reptilia
• Subclass: Diapsida
• Order: Draconia
• Family: Unknown
• Genus: Unknown
• Species: Unknown

It is likely that "Order Draconia" is an offshoot of some ancient group of reptiles - probably Diapsid, for various reasons - but sufficiently evolved so that it does not share the characteristics of most reptiles.

Dragon Characteristics

(Feral dragons described here?)

Dragon Breeds

Currently, some fifty dragon breeds have been named. More breeds are known to exist, but the name for these breeds are currently unknown, and as such are not listed.

For a complete list of the known breeds, see Dragon Breeds. More detailed information on the various breeds can be found on their respective pages, as well as on the pages for Dragon Weight Classification & Dragon Breed Physical Characteristics.

Travel Speed & Range

Unfortunately, a conclusive list of the dragon breeds in regard of their different speeds of travel, as well as the distance they might be able to overcome in a day has not been published yet. The use of such would surely be immense, but undoubtedly a list of that kind would have to be a project of many scholars, as one alone would not be able to know the details of all the different breeds.

As a note, the Jade dragons of China are listed as being able to travel 120 miles in two hours, making the average speed 60 miles per hour (about 52 knots) for this journey. This is the fastest sustained flight speed yet mentioned, but short bursts of speed (especially if while diving) would likely be much faster than this.

The Celestial Temeraire is known to have travelled 160 miles in less than seven hours, albeit unhindered by a crew or harness, putting the speed limit for heavyweights at about 23 miles an hour, or 20 knots. In Black Powder War, he was moving along with an army for 25 miles, spread over two days, and he is described to have flown an "easy two-hour flight" the first day, so 6 miles an hour or 5 knots can be considered a casual heavyweight pace. In the same book, a hundred miles a day is mentioned a typical day's range for him, but it is contested where he covered a thousand miles in two weeks, and they had reason for pride because of that.

Special Abilities

Several dragons are known to have special abilities not shared amongst the other breeds. These include:

• The ability to spit acid - Shared by the Longwing, Ka-Riu and Copacati breeds. Two other breeds, the Sharpspitter & the Ironwing, are known to have similar abilities, though with significantly reduced results.
• The Divine Wind - Unique to the Celestial breed.
• The ability to breathe fire - Shared by the Flamme-de-Gloire, Flecha-del-Fuego, Kazilik, and at least two other unnamed breeds.
• The ability to spit water - Unique to the Sui Riu breed.

Dragon-Human Relationships

Western Europe

Shelter, by Anke Eissmann. A captain's relationship with their dragon generally became the most important one in their life. (c) Anke Eissmann

A Life Changed, by Anke Eissmann. Temeraire and Laurence, shortly after Temeraire's hatching. (c) Anke Eissmann

In western Europe and Great Britain, dragons associated with humans only in a military context. The first human to feed and harness a newly hatched dragonet became its particular companion, often called its "handler" or "captain". If the dragonet accepted the harness and a name, it would form a deep and lifelong bond of affection with its companion. Sometimes a dragon rejected the first candidate offered to it, in favor of finding a different companion among the surrounding group.

Asia

Unlike the European practice of assigning a dragon's companion before the egg hatched, in China (and presumably other eastern nations), the dragon hatchling chose its own companion some fifteen months after hatching. In the meantime, both the young dragons and their potential companions attended school together, cared for by elder dragons. This allowed the young dragons to judge the virtues of their potential companions before choosing one, which could prevent a dragon from ending up with a neglectful companion. However, when shown this practice in China, William Laurence remarked that this might comparatively weaken the bond between the dragon and its eventual companion.

It is certain that many Chinese dragons appeared to lead more independent lives without constantly associating with a particular human. Temeraire and Laurence met a number of Celestials and Imperials without ever learning who their human companions may have been, nor observing any great loneliness for an absent or lost companion. Perhaps some of the apparently unaccompanied dragons had been bereaved long enough to develop a philosophical acceptance of their loss, but if so, evidently they had not been given a new human companion to fill the gap.

In this context, Lung Tien Lien's devastation at the loss of Prince Yongxing may have been anomalous, intensified by other dragons and people avoiding her for her "unlucky" coloration.

Since not all dragons in China were employed in warfare, not all companions were necessarily "Captains" in same sense as in the Aerial Corps. Unlike in Britain, where most Captains were male (except for the handlers of the Longwing and Xenica breeds), all dragon "Captains" in China were female. This was ascribed to the legend of a woman (Hua Mulan), who ran away to war and become companion to a dragon. Upon discovering her true identity, the Emperor of the time had decreed that women could serve in the Aerial section of the Chinese military. With warfare being considered a low occupation for a dragon, and girls generally being offered for active service in lieu of boys during times of conscription, all dragons serving in the military had female Captains.

Africa

Treasure and status

Humans often believed that dragons had an "inborn fascination with jewels or precious metals." Dragons did have an innate attraction to anything shiny or colorful. They had an instinctive tendency to offer gifts of that type to prospective mates to improve their chance of acceptance. They particularly esteemed gifts from (or in some cases, to) their human partners as a tangible sign of the affection between them.

Temeraire as a dragonet mistook pyrite for gold until Laurence explained the difference to him. A few years later, he still was drawn to the bright, spangly jewellery worn by dragons in bazaars along the Old Silk Road, even after Laurence explained that it was only tin and glass.

Arkady, who as a feral dragon did not have the background to make such distinctions, was quite overwhelmed when Admiral Jane Roland presented him with a brass chain and a medal (a dinner platter) inscribed with his name. Even Temeraire, who knew brass was worth less than gold, bristled a bit over the size of Arkady's medal.

In the initial journey to Turkey, Arkady had also related a dragonic saga in which a pair of powerful dragons were competing for the possession of a large hoard of treasure, an ironic contest in which each of the two secretly wanted to offer the hoard to the other as an inducement to mate. Lumière offered a colorful spray of autumn leaves to Lung Tien Lien in an unsuccessful attempt to improve her receptiveness to him.

Dragons appeared to be attracted to jewellery primarily because it boosted their status in draconian society, which was otherwise mainly based on size and strength. When food and comfortable quarters were in short supply, low-status dragons often ran short unless a higher-status dragon chose to share, a choice which rarely happened. A dragon's display of flash and glitter - what might be called, in 21st century terms, "bling" - made a statement that it was ready, willing and able to defend its hoard against challenges from other dragons.

Dragons rarely relinquished status items to which they had formed an attachment. Among other consequences, this made it impossible for dragons to transport large amounts of gold and jewels for long distances on the behalf of most humans. By the time the journey was over, the dragons became attached to their cargo and wouldn't give it back.

The concept that gold and jewels as monetarily valuable "capital" was not natural to dragons, but they quickly acquired it from humans. A handsome pavillion was as good a display of social status as a lump of gold - perhaps even better, because it's larger - and dragons readily grasped the principle of using one to purchase the other.

With purchasing power came the human concept of "property". As Temeraire pointed out, if he bought a cow he could eat it, if Laurence bought an estate they could live upon it and if Laurence bought him a jewel, he could wear it. This does not shed a good light upon the human practice of using money to purchase other humans as slaves or to purchase dragon eggs.

A dragon's natural understanding of property was somewhat differently founded - a dragon displayed its jewellery for the sake of making a statement that they are able to defend it. To leave property lying about undefended is, in a dragon's view, an open invitation to help oneself. To leaving property lying about and then argue about its disappearance after the fact is plain nonsense. Thus when Temeraire and the ferals were attacked by Turkish dragons after helping themselves to Turkish cattle, Temeraire sniffed that "those dragons had no business lying out of sight like that and leaving the cows for anyone to take, if they did not like it."

Obviously, the difference between human and draconic concepts of property had the potential to create conflict. Humans relied on their property rights under the law to keep their property safe in their absence, an idea that was nonsensical in draconic terms.

Sir Edward Howe noted that this was true even in China, where dragons routinely used marks to purchase goods against accounts held in their own names and disdained to use false marks. "They will without hesitation or any consciousness of shame seize any opportunity which offers of taking a beast from an unattended herd or stall and never consider leaving payment behind; this is not viewed by them as any form of theft." From a dragon's point of view, the herdsman or stall-keeper had no business leaving the beast unattended for anyone to take, if they did not like it.

Draconic Jewellery

Like humans, dragons appeared to enjoy owning and wearing jewellery for a variety of reasons, including personal vanity and in order to display and possibly increase their social status among other dragons (see Dragons, gold and property on this point.)

Jewellery for the head and neck appeared to be particularly favoured - collars, necklaces, tiaras, headpieces of all sorts, etc. Some African dragons had piercings made in their upper lips in order to accommodate ivory and gold rings. Chinese dragons, besides adorning their heads and necks, sometimes also decked their forehands with rings or talon sheaths of precious metals and gems.

The only record of a dragon wearing bands on its forearms was the mesh message carriers worn by the Jade dragon couriers of China, such as Lung Yu Ping. The fine mesh was suspended from a silk and gold collar around the dragon's neck and fixed to their forearms and talons by golden rings. It may be argued that this was not purely jewellery but rather a sort of working uniform.

There are no records of dragons wearing bands or bracelets on their rear legs or tails. There are also no records of jewellery worn in piercings along the wing edges or otherwise attached to the wings. While non-combattant dragons such as Celestials may have displayed head and neck jewellery unsuitable for violent activities, it would seem that no dragon enjoyed wearing items that might hinder their flight performance.

There appeared to be little difference in the jewellery worn by male and female dragons. Temeraire was given a set of gold and silver talon sheaths "such as his mother occasionally wore" when Laurence was adopted by the Jiaqing Emperor. On another occasion, when preparing to meet with the generals of the British army, he considered borrowing a spangled net of chains from Iskierka, to be draped over his ruff.

The materials used in draconic jewellery varied with geographic and economic availability. As mentioned above, African dragons wore jewellery made of ivory as well as other materials. Temeraire saw dragons in bazaars along the Old Silk Road wearing jewellery made of tin and glass, presumably because they could not afford more costly materials. On the other hand, the dragons of the Chinese Imperial court wore jewellery made of gold, silver and precious stones.

A few materials used in draconic jewellery are discussed in detail below.

Pearls

Pearls are associatied with dragons in Chinese myth and legend, as for example in the tale of Xiao Sheng. Certainly they appear to be a favourite gem among Celestial and Imperial dragons. At her first meeting with Temeraire, Lung Tien Qian wore "a deceptively fragile necklace of filigree gold, studded with more topazes and great pearls." Lung Tien Chuan was first seen by Laurence seen wearing "a net of gold draped from his ruff down the length of his neck, studded with pearls." Lung Qin Mei came to give Temeraire his lessons wearing "an elaborate collar of silver and pearls."

Temeraire himself was quite taken with the gold and pearl necklace Laurence presented him with when he was only a few weeks out of the shell and treasured it affectionately even after it had become absurdly small for his size. Later on, when Laurence bought him a larger and grander platinum pendant, set with sapphires around a single large pearl, Temeraire commented on his own love of pearls.

Platinum

The platinum of Temeraire's pendant will be of interest to students of metallurgical history. Although the first European reference to platinum appears in 1557, a consistent process for obtaining malleable platinum was not discovered until the late 18th century. Chemists did not realize that they were working with ores containing other platinum group metals (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium and iridium) and therefore obtained inconsistent results in their experiments.

In 1786, Charles III of Spain provided a library and laboratory to French chemist Pierre-François Chabaneau to aid in his research of platinum. After several months, Chabaneau succeeded in producing 23 kilograms of pure, malleable platinum by hammering and compressing the sponge form while white-hot. Chabaneau realized that the infusibility of platinum would lend value to objects made of it, and so started a business with Joaquín Cabezas producing platinum ingots and utensils. This began what is known as the "platinum age" in Spain, which was to last until 1808 when Chabaneau's laboratory was destroyed during an invasion by Napoleon's troops.

Platinum jewellery for humans had been available previously. Louis XV of France (1710-1774) had declared it the only metal fit for a king. However, prior to Chabaneau's discoveries, it would only have been available in small quantities. Thus, at the time Laurence purchased the pendant for Temeraire in 1805, platinum jewellery designed for dragons, particularly larger dragons, would have still have been a relatively new item on the market, quite fashionable and expensive.

Military dragons

Aerial Corps; French equivalent Armée de l’Air)

Anti-Dragon Weaponry

Aviators, Active

In the British Aerial Corps, dragons had enormously close relationships with their captains, generally with mutual affection and respect. However, this was not always the case. Captain Jeremy Rankin neglected Levitas to the point of abuse, but could not be removed from his post because Levitas continued to obey his orders and to crave Rankin's love and approval.

Occasionally, a dragon refused to accept any human partner, whether at birth or from later separation from its captain. If this happened, a companionless dragon was declared feral and sent to the breeding grounds.

Minnow and Moncey eluded all of the aviator candidates that surrounded them at hatching. Majestatis purposefully "mislaid" his captain and chose to live in the breeding grounds instead. [Perscitia]]'s captain gave her up after she made it clear that she would not fight, as she found the prospect of injury in battle frightening. Praecursoris was sent away after Choiseul's execution.

In most cases, however, the relationship with the dragon generally became the most important one in the captain's life, making it very difficult to live a "normal life" away from service. This led to the aviators' developing a culture largely set apart from society, giving them a poor reputation among the general public despite their extraordinary sacrifices.

Dragons tended to be protective and possessive of their captains. A dragon could be removed from battle by the capture of its captain, as the dragon would surrender to prevent the captain being killed. The possessive attitude of dragons towards their captains in some ways bordered on their attitude towards property. For example, when Minnow snatched the captain off the back of a Defendeur-Brave during the Battle of Shoeburyness, the Celestial dragon Temeraire interpreted this as "stealing" and made a mental note to keep her away from his own Captain, William Laurence, even though Temeraire had already knew that Minnow had no interest in being put in harness.

Inherited Dragons

In Western Europe and Great Britain, many larger dragon breeds had long lifespans and were likely to outlive their captains. Dragons found this fact painful and difficult to accept.

Aviators often had children with the intent the child would enter the Corps and provide a new captain for their dragon upon their own death or retirement. It was thought that having a new captain who had some connection with the former one would make the transition easier for the dragon. Emily Roland, for example, was intended to become Excidium's captain upon Jane Roland's retirement.

The inheritance system did not always work out, however. Jeremy Rankin was an example of the downside of the familial tradition of service. Rankin's grandfather and uncle had been captains to Celeritas, who rejected young Jeremy and thought the boy was ill-suited for the Corps. Since Celeritas did not have the heart to ban Rankin from the Corps entirely, Rankin harnessed the unfortunate Levitas instead.

Catherine Harcourt's situation illustrated another pitfall of breeding oneself for one's dragon's sake. When Harcourt became pregnant by Tom Riley, she hoped the child would be a daughter she could train up for Lily, as her dragon was one of a breed that would not accept male handlers. However, the child proved to be son and therefore unacceptable to a Longwing as a captain.

Dragon rigging

In the British Aerial Corps, and possibly in other parts of Europe, combat dragons are fitted with several types of harnesses, including a light duty harness, travelling harness, and heavy combat harness. The harnesses consists of thick leather straps held together with large metal rings. On the belly of the dragon, the harness consists of a net (referred to, unsurprisingly, as the 'belly-netting') in which bombs, gunpowder, and some of the crew are kept. A depiction of a Yellow Reaper's rigging appears in the back of the US edition of His Majesty's Dragon, and can also be found here: [1]

The Crew travels from place to place upon the back of the dragon by means of a series of carabiner hooks and rings: the crew member would unclip the hook (attached to their belt) from the ring, move foreward (or backwards, sideways, etc...), and re-clip the carabiner the carabiner when they have reached their location. If moving a relativlely long distance across the dragon, you would unclip and re-clip several times. While this method is rather slow and tedious, you remain attached to the dragon's harness most all of the time, which is extremely important should the dragon perform a manuever such as a roll. Such a manuever would result in many of the crew falling off the back of the dragon if they were not held on by their carabiners.

Harness fitting and rigging is the responsibility of the dragon's ground crew, with the main responsibility falling upon the harness-tender.

Dragon Coverts

Britain

• Dover covert
• Edinburgh covert
• Falmouth Covert
• Loch Laggan Covert
• London covert
• Middlesbrough Covert
• Portsmouth Covert
• Weymouth covert
• Pen Y Fan Breeding Grounds
• Breeding Grounds in Ireland, Halifax & Gibraltar

France

Dijon Covert Dunkirk Covert

China

In China, dragon coverts do not exist in the Western sense, as dragons are treated as citizens and fully integrated into the human population. Instead, large buildings called "Pavilions" exist for dragons to live in

. These may be privately owned by a single dragon, shared amongst many, or constructed by the government for communal use.