Jane Roland

Character Profile

Name:	Jane Roland
Date of Birth:	c. 1774
Service:	Aerial Corps
Rank:	Admiral
Nationality:	British
Billets:	Dover covert, Captain to Excidium

Biography

Jane Roland was a strong, confident woman and an experienced aviator. Captain to the Longwing Excidium, she wore the three bars of a senior captain in the Aerial Corps and a medal from the Battle of the Nile. She and Excidium led their formation at the Battle of Trafalgar. Excidium was approximately forty years older than Jane, so it is likely that she was at least his third captain and not at all unlikely that she inherited her position from her mother.

She had a distinctive scar across her face and neck that caused her left eye to droop. Although the details of her injury were unclear, William Laurence believed the scar to be the result of a sword wound. As an aviator, she habitually wore a uniform, including trousers, and was characterized as having a "mannish" stride. She was uncomfortable in traditional women's clothing, finding long skirts to be inconvenient and annoying. The combination of her scar and her unfeminine manners often caused stares when she appeared in public among non-aviators, but Jane would simply ignore them, seemingly perfectly comfortable.

Jane bore a daughter, Emily Roland, in 1795. She was not and had never been married to Emily's father, whom she apparently had not seen since Emily's conception. This was not an unusual situation in the Corps, and Jane was oblivious to or simply uninterested in the attitude of which society in general would have regarded it.

It was expected that Emily would assume Jane's role as captain to Excidium upon Jane's death. Given that the tradition of familial captainship did not always succeed (e.g., Jeremy Rankin), Jane was concerned about Emily's prospects as an aviator and was relieved when Laurence, Emily's commanding officer, gave her a favorable report about Emily's character and progress.

Jane and Laurence began an intimate relationship, on Jane's initiative, while both were stationed at the Dover covert in September 1805. Both had an understanding of an aviator's transient life and enjoyed their time together while they could, accepting that their duty to their dragons and to the Corps must be given priority. An interesting note: Jane said she would've "offered" herself to Laurence to provide for Temeraire's next captain except that she was too busy at the time (i.e. to manage a pregnancy); this was his introduction to some of the less public aspects of the Corps.

In 1806, the Dragon Plague struck Britain. One of the victims was Observaria, the flag-dragon of the Channel Division. Shortly afterwards her captain, Admiral Lenton, suffered a stroke and was reassigned to a quieter post at the Edinburgh covert. In the absence of any suitable and willing male candidates, the Admiralty was forced to make Jane Roland commander-in-chief of the Channel Division and Admiral at the Dover covert, a post in which she proved herself eminently capable. If her superiors outside the Aerial Corps were uncomfortable at dealing with a woman in a military role, Jane was not above using their discomfort to make her voice heard and achieve results.

In early 1807, Temeraire was exposed to the plague - but proved to be immune. This was thought to be the result of an earlier exposure and cure in Cape Town, en route to China. Jane acted quickly in response to this information, sending not only Laurence and Temeraire but also the rest of Lily's formation to Cape Town to find the cure, a mission on which they were successful.

After his return from Africa in September 1807, Laurence asked Jane to marry him. Quickly and practically, she refused, citing the difficulty of giving him orders as his commanding officer if she promised to "obey" him in her vows, as was traditional at the time.

During Napoleon’s invasion she was in charge of the Aerial Corps. She participated in the battle above Folkestone and the Battle of Shoeburyness. After the invasion she was named Admiral of the Air.