Difference between revisions of "Perscitia"

Revision as of 02:19, 18 August 2010

Character Profile

Biography

Perscitia (Latin for 'very clever') was a dragon Temeraire met while in the Pen Y Fan Breeding Grounds. She was a middle-weight, an experimental cross between a Pascal's Blue and a Malachite Reaper. Unfortunately, she was slower, larger, and more nervous than the breeders had been looking for. She had been harnessed after birth, and her captain had taught her mathematics when she was young, but she had a penchant for individual thought, and had no interest in fighting or warfare so she was sent to the breeding grounds. Perscitia believed that her captain did not want a dragon that did not fight. Certainly the Aerial Corps had little use for such a dragon, and few aviators had the means to support a dragon outside the Corps.

When Temeraire arrived, Perscitia often discussed mathematics with him. She was even able to comprehend some theories he had not thought of before. When he went to fight the French, she went with him, though she refused to do actual fighting. Initially, she assumed she would not get a share of the prize money because she had not done a share of the fighting, but Temeraire suggested she could earn her share by figuring out how to work a cannon that was among their booty.

After this, Perscitia became something of a dragon-strategist, coming up with ideas for battle. When the British met the French at London, she had straw-men and black harnass paint put on the unharnassed heavy-weight dragons, so they would appear to have a crew. The French lost many aviators in useless boarding parties and were thus under-manned when harnessed dragons launched a second offensive. She worked out the mathematics of how the French were moving their men so quickly via dragon-back, and enabled the British to do the same. Then, at the Battle of Shoeburyness she rigged alcohol-soaked "fire bombs" for Iskierka to light.

By the end of the campaign, she was respected by her peers despite being non-violent. Even Wellesley seemed to appreciate her talents.

Following the campaign, Perscitia set about building pavilions. The food the government promised for the unharnessed dragons services was slow coming and poor in quality. So Perscitia devised a scheme to pay for their own food--they would carry things to London or other towns, as they were much faster than horses. The government again complained about heavy-weight dragons running all over the countryside, and tried to get the dragons of the Aerial Corps to stop the shipping scheme, but Perscitia gave them some cows and explained the situation and they agreed it was all right.