Difference between revisions of "Temeraire"
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| + | Because of Temeraire's curiosity and intelligence, he often asked Laurence to explain concepts like "property", "duty" and "authority" that Laurence had always taken for granted and not really thought much about. Laurence often felt himself at a disadvantage in these conversations but persisted in doing his best to convey the principles he felt to be right to Temeraire. | ||
| + | As members of the [[Aerial Corps]] Temeraire and Laurence were trained at [[Loch Laggan covert]], where they were assigned to [[Lily]]'s formation and where Temeraire became close friends with Lily and [[Maximus]]. Their first major battle was the [[Battle of Dover]] in November 1805, in which Temeraire turned the tide of the battle when he discovered and used [[Divine Wind]] against French forces attempting to land in Britain. | ||
| − | + | Since the Divine Wind is possessed only by Celestials, news of the battle brought it to the attention of the Chinese government that a Celestial had been harnessed by a "common soldier", as they considered Laurence, and was serving in the British armed forces. This was rather shocking to them, as in China Celestials are not supposed to fight. An embassy led by [[Prince Yongxing]] was sent to Britain to retrieve Temeraire. However, Temeraire refused to leave Britain without Laurence, so Temeraire, Laurence and their crew travelled aboard the [[HMS Allegiance]] to China, arriving in Macao in June 1806. | |
| − | + | It turned out that Prince Yongxing had meant to use Temeraire to create a rival claimant for the imperial throne, one under Hongxing's control. After Yongxing's death, the matter of Laurence's unsuitabilty to be companion to a Celestial was speedily resolved by having Laurence formally adopted by the [[Jiaqing Emperor|Emperor]], after which Temeraire and Laurence took oaths of companionship. Temeraire's mother, Lung Tien Qian, may have had some influence in this matter, as she had requested a meeting with Laurence to question him about Temeraire's upbringing. It was after this meeting - but before Yongxing's death - that Qian allowed Temeraire to choose one of her own possessions, a sword, as a gift for Laurence, saying that it was traditional for a dragon's sire and dam to give a gift when the dragon took a companion. | |
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| + | During his stay in China, Temeraire was greatly impressed by the amount of freedom given to dragons there and by the ease with which they interacted with the human population. In particular, he was struck by the fact that they had a choice of occupation, money with which they could make purchases and comfortable pavillions to sleep in (rather than the bare ground of the British coverts). He also acquired a taste for Chinese cooking and grew to prefer having his meat cooked and seasoned with spices rather than eating it raw as was customary for British dragons. | ||
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| + | In fact, Temeraire would have preferred to stay in China, where all his kin were and where he had become involved in a romantic liaison with [[Lung Qin Mei]]. However, he knew that Laurence would not be happy in China, so he decided instead to return to Britain to work on improving conditions for Lily, Maximus and the other British dragons. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Due to a fire aboard the Allegiance, Temeraire, Laurence and their crew returned to Britain by an overland route, stopping first in Istanbul to retrieve three dragon eggs - worth half a million British pounds - from the Ottomans. The British had already paid for the eggs, but the Ottomans were refusing to release them, claiming they'd never received the money. The importance of the mission increased when it was discovered that one of the eggs was a fire-breathing [[Kazilik]], as the British had no fire-breathers of their own. The situation was not improved when Temeraire started sharing his thoughts on liberty and improved conditions with the Turkish dragons, thereby enraging their captains. | ||
| + | |||
| + | After [[Sara Maden]] brought the British party proof that the Ottomans had indeed received the money - but then melted down the gold coins to disguise them - Laurence decided to steal the eggs. Although the smallest egg was smashed in this attempt, Temeraire, Laurence and their crew were able to flee successfully to Austria with the other two eggs. They expected to be able to obtain safe passage across Prussia to the coast. Instead, the Prussians drafted them in lieu of the twenty dragons which the British government had promised but not provided. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Throughout the autumn of 1806, Temeraire, Laurence and their crew fought as part of the Prussian forces, trying in vain to push back Napoleon's invading army. During this period Temeraire tried to interest the Prussian dragons in the improvements he had learned about in China. He was surprised and chagrined to discover that the Prussian dragons had no interest in these and considered them signs of softness and silliness. | ||
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| + | Temeraire, Laurence and their crew - as well as the infant Kazilik [[Iskierka]], who had hatched in Prussia and been harnessed by Temeraire's first lieutenant, [[John Granby]] - did not reach Britain until late December 1806. There they discovered that the [[Dragon Plague]] was in the process of wiping out the [[Aerial Corps]], with almost every dragon in Britain ill. | ||
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| + | Almost immediately after he came back, his formation received the orders to find the cure for the dragon plague, which was decimating the Corps. At the time of Napoleon's invasion he commanded a company of breeding grounds dragons and took part in the [[Battle of Shoeburyness]]. After the invasion he was ordered to go to Australia, because of Laurence's sentence. | ||
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Temeraire was free-thinking and prone to advocate for the rights of dragons. He liked to change the order of things, unlike other dragons who did not see why they should cause an uproar and change things that were, in their opinion, very good as they were already. Temeraire was often dismayed by this attitude. He could be called a reformist as he was directly responsible for great changes in the treatment of dragons, which included the right to payment, the right to move from covert to covert by themselves and the freedom to accept any work that was offered to them. Moreover, by commanding a regiment by himself, he created a significant precedent. | Temeraire was free-thinking and prone to advocate for the rights of dragons. He liked to change the order of things, unlike other dragons who did not see why they should cause an uproar and change things that were, in their opinion, very good as they were already. Temeraire was often dismayed by this attitude. He could be called a reformist as he was directly responsible for great changes in the treatment of dragons, which included the right to payment, the right to move from covert to covert by themselves and the freedom to accept any work that was offered to them. Moreover, by commanding a regiment by himself, he created a significant precedent. | ||
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Revision as of 22:20, 23 September 2008
Character Profile
| Name: | Temeraire (known to the Chinese as Lung Tien Xiang) |
| Date of Birth: | January 1805 |
| Breed: | Celestial |
| Captain: | William Laurence |
| National Loyalty: | Britain |
| Appearance: | Large, black with blue/grey wing tips |
| Special Abilities: | Divine Wind |
| Status: | Active |
Biography
Temeraire was hatched onboard the HMS Reliant in January 1805. His mother, Lung Tien Qian, had laid two "twin" eggs sired by Lung Qin Gao. One egg was to hatch Lung Tien Chuan and one was to hatch Lung Tien Xiang (as the Chinese named Temeraire). Chuan, the elder twin by a small margin, was to become companion to Crown Prince Mianning, so Temeraire's egg was sent away so as to not create a rival prince. Since Celestials are only supposed to be companions to members of the Chinese imperial family and since Napoleon Bonaparte had recently crowned himself Emperor of France, Temeraire's egg was offered to him. The French ship Amitie was carrying the egg to Napoleon when it was captured by the Reliant.
On hatching, Temeraire immediately took a liking to the Navy Captain William Laurence even though Laurence was not the officer who had been chosen to harness him - and therefore had given no thought to a name for the newly hatched dragon. In a moment of inspiration, the startled Laurence offered the name Téméraire, after the British ship of the line. He was chagrined later on when he learned that British dragons are usually given Latin names, but in fact the name Temeraire - which in French means "bold" but can also mean "reckless" or "rash" - turned out to suit the dragon's character well.
Typically for a Celestial, Temeraire was extremely intelligent. He was hatched able to speak fluent English, French and Chinese, probably of the Mandarin dialect as he commented that the Chinese spoken in Macao did not sound the same. Later on he acquired fluency in the draconic language Durzagh and some command of Turkish, German and Xhosa. He loved learning about anything new to him, a trait which Laurence encouraged by spending hours reading him books, even books on subjects which Laurence didn't fully understand himself. Temeraire was especially fond of books on mathematics and science.
Because of Temeraire's curiosity and intelligence, he often asked Laurence to explain concepts like "property", "duty" and "authority" that Laurence had always taken for granted and not really thought much about. Laurence often felt himself at a disadvantage in these conversations but persisted in doing his best to convey the principles he felt to be right to Temeraire.
As members of the Aerial Corps Temeraire and Laurence were trained at Loch Laggan covert, where they were assigned to Lily's formation and where Temeraire became close friends with Lily and Maximus. Their first major battle was the Battle of Dover in November 1805, in which Temeraire turned the tide of the battle when he discovered and used Divine Wind against French forces attempting to land in Britain.
Since the Divine Wind is possessed only by Celestials, news of the battle brought it to the attention of the Chinese government that a Celestial had been harnessed by a "common soldier", as they considered Laurence, and was serving in the British armed forces. This was rather shocking to them, as in China Celestials are not supposed to fight. An embassy led by Prince Yongxing was sent to Britain to retrieve Temeraire. However, Temeraire refused to leave Britain without Laurence, so Temeraire, Laurence and their crew travelled aboard the HMS Allegiance to China, arriving in Macao in June 1806.
It turned out that Prince Yongxing had meant to use Temeraire to create a rival claimant for the imperial throne, one under Hongxing's control. After Yongxing's death, the matter of Laurence's unsuitabilty to be companion to a Celestial was speedily resolved by having Laurence formally adopted by the Emperor, after which Temeraire and Laurence took oaths of companionship. Temeraire's mother, Lung Tien Qian, may have had some influence in this matter, as she had requested a meeting with Laurence to question him about Temeraire's upbringing. It was after this meeting - but before Yongxing's death - that Qian allowed Temeraire to choose one of her own possessions, a sword, as a gift for Laurence, saying that it was traditional for a dragon's sire and dam to give a gift when the dragon took a companion.
During his stay in China, Temeraire was greatly impressed by the amount of freedom given to dragons there and by the ease with which they interacted with the human population. In particular, he was struck by the fact that they had a choice of occupation, money with which they could make purchases and comfortable pavillions to sleep in (rather than the bare ground of the British coverts). He also acquired a taste for Chinese cooking and grew to prefer having his meat cooked and seasoned with spices rather than eating it raw as was customary for British dragons.
In fact, Temeraire would have preferred to stay in China, where all his kin were and where he had become involved in a romantic liaison with Lung Qin Mei. However, he knew that Laurence would not be happy in China, so he decided instead to return to Britain to work on improving conditions for Lily, Maximus and the other British dragons.
Due to a fire aboard the Allegiance, Temeraire, Laurence and their crew returned to Britain by an overland route, stopping first in Istanbul to retrieve three dragon eggs - worth half a million British pounds - from the Ottomans. The British had already paid for the eggs, but the Ottomans were refusing to release them, claiming they'd never received the money. The importance of the mission increased when it was discovered that one of the eggs was a fire-breathing Kazilik, as the British had no fire-breathers of their own. The situation was not improved when Temeraire started sharing his thoughts on liberty and improved conditions with the Turkish dragons, thereby enraging their captains.
After Sara Maden brought the British party proof that the Ottomans had indeed received the money - but then melted down the gold coins to disguise them - Laurence decided to steal the eggs. Although the smallest egg was smashed in this attempt, Temeraire, Laurence and their crew were able to flee successfully to Austria with the other two eggs. They expected to be able to obtain safe passage across Prussia to the coast. Instead, the Prussians drafted them in lieu of the twenty dragons which the British government had promised but not provided.
Throughout the autumn of 1806, Temeraire, Laurence and their crew fought as part of the Prussian forces, trying in vain to push back Napoleon's invading army. During this period Temeraire tried to interest the Prussian dragons in the improvements he had learned about in China. He was surprised and chagrined to discover that the Prussian dragons had no interest in these and considered them signs of softness and silliness.
Temeraire, Laurence and their crew - as well as the infant Kazilik Iskierka, who had hatched in Prussia and been harnessed by Temeraire's first lieutenant, John Granby - did not reach Britain until late December 1806. There they discovered that the Dragon Plague was in the process of wiping out the Aerial Corps, with almost every dragon in Britain ill.
Almost immediately after he came back, his formation received the orders to find the cure for the dragon plague, which was decimating the Corps. At the time of Napoleon's invasion he commanded a company of breeding grounds dragons and took part in the Battle of Shoeburyness. After the invasion he was ordered to go to Australia, because of Laurence's sentence.
Temeraire was free-thinking and prone to advocate for the rights of dragons. He liked to change the order of things, unlike other dragons who did not see why they should cause an uproar and change things that were, in their opinion, very good as they were already. Temeraire was often dismayed by this attitude. He could be called a reformist as he was directly responsible for great changes in the treatment of dragons, which included the right to payment, the right to move from covert to covert by themselves and the freedom to accept any work that was offered to them. Moreover, by commanding a regiment by himself, he created a significant precedent.
