Temeraire
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.
His service in the Aerial Corps was outstanding. He served in the Battle of Dover turning the tide by discovering that he could use the Divine Wind. Afterwards, he journeyed to China to clear up a diplomatic issue. The Chinese did not consider Laurence as a worthy companion for him. The conflict was resolved when Laurence was formally adopted by the Emperor. During the return journey his crew retrieved the Kazilik and Akhal-Teke eggs from the Ottomans (for which the British paid half a million pounds). 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's tastes in food were refined during his trip to China, and thereafter he enjoyed cooked meals with spices in addition to raw meat.
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.
Despite being an intellectual dragon, he had a high fighting spirit. This displeased the Chinese, who did not believe that combat was a proper occupation for a Celestial.
