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| | [[User:Rose|Rose]] 15:18, 4 October 2008 (PDT) | | [[User:Rose|Rose]] 15:18, 4 October 2008 (PDT) |
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| − | Okay, I've got an idea. In "real history", the Prime Minister of the UK from March 1807 to October 1809 was the Duke of Portland. He was followed by Spencer Perceval, October 1809 to May 1812 (when he was assassinated). Mulgrave was First Lord of the Admiralty until 1810. George III's son (also named George) became regent for his father in 1811. He was expected to put the Whigs under Lord Grenville into power, ousting Perceval, but he didn't. Instead, he asked the Whigs to join with Perceval.
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| − | In "Temeraire history", the regency begins earlier, after the Battle of Shoeburyness, while the Duke of Portland is still PM. Let's say that the Prince Regent and Portland don't get along, so the Prince Regent goes ahead and puts Lord Grenville into power. Since the position of First Lord of the Admiralty is something of a political plum, Mulgrave is also booted out.
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| − | Now Confucianism has a virtue called Ren - humanity or humaneness. It's expressed in the rule, "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." (Kind of the Golden Rule approached from the opposite direction - you're not enjoined to do good things, but rather to avoid doing bad ones.) Confucianism is also strong on Zhong, loyalty.
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| − | So what if the Chinese were presented with the following facts:
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| − | *1) The King of England was ill and mad at the time his ministers made the decision to spread the Dragon Plague to the Continent. He was not aware of this action being taken.
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| − | *2) Laurence and Temeraire effectively thwarted this action, thus preventing a violation of "Ren" from happening in the King's name. This can in fact be seen as an act of loyalty.
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| − | *3) The ministers, again without the King's knowledge, had Laurence placed under sentence of death and Temeraire imprisoned in the breeding grounds.
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| − | *4) Laurence and Temeraire's role in expelling Napoleon's armies from Britain is another act of loyalty.
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| − | *5) The King's son has taken over the government during his father's illness to avoid any more wrongful acts from being committed his father's name. (Filial piety, Xiao) The evil ministers have been removed from government.
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| − | *6) Out of loyalty, Laurence and Temeraire have agreed to leave Britain at the government's request. (Hammond can drop vague hints that this is to avoid them becoming a centre for rebellious elements, not mentioning that Temeraire himself is the most rebellious of the elements. He's a diplomat, lying skillfully is his job.)
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| − | If the Chinese just sort of try to ignore the actions of the British, they'll lose face. I'm guessing that this is the main problem rather than any real desire for revenge. The line of reasoning I've outlined satisfies the demands of face, much as Laurence's distant relationship to the Plantagenets and his adoption by the Emperor makes it possible for him and Temeraire to be sworn as companions. There was a problem (evil ministers), it was thwarted by Laurence and Temeraire, the King's son has taken steps to ensure that the problem does not recur.
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| − | Laurence comes off looking pretty good, especially for a guy who's never read the Analects. (Maybe it's a chance remark by Temeraire that gives Hammond the idea to pursue this line of reasoning? Temeraire would certainly be quick to agree that Laurence is both humane and loyal.)
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| − | Quite aside from the issue of diplomatic relations with the Chinese, this might give Laurence a new way to think about what he's done, not as treason but as a sort of deeper loyalty that would act to prevent genocide from being perpetrated in his country's name?
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| − | [[User:Rose|Rose]] 17:45, 20 October 2008 (PDT)
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| | ==Will Ferris go to Australia?== | | ==Will Ferris go to Australia?== |
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| | ==Miss Jemson== | | ==Miss Jemson== |
| | 19) Is Hollin going to be able to persuade the dispatcher to adjust his route assignments so that he and Elsie can continue courting Miss Jemson? | | 19) Is Hollin going to be able to persuade the dispatcher to adjust his route assignments so that he and Elsie can continue courting Miss Jemson? |
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| − | ==Laurence's next career change==
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| − | 20) Poor Laurence - left the Navy to join the Aerial Corps, now he's been broken out of the Aerial Corps. What's next? I thought it was interesting in VoE when he ended up acting as a sort of union negotiator for the dragons. Temeraire and Minnow stated their demands for pay and pavillions ably enough, but lacked the practical experience to hammer out details with Wellesley, such as how many shillings and pence, and where should the pavillions be located. Laurence took over on this and handled it quite well, despite feeling a bit morally queasy about making demands in the midst of a military crisis. (Good grief, Will, you think the government's gonna listen after the crisis is over?)
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| − | That got me thinking that Laurence's next career might involve some sort of negotiation. Then I got to remembering how he and Temeraire were able to assist Hammond in China with a combination of stubbornness plus graciousness to the right people (Liu Bao, Lung Tien Qian). Their mission in Istanbul also became largely diplomatic, at least for while. Here Laurence displayed a gift for knowing when to cut the diplomacy and resort to action.
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| − | So... might the British Foreign Office have a use for an agent abroad? Not exactly a <i>secret</i> agent - it's hard to keep a 20-tonne dragon secret - but someone(s) who can be sent in to deal with touchy situations requiring a variety of skills to handle, including a capacity to handle both diplomatic negotiations and physical violence? Someone not officially part of either the military or the diplomatic corps, so that if things go totally to hell the British gov't can wash their hands of the situation?
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| − | The Foreign Office won't mind a bit that Laurence is officially a "traitor." The military's little stunt with the plague germs will have left the FO with a huge mess on their hands, as they try to explain to their allies and to neutrals that oh, no, the intention was <i>never</i> that the plague should spread beyond France, dear me, do you think it might have?
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| − | Wellesley or Wellington or whatever will agree to anything to keeps Temeraire away from other British dragons.
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| − | Laurence doesn't really <i>like</i> diplomatic work, but he still wants to be of service to Britain. (I'm as baffled as Temeraire is about this.)
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| − | Temeraire will enjoy just about anything that keeps him and Laurence together and is not boring. He doesn't like politicking either, considering it to be something that Lien would do, but he handles it pretty well himself - consider his negotiations with Gentius and Majestatis. And he's great at communicating with the locals, whether it's preaching sedition to an interested group of Turkish dragons in Istanbul or finding Laurence halfway across Africa by asking directions of the local dragons in return for a few cows (<i>after</i> Sutton has told him it can't be done).
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| − | Tharkay's linguistic and survival skills will also come in handy, and he'd probably be interested to come along, and Temeraire will want the rest of his crew to along as well.
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| − | As the African trip showed, Temeraire will occasionally need rescuing. And Wellington will be happy to get rid of Iskierka. The question is, can she learn even just a bit of self-control and discretion? (I think I've been on a few e-mail lists with Iskierka - the "flame first, ask questions later" attitude is familiar.) If so, she and Granby would be useful as well.
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| − | Could be a good time!
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| − | ==Captain Gardenley==
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| − | 21) As Warren observed regarding Harcourt, the future of a Longwing captain whose dragon died of the plague was considerably chancier than that of her male colleagues - "Half pay may keep body and soul together, but money don't make a woman respectable." What happened to Gardenley after she was forced to shoot Conterrenis?
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| − | ==Will's second brother==
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| − | 22) We've been told that Will Laurence is Lord and Lady Allendale's third son. The oldest is named George, we know he has several children, that his wife's name is Elizabeth and that he takes over management of the estate when Lord Allendale is ill. What's Will's second brother's name and what is he doing with his life? Something too disgraceful to be mentioned, or simply too boring?
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| − | Okay, answered part of this myself: Fred. George III's sons were named, in order, George (later George IV), Frederick, and William (later William IV, Victoria's uncle). So Will's second brother is almost certainly called Fred. [[User:Rose|Rose]] 16:58, 20 October 2008 (PDT)
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| − | ==Australia to China via islands?==
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| − | 23) Could a Celestial fly from northern Australia to China by island-hopping, either across to Indochina and then north, or via the Phillipines and Taiwan? See the [http://www.temeraire.org/wiki/images/5/50/England_to_China.jpg map of the 1806 voyage to China].
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| − | ==Do dragons sing?==
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| − | 24) Do dragons sing? They write poetry and tell stories, sometimes in a style that approaches interpretive dance. They enjoy listening to human music. So, do they sing?
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| − | They do :D
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| − | At the end of BPW Arkady and his ferals start something like a march song, and the words are 'We are all flying home'. [[User:Natli|Natli]] 01:46, 18 October 2008 (PDT)
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| − | Oh, you're right! :-) I'd forgotten that. [[User:Rose|Rose]] 06:17, 18 October 2008 (PDT)
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| − | ==Women's hours at the Loch Laggan baths?==
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| − | 25) In "Empire of Ivory", Harcourt asks the men she's imprisoned with to turn their backs when she wants to bath. This suggests that mixed bathing by adults is NOT the norm, not even among aviators.
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| − | Emily goes bathing quite happily with the male crew in the ferals' cave in the Pamirs. When corralled by a highly embarrassed Laurence, she is baffled that he thinks there's a problem, noting she hasn't begun to menstruate yet and anyway, she doesn't want to go to bed with any of the other crew members. This sounds as if she would not bath with the men if she were already adult.
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| − | So there should be special women's hours at the baths for Longwing captains and adult women in training to become Longwing captains. After all, would YOU like to be the one to tell an acid-spitter's captain that she's not allowed to use the baths?
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| − | == Will's other brother ==
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| − | Somewhere in HMD or ToJ Will mentions that his father would have been happier if he had chosen to be part of the clergy like his brother.
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| − | ==Iskierka the Pirate Queen==
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| − | 26) I'm still having trouble imagining Iskierka settling down sufficiently to ever give Granby any peace of mind. And as we saw in HMD with Levitas and in VoE with Majestatis and Perscitia, dragon/captain relations don't always work out. So my best guess for Iskierka's future career is as... a Pirate Queen!
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| − | The Allegiance has to cross the Indian Ocean to get to Australia. Say a large storm kicks up, as one did the last time she made this crossing. Granby, who's been drinking more and more heavily, is passed out below decks - no one can rouse him. Temeraire, remembering his last voyage, grudgingly submits to having storm chains put on him, but neither he nor Laurence can persuade Iskierka to do the same. Instead, she declares she will ride out the storm aloft and takes off. By the time the storm subsides three days later, she is not to be seen anywhere.
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| − | Granby is initially heart-broken and has to be kept an eye on. However, he eventually starts to recover. Since there's no chance that the Corps is going to give a captain who's lost their only fire-breather another hatchling, Granby goes back to being Temeraire's first officer. Temeraire is unabashedly delighted, Laurence a bit more sensitive but glad to welcome Granby back.
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| − | The next time we meet Iskierka, she's become the leader of a band of pirates. They discovered her half-drowned and nursed her back to health, planning to "return" her to the Turks for a reward - she's a Kazilik, so they assume she's Turkish. Recovered, Iskierka has no interest in this idea at all, but discovers a shared interest in winning prizes with the other pirates and ends up taking over the band.
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| − | She's still attached to Granby, so when she meets him again, she wants him to join the pirates - she herself is unwilling to give up the freebooting life. Granby, sadder but wiser, refuses.
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