Talk:Tongues of Serpents

Does anybody have a guess who is the dragon on the cover next to Temeraire? Natli 00:27, 16 August 2010 (PDT)

Fairly certain it is Kulingile. In fact I think NN said so in the Facebook chat... YEP. Found it. http://t-lyrical.livejournal.com/130762.html -- 06:42, 16 August 2010 (PDT)

Great :D Natli 08:06, 16 August 2010 (PDT)

Timeline notes

Part 1: chapters 1-6

December 1808: Laurence, Granby, and Tharkay venture out into Sydney fisticuffs, after "eight months aboard" (p4) the Allegiance, which left England in April 1808. Emily Roland remarks on the strangeness of summer hours "when it is almost Christmas" (p8).

Bligh previously picked up in Van Diemen's Land, "a full year gone" (p16) after being deposed as governor-- retroactive travel time for "last leg" (p18)? "Eight months at sea" repeated p19.

"Three subsequent weeks"(p21) after arrival in Australia = return to ongoing narrative, soon after the brawl from the first few pages. Laurence returns to the Allegiance to talk with Bligh. MacArthur comes to the barracks the next day after breakfast (p27), when the Beatrice arrives with Rankin et al. (p31).

The Beatrice left England "two months after the Allegiance" (June 1808); it dumps Rankin and the others onto the Allegiance and sails away again. Jane Roland's letter says that Rankin's family has been "squalling[...] for nigh on Five Years now" (p32). Levitas' death cited as "in the year 'five" p36.

Indeterminate intervals; no definite mention of new year 1809?

Caesar hatches and chooses Rankin (pp45-46). Caesar chows through lotsa livestock in his first week (p49).

MacArthur invites Laurence to dinner and suggests the Blue Mountains expedition (p60). Tharkay and Granby agree, despite the prospect of "pickaxing through solid rock for a month in the worst heat of summer" (p62); they leave "the very next morning" (p63) w/ Caesar and his crew and "some dozen convicts" (p64).

"Fifth day of surveying attempt" p69: Jonas Green bit by vermin p71, Caesar gets heatstroke p72. That evening, Tharkay talks to Laurence about smugglers p80.

Day 6: we can has cows p88, egg iz gon p91. --Wombat1138 17:45, 21 August 2010 (PDT)

Part 2: chapters 7-12

p117: "nearly three weeks" since the start of the Blue Mountains expedition. Riley/Iskierka fly back to Sydney. (Estimated travel time rather less than three weeks, due to direct flight back through known pass location.)

p125: Rankin on courier duty since age 12, Levitas' DOB? Temeraire injured by firestorm smoke.

137: Kulingile hatches and chooses Demane

158: salt lake (modern name Lake Eyre for English discoverer in 1840; needs different name in Novikverse-- there doesn't seem to be a single name for the lake in the local aboriginal languages)

163-172: quicksand, Kulingile's airsacs inflate for the first time, Iskierka/Granby return from Sydney and rejoin them.

174: "a week ago [Kulingile's] imminent death was certain"-- total age since hatching?

Lung Shen Li spotted w/ stolen egg at Uluru (181)

Part 3: chapters 13-17; epilogue

188: Shen Li estimated to have a 4-5 day lead 1 week later (188) as they head nearly straight north.

191: Caesar "now three months out of the shell"-- present datestamp ~late March/early April 1809? Temeraire wonders "had they really been traveling so long?"; Laurence replies, "Longer than that[...], and a fortnight more to reach the coast at this pace"

(Problematic passage here-- obviously they can't've been travelling "longer than three months" to date, since Caesar was born before they left. However, imho the other obvious interpretation-- that instead of simply taking another fortnight from here to reach the coast, Laurence thinks it'll take another 3mo+fortnight from here-- doesn't seem to mesh w/ later info about their return journey.)

197: Laurence estimates Demane's age as 14 -> DOB ~1795?

204: British aviators reach north coast-- April 1809? Tharunka ~1 week hatched.

206-207: North coast settlement is "two weeks without land" from China via Lung Shen Li, who is still at the pavilion and was bred "almost three years" after Yongxing's death (1806)-- DOB late 1808/early 1809?

209: return trip to Sydney estimated as "another two months"

229: sea-serpents take 1 month to travel from north coast to Guangzhou or vice-versa

232-233: Shen Li brings letters from the Emperor and from Lung Tien Qian-- aviators have been on north coast at least one month: 2 wks flight time in each direction, plus 2 days waiting in China for Jade Dragon. Current datestamp ~May 1809?

235-236: HMS Nereide and HMS Otter arrive.

254-255: straight return flight from north coast to Sydney "consumed half the autumn": confirmation of "two months" from 209. "[L]ong fortnight's flying" toward salt lake, presumably marked from Uluru rather from north coast. Macquarie installed as new governor in Sydney when aviators return. Datestamp by continuous reckoning ~July 1809?

(check historical context: a.) did NSW retain British notions of seasons despite contrary antipodean climate? and b.) were seasons considered to begin/end on the solstice/equinox, or on cross-quarter days? Current Oz seasonal start dates are the first days of March (autumn), June (winter), Sept. (spring) and Dec. (summer).)

274: Temeraire hopes to have pavilion "up before the winter". --Wombat1138 16:04, 22 August 2010 (PDT)