His Majesty's Dragons

General Havoc · Post by **General Havoc** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:40 pm

Cynical Cat wrote:And there is no shame in caging a name from Wells. He's one of the great early Science Fiction writers.

... touche.

Now I suppose I have to kill you.

Cynical Cat · Post by **Cynical Cat** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:43 pm

General Havoc wrote: ... touche.

Now I suppose I have to kill you.

But I'm so cute and fuzzy . . . .

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:46 pm

Cynical Cat wrote:
General Havoc wrote: ... touche.

Now I suppose I have to kill you.
But I'm so cute and fuzzy . . . .

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
*pets and cuddles the cute fuzzy-wuzzy*

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:46 pm

*laughs like Phil Stebbens from Harvey Birdman*

Comrade Tortoise · Post by **Comrade Tortoise** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:49 pm

LadyTevar wrote:
Cynical Cat wrote:
General Havoc wrote: ... touche.

Now I suppose I have to kill you.
But I'm so cute and fuzzy . . . .
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
*pets and cuddles the cute fuzzy-wuzzy*

Can I eat it!?

General Havoc · Post by **General Havoc** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:53 pm

Comrade Tortoise wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:
Cynical Cat wrote: But I'm so cute and fuzzy . . . .
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
*pets and cuddles the cute fuzzy-wuzzy*
Can I eat it!?

Absolutely! Dragons need their protein after all!

Charon · Post by **Charon** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:53 pm

LadyTevar wrote:
Cynical Cat wrote:
General Havoc wrote: ... touche.

Now I suppose I have to kill you.
But I'm so cute and fuzzy . . . .
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
*pets and cuddles the cute fuzzy-wuzzy*

Careful not to squeeze it too hard there Tev, might crush it's cuddly little neck.

Cynical Cat · Post by **Cynical Cat** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:56 pm

Comrade Tortoise wrote:
Can I eat it!?

*bats Tortoise with vorpal claws, lightning flashing in his eyes*

There's only one way to win "Cat and Mouse" and that's to be the cat.

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:58 pm

Cynical Cat wrote:
Comrade Tortoise wrote:
Can I eat it!?
*bats Tortoise with vorpal claws, lightning flashing in his eyes*

There's only one way to win "Cat and Mouse" and that's to be the cat.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! ISSA DRAGON-KITTY!!!
*cuddles and huggles and luvvles*

Comrade Tortoise · Post by **Comrade Tortoise** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:28 am

Character Prologue (because I need to decompress)

New York Harbor was, as always bustling with activity. Mostly human, but today with the notable exception of a Northwestern Bonetail and his human trying to find the right pier to embark on the British cargo ship, HMS Caernaveron.

"Excuse me" said the person, a man of slightly taller than average stature to a passerby

"yeah!?" the person said irritably, not appreciating the interruption from his own urgent business, whatever that may be

"Do you haeppen to know vere pier twenty seven is ja?"

"yeah ya fuckin' kraut it is about 300 yards down that way, now get outa my way" the irritated but helpful man said as he shoved past the man and didnt even noticed the horse sized dragon hovering over his shoulder.

"Diese Neuen Yorkern sind sehr unhÃ¶flich" said the dragon Waldwanderer
(these new yorkers are very rude)

"Yeah wirklich. HÃ¶rst du, was dieser bastard mich nannte?"
(yeah really did you hear what that bastard called me?)

"Ja aber es kaum war eine falsche Aussage Zutreffend"
(Yes, but it was hardly a false statement)

"Haha. Ja, das ist ich annehmen korrekt"
(haha. Yeah that is true I suppose)

The two continued to walk until they found the sign that marked the correct dock and saw the ship that would be their home for the next week or so. It was fairly large, a good 70 meters in length, powered by steam and propeller. Richard gave it a good look over. Not too much rust, only a few barnacles on the hull. The crew seemed to be on the ball, moviung around securing parts of the ship and cargo, some of which was decidedly not on the cargo manifest from the looks of it. As far as any official inquiries were concerned, from what he could gather this ship was carrying foodstufs. What it was actually carrying was at least one dragon, and munitions, in addition to what was on the manifest.

Waldwanderer also looked around. He was somewhat unnerved by the city he was in. He had lived in a population center before, but nothing like this. So many people, so much that could go wrong. He eager, antsy almost to just get on the ship and be done with it.

Together, man and dragon they walked down the dock toward the gang-plank leading up to the surface deck, where they were stopped,.

"Papers please" the guard said to Richard, who reached into his pocket and took out the paper with his orders, and a wallet that had his and Waldwanderers identification.

"Wait, Niehuis, Waldwanderer?"

"Ja?"

"And an accent, you are german?"

"By blood yes" replied Richard "Mein grandfater came over in the 1880s, I vas raised speaking german and have a bit of an accent. Is this ein problem?" The btitish officer did not look confinced and was fingering a whistle that hung around his neck until Waldwanderer spoke up

"I am an american breed of dragon, if he were a german spy there is no way he would have had the opportunity to bond with me. I am 18 years old, we were bound when he was ten"

The officer decided that he had no reason to keep them from boarding, but they would need to be watched.

"Alright, go. We were told to be expecting a pair matching your description anyway... you will find a cargo container near the stern for the dragon, and you can stay in crew quarters" he said to the two

"If it is all the same, i vould prefer to stay wis Waldwanderer. I am happy to sleep on the deck"

"Just means more room for the crew" the englishman said and moved aside so the two could board.

...

It was a very odd sight. Waldwanderer was curled up in his cargo container, open to the air, while Richard was sprawled out on the deck in a sleeping back with his duffel bag serving as a pillow almost as if he was guarding the dragon rather than the more intuitive other way around. They should land in South Hampton in the morning.

The moon was full and Richard was just about to fall asleep when something momentarily caused a shadow to cross the ship. There were only a few things that could be. Immediately he was awake and yanked a set of binoculars from his bag and looked around. And there it was, silhouetted against a cloud, a German Leuchtkafer. Richard got up and went to wake Waldwanderer, they would be the ships only line of defense if the newcommer was doing anything other than gather intelligence.

"Velcome to England" he thought to himself.

General Havoc · Post by **General Havoc** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:29 pm

Interesting backstory, but as a quick comment, there is no way a single German Leuchtkafer could do a damn thing to a cargo ship, even an unarmed one. Personally, if I were that dragon's captain, I'd simply radio back to base the sighting and have the navy send a U-boat after it.

Sometimes classic weapons work best.

Comrade Tortoise · Post by **Comrade Tortoise** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 6:00 pm

True. Hence "if doing anything other than gathering intel"

Could be doing one of three things:

1) scouting for seek and subsequent destroy purposes
2) gathering intel on movements only
3)part of a larger squadron that is there for god only knows what reason

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:01 pm

so... why did you post this here, CT? It could have gone under UserFict as a background story, like Cyncat did with DeathStrike.

Comrade Tortoise · Post by **Comrade Tortoise** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:28 pm

Didn't know whether it was worthy of user fiction really. I tend not to put one-shots in there, or at least stuff I intend as a one-shot. And lets be honest Cat is functionally a professional...

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 7:43 am

I should note in the novels the Iroquois were mentioned along with the Incas has having Dragon breeding programs. Galling however the Cherokee are not.

It should be noted that the Chinese are considered very fearsome due to the "unending serpent hordes of the East," China is in possession of the world's oldest Dragon breeding program and Chinese Dragons pretty much have equal rights being allowed to hold government offices (2nd book takes place in China). Japan apprantely has a crap load of very scary special weapon dragons but they are never seen. They are mentioned more then once in book 1 and book 2 (I can't remember if that's so in book 3 right now).

Which reminds me Havoc, has the Western Dragon experienced any great change in his legal and social status or not?

General Havoc · Post by **General Havoc** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:26 pm

Let me modify that comment above with some of my own:

The book series that this game is based upon (one I strongly recommend) is set in 1804. The game is set in 1940. Consequently, much of what those who have read the books know is no longer relevant. In the books for example, the Iroquois Confederacy is completely independent, and only peripherally referred to, certainly not as an ally of Great Britain. In THIS game however, the Iroquois form one of the dominant groups of the British Dominion nation "Canada", which consists in a major way of Native American groups, but not SOLELY them. Canada is a close ally of Great Britain's, is at war with Nazi Germany, and has... cordial relations with their neighbor to the south.

Similarly, in the books, China is the greatest dragon-power in the world, with the oldest breeding programs and the largest number of dragons. In THIS game (as it was in our history), China is a catastrophic disaster area, wracked by civil war, lawlessness, banditry, warlordism, and periodic Japanese invasions. Their vaunted dragonbreeding program lies in ruins, and their most iconic breeds are all but exterminated by famine, war, and deliberate political annihilation. The Celestial Dragons of China, the very symbol of the Chinese Imperial System, was wiped out in the 1910s and 1920s by a dozen different organizations in the throes of revolution, and the last remaining Celestial known to live is Temeraire, one of the protagonists of the original books, now 136 years old, and still quite alive and well by virtue of the fact that he lived through those turbulent times in Great Britain, not in China. Of course the related Imperial breed is still barely hanging on in a few tiny enclaves, so there may one day be more Celestials, but for now, don't count on it.

And as to Lien, she is thought to have been killed once and for all in 1870 during the Second Afghani War, while attempting to make trouble for Britain as always. Of course, no body was ever found...

Anyhow, my point is that I could go into all kinds of political explanations here, such as why the US only extends to the Rocky Mountains, and who the Incans are, and why they dominate the Eastern Pacific, and how it is that the Russian Revolution eventually ended in 1922 with the restoration of the Romanov dynasty under Tsar Alexei II, who rules to this day.... but that would represent about thirty pages of back story for me to do it all justice, and while it's important, it's not important ENOUGH for our purposes here. I will go into it as it becomes relevant.

Frigid, the alterations in the legal status of dragons in society in Western culture have been small and gradual. Revolutionary France pioneered the concept of dragons as people, but Revolutionary France lost the war, and the cause of draconic rights suffered a setback thereat (especially with the events of Book Four). So as to not babble on for hours, I will simply say that things have changed, but not... earth-sunderingly so. The general public is far more used to the idea of Dragons in society now, there are places for them in every major city, and they are thought of almost as people, but still, they are the absolute provenance of the military. There are simply not enough dragons otherwise. Dragons receive pay, even pensions, hold ranks among themselves (divorced from human ranks), and have even addressed parliament before. They even have the right to vote, this being a largely symbolic matter as there are not enough dragons to constitute a meaningful number of votes, and to be frank, most don't even bother. They are still treated much like exceptionally intelligent animals, and their captains are consulted far more often than they themselves. Things have changed, but not massively, at least in Britain.

Besides, all of you are from different backgrounds, where things may work entirely differently, plus you're in the middle of a war. One does what one has to do.

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:46 pm

I'm just starting to realize how unique Jebediah's going to be, since the Appalachian culture's always focused more on family/kinfolk and religion/spiritualism. A dragon raised not by breeders, but by simple folks who just treated him like younger kin, even raising him 'in the church'? Highly unusual.

But Judith's going to be real fun to play as a fish outta water. I just realized that the section of home I saw her growing up in didn't get electricity until after WWII, and still uses well-water and septic tanks. No electricity = candle and paraffin lamps and no radio. Wellwater = Outhouses and bathing in a tin tub once a week (needed or not).

Now, the good news is that Judith would have gotten over the worst of the culture shock in the US, during her brief 'training'. The bad news, she's going to England, where everything's subtly different. (What's a WC?)

Comrade Tortoise · Post by **Comrade Tortoise** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:12 pm

Yeah, RIchard and Waldwanderer will be...similar, but also vastly different. Besides the german-ness, there is the fact that they are both paradoxically university educated wild-people. Like Aldo Leopold on crack (Aldo combined with Ernst Mayr is actually the inspiration for this guy)

It will certainly be interesting.

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:52 pm

You made Tolkien an admiral? Nice!

Charon · Post by **Charon** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:06 pm

Stupid Tolkien...

What? That's right, I'm not a fan of his writing. Love the world he built though.

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:40 pm

Yes, gentlemen, Judith and Jebediah will be posted speaking In Dialect, in the brutalized Elizabethian slang that up until the 1970s was *still* common in Appalachia.

But, to give you a further idea of Jeb's coloration, here's a link to rough, uncut blue lace agate If anyone's seen any pictures at all of the Appalachian mountains, I think you'll understand why I chose that stone.

General Havoc · Post by **General Havoc** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:43 pm

Charon wrote:Stupid Tolkien...

What? That's right, I'm not a fan of his writing. Love the world he built though.

Rocks fall. You die. NEVER insult Tolkien's writing in a game in which I am the GM, for in the language of the Appalachians: "Them's fightin' words!"

*Plots to kill you with fire*

Cynical Cat · Post by **Cynical Cat** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:46 pm

General Havoc wrote:
Charon wrote:Stupid Tolkien...

What? That's right, I'm not a fan of his writing. Love the world he built though.
Rocks fall. You die. NEVER insult Tolkien's writing in a game in which I am the GM, for in the language of the Appalachians: "Them's fightin' words!"

*Plots to kill you with fire*

Okay The Hobbit is one of the most beloved books of my childhood and The Lord of the Rings is a classic, but do I have to say nice things about the Simarillion?

Post by **Dark Silver** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:07 pm

LotR was a overly wordy piece of hack writing,. the Simirillion is more of the same.....

the only good story he ever wrote was the hobbit.

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:08 pm

*stabs DS*

So the monster dragon has arrived! Who is he gonna eat first?

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His Majesty's Dragons

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