Captain William Laurence
Free Imperia Navy Captain Tactician from Napoleonic Earth.
F(Tactician) L10 LG Human(British)
Rides Téméraire, an Imperial Dragon.
Character History
Date of Birth: c. 1774
Service: Aerial Corps, formerly Navy
Rank: Captain
Nationality: British
Billets: HMS Shorewise, Fourth Lieutenant
HMS Normandy, Second Lieutenant
HMS Goliath, First Lieutenant
HMS Belize, Captain
HMS Reliant, Captain
Loch Laggan covert, captain to Temeraire
Free Imperia, Captain (promotable)
William Laurence was the third son of Lord Allendale, who held the family seat at Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire. He was raised a gentleman's son with all the privileges of the nobility, including an education and travel, such as a boyhood trip to Rome. Lord Allendale was also a staunch believer in the abolition of slavery and the slave trade, and Will was also sympathetic to the abolitionist cause.
Laurence's oldest brother, George Laurence, stood to inherit his father's title, and by 1805, he had three sons (the oldest of whom would inherit from George) and a daughter.
Laurence's father would have preferred him to follow a career in the church, as his second son did, but Laurence found the prospect unappealing. He ran away from home before his father let him join the Royal Navy at age 12. His first billet as a midshipman was under the command of Captain Mountjoy, a family friend.
As a young midshipman, he was once taken prisoner by the French, and treated with perfect courtesy, which left a deep impression as to how prisoners should be treated.
He was promoted to lieutenant in 1791 at the age of 17. His first posting as lieutenant was to the HMS Shorewise under Captain Barstowe, a coarse man who had risen through the ranks to become captain. Barstowe was conscious of his own lack of social graces and took his resentment out on those who made him feel that lack, such as young Laurence, whom he punished mercilessly.
Fortunately, subsequent postings gave Laurence the chance to prove his abilities. While he served as second lieutenant aboard the HMS Normandy under Captain Yarrow, the ship ran onto a reef and left them wrecked on an island 700 miles from Rio. Laurence, along with Tom Riley and 10 other men, were sent in the ship's cutter for rescue. The captain and premier, not willing to go themselves, supplied them only with hard tack and coconuts. Laurence and his men caught fish and ate it raw.
Laurence credited his successful rescue mission as the reason Captain Thomas Foley chose him as first lieutenant on the HMS Goliath. During that posting, he served at the Battle of the Nile and received a decoration for his service. He served on first or second rate ships of the line for most of his naval career, and considered himself fortunate in his postings. He also visited India prior to 1805, presumably during his naval service.
Laurence's career in the Navy was abruptly derailed in January 1805, though through no fault of his own. While patrolling in the north Atlantic as part of Admiral Croft's squadron, Laurence's HMS Reliant captured the Amitie, a ship with a most precious cargo - a Celestial egg ready to hatch. Upon emerging from the shell, the dragonet chose Laurence to be his rider.
Prior to becoming an aviator, Laurence had the prospect of marriage to Edith Galman, whom he had known since childhood, but they were not formally engaged. He was four years her senior.
At the time of Temeraire's hatching in 1805, Laurence had been away from England for most of the previous four years.
As Temeraire's captain he was stationed at Loch Laggan covert. He served in the Battle of Dover and the Battle of Shoeburyness. He was sent on two long journeys. In 1805 he had to travel to China because the Chinese did not consider Laurence as a worthy companion for Temeraire and decided to take the dragon back. 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, he received the orders to find the cure for the dragon plague, which was decimating the Corps. After he had returned he committed a treason by delivering the cure to the French. He was sentenced to travel to a penal colony in Australia, along with Temeraire.
Laurence's personal habits were formed by his upbringing and his time in the Navy, which included observing the formalities of dress and personal interaction. He preferred his clothing to be well-kept and was distressed by the haphazard way in which aviators tended to pack. He was also unaccustomed to their casual social behavior.
Accustomed to the all-male Navy and only formal social interaction with women (except servants), he was initially deeply uncomfortable in dealing with women in the Aerial Corps. He adjusted, however, and formed a relationship with Jane Roland during September 1805 while both were at the Dover covert….
Durring the battle of the Spanish Armada, William Laurence and Temeraire fell into a very bad storm, and used a wsh to get out of the storm. they ended up cracking a planer rift and falling into yet another storm and battle.
On Arda they were complete strangers… Until they ran into The free Imperia. Mica of the nine and the Imperial seat both spoke fluent English and after about a heart beat they enlisted him into thier own corps. They have trained in Spelljamming tactics as well as aerial tactics. Together they form the core of the free Imperias naval knowlege.
/ Temeraire: A Chinese Celestial dragon and the titular character of the series. Named after Téméraire, a French vessel captured during the Napoleonic wars, his name means “bold”. His Chinese name is Lung Tien Xiang. Captain William Laurence is his companion. Possesses an extremely practical, inquisitive, and sometimes too blunt personality, although he sometimes can be overly sensitive about the differences between his appearance and that of western dragons. He is also quite possessive and protective of Laurence. 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. (Unlike most reptiles and birds, who lay their eggs in clutches, dragons usually only lay and brood one egg at a time. Two eggs laid one right after the other would be considered to be twins.) 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. As members of the Imperial forces they have taken the forefront of training and tactics. Temeraire finds that he likes the Free Imperia because he not only has rights, people are darned right reverent to Dragons. It is the first time he has been treated like a citizen and actually given rank and pay of his own.