Lung Tien Lien

* Lung Tien Lien
* Lien
* Fight
* Lien
* The Hill

## Biography

**Lien** is a female albino Celestial dragon who first appears in *Throne of Jade*. Her rider was Prince Yongxing.

Unlike other Celestials, Lien has white scales with red markings. These scales are transparent and the rims of her eyes appear reddish because of the translucent blood vessels. She is very sensitive to sunlight and occasionally wears a headdress to protect her from the sun's rays.

Lien wears a heavy gold chain set with rubies around her neck, as well as gold claw sheaths with rubies decorating them.

Lien was born around 1766 as the daughter of Lung Tien Chu. As a Celestial she wasn’t required to take the exams, but she took them anyway and finished at the top as a *zhuang-yuan*, out of thousands of other students.

In China, white is the color of mourning, which is why she is said to be cursed. The emperor wanted to give her to Mongolia as a gift, but Prince Yongxing took her as his companion. Yongxing had to renounce his right of succession, since an emperor with a cursed dragon would not be accepted by the people.

### Family Tree

**Note:** The information in this family tree is taken mostly from *Golden Age and Other Stories:Succession* by Naomi Novik and some from *Throne of Jade*.

## Summary

### 1805 - 1806

from *Throne of Jade*

Upon Yongxing's arrival back in China, Lien meets him and they go off together. She is seen walking in the Imperial palace grounds but it isn't until the evening of play near the end of the book that she is involved in the story.

When Laurence is attacked during a play being performed for everyone, Temeraire kills the knife thrower and then goes after Prince Yongxing. Lien protects him and attacks Temeraire, during the aerial fight, they destroy the scenery for the play which results in shards of wood flying everywhere, with a long shard enters Yongxing's eye, killing him instantly. This stops the fight but Lien vows revenge against Temeraire and the British.

### 1806 - 1807

from *Black Powder War*

She arrives in Istanbul ahead of Temeriare's group. Along with the French Ambassador De Guignes, they ensure that the Sultan, will ally with France against the English and deny the English the three eggs that they had already been paid for.

from *In Autumn, a White Dragon Looks over the Wide River*

Lien arrives at Napoleon's palace and is appalled at the way the dragons live and are treated. She convinces Napoleon that there is a better way and that the dragon's will win the wars for him if they are used correctly. When Napoleon's existing marshalls derided her ideas, he fired them on the spot and named Lien as the new marshall.

### 1807

from *Empire of Ivory*

When Laurence and Temeraire bring the medicinal mushrooms to France, she invites Temeraire for tea, which he declines.

### 1808

from *Victory of Eagles*

Lien arrives with Napoleon after their troops have invaded England using many of the techniques that she has developed for transporting troops across the country, they keep pushing back the English troops.

When Nelson's armada arrive in the English Channel, she uses the Divine Wind against the ships, destroying them all.

### 1810

from *Crucible of Gold*

Lien arrives in the Inca Empire with Napoleon and between the two of them convince the Sapa Inca to expel the English and capture them if possible. The Sapa Inca's dragons chase Laurence and his crew through the jungles of South America.

### 1811 - 1812

from *Blood of Tyrants*

Her mission is to protect Napoleon's young family and so she is staying in Paris. She is against the course of modernization in China and she harbors great hatred for the opium smugglers, which she has blames England for.

Napoleon names her *Princess of Avignon*.

### 1813

from *League of Dragons*

With Napoleon's defeat, Lien is too defeated and is sent into exile with him.

## Lien's Breeding Program

After she allied herself with Bonaparte, she started applying her knowledge of the Chinese style of breeding to advice the French on the most profitable crosses to attempt.

Over five years, this had the following results in the Armée de l’Air:

* More intelligent and educated dragons, able to learn more languages even after hatching.
* The creation of entirely new breeds through crossings between French dragons and some Incan and Chinese breeds. While the results make difficult to identify these new dragons, some traits of their parent breeds are still notizable:
	+ Courier and light-weight breeds are favored for crosses with other more notable breeds.
		- Pou-de-Ciel + Pascal's Blue: similar colors and anatomy.
		- Pou-de-Ciel + Flamme-de-Gloire: conformation of Pou-de-Ciel, but coloration of Flamme-de-Gloire, brilliant yellow-striped black.
		- Unknown breed + Jade: a certain greyhound look, like a Jade dragon. Long and flexible neck.
		- Unknown breeds + Incan breeds: they inherit the long feathery scales.
	+ The French dragons with Chinese blood are muddled, with large broad foreheads, deep chests, and heavy shoulders. Their hides are motley, muddied greens and yellows and browns.
* Disdain for heavyweight breeds, who are neglected due to the high cost of their food, to the point of preventing them from mating.

## Lien's Military Tactics

Lien created military tactics for the French based on the Chinese techniques that were developed over the centuries.