British Aerial Corps

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## Aerial Command

Headquarters is located in the countryside just south-east of Chatham, close enough to London to permit daily consultation with the Admiralty and the War Office and an easy hour’s flight from the Dover covet.

Under the governance of the Admiralty, Aerial Command is responsible for the command of the Aerial Corps.

Admirals of Aerial Command include:

* Powys
* Bowden

## Aerial Corps

Run by the Aerial Command, the Corps is the branch of the British military which engages in combat and other duties with dragons. Around the time of the Dragon Plague was ravaging Britain, some two hundred dragons were a part of the corps, including dragons in breeding grounds.

The Aerial Corps uniform is much like the Royal Navy uniform, except Avaitors have a bottle-green coat with bars instead of epaulettes, and they do not wear stockings and knee-breeches in battle. Aviators typically also wear a long oilskin overcoat, much like a duster along with goggles for flying.

The French equivalent is the Armée de l’Air.

### Billets

The Aviators and the Dragons live and train in covert's, which are military camps. There are buildings for administration, housing for the aviators and mess halls. The Dragons usually make a clearing in the the surrounding forests for themselves, though so may live in caves or what ever else the environment provides, but there is no shelters for them to keep out of the inclement weather.

Coverts and / or locations that were mentioned in the series.

### Breeding Grounds

Unharnessed Dragons, those that would not accept a captain or didn't wish to fight are sent to breeding grounds to live. They are still cared for in that food is provided for all of the dragons that are at the grounds. Captured feral dragons and dragons that have lost their captain and wish to retire also go to the breeding grounds. They are not forced to breed, but are strongly encouraged to mate with specific other breeds and to produce eggs for the Corps. The eggs are well cared for and looked upon with deep interest.

### Aerial Corps Ranks

* Admiral
* Commodore
* Colonel
* Senior Captain
* Captain
* Lieutenant
* Midwingman
* Ensign
* Cadet

One of the unique features of the Aerial Corps is that rank is determined not only by the holder's ability, experience and record of service excluding Captain. Captain is granted solely based on harnessing a dragon and then by the dragon's status among other dragons. A 14-year-old Cadet who's harnessed a Winchester or Greyling dragonet is a captain and as such outranks the first lieutenant of a heavyweight Regal Copper or Longwing, even though the latter is almost certainly older and has more experience in the Corps.

On the other hand, precedence among captains is determined by the native hierarchies among their dragons, which depends on factors such as size, special abilities and experience. On the battlefield, dragons will instinctively recognize the authority of a Regal Copper with a 20-year-old captain much more readily than that of a Winchester handled by a veteran officer. There is no point arguing with the dragons, so it is the humans who must adapt.

## Aviators

Members of the British Aerial Corps that go aloft on a dragon.

Prospective aviators start training as early as the age of seven to fill many different roles within the corps. It is the dream of every young cadet to become a captain, but in reality not all of them will achieve that goal. Aviators became captains only if, given the opportunity, a dragonet chooses them and allows them to put a harness on them. Once done, duty tie aviator and dragon together as long as the human lives. Dragons naturally live for a couple of centuries, as a result, aviators live an odd existence outside the traditional bounds of society, although the youth of a few good families are given to the corps for training at age 7.

Because of their long training and dedication, aviators do not welcome the prospect of anyone outside the Corps attempting to harness a dragon, as William Laurence did in 1805.

Aviators form an isolated society, their mentality is very different from that of contemporaneous English society. In fact, many of their practices would be judged as scandalous by the people of that time.

A major difference is that women do serve with dragons, because some British dragons (e.g. Longwings) will only take female companions. In the past, such dragons had a female handler and a male captain, because women could not hold rank in the armed forces (they were referred to as 'Miss'). However, by the time Laurence joined, there was no difference in the way men and women are treated. They even wear identical uniforms, which in those times it is illegal for women to wear men's clothing. The presence of women in the Corps is only one of the secrets the corps keeps from any outsider including other military branches.

The second difference is the relaxed way in which aviators think about family. They engaged in informal relationships, but few of them ever marry. It is expected of female captains to produce a daughter to inherit her position with her dragon companion rather she marries or not and it is highly recommended that the men do the same thing or provide someone that their dragon will accept upon their death.

The popular beliefs concerning dragons are that they are savage and dangerous, and that it is best to keep them as far away from normal people as possible. However, the life of the Corps revolves around them. Dragons are cared for and admired as they symbolized power and respect. Unfortunately, when a dragon is unable to fight, it loses this status and is removed to the breeding grounds if it doesn't have a captain. If the Dragon wants to leave and live and go somewhere else, there is no one to stop them, they are not held as a prisoner.

It is an excepted practice in the corps that if a dragon is hatched with a deformity it is put to death. However, most British aviators are very loyal and caring towards their dragons, so aviators are judged mainly by the way they treat their companion.

Even though the society is not aware of how the aviators really live, it looks down upon them. They are thought to be almost as savage as their dragons, and because of that becoming an aviator is not considered a "respectable" career choice so the aviators form a closed clannish society. They are cold to outsiders and very protective towards their own people, and perhaps most especially their dragons.

### Dragon Crew

**Aerial Crew:**

Captain
overall in charge
First Lieutenant
2nd in command after the Captain.
Topmen
Third Lieutenant is in charge.
**Signalers** :uses flags to signal to other dragons and their crews. There also seems to be some type of signaling attached to the harness that allows communicating commands to everyone aboard the dragon.
Bellmen
In the British Aerial Corps, the bellmen (a contraction of below-men, vs. topmen) are the crew on the lower rigging during a dragon's flight. Generally junior officers such as midwingmen, are responsible for managing the harness and other equipment.
Lookouts

Riflemen

Other senior officers include the captain's first and second lieutenants.

Even the hands on dragon crews were considered the equivalent of warrant officers or their mates. There is no equivalent to the army private or the navy seaman.

**Ground Crew:**

* The members of the ground crew travel with the dragon, usually secured in the belly net along with their equipment and supplies, but during actual engagements they remain on the ground.

Armorer

Leatherworker

Gunner

Harness-master

Harness-men

The ground crew is led by a crew chief, such as Hollin initially.

### Captains and their Dragons

* Capt. William Laurence, Temeraire
* Capt. Matthew Berkley, Maximus
* Capt. Chenery, Dulcia
* Capt. Clark, Victoriatus
* Capt. Granby, Iskierka
* Capt. Catherine Harcourt, Lily
* Capt. Hollin, Elsie
* Capt. James, Volatilus

* Capt. Augustine Little, Immortalis
* Capt. Lloyd, Observaria's egg
* Capt. Portland, Laetificat
* Capt. Jane Roland, Excidium

* Capt. St. Germain, Mortiferus
* Capt. Sutton, Messoria
* Capt. Warren, Nitidus

### Dragons of unknown captains

* Maxilla, a wing dragon of Cavernus' formation

## Position in Society

Service in the Aerial Corps is considered less prestigious, and members of the Corps can be from any station in society, including orphans / foundlings such as Lt. Forthing or John Granby who is the third son of a coal-merchant.

The difference in how society viewed the Corps in contrast to Navy arose in part from the constraints of the service in the Corps. In the Navy, an officer can rely on long furlongs between periods of service, whilst awaiting assignment or a while a ship underwent repairs. In the Corps, particularly after achieving a captaincy, the officers were much more tightly bonded to their assigned dragons and extended time away from them became impossible. Combined with the young ages at which the Corps began its training, often around seven years old, this led to officers of the Corps being slightly removed from society.

Moreover, the secrecy surrounding certain aspects of the service, the presence of female officers, and the idea that men were commanded under some circumstances by dragons rather than vice versa, as in the case of Training Master Celeritas, meant the separation from society was imposed from both sides.

## Corps Families

Despite the stigma attached to service by society as a whole certain families traditionally sent children to serve in the Corps as a matter of course. The Ferris' of Haytham Abbey, headed by Lord Seymour, traditionally sent their third sons to serve in the Corps. The Rankin family used to maintain their own dragons before the Corps was brought under the jurisdiction of the Crown and still maintain a small covert in addition to providing the Corps with officers even though their ideas are out dated.

As dragons can be expected to outlive their captain, the Corps has to place serious effort into ensuring they are willing to continue service with the Corps following such a death. To this end it has been stated that the Corps breeds its captains, as much as its dragons. A bereaved dragon, being more likely to accept a new captain that through a familial relationship shares their sense of loss. In addition, as certain breeds of dragon will only accept female captains, the question of providing stable officer lines becomes even more important.

## References

1. ↑ Novik, Naomi. Victory of Eagles: A Novel of Temeraire (p. 277). Kindle Edition.
2. ↑ Novik, Naomi. Victory of Eagles: A Novel of Temeraire (p. 277). Kindle Edition.