Wings of Freedom: A Temeraire Quest

...And it can be assumed, without a doubt, that the Americans have made for themselves a handsome draconic fleet. Most of their creatures, it is known are hybrids of Old World and New World breeds, with a number of French and British breeds crossed with the leaner, more endurance-minded American breeds. This treatise will endeavour to show my travels among American aviators and dragons, and highlight the similarities and differences between their air corps and Her Majesty's own.
- A.W. Wallace, "On Dragons" (1855)

Dakota
...It was in New York, I believe, where I saw my first dragon native to the Americas. A fellow of middling size, green-brown with more verdant markings dribbling down his sides, and a queerly-shaped head with a ridge of thick bone between the eyes. He flew once over the ship roaring in greeting, which, despite my long experience around dragons, gave me something of a start. Captain Thorne laughed off my shock and introduced us; this was Kitchi, his own companion - a Dakota of some ten years. The creature shocked me by gently (or rather, as gently as a dragon of some twelve tons or more could) shunting me about with his bony forehead before deigning to speak to me. I was later told that this was a common method of "greeting" among Dakotas and other breeds of the like, who spent thousands of years before the advent of human riders settling contests of dominance by butting each other on the head...


Mapiya
...The Mapiya, I now know from experience, is hard to see on a clear day. With a light blue-gray coloration, this lightweight dragon is both quick and stealthy. While I am admittedly rather nearsighted, it was still very much a shock when one seemed to appear out of nothing but a clear sky at an alarmingly short distance on my third day at the Geneva covert. I am told that the dragon in question, Galatea, was actually riderless and captainless; indeed, to my astonishment I learned later that she was not in the Corps at all, but instead the mayor of Geneva itself, elected on the backs of the dragon and aviator vote! This is apparently not so unusual as one might think; the Mapiya is known as a uniquely intelligent dragon, bred as they were by the Lakota for autonomous hunting and companionship. While they remain the primary light combat dragon for the US Air Corps, many who lose their captains (or who refuse to go under harness at all) will take up more scholarly pursuits...


Blackguard
...It was only later that night when I was introduced to the pavilion's resident nocturnal. She was a lovely creature, some 60 feet from nose to tail-tip, and sleek like a jet-black snake. Her captain, Bolton, introduced her as Elizabeth - perhaps a mundane name for so resplendent a creature, but she carried it regally as if she were that Queen herself reborn. Blackguards like her are another cross born of the New and Old Worlds - a French Fleur-de-Nuit crossed with the Kangee, a similarly nocturnal breed from the Mississippi valley. While the Fleur is heavier in weight and has more brute strength, the Blackguard inherited the oddly buoyant air sacs of the Kangee and as such is uniquely adept at gliding. This, along with their black coloring, makes them perfect night fighters and scouts - less able to take damage or deal it, but sheer brute force can often be beaten by the vital element of surprise...


Farstrider
...Known to the Algonquin originally as the "Kesegowaase," the Farstrider breed is the US Corps' primary courier breed. They are roughly the same weight and length as our own Winchester, though their wingspan is half again as long, giving them a great deal more endurance in level flight at the cost of maneuverability and evasion. Their coloration is grey-green, with darker gray spots along the back reaching towards the tail. Their temperament is described, at least by their captains, as sweet-natured, though they are much more intelligent on the whole than English courier breeds. The shipping company Wampanoag & Sons, which owned the ship that brought me over, is apparently run by a family of Farstriders, for example.


Steel Reaper
...Here I was subject to one of our own old humiliations, near a century old. A slender gray dragon, so familiar to our own Yellow Reapers but notably distinct, alighted in the pavilion later that morning, his Captain - a native of the Seneca tribe, I have heard - seeing to his care. The Reaper, whose name I later learned was Matunaaga, spoke proudly (and somewhat rudely) to me about his infamous grandsire Pugnatis, the "Traitor Dragon" who, along with his colonial captain and several others stationed in the then-colonies, abandoned His Majesty's Aerial Corps during the American war and joined the rebels. Matunaaga himself, like the rest of his kin, was steely gray in color, slightly less muscular but more sinewy than any of his British counterparts. Still, this is made up for by a set of vicious tearing talons, longer and sharper than any Yellow Reaper could hope to possess...


Pettystone
...America's most prominent heavyweight breed, like many others created for their Air Corps, is a cross between native strains and European stock - in this case, the huge but lethargic native Stonejaw and the French Petit-Chevalier, first presented to the nascent American air corps during their war of independence. The Pettystone is of a size with the Grand-Chevalier, although is much lighter, built less for heavy fighting and more for the incredibly long range of the North American breeds. It has inherited the small horns and gray-brown coloration of its French sire, though the craggy bone growths on the underside of the jaw that gave the Stonejaw its name are also present...


__

The voices are indistinct, at first - just strange murmurs through the shell. It's an unreasonable amount of time before you can start to understand them.

You're a dragon, it seems - in an egg that's about to hatch. They've been waiting for you for such a long time, and now that your shell has hardened, it will soon be time for you to come out and meet your new "captain."

You slowly learn words as the people outside talk to you. You don't have a name yet - but you know that you're in a covert, for something called the US Air Corps, and you will have work there once you are let out - should you choose.

Eventually, this sets you to pondering as the murmur of voices subsides one night. Who are you?

What is your breed?

[ ] A Dakota (Middleweight)
[ ] A Mapiya (Lightweight)
[ ] A Blackguard (Stealth Middleweight)
[ ] A Farstrider (Courier)
[ ] A Steel Reaper (Large Middleweight)
[ ] Pettystone (Heavyweight)

What is your sex?

[ ] Male
[ ] Female