You can actually muck with history and think about what if, why not. What if there were dragons in the Incan Empire that allowed them to resist colonization? What if there were a massive dragon empire in the middle of the interior of southern Africa that decided to take objection to the slave trade?

I'm an engineer and a writer. And I find that those two things are not uncomplementary.

Temeraire-- Never fear; I am going; the Son of Heaven will not tolerate delays, and Barham gives me leave. Allegiance will carry us! Pray eat something --L.

And we must still try or we would be leaving our friends to fight without us. I think this is what you have meant by duty, all along; I do understand, at least this much of it.

Temeraire said, 'It is very nice how many books there are, indeed. And on so many subjects!

Would you believe it's harder to find a virgin than a unicorn in New York?

Something about that whole process of building the structure of that game turned into a real kind of lightbulb moment for me as a writer.