Gamalian Dragon
- You may be looking for Dragon of Jeneve.
The Gamalian Dragon was a 24th century statuette made by the Knights of Jeneve and fitted with a fission bomb to kill Hugo Gamaliel. It was alternatively known as the Dragon of Jeneve, also the name of a separate statuette, and the Stanturan Dragon during the Stanturan Inquiry.
Description
The Gamalian Dragon was a statuette, about eighteen inches high and twelve inches across, of a scaled Western-style dragon with a forked tongue, preparing to breathe fire. It was made of a bronze-coloured precious metal and had emerald eyes and outstretched wings encrusted with jewels. (PROSE: Dragons' Wrath [+]Loading...["Dragons' Wrath (novel)"])
History
The Knights of Jeneve created the Dragon in the late 24th century as part of a plan to assassinate Hugo Gamaliel once they successfully feigned defeat at the Battle of Bocaro. They fitted it with a fission bomb, preventing it from leaking radiation with lead lining, and allowed Gamaliel to take it as his prize following his apparent victory. However, as Henri of Bosarno had captured the Dragon of Jeneve, the Knights were unwilling to detonate the Gamalian Dragon, as it came to be known, due to the risk of damaging it in the process.
Although Nicholas Clyde claimed that the Gamalian Dragon contained video circuitry and that its primary purpose was to spy on Gamaliel, with the fission bomb being a fail-safe in case he discovered that he had been deceived, Irving Braxiatel was uncertain that this was true. The Dragon was kept in the archives of the Castle of Ice and Fire on Tharn and ownership passed down to Gamaliel's descendants whilst the keypad to activate the bomb was retained by the Knights, eventually reaching Nicholas in the late 26th century by which time the Dragon has passed from Coplan Nusek to his son, Romolo Nusek.
Nusek planned to garner support for his expansionist ambitions and Mastrov suggested that he forge evidence of Gamaliel having a presence on Stanturus Three so that he could take over the star system. Nusek had Newark Rappare create a fake Gamalian Dragon which he swapped with the genuine one, after which Mastrov planted the genuine one on Stanturus Three to be found by Nicholas and Bernice Summerfield. The Stanturan Inquiry was held to assess the findings, at which Benny presented a second fake which Rappare had made in secret. Nusek's credibility was ruined and the Gamalian Dragon was ultimately detonated on Tharn by Benny, killing Nusek.
Whilst the true Gamalian Dragon and one of the copies were destroyed, the second copy survived and was given pride of place in an exhibition of Rappare's work at St Oscar's University. (PROSE: Dragons' Wrath [+]Loading...["Dragons' Wrath (novel)"])
