OC Reference Post: Capitaine Palliere
So! Over at Primeval_Denial, from February 1st 2010 - March 1st 2010, there was a lovely weekly bookclub for the book The Lost Island by Paul Kearney. If you'd like to read through those posts & comment threads, the weekly posts can be found here (and they're really worth reading just for Fifi's commentary): [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Fifi convinced me (I'm insisting it's your fault, darling! xD) to post *somewhere* the entirety of stuff found in the few scant scenes Palliere appears in. So here is (version 2.0) my Original Character Reference Post for Palliere, his ship, and his crew. Oh, and due blame goes to Fred for stumbling across this and poking me to re-post a link to this on Denial and on the OC Masterlist. *eg* So I've tidied it up and added more information in various sections.
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The Basics
Name: ??? Palliere
Rank and Position: Captain of La Gloire
Physical Appearance: Grey eyed, dapper, dark, and surprisingly young for his rank.
Other: Prefers Le Carre over Fleming. Drinks coffee, and has good taste in wine (or at least, Lester thinks he does).
His first name is never given in the book/canon. Fififolle, however, has dubbed him 'Fabrice'.
The ship herself is fictional, although there was another La Gloire, the first ocean-going ironclad battleship in history. [ w ] [ x ] [ x ]
Also, Fifi has made two icons of Palliere, see her post over here. Morgan Parra, a French rugby player, is the lucky bloke who had the honour (:D) of being chosen as the model/face for Palliere (credit for the find goes to Bigtitch, credit for some kind of general acceptance/fanon goes to Fifi and her squee and icon-making!)
-----------------------------------------------
Quotations Pertaining to Palliere:
(italicized segments are included in dialogue section below)
-----------------------------------------------
Dialogue With Palliere:
(italicized segments are isolated in above section)
-----------------------------------------------
La Gloire What Is Known
(quotations are directly from the book, unless stated otherwise)
The ship is a 'large modern vessel with a 200-man crew and an excellent selection of wines on board'. She has, in Lester's opinion, 'civilised meal(s)'. It is said to be a 'frigate' that 'breached the heavy seas with relative ease', but as the French use that term for both frigates and what are often called 'destroyers' by other navies, it is a little more complicated than first seems. Kearney never comes right out and says exactly what class La Gloire is - either because he didn't care to do that much research (unlikely) or because he had no way to get it in without info-dumping (more likely). Going off of the little information given to us and significant amounts of time comparing the information of various frigate classes in the French Navy as provided by Wikipedia, I have narrowed her down to possibly being one of two classes: either a Cassard or a Georges Leygues. Also considered was the La Fayette class, but their given complement is significantly smaller (~141 crew) than the approximate given by Kearney.
The Cassard has a complement of ~250 and the G-L has one of ~235. It is reasonable to assume that La Gloire could be slightly understaffed and Lester (through whom we recieve all our information pertaining to the ship, and him not a naval man of any kind) could easily be approximating. Also to be considered is the fact that from the book one recieves the impression that La Gloire is only carrying one helicopter - it is only the single one that flies back and forth from the island to the ship. In this case, the G-L is recorded as boasting two helicopters (Westland Lynx, to be exact) and the Cassard is said to have 1 helicopter, of the Eurocopter Panther variety. This throws a bigger wrench into the works: while Kearney doesn't mention a specific class of vessel, he does give the helicopter as a Puma - either it is a mere Aérospatiale Puma or it is a heavier Eurocopter Super Puma. A quick glance at the Super Puma's page shows that France doesn't use it currently and from the way it is discussed online, it seems far more likely that Kearney would have specified 'Super' onto the 'Puma' part.
You likely see the issue now. Neither of the most likely frigates, based off of crew size and the designation 'frigate' (the G-L, by the way, is internationally known as a destroyer), carries a Puma 'copter. In fact, it would seem that the modern day French navy doesn't even use the Puma - although the Army and Air Force both do.
None of these facts really match up satisfactorally with real life knowledge, at least that which I can glean from the internet. In the end, it is really up the author of a fanfic to decide what they are going to use. Since the Puma was specified, and even though it doesn't really fit, it is the copter that I used (though I didn't specify as such) when writing about it - it only seems fair, after all, since it is the one chosen. However, I'm also favouring using the G-L class of frigate, if one has to specify a class, simply because 235 is a smaller complement, and the G-L is a slightly newer ship.
Or, of course, one can take the easy route out and say its a new type of Puma/AU Puma and an AU frigate class. *g* But on the other hand, if one is writing about Palliere & Co, and taking the choices I myself did, it is interesting to think upon 'why does a fairly modern ship have an older helicopter model?', 'why does it only have one (working) helicopter?' and so on. The bunnies, they are out there!
In reference to the carrying capacity of the Puma - Wiki claims it to be 16 passengers plus a crew of 3. In the book, there is only indicated/mentioned two of said crew - a winchman and the pilot. This seems to me to be reasonable - but I truly have little to no idea. All the book really gives is that the group of marines that landed with Lester (plus Ramis) was 'little', and also this:
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The Crew
-Lieutenant La Hire: is the helicopter pilot and 'a good man'. Downs his coffee in one scalding gulp after landing the 'copter in the storm.
I named him 'Jean' in one fic/drabble I wrote.
-Dutourd is Palliere's executive officer, and 'a wiry Provencal'.
...Named Dutourd 'Jean' as well, completely by accident, forgetting that I named La Hire such. Clearly I need to learn more French names. x.x
-Lieutenant Desaix: the commander of the marines, apparently doesn't fly well (in stormy weather), looked like he was 'about to be sick'. Is considered by Lester to be 'absurdly young'. Educated at Oxford and Saint Cyr, and has correct and formal English. It is his rifle that Lester takes.
-Ramis: the ship's doctor, religious (was 'blessing himself' in the 'copter). Presumably speaks English, definitely understands it. Has glasses.
-One nameless marine curses the weather and says: "Merde! Ca, c'est la bordel."
-Nameless winchman for the Puma: apparently doesn't speak English (guessing here), and figures Lester doesn't know what 'une minute' means.
-At least one marine speaks 'surprisingly good English'. At least one other does not (no indication at all whether this is the cursing marine from earlier or not).
The marines all carry Famas rifles (doesn't specify the make/type). See some Famas here and here.
-----------------------------------------------
The intent of this OC Reference Post is to provide, in one place, all possible pertinent information about Palliere. Quotations are included with the intent of allowing easy perusal of how Palliere is written and how, in book-canon, he acts and speaks. Also included are any little scraps of fanon (some of it largely personal, though most certainly up for sharing) that develop/trickle in.
The crew members were very much bit players and as such, don't get their own posts (from me, anyhow!). More information and/or feedback on this is always welcome, especially if I am wrong about something! And I don't care at all how many months it has been since it was originally posted - I'll happily answer! ^.^
Ta,
Jay
Fifi convinced me (I'm insisting it's your fault, darling! xD) to post *somewhere* the entirety of stuff found in the few scant scenes Palliere appears in. So here is (version 2.0) my Original Character Reference Post for Palliere, his ship, and his crew. Oh, and due blame goes to Fred for stumbling across this and poking me to re-post a link to this on Denial and on the OC Masterlist. *eg* So I've tidied it up and added more information in various sections.
-----------------------------------------------
The Basics
Name: ??? Palliere
Rank and Position: Captain of La Gloire
Physical Appearance: Grey eyed, dapper, dark, and surprisingly young for his rank.
Other: Prefers Le Carre over Fleming. Drinks coffee, and has good taste in wine (or at least, Lester thinks he does).
His first name is never given in the book/canon. Fififolle, however, has dubbed him 'Fabrice'.
The ship herself is fictional, although there was another La Gloire, the first ocean-going ironclad battleship in history. [ w ] [ x ] [ x ]
Also, Fifi has made two icons of Palliere, see her post over here. Morgan Parra, a French rugby player, is the lucky bloke who had the honour (:D) of being chosen as the model/face for Palliere (credit for the find goes to Bigtitch, credit for some kind of general acceptance/fanon goes to Fifi and her squee and icon-making!)
-----------------------------------------------
Quotations Pertaining to Palliere:
(italicized segments are included in dialogue section below)
- "No wonder the ship's Captain had seemed so quietly amused as Lester had hurried aboard. Service personnel loved it when their pencil-pushing bosses caught it in the neck." (p.166)
- "Captain Palliere, a dapper, dark, surprisingly young man, stepped over to Lester's side and offered him the use of a pair of binoculars." (p.167)
- "Palliere cocked an eyebrow." (p.167)
- "He shook his head with a grin." (p.167)
- "Palliere nodded. Something cold came into his grey eyes." (p.168)
- "Lester found himself almost liking this neat, determined young man, every centimetre the officer, but with an edge of dark humour about him." (p.168)
- "Palliere smiled back." (p.168)
- "...the sailors around Lester gave them a scattered round of applause." (p.183)
+It is not specified if Palliere is included in this, although he is standing beside Lester at the time, so may or may not have done so. - "Captain Palliere shook the pilot's hand and spoke in a rapid flurry of French. Then he turned to Lester." (p.184)
This implies he might not have, holding the applause to do this. - "He looked at his captain, who motioned him to proceed." (p.184)
'Him' being the pilot of the Puma scout 'copter who is talking at the time. - "Here, all the Frenchmen present turned and looked at Lester." (p.184)
This definitely includes Palliere. They are turning to look at Lester because the pilot has just mentioned seeing the anomalies ('a trio of strange lights', 'tall, inexplicable flickering phenomena'). - "Lester and Palliere sat looking first into their coffee cups, and then at each other." (p.185)
Btw, they are alone here, in presumably some kind of private cabin (it doesn't specify where, just that there were only 4 people at the meeting that this follows, and the other two have left). - "The Frenchman sipped his coffee." (p.186)
- "Palliere leaned closer." (p.186)
- "Palliere gave a very French shrug, a simple movement of his shoulders." (p.186)
- "Again, the tiny shrug." (p.186)
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Dialogue With Palliere:
(italicized segments are isolated in above section)
- " 'Out at sea, there is always something to look at,' Palliere said in fluent English. 'For instance, only an hour ago my lookout insisted he saw something like a massive crocodile breach the surface astern, he said it looked like a sea serpent.'
'Extraordinary,' Lester said. 'Perhaps he had too much wine at lunch.'
Palliere cocked an eyebrow. 'This makes me think of what it must have been like in the old days, the Cold War. I have not seen so much mystery aboard ship in a long time. You British, you trust no one, and those you trust you try to manipulate. It has always been so. Myself, I have always preferred Le Carre to Fleming in any case.' He shook his head with a grin. 'You have been up to something out here, I think, something you would much rather keep to yourselves.' " (p.167) - " 'I am a creature of the service to which I have devoted my life,' he said. 'I will obey orders, of course. But there are other laws and imperatives when one is out at sea. Be aware, Monsieur Lester, that if I see men in trouble, then it is the age-old tradition of mariners that I should do everything in my power to aid them.
That will take precedence over any other orders, in my mind.' " (p.168) - " 'You have been up to something out here,' the Captain repeated, 'and now you've been - how do the Americans put it? You've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar. We are here to help your people, but do not mistake our aid for complicity. [emphasis mine]'
Lester smiled. 'I'll take that on board, Captain.'
Palliere smiled back. 'Excellent. I would be honoured, circumstances permitting, if you would join me for dinner this evening.'
'I should be glad to,' Lester actually bowed a little. For a few moments he had almost imagined himself back in a former age, when France and Britain had been rivals and enemies, whilst maintaining a healthy respect for each other. This shrewd young captain would take some careful handling. [emphasis mine] " (p.168)
That's the paragraph that made me squee. A lot. - " 'Mon Dieu,' Captain Palliere said grimly beside him." (p.183)
- " 'We will begin the debriefing at once. Is your French good enough to follow, or shall I have it typed up for you in English, Lester?' " (p.184)
- " 'I would say this is very strange, n'est pas?' Palliere said mildly. (p.185)
- "Lester, unless you have other information which you are withholding from me... I am taking command of all operations concerning Guns Island from this moment on."
- "...It might be therefore wise of you to let me know what exactly my men are going to encounter, should they make landfall successfully."
- "Lieutenant La Hire is a good man. When he says he sees three tall, flickering lights on the island, I believe him. ...the fact is that men's lives are at risk, and for me, that is the important point."
- "Would I hold this rank if I were not [ambitious]?"
- "Ambition is all very well in its way - what professional does not want to excel in his field? ... I have not, and I will never, purchase my advancement with other men's blood. ... In time of war, I will sacrifice my men to protect my country. But we are not at war, and a government's embarrassment is not worth that sacrifice."
Lester's opinion of this? "Noble sentiments... A little out of place in the modern world, wouldn't you agree?" - "That is the man who sits here with you drinking coffee. I cannot change who he is."
- "Allez." (Inserted as a sort of 'go on' or 'continue' in the conversation. And sadly, Palliere's last line.)
-----------------------------------------------
La Gloire What Is Known
(quotations are directly from the book, unless stated otherwise)
The ship is a 'large modern vessel with a 200-man crew and an excellent selection of wines on board'. She has, in Lester's opinion, 'civilised meal(s)'. It is said to be a 'frigate' that 'breached the heavy seas with relative ease', but as the French use that term for both frigates and what are often called 'destroyers' by other navies, it is a little more complicated than first seems. Kearney never comes right out and says exactly what class La Gloire is - either because he didn't care to do that much research (unlikely) or because he had no way to get it in without info-dumping (more likely). Going off of the little information given to us and significant amounts of time comparing the information of various frigate classes in the French Navy as provided by Wikipedia, I have narrowed her down to possibly being one of two classes: either a Cassard or a Georges Leygues. Also considered was the La Fayette class, but their given complement is significantly smaller (~141 crew) than the approximate given by Kearney.
The Cassard has a complement of ~250 and the G-L has one of ~235. It is reasonable to assume that La Gloire could be slightly understaffed and Lester (through whom we recieve all our information pertaining to the ship, and him not a naval man of any kind) could easily be approximating. Also to be considered is the fact that from the book one recieves the impression that La Gloire is only carrying one helicopter - it is only the single one that flies back and forth from the island to the ship. In this case, the G-L is recorded as boasting two helicopters (Westland Lynx, to be exact) and the Cassard is said to have 1 helicopter, of the Eurocopter Panther variety. This throws a bigger wrench into the works: while Kearney doesn't mention a specific class of vessel, he does give the helicopter as a Puma - either it is a mere Aérospatiale Puma or it is a heavier Eurocopter Super Puma. A quick glance at the Super Puma's page shows that France doesn't use it currently and from the way it is discussed online, it seems far more likely that Kearney would have specified 'Super' onto the 'Puma' part.
You likely see the issue now. Neither of the most likely frigates, based off of crew size and the designation 'frigate' (the G-L, by the way, is internationally known as a destroyer), carries a Puma 'copter. In fact, it would seem that the modern day French navy doesn't even use the Puma - although the Army and Air Force both do.
None of these facts really match up satisfactorally with real life knowledge, at least that which I can glean from the internet. In the end, it is really up the author of a fanfic to decide what they are going to use. Since the Puma was specified, and even though it doesn't really fit, it is the copter that I used (though I didn't specify as such) when writing about it - it only seems fair, after all, since it is the one chosen. However, I'm also favouring using the G-L class of frigate, if one has to specify a class, simply because 235 is a smaller complement, and the G-L is a slightly newer ship.
Or, of course, one can take the easy route out and say its a new type of Puma/AU Puma and an AU frigate class. *g* But on the other hand, if one is writing about Palliere & Co, and taking the choices I myself did, it is interesting to think upon 'why does a fairly modern ship have an older helicopter model?', 'why does it only have one (working) helicopter?' and so on. The bunnies, they are out there!
In reference to the carrying capacity of the Puma - Wiki claims it to be 16 passengers plus a crew of 3. In the book, there is only indicated/mentioned two of said crew - a winchman and the pilot. This seems to me to be reasonable - but I truly have little to no idea. All the book really gives is that the group of marines that landed with Lester (plus Ramis) was 'little', and also this:
- "The Puma had made another landing now that the wind was dying down, and a full platoon of soldiers had landed, with more on their way."
-----------------------------------------------
The Crew
-Lieutenant La Hire: is the helicopter pilot and 'a good man'. Downs his coffee in one scalding gulp after landing the 'copter in the storm.
I named him 'Jean' in one fic/drabble I wrote.
-Dutourd is Palliere's executive officer, and 'a wiry Provencal'.
...Named Dutourd 'Jean' as well, completely by accident, forgetting that I named La Hire such. Clearly I need to learn more French names. x.x
-Lieutenant Desaix: the commander of the marines, apparently doesn't fly well (in stormy weather), looked like he was 'about to be sick'. Is considered by Lester to be 'absurdly young'. Educated at Oxford and Saint Cyr, and has correct and formal English. It is his rifle that Lester takes.
-Ramis: the ship's doctor, religious (was 'blessing himself' in the 'copter). Presumably speaks English, definitely understands it. Has glasses.
-One nameless marine curses the weather and says: "Merde! Ca, c'est la bordel."
-Nameless winchman for the Puma: apparently doesn't speak English (guessing here), and figures Lester doesn't know what 'une minute' means.
-At least one marine speaks 'surprisingly good English'. At least one other does not (no indication at all whether this is the cursing marine from earlier or not).
The marines all carry Famas rifles (doesn't specify the make/type). See some Famas here and here.
-----------------------------------------------
The intent of this OC Reference Post is to provide, in one place, all possible pertinent information about Palliere. Quotations are included with the intent of allowing easy perusal of how Palliere is written and how, in book-canon, he acts and speaks. Also included are any little scraps of fanon (some of it largely personal, though most certainly up for sharing) that develop/trickle in.
The crew members were very much bit players and as such, don't get their own posts (from me, anyhow!). More information and/or feedback on this is always welcome, especially if I am wrong about something! And I don't care at all how many months it has been since it was originally posted - I'll happily answer! ^.^
Ta,
Jay