Chapter 77: All Roads Lead To Rome

*Another—typically overlooked—area that was tremendously impacted by the integration of dragons was city planning and design. Human cities prior to the adoption of dragons were universally two-dimensional (with noted exceptions such as Shibam and Derinkuyu), originating from a smaller settlement, typically next to a river or water source, and sprawling extensively across the landscape with greater or lesser degrees of urban planning, guidance, and support infrastructure. Buildings were typically only a few stories tall and close together, with narrow, twisting streets. The reasons for this, of course, are obvious: digging underground without the aid of Boulder-class dragons is time-consuming and labor-intensive, as is constructing high-rise buildings without the use of structural steel, even discounting the additional labor involved in climbing up and down such structures.*

*Modern cities, by contrast, sometimes seem almost as deep and tall as they are wide, with terraurban spaces extending far below the surface, and high-rises extending far above. Streets are multi-level and broad, with gentle curves to allow for ease of aerial traffic, and elevators and draconic flight connect the various levels together. Balconies and bridges are typical building features to allow for ease of transit and landing, while buildings themselves typically have high ceilings and wide corridors to allow for draconic foot traffic. Additionally, the small infrastructure access tunnels are typically designed with the sizes and capabilities of the small dragons employed as maintenance workers in mind. Some cities are even formed out of hollowed-out mountains and carved into the sides of valley walls; while to our modern eyes these emplacements seem natural, to our ancestors they would have seemed miraculous, something out of fantastical tales.*

*The transition, of course, was not smooth, and remnants of the transition are easily found and well-documented, despite the loss of some of the key transitional elements to time and demolition. But still, while they are humble in comparison with their descendants, those first 20-story steel-framed towers constructed in the 1200s cast long shadows through human history…*

*—The Dragon Millennium, Manna-hata University Press, Ltd.*

## Major Events

* Viggo makes his report to Cardinalis Giovanni, advocating that they work with the Hooligans, and use the Dragon Mail to centralize the Church's power.
* Wulfhild meets with Johannes Gratianus and tells him about the condition of Christianity in Berkian territories.
* Hiccup meets with the Pope and gets approval for a Dragon Mail station, to be owned by Viggo.
* Sigurd is ordered to demote or dismiss Benjamin for his sexual impropriety (i.e. getting Pelagia pregnant).
* Viggo approaches Alvin and Delilah with an offer they can't refuse, and informs them that he's had Heather informed of their whereabouts. They burn down the house and escape just before she arrives.
* Fishwings and Viggo have sex together for the first time.
* Jonna begins constructing a settlement on the neighboring island of Eigg.
* Hiccup flies ahead to see Snotlout's handiwork in Melfi and Bari. What he finds leaves him furious.

## Trivia

The "corpse trial" that Viggo tells Fishwings about was a real event.

## Characters

### Humans

* Hiccup clan Haddock
* Viggo Grimborn
* Father Arnaldo (first appearance)
* Astrid Hákonsdóttir clan Haddock
* Wulfhild of Norway
* Fishlegs clan Ingerman
* Cardinalis Giovanni
* Johannes Gratianus (first appearance)
* Pope Benedict IX (first appearance)
* Sigurd Trondsson
* Gudmund Hallvarsson
* Strategos
* Adalwin ua Imair
* Delilah
* Fishwings clan Ingerman
* Jonna Asgersdóttir
* Stoick the Vast
* Gobber the Belch
* Reidun Hemingsdóttir
* Ryker Grimborn

### Dragons

* Toothless
* Meatlug
* Hookfang
* Blackspike

## Analysis

### Epigraph Tie-In

* The epigraph mentions how dragons impacted on city planning and design. The chapter shows Hiccup examining Rome's design.