Epigraphs - Book 2

The epigraphs of Book 2. Click here to return to the index page.

## Epigraphs by Chapter

### Chapter 32: First Flakes...

Draconic social structures grew, much as human social structures, based on the general social and communal nature of the species.  Much like humans, dragons have a distinct tendency towards obedience to social authority and power structures.  However, unlike humans, draconic society was vastly affected by the species' dependence on breeding nests in order to incubate their eggs.  These rare locations, the only ones suitable for the raising of dragon whelps prior to Hiccup Haddock's creation of artificial Brooderies, rendered dragons vulnerable to human hunting parties.  A successful attack by dragon hunters could wipe out an entire cohort of young dragons with ease.  This location-based dependency also made them vulnerable to control by powerful individual dragons.

Case in point for this last aspect was the classic example of the Green Death; this dragon controlled a single breeding nest for nearly three centuries in the Alban Hebrides.  The dragon operated by essentially demanding food as rent in order for prospective breeders to be allowed to access the reproductive potential of the nesting site—and, according to primary sources, she also did not hesitate to use more direct force to get her way, up to and including the use of deadly force and cannibalism on her subjects if they failed to pay up.

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

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### Chapter 33: ...In The Avalanche

Sigurd Trondsson's arrival in Constantinople coincided with a period of upheaval for the Byzantine Roman Empire.  While Trondsson's actions cannot be blamed for the death of Emperor Michael IV, as he had been ill for years, there is no question to the fact that his arrival, and subsequent introduction of tamed dragons into the intricate politics of the Empire, elevated an already tense situation to new heights.  While it is generally agreed that his initial political awareness was minimal, this made matters worse in many ways, as he made alliances and promises without awareness of the deeper waters that he was treading over.  When, precisely, he shifted from pawn to player is still a matter of some debate, but there is a general consensus that his first year in the Empire was a period of great shock and growth to the previously coddled young man.

—The Dragon Varangians: A History Of The Vikings Of Byzantium, 1882

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### Chapter 34 : Masses In Motion

The era of the Papacy between 904 and 1046, typically referred to as Saeculum Obscurum (Latin: Dark Age), is generally accepted to be the lowest depths of the Catholic Church's moral authority in its recorded fourteen centuries of history from Constantine I.  During this time, beginning with the installation of Pope Sergius III in 904, and ending with the final deposing of Pope Benedict IX in 1046, the Church was controlled by a series of powerful and corrupt aristocratic families, who used the ecclesiastical power of the Papacy to increase their worldly influence, and visa versa.

Corruption during this period was the norm, especially in the senior ranks of the Church, who set the trends for their underlings.  Routine acts of corruption during this time period included the sale of Church offices and roles (simony), the sale of indulgences, framing scribes with secular crimes to force them to take Holy Orders, bribery, extortion, blackmail, cronyism, and the occasional assassination, as well more personal venality on the part of the individual priests.

—The Second Flowering Of Yggdrasil: An Analysis Of The Norse Resurgence, 1710

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### Chapter 35 : Understanding Is A Three-Edged Sword

In contrast to Hiccup Haddock's skills as a polymath and inventor, Fishlegs Hensteethson clan Ingerman (clan Frelsifrædi post-1061) was a natural research librarian (devising a crude but effective library classification system in his 20s) and polyglot, with a literate skill level in a dozen confirmed languages by the time of his death, and likely many more.  A significant part of the explanation of this skill level was simply early conditioning—the Ingerman clan held the unofficial position of being the Hooligan tribe's dedicated scribes, librarians, and archivists, and Fishlegs grew up surrounded by books.  However, even by the standards of his clan, he was exceptional, and the primary explanation for this was his own interest and talent.

In his adult role as Haddock's royal librarian, Ingerman also presided over the founding of the Royal Library of Berk (later the Library of the Grand Thing), the establishment of several imperial universities, and the copying and dissemination of every book that he could get his hands on.  The monastic libraries of Ireland in particular, having faded from their glory days of the sixth to ninth centuries, were explored, revived, consolidated, and expanded under his aegis as part of an active campaign of scholasticism.

—A History Of The Isles, Oxford, England, 1591

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### Chapter 36: Your Side...

King Magnus’s attempts to free himself from Einar Thambarskelfir’s control were, at first, tentative and uncertain.  Einar controlled the structures and systems of government, and had made himself into a bottleneck through which all correspondence and control had to be directed.  Magnus also did not have access to the full text of many treaties and laws.  Einar additionally had waged a specific campaign of corruption throughout Magnus’s teen years in attempting to weaken Magnus’s work ethic in order to make him easier to control, a campaign that is believed to have resulted in the birth of Magnus’s bastard daughter, Ragnhild, when Magnus was in his mid-teens.

However, in the aftermath of Magnus’s marriage to Ruffnut, Einar began to realize the depth of his miscalculations and reacted poorly.  On the one hand, he now had dragons to help enforce his policies.  On the other hand, he had to deal with Queen Ruffnut, which he was reported to have described later on as a challenge that would make the hardiest man quiver in his boots in trepidation, especially when combined with her brother.  Furthermore, it was becoming obvious to him just how poorly he had understood Hiccup Haddock’s basic personality…

—Corpus Historiae Berkiae, 1396

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### Chapter 37 : ...Their Side...

Prior to the Norse Reformation of 1044 AD/AM 4804/435 AH/ArO 0, the Norse pagan religion was in the process of dying out under the onslaught of a semi-organized campaign of Christianization.  Iceland, Norway, the North Sea Islands, and Denmark had all been forcibly converted over the prior century, and were at least nominally Christian, although Norse beliefs were still held by much of the populace through folk transmission.  King Olaf II, Magnus the Good's father, was personally responsible for much of the Christianization of Norway, having engaged in the torture and execution of Norse priests and the destruction of Norse temples.  Sweden remained a bastion of resistance, with the Norse cult at Uppsala having a mutual nonaggression agreement with the Swedish kings dating back to 990 AD, but the status of the traditional faith was eroding steadily there.

Around the Eirish Sea and Alban Hebrides, there were various overtly Norse cults and tribes; many of these were close allies in an increasingly Christianized region, bound by treaties and marriage ties.  These tribes included the Bog Burglars of Wales, the Meatheads of the Outer Hebrides, and of course the Hooligans of Berk, to name the three largest examples. But their numbers were dropping from their heydays of a century prior.

The general consensus of historians of the period is that, without the Norse Reformation, it is unlikely that the Norse religion would have survived another century in the face of the aggressive Christian efforts to render it extinct.

Instead, the Crusades against the North Sea Empire over the following century only helped revive and entrench the reformed faith, especially due to the martyring of ethnically Norse Christians by the Crusaders…

—The Second Flowering Of Yggdrasil: An Analysis Of The Norse Resurgence, 1710

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### Chapter 38: …And The Truth

Immediately prior to the conclusion of the Dragon War in AD 1040, Berk's society was structured around four major clans of 110-150 persons—Ingerman, Hofferson, Thorston, and Jorgenson—plus the Chief's clan, Haddock, plus approximately two hundred more clanless members of the Hooligan tribe, grouped in small families or as solitary individuals.  During this time, most of the resources of the village and island were under the control of these five clans, granting them significant social and economic influence.  This state of affairs is generally agreed to be a result of the depredations of the dragon raids, which made it such that only larger clans were truly viable, as they collectively had the resources to withstand the constant losses that would debilitate any smaller clan.

This can be seen in the case of Clan Haddock, which had been reduced from the 108 persons listed as their maximum in AD 875 down to four (Stoick, Valka, Hiccup, and Gothi) in AD 1025.  Stoick was able to maintain control over the rest of the village due to tradition, but also due his charisma, leadership skills, physical prowess and strength—and due to being the sole inheritor of his clan's comparatively vast wealth, which he used judiciously in order to stay in power, creating debts of honor and capital that would need to be repaid by the recipient out of social expectations.  He also made use of Clan Haddock's web of kin ties to the rest of the village; for examples, Stoick's sister, Serena, had married into the Jorgensons at about the same time Stoick had married Valka clan Jorgenson, and Stoick's paternal aunt Rhonda was the wife of Rikard clanhead Hofferson and thus the matriarch of a third of the Hofferson clan.

Despite all of Stoick's efforts and skilled politicking, however, his clan was simply not as vibrant and able to absorb damage as the other clans.  Stoick's assets were mostly static compared with the others, despite the loans that he constantly engaged in for investment, and only his skills—in politics, and in dragonslaying—allowed him to defer the inevitable collapse of his clan, according to the Gobber Ledgers.  This persisted until his son came up with a completely different solution to their problem, revived their clan, and changed the course of history.

Without Hiccup's efforts, however, Clan Haddock would almost certainly have joined the other nine extinct clans listed in the Hooligan records at the end of Stoick's life.  Instead, by AD 1050, the social structure had shifted—occasionally catastrophically—to medium-sized clans, ranging in size between 30 and 70 people.  Clan Jorgenson was the first to split, in response to the death of…

—Corpus Historiae Berkiae, 1396

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### Chapter 39: Unwelcome Messages

…when discussing the size of a state, it is important to remember that the effective limits of the size of any nation is based on four primary factors: the communications response loop, the information/decision-making effectiveness, law enforcement effectiveness, and social viewpoints on society size.

All of the large empires prior to the domestication of dragons were limited primarily by the communications loop factor; an empire's size is restricted by the distance a messenger can travel from the decision center to the periphery with orders and get back in a reasonable period of time. Various pre-dragon empires tried various means of extending this range; for example, Rome made use of its famous roads and Persia had the first post office, while China worked by decentralizing the provinces, but this did cause several civil wars over the course of their history as rebellious provinces attempted to break away.

The coming of the dragon courier, though, changed all of that, by significantly increasing the speed at which messages could travel; a horse courier on well-paved roads can travel at an average of 15-25 kilometers per hour, if they have ready remounts at waystations along the route.  However, average speeds of 10-16 km/hour for horse couriers were more typical, especially away from main routes and their waystations.  A dragon courier, in contrast, when flying one of the breeds used for courier duty, can reliably expect average speeds of 100-160 km/hour, potentially faster for shorter sprints, and needs no roads or waystations, with the primary limiting factor being the provisions needed to feed the dragon.

As a direct result of that event, the effective range at which a nation could be managed and organized, in the absence of the other factors, had effectively increased by an order of magnitude, and this had tremendous influence into shaping the world of today.

Changes in decision making, however…

—Nationbuilding: How People Move, Talk, Think, Organize, & Structure Themselves, 1888, Amsterdam University Press

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### Chapter 40: Home Is People...

Draconic nests in the wild are universally situated atop geothermal sources, as high levels of heat (minimum 40 C, and optimally 50-55 C) are required in order for the eggs to successfully gestate.  This is part of the reason why dragons are so often associated with high mountaintops, as they made use of the volcanic vents buried deep within.

Once dragons began their partnership with humans, however, they were freed from their dependence on these dangerous locales and their associated hazards of toxic gases, extreme heat, cave-ins, and the occasional decimation event of an ill-timed lava flow or eruption.  Humans in collaboration with their dragons, beginning with the Hooligan tribe of Berk, built artificial Brooderies in which the environment could be more strictly controlled, ensuring the successful hatching of a greater percentage of the dragon eggs.

As a side benefit of these structures, the waste heat from their vents can be put to use for any number of productive ends, another concept that was pioneered by the Hooligans.

In the modern context, Broodery management is a mature science…

—An Introduction To Dragon Biology, 17th Edition, Oxford University Press, 1793

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### Chapter 41: ...Not Places

Having succeeded to the imperial throne on December 10, AD 1041 after the death of his biological uncle and predecessor, Michael IV, Michael V Kalaphates (the Caulker, after the original occupation of Stephen, his biological father) was determined to rule on his own.  Immediately, he began to reverse his uncle's decisions, recalling courtiers, nobles and soldiers that Michael IV had banished, and banishing, framing, or otherwise removing Michael IV's own appointments.  This immediately brought him into conflict with John the Orphanotrophos, senior court eunuch, his biological uncle, the effective prime minister of the Byzantine Empire, and the man directly responsible for his family's elevation from Paphlagonian peasantry to the imperial throne.  Michael V promptly banished John to the monastery of Monobatae, and had the majority of the male members of his family castrated as well, to keep them from being threats to his rule…

…mostly due to happenstance in timing, Michael V is given perhaps undue credit as being the founder of the Byzantine Empire's corps of dragon riders.  As Sigurd Trondsson had arrived a short period before Michael IV's death, and the program was formally begun under Michael V, with Michael V being recorded as the first dragon-riding Byzantine Emperor, it can be stated with some certainty that Michael V benefited from Sigurd's timing more than from significant insight.

—The Byzantine Emperors, Athens University Press, 1812

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### Chapter 42: The Pen...

The economic and demographic growth of Berk's territory can be tracked due to the tribal census records.  Begun in AD 950 under the auspices of Chief Hiccup II, the yearly census tracked a slow, steady and inexorable contraction over the next ninety-one years, with the first census recording a population of 1,373 people from eight clans and nearly 400 clanless freemen, dropping to 712 across five clans and 208 freemen in early AD 1041.  After the end of the Dragon War, however, the pattern reverses itself explosively, with the Eirish annexations and the tribe's own natural growth.  Child mortality drops in all of the tribe's holdings, and immigration begins in earnest.  At the start of AD 1042, according to the census for that year, the total population of the Hooligan holdings was recorded as 4,902 humans, and approximately 12,000 dragons…

…Vedrarfjord, as an Eirish city with room to expand that was unavailable to Berk on its small and hilly isle, is extremely illustrative of the growth that occurred.  Beginning with approximately 2,000 people in AD 1042, plus another 2,000 in the immediate hinterlands within walking distance, the city's population boomed over the next ten years to 31,826 permanent residents—after contracting from a refugee-boosted height of 56,105 in AD 1044, nearly all of whom ended up settling elsewhere in Berk's territory (see Chapter 23: The Eastern Massacres).

In that first census, the image revealed is of a small Viking trading port, primarily focused on agriculture, with the majority of the population involved in farming, herding or fishing and the other major industries being shipbuilding and other port-related activities.  Recorded in that first census, there were 8 shoemakers, 9 furriers, 10 tailors, 6 barbers, 3 jewelers, 4 tavernkeepers, 4 bakers, 9 carpenters, 12 weavers, 5 chandlers, 2 scabbard-makers, 3 brewers, 5 coopers, 2 butchers, 3 fishmongers, 6 smiths (specializations not noted), 8 healers, 3 millers, 8 ropemakers, 36 shipwrights and 2 tanners recorded.

Ten years later, the portrait of Vedrarfjord is that of an industrial and educational center, featuring glassmakers (207), teachers (572), bookbinders (17), papermakers (98), ropemakers (453), weavers (429), tailors (168)…

—Origins Of The Grand Thing, Edinburgh Press, 1631

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### Chapter 43: …Is Mightier…

To modern eyes, the historical emphasis on the importance of hospitality between guests and hosts seems to be of exaggerated, even absurd levels of importance.  We forget, with our modern mass transportation systems, or even just the freedom of movement that dragon-riding grants, that prior to the domestication of dragons, a journey of twenty miles was a day’s trip by foot, with no guarantee of shelter or food at the end of it, except for hospitality.  Thus these rules resulted from tradition, practicality, and social necessity in order to keep peace between neighbors.

Further emphasizing hospitality’s importance, in nearly all pre-dragon societies and religions, hospitality was mandated by divine decree or example.

…the Norse religion’s canon offers up the Hávamál, with the oral antecedents of the text dating prior to the Reformation, which details significant instructions on the duties and responsibilities of hosts and guests, dictated by Odin as wisdom and instruction on proper behavior…

…the Abrahamic religions all have strong injunctions and passages about the importance of hospitality.  Beginning with Abraham himself, he offered bread and gave a feast to guests and was blessed—and the subsequent passages deal with Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities that routinely and violently breached hospitality and were destroyed in divine punishment…

…Hinduism tells of the god of death, Yama, in the story Nachiketā, who returned home after an absence to find that he had kept a guest waiting for three days.  Having violated hospitality by causing trouble for a guest, even unknowingly, Yama offered his guest three boons, and revealed secrets of the gods in the act of fulfilling them…

—Nationbuilding: How People Move, Talk, Think, Organize, & Structure Themselves, 1888, Amsterdam University Press

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### Chapter 44: …Than The Sword

Dragon eggs are laid in a single clutch of three to nine eggs between 24 and 32 days after fertilization.  Counting from the time of fertilization, gestation for all breeds is approximately 220 days until hatching.

Laying eggs has numerous adaptational advantages for the mother, including allowing her to deal with the metabolic load during the time of year when food is the most plentiful, allowing her to fly without the additional weight of the eggs, and, perhaps most importantly, minimizing the risks associated with draconic embryonic development.  From the evolutionary perspective of the mother, it is far better to lose some potential offspring to malformed hydrocarbon organ systems than to risk her own life by internally gestating the offspring.  Indeed, while most eggs with malformed hydrocarbon systems are simply nonviable, a significant minority of the nonviable eggs will detonate in the course of the fourth and and fifth months of gestation.  For obvious reasons, this would have negative effects on the health of the mother if gestated internally…

—An Introduction To Dragon Biology, 17th Edition, Oxford University Press, 1793

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### Chapter 45: Powder Keg

**Gronckle**: Boulder-class dragon

**Overview**: Metaturnal logistical and aerial/ground support dragon.  Primarily useful as economic and logistical support, with significant applications in civilian use and minimal tactical use on the modern battlefield outside of congested zones.  One of the few dragon breeds capable of sustained precision flight in all three dimensions. Inadequate as bombing platforms due to lack of speed.  Primary military uses are undermining fixed fortifications, high-density urban combat, and logistical transport platforms (all Imperial heavy and light armor and crew-serviced artillery weapons have standard lifting hardpoints to facilitate this use).

**Breath Type**: Heptane/Oxygen-melted mineral projectiles.  Specific effects variable on mineral chemistry (see Gronckle Appendix C: Gronckle Lava Sub-types)

**Identification**: Medium size. Variable-coloured scales and hide, studded with bony nodules, typically but not universally with brown overtones and a secondary colouration for ventral surfaces and hide nodules; four legs with grasping paws capable of small degree of gross manual dexterity, small single wing-pair (high-speed wingbeats).  Large head with significant crunching and biting teeth capable of cracking silicate-based stone with ease, large blunt horn, yellow eyes of variable width based on lighting conditions and mood.  Conical bodyshape, with a blunt thagomizer.

**Strategic Role**: Logistical support; ground support; urban combat supremacy and support; construction support; sapper strikes

**Known Weaknesses**: Slow speed.  Requires ingestion of metallic or mineral ingots in order to fire projectiles.  Minimal injury to wings will ground dragon.  Modern armour-piercing weapons are capable of penetrating armoured hide with ease.

**Phenotype Cluster**: B7!F5-SØSØS1+MØTØT3+

**Populations**: Plentiful.  Quite possibly the single most common form of medium-size dragon, these dragons are common in nearly every nation, in rural, suburban, terraurban, and urban settings; used for personal and communal transport, logistics, construction, industry, and personal companionship, they are an omnipresent factor in everyday life.

—North Sea Empire, Office of Draconic Intelligence, Dragon Breed Profiles (Declassified), 1822 Edition

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### Chapter 46: Light Fuse…

Saint Olaf's Hospital, also known colloquially as Olaf's Home and later more formally as The Royal Hospital of St Olaf, is a 493-bed teaching hospital located in Trondheim, Norway.  Founded in January 1042 as a charitable bequest from Ruffnut Fairhair I and Magnus Fairhair I, it is among the oldest continuously operating hospitals in the world.  It is home to the first medical library in Northern Europe and the oldest still-extant physic garden, both of which were started by Queen Ruffnut in the first few years of its existence, as well as to the second oldest Buffalord milking barn in the world.

—Saint Olaf's Hospital. (n.d.). In Wikikenna.  Retrieved February 1, 1896.

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### Chapter 47 : Do You Hear Something?

Pre-Viking Eirish society was, in technical terms, a sophisticated primitive society; it had formalized law, culture and social structures, but also lacked several elements associated with complex societies, specifically a written language, urban centers, and currency.  The social structure of the Eirish, in particular, was based on three axes, and where the individual Eirish person fell on them.

The primary axis was familial; an Eirish family was all of the related members living under one roof (a fine), and then extending out to one-degree extended family (sept), and there to blood-tied clan.  Related clans would come together to form a tribe (a tuath), related tribes would form a kingdom (dál), and geographically proximate kingdoms would form a province (coiced), of which there were classically five.

The second axis was occupational, and consisted of three groups: the warriors (láech / láecheanna), the craftsmen (cerd / cerdí), and the laborer farmers (aithech / aithecheanna).  The farmers produced the food required to survive, and were protected by the warriors.  The warriors protected the other two groups, but also ruled over them.  And the craftsmen produced the goods and services needed to keep the society running; this group included not only smiths, carpenters, masons and others, but also the lawkeepers, priests, musicians, scholars, monks, physicians and other such individuals.

The third axis was social class, consisting of five ranks.

At the top were the rulers, the kings (ríthe), ranging from clan chief (rí) to tribal chief (rí tuaithe) to king of the kingdom (rí ruirí), to province king (rí ruírech), and then to High King (ard rí).

Second in rank were the privileged (flaith), essentially the aristocracy.  These individuals were the designated managers of the land, and controlled who settled where and did what.  While legally the land was held by the tribe as a whole and the privileged class merely managed it on their behalf, they still historically received the bulk of of the arable land, controlled who worked it, and worked the public resources for their private benefit.

Third in rank were the non-noble freemen with property (aire), usually land or flocks.  There were two subclasses, both related to the occupations in the second axis—warriors and professionals, who engaged in privileged, trained crafts and skills, such as priest, law-keeper, physician, fili or other such skill.

Fourth in rank were the freemen without property (aithech); they were not privileged themselves and did not hold property, and worked the land or flocks granted by the upper ranks as tenants.

Fifth in rank were the non-free.  There were three subdivisions of this category:sen-cleith, bothach & fuidir.  Bothach were essentially clanless individuals allowed to squat on tribal lands at the sufferance of the tribe.  Sen-Cleith were the personal servants and laborers of the Flaith classes, and the flaith members treated them as little better than the daer-fuidiri.  The fuidir was the lowest of the low, bound to the land and desires of their owning Flaith.  The daer-fuidiri being composed of debt-thralls, war-captives, and other human chattel, The daer-fuidiri were little more than property—indeed, female thralls, referred to as bondsmaids (cumhal), were a standard unit of currency against which other valuable items were measured in Eirish law. Finally, there were rare exceptions in the form of tribeless individuals, saer-fuidir, who were allowed to squat on unsettled land at the sufferance of the local Flaith, but otherwise had no rights before the law to speak of.

—A History Of The Isles, Oxford, England, 1591

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### Chapter 48: ...Run Away

The piecemeal Berkian annexation of Eire in the early 1040s set the general pattern for their later hegemonic expansion elsewhere in the region.  Unlike many other sovereigns of the era, Stoick the Vast, followed by his son Hiccup the Wise, were not excessively interested in conquest.  However, they reacted to threats to their holdings and subjects in a decisive manner, a fact that directly led to their first annexation of Vedrarfjord.

Also informing matters in this area was the simple fact that the Hooligans had instituted universal freedmanship among their tribe over a century before, and detested the institution of thralldom, a detestation which quickly extended itself to serfdom and related institutions.  As a third factor, due to the Hooligans' long war with the dragons, they had come to significantly appreciate the importance of investment into infrastructure, both physical and educational.

Thus a pattern emerged; an aggressor would attack them and be absorbed as a result of the counterattack, or a holding would petition to join.  Then the peasantry of their new holding would find themselves the focus of intense investment into their economies and societies.  Standards of living skyrocketed across the island, as the new infrastructure increased the demand for labor and allowed for the creation of surplus that could act as trade goods.  Furthermore, the use of dragon scales as currency introduced sufficient liquidity across the Berkian holdings to allow for a transition from the barter system to a market economy.  Finally, Chief Stoick, extending the laws of his homeland to the new holdings, instituted legally mandated universal education for all of his subjects.  While initially based on the Hooligan model of functional literacy for everyone and then allowing for further specialization as fitting the individual's desires, additional subjects—mathematics, civics, rhetoric, languages, and history, among others—soon followed.  These factors caused an explosion of cultural and social output over the following generations…

—Origins Of The Grand Thing, Edinburgh Press, 1631

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### Chapter 49: Things Fall Apart...

During the Viking Period of AD 793-1040, the Norse explored, traded and settled extensively, using both the seas and rivers as their means of transportation.  The Norse longships and skilled seamanship allowed them to travel to locations as far-flung as Mongolia, the African coast of the Mediterranean, and Vinland in the Vestrilands.  Skilled and daring sailors would even attempt winter voyages, trusting in their ability to read the weather and the seaworthiness of their ships to avoid and mitigate the hazards of the season.

This tradition of seamanship continued, albeit in an altered form, during the subsequent Dragon Period (AD 1040-~1400), where the old skills in navigation and ship construction continued to evolve…

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

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### Chapter 50: The Center Cannot Hold…

A contentious point of open debate among scholars of history and mythology revolves around the mythological origins of various dragon breed names.  While nearly all dragon breeds are co-opted into the dominant regional mythologies, like any animal present in their environment, the question is raised: which came first, the myth that became tied to a dragon, or a dragon whose popular name gave rise to a legend?

Campe is likely an example of the first, as the breed migrated to the Aegean from the Red Sea during the Nontoku itsunengo (~AD 350) in response to human hunting.  The dragon, when seen in poor lighting conditions—such as in a cave by a panicked human carrying a torch—can very vaguely resemble the half-human half-reptilian description given by Nonnus in the Dionysiaca (albeit possessing only one head and only four legs), and was likely given the name in identification from the myth.

Conversely, many breeds native to Iceland, Greenland, the Alban Isles and North-western Europa were named by the colonizing Norse and only later incorporated into their legends.  A prime example of this is the Night Fury (known to the native Celts as Bás Dorcha), which quickly gained the reputation of being the bastard offspring of Thor, god of Thunder, and Hel, goddess of Death.  In the Alban Isles, a new set of legends, unseen in the eastern Norse, grew over the course of the Early Heian Period (AD 800s and 900s), with elaborate stories being told of the divines' intimate encounter that resulted in the dragon breed.

—To Label The Stars: The Cultural Impact Of Names, Kyoto University Press, Ltd.

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### Chapter 51: Mere Anarchy Is Loosed Upon The World

Furthermore, the legally mandated food and housing welfare requirements for all members of Berk's holdings—a holdover from the days of the Dragon War, when a surprise dragon raid could put any of the Hooligans out of house and livelihood—helped significantly with accelerating the rate of social, cultural and economic growth.

The end result of the pattern of absorption was that, by the mid-1050s AD, Eire was politically and socially unified, integrated and enfranchised under Berk's auspices as a province of the newly created North Sea Empire.  With the second-highest per-capita productivity in the Empire, Gaoidhealg forming one of the initial core Imperial languages, and their voting block resolutely backing and supporting Hiccup Haddock in the Grand Thing, the actions of the Eirish had, and continued to have, an indelible impact on the society, culture, economy and political life of the Empire…

…This is not to say that all went smoothly, especially at first, before the pattern had established itself.  The Hooligans took significant time to formulate specific policies and end goals in regards to Eire, and there was also staunch resistance due to the fact that Eire had been a formalized caste-based inequitable society, and had no cultural experience with the Hooligans' more egalitarian traditions.  In contrast, the Norse-Gael towns that dotted the coast of the island were easier to acculturate, as they already had the cultural traditions of the proto-democratic Viking Thing and the social closure effect of the holmgang.

Further complicating matters were the long-entrenched conflicts between the native Eirish and the Vikings, and the religious differences between the Norse Hooligans and the Christian Eirish. As the Eirish had no experience nor expectation of actual intent of peace from Vikings, and no worldview that would allow them to see the act of dragon-riding as anything other than witchcraft or devil-worship, it was an uphill struggle for the Hooligans to convince the Eirish of their peaceful intent, much less politically and socially integrate the island's populace—not helped by the necessity of self-defense against preemptive attacks.

—Origins Of The Grand Thing, Edinburgh Press, 1631

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### Chapter 52: The Question Of Justice

The legal status of dragons has nearly always been that of a minor child legally beholden to and dependent on an adult human.  While the fact that dragons are fully sentient and sapient individuals was very quickly apparent, even to the early dragon-riders, the fact also remains that, outside of a few exceptional individual dragons, a typical dragon's abstract reasoning skills and higher order thinking processes range around those of a five- or six-year-old human child.  While dragons have their own language capable of communicating abstract concepts, much like those of corvids, prior to their integration with human society it was still extremely primitive, with even the most complex regional dialects only consisting of perhaps a thousand words.  Simply put, dragons aren't quite intelligent enough to be humanity's full intellectual partners.  Hence their legal status.

At present, dragon-riders essentially adopt the dragon in a civil bond away from the legal trusts of the Brooderies, who corporately act as the dragons' legal guardians until and unless they are bonded to a rider.  With the bond between rider and dragon holding a legal status similar to that of a marriage or child adoption, dragon-riders are, presently, entirely responsible for the behavior of their dragon, and have obligations to the dragon in kind (food, housing, medical care, etc.).

Ideally, it is a partnership between near-equals, where the human gives their hands and brains, and the dragon gives their wings.

—The Dragon Law: A Primer On Dragons And Jurisprudence, 1744, London

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### Chapter 53: Blades Cut Both Ways

Starting from the 1040s AD, the economic effects of dragons upon human society can only be described as transformative, to the point where the time period between 1040 and 1400 is described as the Dragon Era, in line with the Stone, Agricultural, Bronze, Iron, Steam, Industrial, Fission, Information, Space, Genetic, Nanotech, and Fusion Eras.  While most popular depictions of history focus more on the visually impressive aspects of aerial combat and the uses of dragons in warfare, such fixation overlooks the majority of the actual effects of dragons on human society.  Dragons revolutionized transport and communications within a decade, and the adoption of a dragon-scale currency neatly toppled the feudal systems of Europa that had dominated the region for centuries within sixty years.  Even in modern times, each class and breed of dragon is economically useful in some manner: Boulder-classes carve out both the terraurban spaces of modern cities and the subterranean arteries that tie the cities together, and smelt the steel that form the bones of the arcologies and skyscrapers.  Stoker-classes produce hydrocarbons in a variety of useful forms.  Many dragon venoms, especially those of Sharp-class breeds, can be processed into pharmaceuticals…

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

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### Chapter 54: We Are Who We Are

Many modern students of the history of science and engineering have bemoaned Hiccup Haddock's apparent "near miss" of the development of the steam engine.  As the argument typically goes, he had all of the necessary components with which to construct such a device—boilers, pipes and tight-fitting valves with which to make pistons, and mechanical apparatuses with which to harness the power—and with his experimentalist and pragmatic predilections, he would have surely seen the potential of the device, especially as he had access to books describing Hero of Alexandria's Aeolipile, the first primitive steam-powered device, which predated Haddock by a millennium.  Such speculators often envision what route history might have instead taken if Haddock had access to railroads and steamships in addition to dragons.

What such individuals forget is that it still took centuries of progress to develop steam power into the sort of practical forms of energy production they envision.  From Brendan Mac Brian's first introduction of a primitive steam-powered mining pump in AD 1381, it took over two hundred and fifty years until the first triple-expansion steam engine and steam turbines were developed (by Mishra in AD 1633 and Cohen in AD 1642, respectively).  Not only was Haddock missing many essential parts for the construction of steam engines—precision-bored piston-cylinders, for one example—he had no economic reason to invest the time and effort into developing steam power.  He had already made significant strides in developing wind and water power in his teen years, which amply served his industrial power supply needs.  Also his early boiler designs, while far superior to earlier approaches, were still extremely primitive and wasteful of heat, fuel and water (some of which were recaptured by other processes, including the famous Berk Baths).  Finally, what many people overlook is that Haddock had recently acquired the aid of dragons.  The early steam engines were only economically viable as they filled a small niche in a developed and mature dragon-based economy, allowing for more efficient pumping of water from terraurban environments.  In Haddock's era, only the earliest potentials of dragon labor and construction had begun to be explored…

—The Genius Has No Clothes: An Alternate View Of Innovation, 1818

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### Chapter 55: And Who We Make Ourselves To Be

…with all due respect to my esteemed colleagues, the specific metaphor they used to describe the pull that Berk had upon merchant traffic is inaccurate and inadequate, as a magnet will only attract iron filings within a certain short distance, and the pull rapidly drops off from there.  In contrast, it appears that the seagoing merchants across all of Europa in the era attempted and typically succeeded in making their way to Berk for trade within two years of the domestication of dragons.

According to the bills of sale, lading, and customs declarations recorded by Ingerman's archives, merchants from across the Mediterranean were flocking to Berk by April of 1042, hearing of the riches of the tamed dragons.  Previously, Berk had been a hazard port, where only those who were willing to risk being attacked by wild dragons went—although the demand for dragon-derived materials was such that some still made the journey, especially due to the near-total depopulation of dragons from the Mediterranean region over the previous two thousand years.  In the aftermath of the demise of the Green Death, the danger had evaporated, and this new opportunity for profit without major risk caused a significant draw to head to Berk with all possible haste.  Over the course of 1042, over a hundred merchant ships from as far away as the Fatimid capital of Cairo visited Berk—and, two years earlier, there had been only two such visits.

As such, magnetic seems to be inadequate as a metaphor to communicate the depth of the impact upon the commercial traffic of the era, as the draw became even more intense as the distance grew.  While I acknowledge that Historians Paulson, bat Rivka, and Larson prefer to focus on the religious aspects of the subsequent conflicts, their consistent downplaying of the economic factors does them a disservice…

—Dr. Dame Karolina Haddock, PhD, Professor of Norse History, Vedrarfjord University, Debate during the 89th Annual Symposium on Imperial History

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### Chapter 56: Perils Of Popularity

Compared to the drama of dragon-dug underground canals and dragon-forged skyscrapers, the Financial Revolution in the century and a half after Hiccup Haddock's taming of dragons is generally overlooked, but is perhaps even more fundamental to an understanding of the economic structure he left behind.  Prior to the taming of dragons, bullion currency was comparatively rare; while gold and silver coins were certainly in circulation, as witnessed by the famous bride price paid for Hiccup's wife Astrid, overall, the Europan economy was cash-starved and functioned primarily on the barter economy at the lower levels.  After the taming of dragons, however, an even more scarce commodity currency entered the economy in the form of dragon scales.

As is common knowledge, dragons shed their skins each spring; prior to domestication, they used these materials for the construction of nests for newly hatched young.  Under human auspices, however, the shedding amounted to the annual input of pure currency into the economy.  Properly treated and cured, dragon leather and dragon scales can last for decades of use before wearing out.  While the leather itself acted as a trade commodity, the single scales from hide that wasn't of sufficient quality to be made into leather were not worthless.  On the contrary, they functioned as currency, quickly displacing bullion metals as the currency material of choice.

In this role, dragon scales offered numerous advantages, including being nearly impossible to counterfeit or debase, being easy to substantiate as genuine, and naturally removing themselves from the money supply over time as they wore out or were repurposed (such as for industrial use, decoration or even insulation).  However, even with this removal, the most productive gold or silver mine could not hope to match the net output of dragon shedding, and the resulting injection of funds into Europa's economy—spread by the effects of the Dragon Mail and the existing trade network—caused rampant inflation, averaging between 3-8% a year over the next century.  While this would cause problems to the modern developed economy, in the cash-starved environment at the time, it was an economic blessing, allowing for a rapid shift from the barter economy and feudal taxation system to a market economy and currency taxation system, giving even the peasantry access to funds with which to pay their expenses and taxes and receive payments. Increasing per-person productivity from Haddock's innovations and the agricultural impact of dragon labor pushed urbanization, as demand for labor—human and dragon alike—exceeded the available number of hands and wings for most of the next several centuries…

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

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### Chapter 57: Let The Games Begin

…the machinations surrounding the Alban Red King, Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (~AD 1005—18 April, AD 1043), were complex.  Despite the efforts of apologists who wish to paint the king as an innocent dupe of Jarl Mildew the Vicious' manipulations in his efforts to trigger war between Alba and Berk, the fact remains that Mac Bethad's hands were hardly clean.  He became the Mormaer of Moray in AD 1032 after the previous Mormaer, Gille Coemgáin, was burned to death along with 50 of his men, and there is little question that Mac Bethad either participated in or organized the atrocity, although the question of his sense of guilt is open, due to his marriage to Gille Coemgáin's wife, Gruoch, and adoption of his son, Lulach, as Mac Bethad's own heir.  He also killed his own cousin, the previous king of Alba, Donnchadh mac Crìonain, on the field of battle in August of AD 1040, and took the throne.  While Donnchadh mac Crìonain had initiated the battle that resulted in his death, there is evidence of provocation on the part of Mac Bethad specifically to spur his cousin into invading and allow Mac Bethad to fight with the moral upper hand and on his own territory.  Similarly, Mac Bethad's efforts with regard to Berk included various attempts to cripple the nascent power…

—Corpus Historiae Berkiae, 1396

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### Chapter 58: A Foul Play

What is known of Jarl Mildew the Vicious mostly comes from secondary sources—journal entries from the Hooligans, observations from King MacBeth and his court, and others—due to the fact that the man was apparently a recalcitrant loner and hermit, only one step above a formalized outcast from the entirety of the Hooligan tribe.  A multiple divorcee and rumored to have had various unsavory habits, he was generally ostracized by the community by his early adulthood.  This includes having been formally outcast from his birth clan (Hofferson) in AD 976 and having been forced to take a new name.

The only reason why he had not been entirely banished from the tribe decades previously, according to the general consensus from Hooligan accounts,  was that he was one of Berk's most effective and lethal dragon slayers during the last decades of the Dragon War.  According to the records, he was surpassed in dragonslaying only by a handful of his contemporaries, chief among them his younger brother, Rikard clanhead Hofferson.  Indeed, the historical records speaks volumes as to how unpleasant a personality he had—and how many restitution payments he had to pay from his winnings—that someone with his substantial kill record was relegated to the fringes of the tightly knit tribe, rather than being feted and toasted as one of their elites.

—Corpus Historiae Berkiae, 1396

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### Chapter 59: New Pieces In Play

Despite the conflicts that marked its inception, Berk's Dragon Mail service transformed European society and shortly the world within Hiccup Haddock's lifetime, with regular mail and trade routes that extended to China, India, Madagascar and the northern reaches of the Vestrilands by AD 1100.

The effects this had on social norms, commerce, and the sciences can only be seen by comparing the state of the world in AD 1000 with that of AD 1200.  In 1000, the world's human population was approximately 275 million people (+/- 20 million), the majority of whom were living in feudal or tribal societies, and approximately 2-3 million dragons, living either in nomadic bands or in the few remaining nests.  By AD 1200, the human population had doubled to a minimum of 550 million people, and possibly as high as 600 million, while dragons had reached a population of over 50 million, and social structures…

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

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### Chapter 60 : A Threat Perceived

*It is better to live | than to lie a corpse,* The live man catches the cow, I saw flames rise | for the rich man's pyre, And before his door he lay dead

*The lame rides a horse, | the handless is a herdsman,* The deaf in battle is bold, The blind man is better | than the one that is burned, No good can come of a corpse.

-Stanzas 70 and 71 of the Hávamál

One factor that has been cited as the reason for the success of the Norse Reformation is, oddly, the acceptance of non-Norse into their society.  Part of the theological basis of this were these words from Odin's own lips on proper conduct and wisdom, which served as a reminder that no man or woman was unwanted or unneeded.

These stanzas were often repeated and interpreted in a light of acceptance and brotherhood among those that were different, as "man rejoices in man."  Further, those defending this perspective of integration and acceptance found fit fodder in the sagas of the gods and their lives, which are full to bursting with the sorts of behavior that were rejected by those who did not accept difference.  Tyr was missing a hand, and had two fathers.  Loki was fluid in form and concept, being both male and female at times and places.  Thor was prone to dangerous rage.  Odin was missing an eye, lay with men, and swore blood-brotherhood with a stranger. Hödur was blind.  Freyr gave up his weapon for the love of a jotunn woman.

Furthermore, on the topic of general egalitarianism, it is worth noting that this acceptance was not reserved solely for men.  The Aesir respected Skadi's claim of having been wronged by them for the death of her father, and Freyja earned the respect of all, claiming half of those who died in honor for her hall.

And for those whom the gods did not set a sufficient example, among mortal men, Hiccup the Wise was missing a foot, and his father, Stoick the Lawgiver, was missing an eye and a hand, and both of them sought to reach out and include others, and attempted to act with kindness and respect to those not of their own people.  And while they were the leaders and would have received more acceptance from their followers simply due to that position and the social deference that came with it, it should be noted that Stoick's best friend from childhood preferred men and was missing two limbs, and his personal aide was a woman of a different faith who chose to never marry, and Hiccup's inclusion of others is literally proverbial.

This acceptance of those who were different, who were strangers, who were outsiders, gave the Reformed Norse a strength in diversity that stood them well, especially in those early years…

—The Second Flowering Of Yggdrasil: An Analysis Of The Norse Resurgence, 1710

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### Chapter 61: Is A Threat Achieved

Prior to the Dragon Era, the Kingdom of the Franks was highly decentralized, with effectively independent great lords ruling over their demesnes.  The King of the Franks was essentially only one lord among many, a set of circumstances that had developed since the death of Charles the Fat in 888 AD and the ending of the Carolingian Empire.

The causes of this decentralization from the previously strong centralized empires of Charlemagne and Charles the Fat were numerous, including the effects of Viking raiders (some of whom settled on the north coast of France in what is now Normandy), a general grab for power and land by the noble and ecclesiastical classes, and a corresponding loss of power by the peasantry and royalty.  In particular, the feuding between the great nobles and their knights had a chilling effect upon the Frankish kingdom…

During the centuries prior to the Dragon Era, trade within the kingdom essentially ceased.  Illiteracy was the general rule not only for the peasantry, but for many of the nobility as well.  While towns did exist, they were pale remnants of the Gallo-Roman economic network, typically surviving as the seats of ecclesiastical bishops or secular nobility, or as local market centers…

The knights, in particular, were problematic in their effects.  While certainly of military importance in providing defense against Vikings and other knights, they had become a hereditary caste since the era of the Carolingians.  In competition with each other, they had a strong incentive to make war as a way of proving their valor and skill in order to be most attractive as potential vassals to the greater nobles, meaning that they viewed conflict as a first solution to any problem.  The conventions of the noble habitus only did so much to stem this tendency towards violence as a means of problem solving, and Frankish knights tended to view anyone that wasn't a noble or knight as an impediment that could be slain out of hand, on the battlefield or off, and often enjoyed petty destruction for its own sake.  The situation became such that the Peace and Truce of God was first implemented in the late 900s AD to try to put religious strictures against who and what the knights could simply kill and destroy.

—A History of Old Francia, 1432, Oxford Press

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### Chapter 62: A Bringer Of New Things

The Byzantine Theme system (singular: thema) originated during the intense warfare facing the Byzantine Empire during the 600s AD.  The theme system was conceived of and designed to meet the logistical and manpower needs of the diminished Roman-Byzantine Army.  While the system evolved dramatically over the ensuing seven centuries until the final collapse of the Empire in the late 1300s AD, the general structure and concept was simple: each thema was (ideally) a singular district under the (equally ideally) unified military and civilian command of the local governing general (Strategos).  In that district, there were specific lands (stratiotika ktemata) that were under direct military rulership; these lands were used to provide for the upkeep of soldiers in the army.

This created a group of soldier-farmers, the Strateia, who would work the stratiotika ktemata in time of peace, and join the army in times of war, or offer material and logistical support to the army directly (in contrast with the civilian farmers, the georgoi).  The status of Strateia was hereditary, and was intended to maintain the manpower and logistical needs of the Byzantine military in perpetuity.  Overall, the theme system was flexible and easily expanded; newly (re)captured lands could be granted to pensioners from the army, whose sons would then join military service.  There were other benefits as well to being part of the Strateia—exemption from certain taxes, and pay and state-sponsored material support for taking part in military campaigns and aiding in public works.

The Theme system arguably reached its height under Emperor Basil II in the early 1000s, providing, provisioning, and manning a force of 110,000 men, the largest the Byzantine Army had reached in over five centuries.  It then quickly cratered, as Basil's land taxes and protectionary laws were undone by his immediate successors under pressure from the Dynatoi, the aristocratic magnate class.  Much of the stratiotika ktemata were acquired by the Dynatoi over the ensuing decades for their large-scale farming estates (latifundium), weakening the theme armies and their support.  By the beginning of the Dragon Era in the AD 1040s, the Byzantine Army could only muster 60,000 soldiers, with over 20% of those being foreign mercenaries.

—Constantinople: The Child of Rome's Empire, Venice, Italy, 1725

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### Chapter 63: Gambits

The Normans are an ethnic group originating in the District of Normandy, originally one of the northern duchies of the Kingdom of Francia.  Emerging initially from contact between the native Franks, Gallo-Romans and Norse Viking settlers in the 800s AD, the Normans gained political recognition and legitimacy under the Viking Rollo, by treaty with the King Charles III of Francia in AD 911, where Rollo was granted the lands settled by the Normans and recognition as a noble lord in exchange for protection against other Viking raiders…

In the centuries after their establishment, the Normans traveled and conquered widely, either as mercenaries in the employ of others or as their own feudal magnates, with conquered territories at the Straits of Jabal Ṭāriq, the Islas Canarias, the Islas Baleares, Cyprus, Southern Anatolia, Sicily, and the Maghreb…

…while the militaristic nature of the Norman culture is without question, they were also great patrons of the arts during the feudal era, and continue to have noted artistic contributions since.   In addition, two common themes in Norman-controlled regions were a degree of meritocratic egalitarianism, regardless of ethnic or religious origin, and the integration of local arts, architecture and society.  This emphasis on integration/syncretism created Norman-Arab, Norman-Byzantine, Norman-Moor, and other hybrid societies where they conquered and settled…

—Normans. (n.d.)  In Wikikenna. Retrieved August 18, 1885

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### Chapter 64: Underhanded

…additionally, much criticism has been levied over the centuries against Heather Ingerman's espionage failures, especially those early in her tenure.  Frequently, such critics find support in her own journals, especially with sufficient cherry-picking to avoid her own cogent analysis of what she did wrong and how to do better in the future.  What many of these critics forget is that Ingerman was a teenaged girl at the time when she was first appointed to the role of spymaster of Berk; while she had been extensively trained as a spy agent, the higher-level skills required by her new elevated position took her some time to develop from first principles.  It was not until later that she found a mentor in the arts of espionage that…

—Statecraft: The Great Game Of Diplomacy, Espionage & War By Other Means, 1732, Rouen University Press

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### Chapter 65: Knives In The Night

Dragon biology is specific enough to be given its own distinct sub-classification within the realm of herpetology, for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, unlike most reptiles, dragons are endotherms, with the corresponding higher need for caloric intake and higher ability to maintain activity in a variety of temperature conditions.  Secondarily, the draconic clade is home to a variety of unique anatomical and genetic adaptations, including the definitional petrochemical organ system and all of its myriad variations; the high silica content of their hides, tissues, and bones; and, in some breeds, the addition of a third set of limbs in the form of wings.  The third reason is strictly pragmatic: due to the omnipresence of dragons within our society, the field of dragon medicine and biological research is in high demand and warrants specialization—which is probably why you are reading this textbook in the first place.

[…] Like all doctors, regardless of patient type, physicians who specialize in the treatment of dragons most often find themselves dealing with prosaic injuries, and we must remember to avoid the allure of the fascinoma and other zebras; a dragon shedding its scales out of season likely has mites, not skin necrosis, and a dragon whose flame is weak likely has swelling of the throat valves, not Flame Dousing Disorder (as the FDD virus, which ravages the dragon's symbiotic bacteria, can only be transmitted under specific circumstances and there hasn't been a recorded case in over eighty years).  More common are simple injuries.  While dragons are hardy and resilient creatures, they can still be tremendously fragile under certain circumstances.  The wings, in particular, while sharing the fireproof nature of the rest of the dragon's hide, are simply skin with minimal scale cover, if any.  Wing injuries are extremely common simply due to this vulnerability...

—An Introduction To Dragon Biology, 17th Edition, Oxford University Press, 1793

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### Chapter 66: A Downed Dragon...

**Scylla**: Boulder-class dragon

**Overview**: High-stealth, pack-oriented dragon optimized for terra-urban supremacy.  Instinctive ambush tactics render the dragon highly effective in the close quarters of the tunnels of terra-urban environments, and the telescoping neck allows the dragon to attack and retreat with its main body remaining unexposed.  In addition, they are skilled pack hunters, to the point where the ancient Greeks assumed that a pack of Scylla was a single dragon; this tendency can be trained in terra-urban units, allowing significant close-quarters synergistic combat effectiveness.  Above ground, they are only primarily of military use in congested areas, where the dragon's slower speed and larger core body will not allow them to be targeted easily.

**Breath Type**: Ethylbenzene/Oxygen-melted mineral projectiles.  Due to the telescoping nature of the neck and throat, Scylla have a biological valve that will inhibit firebreathing when the neck is past half-extension.  Scylla will preferentially consume mafic rocks over felsic rocks to fuel their projectiles, as the viscosity of the felsic magma risks damage to their tissues.  As a result, Scylla magma projectiles tend to be of low viscosity and closer to a spray.

**Identification**: Medium Size.  Dark brown to gray-black scales and hide.  Four legs with digging/shovel paws capable of grasping only large objects; moderate single wing-pair.  Bilateral spike rows along thorax's frontal plane, parallel with belly, used for anchoring in tunnels.  Long armored head with jaws optimized for grasping and crunching, single nose horn used for digging.  Central thorax roughly egg-shaped.  Most significant feature is the extensible neck; normally in a contracted position, with a length of half that of the thorax, it can extend out to four or five times the length of the thorax, and still maintain flexibility at joints.  Purple eyes; iris width varies minimally on mood; secondary eyelids shield against bright light.

**Strategic Role**: Terra-urban supremacy; urban supremacy; close-quarters infantry support

**Known Weaknesses**: Scylla are highly pack-oriented; removing their packmates, especially their riders, will typically put the dragon into full fight-or-flight mode.  At full extension, the neck is highly vulnerable to injury along its length.  In flight, the Scylla is also very slow.  If injured in open air, Scylla are known to develop agoraphobia as a result.

**Phenotype Cluster**: B5^F3-SØSØS1+MØTØT5+

**Populations**: Small to Moderate.  Originally located primarily around sea caves in the Aegean Sea and Black Sea, Scylla have never have had significant success in spreading from their original territories.  However, the Turkish Empire has had a successful breeding program in keeping their numbers up for conservation purposes, and many of their urban infantry units are paired with Scylla, to the point where it is those units' signature dragon breed.

—North Sea Empire, Office of Draconic Intelligence, Dragon Breed Profiles (Declassified), 1822 Edition

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### Chapter 67: Kill With A Borrowed Knife

Prior to the Imperial Assembly Of Law, the North Sea Empire's legal system was a patchwork of numerous local codes, ordinances, and jurisdictions, in multiple languages, and with numerous cultural and religious outlooks.  The purpose of the Assembly was to create a pan-imperial legal code that was acceptable to all peoples of the Empire, and, as with all compromises, it generally succeeded at making everyone equally unhappy, even as they recognized the validity of the compromises.  Religious law was left in the hands of the specific faiths, making the code officially secular, which pleased no one and yet satisfied everyone.  Other elements were picked from the component legal codes, including Eirish Brehon, Jewish Talmudic, Eastern Norse, Berkian Norse, Islamic Fiqh, Anglo-Saxon Common, and others, into a reasonably cohesive whole…

… the complex methods of Hooligan title inheritance, after some refinement, became the method by which titular inheritance was managed in the early and middle eras of the Empire, as the Hooligans already had influences from the Brehon, Alban, and Norse legal codes.  Pre-Assembly Hooligan title inheritance was a complex mix of elements from all of these sources, an intricate system that can be described as Absolute Primogeniture mixed with Gaelic Tanistry and Norse Elective Monarchy.

Before the later refinements were introduced, the system worked as follows: Upon the death or incapacitation of the previous title-holder, the designated heir simply assumed the title (absent legal objections from their new subjects or suspicious circumstances), allowing for a smooth transition of power in most circumstances.  The main conflict came with selecting the next designated heir.  Heirdom was an elected position in Hooligan law, in line with Gaelic Tanistry, based on suitability and worthiness.  Heirs, at the time of selection, had to be adults without physical or mental blemish, descended either from the current or a prior title-holder, and currently a member of the clan that they would be inheriting (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III's selection at the age of seven years was an anomaly, initiated by his father Stoick to reinforce his statement that he would not remarry as a result of his wife's legal death).

Beyond those qualifications, the prospective clan-heir needed to be voted into the position by a majority of the individuals over whom they would rule (typically the members of the clan), with the precise degree of the majority needed depending on the heir's relationship with the current title-holder; a child of the title-holder's spouse needed a simple majority, while the child of a concubine needed six-tenths, and more distant relations needed greater pluralities.  Furthermore, the elections were handled in rounds; first the spouse's children would be voted on, one at a time in order of birth, and only if none of them were selected as the clan-heir in two rounds of voting would the elections move to include the concubine's children, and even then, only with the explicit acceptance of the title-holder.  From there, if the voting still did not find a suitable candidate, the pool would be expanded to more distant relations, with each voted on in turn until an acceptable candidate was found.

While this system functioned well enough for the Hooligan tribe when it was a thousand people or less, it quickly ran into scaling problems as the clans grew, causing fractures to grow, necessitating the various refinements …

—Origins Of The Grand Thing, Edinburgh Press, 1631

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### Chapter 68: Hide A Knife Behind A Smile

The typical aims of dragon-rider versus dragon-rider battles in the air are often very different from battles of dragon-riders versus foot soldiers, for all that they can take place in the same battle.  Dragon-riders against soldiers on the ground aim to destroy, rout, or contain the ground forces, but dragon-riders against dragon-riders often aim to capture the enemy's dragons instead of killing them or driving them off.  Simply and pragmatically put, killing an enemy's dragons might deny their use to the enemy, but capturing them potentially allows for their recruitment to one's own side.  The same cold logic applies to all dragon-riding forces, regardless of their affiliation—dragons are more valuable in warfare than men and far more expensive to waste, due to both their rarity and their capabilities.

As a result of that logic, capture weapons—nets, bolas, traps and more—have always been a component of dragon-fighting warfare, going back to before the end of the Dragon War, when capturing dragons meant that they could be killed cleanly for their parts, rather than risk them detonating.  Since then, such weapons have been refined by all sides…

—The Wing And The Ax, Queen Marshal Astrid Haddock I, undated draft, Waterford University Archives

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