Chapter 75: ...You Never Get To See

*The roots of the foundational Imperial welfare institutions that provide food, shelter, education and medical care to all Imperial citizens predate the beginnings of the Dragon Era by nearly eighty years, dating back to the middle reign of Stoick's grandfather, Chief Hiccup II. Despite a tumultuous early reign, Hiccup II's grip on power stabilized during the AD 960s, and with the aid of his friend and confidant, the scribe Dror ben Ezra, he began a period of systematic cultural change; the ad hoc literacy classes that Dror had been holding were formalized and made mandatory for all children, a yearly census was instituted that also functioned as a minor form of taxation, and the formerly orally transmitted laws were scribed and codified. As part of that codification, the Hooligans took the earlier basic necessities that they had provided to temporarily homeless or destitute members of the tribe and made them universal, with Dror drawing on his Judaic background and training for direction in how to implement them...*

*[…] These educational and welfare systems became one of the core pillars of the Imperial social contract between the State and its citizens; there is no question that, without the economic pump-priming and social cohesion that they created, the young North Sea Empire would have never survived its initial challenges…*

*—Origins of the Grand Thing, Edinburgh Press, 1631*

## Major Events

* Bladewit meets the Jews of Rouen and is moved to tears.
* Sigurd is assigned several Varangians to train as dragon riders, including his nemesis Kormak.
* Magnus is crowned King of Denmark in Roskilde.
* Stoick and his council meet with conciliatory Eirish leaders to discuss the future of Berk's Eirish holdings.
* With Sophia's help, Sigurd narrowly escapes an assassination attempt. The next day, he visits Sophia to tell her his backstory.
* Jonna and the Jomsvikings are inducted into the Hooligans as a new clan, Joms.
* Taskill informs Mildew of a fisherman he caught letting slip about Mac Bethad's dragons, and shows him the man outside. Mildew orders him lashed 40 times.

## Characters

### Humans

* Hiccup clan Haddock
* Bladewit Drorsdóttir
* Horsefeathers Hensteethsson
* Gunvor Dugaldsdóttir
* Dovid ben Eliezer
* Heather
* Rivkah
* Stoick the Vast
* Fishlegs clan Ingerman
* Astrid Hákonsdóttir clan Haddock
* Toiréasa
* Murray
* Mhairi
* Griselda
* Sigurd Trondsson
* Georgios Maniakes
* Empress Theodora Porphyrogenita
* Harald Sigurdsson
* Kormak Brandrsson
* Constantine Botharsson (first named appearance)
* Markus
* Magnus the Good
* Birgir
* Ruffnut Thicknutsdóttir
* Olaf and Segna
* Viggo Grimborn
* Fishwings clan Ingerman
* Wulfhild of Norway
* Hákon Mortensson
* Princess Mór nic Echmarcach of Mön
* Toirdelbach ua Briain (first appearance)
* Hardnut clanhead Thorston
* Clodgall clanhead Jorgenson
* Rikard Ruadhsson
* Sophia Makris
* Unnamed false silentarius
* Gunnar Bræsisson
* Jonna Asgersdóttir
* Reidun Hemmingsdóttir
* Chestnut clan Thorston
* Hammeredge clan Ingerman
* Spitelout Clodgallsson
* Gothi Hiccupsdóttir
* Mildew
* Taskill Thaddeusson
* Unnamed fisherman

### Dragons

* Brand

## Analysis

### Epigraph Tie-In

* The epigraph talks about the origins of the Hooligans Tribe's Bed Rights, Food Rights, and Universal Literacy. The epigraph shows Stoick explaining to his new vassal aristocrats their new responsibilities in making sure their people are housed, fed, and able to read and write.