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[Mamorien]

A Thing of Vikings

…this is not to say that all of Ingerman's early espionage actions were missteps.  While her first year as Berk's spymaster featured a large number of missed opportunities, other opportunities were seized on, including the creation of a network of information gatherers paralleling the initial Dragon Mail routes and the uncovering of several plots against Berk.  Still, her early focus was, unsurprisingly, more on the recruitment of information sources and potential field agents.  It was not until later that the need for analysts and organizational clerks became apparent in the face of the scope of Berk's potential fields of interest across Europe and beyond.

These early days of the North Sea Empire's intelligence services offer a valuable case study in the field of espionage when it comes to the scale of an intelligence service.  Many of the feudal spymasters of the European kingdoms were around Ingerman's initial levels of sophistication, but their concerns tended to be provincial at the behest of their feudal lords and thus needed no further sophistication beyond what could be handled by a single person or at most a small group of people.  Berk, in aiming for a sphere of influence spanning an entire continent and beyond, required an espionage service scaled to suit.  As such, seeing the early failures and successes of Ingerman's tenure—and the inspirations and lessons that she drew upon, from her husband, her mentor, her fellow agents, and even the more sophisticated espionage services of the Byzantine Empire, the Vatican, and beyond—is a potent reminder of not overreaching one's institutions and structuring them to fit the actual needs facing that institution.

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

https://archiveofourown.org/works/104089...2#workskin

Thanks for the catch!

Chapter Trigger Warnings : Explicit Threat/Attempt of Non-Con, Explicit Act of Execution, Explicit Act of Torture. (Just... be careful in the Berserker scenes, okay?)

We pick up from last chapter's cliffhanger, with Sigurd and Sophia, and Gunnar and Heidrun, finishing their discussion. Then it's over to Inbhir Aora, where Toiréasa gets subjected to the first of our warnings and witnesses the second. Back in Constantinople, Sophia assures her father that his investment is safe, then goes to her room to imagine the possibilities. On Berk, Heather takes a business meeting with Trader Johann, and Esther's duties as tutor and translator for Duke William resonate with her own past. Over in Vedrarfjord, Hákon has a typical day's chiefing. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we go back to Inbhir Aora, where the Berserkers celebrate a successful hunt in ways that necessitate the third warning. And we close in the chief's hut on Berk, where Astrid weighs her responsibilities, as a new mother and as Berk's marshal...