Update Thread 39: The Newer Beginning

[Mamorien]

This actually went up on schedule yesterday, but my connection had been screwy since Wednesday.

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…

As A Thing of Vikings continues, no longer misgendering Princess Mór, Hiccup learns about what a tailor's work really involves, and about how far Fintan's troubles really extended; Fishlegs finishes a lesson in glassmaking and gets the start of a lesson in language; Dogsbreath and Inga begin genuinely to bond (with a nudge or two from Redsnout); Tuffnut meets one of Snotlout's Sigurd's traveling companions and nearly starts a riot; Astrid and Fishlegs compare notes on their new domestic situations; and, building off something Fish mentioned, Hiccup does some delicate negotiating with Dagur the Deranged, one of the many New Pieces in Play.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/104089...s/36785457
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12639117/59...Of-Vikings