Update Thread 39: The Newer Beginning

[Mamorien]

In accordance with the prophecy, A Thing of Vikings returns!

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 last of the special guests from Alba gets to introduce himself; Wulfhild gets to show the Alban contingent to their lodgings, and Dagur gets to show (what passes for) his playful side; Cami gets her heart stolen; Inga and Dogsbreath get to where Redsnout is being kept; Stoick gets to meet with the largest contingent of traders Berk has ever seen, and to think about the reason they're there; and Sigurd gets a history lesson, all in Perils of Popularity!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/104089...s/36160287
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12639117/56...Of-Vikings

[Shepherd]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11910907/28...-My-Weight
Pulling My Weight (Naruto).

https://archiveofourown.org/works/129021...s/36158382
All Possible Worlds (Girl Genius/Stargate).

[Shepherd]

https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/8...f-Learning
Mother of Learning (fantasy time loops).

[Shepherd]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12044591/88/Forged-Destiny
Forged Destiny (RWBY RPG world). A really great chapter.

https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28404-22...Xendra.htm
Xendra (Buffy/Xena).

[Norgarth]

Heretical Edge
https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/...res-37-03/

EDIT:
Cat Tales: Gifts pt 4
https://catwoman-cattales.com/ct/master....fts-04.htm

Heretical Edge bonus chapter
https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/...res-37-04/

[Norgarth]

Endless Pantheons (SG-1/Dresden Files) (SGC focused)
https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/49607685/

[Shepherd]

https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-32792/Di...oses+2.htm
Cross Purposes 2 (Teraverse/DC comics).

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11820074/21...-Awakening
Thaumaturgic Awakening (Fate/Stay Night & Worm).

[Happerry]

Inkopolis In The Morning, the Splatoon fic, has hit Chapter 5 and therefor finished, at least until the sequel comes out.

[Norgarth]

Heretical Edge
https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/...res-37-05/

The AU Worm-fic 'A Moth and Mouse' has updated after more than 2 years
https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/49652554/

Dogbertcarroll has updated 'A Brand New Day' (BtVS/YJ/Teen Titans)
https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-32548-15...ew+day.htm

[Black Aeronaut]

Awwww. Poor 8. It's a good thing she has someone that cares about her that much.

[Shepherd]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11267384/64/Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro (Naruto).

[Shepherd]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7347955/147...f-Sunshine
Dreaming of Sunshine (Naruto SI).

[Mamorien]

…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…

In celebration of the author's paper anniversary, this week's A Thing of Vikings chapter went up a few hours early, so Let The Games Begin! On Berk, Wulfhild thinks about expectations before meeting the expectations of Merchants' Row that the royal triple would browse their wares; Stoick and Fergus meet in open contest; in Nidaros, Ruffnut hears just enough of a conversation between Magnus and Yngvarr to put her on edge; back on Berk, Astrid and Cami watch the archery contest and congratulate the girls women they love; on the steppes, a bloody-fisted dragon hunter stalks his prey despite unbidden thoughts; and we close on Berk, where Elinor discusses courtliness with Astrid and Heather and Fishlegs participate (as staff and competitor) in an eating contest.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/104089...s/36371505
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12639117/57...Of-Vikings

[Shepherd]

https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/posts/11171486/
Doing It Right This Time (Evangelion time travel fic).

https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-32793-4/...ension.htm
STORMBURST!!! #4: Surface Tension (Teraverse multiverse).

https://archiveofourown.org/works/129021...s/36374247
All Possible Worlds (Girl Genius/Stargate ISOT fic).

edit:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/115004...s/36379269
Midtown High PTSD (Spider-Man/Avengers AU).

[Mamorien]

The Newest Challenger, in which Kenchi618 (author of Extraordinary Times and Less Than Zero) drops Naruto Uzumaki into the Street Fighter universe and watches the ripples, has updated. While Naruto studies with Oro, Karin and Ibuki take on the Illuminati:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7609129/62/...Challenger

[Norgarth]

Heretical Edge
https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/...res-37-06/

[Shepherd]

https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28404-22...Xendra.htm
Xendra (Buffy/Xena).

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12044591/89/Forged-Destiny
Forged Destiny (RWBY RPG world).

[Norgarth]

Heretical Edge mini-lude
https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/...66-gordon/

[ECSNorway]

That We've Broken Their Statues (HP/Labyrinth) returns once more, nearing the conclusion of first year.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9384529/13/...ir-Statues

[Shepherd]

https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-32792-2/...oses+2.htm
Cross Purposes 2 (Teraverse).

[Norgarth]

Heretical Edge
https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/...res-37-07/

[Jinx999]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7347955/148...f-Sunshine

Dreaming of Sunshine (Naruto SI) has updated, very soon after the last chapter.

Also:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7406866/55/To-the-Stars


To the Stars (PMMM, far future).

[Mamorien]

Surprisingly, this is not the first time two successive chapters of A Thing of Vikings have drawn their epigraphs from the same source.

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.  A multiple divorcee and rumored to have had various unsavory habits, he was generally ostracized by the community by his early adulthood, formally outcast from his birth clan (Hofferson) in AD 976 and forced to take a new name. 

The only reason why he had not been entirely banished from the tribe decades before the end of the Dragon War, 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.  However, despite his substantial attested kill record, his personality was such that he was relegated to the fringes of the tightly knit tribe, rather than being held up as one of their elites.

The screams that ended the previous chapter turn out to have been the first warning of A Foul Play affecting the Eirish prince of Mön (and not doing good things for his herald). Hiccup, with invaluable support from Wulfhild, helps Fintan cut his ties to thralldom. Astrid borrows Heather to investigate the poisoning of Prince Mór, with exciting results; in the aftermath, Heather finds an important clue, but Astrid is the one to realize how important. While the royal triple are helping each other calm down, Stoick offers Heather a job better suited to her talents. Dagur offers to help Stoick in dealing with the breach of hospitality. Cami stops being able to run from Merida. And, finally, Heather sets the terms on which she'll accept her promotion.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/104089...s/36579063
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12639117/58...Of-Vikings

[Bob Schroeck]

Benefits of Old Laws (Potter, sane!Voldemort adopts Harry), chapter 81

Harry Potter and the Heartlands of Time (Timelooping!Harry on his last loop after loops uncounted), now complete with its epilogue

Mystic Knight Online: All The World's Made Strange (Potter/Sword Art Online), chapter 17

[ECSNorway]

Embracing Life's Riddles Without Asking Questions 17 (HP)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11849245/17...-Questions

Beyond the Outer Gates Lies... A High-School Library? 73 (Dresden Files / High School DxD)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10752206/73...ol-library
(There may have been several updates since this was last posted here....)

I am a girl in the dungeon...? 66 (Danmachi)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12692133/66...he-dungeon
The story nears its conclusion, or at least the current arc does.

Walk Two Lifetimes 35 (Bleach, SI)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10572048/35...-Lifetimes
Reincarnation SI of a sort that will appeal to fans of "Dreaming of Sunshine" and "Deja vu no Jutsu", "Walk Two Lifetimes" follows an SI into the life of Hisana Kuchiki-to-be, and her efforts to derail the canon disasters of Bleach.