CHAPTER 29: Chancellor of the Pacifists
Another day, another vote for the entire Pacifist tribe to take part in. But this time it wasn't an election. It was a referendum type of vote asking the tribe vikings about whether or not they approved/disapproved the positions of 'Founding Father' and 'Chieftan' being merged into one sole position to become 'Chancellor of the Pacifist Tribe'.
It was a couple of days after the Founding Father's death and Hawkon truly lived up to his promise to hold the vote. It was a sunny day as the Pacifist Tribe in its black gear surrounded by tons of New Pacifist flags being flown off numerous wooden poles lined up to vote in numerous voting huts across the island. Every single viking had to turnout or else, and the intimidation was stepped up a notch this time in order to get the votes.
Secret members of the New Pacifist council had marched up to hundreds of huts in the morning and throughout the day, knocked on, and demanded that the vikings occupying those huts marched down to the lines to vote, and as they escorted them to the huts they requested that they vote their approval to the move. Not that it mattered anyways because it was going to happen regardless of this symbolic vote, but it was Hawkon's way of publicly showing he had the backing of the tribe.
"Aye lad this actually feels quite different...in a good sorta way," an old Pacifist said to a younger viking lined up in front of him waiting to vote, with thousands of chatting voices echoing into the open airs.
The young Pacifist who was in his 20s turned around to face the guy to respond to him.
"I was kinda skeptical at first but the fact it gives us a reason to get up every morning now and to have a routine everyday, it's pretty good isn't it? we never had that with the previous Chieftans," he replied.
"Indeed my boy, indeed," the older Pacifist responded, smoking a brown cigar in the corner of his mouth, having been around for many years seeing Chieftans of the tribe come and go.
He had never seen a Chieftan like Grugg Hawkon before in the tribe's history - and that was precisely why he appealed to him. Because he was different, and he was injecting a compulsory sense of routine into their lives as well as providing their families and kids with roles that'd get recognition whilst also being compulsory with no choice.
The tribe had literally lived up to their name of being Pacifists up to this point, and with Hawkon they were finally able to begin a sense of change they craved after so many generations of genuinely being the 'not moving at all' tribe, for want of a better phrase. They wanted to feel like they had to do stuff or else.
Perhaps they'd come to regret that desire in the future but for now, it felt very good. In the 'Old Pacifist' days, which was only a month ago shortly before Hawkon was appointed Chieftan, they literally did nothing but wander around, carry the needed supplies like rods, and food in baskets every now and then when it was needed, and then be done with the day. No travelling, no sense of routine, just a boring lack of routine life.
"REMEMBER, MAKE SURE YOU VOTE FOR THE GREAT GRUGG HAWKON, THE SAVIOUR, THE PROTECTOR, THE LEADER WE NEED TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD TO THE ARCHIPELAGO!" a huge bulky long bearded Pacifist yelled as he too wore a New Pacifist armband on his gear, not the same type of armband as Hawkon wore, but it was still similar looking.
He was pacing up and down besides the massive line that stretched through the sunny village all the way practically to the shores of the island, repeating his chant for his fellow tribesmen and women to vote yes to the vote. He was a member of the council too, so his authority was significant.
As the bulky guy continued his pace downwards to the back end of the line, the young and old Pacifists once again spoke with each other.
"See what I mean? I know we're 'forced' to vote but...hey, it gives me a purpose, and if it's true we'll be building a bunch of stuff and assigned to new compulsory positions that actually require us to wake up in the morning and do jobs...I'm all for it," the younger Pacifist said.
"My boy, we can also have reason to celebrate because our Chieftan is going to help us put an end to these wild dragon attacks. My sister nearly lost her life in one of the attacks so she turned to vote for Hawkon in the past election for that...we want to be safe, focus on ourselves, but we want a new sense of purpose too, right lad?"
"You have taken the words out of my mouth mate! long come the day that I finally get to travel on the seas for once rather than be stuck here all day for the rest of my life!"
What neither of the two vikings above didn't know was that there was going to be a 'conscription' of sorts where younger male Pacifists and generally fit and healthy ones were going to be forced to join the Pacifist viking army to make up the quota of 30,000 members in total that Hawkon wanted, more than double the size of the present 10,000, give or take. It wasn't clear how many of them were going to react to that, and perhaps some of them at that point would be going through a phase of buyer's remorse.
For now though, the majority were extremely happy despite the intimidation tactics by members of the council, threats if anyone voted disapproval, and so on. It wasn't even clear whether the opinions being expressed within conversations in the numerous lines up to the voting huts across the island were genuine or fake, with the latter possibly being the case for some vikings to avoid being punished.
The actual question on the once again yellow soggy ballot papers that looked like ancient maps was worded in the viking symbols but translated to English it read as:
The position of Founding Father is to be combined with that of the Chieftan. In a time of crisis this is the power needed by a strong leader with a desire to fix said crisis. As a direct result of this, the Chieftan Grugg Hawkon would take over the powers of the Founding Father alongside that of his present position as Chieftan. With this merge of these two great positions, consequently he would become the Chancellor of the Pacifist vikings.
Pacifist viking men and women, with all the pride in the world, do you, or do you not, approve of this action?
Write your answer with 'I do' or 'I do not', either of which must include your full name as required by the council.
There were numerous council members of the tribe scattered inside the voting huts to enforce the rules of the ballot paper at the bottom that required the vikings to write their full names on their vote. Anyone who dared to vote 'I do not' would've been swiftly taken care of in certain means, and the requirement of writing their full name meant that they were too scared to even do it, the ones who secretly disagreed with the direction of the tribe. They couldn't write fake names to cover their tracks either because the council locked away every single name of the Pacifist vikings.
Widespread intimidation, discouraging vikings against voting for disapproval, and encouragement in the form of village-wide propaganda and pro-Hawkon groups, had all caused a majority of the vikings to rally behind their new Chieftan. Some welcomed the encouragement, others were secretly dismayed and alarmed and scared at what their tribe was turning into, but they no longer had the freedom to speak out.
Grugg Hawkon had already and easily garnered the support and backing of the Pacifist viking army in its present state. The army itself was, as mentioned previously, one that never lived up to its name because never in the tribe's history had it been sent overseas. Much like a majority of the Pacifist vikings within the village and across the island, the army craved a change, and Hawkon's competency in dealing with the wild dragon attacks that ultimately led to his rise to power made the army feel confidence in him.
It was a lot easier than expected for them to break away with the tradition of having a Founding Father, and the same went for many ordinary Pacifist vikings. They brought into Hawkon's rhetoric about the dragon attacks, the desire for change after the tribe's many generations of being dormant and still as a statue whilst the rest of the archipelago fought wars and took for granted the fact that they had for so many generations been peaceful and open.
That also conflated with Hawkon's desire for revenge against Hiccup and the Hooligans shortly after they abandoned him on Old Berk when they flew away on the dragons to escape Grimmel at the time.
It happened to be a coincidence that the Pacifist Tribe, at the time of Hawkon's arrival to it nine years ago, was beginning to crave a change shortly after the defeat of Grimmel. It provided the perfect springboard for Hawkon to take advantage of, which was what he did in the early years. Hawkon knew at the time that the Pacifist Tribe could be his chance to enact his goals, and now it was finally going to come to fruition.
He wanted to reward them and thank them a ton for giving him the chance to use the tribe to potentially in the future become, hopefully he thought, the most powerful viking in the Barbaric Archipelago.
He was definitely going to give back to the tribe and show gratitude in certain ways that required going overseas in the future. But his desire to cleanse the archipelago of any possibility of a re-emergence of a Drago, Grimmel and Hiccup-like figure was priority number one, as well as getting revenge on Hiccup.
It was pretty remarkable how a guy who wasn't even originally a Pacifist had managed to come to power in the exact same tribe that took him in when he was abandoned. Hawkon still boasted privately over that and looking back, he was proud that he never gave up in his quest for power.
With Grugg Hawkon stood right next to him, the ballot reading Pacifist was situated on the wooden platform alongside the Chieftan of the tribe in front of the crowd. The entire tribe was gathered in a massive row that stretched much bigger than a football field in length and width because of how difficult it was to gather over 50,000 vikings towards one area.
It was now time to read out the result of the 'referendum' in which the question was posed to the vikings about combining the position of Founding Father with that of the Chieftan. The intensity was never this high in the previous election as it was now, because although the combination was going to happen regardless, and this vote was simply a fake symbolic meaningless one, the significance was huge. Grugg Hawkon was about to receive unlimited power and there'd no longer be a check on his authority - his word would be everyone's command, and the army would have to pledge personal loyalty to him.
"MEN AND WOMEN, I AM READY TO MAKE THE DECLARATION. WE HAVE VOTED IN A HISTORICAL FIRST TODAY IN A CONSTITUTIONAL MATTER WHICH WILL SHAPE OUR FUTURE UNDER THE GREAT, WORTHY AND PRIDEFUL GRUGG HAWKON! I CAN OFFICIALLY DECLARE THE FOLLOWING..."
Silence wasn't even the word tonight. You could hear a needle drop it was that intense with absolutely no noise.
"OUR LATE FATHER'S WILL REQUESTED THAT HIS ROLE BE COMBINED WITH THAT OF THE CHIEFTAN'S, AND HAVING PUT THIS QUESTION TO THE TRIBE, I CAN REVEAL THE FOLLOWING TO THE QUESTION, AND THE VOTES WERE AS FOLLOWS: THOSE VOTING FOR APPROVAL, 59,935, THOSE VOTING AGAINST, 1039!"
A monstrous cheer broke out amongst the crowd upon hearing those numbers. Record turnout, every single member of the tribe including the children had voted, and it was a landslide never before seen in the tribe's history.
Hawkon began saluting and waving to the crowd as they all roared and cheered with their manly voices and the women whistling through their fingers.
Hawkon felt like crying, but he had to keep it together. His journey was already completed before the result was announced just now but this had only confirmed it, with this symbolic show of support. He wanted to cry out of pure joy for having achieved this role, and for what he was now able to do.
"SWOOOOOOOOOOOOORDSSS!" cried a significant heap of the crowd as the heat started ramping up towards Hawkon from all of their voices, the intensity of them.
Everyone's eardrums felt on the verge of exploding, the cheers were that loud and manic. Everyone was trying their hardest to sword salute for their leader to spot them and salute at them.
Hawkon walked up to the platform, and he deliberately cut off the ballot reading Pacifist so he could declare for himself his new position in his concluding speech of the night after a hectic day of voting.
"FRIENDS, BROTHERS, SISTERS, TONIGHT ARGUABLY MATTERS MORE THAN ANY OTHER NIGHT, MUCH MORE SO THAN THE LAST ELECTION!" Hawkon cried, his vocal chords doing all the work as he yelled through the echoing steel that enabled his voice to be heard across the crowd on the little wooden podium-like table he was holding.
"We have turned a page on history. You have put your trust in me. Your loyalty will fuel me fowards as we embark upon our new future. Tonight, we have not just ended the past, we have burnt the past. No longer can any outside tribe refer to us as the old guys who stood still. The New Pacifist era officially emerged tonight after these results, and in a manner totally unavoidable and inescapable!"
"Having achieved such an endorsement to carry out my agenda, I will make this sole promise not just to the outside archipelago but to all of you, to whom I pledge to serve your interests in your desire for change and a voice. The New Pacifists will go uninterrupted for centuries to come, this new leaf we have turned cannot be overturned as we embark on a life changing journey. There will be no return in this tribe to the old mistakes. The next ten centuries and the other ten after that, with the New Pacifists, will be swiftly locked in place with no possibility of return!"
"The print in which we begin our newly found quest will precisely rest upon these next centuries, these tens of thousands of years in which we will exist as the New Pacifists and will shape the future to bring back the old world of vikings. Nothing can interrupt such a patriotic desire! the liberation of this archipelago from traitors and betrayers is precisely the patriotic roads we will embark on! the eradication of wild dragon attacks is precisely the exact same road we will embark on! and undoing the wrongs of past tribes, both on a personal level and on a general level, will be the exact same road I will embark upon too!"
"TONIGHT...I STAND HERE BEFORE YOU ALL AS YOUR CHANCELLOR. TO SERVE AS THE CHANCELLOR OF THE PACIFIST TRIBE IS AN HONOR I WILL CARRY WITH THE REST OF MY LIFE AS WE BEGIN OUR RESURRECTION! LONG LIVE THE NEW PACIFISTS!" cried out Grugg Hawkon as his face reddened up like a tomato as he concluded.
"LONG LIVE THE NEW PACIFISSSSSSSTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" yelled the crowd, in an entirely simultaneous manner.
That was it. It was done. There was no stopping this now. The tribe that Stoick pledged whilst he was alive to keep disclosed had undergone a drastic change that would've made the late Berkian Chieftan shocked and utterly bewildered. It was no longer the tribe it was during the days Hiccup's father was alive.
Grugg Hawkon was the unquestionable leader. Tonight was a solid confirmation of that, and even though it already happened before the vote took place, the symbolic ballot had all but sealed the future path for the tribe. Now, it was a question of when Hawkon was going to begin his plans.
And that wasn't going to begin for a full year. Hawkon knew that he needed to firstly spend time actually putting into practice his re-arming of the tribe, building it up, and conscripting and training the young men and boys of the tribe to be in the army. After that full year, Hawkon would've been the leader of the tribe for one year.
And he intended to be in power for forty, fifty, sixty, seventy years. From the moment the Father appointed him to be Chieftan, Hawkon knew that he was going to die as the what was then Chieftan, this was his life's work following being abandoned by Hiccup and the Hooligans, and he wasn't going to escape that. He had long made the promise to certain members of the council that he was going to be leader of the tribe until he died an old man.
The difference between when he first boasted about that, and now, is that now, he truly had the authority to do it, unlike a month ago when he was still a Chieftan kept in check by the Father. The democratic institution of the Pacifist Tribe was truly dead, Hawkon had promised the New Pacifists to exist for many centuries to come, and the Pacifist Tribe of the old was dead in the water. The only tribe known to use democracy in its institution was no longer recognizable.
And most importantly of all...Grugg Hawkon was now officially the Chancellor of the Pacifist vikings.
He now held the command over the army, the entire tribe, his word was everyone's command, and after tonight, tomorrow was going to be the day where every single viking pledged their personal loyalty to the Chancellor.
Dagur the Deranged was able to pick up news of what happened last night on Pacifist Island.
"Heather...word has gotten out across the archipelago that Grugg Hawkon has somehow consolidated his position and he's got ultimate authority as a dictator viking...their Founding Father passed away two days ago...any indication of someone being a tyrant is when they quickly use the death of a figure who kept them in check to give themselves more power...we need a plan B right now."
Dagur was in a massive hut with a bunch of Berserker vikings, as Heather and Mala sat inside it with him. He no longer had no choice but to resort to a daunting solution in response to Grugg Hawkon's takeover and consolidation as dictator.
"He's called himself, if rumors from the other tribes are to be believed, the 'Chancellor' of the tribe...he now controls their fighters, he now holds the word of authority over everything, and those poor vikings were threatened and intimidated into voting once again," Dagur added.
"Admittedly y'know...Chancellor sounds like a pretty powerful title..." one of the Berserker vikings whispered.
"Who said that?!" Dagur asked, turning around to face one of the standing men in the hut, "just don't...I can't do this. I can't even bear to listen to any sort of positive talk about that man."
"It was tongue in cheek Dagur, forgive me."
"It's gonna be okay Dagur, trust me...we'll be fine," Mala insisted, hugging her husband as he collapsed into her shoulder with tears.
"D-do you want me to get anything?" Heather asked her brother, thinking about bringing any sort of water to try and keep him calm.
"No...and no...it won't be fine. I'm gonna throw in the wool right now - we HAVE to track Hiccup down and his new island. We just have to. We HAVE to get an inside understanding of that tribe before anything gets out of hand. A tyrant like Hawkon, who now has unchecked power if the rumors are true after the Father's death supposedly...we cannot possibly go through what Hiccup and his tribe went through with Drago and Grimmel. I already feel guilty about being a jerk in the past against Hiccup and everyone else, and I feel like karma's come back around to bite me with the possibility of going through our own version of that."
Dagur was completely disturbed and was on the verge of a wide sob for the fear of any possible danger towards Mala and Heather, but also to the archipelago. Nobody wanted to return to the tensions of the Drago and Grimmel fights with the Hairy Hooligans, this time directed on the wider archipelago, which was what Dagur feared could happen.
"Brother...it's well out there, their island. We can't possibly find Hiccup."
"What else can we do, Heather? we need word from the horse's mouth. We need it, we absolutely DO!" Dagur declared, standing up from his wooden chair as Mala continued to try and calm him.
"I...I think Heather, we ought to not rule it out at this point. But how do we even consider going to the island, if they're even nearby anymore?" Mala asked Dagur.
"We gather every single tribe aside from the Pacifists and we send out boats sailing in every direction...it has to be out there, it HAS to be. That newly-called Chancellor cannot be allowed to have an advantage over us with a tribe we know nothing about whilst containing a great number of fighter vikings. I don't care how long it'll take, we HAVE to find Hiccup...I'm going to arrange for all of us Chieftans to meet up to send out boats across the seas."
And that was precisely what Dagur did. The next day, he met up with Alvin, Atali, and so on, and finally revealed that they all should begin sailing on the seas to look for New Berk to find Hiccup.
With Grugg Hawkon now Chancellor of the Pacifists and with the implications of such a moment in the heads of some vikings already like Dagur, the onus was on them to track down Hiccup and his new island.
The question was how Hiccup was going to feel about it, would he even remember Grugg Hawkon from when he personally told him he was expelled from the tribe after he had lodged a blade into a Gronckle in the Great Hall, on the night he gathered the Berkians to tell them they needed to evacuate to escape Grimmel after said Night Fury killer burnt his house down and threatened him and Toothless?