Hi, this is my first How To Train Your Dragon fanfic. Unfortunately, my knowledge of the franchise is lacking so I have had to rely on sources to learn about it before writing the fanfiction. The fanfic will feature a Viking tribe of my own invention and little of the canonical tribe, the Hooligan Tribe. This Viking tribe is called the Quartz Tribe and my main human protagonist is called Lyra Delphinus. The Quartz Tribe's home is on an island not part of the canonical Dreamworks Dragons map called the Isle of Máni, placed 100 miles south of the island of New Berk. The dragons I will be featuring will be several of my own made up species of dragons but there will be a couple of young Night Furies featured. You will meet these dragons later on in the story. Anyway, without further stalling, let's begin.
Chapter 1- Lyra's narrative introduction
On the Isle of Máni, a large island 100 km south of New Berk
The Isle of Máni was a large island, bigger than the island on which New Berk, the village of the Hooligan Tribe lead by Hiccup Haddock Horrendous III. Like New Berk, the Isle of Máni had a variety of environments such as cliffs and small forests but it also had a few caves and a mountain range as well. This mountain range divided the Isle into two halves, the northern half and the southern half. On a large, grassy hill north of these mountains, a village was built and this village was busy with the hustle and bustle of its inhabitants like all villages in this world of Vikings and dragons.
"This is our village, Hav Av Stjerner (pronounced 'styern-er')," narrated the protagonist, a teen female human, "Or 'Sea of Stars' and this village is aptly named because on clear dark nights, we can see such in the sky due to how high up we are from the level of the sea."
In the elevated village, the villagers were up to a variety of different jobs.
"A WIDE variety of activities goes on in our village," the human girl continued, "and the jobs we do is diverse. Some of us are cooks, some of us are farmers, livestock carers, shepherds, and some of us are beekeepers..." in one farm, a shepherd was watching over a flock of sheep and goats while nearby, beekeepers kept watch over their artificial hives.
"Some of us are hunters and some of us are fishers," continued the girl, "Some of us are also blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers and knitters..." in a few houses, a group of people, many of them women, worked full tilt in weaving and making fabrics. Young girls sat at these weavers' feet learning the basics in the area.
"Some of us are astronomers and stargazers (some of our constellations are Thor's Hammer or Mjölnir; Stormbreaker the Axe and Gungnir the Spear), biologists... and some of us, such as myself," the girl continued, "are history and dracology (study of dragons) lovers but my favourite subject in particular is... DRAGONS..." in one of the buildings called a library, a young teen girl sat in one corner, reading a book about dragons. This girl had long jet black hair tied into pigtails, fair skin and green eyes. Her main attire was a dark leather top, a silvery skirt made from a chainmail-like material, baggy navy blue trousers and navy blue boots that were fluffy around the rims.
"Oh, by the way," the girl spoke in narration, "My name is Lyra... Lyra Delphinus. My mother's name is Diamond and my father's name is Flint. I am the only child of Flint and Diamond with no brothers and sisters as Diamond is largely infertile. Flint is a fisherman and hunter while Diamond is a baker, weaver and teacher in dracology. Like me, Diamond has a strong love of dragons and their biology and when she was my age, she used to study them and care for them until it was time for the dragons to no longer seek refuge on our island. More on this later..."
As Lyra continued reading the dracology book, three more kids, all of them wearing thick tops and trousers (also called pants) made from animal skins, thick black boots and a leather belt around their waists, came in and surrounded Lyra to her annoyance. All three were boys and they had ginger hair, fair skin, brown eyes and were slim in their build. One boy wore red attire, another wore blue (lighter than Lyra's navy blue) and the third wore yellow. Their belts were a darker colour than their clothes with the blue wearing one's belt being navy like some of Lyra's clothes.
"Hey, Lyrie," said the boy wearing blue, "What are you readin'? Dragons again?"
"Forget it, Lyrie, we no longer have dragons livin' on this island," said the boy dressed in the red clothes. Then the boy dressed in yellow lunged a hand in an attempt to grab the book out of Lyra's hand. Lyra, irritated, stood up and walked away as the three boys continued laughing at her.
"Those three," Lyra narrated, "are my irritating, immature identical triplet cousins, Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral. Volstagg wears yellow, Hogun wears blue and Fandral wears red and their age is 13. Honestly, those three get on my NERVES... GRRRR," Lyra glared at her three giggling cousins and continued towards the other section of the library to read her book in peace. "Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral are three of the sons of Diamond's brother Uncle Iscan the Muscular and his wife Hollyhair, one of the ginger-haired women of our tribe and whom they had inherited their ginger hair. Iscan the Muscular is the leader of our tribe, called the Quartz Tribe and he has five children: the aforementioned triplets Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral who are his youngest; a daughter named Wisteria and another son who is the eldest, Herbert the Humble. Wisteria is around my age: 15 and Herbert, 18. Because he is the eldest son of our tribe chief, Herbert is the heir to the leadership position. Herbert and Wisteria are both more mature than Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral and they are usually the ones who help to keep those mischievous triplets in order."
Lyra then sat down in a quiet corner and resumed reading the dracology book. "Uncle Iscan is an intimidating looking man. He is VERY muscular hence his name and is as big as Stoick the Vast, the chief of the Hooligan Tribe and Hiccup's father whom we met at one point in our history. He is VERY tough, firm but kind and compassionate and wise as any tribe leader should be. He always wants what's best for his tribe and though he is kind, he does NOT mess about and will NOT hesitate to deal with ANY threat to his tribe..."
Lyra continued reading her dracology book which contained information about all the known species of dragons in the world including rare dragons like the Night Fury. "Anyway, moving on; about the Quartz Tribe's history; we have lived here on the Isle of Máni for nine generations and our ancestors were mainly sailors and dragon tamers but when they settled here, they also developed the additional skills of farming, beekeeping, livestock care, crafting and other essential activities. And though many of these activities have been passed by them down the generations to us such that we still do them today, several activities have faded out of our ancestry and one of them is the conservation and care of dragons..."
Lyra read about the Night Fury and gazed in awe at the information about this amazing creature. "First, let's discuss dragons," Lyra continued in narration, "There is a VAST variety of dragons existing in our world and they are classified into seven classes based on their traits like body shape, breath weapons (also called fire types but we prefer to call them breath weapons) and other traits like wing shape."
Lyra then read about the class of dragons in the book. "First, Boulder Class dragons. These dragons are usually hulking dragons with thick, rock-like hides, hulking bodies and often have tiny wings. Surprisingly, they can still get airborne. Rocks are the staple of many of these dragons' diet as it is not only a source of food for them, but a source of their breath weapon as well. Many Boulder dragons can melt the rocks they eat inside their stomachs into lava and then spit out the lava as a weapon like mini-volcanoes. The Gronckle is an example of this type of dragon. Secondly, Sharp Class dragons are armed with deadly spines, wing claws, foot claws or tail spikes with some of them being venomous and able to shoot these spines like darts. Most of these dragons are often EXTREMELY proud, vain and snobbish and I compare their personality to that of a spoilt rotten, pampered pet, like a cat raised in royalty. They demand a LOT of positive remarks and pampering and often do NOT like it when their tamers give attention to other dragons. NOT the sort of dragon I would like to raise due to these common personality traits in this class. The third class of dragons is the Stoker Class. These dragons tend to be hot-headed and short tempered and the most common breath weapon these possess is typical of what most people think of dragons: fire breath. One dragon of this class is the Monstrous Nightmare but Stoker dragons don't just shoot their fire from their mouths. Some species can also apply it to their bodies to become terrifying flaming beasts, their 'flame jacket' being both a sort of defensive armour and offensive weapon at the same time. The Monstrous Nightmare is one such dragon that can do this and it does so with a flammable gel," Lyra read about the Stoker Class dragons on one page.
"And while fire breath is the most common breath ability among the Stokers, not all of them have it. Few Stokers such as the Snowtail wield another breath weapon such as ice instead. Fourthly, Tidal Class dragons are dragons of the sea. Some of these aquatic dragons are amphibious, capable of living both in water and on land. Their breath weapons are often ice and water and some can even generate electricity. Few Tidal dragons wield fire breath, quite the opposite to the Stoker Class dragons. One Tidal Class dragon is the mighty Bewilderbeast, the Leviathan of ALL dragons and the largest known species. This titanic monster can shoot supercooled water that instantly turns into ice from its mouth. Almost no dragon would dare challenge this behemoth and often, the Bewilderbeast has been named an alpha species. Strike Class dragons, fifthly, are dragons with AMAZING and OUTSTANDING flight skills. These reptiles are extremely fast... agile... intelligent... and often HIGHLY accurate in their breath weapon shots. The Night Fury is one obvious example of a Strike Class dragon and is among the fastest flying dragon of all the dragon species. I often call the Night Fury the dragon equivalent to the peregrine falcon, the fastest known bird in the world as like it; Night Furies can reach hundreds of miles per hour in a dive. Though effective in open air, the move cannot be pulled off in confined spaces."
Lyra gazed in admiration at the Strike Class dragons pictured on the pages about them. "Sixth, Tracker Class dragons are hunting dragons with an enhanced sense of smell which they use to track their prey before pouncing onto them. Finally, Mystery Class dragons are dragons that have a variety of bizarre breath weapons and other traits that make them almost impossible to classify into the other six classes. One such dragon is a recently discovered species called the Hypnagogic Poppydrake..." as she narrated this, Lyra read about this mysterious dragon pictured in the section of the Mystery Class dragons in her book. The Hypnagogic Poppydrake resembled the Deadly Nadder in shape and was red and purple. Like the Deadly Nadder, the Poppydrake had two wings and two legs but it did not have spines. Their heads, wing arms and fingers were a deep red and they possessed frills resembling a poppy flower. Their noses were black and the rest of their bodies and wing membranes were purple with their bellies and wings being a darker shade of the colour. The eyes of a Hypnagogic Poppydrake were black with white vertical irises.
"The Hypnagogic Poppydrake is one of the more dangerous Mystery Class dragons," Lyra continued, "And the reason for this is because of their breath weapon. Hypnagogic Poppydrakes can exhale a potent red gas capable of inducing drowsiness, hallucinations and confusion in humans, animals and dragons alike that are unlucky enough to breathe it in. However, few dragons such as the Night Fury are immune to the Poppydrake's red gas breath. Anyway, enough on this bizarre species of dragon and on to our relationship with ALL dragons in our history..."
Lyra then went on to narrate the Quartz Tribe's relationship with dragons. "Unlike most tribes who had a negative relationship with dragons, we had a very positive relationship with these magnificent creatures and we sought to help provide refuge for them from any human group intent on harming them on our island. The Isle of Máni has a mountain region bisecting it into a northern half and a southern half. We call this range the Asgard Mountains and the biggest is Mount Odin, situated right in the middle. At the foot of the Asgard Mountains are some cave openings leading to an underground cavern network consisting of corridors and massive chambers. This cave system served as an ideal refuge for some of the dragon refugees, especially those of the rare and critically endangered species. One such species was the Night Fury. For all its amazing aerial skills and terrifying traits, this so-called 'unholy offspring of lightning and death' was EXTREMELY rare and we had a tiny clan of less than twenty individuals plus Tiny Tooths (baby dragons) living on our island in one of the larger caves. Other rare dragons included the Troublesome Tricolour, a three-headed dragon with each head possessing a different breath weapon (the blue one breathed ice, the red one, fire and the yellow one lightning); the Glistening Rainbowptere, a beautiful dragon resembling a winged serpent whose metallic scales shone in the colours of the rainbow; and the Jewel Sparklewing, a polymorphic two winged and two legged dragon species of the Strike Class possessing metallic scales that sparkled like jewels..." as she described the Jewel Sparklewing, Lyra smiled in admiration of the drawings of this dragon and its morphs of which there were eleven. "Another dragon-based occupation was dragon riding and we did this in order to train fledgling dragons to fly. I myself have NEVER ridden ANY sort of dragon in my life. As much as I wanted to do this, my mother Diamond keeps telling me that dragon riding is now a thing of the past and that I should look into pursuing a present-day occupation like getting married and having my own children and/or weaving when I grow up. Being a wife and mother is something I would definitely do but I'm not so keen on weaving. So why don't we have any interaction with dragons nowadays you might ask?"
Lyra then closed the book on dracology and breathed a sigh. "Many years ago, before Flint and Diamond got married and had me, something went terribly wrong and it resulted in the deaths of ALL the Night Furies on our island, including the babies. An outsider and his group paid a visit to our island and posed as a group of dracologists (dragon studiers) and offered their help in our dragon conservation projects..." as she narrated this, another member of the Quartz Tribe, a young man slightly older than Lyra and carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows, came in. He had slightly darker skin, short brown hair and wore a brown outfit made from animal skin and leather. His boots were black and his eyes were chocolate brown.
"Oh, that's Norman; he has a crush on me. He's 16 years old and an aspiring archer hence the bow in his hands and the quiver of arrows on his back," Lyra narrated. Then the young archer gazed at Lyra.
"Oh, there you are, Lyra," said he, "Your mother Mrs Delphinus is looking for you. It's time for your weaving lesson," he then saw the dracology book in Lyra's hands, "Are you reading about dragons again?"
Lyra flashed a look at the book in her hands and gazed back at Norman before leaving with him. She quickly left to place the dracology book back onto its shelf and then left the library with Norman to outside.
"Have you ever dreamed of riding a dragon like how our ancestors did all those years ago?" asked Lyra.
"Lyra, you know that subject's a thing of the past," Norman replied as he checked the head of one of his arrows and its sharpness, "You remember how that EXTREMELY sly and infamous dragon killer, Grimmel the Grisly and his gang infiltrated our island by posing as a band of dracologists and slaughtered those Night Furies we were looking after and his underlings stole many of the other dragons, particularly those of the rare species?"
Lyra breathed a sigh as she remembered this story told to her by her parents Flint and Diamond.
"Yes," Lyra told us readers, "We have had a 'lovely' visit from that infamous Grisly guy known for his massacre of the Night Fury species and he created a carnage sight with the little Night Fury clan we were hosting."
"Since that incident, our ancestors had released the dragons and told them to find somewhere safe from humans and to never return here again," Norman continued, "Not because they had done anything wrong but because of all these dragon hunters and poachers. We did not want them in any danger again so we sent them away for their safety. Anyway, let's get you to your home where your mother is waiting."
Lyra breathed another sigh and continued with the young archer in the direction of her house. On the way, Norman reached for a large white rose-like flower and picked it while Lyra wasn't looking and kept it behind his back. He was going to secretly give it to her as a token of his feelings for her. However, Lyra was not that much interested in him.
"So that's basically it," Lyra concluded in her narration, "That's my summary of the Quartz Tribe, myself, Hav Av Stjerner and our tribe's history with dragons. We may not have dragons on our island anymore but who knows?"