Before the rise of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock I as King of the Wilderwest, there was the man, the one who served alongside him as his captain of the guard, who became the first founder of the Audibaurjek Tribe in the Barbaric Archipelago.
The buccaneer who, up until now, his story was told in fragments and only that which told him in chronicles about the king, when he himself was young and fated to one day kill Merciless himself.
And that man is Tiburonkolt.
It is time that his story, once known only in fragments of Hiccup the First's chronicles, is revealed – before their eyes and ears, to the citizens of the Kingdom of the Wilderwest.
It's time for the legend of Tiburonkolt to come out into the open.
The battle for El Dorado will be taken to the Spanish Empire, and to their governor, Hernán Cortés.
All in this prequel to 'The Lost Legacy: Trials of the King's Lost Treasures'.
A/N: There will be colossal retcons of Tiburonkolt's origin in comparison to what he tells Hiccup the First in The Lost Legacy: Trials of the King's Lost Treasures, as that story was written before this one was conceived.
Such retcons include Tiburonkolt mentioning that he had brothers, and that it was the first time he had the 'Ticking Compass' in his grasp, and how he acted heroic, if not a little deceptive.
He lied about having brothers, because he was the only son of his two parents. That's one.
That wasn't the first time he had the compass on him, because he built his own, simply by copying the functions of the one that the Hysterics built themselves. He was only pretending.
And so, in truth and conclusion, Tiburonkolt was not the heroic figure that he was as seen in the story of Hiccup the First, because that was his story, that story was about him becoming the King of the Wilderwest.
On the other hand though, Tiburonkolt is a far less pleasant man than you read about him in 'The Lost Legacy: Trials of the King's Lost Treasures'.
This story is to show the readers a more fleshed out version of him, because I wasn't impressed because of how he had a more prominent role in the story. Hiccup the First was supposed to be the main protagonist, while he was in a supporting role. I felt like I was overshadowing Fishlegs the Nameless' role as Hiccup's human friend, and Wodensfang's role as Hiccup's draconic bud.
And this is supposed to occur before the events that lead into 'The Lost Legacy: Trials of the King's Lost Treasures'. Detailing the rise of a king who ruled the Barbaric Archipelago…
…Before the downfall of the Kingdom of the Wilderwest.
Yep. I'm talking about Grimbeard the Ghastly, or rather, Speedfast, as he was known in his youth. The king who rejected the Dragonmark, the king who enslaved both Vikings and dragons, and the king who murdered his favorite son.
Or, so he thinks. Because I have plans for his favorite son. The same one he abandoned for eight years on the Black Bay. And, the only reminder of the wife, Chinhilda the Indomitable.
The very wife he threw away when he stole their son from her while she slept, the wife he fought and defeated in battle, before he banished her.
Major Inspirations:
For the inspirations behind this story, because there weren't enough naval battles to showcase his swashbuckling skills as a buccaneer, I decided to choose a selection from a few:
— Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
This was the plotline I decided to choose because that movie was good, because of the dark tone and the idea of cursed treasure that strips someone of their humanity if they lay a finger, and then must atone by returning them to the chest. And atoned in their blood.
— GUN by Activision and Neversoft.
This is a game that I'm well-familiar with, as I'm sure you are as well, because it includes voice actors like the Punisher himself, Thomas Jane, alongside names such as Kris Kristofferson who voices Ned, Ron Perlman who voices Hoodoo Brown, Lance Henriksen who voiced Kerchak in Tarzan, Tom Serkitt who voices Clay Allison, and even Brad Dourif, who's the voice of Chucky in Child's Play and was even Grima Wormtongue himself in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
I chose this one because of Cortés' quest to find the lost city of gold. In GUN, Magruder – who is Lance Henriksen's character by the way – it's said that he convinced Richmond to send him on a secret mission he thought could change the course of the war for the Confederacy, who - at this time - was desperate to gain the upper hand over the Union: Find Quivira, an ancient city of gold.
The Civil War ended, but Magruder's mission did not.
And Clay, who was a corporal under the Texas Mounted Rifles which Thomas Magruder was a part of as a commanding officer in the war, said to Cole that "had he stood up like Ned, Magruder might've been in hell instead of back here, doing his devilish work". Yep, he's still after Quivira, it's his holy grail as Clay says it.
In regards to how Cortés is still after El Dorado, well – it's safe to assume he went on to commit the same crimes he did in real life after his failure, when he took Tzekel-Kan as a slave to Cuba, because he assumed he was lying to him.
With how I'm connecting this to The Road to El Dorado, just know that it's only a story, and what can be truthful, stories aren't meant to be told in only one way. There are many ways to tell one.
In the end of it all, it's not supposed to be on the dotted line of history, this is a fanfic after all. And most of all, this is based entirely around a world with dragons in it, however minor their presence is in Tiburonkolt's story.
Minor Inspirations
That's about it for the two major inspirations of the main story. But I have a few other minor ones to list too.
These include Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, which I use for Tiburonkolt attacking naval forts in the seas.
Mulan (1998) is another, because Tiburonkolt has a horse of his own, like Mulan's horse Khan, to get around when he's not sailing on his hip.
And at last, there's Alpha (2018), which is for when Tiburonkolt is trekking back to his home, right before the Spanish take him prisoner for a crime he didn't commit.
The pattern I described for the bundle that the newborn TIburonkolt is born in was based on the pattern seen on the armor of Twilight Princess' interpretation of the Darknuts. Nothing much, I just like the pattern.
Other Notes:
One last thing I stated before in my story, titled 'School of Dragons: Titan Uprising', that Tiburonkolt preferred his tomahawk over the other common weapons like swords, axes, hammers, those kinds of weapons.
However, in actuality, he preferred his dual swords, because he doesn't want to be associated with Native Americans or their stereotypes because of that weapon that he wields.
Furthermore, the part about Tiburonkolt's mother's genes passing unto the Native American character's son isn't a throwaway line. For the longest time, I was thinking of adding in an Apache character, as one of Tiburonkolt's eventual allies.
Going back to GUN for a minute, there was a Native American character, a chief whose name is 'Many Wounds'.
In my story, he's only known – for the first chapters that he's featured in – as 'Chayton's Grandson'.
He's named so because, allegedly, it's said that in some Apache cultures that names are sacred and aren't always a birthright. So people who didn't have a name were referred to as "that guy/girl" or "['father's name'] son/daughter". And, even if one had a name, people wouldn't call them by it unless it was special circumstances, such as a sacred dance.
This character didn't earn his name yet, plus he doesn't wear any eagle feathers either, they're not only rare but sacred. They're earned only through the most courageous of tasks. Plus, the Native Americans had access to guns, in the form of blanket guns, and cotton too. It's a shame people assume they don't have access to both of these.
He's done some bad things, so he isn't a noble savage. And he isn't entirely stoic, he can smile you know. Nor is he always shirtless.
This character, who eventually takes on the name of 'Devil Hand', doesn't wear a blanket, but his other folk do. He doesn't live in a tipi either. That's for the Great Plains and following the herds.
His hair isn't straight. His hair is wavy and he has some curls.
But the most important thing is: every indigenous nation, every band and every group, all of them have their own culture and traditions. 'Devil Hand' is no exception.
Now, back to Tiburonkolt himself.
He's supposed to be Italian-Mexican, and his Italian side on his father doesn't mean he's Roman.
Unfortunately, of all the HTTYD stories I wrote for my AU, which I use very loosely, this might be an artifact title because there's very little dragons in this story.
There aren't any riders either, and the Barbaric Archipelago doesn't appear all that much. This is supposed to be based on the series of books written by Cressida Cowell, and her choice of names pissed me off in the past.
Hence, why I changed a lot of the names of the dragon species in 'The Lost Legacy: Trials of the King's Lost Treasures'.
And I altered the storyline for that one, so that Hiccup the First isn't exposed because he has the Dragonmark. Instead, Snotface is the one who instigates it by reminding them why Hiccup should not be in the Hairy Hooligan Tribe in the first place.
At least, that's my intention now, because the original version that you can still read today has him refuse to surrender the treasures because of his Dragonmark branded on his chest.
As always, I don't hate Cressida Cowell, but what I do hate are the stupid names. Like 'Smashsticks-on-Ice' and 'King's Lost Things'.
This includes every dialect of 'Dragonese' spoken in the books.
My blood boils especially even after a long time since 'How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming' was released. Which was created to make everyone disrespect Hiccup and not take him seriously as he's the chief now, and they listened to him in the movies, but not in this short. It's like what he did doesn't matter anymore.
Not in the trilogy, not in the shows like Riders and Defenders of Berk, not in the comics, not in Race to the Edge, not in Dawn of New Riders or other games, and not in the epilogue from the third film either.
'How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming' should never be canon, or forgiven in that aspect.
That makes us even now.
And yes, there will be firearms in this story, no matter how anachronistic it is for the Norse setting.
The same goes for Mikekolt's stories, or the stories written about Drayko and Toothless, or the main Knights of the Dragon Riders stories, in terms of advanced machines and weapons.
That is all...