CHAPTER 65: Council's crackdown
With the outbreak of war on the archipelago, the Ancient council had gathered for a swift meeting. Headed by Herrick Herald, the tribe's defacto Deputy Chieftan, the second most powerful viking under Yurlin, the meeting was to cover a wide range of decrees to be put into force within the tribe as a result of war being declared by the Hooligans. Yurlin wasn't here because he was wholeheartedly studying maps of the archipelago and creating documents on yellow bits of paper that'd contain the plans and such for the upcoming invasions.
The Ancients were going to initiate these invasions precisely because of war being declared on them - more than anything, Yurlin felt like he had to knock out the Hooligans and Berserkers out of the war. He was at least assuming with Hiccup that he'd come to his senses when he realized the dire and hopeless situation he'd find himself in militarily. Out of the Berserkers and Hooligans, the former was the tribe Yurlin most wanted to capitulate and knock out of the war. To do that, the island needed to be occupied.
In the meantime, whilst Yurlin was away in a disclosed location on Ancient Island drawing up with his top generals the plans for those invasions, Herald was chairing the council as they all sat in the great hall, around a big circular table, with him at the top chair.
These council meetings were largely symbolic because the full authority of the tribe rested upon Yurlin. His word was the command and law of the tribe as the dictator. But the council, in this time of war, was seen as important more so than ever considering that war had broken out.
"Gentlemen," nodded Herald, his authority crystal clear in the sharp firm tone of his voice, "we as vikings have been tasked with fulfilling our destiny. It starts today, and by assurance we will prevail through this phoney war - a war in which we were the victims of such a declaration of war by the warmongers in the outside tribes, not the other way around."
Many of the council vikings sat around the table nodded. They had full authentic beliefs in the ideology, and it was on that basis that the whole tribe was to fight this war. The council, which was more or less the 'government' of the tribe, headed by the real authority in Yurlin himself, shared the entirety of the ideology.
"One of the many aspects of fighting this war will be to ensure that our fellow vikings aren't fed with propaganda from our enemies. We know the unviking worm clearly slides through the outside tribes, and with those worms carries vile propaganda designed to harm and talk down the Ancient vikings!"
Everyone in the room nodded.
"And so measures will need to be considered for the well being of the Ancient vikings. Their protection is our upmost priority. We, as the tribe standing for peace and anti-aggression, have a sole duty to reward our vikings for coming along with us, and before that reward can be realized they will need to be guarded, they will need to be protected like extinct species!"
The 'reward' Herald was talking about was primarily the extra living space the tribe intended on acquiring, as it'd already started doing with its prior annexations before the war broke out. Now that the war was underway, the living space aspect of the ideology was going to be enacted, and that living space was to be subsequently treated with a deliberate famine of all the vikings on those lands, in order for the Ancient vikings to then move onto those islands and 'colonize' and turn them into their own.
That was always one of the main plans Yurlin had, alongside his other core objectives. It was to be put into practice and was to be, as Herald just described it, the 'reward' for the Ancient people/vikings.
"I agree, sir. My proposition is that we put down a second decree, a sort of update on the first one, if you will. This decree will specifically cover wartime dos and don'ts, how to avoid the propaganda, and to not talk down our great leader and Chieftan, our Yurlin."
Herrick Herald liked the idea of that. The second in command of the tribe looked to the council member with approval.
"I like you - you get the idea, you know what that idea is? simplicity, not complexity, is the key. We know that the Ancient vikings love and adore our great leader, our savior, Alfa Yurlin already, for all the achievements he has given to the tribe over these past few years. They know not to talk him down or mock him for that reason alone, and so, a decree which more or less updates the first one we implemented is very much a good idea!"
That was to be the crackdown. An enhanced decree specifically as a result of the outbreak of war.
The Ancient vikings' reaction to the outbreak of war was mostly welcome. They, having been fed the ideology under Yurlin over the past few years, were under the assumption that they were in the right and that the other tribes were simply warmongers looking to destroy their sovereignty and ensure the world as it is could never go back to a peaceful atmosphere.
They were also welcoming of the war because of the living space that their council had constantly banged on about getting for them. They were delighted at the chance, as their council had also fed this to them too, to finally destroy the unviking virus that had plagued the vikings' whole existence as they knew it, which, as already explained, was the Ancients' scapegoats to blame for causing the likes of Drago and Grimmel to ever rise in the first place.
The village of Ancient Island, the central village, was a lot quieter than usual though. The propaganda posters and unviking posters were still rife and about, but actual vikings themselves were in small numbers. The council had ordered their vikings to stay 'safe'. Another explanation for the lack of activity within the village was that quite simply a few more vikings had been forcefully conscripted into the Ancient army to fight the war.
Even against their own will - not every Ancient conscripted wanted to do it, but they had no choice in the matter. A refusal to join the army when conscripted was akin to asking to be killed, because it'd be seen as traitorous and a defying act against the 'savior' in Alfa Yurlin.
But for the most part, the tribe was very much happy to go to war. They'd been itching for it to establish their supremacy over the archipelago, particularly their enemies in the Berserkers and Hooligans. They dared not talk about the odd pact that their leader had struck with their biggest ideological enemy of all - Drago Bludvist. In public, the vikings dared not mention it because anything said about it had the potential to cost their lives.
Within a public crop field of vegetables where a couple of women Ancient vikings were picking carrots and such, having been tasked to double their food collecting for the war effort, they were talking precisely about the outbreak.
"Have you heard? we're at war!" said one of the vikings, as she gently remained knelt down picking up potatoes from the crops.
"I know. It's pathetic isn't it?!"
"Quite. All we want to do is to ensure this world is aggression-free and our sovereignty as a tribe is protected, but it seems there's warmongers still about on these islands!"
The two women were full supporters of the Yurlin regime. They loved that they were given proper jobs, that they had strict routines every day, and just generally had guidance in the form of dictatorial decrees - living like how true vikings ought to, in their opinion. Morally, they were willing to put aside the fact their council had conducted the night of the burning huts, a systematic attack on its own vikings, the political camps hidden across Ancient Island which at this point were open secrets to the Ancient vikings, and just the grim rumours of experiments being conducted on innocent Ancient vikings that'd been arrested and taken into these camps, for political reasons and such.
They had no such morals when it came to any of that, because ultimately their lives felt accomplished and they felt dignified in their tribe as it was calling the shots and making the other tribes know their places. And this was the danger with leaders like Yurlin, rabble-rouser leaders.
They had this ability to make the people they led put aside their morals, with no limits, in order for them to feel good about themselves and for their own lifestyles. None of them considered what was going on in those camps 'crimes' or cruel, because all that mattered to them was dignity, secure lives as vikings, and food on the table, all of which the two women had.
The Yurlin regime was very good at persuading the vikings to do all of that, and that was what the Hooligans and such were fighting ultimately. The downfall of the Yurlin regime will mean that when it does fall, in the event of victory by the grand alliance, they'd be able to show the Ancient vikings precisely what they enabled to happen, the crimes and merciless acts of systematic violence even against the children of the tribe who'd been suspected as political prisoners.
Yurlin wasn't like Drago or Grimmel on that basis - in many respects, he was worse, and fighting someone who was worse than Drago AND Grimmel, but this time without the dragons anymore, was something that proved to be as daunting a prospect, if not more so, for Hiccup and the Hooligans.
"We'll soon have our commupance. Down with the unviking animal!" said the other woman.
"Agreed, our husbands will defend our island from those pests, and our lovely admired HANDSOME Yurlin will protect us!"
They carried on picking their vegetables from the crops, putting them into wooden crates to then be delivered to council-sponsored huts for food storage and such.
The fishermen on the docks were also discussing the war, at this point the news of the declaration by the Hooligans had clearly gotten to the regular Ancients, and once again, the reaction was very similar to the women vikings who were picking the crops.
"Aye, I always knew those Hooligans had a bit of war thirst in em!" said an elderly fisherman, his dangling long white beard nearly hitting his legs.
A dozen Ancient vikings with baskets of raw cod and salmon, being monitored by undercover council members as they were too tasked with providing most of their catches to the council for the benefit of the soldier vikings, were congregated on the wooden ducks that stuck out across from the main land of Ancient Island.
"I have been dying for us to teach them a lesson for plunging this archipelago into two devastating conflicts many years ago!" said another of the fishermen as he dangled his rod helplessly into the seawaters.
He was talking about, by mentioning the 'two devastating conflicts', Drago and Grimmel. But he seemed to be blaming the HOOLIGANS too, as much as he was the 'unvikings'. The Ancient propaganda being fed by the council had recently started blaming the Hooligans for those two coming to fruition now and it was clearly showing.
"Lad, we are going to make sure that all of their senses are knocked right out of em. If it weren't for Yurlin we'd be a puppet tribe of those bloody disgusting unvikings!" said one of the other fishermen.
The dark clouds roamed the skies above the island. The weather was still relatively calm as the tribe was put to work to prepare for the war effort. The Ancients weren't going to waste any time, and although the grand alliance seemed to be hesitant to actually undertake physical fighting, the Ancients had no such scruples - they were determined to show that to be the case very imminently.
But overall, from the conversations across the island particularly between two important groups on the island, the Ancient people seemed to broadly welcome the prospect of war, in sharp contrast to the hesitancy of Hiccup and the others initially, who didn't want to have to potentially go through the horrifying scenes of battle that he'd already faced when battling Drago, subsequently followed by Grimmel.
The Ancient council had its vikings nail onto various wooden poles across the island the new decree, to which it was strictly to be adhered to. The outbreak of war meant the tribe was going to become much more archaic and much more dictatorial, in order to prevent their vikings from getting fed outside information. Below was the poster that was, in numerous copies, hammered by nails onto many wooden poles across the island for the Ancient vikings to read.
THE WELFARE OF THE ANCIENT PEOPLE
As we face difficult times, with the warmongers across these waters declaring war on us, our vikings are expected to undertake the following for their benefit. This decree adds to the initial decree, as well as our law for the protection of the well-being and blood of the Ancient people against unviking breeding which we put into practice a short while ago.
Do NOT slander or make jokes about our leader. Those who issue such jokes will be treated as unvikings. Jokes about our leader undermines his greatly loved status and the admiration the Ancient people have for him, especially in these dark times that await us.
Any literature with our Chieftan's name on must NOT have spilt drinks, dropped food, or any stains on such literatures. Censoring our Chieftan's well respected name is an act only worthy of the harshest of punishments. As patriotic vikings, share your leader's name with dignity!
Take care to ensure your family members, be it kids, wives, husbands, are NOT in breach of any of these additional decree legislations. Report them to the council and they will swiftly be dealt with. Under no circumstances must you cover for these people, as you will be suspected of colluding with those seeking to bring down our great Chieftan!
This war will require the efforts of all of you. Your rations will be drastically reduced, we encourage you all to grow your own vegetables - meat such as fish will be strictly reduced, mutton will also be reduced as will other meats. Our soldiers, fighting for our sovereignty and rightly deserved living space, against the warmongers, deserve to fight on full stomachs!
As a reiteration, any marriage or any relationship you may notice between a hidden unviking on our island and an Ancient viking MUST be reported, as such a marriage is prohibited and banned under our 'well being and protection of the Ancient viking blood act' act that we implemented not too long ago. During this war, such relationships may become more prominent, and it'll be our sole duty to bring the numbers down if spotted. Any Ancient viking involved in this dare not think they can just hide it and not expect to be found out as the traitors they would surely be.
Let us win this war, and let us finally rid this world of the pests that have been the brunt of all our problems! OUR YURLIN!
- Alfa Yurlin, Chieftan/Leader of the Ancient Tribe.
That was the enhanced decree above. And it only sought to confirm the notion that this tribe was a tribe like no other on the archipelago. The sort of values and archaic measurements the tribe preached meant it had absolutely no equivalence to any other tribe in the history of the archipelago - it was a cruel, one man dictatorship of a tribe systematically harming its own vikings, and if it wasn't stopped, eventually all the other vikings of other tribes.
The Ancients weren't going to wait for the alliance to make the first move, either. They were itching for this war, and itchy they had gotten. It was time.