The times were not easy nor kind. It was a time in which only those of Noble birth or wealth were considered of worth. A time in which many of a kings subjects were hardly thought of at all. It was a time when there were slaves. Once a slave, always a slave. It was a title you could never shake. It was a curse.
The kings ruled over their lands with a fierce yet steady hand. Some kings were loathed, others were loved. Some were somewhere in between.
Then there were the Wanderers.

A strange, mysterious and somewhat rebellious group. They were formed of a mix of people of all ages from all across the lands. They fought to free their own; the slaves. For many were slaves who had escaped but had nowhere else to go. Some were unfortunates cast out. Some were runaways and others were frightened victims who fled. The kings loathed the Wanderers. They threatened the kings power and control, they freed slaves and refused to be counted as belonging to any realm. They just wandered about between lands. Since they broke no written laws, they could not be counted as criminals, so the kings had to simply let them be. Both groups had a silent agreement to ignore the others as much as they could.

All that was about to change.

The realm of Berk was ruled over by the Haddock family, and had been for many years now. The current king was Stoick the Vast. For the most part, Stoick was not a cruel leader. He protected his people fiercely and ran his lands well. But he still had his flaws. As a man of Noble birth and from a long line of wealth and titles, Stoick was sometimes known to overlook those in the lower classes. He sometimes still saw them as inferior, and not really worth much. He still allowed slavery to happen in his lands and be traded with his allies. Though he did not encourage the use of slaves to construct the buildings of Berk, nor did he condemn it. He also still allowed slaves to be used in palaces and given to Nobles and the wealthiest of his people. Stoick loathed the Wanderers, perhaps even more than the other kings, even though they rarely ventured near to his lands, and if they did, they kept their distance from his central village and palace. No one knew why he detested them so much, or why they kept so much distance.
Not even Stoick's only child and heir had any idea. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Hiccup was very different to his father and so the two would often clash. Not that the people ever really saw this though. Prince Hiccup was fairly well liked within the kingdom of Berk. Unlike his father, he seemed to feel that a title like 'noble' had to be earned, not given from birth. He did not look down on the lower classes nearly as much as his father did, though he was sometimes a little blind to what was really going on within the kingdom he would someday inherit, and he was certainly very blind about the harsh reality that lower classes and slaves faced. Yet he was a thoughtful, talented young man who was already displaying the traits one would associate with someone who was noble. In recent years Hiccup had succeeded in becoming something of a hero when he ended the war between people and dragons, at least, in Berk he ended it. The ending of this war had excellent results for everyone in Berk, and dragons became a part of everyday life without being feared. The Berkians, known as Hooligans, were content. Their leader was strong and protected them, for the most part they were treated well and life was not hard. Their future leader was compassionate and already a hero and dragons were no longer foes but friends. Life in Berk was good and peaceful.
But Berk was where all the roads would lead...