World of Banished

Sightseeing => Village Blogs => Topic started by: Nilla on February 03, 2020, 06:22:12 AM

Title: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 03, 2020, 06:22:12 AM
It's been a while. But you know me, after a Banished break for a couple of months, I always find the way back to play. I started a game last week; North, seafarer, harsh; you know, typical Nilla game with difficult conditions. It was not a special game; no testing of something new or showing anything special, so I saw no reason to start a new blog. The special starting condition "seafarer" in the North is supposed to simulate the settling of Iceland in the Viking era, about year 900. During the game, I started to think about how this settling really happened. Who were these people? Why did they make this huge step? How did the expansion of the settlements really happen? I started to read a little about it. There are a lot of descriptions about the colonisation and life on Iceland at this time in the Sagas but the problem is; these were written something like 300 years later.

I don't know much about history but with my limited knowledge, I have decided to start a new game and make the settling of Iceland as historically correct as I can. Maybe someone else knows a bit more than I do and can give some advice. @Tom Sawyer, maybe you've made some more research when you made this option or @Artfactial, you seem to know a lot of history maybe also about Iceland, or maybe someone else.

This blog will be more like a story, not like the stories from @Abandoned, I don't have that talent and also not a chronicle, like in the blog from @Artfactial maybe more like @brads3 "Settling of America". We will see.

The first question; who were these people and why did they come? It will be 3 young families. That's settled by the game. I've found 2 main reasons to leave primarily Norway, (there were also some Swedes, Danes and Vikings from the British Island but most of them came from Norway); opposition to Harald Hårfagre; the king who united Norway and a concentration of larger landowner. On these larger farms, there were a lot of people; family members, slaves and everything in between. The definition of slavery to this time seems to be complicated: Free people could be slaves for a period of time and slaves buy themselves free, children born by slave parents had a higher rank, there were different names for different kind of slaves.

In this story; Derritt is the younger son of a rich farmer. His brother will inherit the land. He and his young wife Amiracle have ambitions, they don't want to spend the rest of their lives serving first the parents and then the brother and his wife. Derritt is a peaceful farmer, he also doesn't want to make a living by raiding (I also think that to this time it was more difficult to make raids because the settlements in Britain and western Europe had been more organized). They decide to immigrate to Iceland. Their rich parents support them with the necessary supply and 4 slaves; 2 of them; Rome and Aninne, simple working thralls, 2 of them; Rick and Antoinett of a higher rank. Derritt and Amiracle have a young daughter; Babettye and they also bring two thrall children; Ladonney and Warney.

The journey from Norway took 7 days. Derritt and Rick have been to sea before and know how to sail a ship. The winds were good, most of the other people were seasick at the beginning but they all survived. The colonisation of Iceland has started about 25 years ago and all good land close to the coast was taken so they decided to follow the river north. People said that it was cold and harsh up there but there was plenty of free land. So they went on. It was windy and sometimes they could use the sail but most of the time, they must row the heavy boat. On some passages, they even needed to clear land and drag the ship beside the river. Luckily; Viking men and women are strong.

After 10 days they arrived at a place where the river made a turn. It was calm and peaceful with a lot of flat land, away from the mountains. Derritt and Amiracle only needed a brief glance at each other and they knew; this is our new home.

First picture

Slaughter Month year 3

It has been busy 2½ years. It has been a struggle. There are not many wild animals to hunt; only a few birds could be killed from time to time but the river is full of salmon and the creek is loaded with crayfish. They brought barley, rye and turnip seeds. The crops don't grow very well but at least they can harvest some barley and turnips. But they can forget rye. The summers are too short and cold. In the fall, everyone who can, get out in the woods to pick berries and mushrooms. In winter everyone picks deadwood. On the journey to this spot, they called Pelika, they saw how the forests had been cut down in inhabited areas. Amiracle loves the birch forest and wants to keep it, so Derritt has decided that no single living tree will be cut without his permission. They will need good wood for buildings and some tools but they will try to heat the homes with deadwood. (OK, I don't think this is historically correct. They would probably have cut down all trees but I want to keep them as long as possible)

Derrit and Amiracle have a nice stone-turf house with 2 fireplaces. Next to them Rick and Antoinett live in a slightly simpler turf house and the thralls have a hut closer to the workplaces. Each woman has given birth to a healthy child. Rome is a good blacksmith and has started to make iron from the bog ore they find everywhere and he can make really good tools. But all the clothes are in bad shape. The sheep herd has grown so they have wool and skin enough but there's so much to do. They have started to spin the wool to threads but will need places to weave cloth, prepare wadmal and also to prepare the sheepskin to leather for shoes and belts.

Second picture

It's funny to see how the game "plays my game". Look at the content in the house stores; the farmers family have a good diet, the high-rank slaves almost as good and the simple working slaves have to make do with what's there; only crayfish. :-\
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 04, 2020, 06:06:29 AM
In the first years, they saw no other people but eventually, other settlers started to arrive. Some had a larger household, some were just one family or even a few single men who wanted to try their luck in the area. Dorritt didn´t want anyone too close. He wanted enough free land around so that all of his children could get a piece of land for themselves when they had grewn up. Amiracle always invited the new settlers to stay a few days, gave them food and good advice but everyone was sent further up the river or along the valley.

One day they heard the sound of axes from a not too far distance. Dorritt thought that some new people were trying to settle down on his land so he summoned all men and elder boys, got all their weapons together and went to take a look. They were well armed but had never needed to use their weapons. When newcomers visited, they made sure that everyone saw and understood, that this farmstead could defend itself, if needed. But except Dorritt who had some practice training sword fighting with his brothers back in Norway and the boys who had tried (mostly without success) to kill some black grouse with bow and arrow, no one had ever used any weapons. But Dorritt said that it doesn´t matter. He doesn´t want to fight, but they need to look as if they could and would fight if they were provoked.

They found three men cutting birches. Dorrit asked what they were doing on his ground. They said that they didn´t know that it was his ground and even then, the wood was free to cut. Down south the forest had disappeared and logs were paid a good price. That´s the reason they travel up here; to bring a boatload logs to sell. Dorritt understood but said that they needed to go further up the river and when they pass, they need to stop at his place and sell a part of what they´ve cut. He wouldn´t pay as much as they do down south but a fair price. And they would be protected and left in peace in his area. The poor woodcutter had no other options than to agree.

When they came back some days later, it was hard to unload the logs. Most of them landed in the water and needed to be dragged out with much effort. Dorritt promised that the next time they would have a proper landing to unload at. After they´ve eaten and drunk a lot of Amiricle´s strongest beer, they also promised to come back soon and also promised to send some other merchants they knew up here. And actually, they held their promise.  Although they didn´t come often themselves, the number of merchants who landed at their new dock grew.

The new settler often came to Dorritt an Amiracle for advice (or was it again the good beer that attracted?). Amiracle suggested that they should build a thingstead. People came to them anyway and if it was on their ground, it would be most likely that Dorrit was elected "gode" and that would give a good reputation and who knows what other advantages. Dorritt is the "boss" at Pelika, no doubt but when Amiracle has an idea or suggests something, it's always done her way. Also this time; the thingstead was built, Dorritt was elected "gode" and became the chieftain of this area. This also meant that he had some religious responsibilities, so they also built a wooden idol of Freya. Dorritt first wanted an image of Tor but when Amiracle asked; what he would ask Tor about he didn´t know, instead he let Rome cut a Freya image. (Very reluctantly because he was a Christian man from Ireland). Freya would give a good harvest, many children and young animals. Everyone in this harsh but peaceful area need that better than luck in warfare.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Tom Sawyer on February 04, 2020, 01:29:46 PM
I'm sure the plot is about Dorritt becoming King of Iceland, at the latest in season 2 or 3. ;D

About history of this time I don't have more knowledge but I guess they had the same reasons as people always had for migration. To find a better life, good farmland which is rare in Norway, maybe to get their own farmstead there. Probably most of them were people who did not own much and were not of high rank. If you don't have something to lose, it's easy to take such a risk. And it was land for free while the European mainland or England was completely owned and defended. Also, I guess they often followed more their hope or stories about that great new land in the West which was not that great anymore when they saw it with their own eyes. Recently I've read about Greenland which was of course not green but told it would be, to attract new settlers. Marketing in the Viking age.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 05, 2020, 01:42:04 AM
Quote from: Tom Sawyer on February 04, 2020, 01:29:46 PM
I'm sure the plot is about Dorritt becoming King of Iceland, at the latest in season 2 or 3. ;D

About history of this time I don't have more knowledge but I guess they had the same reasons as people always had for migration. To find a better life, good farmland which is rare in Norway, maybe to get their own farmstead there. Probably most of them were people who did not own much and were not of high rank. If you don't have something to lose, it's easy to take such a risk. And it was land for free while the European mainland or England was completely owned and defended. Also, I guess they often followed more their hope or stories about that great new land in the West which was not that great anymore when they saw it with their own eyes. Recently I've read about Greenland which was of course not green but told it would be, to attract new settlers. Marketing in the Viking age.

;D Who knows in which direction this game will lead history: If I change the preservation of the forest, other changes may come. One thing is obvious; to be able to save his (or rather his wife's forest) Dorrit must be able to defend himself from woodless neighbours and fellow inhabitants of the island who want to cut his trees and for that, he needs to be powerful.

I think you know that there´s never been a King of Iceland. If the sources I´ve read are correct; "the Allting" ( a kind of parlament where important decisions were made) was started because the people who emigrated in opposition to the strong king Harald didn´t want a king. Many of the immigrants were wealthy people with large households. Probably there were also some of those poor people you talk about who wanted some land of their own but I think that the journey was too expensive and difficult to organize for poor people. Maybe they could pay the trip by working for some rich farmer some years and then get a piece of land of their own. But I think our Dorritt may be some kind of "typical" immigrant; a younger son of wealthy parents with some resources but no prospects to live the life he wants in his homeland.

I´ll write a bit about the game this afternoon.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Tom Sawyer on February 05, 2020, 02:21:06 AM
Ah yes, my fault. Then I vote for Dorritt the first President of Iceland. You should keep him away from hunting and other dangerous jobs.^^

Good thought about other people trying to cut your sweet birch groves. You should not only relay on Freya but also build an idol for Thor, to protect it. Recently I have seen a village without the right idol that was haunt by a storm from one end to the other. So don't upset this guy!
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 05, 2020, 08:03:22 AM
To prevent him from hunting will not be hard since you removed all the deer from the map. ;) And you might be right; it will be a good idea to have a Thor idol on the ground to protect the settlement from evil storms. I also know the ideal place for it; right at the boat landing dock. It will make everyone clear that on this estate we are true Asa followers, making the right sacrifices, despite the Christian chapel.

Now I will tell the story about how this settlement, owned by the highest-ranked chieftain of the area with religious duties to the Asa gods has a Christian chapel on his ground.

It all started with the visit of a merchant from England. Amiracle made her usual trade; bartering some beans for some crayfish and everyone was pleased. After the dinner he opened his bag to show his larges treasure; a book he called The Holy Bible. No one had ever seen a book before. It had pictures of holy men, strange animals and weird signs that were supposed to tell stories. The merchant couldn´t read it himself but he knew some of the stories and everyone was spellbound. These were new, different stories that no one had heard before---- or no one except the thrall Rome who grew up in Ireland where everyone was Christian. As he heard the stories, he remembered and he was a master to tell more and better stories than the merchant to the beautiful pictures.

Amiricale realized that this book and the stories told by Rome could give them many pleasant hours in the cold, dark winter evenings. She had to buy it. But first, she served another cup of her strongest beer, then she made an offer to barter the bible against some clothing and wadmal. And the merchant, a little drunk and surprised that this pagan household had an interest in a bible, sold it without much negotiation (too cheap must he admit next morning).

And indeed, the winter evenings weren´t that long anymore. Even if they sometimes found the holy men stupid and no one thought that the Christian God had any power in their land, they were entertained. The children loved the colourful pictures. After some children had torn one side in pieces because of some arguments, Rome said that this book is sacred and need to be kept in a safe and sacred place. Amiracle agreed, it was too expensive for the children to play with.

So Rome collected all his courage together and asked Dorritt if he could build a Christian Chapel on the ground, where he and his family could pray and they could keep the Holy Bible when it wasn´t used. He would build it with his sons and pay the wood from the money he gets from Dorritt when he makes tools and weapons that Dorrit sells to his neighbours. First, Dorrit wasn´t pleased about the idea but after discussing with Amiracle, he changed his mind and decided that Rome could build his chapel. Only, it had to be big enough to use as a hall for fiests after the thingstead meetings. The number of thingsmen had grown and their house was slowly getting too small. And what could Rome say; he was a simple slave. If he wants his chapel, he must agree.

This way Dorritt got a hall for free on his ground. Some of the neighbours tried to joke about him being a soft Christian but most of them saw it as a clever move and his reputation grew.


Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 06, 2020, 06:30:26 AM
I have some trouble with this story now when the children grow up and get married. You have no influence which youngsters will move together. It may be brother and sister (happened three times already), it may be children of the chieftain and a slave child. I´m sure that a man like Dorritt with ambitions never would have let one of his children marry a slave. He would have used them to form alliances with other "important" people by marriage. The only one who could have changed his mind is his wife but Amiracle is at least as ambitious as he is and would also do what she can to find partners for her children from wealthy and powerful families. I have decided to leave Banished gameplay here and only keep track of the ancestors from Dorrit and Amiracle. When someone gets married, it´s always an arranged suitable partner. There might have been a slave with the same name, so what. When Babettey and Eugenery got married it wasn´t brother and sister. Babettey Dorrittsdottir married some important man and moved away and Eugenery married the daughter of a chieftain who happened to have the same name. Now, this girl from outside wasn´t very lucky. She died giving birth to her first child and Eugenery remarried another girl named Larai.

Larai came from a wealthy home down south and had grown up in a better house. After a few years in a turf house next to the parents, Eugenery and Larai moved to a farm of their own on the other side of the stream. They built a nice frame house from wood and clay, similar to the house of her parents. It was more comfortable and spacial with less smoke than the old type of houses but Amiracle found it cold in winter and hot in summer and prefered her old house made of stones and turf. Eugenery didn´t like the simple slave huts so he built turf houses for the slaves he became from his father. The idea of better houses also for the simple working thralls also appealed to Dorritt who never had thought about it before. If his slaves lived in better houses than some of his neighbours, it would increase his reputation. They would keep some of the old huts for youngsters who want a place of their own or for other more temporarily use but all slave families got better housing.

A good reputation was important these days. One day, a group of 6 harsh men showed up at the landing. They told that they were Northern settlers who had to flee from the Orkneys when King Harald of Norway made his raids and they were looking for a new more peaceful place to settle down. Dorritt had heard that King Harald had defeated the worse kind of Vikings from the Orkneys who were pillaging and murdering innocent settlers, maybe these men were some of those, so he was careful. Before he asked them into the chapel to eat and drink, he told Eugenery to arm himself, his brothers and the biggest, strongest of his slaves and make them act as "hirdmen", his well trained private army. He told the Orkney men that in this "härad" they were well organized and well trained in fighting and if some of them tried to steal a farm from one of his neighbours, he would personally come with his many followers and kill all of them. Now, this wasn´t entirely true. They were organized, many men met at the thingstead several times of the year to take care of common business but all of them were peaceful farmers with no or little fighting experience. But how would the Orkney men know? The scam worked. They kept guards all night outside the chapel where the Orkneys slept and the next day they left without any fight, up along the valley where Dorritt told them that there was free ground to claim and were never seen again.

The Orknemen frightened everyone and Dorritt decided to really train his sons and some of the other young men and boys fighting. After the thingstead meetings, some of the younger neighbours also stayed for a while to learn how to fight with swords and shoot with arrows. To show anyone who would pass by at the river how well trained they were, they put up some equipment next to the dock were also the Thor idol was placed. Amiracle also made banners with their coat of arms that they placed at the river where they meant that their ground began, at the landing and at their house, just to show that they were serious. To show their wealth and power they usually also kept their horses by the river.

The pictures show how Eugenery builds his farm, entrance to Pelika Valley and the docking area.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Tom Sawyer on February 07, 2020, 07:51:53 AM
Interesting how some military/defence thing becomes a part of it when creating a realistic story around. Maybe to use the happiness safety aspect for this. Is there a mod already with this idea, one of the watchtowers by Red or DS?
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: brads3 on February 07, 2020, 08:29:03 AM
RED's fort with the hunting towers,CC has the frontier addon mod,and KID has a fort mod.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 07, 2020, 09:00:56 AM
@1, in this game I don´t miss the ocean. This is the inland of Iceland. In my first post, we can read that it took a week to get here when they first came. And Dorritt isn´t King of Iceland (at least not yet ;) ) so he wouldn´t put his banners that far away. But you are right, I have missed an ocean in other games.

@Tom Sawyer, I don´t think they have any happiness radius but I´m not sure. I just added the Training Camp Deco from @RedKetchup. None of these objects seems to allure idlers, what I can see.

Just a few weeks after the Orkney men had left, another unexpected visitor came. This time it was a man who summoned him as "Gote" of this "Härad" to come to Þingvellir the week before midsummer with as many of his thingsmen as he wanted. Some western chieftains and learned men wanted to discuss a common law for the whole of Iceland on this Allting. The man was just a simple herold and didn´t know why they have decided this but he knew that many men from the Orkneys had caused trouble along the coast so maybe it was because of them.

After consulting Amiracle he decided to take as many of his neighbours as possible on the trip. A big group of people would give more influence. Many were hesitant; "Think about the hay",... "If it takes longer and the harvest must start"... It´s sheep cutting season"..... but others saw it as a break in the everyday routine and were happy to go. Many of the women were envious but no women were allowed, not even Amiracle. After he had promised that those who don´t own a horse could borrow one of his and Amiracle gave each of them one of her good wool coats, he could count a group of 18 men, some boys and a couple of slaves to take care of the horses. A coat was a valuable gift, last year the merchant had paid almost 5 silver pieces for one coat but she found that his men need to look decent to give Dorritt a good reputation.

And as always; Amiracle´s investment seemed to pay off: He had one of the largest and best-looking entourage. People listened to his words, his suggestions were noticed and he could arrange a couple of very favourable marriages for his youngest son and daughter as well as for his eldest granddaughter. He also hired an experienced fighter to train the young men to fight.  And from now on; he would go to the Allting every summer with a large number of men and take an important part in the decisions.

When he came back and looked at his farmstead he was a bit unsatisfied. The houses looked fine but he had no longhouse like most of the other important men. To the weddings of his children, it wouldn´t give much honour to use the small chapel: He needs to build a longhouse; a real hall and that´s fast! The hall was built, the weddings were successful. The young people seemed to get along well enough.

In the year 937, 37 years after their arrival to Pelika or Birchvalley, as many people called it, had 63 inhabitants. Dorritt and Amiracle were both 58 years old. Their 3 sons and 3 daughters were all married, so were the eldest of their grandchildren. They even had a great-grandson. Their both eldest sons had farms of their own and there was plenty of land for the others to build up their own places as well. The thralls they´ve brought from the Old Land also had a lot of children, they were all decent well-working people. 

Some years were bad, the summer so short and cold that almost nothing could be harvested. They still didn´t need to starve; the herds of sheep were big, they had cows, the fishing waters gave a lot of fish and crayfish and they produced a large surplus of wadmal and wool coats to sell. But some of their neighbours had it difficult these years. Dorritt and Amiracle always helped. But one neighbour, Odd who´s been there almost as long as they had, with quite a large farm, many sons and even a couple of slaves also came good years. About 10 years ago after they have had the largest harvest ever, he came again in spring, saying they were out of barley and he wanted to "borrow" some. Dorritt said that if his sons would drink less beer and work more, they would manage very well in such a good year. But Odd complained about his lazy slaves, the many stones on the ground and other bad things. Amiracle was so tired of him that she said that she wouldn´t lend him any barley but sell it to him, he could pay with his lazy slaves. Odd went away in a rage but came again a few days later with a man and a woman; they were thin, looking half dead of starvation, dressed in nothing but a few rags. For once; Amiracle wasn´t sure that this was a business that would pay off. It was obvious to see that these slaves couldn´t work much, not because they were lazy, just because they were too emaciated and weak. But she held her word. And as always; when Amiracle makes some business, it´s a win: After beeing well fed over the summer, it showed that Pierrik had the best hand with the cows and Tennifreddie could spin the thinnest thread they´ve ever seen. The slaves were happy, too. They became a much better life. Even if they weren´t young anymore and Tennifreddie had given birth to many children that all had died, they got three healthy children.

The number of slaves also increased as one poor neighbour farmer got a blood poisoning in a wound on his foot and his leg needed to be amputated. He and his wife saw no other options than to sell themselves as slaves to be able to support themselves. And of course, there was Theador and his family, the fighter Dorrit hired to train the boys. He was a free man. Not only was he a great worrier and patient teacher. He could tell the best stories from his life in King Harald´s army. He had become a Christian on one of his trips to England. After he came to live at Pelika the Christians became more respected. Dorritt let them have their meetings in the chapel every Sunday. He still found their old gods more reliable and powerful but the protection of his farm and goodwill from the White Christ as well, wouldn´t hurt.

Pictures; longhouse, farms from the sons; including some statistics and inventory.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 08, 2020, 01:11:33 AM
Bad news, @Tom Sawyer in the year of 939 Dorritt died without ever being King of Iceland not even president or logsogumaðr as the most important member of the Allting was called. I don´t know yet how he died, the game said boring "old age" but what does it really mean? I have a few possible options; pneumonia after the flu, heart attack by showing the young folks how to clear a big rock from the ground or killed by envious neighbours when he didn´t watch out. I´ll think about it.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Tom Sawyer on February 08, 2020, 03:48:04 AM
I already wanted to write that with 58 he should hurry with his political career but seems too late. Anyway he was a great man and did a good job! He for sure now sits in the great hall feasting and drinking with the gods and so on. ;D
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 08, 2020, 04:50:48 PM
I´m grown a bit fond of Dorritt, so I really like to see him in Valhall, but there will be no big battle. I´ll keep it more in the style of the Sagas (and I think real history); smaller fights between families that will go on over generations and finally, a few 100 years later, in the end, lead to that Island loses its independence and becomes a part of first Norway and then Denmark. So despite my aversion against violence, here comes to story about the death of Dorritt. You know "old age" may mean many things; also that you´re not so observant, strong and fast as you used to be.

One warm light evening in spring Dorrit was on his way home after visiting one of his grandsons who had started to build up a farm of his own, south of the main farm. He was in a good mood. They had made a lot of work since his last visit, the beer from the young wife of the grandson had been almost as good as the beer from Amiracle, so it was a bit late. Suddenly he heard some sounds of axes cutting trees. He knew that none of his children or grandchildren would be stupid enough to cut a birch, now when they were full of sap so he turned his horse and went to take a look. When he got closer, he discovered two of his neighbour Odd´s sons cutting a tree. He told them to stop at once and disappear. The older got closer and asked who would force them to leave and Dorritt answered that if they weren´t gone in a moment, he would personally see to it. After that everything happened fast; the younger Oddson pulled Dorrit from his horse, Dorrit drew his knife but had only time to give one of the men a scratch before the other man stroke his axe on his head, killing him with one blow. (I hope it will qualify him for Valhall; to die with a weapon in his hand, brave enough to fight two younger men)

Now, the young men got really scared. They had killed the Gute of the Härad. He had sons and grandsons that would revenge him. They decided to take his boots, knife, belt and coat so that it would look like he had been robbed by some runaway slave and go home as fast as they could and ask their father what to do further.

At home, Amiracle became a bit worried when Dorritt didn´t appear to supper. Usually, he wasn´t late for meals. So she went over to her son Eugenery who lived close to her and asked him to take Theador and look for him. On their way to the stables, they met Dorrit´s horse getting back without a rider. Now they knew that something was wrong.  So they called more men together, took the dogs and started to search. They soon found his body with the big wound on his head and realized at once that this was no accident. Theador and one more man stayed to read the trace where the killer had gone while the others brought the body home and fetched their weapons. As they came back Theador said that he had followed the trace to Odd´s farm. There was some suggestion that they should wait until all were asleep and burn the whole farm down but Eugenery said that he would kill Odd and his sons if they had killed his father but no innocent women and slaves. And besides, if they were the killer he could claim the farm and he wouldn´t be stupid enough to burn his own property.

to be continued....
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Tom Sawyer on February 09, 2020, 03:16:38 AM
This story is going to end in a bloodbath. Maybe better to turn them all into peaceful Christians before it escalates.^^
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 09, 2020, 09:22:42 AM
To make them Christians will unfortunately not help. In order to stop religion fights the Allting decided in the year 1000 that everyone should be Christian. But it didn´t stop the vendetta mentality. The revenging of some old (or new) mischief went on some more 100 years despite this. As far as I´ve read even bishops were later involved in these fights. So, unfortunately, as long as this game goes on (at least I have never played a Banished game more than 200 years) the fights between the Dorritt ancestors and Odd ancestors will continue.


The dogs lead them to Odd´s farm. When they entered his place, Odd and two of his sons came out in front of the door. Odd asked what business such a large group of men had to him. Eugenery said that they were looking for the killers of his father who´s been found killed in the forest not far away. The trails lead directly to this place. Odd said that he and his sons knew nothing about that. They had repaired fences on the other side of the farm all day but they had seen three suspicious-looking people passing from this direction not so long ago. They had been dressed in rags but one of them wore brand new boots. No one believed Odd and the dogs wanted to enter the house. Theador and some other men tore Odd and his sons away from the door and Eugenery, his brothers Dayle and Hugh, his son Aurelious and nephew Vaness followed the dogs into the house. In the house, they found another two of Odd´s sons. One of them sat on a chest that was very interesting for the dogs. The men drew their knives but were instantly overpowered by the Dorrit sons. In the chest, they found Dorrit´s knife, boots, coat and belt.

They brought the two young men outside in front of the house where the others were held and Eugenry killed Odd and his 4 sons.

The funeral of Dorritt was splendid, worthy a great chieftain. They didn´t save by grave gifts nor by treating the many guests. At the funeral, Eugenery held counsel with some men who knew the laws better than he did; could he claim the farm from Odd as a fine for his father´s death? They too weren´t sure. In the old days with the old laws, yes but the new laws from the Allting were meant to prevent people from killing each other for some property. Eugenery said that he had land enough but it would be a good thing not to have any of Odd´s family that close. He would simply claim the property on the Allting and see. The men also advised him to practice sword fighting. It would be possible that the last son from Odd who had married a widow down south, challenged him to "hólmganga" at the Allting to revenge the death of his father and brothers. But it wouldn´t have been necessary, everything went Eugenery´s way. Halfdan Oddson wasn´t at the Allting. The thing agreed that the life of Dorritt, an important "Gute" was more worth than the lives of Odd and his 4 sons so Eugenery should have Odd´s property.

Eugenery needed to hire more hirdmen to feel safe; experienced fighters that could protect him and his family. They were many men in the family but they were all farmers with little time to practice fighting and keep watch over the huge property. Amiracle said that she wanted no young single men who chased after her young female slaves and kept them from working. It should be men with a wife and if possible some children. During the next years, every spring the number of hirdmen increased. They all had families.

During the last years of his life, Dorritt had plans to build a temple in honour of the Gods. They had started to clear the land and to collect some materials but never had time enough to start. Eugenery decided that he would now build it. In honour of his father, it would be bigger and higher than any temple in Iceland. He was sure that it would also help to increase his and the family´s reputation and power. Everyone found it a good idea.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 10, 2020, 06:35:11 AM
The following years were peaceful and prosperous at Pelika. Eugenery had taken his father´s place as the head of the family and the area better than everyone could have imagined. The farmstead grew, the number of followers from the area around as well. To the main sacrifice time, the huge temple was full of visitors. Every summer Eugenery brought one of the largest groups to the Allting. Occasionally he was asked to help a son-in-law or their families in some fight against their enemies. He always did what he had to do but was also very careful not to make enemies with any powerful family, that might help Halfdan to hurt his family.

Life was not completely without sorrows: Eugeneries daughter in law died giving birth to her first child. Vanniss, the eldest son of Eugenery´s brother Dayle; a young strong man, with a wife and a young son, caught mumps and died. Rome and Antoinett, two of the old thralls who they had brought from Norway didn´t survive the hard winter of 946 and one thrall drowned as he was trying to pull the biggest fish ever seen out of the water.

After the death of his wife, Aurelious followed their favourite merchant to England where he learned to read, write and count. He had also spent a year in the army of a small king where he had learned to be a real warrior, at least as good as their own hirdmen. When he came home again, he wanted to show his new skills in writing and counting and made a document of the family tree of Dorrit and Amiracle. Amiracle, 71 years old, still strong, with a mind as sharp as always, couldn´t get enough of it and she too learned to "read" all names. No one thought that she really could read but she could recognize everyone´s written name. And she was proud of all of her 40 descendants. Aurelious also counted everyone at Pelika; it was 39 family members, 17 hirdmen and their families and 67 thralls; all in all 123 people at the 7 different farms.

After his return, Aurelious started to attend the Sunday meetings of the Christians in the chapel. People thought he wanted to be nice and read for the Christian hirdmen and slaves from the Holy Bible but he laughed and said, that he couldn´t read the Bible. It was written in a language no one except some studied priests could understand. He had been baptised in England and was now a Christian. Eugenery couldn´t believe what he heard; his eldest son, his heir to property and "gute office" couldn´t be a Christian. He was the one who made the sacrifices to the gods at the temple, his son was meant to be his follower. They argued for weeks and Eugenery wanted to throw him out from Pelika. A Christian son would be a disgrace. The neighbours wouldn´t listen to his words anymore and he would never be able to show his face at the Allting again. Amiracle wasn´t sure what to think about it, but after she had heard from a merchant that even the powerful Danish King Harald Blåtand has become a Christian, she said that she believes that White Christ will soon beat their old gods and become the most powerful god here in Iceland as well. A Christian son will then be an honour. Eugenery was used to listen to his mother so he decided that Aurelious could stay but he must promise not to try to make anyone else a Christian or destroy any of his idols, like he had heard Christians put high honour in doing. When Aurelious said he wanted to marry Selindsay the daughter of a Christian merchant, he agreed and they settled on a farm in the south of Pelika, not too close to his father.

The picture shows the nice farm from Earthusa Eugenerysdottir and her husband Kell and the expanded trading and training area. If you look at the inventory, you can see that the farm is rich; now in spring the stores are still full, there´s also some exclusive imported food, there are gold and silver. But not so many extra tools, they were a bit short on charcoal for a while but it´s about to be taken care of.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 11, 2020, 05:04:38 AM
Again, Banished challenges history and challenges my imagination. This is a completely new way for me to play and write. It makes a lot of fun. I even was at the library to borrow some books to get the historical background right. It´s interesting to read about this time. I´m just reading a book about how science today sees the Iceland Sagas; stories about persons and life on Iceland from this time period I write about here (with a lot of violence). How much is fact and how much fiction?

Now to my latest troubles.

After the death of Dorritt his widow Amiracle lived many years alone in her house among her many descendants. In the year of 956 at the age of 77, she remarries the 12 years younger Pierrik. I know who that is; it´s the slave she bought from Odd a long time ago. I´m sure, it would be totally impossible that an old proud chieftains widow marries a slave or even a freed slave. I could make her suffer from severe dementia that makes her think that it´s Dorritt. But would the even so proud Eugenery allow this? I´ll rather think of something else. The next trouble I have is how do I develop the vendettas between Dorrits and Odds families? Banished is too peaceful (normally I´m grateful for that) there´s no "XXXX was killed in a duel" or "Murdered on his way to the thingstead" or "fell in a battle". (Maybe this would be something to add in the Iceland scenario @Tom Sawyer ;) ) I was hoping that at least there would be a fire but no, not even an arson (seemed to be a popular way of getting rid of one's enemies). So the last Oddson must be a coward with few relatives and friends, we must wait and see what his sons will do.

Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Tom Sawyer on February 12, 2020, 01:27:05 AM
I would rather think of old Amiracle just having this slave in her house. They lived in one house even with their livestock which doesn't mean to be married to it. ;D

Some deaths from things like vendettas could be included, but would not be specific to certain starting conditions and always connected with a profession.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 12, 2020, 05:24:23 AM
I know that they all lived in one house but it was a big longhouse for many people but unfortunately Banished doesn´t allow this kind of community unless you make some puzzle with many pieces to put together. So I´ll stick to the not historically correct modern family concept. To decide the fate of Amiracle as an old woman, I wanted to play a few more years to see which period of time I´ll write about. And I can say; I went to bed late last night. ;)

If Eugenery was the head of the family, Amiracle was its heart. She was the one who helped her young grand and greatgrandchildren to sort out trouble at the beginning of their marriages when they suddenly had to live with someone they didn´t know before the marriage was arranged. She taught the young women to brew the best beer and make the best mutton roast. She still negotiated and bartered with the merchants and everyone knew that she could make the best deals. And above all; she was a storyteller with a great reputation. She remembered everything from the time in Norway as King Harlad Hårfagre ravaged. She remembered the time when big parts of Iceland were empty and the land was taken. All important people from that time had sat at her table and drunk her beer. Poets used to check with her, that their poems and songs from the old days were right. Powerful people from the south and the west came to visit, just to hear her version of the stories of their famous ancestors, no one in their families had ever met.

She also remembered when the river was cleared and the first merchants arrived. One of the first foreign merchants was Pierrik from England. He was just a boy the first time he visited Pelika, accompanying his father. He too could tell stories from this time. Later, when he was in charge of the business, he always made this river trip and always stayed a few days at Pelika. He enjoyed speaking to Dorrit who was both wise and entertaining. He enjoyed the negotiations with his beautiful wife. She was really cunning. He admitted to himself that he had learned a few tricks from her that had made him a very successful merchant. He saw Dorritt as his friend and was devastated when he heard of his death. He thought that Amiracle now might be a broken woman but he soon realized she was as sharp as always. The hair had got a more brilliant white colour and there were some new wrinkles, but otherwise, she was the same. Also without the conversations with Dorrit, he enjoyed the visit.

One autumn a few years after Dorrit´s death, he had become ill on his trip back from the upper river. He had high fiver and no one thought that he could survive the trip back to England. The crew waited a week but Pierrik was still not in a shape to cross the sea. Eugenery invited him to stay at Pelika over the winter. This way he could repay the hospitality Pierrik had shown his son and other young relatives who wanted to travel. So Pierrik sent his nephew Paul; his heir and apprentice with the ship back with many orders what to do until next spring. Amiracle kept him in her house and tended to him together with the most skilled herb woman, Mika, Theador´s wife and soon he was well again and could enjoy the life and all winter feasts at Pelika. 

The following years Pierrik made longer and longer stops at Pelika. He often sent Paul to the upper river to pick him up on his way back. One autumn he stayed the winter without being ill. When he left that spring Eugenery said as a joke that as head of the family, he soon needed to make him marry his mother. But Pierrik didn´t see it as a joke and said that he had asked her at least 20 times but she doesn´t want him as her husband even if they had lived as husband and wife for years. First Eugernery didn´t know what to say especially to his mother but he was a courageous powerful man, used to reconcile fighting neighbours. Why did he fear to speak to his mother? So he asked her and she said; for what reason should she marry? She was too old to have children, they were both wealthy enough to support themselves, there was no need for any family alliances with an English merchant. Now they got along well but who knows; the much younger Pierrik might one day want a younger woman and she might get tired of him and you can´t get rid of a husband.

The following spring Pierrik didn´t go on the trading tour. Paul did well enough and the life at Pelika with Amiracle was way more pleasant. He didn´t find a younger woman and Amiracle didn´t grow tired of him. They never got officially married but lived as husband and wife another 8 years until Amiracle died in autumn of the year 965, 85 years old.

So, @Tom Sawyer; isn't it a more fun fate for Amiracle to live with a younger lover than to just have a slave in her house to chop her wood and do her dishes? ;) There has also been some news about the political and vendetta business but that will come next time.

The settlement has grown; at the death of Amiracle, there were 240 people living at Pelika. I have lost track of all family members but my guess is that almost 100 of them are descendants from Dorritt and Amiracle. Like his father, Eugenery had made his family members first settle along the river in smaller or bigger farms, like those you can see on the picture. The larger farm upper in the middle of the picture belongs to his Christian son Aurelious.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Tom Sawyer on February 12, 2020, 07:17:36 AM
I'm really bad with names and keeping track of characters in such stories but was not Pierrik a slave from Odd's farm? Now he is that neat Englishman to make Amiracle happy in her late days. I don't mind but I'm confused.^^
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 12, 2020, 03:50:11 PM
No confusion, Pierrik was a common name in old England. Didn´t you know? ;) So nothing strange in both the "imported" slave and the merchant having the same name.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 13, 2020, 06:50:06 AM
Odds son Halfdan had always lived a quiet life. When his neighbours said he ought to be ashamed, not revenging the death of his father and brothers, he said that he did live his life in shame, not because he hadn´t killed any Dorritsons but because of having brothers who had killed an old, unarmed, well-respected man and a father that tried to hide the murder. The neighbours couldn´t really oppose and slowly they started to respect him. Halfdan had two sons, Sämund and Gissur. The older Sämund was like his father; a peaceful young farmer but the younger Gissur was of another kind. After he had understood that it made no sense trying to persuade his father and brother to revenge the death of his grandfather and uncles, he left Iceland and wasn´t heard of for many years.

In year 960, Gissur returned. As he left, he hadn´t bin much more than a young lanky boy but now he was a huge grim-looking man and his both companions looked the same. He had spent the last 8 years in "Väringagarde" in Miklagård. (An elite fraction of the army of the Bysan king in Konstantinopel, now Istanbul with warriors from Scandinavia). He was now a rich man and had come back to once and for all revenge his grandfather and uncles. Neither Halfdan nor Sämund could talk it out of him and stop him from going to Pelika at the time of Autumn sacrifice and thing meeting. Gissur said he would do it the right way and challenge Eugenery at the thingstead, kill him and demand his right. Halfdan said that it would bring no honour in killing an old man, even in a way that followed the law. But Gissur only laughed.

The thing at Pelika that autumn 960 had so far bin like most meetings in the last decades; nice and peaceful. Eugenery had managed to keep the peace in his area, everyone found him an excellent conciliator. It was very rare that any conflicts needed to be solved with weapons. Everyone at the thing was heavily armed but no one expected to really need their swords. It had started with a feast in the big hall with a lot of food, mead and beer. The next day after the sacrifices in the big temple the men all went to the close thingstead. Now three fierce-looking men appeared and one of them screamed; "I´m Gissur Halfdanson son of Halfdan Oddson and grandson of Odd Sämundson, I´m coming to revenge my grandfather and uncles and challenge you Eugenery Dorritson to "hólmganga". " (Duell until one of the combatants is dead).

The whole place became completely silent. The hirdmen from Pelika moved closer to Eugenery. Everyone knew that this would get a bad ending. This big strong man "in his best" age against their "Gode" almost 60 years old, more used to set peace than to fight. The first years after Dorrit´s death Eugenery and all other men at Pelika had trained sword fighting more or less every day. The hirdmen, elder boys and young men still did but it´s been a long time since Eugenery was at the training field. He stepped forward and said; "What are you doing here? You don´t belong to this thing and has no right to speak! If you have some affairs with me, use the right place to settle it! Now, leave and let us return to our business!" No one moved and Eugenery drew his sword and said "Leave!" all other men drew their swords, too. These were farmers, Gissur knew that he could easily kill Eugenery and many more men but it would have been unlikely that he could get away. So he turned his horse and said; "I´ll see you at the Allting next summer!"

After the men were gone, everyone started to talk; trying to give Eugerery good advice on what to do. Everything from hiring men to kill Gissur in secret to flee to Norway or England. But he calmed everyone down and said that there´s plenty of time to plan what to do until next summer. They should go back to their normal business. But after this, no one wanted to talk about their small, pity matters and the meeting came soon to its end. After everyone was gone, Eugenery ordered Theador, the head of the "hird" to organize that the property would be patrolled day and night. He should also use as many of the younger men as he needed. Gissur seemed to be a dangerous man and who knows if he had patience enough to wait until next summer.


Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 14, 2020, 03:17:42 AM
Since Aurelious return, he and his father had avoided each other but now, Aurelious went to Eugenery and said that he had learned a few tricks, how to fight bigger and stronger men when he was in King Aethelwulfs army. He would be pleased to teach and practice these techniques with his father. Eugerery accepted and from now on, both men were seen on the training field every day. When they needed to rest, they started to talk. They talked about many things but above all, they talked about the future of Pelika and the heritage from Eugenery. According to law and habit, Aurelious was the heir, he should be the head of Pelika. But Pelika had become big and if everything went well, it would continue to grow. Aurelious found it too big for one man. So they decided to split the property and give each of Eugenerys´ brothers and his sister their parts. This wouldn´t be hard, even if Eugenery was the owner of everything according to the law, each farm was practically independent.

But what about the "Gute" office? That too used to go from father to son but no one would accept a Christian. Aurelious also said that he would never do any sacrifices to the gods and that was an important part of the duties for the "Gute" of the area. None of Eurelious´ brothers would be suitable; Dayle wouldn´t want to, it has been a long time since had accompanied the others to the Allting; Hugh would certainly want the office but would be a catastrophe, he was a person that liked to "heat" conflicts, with him as Gute this area would be full of vendetta killings; Giannie and Casimeon, Eurelious´younger sons were still too young for such an important position. The best man would be Kell, the husband of Eugenery´s eldest daughter Earthusa. He was the grandson of the famous lawman Ullfjot who had organized the first Allting. He would be respected and do good work. Both Eugerery and Aurelious were surprised, how they agreed on important matters.

During that winter many "important" men from the south and west visited Pelika. Among them were Eugenerys´friend Thord who was the Gute in the area where Halfdan Oddson lived. Thord had tried to talk to Gissur and had also asked if he would accept gold instead of blood. It would be less honourable for Eugenery to buy peace than to fight but at least he would survive. But Gissur had been arrogant and had demanded whole Pelika as fine, so that was no option. He had also talked a lot to Halfdan but he had no influence on his son. Everyone was sad but no one saw another option than to fight.

Summer came too soon that year, everyone at Pelika and the Northern region were sad. When the time for the Allting came, more men than ever had decided to accompany Eugenery. Before they left, Eugenery made some extra sacrifices to the gods, especially to Oden. Aurelious and the other Christians had prayed every day to Christ and his Holy Mother Mary to send a miracle to save Eugenery. At the Allting many other matters were discussed first, it looked like everyone wanted to postpone the fight between Gissur and Eugenery as long as they could. But finally, Gissur was allowed to make his challenge. After many attempts to make him accept some conciliation, they could do nothing but to walk to the fighting place.

It would be an uneven fight; a 60-year-old farmer against a 30-year-old professional warrior, rather a slaughter than a duel. But it looked like it would take longer than expected, every time Gissur made a blew with his sword, Eugenery had moved: The men from Pelika knew that this was well trained but no one else had seen something like this before. But after some time, Gissur hit a blow on Eugenerys´shield and smashed it to pieces. Shortly afterwards he hit Eugenerys´ arm and made a deep wound, everyone expected this to end soon. And indeed, it was over fast. Gissur stepped on a stone and for a brief moment, he lost his balance. Eugenery used this and made a heavy blew against his opponent´s head and Gissur fell dead to the ground.

Aurelious hadn´t watched the fight, he was busy praying for his father´s life. When he heard the roar from the men, he knew that it was over. But he hadn´t expected that it would sound so happy. Could his prayers have been heard? When he saw his father, wounded but alive and the other men told what had happened, he was sure that God´s Holy Mother had put that stone in Gissurs way. Everyone thought that it could very well be that way, even when Eugenery said that Oden gave him the strength to hit that final blew. Eugenery had always been a respected man, now he became a hero, blessed by the old as well as the new gods. Poems and songs were made about this fight.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 15, 2020, 09:31:55 AM
After the fight, Eugenery hadn´t been in shape to ride the long way home but Aurelious had organized a ship. When they got home, everyone knew what had happened and wanted to celebrate but all Eugenery wanted, was to get home to Larei and rest. His whole big family, the neighbours; everyone wanted a piece of him. But he stayed in his house, sent everyone away, except Aurelieous who he occasionally wanted to talk to about the business of Pelika. Eugenery said that he would allow Aurelious to hire a Christian priest if he paid him himself but it needs to be a peaceful priest, who leaves him, his temple and his idols alone. Normally, priests put a high honour in smashing idols and burning temples. When the merchant Paul came the next time, he got the assignment to hire the most peaceful priest he could find in England.

To the Autumn sacrifice and thing meeting, Eugenery sent his son in law Kell to do the sacrifices and be in charge of the meeting and Aurelious to host the feast. His wounds were healed but he felt too tired to see anyone; the same to the Jule time. But in spring he came back to life. When the priest Ston arrived, Eugenery met him at the dock, fully armed and made clear that he would kill him if he so much as spit on his gods. Even if the priest wasn´t very good in the Nordic language, he understood. Ston baptised many people at Pelika, most of them had counted themselves as Christians for a long time but had never seen a priest. But he also baptised Larei, Eugenery´s wife. She was convinced that the Holy Mary had helped her husband during the duel. Even if he was too stupid, stubborn and proud to admit this and take the consequences, she would. They argued for a while but much less than everyone had expected. Eugenery said that he would stay by the old gods, no matter what but it looked like Christ had a lot of power, so it could be an advantage to have a wife among his followers. Just as it had proven to be good to have a Christian son.

After Ston had learned to speak their language better, he became a well-seen person at Pelika. The small chapel was full to the Mass. He was always friendly and could tell stories about foreign countries. He was welcome in every house; never rejecting a good meal or a cup of beer. Also Eugenery liked to talk to the priest. But Ston always made a detour when he needed to pass one of the pagan idols.

That summer and the following years Eugenery went to the Allting like he had done every year, almost as long as he could remember. He found the negotiations getting more tedious every year. People could discuss unimportant matters for days; disagreements that he would have solved in his area in a few hours. Often disagreements lead to bloodshed. Eugenery wanted to discuss important matters concerning whole Iceland, so did many others. These small matters should be solved locally but it looked like many of the Gute weren´t able to do their jobs. In the year 965, it was decided that the country should be divided into 4 parts, each with its own thing, where local matters should be decided. Next year Eugenery was elected the first head of the Nothern part. His work started in the year 967 but he didn´t get much time to put his mark on this office. He died during the Jule feast the same year, falling from his chair at the big feast in the mead hall. He wasn´t instantly dead so they brought him home. Larei fetched Ston who baptised Eugenery shortly before he died.

Now in the year 969, Pelika has 16 separate farms with almost 300 inhabitants but there´s still space for young people to get their own farm. Dennifer, the oldest grandson from Eugenery and Larei had spent some time in northern Norway. When he returned, he brought some sprouts for apple trees. No one believed that they would grow at this harsh climate but he meant that northern Norway was even colder. It looks like he was right and Pelika is the first farm in Iceland that grows apples.

Do you want some gossip? I can tell that it didn´t take long until Eugenery´s widow Larei moved in by Pierrik who still lived in Amiracles old house. He seems to be good at comforting grieving widows.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Tom Sawyer on February 16, 2020, 01:59:10 AM
Did you read something about fruit-growing in medieval Iceland or Scandinavia? I guess apples were indeed the first if not the only cultivated fruit tree but would be interesting to learn something new about it. Maybe the mod can become a bit more authentic in terms of that.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on February 16, 2020, 07:53:05 AM
No, sorry I haven´t read about apples. I started to build orchards because I´m so tired of all micromanagement, sending everyone out in the woods to pick berries in Autumn and fruit is expensive to buy. And even if I might afford to buy more, it´s hard to get it distributed all over the map. I play without markets and I´m proud to be able to have at least 4, often 4½ hearts. But I have read that the people from Iceland liked to travel and visit other countries and of course, they picked new things up to try at home. So if they grew apples in Norway to this time (what I don´t know) it´s not unlikely that someone at Iceland would have tried it as well.

But I have decided to end this story now. I can´t say that I´m tired of my characters. I had a few plots in mind and really wanted to play until the year 1000 when they decided that everyone in Iceland should be Christians. If I had understood what I´ve read, it looked like some kind of coup at the Allting where our people could have been involved. But the game is too tedious. To depend on farming on "harsh" is no fun. If you don´t start the harvest manually at the right point, it´s bad. It´s OK for a few fields but not the 58, I have now. I´m also tired of trading. The small docks are too small to support such a large population. If you fill them with enough goods, you can only buy a part of what you want before it´s full. The best thing is to build export ports and use the coins to buy food and wood but there were no Icelandic coins to this time, maybe foreign coins were used but only it´s weight in silver. I could replace the small ports with big ones but I would need to rebuild so much to get them where they are needed, so it´s no fun.

The settlement is also too big to keep track of all the main characters. I have no idea where the younger children of my Aurelious live. I have noticed their names so I could find them but if I´m not very lucky, I would need to search in more than 100 houses. After the death of Eurelius´sister in law, his brother disappeared from his house. Much later I found him "by accident" living by the other brother´s widow but since that brother died after his first wife, he must have had another woman for some years. It would have been nice to know such private things of my inhabitants.

It´s been a nice different game. I´ve learned a lot about the development of Iceland and life in Scandinavia during the Viking period. I´ve also enjoyed writing this way. I don´t know if someone else had enjoyed this story but at least I have.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: kid1293 on February 16, 2020, 10:35:51 AM
I enjoyed the story. It wasn't a row of pictures with some writing.
More of an illustrated history lesson. Good play, good story :)
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Artfactial on April 01, 2020, 04:48:48 AM
This was wonderful and it saddens me you didn't go on, but I know how much micromanagement this sort of thing takes and how much of a chore that can become.
Loved the story! I couldn't have added much to your historical insights so I also learned a lot.
It really inspires me to read the sagas and the Kalevala again. Maybe start a Dutch early medieval town.

If you want pointers for another try I might add this:
-Keep a tight track of all people(although by the looks of it you were doing so quite well); trace every birth and family and keep their family trees at hand. The more notes and information you jot down the less you have to struggle when things get hairy. A lot of the story unfolds naturally through this, go with that flow.;)
I guess you have noticed that population control is key in all that.
-I really liked how well you integrated local and national history into the story, but, for me at least, letting the game decide the story-line is most effective; predicting who goes with who and what events happen to suit your needs is hard.:P That said, the drama and characters you presented were wonderful and that would partially go to wast if the game takes control.
-I am in no way well versed in scandinavian/icelandic settlement history but it helps a lot to mimic the historical town construction, even if it is often more a liability in the effectiveness of game-mechanics.

Hope you weren't put off too much by this type of blog and might try it again sometime!^^
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 01, 2020, 07:51:54 AM
Thank you for your nice words @Artfactial. I just read the story again and I´m quite proud of it, can hardly believe that I can write like that. I don´t know if I´ll ever be inspired to write something similar again but we will see. 

And I did let the game decide a lot of the story; I had some real historical event that needed to be a part of it and as I also tell, I replaced some "domestic people" with people from outside to make the story more credible and fun. I also gave "death of old age" a broader meaning to make the story more interesting but otherwise, it´s Banished. But of course; with the excellent North mod.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 13, 2020, 06:22:22 AM
I have decided to make a try to finish the story I wanted to tell. "Season 2" will be a sequel with another village as center and new main characters; descendants from Dorrit and Amiracle. There´s one thing at this time of history that has caught my interest. If you´ve read "season 1" of the story, you might have noticed it: It´s the change of religion that happened in whole Scandinavia to this time. How did it happen? Why now? How did it change people´s minds and way of life? Was it true spiritual conviction or was it more or less forced upon people? How fast did the old religion disappear? There are many unanswered questions. I´ve made some research and read some (rather "heavy") scientific articles but there are no clear answers; theories, yes but no one can say for sure. That´s rather nice because it makes this story as credible as anything else.

If we recapitulate the story; Eugenery died in the year 967. There are quite a few Christians at Pelika but most of its inhabitants still belive in the Asa gods. Before Eugenery died, he settled that his eldest son, the Christian Aurelous was his heir to the property and his son in law Kell, married to his oldest daughter Earthusa should follow him as Gute of the area. The Gute was leading the Thingsmeating and made the sacrifices to the gods. 



The good spirit of Pelika had gone. Aurelious didn´t like the wooden idols on his property. There were 2 Freja images in the farming area and one of Thor down at the main dock. He said that if anyone wanted them, they could have them but if they weren´t gone 3 days from now, he would burn them. People were dismayed, these idols had been there as long as they could remember. They were made by the old thrall Rome who had put all his skill into making them, despite being Christian. Kell and Earthusa decided to move the Tor and one of the Freja idols to their place and the widow Shanner, the youngest daughter of Dorrit and Amiracle put the other Freja idol in front of her house.

And it had become worse.

The thingstead meeting that spring had as always started with a big feast at the longhouse. The harvest the year before had been very bad but Pelika was rich enough to buy food and nothing was missing. But as always after bad years, many people were now out of bread. Everyone expected Aurelious and Selindsay to follow the example of the parents and grandparents and lend the poorer neighbours grain without ever requesting anything more than loyalty back. But Aurelious had made clear that he would only give food to those who instead of going to the usual sacrifice in the temple, accompanied him to the chapel next morning. He didn´t demand that they would become Christians, he only wanted them the hear the Christian message and after the Holy Mass, they should choose him to lead the thingstead meeting. So only a few of the richer neighbours and some Pelica men went with Kell to make the sacrifices to the Asa gods, the chapel had been crowded and Aurelious had led the meeting.

A few weddings were planned that spring. There were always weddings in spring, the descendants of Dorrit and Amiracle were many and it was custom that those who wanted to stay at Pelika got a piece of land of their own. Even if Pelika had grown, there was still free land. That spring Aurelious declared that he would only give land to Christian couples. Young couples who didn´t want to follow Christ could stay at their parents or their parents could split their farm, he didn´t care but on his land he only wanted Christians. Eurthusa was furious. They had arranged very good marriages for three of their grandsons that spring. Did he believe that people like the Gute Thord or the big farmer Eskil would give their daughters to men without property? But no one could make Aurelious change his mind and two of the engagements were broken.

Only Minniel (eldest son of Earthusa and Kell´s second son Gianni) married Mandace, the daughter of the lawman Sigurd who was keen enough on getting family bonds with the grandson of the famous lawman Ullfjot that he didn´t care about the missing property. Minniel´s brother Dall and his cousin Javio weren´t sad about the cancelled weddings. They were both not keen on girls from outside and would rather marry Pelika girls even if they were their second cousins or great aunts. Without property, they could now choose girls they like themselves: Dall married his third cousin Sana Donavontesdottir and Javio ( youngest son of Earthusa and Kell´s eldest son Casimeaon) married Shanner´s granddaughter who also had the name Mandace called Mandi Sourgissdottir. (They calculated that Javio would be the third cousin of his own children)

The young people were sure that their great uncle had the will and the means to make everyone near him Christian. But they wanted to make their own choices and decided to move. But where could they go? None of them could imagine a life in a foreign country. But what prospects would they have here oat Iceland? They had no money to buy a farm. All three young men were trained in fighting so maybe some big farmer would take them as hirdmen but what freedom would that give? Even less than staying. All farmland were taken but up in the mountains there were still land no one had claimed. Was it possible to make a living up there? They decided to make a try. What did they have to lose? Everyone except Mandace had grown up on Pelika and were old enough to remember Amiracle and all her stories about the first hard years. If Dorrit and Amiracle had made it, they could too.

The old folks tried to warn them for the cold and harsh weather up in the moutains but how could anyone talk youngsters out of something they´ve decided? So instead they gave them some supply and a small herd of sheep. Javio´s younger brother Marian nagged so much that they finally decided that he could go with them. Mandace also took her slave girl Dona, she got as dowry and since Shanner didn´t want to give her granddaughter a disadvantage to that girl from outside, she also gave her a slave girl; Salindsay was still very young but diligent and skilled by all tasks.

First, they walked along the valley with small farms everywhere. They crossed one mountain and found more farms. People said that no one lived behind the next big mountain but that was because it was too harsh up there. So, of course, they headed that way. But reluctantly they had to admit that the people in the valley might have been right; there was no tree to be seen, there was still a lot of snow and not much grass. Here would be hard to survive. A bit further down they saw a river and decided to follow it. So far, the trip hasn´t been too hard. They were used to walk in the mountains, had enough supply, the weather was nice, it wasn´t all too much work for the two slave girls to tend to the 8 sheep but by the river the ground was wet; bogland everywhere. From time to time some of them got stuck or some sheep got stuck, everything was slow and everything was wet. The mountains around them were steep so the only way, except for the same way back, was along the river. They didn´t know what to do, soon they would be out of supply. The people, as well as the sheep, were exhausted. But suddenly the river broadened to a small lake, the ground became solid and dry and behind a small mountain, they saw birches! Among all the bogland after the small lake, where the river made a turn, there was a piece of solid land with thick green grass. They saw more birches on the other side of the river. This spot was the best they had seen since they left the inhabited area. What choice did they have but to stay?
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 15, 2020, 11:56:07 AM
They looked around at their new home: Almost a peninsula with a few grows with birches, some bogland, some solid ground and mountains around it. The river flew slowly and on the other side, they saw more trees and as it looked; more solid ground. It was indeed a beautiful place. They also saw traces of trees and peat that had been cut but they saw no traces of any buildings. People who lived closer to the coast would probably come up here for wood and peat. Maybe they wouldn't like them settling here but they weren't afraid of some small farmers. They were Pelika men, armed and trained to fight. They were confident to be able to defend their land. But as soon as they could, they would send a message to their grandfather and make him legalize the claim of land on the Thing.

At first, there was a lot of discussions, how to use the few birches. First, they would need some wood to build a shelter. Most of them had grown up with Amircles´ stories about how Iceland had been full of forest and how the first settlers had been stupid enough to cut all big trees and then letting cattle and sheep graze on the former forest to "make sure" that all small trees were destroyed, too. Pelika´s wealth built on their forests. That's what they've heard 1000 times. The trees that were cut were carefully chosen, all animals were fenced. Every Pelika child knew how to tend to the forest. But these few birches?

They decided to first only take so many trees that they needed for a hut, or in the end, it became two huts. They realized that also the sheep would need to be locked away from the groves at night and even if they would need to start small and primitive, they were no small farmers or thralls who lived with their livestock. One hut was primarily made of stones and turf. Here they stored their supply and kept the sheep at night. The second one had a fireplace and a sharp pointed roof to lead the smoke away. There was barely room enough for all of them to sleep so both slave girls and mostly also young Marian spent the nights in the shed. The most important decision was to only cut so many more trees they needed to build a bridge. For all other buildings they planned, they would use logs from the other side of the river.

They wanted a solid bridge from logs and stones, not only a simple duck-board that would be washed away at the first flood. They also didn't want to block the river. Even if they didn't know if anyone lived upstreams, every child in Iceland knows how important the waterways are in a roadless country. Blocking a river may cause real trouble.  It took all winter to build the bridge. The weather was cold but the river didn't freeze. There were probably some hot springs upstream. This made it easier to continue fishing in winter. The river was full of fish. They mostly caught trout but further out in the deeper part of the river they saw big salmons. How hard they tried, they couldn't catch any from the river bank so they decided to build a fishing pier from the first logs they cut on the other side.

But there were also other things they needed from these first logs: During the construction of the bridge, some of their tools were worn out. They would also need nails, hinges and other construction pieces from iron. They had brought some iron bars from Pelika but to form it, they needed a higher heat than firewood or peat could give. They also wanted tar, so they built a proper kiln for tar and charcoal and heated it with deadwood they found on the ground. To heat their hut and to cook at the fireplace in front of it, they usually used peat-fuel.

There were so much to do: They needed a workplace for ironwork. They used all spare pieces of wood to build a fence to make it easier to keep the sheep on the place, they were supposed to grass and after the birth of Werne, the son of Dall and Sana, they needed a second hut. That baby could cry, he kept everyone from sleeping. The voice of a future great lawman, like his great-great-great-grandfather, everyone said. Speaking the law on the Allting so loud that everyone could hear. They had planned to build each couple a proper house as soon as they had time to build and had collected enough material but instead, they built a second hut as fast as they could. They put it down by the fishing pier. In the safe distance from Dall, Sana and their son.

Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 18, 2020, 05:34:32 AM
I had a bad computer crash the other day. It looks like my son can fix the computer but not all saved things, so this was probably all from this town.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: galensgranny on April 18, 2020, 10:47:41 PM
So sorry about your computer.  I hope your son can fix it.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Artfactial on April 22, 2020, 12:40:57 AM
Just wanted to hop in and say I'm sorry for your computer and save file, how bad is the damage?

I will take the time to read your new Iceland entries this weekend, was happy to see you return to it.:)
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 22, 2020, 06:05:37 AM
New computer ordered after some attempts to get the old one working. :-\
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Artfactial on April 23, 2020, 03:02:18 AM
Oh that's good news!
An upgrade over the old one which might allow for a bit larger cities?;)
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Artfactial on April 25, 2020, 11:10:54 AM
Caught up on the new village, a shame you can't continue it. Sounds like it would've been a big challenge with some great story possibilities.:)
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 26, 2020, 04:24:21 AM
Maybe someday I can continue the story. I added the seed number on the very first picture and as far as I know, it´s always the same people at the start. And since I didn´t get very far, there will not be much difference. Probably the baby with the loud cry will not be born but I suppose we can let it die, as far as I know, it wouldn´t be very unlikely to that time that newborn dies.

At the moment I play a vanilla game on my new computer. Since I loaded Banished new, there are no achievements and all achievements on one map is a fun challenge that I want to make (or at least all except the 200 years tenure achievement).
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Artfactial on May 06, 2020, 02:31:16 AM
I just found out about the Landnámabók...incredible to have such a recourse and account of the formative years of a new land.^^
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 06, 2020, 03:53:41 AM
Science isn´t sure how authentic it is. Some scientists mean that it´s pretty much documentary, others are of the opinion that those who wrote it had the agenda to prove the importance of their own families. It was written around 1200. There´s another document: Íslendingabók that´s older; written about 1130, also a lot later in the Christian time and my story builds on historical events told in this book, true or not.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Artfactial on May 06, 2020, 05:00:02 AM
Gehe, people writing histories usually have an agenda or at least a viewpoint on the events:) But yes getting closer to the actual date and authors of the words/work helps a lot in filtering that out.
And in the end, for a story told from a contemporary historical perspective, it matters much if it was true to those people in their worldview and mindset.^^
I'm planning on having some historians in my town who attempt to reconstruct lives from bannies past at some point.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 22, 2021, 04:16:41 AM
I always wanted to end this story with the christening of Iceland in the year 1000 and how it influenced these people. Yesterday I started a new seafarer game that might go this way.

It's no fun to play the same game again, so this story tells about some other young descendants from Dorrit and Amiracle than my first attempt on the crashed computer. This time it's two brothers, sons from Eugeneries younger son Casimeon; so they are grandsons of Eugenery and nephews from the present owner (and what they find bully) Aurelious. Casimeon runs a farm of his own but since it belongs to big Pelika the owner is Aurelious and he only wants Christians on his farms. He tolerates his pagan brother but will not tolerate any pagan son to take over. A few years earlier some cousins went away over the mountain to make a new life. They've heard that they had trouble with neighbours that claimed their land. To avoid such disputes Casimeon wanted to accompany his sons to the new area and make sure with the local chieftain that their claim would be accepted. They loaded everyone on Casimeons ship.

It was Casimeon´s eldest son Delma, his wife Patrinity and their little daughter Halli and his younger son Websterlin, newlywed to Crysta. They also brought a couple of working thralls; Fernand and Permella. They wanted to travel the river north, beyond the last known settlement.

The name Eugeneryson makes miracle. They were welcomed by the local gute with great respect and joy. He would be pleased to have the young grandsons of the great hero in his area. But the land is harsh and poor. It's bad here where he lives and even worse up north where there's still free land to claim. They can forget about farming but with luck find some land that could hold sheep. The river is full of fish and if they find a place close to a stream, they should look for crayfish. He can promise that they will be free from any Christians. Even if White Christ seemed to be a powerful god abroad and in the south of Iceland, here in this harsh land, he has nothing to say and no one he knows of follows him. He will continue to make the right sacrifices as long as he is gute.

They went on rowing the boat upstream. It was hard and difficult and when the river split into two even smaller streams, they decided to stop. There was no good land here but Delma and Fernand followed one river and Websterlin and one of the thralls Casimeon brought to sail the ship home went along the other. Each group would search for a suitable spot to settle. After two days they should return if they've found something or not. The women and elder men would wait there.

Delma and Fernand returned already the next evening, saying that they had found a good spot. Some flat land on both sides of the river; enough for a big herd of sheep, a few trees and a stream with a lot of crayfish, less than one days walk away. Websterlin couldn't possibly find something better. He decided not to wait for his brother so the next morning, he said farewell to his father and thanked him for the help and went with his family and thralls. Crysta would wait for her husband and join later.

The frost had been deep that night and it was still snow everywhere. Would it be possible to find food for themselves and their sheep in these surroundings?

Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 23, 2021, 07:14:48 AM
When Websterlin and Crysta arrived they were happy that Delma had found this place. He hadn't seen anything half as good. They called their new home Foresbon. Every Pelika child knows that the forest is the base of its wealth, so they decided to be very careful with every tree; use as much stones and peat to build as possible and heat their homes with peat and deadwood. And when they really needed trees; cut them as far from their houses as possible and they would tend to every little tree that spawns.

The first year was very busy but they were young, diligent and resourceful so they managed to build shelters and stores and gather enough food and fuel to survive the first winter. They had been worried about feeding the sheep through the winter, they hadn´t been able to collect very much grass and leaves for them to eat but the area here was quite dry, so there wasn´t much snow and the sheep could find a little themselves. Someone always watched out that the sheep didn´t damage any young trees.

That spring they had a big quarrel. It was close to the split of the settlement. It was all about the baby from the slave girl Permella that was born in early spring. Shortly before, Crysta had also given birth to a healthy son. She demanded that Permella´s son should be set out to die. Patronity was also pregnant and three babies at the same time were too much. At her home place, slave babies and sometimes also free-born babies were set out if times were rough and rougher then here was impossible. The slave baby would risk the lives of their children.  Her husband agreed but Delma proclaimed with big energy that on Pelika no child was ever set out to die and he would not allow that on his land either. It upset Websterlin that Delma talked about his land, he might be the elder but they have started to build this place together, he was younger but in this case the wiser. Permella didn´t leave her hut, she set there all day, holding her baby and cried. This was the first time in her life that she´d left Pelika. She had heard of babies being set out but thought it was stories, you tell to frighten children on long winter evenings. Patronity didn´t know how to act. She too was concerned about the wellbeing of her children and wasn´t sure if they could bring another 3 children safe through next winter. Even if her family wasn´t Christians, many people in her neighbourhood were and they saw each child as a gift from their gods and didn´t set children out and her family hadn´t set any children out what she knew of either. So basically she was on her husband´s side.

The brothers didn´t talk. There was so much work now in spring but nothing was done. As soon as they saw each other it was close to a fistfight (or worse, they both had swords and knew how to use them). Patronity realized that she had to do something. First, she talked to Permella and asked her that if she persuaded everyone to let her keep the baby, would she promise to use some special herbs, she had learned to use from her grandmother who was a skilled herb woman. It would prevent her from having another baby. Then she talked to Crysta, talked about the last year and their efforts and that they always had enough to eat, sometimes there was a shortage of fuel but one more baby wouldn´t make them need more of that. Slave children grow fast and in a few years, this boy could tend to the sheep and make other useful things. He might have to make do eating only crayfish (that they all have loved at the beginning but now was really tired of) but no one will starve because of this one child. Both women realized that if they don´t come to an agreement here, they will have to go back to Pelika in failure and become Christians. None of them wanted that. Crysta promised to talk to her husband and also Patronity promised to talk to hers about being too bossy.

So it was decided that Permella could keep her baby. It took many years until she became pregnant again. The brothers worked together, Dalma seldom spoke about "his" land and now and then even asked for his brother's advice. But in the end, Websterlin happily let his brother make the difficult decisions. He was raised to be a younger brother and had no real ambitions to be something else.

The picture shows the house from Dalma and Patronity. You can see the good crayfish spots, the crossing of the stream and in the background a small forest with spawning new trees.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 27, 2021, 05:10:19 AM
I haven't written anything the past few days although I played a little. I have some issues with the story.

In a story like this, you need to adapt historical events and my interpretation of how people thought and acted at that time into Banished. The discussion about the slave baby in my last entry is one such thing. That's the fun part of writing a story like this. But you also need to adapt Banished gameplay to your story. That makes more trouble.

In the first part of the story, I dealt with marriage among siblings, between master and slave, the interpretation of dying of "old age" and maybe some more things.

In this part, I've come to a point where I've built a thingstead. I want the statistics and the nomads it brings. But in real Iceland to this time a small pour mountain village would never have had a thingstead and a man in his late 20s would not have been chieftain, no matter which important family he came from. How do I explain its presence?

There are other small oddities like a Sami tradesman. In the Northern Scandinavian mainland, this is not odd but here in Iceland to this time? I've never heard of ships in the same culture. They would not have travelled that far. How do I explain this?

I might have a few ideas that I will think about, we will see how it goes on.

The picture shows the troublesome thingstead.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 29, 2021, 07:22:16 AM
So far Delma and Websterlin hadn´t participated in any things meetings. They hadn´t had time but the third spring, they decided to take some days off and attend the spring meeting. In winter they had built a small boat. It would be much easier to go on the river than on land.

When they arrived, Gute Ragnar greeted them happily, saying that he wasn't sure that they had survived up in the harsh mountains, since no one had heard anything from them. He also asked them for their sacrifice fee. Delma was astonished. A sacrifice fee? He had never heard of anything like that. Now the mind of Ragnar changed and he answered with irritation that if they thought that he would make sacrifices in their names to the gods and get nothing in return, they were mistaken. He was not rich like the big landowner in the south. No one at Pelika had ever requested anything from their neighbours in exchange for the animals and other goods that were sacrificed or the big amount of food and beverage on the meeting fiests. Quite the opposite, the neighbours got gifts and support in bad times. But Delma and Websterlin also understood that only wealthy farms could manage this and here up in the poorer north it would be reasonable for everyone to take their share of the costs. Delma had brought some silver in the hope to buy some grain and salt but now he felt forced to give most of it to the gute. He was still displeased, saying that they were 3 years late but he would be satisfied for now but next year he wanted the full fee according to the law.

They were a bit disappointed when they came to the thingstead. At home, it was a beautiful big circle of stones with magical runes and signs and with benches for the elder men to sit on. Here it was nothing but a common large stone on a meadow, normally used by sheep. Their dirt was everywhere. The idols for the sacrifices were also small and simple, the chicken that was sacrificed looked old, thin and chewy, the beer offered to the goods didn't seem to be the strongest. If the gods would be pleased with such poor gifts? But the meeting was peaceful, disagreements were solved without too much agony by any of the involved. Gute Ragnar seemed to be respected and do that part of his duty well even if he often suggested sacrifices as fine with a fee to him for performing the sacrifice, something they never heard of before. They couldn't compare the fiest afterwards with those at Pelika, but nothing was missing and the beer and food were better than they had been used to in the last years.

Delma wanted to speak to his father about the gute and his demands for silver so when it was asked who would accompany Ragnar to the regional things meeting later that spring, he volunteered. Ragnar was satisfied, it wasn't easy to get the men together, he was obliged to bring to the thing. And the grandson from the famous Eugenery Dorritson would bring honour and who knows what other benefits also to him.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on April 30, 2021, 07:54:36 AM
When they arrived at the regional thingsmeeting at Langanes, it was easy to spot the Pelika men among the hundreds of participants. They were many and as always, they had their camp at the best, central spot. It was now obvious that there were two groups of men from Pelika, one lead by Aurelious and one led by his brother in law Kell. Here at the thing, the number of Christians was much smaller than the Asa believers but among the Pelika participants, the Christian group was larger. The Christians had raised a large cross where they prayed when the others made the sacrifices to the Asa gods. It looked like other prominent families tried to split the Pelika people but they acted united in every matter that was discussed. In some matters, Aurelius was the spokesman, in other Kell. It looked like they´ve decided to keep their conflicts among themselves.

Casimeon was happy to see his son and hear the news about their lives and about his new grandchildren. He said that life at Pelika hadn´t improved. Many younger people saw no other option than to become Christians. He was glad that his sons had the courage to find their own way. When it came to the greed for silver from gute Ragnar, Casimeon was pretty sure that according to the law he could demand a fee but how high or to what conditions, he wasn´t quite sure. He would speak to Kell and if Delma would return to their camp with Ragnar for supper, he would take care of the matter.

Ragnar was flattered when Delma said that his father wanted to invite them to supper and when he saw Kell, the grandson of the famous lawman Ullfjot, he was even more flattered. But when Kell started to ask him how he had fulfilled his duties as gute during the first hard years of his nephews, he became silent. Kell went on telling the law: He could very well demand a fee from the people in his area according to their wealth, he could also demand their loyalty and that they came if he called for some common business but he also had the duty to help his people in need; if they were threatened by enemies or were starving. How had he helped his nephews the first hard years? Ragnar answered that in his poor neighbourhood, he couldn´t support every farmer who had hard times. There were hard times for everyone, most every year. Then Kell answered that he couldn´t demand a fee either and that it was obvious that he had misused his position in order to increase his own wealth. Now Ragnar got scared. If the powerful Pelika people decided to accuse him in public, he would have no chance. He said that he would pay Delma back his silver but Kell wasn´t satisfied. Delma had told him that Ragnar in other matters was a good and wise gute, well respected in his area and didn´t want to accuse him. But as a senior member of this thing, Kell couldn´t allow corruption. He had a suggestion: He would wait with his public accusations if Ragnar made Delma his deputy to watch that from now on, everything goes according to the law. Ragnar saw no other option than to agree.

First, Ragnar cursed his stupidity demanding that silver. But soon he changed his mind. For a long time, he had a conflict with a neighbour gute about some remote pastures. This Thorgil had brought the matter to the thing. On Delma´s initiative, the Pelika men had been on Ragnar´s side and he had won. So this arrangement with young Delma might, after all, bring more good than bad.

It had taken longer than Delma thought to return to Foresbo. He had to stay at Ragnar´s a few days to plan their future cooperation. Now, he longed for his home, he longed for his children and above all; he longed for his wife. It hasn´t always been like that. He had been quite disappointed when he first saw the girl his father had chosen for him; ugly, tall, thin, quiet and shy. The complete opposite of what he wanted by a woman. But oppose his father's arrangements? Not to think about. But things had changed. Maybe Patronity didn´t talk much but was she said was well worth listening to, she knew a lot of things and used her knowledge wisely. After the birth of her children, she wasn´t that skinny anymore and when she came towards him; smiling with little Ballace on her arm, it was the loveliest sight he could imagine.

The following years were busy and calm. They still had no surplus of anything but they didn´t starve or freeze either. The herd of sheep grew, they built sheds for making wadmal and leather and could finally replace their now quite ragged clothing. Delma took a more active part of the common interests of the area and was away for longer or shorter periods, while Westerlin found it dull and stayed home as much as he could. His son Wall was born in the spring of the year 976.

The picture shows the settlement of the year 976 (or 6 if you prefer the Banished  time) (I know, too long text and it hasn´t come to the building of the thingstead, yet but eventually we will be there, things need to develop)
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 01, 2021, 07:34:10 AM
One day a boat arrived. It was Casimeon. Astonished everyone rushed to the river and the men were even more surprised when they saw their mother. She wanted to finally meet her new grandchildren and see with her own eyes how her sons lived. With the both new babies, she now had 6 grandchildren here. The only of them she´s ever seen was Halli. Delma had visit Pelika a few times on his way to the allting but she hadn´t seen Websterlin since they left. It was a happy reunion.

The boat had a heavy load. Yes, they had brought some grain and turnips, the harvest had been good but that was not their main load. Beneath the bags with the food, they saw wood with old paint. What was that? It looked like the old Thor idol from Pelika. It had stood at the main dock. The children had been scared by the huge, grim-looking worrier sculpture. What was it doing on their fathers' ship? They remembered that Kell had taken it to his place when Aurelius wanted it removed from that public place. Casimeon said he had bad news, Kell was dead. He would tell the whole long sad story but first, he wanted something to eat and drink.

The old priest Ston had fallen ill and died that spring. He had been well-liked by everyone, not only the Christians. Aurelious had hired a new young priest. This Dankbrand was a totally different kind of person. He hadn´t been many days at Pelika before he took an axe and smashed the old Freya idol old aunt Shanner had in front of her house. Also, many Christians had been angry and Aurelius had tried to calm the feelings and telling that the sight of such an idol was hard for a devout priest. The first command in the law of the Christians was not to have any other gods than the One and many priests saw it their holy duty to destroy images of other gods. He had got the priest to swear on the bible, not to smash any more idols. But that didn't stop the priest from the next evil deed. Since he had promised not to smash any idols, this time he used fire and he had torched the big, old, beautiful temple, everyone called Dorrit's place that Eugenery had built after the death of his father to honour his memory. Kell lived close to the temple and came out when he heard some noise. When he saw the priest, he tried to stop him. But was so hard beaten by the priest that he later died.

If Aurelious and many other Christians hadn't arrived, the men would have killed Dankbrand on the spot but Aurelious saved him; saying that killing a priest was the larges sin of all. To kill him would wake the anger of God. Even if everyone including Aurelious wanted to see this evil priest dead, no one wanted to experience the anger of a powerful god. Instead, Aurelious sent the priest away, saying that if he ever heard anything from him again, he would find him, kill him and take the eternal punishment. The priest left Iceland and wasn't seen for many years.

His sister Earthusa, Kell's widow now had two idols on her property. Freya was located out by the fields and that was good but the big old Thor stands in public sight, right in front of her house. What if the next priest sees it as his duty to destroy it, comes and torched it together with her house? She had talked to Casimeon about her fears and asked him to bring the idol to a more hidden place. And he had thought that it might be useful for his sons. Here on this remote farmstead, it would be safe from evil priests. Earthusa had been pleased, both saving and getting rid of the sculpture.

They decided to put it in front of Delma and Patronities house right by the crossing to the other side of the stream, a busy place where they all passed often.

(sorry, even more text and no thingstead, I ought o be ashamed of myself.)

The picture shows the Tor idol.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 02, 2021, 08:57:45 AM
By the next things meeting, Delma invited Ragnar and some other men to Foresbo to see the Tor image. He had described its splendour and now they were curious. A good occasion would be before they leave for the allting. Usually, Ragnar makes sacrifices to Tor for a safe journey in good weather to that time. He was sure that this old image would be more powerful than their usual. When they saw it, everyone was impressed, none of the men had ever seen anything like it. It must be one of the most powerful god images in Iceland. It will bring them much luck to use this for sacrifices. Ragnar asked if they could move it down to his place to use by every meeting but Delma said that he had promised his father to watch over it carefully. That´s why he had put it right outside his house. It would stay there. But Ragnar was welcome any time to make his sacrifices to this image.

The weather that year had been better than usual and the allting very successful. Delma was sure the sacrifices to this image were powerful. How could he make them come here and use it every time? Could it be possible to hold the things meetings here in Foresbo? What if they built a proper thingstread like the one they had in Pelika? Maybe his neighbours would find it worth travelling a little longer for that. He discussed it with Patrinity and Websterlin. Patrinity found it a good idea as long as they didn´t need to pay for all food that was needed for the fiest. Websterlin was more hesitant. Delma thought with a thingstead here, he had no reason not to attend. Anyway; there was enough boulder lying around. To clear them away would give more grass for the sheep and a thingstead like the one at Pelika would be nice to look at and visit after a hard days work, so why not.

They used every spare time to clear the rocks and when the men came to make the sacrifices before the trip to the allting the next year, it was finished. It looked very much like the thingstead at Pelika; a stone circle with a big rock in the middle, they´ve even built benches. Only the magic runes were missing, but Delma knew that there are people at Pelika who know the runes and he would ask his father to send someone to carve. After the sacrifices, Delma led everyone to the new thingstead and said that if they weren´t scared of the long trip, they could occasionally hold the meetings here. All the men except Ragnar were enthusiastic. But after some thoughts, Ragnar agreed to let the men decide on the next meeting, if and how often, they would hold the meetings at Foresbo.

At the allting Delma again saw his father. Casimeon told that Aurelious had changed after the tragic events with the evil priest. He had told his siblings and cousins who ran Pelika farms that they could decide themselves without his interference about their farms. He still would give new land only to Christian couples but if they wanted a not Christian son to take over after them, he would accept it. Casimeon wasn´t very old and would like to run his farm himself for many more years but Delma now had one more option in the future to think about. Delma was glad that his father didn´t expect him to move back to Pelika and work at the farm as his heir. He was happy at Foresbo, was used to make his own decisions and has started to be an important man, whose word neighbours listened to.

Since his father now could decide about his property, Delma asked if he possibly had a couple of thralls to spare. The herds of sheep had grown so much that they didn´t know how to manage all work. A man and a woman would be perfect. Casimeon said that he would need them all for the harvest but in spring, Delma could come and get two of them.

Next spring Delma went to Pelika to get the thralls. He knew them both well and was very pleased with his father´s choice. It was Hezekiel, they had grown up together and Morian who was older and had been his nanny. Casiemon said that he didn´t mind losing them. Hezekiel was a bit too resourceful and wanted to do everything in a new way, maybe that would work better with Delma. And Morian was a bit old for fieldwork but was very good at spinning and weaving so she too would be more useful at Foresbo.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 04, 2021, 04:59:31 AM
Now when they had a surplus and wadmal to sell, they needed a proper dock, where merchants could land, load and unload. Delma had arranged with some merchants he had met that they would come as soon as the dock was built. With the new thralls, everything was easier. Hezekiel was a good builder, his many ideas didn't bother them at all. It made the work faster and more fun. Morian was skilled in weaving and sewing and knew for which coats the merchants paid the highest price.

At the next local thing at Ragnar's place, Delma said that he had thought again about his offer to hold some of the meetings at his place. His thingstead and idol were perfect but their houses too small for the feast. He's now about to collect building materials for a proper longhouse. When it's finished he would ask them again.

They really needed that longhouse. Their houses and huts were crowded. Next spring Casimeon asked if they could need another couple of thralls. It would only be for a loan. They belonged to Earthusa who now had split her big farm among some of her children. The smaller farms could maybe not support all of her slaves so she had asked her siblings if anyone could use some of them for a couple of years. They were all good workers and she didn't want to get rid of them for good. Delma had accepted another couple; Hestel and Yolandra.

With all this new workforce and the help of the older children, a lot of work was done. They produced a lot of wadmal and wool coats. Some merchants paid a good price for crayfish. They still caught a lot of them in the stream but no one like them anymore. So selling them was perfect. Patrinity also sold some of her herbs. Their wealth grew.

The picture shows the settlement in the year 982. Halli has reached the age of 14 and makes the work almost like a grown-up woman. Permella had got her second child. She hasn't used Patronitys herbs for years, no one wants to set out a baby anymore. To be able to catch the large salmon out in the river, they are about to build a fishing pear near the dock.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 05, 2021, 03:57:36 AM
A few years later, Aurelous invited Delma to his camp at the regional tings meeting. This was unusual, he usually barely greeted his pagan relatives. He told that his cousin Wallyn and his whole household were dead; burned at night in their house. Wellyn had bought a small farm in a distant area in the east. He was a capable young man who had started to get some local influence, pretty much like Delma. He had found out that in the same neighborhood some descendants from Odd lived. (If you don't remember the first part of the story: Odd's sons killed our first settler Dorrit. His son Eugenery, Delmas grandfather killed Odd and 4 of his 5 sons and after years also a grandson in a duel at the allting, Odd also had a daughter, they talk about her descendants). He can't say if it was arson or an accident, after all, houses can catch fire. He had visited a grandson from Odd and he says that he or his relatives had nothing to do with the fire.

It can be even worse, their old rivals Guddalingarna had been more aggressive after Torkel's second marriage to a very rich woman. Earlier he had been annoying but without enough resources to do them real harm. Now he had hired a big number of evil-looking hirdmen. If this was an arson arranged by him to get rid of a Pelika man with good prospects, Delma could be his next target. He wouldn't dare to attack Pelika but remote farms owned by capable young relatives would be easier.

Aurelious asked, how loyal Ragnar is. Aurelious thought that Torkel couldn't make anything without local help. Delma laughed and said; Ragnar is loyal only to himself. For some profit, he would sell his grandfather, not to mention him. Especially after last year's very successful tings meeting at Foresbo. He is no killer and wouldn't make his hands dirty but to the right price, he would show the way, or hide the killers. Aurelious said that they somehow need to raise the costs for Ragnar to betray him. Delma told him that he might have something. A year ago Ragnar had asked for his youngest son to marry Halli. Delma hadn't said yes but also not no, meaning that they were still too young to marry. With family bonds, betrayal would be harder. He wanted to give his daughter a farm at Foresbo to run with her husband. Maybe Ragnar would hesitate to help men torch the place if his son lived there.

On their way home Delma settled that young Delville would accompany him to Foresbo and if he found him a decent man, they would hold the wedding later that year. Delma also told about the death of his cousin and the rage and bloodthirst of Aurelious, saying that he had been almost scared of him. The Christians are said to be meek but that's not true, they become a holy rage if anyone does them wrong. If it's shown to be arson, Aurelious had sworn to kill all involved and all of their families: As agreed, increasing the costs for betrayal.

Aurelious had sent Lashade, an experienced warrior to Delma to watch over him and the property. He would also train them all in fighting. Casimeon had told Aurelious that they need women to process all the wool so this fighter was married. Even if he needs to pay his wife Nancis for her work, help would be welcome.

The picture shows Halli and Delville on the fishing dock in front of their house. Yes, Delville Ragnarson was shown to be a nice and diligent young man, eager to please everyone. Even if the youngsters were shy in the presence of each other, Patronity told that Halli was fond of her future husband. She had said that she didn't want to marry at all but if it was necessary, that one would be as good as any other. And that was approval from his teenage daughter. After much negotiation, Ragnar agreed to give them a flock of sheep and two working thralls. They aren't there yet but Delma will confront him on the next tings meeting.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 06, 2021, 08:29:46 AM
Again, I've come to a point when I need to decide in what direction this story will go next. I knew a few things; it's time for Delma to reach his goal to become the chieftain of the area. But how will he achieve this? Ragnar will not voluntarily resign to him. To let Ragnar die is also no solution, normally his oldest son would inherit this position. It could be sold or Ragnar could make some big mischief that would make his family lose this dignity. I will think of something.

I've played some more years and know that Delma has hired one more fighter. He wouldn't do that without reason. So what has happened? Was it arson that killed his cousin and is he the next target? Is this developing to open fights?

We are closing in on the year 1000 when they decided that everyone would be Christians. It would be nice to let our main characters take an active part in this event. Arelious would be a perfect figure for a winner. But he's an old man born in 925. Since I don't play his village anymore I don't know how long he lives. He has good genes from his grandmother who was healthy and charismatic to old age, so I tend to let him live. There could also be a possibility to make Delma convert but I don't think it's likely. I'll rather have him on the losing side.

And I can also reveal that in a few years, we will meet the evil priest Dankbrand again. He is a historic person, mentioned in various sources, very violent and colourful. His first visit to Iceland, appearing in this story, is not mentioned anywhere but he returns sometimes in the late 990s, sent by the Norweigan king. How would this influence our people and especially Aurelous who had sworn to kill him? (if I let him live that long).

A lot to think about. Maybe I will go to the library and see if they have some of the Iceland sagas to get some inspiration. But I´m afraid, in that case, the risk for a very bloody end of the story would increase. On the other hand, it looks like the history of Iceland indeed was very bloody at this time. I've seen historians who call this period the time of blood feuds. Many people were killed in small battels, duels or where banned from the country.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 08, 2021, 02:12:44 AM
I read one of the old sagas and I'm afraid; this will be bloody, too. It looks like we are getting further and further away from the peaceful Banished.

The following year was calm. Ragnar finally did send the thralls and the sheep. Delma had been hard at him in public, saying that they had agreed on working thralls, so he'll better not send any old people or children. He didn't dare to do anything but giving them a young couple about the age of Halli and Delville. The sheep were also in a good condition. Halli and Delville looked happy together, you seldom saw one of them without the other. It didn't take long before Halli was pregnant. Patronity found it strange to soon be a grandmother, especially as she too expected a new baby.

Early next spring a man and a woman arrived. Delma recognized the man as Hermain, one of the Pelika fighters. He said that he was sent there by Aurelious. Again, a cousin living on a remote farm had been killed, now they knew it was arson. Aurelious was also pretty sure that Torkel was behind this. His brother lived in the same area and had known where Prentino lived. At the first arson, he had probably used Odd's ancestors as informants. Shortly afterwards, three thralls had been killed at the outfields of Pelika. No one understood why Torkel wanted to kill them but the thralls at Pelika all had good clothes and were well fed, so maybe the killer had thought that they must be some relatives. Delma should be careful, never go anywhere alone and watch his property, also at night. That's why he was there.

Delma wanted to know why this Torkel hated them so much. Hermain wasn't sure of the details but many years ago Torkel had lost a case about some land on the thing. He blamed the Pelika people for his loss. His father and Eugenery had been friends and he had counted on their support but they had voted against him. After that, he hated everyone from Pelika and it looks like his hate grew with every year.

The spring and summer went on like always, peaceful and busy. They were preparing for the autumn things meeting and big feast when one afternoon their neighbour Cleonardo suddenly stood outside the house. He belonged to a people who called themselves sapmi. They didn't have houses but lived in tents, following their herds of reindeer. No, there are no domestic same people or reindeer in Iceland. One of the initial settlers, a rich farmer had missed hunting. He had bought a shipload of reindeer in North Norway and also hired some same people to tend to the animals. After a short time, they were treated like slaves and decided to take some reindeer and go away. Ever since then, their ancestors have lived in these mountains. The People at Foresbo used to trade with Cleonardo and had known him a long time. But this time he didn't come to trade. He had followed the tracks from some deers that had run away from the herd. Suddenly, he had seen a boat. It wasn't one of the usual merchants and the men on the boat had been heavily armed. He had watched it hidden for some time and seen how they went on land and made a camp just on the other side of the mountain. It looked suspicious to him, so he had decided to come here and warn them.

Delma thanked Cleonardo and asked him to show them the camp and they went up the mountain together with Hermain. Behind some rocks, they could look down at the camp. They saw 9 men. Among them, Delma recognized Leif Ragnarsson and one of Ragnar's fighters and Hermain identified Emund Torkelsson. So his strategy with marrying a Ragnarsson into his family hadn't worked. He had underestimated the ruthlessness of Ragnar and the price he was willing to pay to get rid of him. Instead, he had got himself trouble. It was unavoidable; they had to fight against these men. How loyal would Delville be when it comes to fighting his brother? He knew that there was no love between them, Delville had often said how happy he was getting away from Leif. But that didn't mean that he would be able to choose the opposite side when it comes to fighting for life and death.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 09, 2021, 06:02:06 AM
They might be watched, so Delma decided that everything needs to look normal. Nothing would happen until it gets dark, anyway. He trusted his old slaves, so the men were armed. But the new thralls were locked away in a cellar. They came from Ragnar and could very well help or warn the assaulters. Finally, he needed to make the important decision about Delville. He would need another man. The thralls were untrained, his sons and nephews too young to be of any big help. He decided to go and talk to Halli. After all, she's the one who knows him best. When he got to her house, she was preparing for the fight. He asked her what she was doing, she, the mother of a young son wouldn't fight any evil men. But she said that he knew that she was the best fighter of all the young folks, better than her brothers, her cousins and even her husband. She had beaten them all on the training field. She was so determined that he didn't say anything more to stop her. When it comes to Delville; he was totally on their side and could be trusted. He hated and feared his brother and wouldn't mind killing him himself.

Delma was sure that he and maybe Websterlin and their sons were the targets. Leif knew where they lived so he decided that Websterlin, his sons and the fighter Lashade should hide with a good sight of Websterlins house but not do anything until they got his order. He, Hermain, Delville and two of the thralls would hide at his place. Finally, he made Halli in charge of a group with her brothers Ballace and Delberto and their first thrall Fernand to watch over the harbour area. No one expected any attack there but it ought to be watched to be sure. That way, he would have his children out of danger and could keep an eye on Delville, just in case. Halli protested but followed her father's orders. Patronity lead the rest of the women and children to hide in some remote sheds. She and some of the other women were also armed to be able to protect themselves if everything else went wrong.

They saw quietly how the men arrived, how they blocked the doors of the houses and when they started to make fire at Delma's house, he shouted the order to attack. The assaulters were totally unprepared and killed instantly. Delma went over to Websterlin's place. They too had killed their enemies fast. But now they heard noise from the other side of the stream. A quick look also showed that they've only killed 6 men. The others must be by the dock where Halli and the boys were. Now, Delma was terrified. Again he had misjudged the situation and underestimated the ruthlessness of his enemies. They weren't only after him, they were after everyone and the whole property. They ran over the crossing with drawn swords as fast as they could. The noise had stopped and he feared for the worse. But soon he saw Halli and his sons. Ballace had a wound on his hand but otherwise, they were unharmed. Two men were dead. The third lay on the ground, properly tied up. Halli said that maybe he wants to question that one, so she hadn't killed him, yet.

Delma cursed his own stupidity. In his anger and fear, he had killed all the men without thinking. Luckily, his daughter had been wiser. Of course, they needed one to question. He guessed that also Aurelious would like to talk to that man. Delville had also done well, now he stood there happily embracing his wife. Delma went over and said, if he could find a way to deal with Ragnar right and honourable, without killing him, he would do it for him. But Delville said that he had no father anymore. Leif wouldn't have done anything without Ragnar's approval, also letting his son and grandson be killed. From now on his name is Delville Gunhildson, he could do what he finds right with Ragnar.

The slaves were released from the cellar, instead, their prisoner was locked in there. Treen said that they wouldn´t have had to lock them up, they would never have warned Ragnar´s men. Since she came here she hadn´t been beaten or raped once, something that happened frequently at Ragnars´. They tried to talk to the prisoner, saying that he could save his life by telling them all they wanted to know. He was a polite young man, named Skapte who said that they may as well kill him now. He was a dead man anyway. If he told them anything, not only he would be killed. Torkel knew his parents and his sister, they wouldn´t live long if he suspected him to talk. They couldn´t get anything out of their prisoner so they decided to take him to Pelika. After Aurelious had got his parents and sister safe to Pelika, Skapte had told all he knew about Torkel´s plans. As long as his family was safe, he also promised to tell it at the next thing. If Torkel was convicted, they could maybe all live in peace in the future. He was a poet and seemed to be very impressed by his capturer. He wrote a poem that became popular all over Iceland. It tells about the great female warrior; about her courage, beauty and fighting skills, describing how she fought, killed or captured the 9 worriers who came to torch her father's place, almost by herself. When Halli first heard it, she was embarrassed. It didn´t describe the truth at all. But in the end, she was proud and it helped to increase the reputation of them all.

The day after the fight they went to Ragnars'. One of his two fighters had accompanied Leif, the other was easily overpowered. First Ragnar said that he didn't know anything about his son, then he said that Torkil had forced them to help but Delma got tired of his excuses and killed him. At the next thing, Delma was confirmed as gute of the area. There were no opponents.

I haven't shown any picture for a while. This shows the nice harbour area. I find Delma a bit stupid not realizing that his enemies would want to destroy it. To have room for all the boats that come for tings meetings and sacrifices, they have expanded the docks.  Halli and Delville have put a Freja idol outside their house. You can see the numerous sheep and I can tell that not long after the fight, Hally, Patronity and several other women became pregnant. So no Christian can come here and say that the old gods aren't powerful!
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 10, 2021, 03:44:55 AM
At the next regional ting at Langanes, Torkil was charged with arson and murder. He blamed everything on his son and said that if it was proven that his dead son Emund had killed Wallyn, Prentino and their families, he would pay the fine, as the law says. He had known nothing and didn't think his son had anything to do with these fires either. He looked grim when Skapte told about the deeds and his involvement. Torkel said, no one should believe the word of a poet, they are known to be liars. This one was especially untrustworthy.

Torkel had many men at the meeting and many others were connected to or dependant on him. But so had the Pelika people. The result of the voting was uncertain. When it started to look bad for Torkel, he began to dispute the legitimacy of the men who should decide in the case. He even questioned that this thing had the right to tell a verdict since the erst arson had been in another district. After a friend had told Aurelious that he had seen how Torkel had given something that looked like a bag of silver to one of the oaths men, he too questioned the legitimacy and requested both Torkel and that man to be banned. The alligations were many and the discussions took long.

In the end, it was those without loyalties to one of the involved families who made the difference. Arson was a despised crime, only used by cowards. It should be punished. So Torkil was declared an outlaw for three years, which means that everyone could kill him and anyone who helped or tried to hide him, without punishment. To survive, he had to flee the country. Aurelious had wanted him banned for life but with the big fine, Torkel had to pay the relatives of the dead families, he realized, it was the best they could get. He had also heard that Torkel's new wife had threatened to divorce him and take back all her property if he lost this case. That would mean that Torkel would be a poor man when he returned after three years and could hardly do much harm. After the verdict, Aurelious made peace with Torkels brother Ulf. They made arrangements about changing hostages; children that should be fostered in the other's house.

Opposite to the case against Torkel, Delma's legalization of the killing of Ragnar and his claim to be gute was fast, without problems. Despite his nervousness, speaking in front of all these men, Delville did well, telling about the bad deeds of his father and brother and also saying that he had no claims against Delma for their death or to be chieftain of the area. If it was his heretage, he resigns to Delma.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 11, 2021, 03:39:28 AM
The celebration on the last day of the meeting had been heavy. Delma and his men had got up late the day of the journey back home. He also spoke with a man about marrying their children so it was almost noon until they finally were on their way. He had his boat at Pelika and normally they all travelled together that far. This time, many of the Pelika men were far ahead, some younger cousins were in his group. But everyone knew where they use to set camp for the night and that they would catch up with the slower, elder men before dark. They were right, it was still some daylight as they saw the Pelika men down in the valley. But to his horror, Delma also saw a big group of men hiding behind a small hill. They just mounted their horses. It looked like an ambush. Hadn't Torkel left the country, after all, or did some of his relatives and friends continue his deeds? The Pelika group had many fighters but they were busy setting camp and totally unprepared for the assault. Delma and the other men tried to scream a warning but they were too far away and the wind blew in their direction so no one heard it. They tried to get to the camp as fast as possible. When they got there, the fight was raging, many Pelika men were dead or wounded. But Delmas group with many young men prepared to fight, made a difference. The battle came soon to its end.

It was indeed Torkel. He was wounded but alive. Miraculously, Aurelious was unharmed. The old man didn't have a single wound although he must have been their main target. Holy Mother Mary's protection, he claimed and everyone believed him. This White Christ was really a powerful god. Aurelious went over to Torkel and said, that since it looks like he prefers death over exile, he will do him one last service. Torkel was the only of their prisoners that were killed. There had been enough bloodshed. 8 Pelika men were dead and some more so severely injured that they didn't know if they would survive. 12 of Torkils men were also dead, the rest were brought to Pelika as hostages to be used in peace negotiations with Torkel's relatives.

Delma only had one smaller wound and Delville was unharmed but Casimeon was badly hurt. Delma sent Delville home with a message to Patrinity that he would stay at Pelika until he knows if his father survives. Casimeon did survive but never fully recovered, he couldn't walk without crutches anymore. He wanted Delma to stay and take over his farm but Delma had no intentions to leave Foresbo. Instead, he suggested that his eldest son Ballace would be Casimeons heir and run the farm. He's a capable young man that would bring him much joy.

As gute and with his and his daughters' reputation as fighters, he was now seen as an important member of his family. He also needed to stay because Aurelious wanted him to take part in the peace negotiations with Torkel's relatives.  Delma and Torkils brother Ulf were able to negotiate peace with Torkils relatives that everyone could accept. Ulf hadn't known anything about the ambush and was very keen on stopping the bloodshed.  As a part of this treaty, Ballace married Gudrun, Ulf's oldest daughter and they moved to Pelika with a big dowry.

Now we have the "problem" that there's still a Ballace at Foresbo even when Ballace Delmason has moved to Pelika. It's the husband of Websterlins daughter Flossom. She married Ballace Torsson the son of one of the richest farmer in the area and they got a house close to her parents. That weird name Ballace seemed to have been popular in that generation. Opposite to the marriage of Halli and Delville, this is not a happy marriage. They seem to disagree on almost everything.

You can see the house of Flossom and Ballace in the middle. Everyone is waiting desperately for a merchant to bring food, They are out of barley, beans and bread. But as soon as one arrive, they can buy a lot, the stores of vadmal and wool coats are full.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 13, 2021, 03:35:22 PM
There hadn't been a real wedding between Ballace and Gudrun. Both he and Ulf had found it a much too big risk. Weddings between wealthy families like theirs were usually huge: Several days, a lot of people. And it wasn't unusual that big fights started, just at weddings; also between families that had been friends for generations. Even if both men trusted each other, none of them trusted all of their relatives. Instead, Delma, Ballance and a large number of fighters had gone to Ulf's place and fetched the bride. It was obvious to see, that she wasn't happy about this marriage. What Ballace thought about marrying this girl and move to his grandfather wasn't possible to see and no one came of the idea to ask. He simply had to do what his father and other leading family members meant was best for them all. And how these children felt who were brought to the homes of people they've never seen before to be fostered, far away from their families, no one will ever know either.

But now Delma was finally at home. It's been much too long. The first day he just walked around on the property, looking at everything with fresh eyes. They had achieved a lot in the 20 years they had lived here. Everything looked neat and prosperous. He went over to the dock area and spotted Delville on the fishing dock, emptying some nets. And as always, Hally wasn't far away. She sat on a close bench with her distaff, little Merto playing at her feet with some wool and wooden sticks, a beautiful, peaceful sight. He was happy to see them there, he thought that maybe they had moved down to Ragnar's. That farm now belonged to Delville. He asked Hally about it and she said it was Delville's decision. She would agree on whatever he finds right. Delma looked at his daughter with astonishment; she, who always had strong opinions about everything, big or small, asked or not, now she didn't have a meaning of her own in something really important? She saw his astonishment and said that Delville was brought up to be a younger son, every decision was so far made for him. Now things have changed but to be a great man, he needs to learn to make his own decisions. This is the perfect opportunity to start; the choice between two good things. They have a good life here but Ragnar's place is good, too; bigger with farmland. They would tell him as soon as he had made up his mind. The wisdom of his daughter never stopped to surprise him.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 14, 2021, 07:43:40 AM
A few days later Halli and Delville came to Delma and Patronity to talk. Delville said that he had decided that they would stay, at least for now. His mother was well capable to run the farm. He thought that they might be of better use here. He looked at Hally who nodded so he continued; Delma was now an important man, in the region and in his family. He would need to stay away for longer periods. But to be a man of real great importance, he must increase his wealth. And for that, they need to develop the estate and earn more by trading various goods for silver and gold. Websterlin and his sons are good workers. They would keep everything going the way it's always been when Delma is away. But would they manage to build something new? He didn't think so, Ballace was at Pelika and Delberto too young. Maybe Patronity would be able to manage these changes but he wasn't sure that she wanted to.

Delma was curious about what changes he had thought. First, the obvious; expand the number of sheep. There is still a lot of ground on the property. They didn't even have a bridge to the other side of the river, yet. He would put sheep everywhere, except in the small forest areas between the pastures. The problem would be to find people to process the wool. It needs skill, so it wasn't only to buy a few more thralls and be sure that they would be able to spin and weave the high-quality products, the merchants paid well for. Of course, they should try to find some skilled women or young girls to teach but here in this area, every poor farmer's wife and daughters could spin and weave. To pay them, the same way he pays the wives of the fighters for their work would be a win for all. They could get the wool and work at home.

Both Delma and Patronity found this an excellent idea. Hally nodded again and Delville continued. More sheep would also give more meat. But the merchant didn't pay very well for fresh or dried meat and to smoke it, they didn't have firewood enough. They had talked to some of the merchants and they would pay much better for salted meat and fish. It would well compensate the costs of the expensive salt they need to buy. Again Delma and Patronity were astonished. Why hadn't anyone thought of this before? Is that all, Delma asked. Now Hally couldn't be silent anymore and she said, not quite. A few merchants had offered flax. To make linen from it would bring a large win but they hadn't bought any because no one here knew how to process it. But the thrall Morian from Pelika had said that the women from Aurelious family knew. His wife Selindsay had brought that craft to Pelika. She was now dead but her daughters were as good as she had been. What if they went to Pelika to learn how to make linen? Maybe they could also borrow a skilled thrall to teach them all here at Foresbo.

Delma thought that Aurelious would be unwilling to send one of his thralls to this pagan place. Now Hally nodded to Delville again and he continued; maybe Aurelious wouldn't be that reluctant, after all. They had thought of one more change and hoped that he wouldn't be too angry or disappointed: Delville had seen the power of the Christian God at the fight against Torkel's men, how he had protected Aurelious. His prayers may help in big things, also for them, like sending Cleonardy to warn them for the arson but in small everyday matters, they could need the blessings of the Christian God, so they had thought about becoming Christians. They would like to go to Pelika and learn more and maybe letting the priest baptise them. They would also like to visit Ballace and meet his wife.

Delma wasn't angry or disappointed, not at all. He too had spoken with Patronity about the power of the Christian God. But he wouldn't be Christian. He made the sacrifices to the old gods and didn't want to abandon them. He was sure that they still were more powerful than Christ in this area. But if they wanted to be Christians and get his blessings for the property, it would benefit them all.

It was decided that Halli and Delville went to Pelika to visit Ballace, to learn how to make linen and to learn more about the Christian God.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 16, 2021, 07:02:32 AM
When they returned, they had a lot to tell. Ballace was fine but his marriage hadn't been fine at all. Not that they argued and fought all the time like Flossom and the other Ballace. They didn't talk at all. But Hally thought that it will improve after their visit. They had talked a lot with both of them and also persuaded the grandfather to let them build a house of their own. When they left, Ballace and Gudrun had eagerly planned the new house together and that's at least a start.

Yes, they had been educated in the Christian religion and finally baptised. From now on they would try to follow the Christian law. Some things would be easy; common sense and old habits; like honouring their parents, not stealing or killing their neighbour and wanting his property or wife but in some aspects, the law was strange and not to understand. They were not supposed to work on Sundays. Instead, they should go to the church. But the closest church is at Pelika and that's 2 days journey away. Not even their thralls were supposed to work on Sundays. Aurelious had said that at Pelika they don't do hard fieldwork on Sundays but there's always enough other work to be done, more quiet and peaceful and the women are encouraged to sing hymns by spinning and weaving instead of their usual indecent songs. They would find their way to honour God in a special way on Sundays, too, he was sure of that. Another strange thing is that God has an interest in what you eat. You shouldn't eat any meat on Fridays and you were not supposed to eat horse meat at all. She had asked the priest what to do when a horse gets severely injured and need to be slaughtered. Does God like horsemeat so much that he wants it all sacrificed to him? Why else spoil that good meat. But the priest had been mad and even given her a slap, saying God hates blood sacrifices but he hadn't explained why they weren't supposed to eat it. Delma was grateful that their gods had better things to do than interfere in such things.

With learning how to make linen, they hadn't been very successful. It was much more difficult than Hally had thought. She had learned the many steps of processing before you have fibres to spin but after that, she had practised until her fingers bled. Although she had been spinning wool since her childhood, she hadn't been able to spin the thin, even linen threads that would be needed. Her father's cousin Edmonika had been very patient with her, saying that she was doing very well for a beginner. It takes years to be as good as they were. As a baptism gift, she had given Hally a young slave girl, saying that she would train her in linen spinning and weaving herself. She would send her as soon as she was good enough but it would probably take a couple of years.

The difficult linen had been a small setback in their plans. The next problem was to get enough salt for all their surplus meat. Merchants who had salt arrived seldom and mostly it looked like they've already sold most of it when they finally came their way. The rest of their plans had worked better. It had been a bad, cold year. Many people in the neighbourhood had been starving. Delma's offering at the next autumn things meeting to let the women spin his wool and get paid was well received. Everyone at the thing also promised to tell their poorer neighbours who didn't attend the meetings about this possibility to earn some silver. Many women had come to Foresbo to get wool and to be instructed in how they wanted the threads to be spun.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 17, 2021, 08:40:04 AM
The following years had been peaceful and successful, their wealth had increased. The merchants finally brought a steady amount of logs, salt, grain, beans and many other useful things. Halli seemed to have inherited her great-great-grandmother Amiracle's sense for business, so she mostly made the deals. Yes, Halli and Delville were still at Foresbo. The main reason was that Halli and Gunhild, Delville's mother didn't get along very well. Among men at things meetings and feasts, Delville wasn't shy anymore but telling his mother what to do, was a different matter. In the year 998, they had two sons and a daughter. Ballace and Gudrun had two daughters and also Delmas and Patronitys second son Delberto was married. So now only their two youngest children, Esse and Flintony still lived at home. Before every larger things meeting, Delma went a few days ahead to Pelika and sometimes he stayed a while afterwards. There were always family matters to discuss with Aurelious and other leading men of the family.

This time, one of Aurelious' fighters met him at the dock, telling him that his uncle wanted to speak to him as once. Normally Delma first visited his mother and his son (Casimeon had died a few years earlier) but now he went to Aurelious' house instead. After he got something to eat and drink, Aurelious told him that Dankbrand was back in Iceland. First Delma didn't know of whom he spoke but then he remembered the priest who had killed his uncle Kell and burned the temple. Aurelious said that he had heard that Dankbrand was sent to Iceland by the Norwegian king Olav Tryggvardsson as punishment for killing and robbing people in Norway who didn't want to be Christians. So it didn't look as if he had changed, since his last visit. He had also heard that he already had baptised some important people in the south of Iceland.

Aurelious had promised to kill Dankbrand if he ever returns to Iceland but he was now an old man. Delma said, that it would hardly be a problem; Kell had 4 sons, 2 sons-in-law and many adult grandsons and if needed, he and many other of his cousins would help to kill that priest. Aurelious answered, that exactly was the problem. The end of the world will come soon. Some wise monks had calculated that Christ will return in the year 1000 to judge the living and the dead. The righteous will follow him to heaven, the others go to hell. Aurelious now severely looked at Delma, saying that he didn't have much time to desert his false gods. Then he continued; first in line on the road to heaven would be the martyrs, those who had been killed for their faith. They would sit at God's own table at the big fiests and be the superiours of the rest of them. Aurelious meant that he would go to heaven but what would happen there when he, with the regained strength of his youth saw Dankbrand in such a high position? Start a fight in heaven? Not to think about! To kill Dankbrand would be to give him the best gift he could get and himself eternal agony. He couldn't let that happen.

He, as well as his son Audio, had tried to talk to Dall and his brothers but they didn't seem to understand. They still planned the killing of their father's killer, saying that they didn't care about that Christan nonsense. Delma was the wisest, not Christian person he knew, he begged him to talk to his cousins and try to stop them from giving Dankbrand that reward. Delma asked what he wanted to do with Dankbrand instead and he said that he will accuse him of the killing and destruction of the temple at the thing and try to get him banned from Iceland. It might not be easy if Dankbrand had friends like Hall Thorsteinson, Hjalte Skeggjason and Njal Thorgeirson but at least worth a try. Delma said that he would do him the favour and talk to Dall but didn't know how he would be able to persuade him, not to revenge his father.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 18, 2021, 03:59:20 AM
This was a difficult task, talking someone out of revenging his father. Only cowards without honour didn't try to kill the murder of a family member. Dall and his brothers were nighter cowards nor men without honour. Delma was sorry that Patronity or Halli wasn't there. They could always advise him in difficult matters. He realized that this was more than just the killing of an evil priest. It could be the spark that split the unity of the family. There had been many conflicts, mostly because of religion but they had always somehow been solved and Pelika had always acted as one to the outside. That had made them strong and influential. Was Dall aware of the consequences of acting against his uncle's will and that this could weaken the whole family?

It cost a lot of effort but finally, Delma could persuade his cousin not to act and to realize that the unity of the family was more important than his and his brothers' honour. And Delma could also wake a small doubt; who knows, Aurelious might be right and killing Dankbrand would be like giving him the greatest eternal reward. To be killed by them was maybe exactly what he wanted and the reason he had returned. And that would be the worst thing of all.

The case against Dankbrand at the allting that summer didn't work very well for the Pelika people. He had made a large number of friends with a big influence. He was convicted to pay a large fine for the killing and the burning of the temple but wasn't banned. He didn't have much money himself so his rich friends paid the fine for him, so the whole thing didn't hurt him at all. Everyone from Pelika was unsatisfied and Dall considered killing him, after all.

But luckily he didn't realize his plans. Soon Dankbrand started to show his real nature: He murdered two poets who had made ironic poems about him, he also killed some other people who didn't want to abandon the old gods. After he and his helpers had robbed the old farmer Kol and killed one of his relatives, his former friends abandoned him and at next years allting, he was officially banned from Iceland forever.

After the case against Dankbrand, Hall Thorsteinson came to Aurelious, saying that he was sorry that they hadn't listened to him last year. A lot of suffering could have been avoided if they had banned that priest a year ago. Many relatives of the people he and his helpers had killed or in other ways done wrong, wanted revenge and were now killing innocent Christians. Also, some people who had been willing to convert had changed their minds after meeting such a violent priest. He only hoped that things would calm down when that priest was gone, once and for all.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 19, 2021, 04:46:28 AM
Next spring, Gudrun gave birth to her third daughter. She had been disappointed, wanting an heir but Ballace seemed to be pleased about another daughter and loved his little girls above all. That spring he accompanied the men to the regional things meeting. It was the first time that Aurelious didn't go with them. He felt too old for the long ride across the mountains. After they had set camp, Gudrun's brother Sturla and a couple of her cousins came over to the Pelika camp. Sturla congratulated Ballace for another daughter and asked if they should send someone to help to finally get Gudrun pregnant with a son. He was obviously not man enough to father a boy. One insult came after the other and Ballace became furious and hit Sturla with his fist right over the mouth so a couple of teeth broke. Sturla answered with a hit, breaking Ballaces nose. Soon men arrived and dragged the two fighters apart.

At things meetings, there was a law of peace; every fight or insult during the thing was punished hard. There had been many witnesses to the fight between Sturla and Ballace and most of them agreed that the insults from Sturla had been against the law but so had the blow from Ballace. The fathers of the combatants, Delma and Ulf both wanted to settle the matter between the families but breaking the peace of the thing was a severe crime. The leader of the thing, Thorgier Ljosvetningagode, said that if that's what the families wanted, they could decide about fines for insults, broken teeth and nooses themselves but their sons must stand responsible for breaking the peace of the thing. This must be a lesson for all young men. If they weren't able to control their actions, elder, more sensible men should leave them at home. Sturla who had started with his insults were banned from Iceland for 3 years and Ballace for 1 year for paying back with his fists.

Ballace was devastated. How could he be so stupid to be so provoked by that idiot? What would happen now? What would Gudrun say about him fighting her brother? After the first hard time, they had learned to know and appreciate each other and he couldn't imagine a life without her and his little girls. He now must go away, probably to England, he knew that Sturla had relatives in Norway and would most likely go there and he wanted to be as far away from him as possible. But would Gudrun stay by him after this? And what would Aurelious and his father say? His father hadn't said much to him about it, yet, among all the people. But that didn't mean he wasn't furious. Could this event put the peace with Gudrun's family in danger and the fighting start over again? It would all be his fault.

Suddenly a man spoke to him. Ballace was in a bad mood and didn't want to speak to anyone. But the man said that he had a proposition for him. He was looking for good men and men who fought against that family were good in his eyes. They had caused the ban of his father when he was a child. They had to emigrate and had discovered a new country up north, called Grönland. Ballace had heard of Grönland and that it was discovered by the famous fighter Erik Röde but he didn't know that it was because of a feud against Gudruns' family. He became curious and asked the man to tell more. He said his name is Leif Eriksson and like his father, he wanted to discover new lands. Last year, he had bought the ship from a man called Bjarne. He had told him about a trip he had made. With bad winds, he had missed Grönland, instead, he had come to a coast further west. The wind had changed so Bjarne had turned his ship and sailed back to Grönland without hitting land. But now Leif wanted to sail in that direction and see if he could find that land. Did Delma want to come with him? The expedition could very well take a year and would be much more interesting than going to Norway, England or wherever he was supposed to go.

Ballace said that it indeed sounds more interesting than serving in some small kings army in England. But he had no experience sailing oversea but from the many trips on the river, at least he knew how to handle an ore. And if they would meet some unfriendly people at their destination, he was better with sword and arrow than most men in his neighbourhood. Leif had planned to sail back to Grönland as soon as he had settled the business, he had come to the thing for. Delma would just have time to go home, say goodbye to his wife and get his things; winter clothes and some extra weapon would be needed.

When he got home, Gudrun was angry but only with her brother. She said that someone finally had to stop his evil tongue and one year isn't long. She would manage to take care of the farm. He shouldn't worry. Ballace felt he had to go to Aurelious and confess what he had done. He was a bit scared of the head of the family. But Aurelious hadn't been as hard to him as he had expected. At first, he wasn't keen on his decision to go with Leif but when he heard that Leif was Christian and about to bring two priests from Norway to Grönland on his ship, he changed his mind. He also said that it wouldn't be a good idea to go to England and join some army there. The Danish king Sven Tveskägg was raging there and to fight against his strong Danes was something you should possibly avoid. When the other men returned from the thing, Ballace was gone. When he came back the next spring, he had a lot to tell about the new country, Vinland in the far west.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 20, 2021, 07:26:05 AM
The year 1000 came. Aurelious and his priests tried harder than ever to convince the pagan relatives to be Christians before the end of the world. Pelika now had two priests. Some years ago Aurelious had sent one of his grandsons to England to be a priest. He had now returned and was helping Father Willibald. Some relatives were baptised but not all of them. Delma was one of those who refused. Everywhere in the country, there were fights between Christians and those who followed the Asa gods. Old hostilities were blown to life and new were added.

The allting meeting that year was at risk to turn into chaos or worse, into open fighting. Some powerful Christian chieftains wanted to have a Christian law but those who weren't Christians couldn't let their lives be ruled by such a law. It came to long discussions, most intense abut the ban to eat horsemeat. Finally, the thing decided to make two laws, one for Christians and one for the others. Hall Thorsteinson should tell the Christian law and Thorgeir Ljosvetningagode the law for the others.

Aurelious was very upset about this. Two laws wouldn't put an end to the fights, rather divide the country and increase the killing. He went over to Hall who greeted him friendly, asking his advice for the new Christian law. But Aurelious said he didn't want a Christian law; he had tried to follow the Holy Bible for more than 50 years, that's all the law he had needed. But of course, he always had priests to help him and explain the will of God. A larger number of priests in the country to guide the Christians would be better than a law; good, peaceful priests who knew their language, like his grandson Windel or his Father Willibald. This work to make two different laws must stop. Hall wasn't happy about the situation either and asked what he should do. He had got the assignment to tell a Christian law. Aurelious answered that he could resign from this mission and let Thorgeir make the law for everyone. He was a wise, peace-loving man, who would make a law everyone could live with.

Both men went to Thorgeir and Hall said that he would like him to make one law for everyone, a law that everyone could accept. Aurelious gave him a small bag of silver, saying that he would get the double amount if he was satisfied with the new law. Hall didn't want to be seen as a less good man than Aurelious, so he too, gave Thorgeir a bag of silver, promising the same. Thorgeir accepted the silver and said that he now will be left in peace to think. He went to his bed and covered himself with a large sheepskin. When they left, Aurelious told Hall that he'd known Thorgeir many years and if there's one thing he loves more than justice and peace, it's silver.

When Aurelious had told Delma about this, Delma said that Thorgeir is a powerful priest who can talk to the gods. Beneath that skin, he could consult their will. He was now sure, this would be a good law. But Aurelious got nervous when he heard that. Maybe this would lead to disaster. But it was too late to do anything about it now, they only had to wait and pray for the best.

Thorgeir lay under that skin rest of the day and the whole night. When he finally came out the next morning, Thorgeir went to the place of the speaker and asked if everyone would accept his suggestions for a common law. Everyone swore, even if some of the Christians, like Aurelious, weren't very enthusiastic. Thorgeir went on, they can't have two religions, it would lead to chaos. Everyone should be baptized and be Christian. Now there was a roar, everyone wanted to speak but Thorgeir held his hands up and everyone was silent. He continued; those who also like to honour the old goods could continue to do their sacrifices, but in private, not openly in big gatherings. It was allowed to eat horsemeat and to set out newborn babies. The rest of the law remained.

This was a surprise. This well-seen, powerful priest to the Asa gods wants them all to be Christians. Delma was sure that Thorgeir had spoken to the gods and that this was their will. It looks like they had been beaten by the more powerful Christian God and were now his vassals. He was sure that they still had a lot of power, especially in remote areas, like where he lived but obviously, they ruled with the goodwill of Christ. He spoke with other, not yet baptized men and it was their opinion, too. It wasn't stranger than after king Olav of Norway recently had been killed in a big battle at sea against the Danish king Sven and the Svea king Olof, Sven's son-in-law, Erik Jarl sat on Norway's throne as his vassal.

Aurelious was happy. Now there would be time to baptise the whole family before the end of the world. He would make the largest fiest ever heard of, as soon as possible and let everyone be baptised. Delma promised to come with his whole family. He also asked if he could borrow Windel for some time after that, to baptise and teach the people in his area. An Icelander and family member would probably be more accepted by the distrustful mountain men than a foreigner. Aurelious agreed.

Before the next local things meeting at Foresbo, Delma had moved the Tor idol to a more remote place. (Halli had moved her Freja years ago.) He said that from now on, no sacrifices would be performed at the things meetings. Instead, everyone was free to go to the idols and make his sacrifices alone. Delma would sacrifice before and after the meeting himself. They would also start and end the meeting with some prayers to Christ, he had learned from his cousin Father Windel. He would build a chapel as soon as he got the time and try to hire or lend a priest to teach them about the will of Christ.

----------------------------

This is the end of this story. If we look at history, these family feuds will go on for another couple of 100 years. There will be years of famine, volcanic eruptions, epidemics and finally the loss of this kind of freedom (for the rich and powerful). For over half a millennium, Iceland will be marginalized as a poor, remote part of Norway or Denmark, exploited by merchant companies and foreign kings.


This story became much longer than I planned from the beginning but it made me a lot of fun to write and to think out the plots. There are several historical (or half historical/mythical) events from this time, where I wanted my characters to participate in a logical way and that made the story longer, too. Like, how can I let one of those inland farmers participate in the discovery of America?

It has been a rather heated debate on this webpage about the originality of a story. I declare; this is not a unique story! It has a lot of sources for inspiration. I've even stolen small parts, characters and names here and there from some real authors. First, and the most important source is the Island saga literature, above all Íslendingabók and Njal's saga (Njal himself who according to his saga lived at this time, is even briefly mentioned as an hommage). But I have also other, more contemporary inspiration sources like Frans G Bengtsson's, Röde Orm, Jan Guillou's Arn trilogy and even the movie The Goodfather. This society was a mafia society. Influential families had the power and fought against each other. I've sometimes seen Aurelious as Marlon Brando and Delma as Al Pachino. ;)

I know now that this story is at the wrong place. It would have been better off under the headline Fan Fiction. But when I started a long time ago, I had no idea where this would lead.
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: angainor88 on May 21, 2021, 05:15:15 AM
Thank you for writing this! It was a lot of fun to follow along (and I have very little knowledge of the actual history of Iceland).
Title: Re: Nilla-Settling of Iceland
Post by: Nilla on May 23, 2021, 08:40:14 AM
It made a lot of fun to write. I'm happy you like it @angainor88.