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Nilla-Settling of Iceland

Started by Nilla, February 03, 2020, 06:22:12 AM

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Nilla

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. :-\

Nilla

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.

Tom Sawyer

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.

Nilla

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.

Tom Sawyer

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!

Nilla

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.



Nilla

#6
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.

Tom Sawyer

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?

brads3

RED's fort with the hunting towers,CC has the frontier addon mod,and KID has a fort mod.

Nilla

@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.

Nilla

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.

Tom Sawyer

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

Nilla

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....

Tom Sawyer

This story is going to end in a bloodbath. Maybe better to turn them all into peaceful Christians before it escalates.^^

Nilla

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.