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Nilla-Settling of Iceland

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

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Nilla

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.

Nilla

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.


Tom Sawyer

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.

Nilla

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.

Tom Sawyer

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.^^

Nilla

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.

Nilla

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.



Nilla

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.

Nilla

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.

Tom Sawyer

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.

Nilla

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.

kid1293

I enjoyed the story. It wasn't a row of pictures with some writing.
More of an illustrated history lesson. Good play, good story :)

Artfactial

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!^^

Nilla

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.

Nilla

#29
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?