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Dunaden

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Mar 3, 2012
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Thord Manuscript, Page I

Ingrid had been almost incoherent on the phone speaking fast and loud, saying she needed to see me, that she had found it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t clear. So now I waited in my office, at this ungodly hour waiting for her. Surprisingly, instead of her usual absentminded tardiness, she actually arrived earlier than the appointed time. She burst in without knocking, her arms tightly clutching a cloth wrapped bundle to her chest.

She kicked the door shut behind her, and suddenly stopped and turned around and flipped the deadbolt, locking the door. I was too shocked by her appearance to protest. Her usually neat appearance was replaced by a disheveled woman, her grey hair wild and uncombed, her eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep and her coat misbuttoned, all of that topped by a mad beaming smile.

“Ingrid, what is going…” I started to say as she marched up to my desk and appeared to be looking for a clear spot to set down her bundle. Seeing none, one of her arms released its grip on the bundle and swept clear a spot on my desk, sending ungraded papers, pens, photographs, and other knickknacks spilling onto the floor. Then with much more care she gently set the bundle down on the cleared space.

I was still sputtering in anger when she spoke, cutting me off. “Karl, I’ve found something incredible. I think it is the prelude to the Saga of Rebirth!” and pointed at the bundle on my desk.

It took a second for her words to cut through my rising temper over the destruction she had wreaked.

When I finally understood, I suddenly felt light headed, “What are you talking about, there has been no mention of a prelude ever in the past 800 years, if it even exists at all. You don’t just find it.”

She didn’t answer, instead she unwrapped the bundle, on top was a couple of loose pages of letter size paper with printing on them, but she pushed those aside to reveal a thin ragged, broken spined-volume in a plastic sleeve. It was slightly smaller in size than the modern paper sheets and seemed to contain only about two dozen or so pages of parchment… very old parchment, bound with a tattered cloth cover. There were four faded runes embossed on the beaten cover of the volume.

Ingrid saw me trying to puzzle out the runes from memory, “It just says ‘Thord’ in Younger Futhark runes. I already checked it.” She said in an awed tone.

My mind was racing ‘Thord’, could this really be it? Could this tell the story of the mysterious origin of one of the most important men in history, King Grip ‘the Victorious’, the main heroic figure in the Saga of Rebirth? A single entry in an obscure text had once referenced the great man as ‘Grip Thordsson’ which had set off a mad search through history by hundreds of scholars for his possible father under the name Thord, a search that had so far proven fruitless.

I looked up at Ingrid, into her tired shining eyes. “Can it really be?”

She nodded, and picked up the two loose sheets of printer paper, “I already translated the first page, it puts this Thord in the right time period,” she paused with excitement and then almost shrieked in joy, “It mentions Erik ‘the Heathen’ by name.”

I grab the sheets from her hand and quickly began to read…


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My name is Thord, the last son of the Eketrä.

In 1066, the Viking way of life is dying and the belief in the Old Gods with it.

My father had been a mighty Viking raider in his youth, feared across Europe. He had been born to a poor farming family, but by the time he was 14 he had left the farm and joined a Viking raiding crew. In time, he rose to captain that ship and then lead fleets. He won and lost fortunes. He raised six sons from various wives and concubines and saw them all die in battle, destined for Valhalla. But as the Christian God and his followers united against the Viking raiders, killing them or converting them, he found himself coming back from raids empty handed and losing men. In the end, after 50 years of raiding, he took the last of his crew and raised a fort in Ångermanland and took a local headman's daughter as his last wife. By the time I was born, what hair he had left had turned white and his days of raiding long past.

My mother died in birthing me, so I was raised by a crew of retired raiders, who spent every night reliving their youth. All I knew were the Sagas and the tales of my father's exploits. These old men talked of the glory of raiding the great cities of France and the Mediterranean and dreamed of going to Valhalla, but as they began dying, hearts failing while behind a plow or when in their cups, the chances of dying in battle seemed slim. In his last years, my father went everywhere with a naked blade in his hand, fearful he would die weaponless and Odin would forget all he had done. He died in his sleep, his sword knocked to the floor sometime during the night.

So, I have become the Chief of Ångermanland, one of the last independent Norsemen left in the world. A man who had been raised to follow the Old Gods and to seek glory as a raider in a world where the Viking way of life has become history rather than fact.

To the south in Sweden, the old King's son, Erik, and many of his vassals still follow the Old Gods, but their days of going a Viking are over, Erik kneels to his father's successor, a Christian King who forbids raiding and calls Erik a heathen.


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I am not ready to give up the Old Gods and kneel before the Christian one. I would take a chance on living as my father had and someday meeting my father and my unknown brothers in Valhalla. For years, others who felt the same way had drifted north from the Christian lands and come to my hall. I welcomed them and gave them land, adding to my strength. I found amongst them skilled shipwrights and had them build me longships, I knew I would soon make my mark on the world.

I read straight through twice while Ingrid sat on the edge of the seat opposite my desk, watching me like a hawk. Finally, I looked up at her, “This is different from any Saga I have ever read, it seems more like a journal or autobiography written or dictated by this Thord himself rather than a later telling of his story based on tales and legends.”

Ingrid look chagrined, “Do you think it is fake? I have sent samples of the parchment, the ink, and the cover bindings to the lab to try and date the actual materials.”

“That’s good. I don’t know if it is fake, but it unusual, there are autobiographies older than this, so it’s not unknown, but I’ve never heard of one from this area and this time period written in runic script.” I had a sudden astonishing thought, “If this is genuine, it is even more valuable than any Saga… it’s a firsthand, eyewitness account of life in medieval Sweden at the end of 11th century before the chaos at the turn of the century.”

Ingrid nodded, “That’s why I brought it to you, you have the knowledge and equipment to handle and protect this source material as we translate and authenticate it. I translated the first page because it was accessible and I needed to have some idea of what I had, but I didn’t dare go any further in fear of damaging the parchment or scraping off the ink.”

I looked at her and smiled, “Thank you, this may make both of our careers. We will do this right every step of the way, and if this is real, we will be the first to know the truth.”
 
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This is so good. Will you use the format of present-day historian finding source materials? Will Thord remain tribal and Germanic (I wish Norse not Swedish, oh well)? Is this a custom start or someone on a 1066 bookmark? With first comment, do I get to be an unofficial god-parent? Thank you, I marked as a follow before I read first word.
 
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A nice opener!
 
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A very good start!
 
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A new pagan ruler in Sweden. I'll watch this.

Will you attempt to reform the Norse faith?
 
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This is so good. Will you use the format of present-day historian finding source materials? Will Thord remain tribal and Germanic (I wish Norse not Swedish, oh well)? Is this a custom start or someone on a 1066 bookmark? With first comment, do I get to be an unofficial god-parent? Thank you, I marked as a follow before I read first word.

Thanks, the format will continue as each page is translated. This will be a short AAR covering only the material Ingrid discovered, so we will see what it is included soon enough.

Thord is present at the 1066 bookmark, not a custom character.

You would be the god parent, except Thord is rejecting the whole baptism thing.



A nice opener!

Thank you.
A very good start!

Thanks.

This looks like it'll be worth keeping an eye on :) Glad to see you writing again, Dunaden.

Thank you, still writing, just not everything makes it to the forums.

A new pagan ruler in Sweden. I'll watch this.

Will you attempt to reform the Norse faith?

Welcome, things will become clearer as more research and translation is completed. But as I mentioned above this will be a short AAR covering only what is included in the discovered text.
 
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Thord Manuscript, Page II
Thord Manuscript, Page II

We got to work the very next morning, I and my team took possession of the volume and took it to an environmentally controlled room where we could work. The book was weighed, measured, and photographed using regular cameras as well as multispectral imagining to gather and preserve as much information as possible before we cracked it open and began the cleaning and preservation processes. It was actually in fairly good condition with limited discoloration, mold and mildew stains. And over the next few weeks we slowly uncovered each page. As soon as we had clear, legible photos of the text of each page, I sent them to Ingrid to work on the translations. Then we would meet to go over what she had discovered.

We met again in my office in the evening, Ingrid once more her prim and proper self, but still surprisingly prompt for our meeting, indicate how excited and committed she was to all of this.

She handed me a folder containing the photograph of the 2nd page as well as her translation. Before I began to read, she asked, “I was wondering if you had any thoughts on first line?”

“What do you mean?”

“Thord says that he is the last son of the Eketrä. Sounds like a clan or family name. Is it familiar to you, anything about the name from this time period or earlier? “

“It’s not an uncommon family name in Sweden, simply means oak wood. There have certainly been historical figures with that surname, but none that I know of that go back that far.”

She nodded, “I was just wondering if we could use it to identify Thord’s father if he was such a famous raider as Thord seems to think.”

I laughed, “From the way Thord describes his father and his cronies, their stories of their raids and past glories could all be tall tales with little truth to them.”

“Now let me read.”




It was the need of a wife to bear me sons, that has led to the start of my legend. The only woman of any station in my land was my Spymaster, Linnéa Thimrén, daughter of my father’s second, but she is not what I have in mind for a wife, as I think of her more as a sister having grown up beside her. I have a woman named Malmfrid, but she is lowborn, only fit as a concubine at best, but she is a robust woman, and could give me strong sons. I need to gain more prestige and make a name for myself, so men will beg me to take their daughters as wives and concubines. The easiest way to gain reputation is to raid.

I send word throughout Ångermanland to gather all the thanes and fighting men to join me in a great raid, 1,000 men answer the call and we launch 32 long ships. We head south, bypassing the Swedes, heading for the Pomeranian coast. We land unopposed and descend upon the villages and towns of Sczcein and begin collecting loot. The High Chief of Pomerania cowers behind his walls.

But a chance heard word changes my plans. The Danish King has declared war on Lübeck and in response the Lord of Lübeck has called his banners and marched north to intercept the Danish forces. A gift has fallen in my lap, one of the wealthiest provinces on the Baltic lies virtually defenseless. We fall back to the ships and head west.

We reach Lübeck ahead of the victorious Danish army and lay siege to the various holdings. The Christian Danes, instead of driving us off, settle in to support our siege of the city. They have come for land. They can have it…after we strip it of everything valuable. In the end, to show my contempt for the Christians, I burn the cities and castles they came to claim. Two women are captured, one a pagan and the other is Catholic, the Countess of Lübeck. Both are lowborn. My concubine, Anna Norrevik, has more noble blood in her veins. The only worthy hostage I take from Lübeck is a kitten who at least will keep my storehouse free of rats. The Countess Hafrid I give to my Steward, Emund. He makes her his wife. The other girl I give to my men, I don't know what happens to her.

As the Danes settle in to pacify the people of Lübeck, my men and I return to our ships with the treasures of Lübeck. Once at sea I realize my ships can hold more and the Danish King and all his men are in Lübeck. I set my course for Sjaelland.

With none but old men and green boys defending the walls, Ringsted would fall soon. I have scouts screening us to the south to catch any sign of the Danes returning to defend their capitol. But they never appear. Ringsted falls and burns, my ships are so full a high sea could swamp them, so I head for home. Leaving the people of Ringsted talking of the true Viking that has raided them.

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I return home to find that some lowly tavern wench has died and presented me with a son, Orvar he is called. He is a bastard born and so will not rule after me, but I will raise him all the same.



I looked up from my reading, “Hmm, if we can find some confirmation of any of these raids, Sczcein in Pomerania, Lübeck, or Ringsted, or even some corroboration of the Danes conquering Lübeck in this time period it would help validate the manuscript. Unfortunately, it is stingy with dates so far, only mentioning 1066 on the first page. Also, this … Countess Hafrid in Lübeck.”

Ingrid nodded, “And Orvar would possibly be the older half-brother of Grip ‘the Victorious’, we could see if he is ever mentioned in any of the legends surrounding Grip.”

 
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Doesn't giving Countess Hafrid as a wife mean that the Steward has a claim to Lübeck? Or was she simply the wife of Lübeck's Count?

Will you attempt to conquer Pomerania?
 
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Raiding, a great and ancient Norse tradition. With coins in his coffers and newfound prestige to win friends and influence people, Thord is laying a foundation upon which he can build a better and brighter future for his realm.
 
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Doesn't giving Countess Hafrid as a wife mean that the Steward has a claim to Lübeck? Or was she simply the wife of Lübeck's Count?

Will you attempt to conquer Pomerania?
Countess Hafrid is described as the lowborn wife of the Count of Lübeck, so as no claims of her own. For all Thord's boasting, he has been careful not to raid too close to home and give them a trail that leads back to his base of operations as he knows if he draws too much attention of his more powerful Christian neighbors that is a fight he can't win. Taking and seizing land is also against the the current hit and run tactics he is using.
Raiding, a great and ancient Norse tradition. With coins in his coffers and newfound prestige to win friends and influence people, Thord is laying a foundation upon which he can build a better and brighter future for his realm.
Thord currently seems content to build his reputation amongst the followers of the the Old Gods and fill his coffers, he is focused on that and a little obsessed with finding the perfect woman, worthy of sitting by his side.


Bags of loot, but no woman fit to be a concubine much least a wife. What is Thord's relationship with the neighbors? Can land be taken to the north (Lapland) or east (Finland)? Thank you for the update.

Exactly the situation. His neighbors haven't been mentioned yet but Thord seems bent on raiding rather than conquest, and anyone weak enough for him to conquer won't make him much stronger than he is, but will still call attention to where he is.
 
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Thord Manuscript, Page III
Thord Manuscript, Page III

Ingrid and I met again a few days later. The conservation efforts continued and more pages had been cleaned and repaired.

I spoke first, “I could not find any reference to the specific raids mentioned on the last page. However, I did confirm that the Danes did conquer Lübeck in this time period, but no indication of another group interfering. Though interestingly, there were some indications that the sack of Lübeck was particularly brutal and devastating.”

“Which would fit with Thord’s claims…” Ingrid mused.

I nodded.

She asked, “Is there any mention of an Orvar in the Saga of Rebirth?”

I shook my head, “No one specifically called Orvar. The closest is one of Grip’s advisors is a man named Ormr”

“Snake” Ingrid murmured.

“What?”

“Ormr means snake or serpent, or perhaps worm, in Old Norse.”

“So perhaps a nickname rather than a name?”

“Yes, but is there mention if this Ormr is related to Grip? Half-brother? Or just a kinsman?”

I shook my head, “No.”

Ingrid sighed, and then pulled out the next page for me to read. So I sat back and adjusted my glasses.




Already my fame as a raider is known and my small homestead is bursting with treasure. My fame spreads and soon men clamor to go raiding again. I stay only long enough to instruct Emund to begin upgrading the defenses to my hillfort. My raiding will make enemies.

The Danes have joined the Norge in attacking England across the North Sea. More Christians leaving their homes defenseless. I land in Adger at the southern tip of Norge. An army from Kiev is encamped there waiting transport to join the war in England. They make no move to protect their allies' lands. Soon the wealthiest holdings fall. My ships are again growing full. I march west into Rogaland and lay siege to a nameless castle there. A few months later a small Norwegian army arrives to drive me off, I thought I could fight them, but an unexpected sortie from the castle is too much and my shield wall buckles, it is a setback as I am forced to flee to my ships. I head for home to raise more warriors, but I am not empty handed, I have escaped with all my captured loot. Once again, my people cheer when I return. The missing raiders died in battle, we will meet them again in Valhalla.

I spend 5 years raiding, from Pomerania to the Iberian coast, and still have not found a worthy woman to sit by my side. The other Norse lords offer their daughters as brides, but they are still babes in arms, it would be years before we could marry. I will need sons soon, other than the bastard boy, Orvar. So, I take another concubine to warm my bed and provide me an heir. I decide to not raid this year, my men are still recovering and I will spend some time at home, letting my fame spread and bring more men to my raids.

Instead, I find myself settling disputes between farmers over pigs.

Also, the war for England is over, William the Bastard has triumphed. He has taken England from Harold Godwin and defeated Harald Hardrada as well. The former Viking has grown soft after bowing to the Christian God.

One of my concubines is pregnant. She will be rewarded, if it is a son.

My troops still aren't at full strength despite the efforts of my marshal, so I will spend another winter in Ångermanland.

Raiders from Pohjanmaa have arrived, drawn by the wealth I have accumulated. The improvements I had Emund make to the hillfort are enough to keep them out .... let them play outside in the snow. I will repay this insult in the spring.



I set the page down, “Not many clues about Thord himself, other than his home being made more substantial than a simple village headman’s house. But the references to the Norman Conquest fit again with the time period.”

“He also references Harald Hardrada’s strong support for spreading Christianity within Norway.”

“Well, that is well known, so not much help in authenticating this text.”
 
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Thord wants heirs, I see. Why is he so obsessed with finding a worthy wife?

I wonder if there is dissent in Norway from the Christianization...
 
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What qualities does a 'worthy' wife possess? Raiders raiding a Norse raider, how unsporting. My last foray into this area ended with my being a English King of Lapland living in the Midlands as a vassal of the Swedish Emperor of Britannia. Thank you for the update.
 
Thord wants heirs, I see. Why is he so obsessed with finding a worthy wife?

I wonder if there is dissent in Norway from the Christianization...

Yes, same as most people he doesn't want to be the last of his family, forgotten once he's gone.

Could be a couple of things, the fact that he never knew his mother and his father and his cronies couldn't even remember her name and didn't even care enough about her to just make one up when he asked, so he may want a woman at his side that will be remembered. Also he was raised on the sagas and all the women in them were either goddesses, queens, princesses, or shieldmaidens (or the hero's sister) so he may have a skewed idea of what he should be looking for in a woman.

I'm sure quite a few of the raiders that joined Thord may have been Norwegians that weren't ready to abandon their gods.


What qualities does a 'worthy' wife possess? Raiders raiding a Norse raider, how unsporting. My last foray into this area ended with my being a English King of Lapland living in the Midlands as a vassal of the Swedish Emperor of Britannia. Thank you for the update.

As hinted at above a worthy wife is daughters or sisters of Kings or important/famous heroes, or heroines in their own right as famous shieldmaidens, someone who will add to the legend of himself Thord is building.

The Finns are foolish.

This game does lead to some bizarre outcomes.


Welcome!
 
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Thord Manuscript, Page IV
Thord Manuscript, Page IV

Ingrid was bouncing with excitement when she arrived at my office and barely said a word past a perfunctory greeting before thrusting her newest translation into my hands.

I tried to say something, but she just said, “Read!”




Spring comes, my men are restless after a winter trapped inside the hillfort. So, we launch the fleet with 1,300 men, our first stop it to repay Chief Kavela of Pohjanmaa.

With the villages of Pohjanmaa burning behind us, we head west to the Wadenzee Coast. Pohjanmaa yielded little gold, but the raid should have sent a clear message to all the Finns across the Gulf of Bothnia.

My neighbor, Botulf of Westrobothnia, has followed my example and has also come to raid this coast, I see his ships passing to the west. I land in among the isles of West Freisland.

The Lord of this land has sent an army to drive us off led by one of their priests, I will test my strength against their God.

Their god and their soldiers were much stronger than I dreamed, I had thought our armies evenly matched. But they drove us back to our ships, with many of my men entering Valhalla. Achieving my goals may be much harder than I ever imagined.

I need a victory, I head further west to Rouen, the Bastard is living across the Channel now, learning how to be a King. My 300 surviving men are too few take the castles, but there are rich pickings in the countryside. From there, we move into Eu for more raiding. The country side is finally raised against us and we are forced to return to the ships. We will head home, the loot of Normandy will win back some of the prestige lost in West Freisland.

We have been away over a year. We will spend some time in Ångermanland and recover. I learn that I have a daughter, I name her Gurli.

As winter grips the land, I use my prestige to draw skilled warriors to train my levys, a training ground is built in Ångermanland to help with this task.

Chief Botulf of Westrobothnia has married Rikissa from my hall. He did not realize she was already carrying my seed in her belly. My second daughter, Gytha, will be raised by Botulf, as he does not know she is mine.

In the Spring, I take my raiders to the British Isles, the Saxons are revolting against their new Norman King, I raid up the coast of England and then Scotland and finally sail south through the Irish Sea.

I return to find one of my concubines, Ingeborg Grip, dying as she is gives birth to my first true born son, just as my mother died birthing me. I name the boy Grip to remember her by, as that is the only way to give her the reward I had promised. I don't even know my own mother's name.

I spend the winter keeping warm with my concubine, Anna, and any other willing girl I can find. Ångermanland continues to grow, a market town is built where traders can come and purchase the loot my raiders are bringing in from all over Europe.

Edla gives me a bastard daughter we name Ingeborg. My other bastard, Orvar, is turning out well, hopefully this girl will be of worth as well.



As soon as I looked up Ingrid blurted out, ‘The birth of Grip ‘the Victorious’ and the name of his mother, Ingeborg Grip!!!”

“This is definitely promising and the naming Grip’s mother would be amazing if we can prove it.”

Ingrid sputtered, “If we can prove…Everything fits…Thordsson…. Why he is named Grip…the time period…coming from the northern Sweden area!”

I raised my hands, “I know, but we still need supporting evidence. We are still waiting on the carbon dating results. Those would go a long way to tell whether this a true account, or a later fiction.”

Ingrid just shook her head and said stubbornly, “I don’t need tests, this just feels right.”
 
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Why is his son remembered when he isn't? And this nickname (the Victorious) mean that this line will take a throne?

Did the Norse faith survive the test of time? I'm curious.
 
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