I was wondering if, while playing the Byzantine Empire, one will be able to recruit or hire the Varangian Guard.
Their fascination derives chiefly from the incongruity of finding such men - a warband of lusty, hard-fighting, hard-drinking vikings ("wine-bags" some sources call them!) from the far North of Europe - serving the great Emperor of Byzantium, amidst the pomp and decadent splendour of the dazzling courts and sparkling palaces of the Holy City of Constantinople.
Their fascination derives chiefly from the incongruity of finding such men - a warband of lusty, hard-fighting, hard-drinking vikings ("wine-bags" some sources call them!) from the far North of Europe - serving the great Emperor of Byzantium, amidst the pomp and decadent splendour of the dazzling courts and sparkling palaces of the Holy City of Constantinople.