- Location
- Vicksburg, MS
[X] Plan The Basileus Is My Bestie
-[X] Magnus Fox-Beard: This stone stands for your ancestor Magnus Refskeggi, who was Ivarr's son. He was a great seer and a godtalker, who went viking on the austrvegr with Snorri and Eyvind and never came back. He fell in Greikland fighting for the Varangians, and died well. He led them to a great victory, but was killed before it was won. This stone was raised by Snorri, his blood-brother and truest friend. (Increased Reputation gain with the Varangian Guard and the Imperial Court. Bonus to command and leadership.)
-[X] Christian: You have abandoned the ways of your father's fathers, for your god is the white Christ of Rome, who does not reave or take rings, who holds no other gods but he. You take the bread which his flesh and kneel in the mornings to pray to the god of the nails. Yours is a faith on the ascent -- wherever the tide meets the shore, there also are Christian men, who speak the tongue of Rome and hold the cross in their hearts. (Increased Starting Reputation and Relations with Christians, Decreased Reputation and Relations with Heathens, and Decreased Starting Reputation with the Varangian Guard. Imperial Favor gain is doubled from combat actions.)
-[X] Hirdman: You were a soldier in the retinue of Sweyn Forkbeard, King over all the Danes in his day. In his time, he made war for the throne of Norway, and you fought under him. The court of the Danish king travels with him when he goes to war, and so you gained experience with the intrigues and politics of a royal court. Sweyn's sons vied bloodily for the throne, and as he aged, factions in Denmark made a game of swords and knives to win his crown for their favored prince. The Danes are not born to intrigue and trickery, but they may learn it as well as any other -- as you did. Perhaps most importantly of all, you know how to behave around royalty. They are a particular sort, but the right words said in the right ways may win their love as sure as any man. (Minor bonuses to Combat, Warfare, and Command skills, and Major bonus to Intrigue and Charisma. Increased Imperial Favor gain.)
-[X] Swedes: The Swedes are travellers and wanderers and explorers all, great fair-haired sea-kings who have mapped all the coasts of Europe. Though not born to battle as the Norwegians are, or half so feared as the Danes, the Swedes are clever and shrewd, far-sighted and far-learned. They were the first, it is said, to travel the Austrvegr and serve in the hird-guard of the eastern emperors, and this reputation precedes them. The Swedish clans are split between the cross and the old ways, and those fifty or so which you draw upon represent this divide. (Your troops will gain experience and Reputation faster, and are divided equally between pagans and Christians.)
I think it best to be seen in the emperor's eyes as more than their disposable knife cast of cold, inhuman steel. The idea behind this whole thing from the empire's perspective is to spend a bit of coin and gain some scary non-neighboring barbarians as a competent yet utterly expendable military resource without any local political connections that might give them reason to betray... however, that's not really fantastic terms for us, is it? For us to be ferocious and battle-hungry is to beg coming up short a head and with it our payment, leaving us and those we take with us having served excellent yet utterly uncompensated service. The scary pagan devourer of Christians image is one that pigeonholes our interactions with any other than the emperor, leaving other imperial subjects scared of looking at us where there could be room for profitable cooperation.
I'd say let's play this smarter, not throwing ourselves fully into the self-destruction of the warrior role the emperors intended for us. We would have an excellent ancestry to appeal to in Magnus, wisdom in court dealings from our time as a hirdman and warriors drawn from Swedes who have long dealt with the emperor and are more familiar with playing the game rather than charging headlong into a wall of spears as other Norse might. This would likely allow for both cushier postings, greater wealth and more cerebral problems rather than waking every day to carve red furrows in our foes.
-[X] Magnus Fox-Beard: This stone stands for your ancestor Magnus Refskeggi, who was Ivarr's son. He was a great seer and a godtalker, who went viking on the austrvegr with Snorri and Eyvind and never came back. He fell in Greikland fighting for the Varangians, and died well. He led them to a great victory, but was killed before it was won. This stone was raised by Snorri, his blood-brother and truest friend. (Increased Reputation gain with the Varangian Guard and the Imperial Court. Bonus to command and leadership.)
-[X] Christian: You have abandoned the ways of your father's fathers, for your god is the white Christ of Rome, who does not reave or take rings, who holds no other gods but he. You take the bread which his flesh and kneel in the mornings to pray to the god of the nails. Yours is a faith on the ascent -- wherever the tide meets the shore, there also are Christian men, who speak the tongue of Rome and hold the cross in their hearts. (Increased Starting Reputation and Relations with Christians, Decreased Reputation and Relations with Heathens, and Decreased Starting Reputation with the Varangian Guard. Imperial Favor gain is doubled from combat actions.)
-[X] Hirdman: You were a soldier in the retinue of Sweyn Forkbeard, King over all the Danes in his day. In his time, he made war for the throne of Norway, and you fought under him. The court of the Danish king travels with him when he goes to war, and so you gained experience with the intrigues and politics of a royal court. Sweyn's sons vied bloodily for the throne, and as he aged, factions in Denmark made a game of swords and knives to win his crown for their favored prince. The Danes are not born to intrigue and trickery, but they may learn it as well as any other -- as you did. Perhaps most importantly of all, you know how to behave around royalty. They are a particular sort, but the right words said in the right ways may win their love as sure as any man. (Minor bonuses to Combat, Warfare, and Command skills, and Major bonus to Intrigue and Charisma. Increased Imperial Favor gain.)
-[X] Swedes: The Swedes are travellers and wanderers and explorers all, great fair-haired sea-kings who have mapped all the coasts of Europe. Though not born to battle as the Norwegians are, or half so feared as the Danes, the Swedes are clever and shrewd, far-sighted and far-learned. They were the first, it is said, to travel the Austrvegr and serve in the hird-guard of the eastern emperors, and this reputation precedes them. The Swedish clans are split between the cross and the old ways, and those fifty or so which you draw upon represent this divide. (Your troops will gain experience and Reputation faster, and are divided equally between pagans and Christians.)
I think it best to be seen in the emperor's eyes as more than their disposable knife cast of cold, inhuman steel. The idea behind this whole thing from the empire's perspective is to spend a bit of coin and gain some scary non-neighboring barbarians as a competent yet utterly expendable military resource without any local political connections that might give them reason to betray... however, that's not really fantastic terms for us, is it? For us to be ferocious and battle-hungry is to beg coming up short a head and with it our payment, leaving us and those we take with us having served excellent yet utterly uncompensated service. The scary pagan devourer of Christians image is one that pigeonholes our interactions with any other than the emperor, leaving other imperial subjects scared of looking at us where there could be room for profitable cooperation.
I'd say let's play this smarter, not throwing ourselves fully into the self-destruction of the warrior role the emperors intended for us. We would have an excellent ancestry to appeal to in Magnus, wisdom in court dealings from our time as a hirdman and warriors drawn from Swedes who have long dealt with the emperor and are more familiar with playing the game rather than charging headlong into a wall of spears as other Norse might. This would likely allow for both cushier postings, greater wealth and more cerebral problems rather than waking every day to carve red furrows in our foes.
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