Uh, it's entirely possible for them to have herds and cattles. Farmhands exist. Hell, Steinarr did it when we were little, and he doesn't even have any farmhands. Not to mention fields are still a thing.
Also, the camps they live in are not their homes? It's temporary housing while they raid the place they're currently staying in. Not to mention that we've been shown that people going off the raid while they have a family is the norm - hell, Stigr's dad did it and ended up dying, which was what led to Stigr's heart being weak enough for Horra to get a spirit to possess him. Steinarr is a another example. So is Abjorn's dad.
Tryggr and Trausti are definitely the exception. Like you said, filial piety is a prevalent thing in Norse culture. People would balk at leaving their family's side just so that they can continue living. Not to mention that getting married to bind two families isn't an uncommon thing either - ignoring people marrying out of love, too - so the odds that these grown men are married and have a family are decent. Not to say that them being unmarried would unlikely - because that also has a pretty decent chance.
Anyway, Tryggr and Trausti apparently have literally nothing tying them down. People raid for orthstir, yes, but also riches, meaning that they left everything they had gained via raiding behind by joining us. Many men wouldn't do that. They also apparently had no friends, either. At least, no friends close enough that they'd rather stay wherever they lived rather than join us. Like... expecting the average Norseman raider to have no friends, no family, and uncaring of their house/farm/social status they've built up/riches that they've accumulated via raiding seems like a big yikes.
Also, I'm not against killing these guys. I'm just saying that raiding them with the expectation that killing Sharktooth will result in most of them joining us is a bad idea.
So, I personally like this characterisation of the raiders and their likely motives is probably just not correct, but also like we're maybe getting stuck on a single point here?
It's common for landed farmers like us and our dad to go raiding, absolutely, but that's more seasonal? These guys have been living in the woods as bandits for over a year, which implies a lot more desperation and dedication. But more importantly, whether they do or don't have farms/families back home, it clearly didn't stop them from spending time as raiders working for Sharktooth, so why would we assume that would change if they came to work for us/Hasvir for a while?
Also, I'm confused, why would they lose their riches if they join us? We're not making them swear a vow of poverty; they can bring their silver with them. Hell, if they
do have camp followers, families or herds, they can bring those with them; there's plenty of spare cheap land in the Hading.
It feels like we're maybe getting hung up on a tangential argument here? I'm happy to agree to disagree, but I think the best way to resolve this is go and see for ourselves.
I mean, the sooner we talk with Eric the sooner we get Training Dice from doing so (which is always important), to say nothing of the emotional situation, where a reunion with our brother seems pretty important and worth investing time in, and we sort of need to talk with Hasvir to even invite him along on bandit issues...it's not like we're close friends. Several of his brothers are still listed in the 'Enemy' tab and I'd like to get that resolved in a way I don't think going along with just him on a combat excursion is likely to (and which we want resolved before inviting the others along on such an expedition).
I'm also not convinced multiple combat encounters in this turn immediately after what we just did with Horra's place is a good idea. Our armor is seriously messed up, for one thing, and giving it another turn's worth of repair is fairly important before we do serious stuff, IMO.
And finally, I'm not at all convinced taking out the remaining bandit camp is a high priority. There's a chance it's already been resolved in one way or another, and a pretty good chance it'll still be available next turn if it hasn't. Doing it this turn is only vital under very narrow circumstances I'm pretty sure don't mostly apply.
Well in that case, what if we kept Eric as an action, but made Hasvir a conditional, where we either go with him and do the bandit camp as a joint action, building trust, etc.. If for whatever reason that isn't possible, we'll just spend time with Hasvir instead.
Honestly I think Halla is strong enough to handle two combat encounters fine; especially as we'll have allies and the bandits are unlikely to be immensely risky.
They're living in the woods while on a raid. That in no way means they don't have a wife and family at home (and remember, most of the Norse marry young...marrying before 20 which is usually the earliest you go out raiding, is the norm). Or a host of siblings and cousins they want to get back to and drink mead with. We're not just recruiting them for a single raid, after all, if they swear to us (frankly, the only useful degree of recruitment) then we're asking them to move here permanently. That's a big difference from going here for a couple of years while accumulating wealth and going home.
Some of them may not have connections that make them reluctant to do that, but it's not gonna be all of them by any means, and those without personal connections are likely those most invested in martial glory and honor at the expense of other things and thus those most likely to fight to the death. Tryggr and Trausti are an exception because Trausti was about to die and Tryggr was willing to surrender to save him...he likely wouldn't have surrendered to save himself.
Outlawry is the most common sanction for serious crimes in Norse societies, which exist in a state of semi-constant blood feuds. There is a basically limitless supply of desperate young men who have been orphaned or are outlaws in their birthplaces. Recruiting them with the promise that we're going to organise a raid soon in no way ties them to us for life; I'm not proposing anything set in stone here.
But also, we're sort of arguing about what ifs, which gets meaningless after a while. There's an easy way to find out.
